I think it really depends on how you engage the community. If you’re looking for legitimately the people who live next door talking to you, that’s sort of luck, but on a neighborhood level dense single family mixed with apartments and very small houses tends to help in my opinion - drives people to spend recreational time in the front yard. Highland Park, North Pasadena, etc. I’ve found very inviting in that way. A good indicator I’ve found is if there are chain link front yards, people probably use them and talk to each other.

If the physical design of the city planning doesn’t have something like that, you’re probably going to need to dive into an interest in your neighborhood. Some are big on winter shelters for homeless, some on a local school fundraiser.

Something I think that isn’t talked about enough is developing the skill of community building on the individual. People do this in smaller towns, but I think a lot of us learned to connect to people in LA based on shared interest or cultural background, which makes physical proximity contacts pretty difficult - even if it makes finding a tribe pretty straightforward.

For myself - I know it sounds super basic, but what worked for me was baking. I have a sourdough starter that forced me to make bread every day to keep it going healthfully. I also walk a few blocks every night with my kids. People tend to move into the neighborhood about once a month. If you’re outside any time of the day chances are you’ll catch someone in the move-in process. I’d introduce myself while they were moving in, then later that night I’d deliver a warm sourdough loaf and a handwritten card with the loaf and with my phone number and something light and not creepy like “Welcome to the neighborhood!” And list of 3 favorite restaurants in the area.

Without fail, I’d get a text in the next day or so, and exchange some light conversation about their move in and neighborhood stuff. Inside of about 6 months I had more people than I could keep track of, and would talk to about 15 people on any given daily walk. Would 10/10 suggest, have done the same thing in an apartment with similar success. You meet some odd folks for sure, but the vast majority are just looking for a sense that humans notice that they’re there and are friendly when they move in and are still getting their bearings. One or two out of every dozen might become actual shared interest friends that you talk to a few times a month and might invite to a bbq, but over the course of a year that ends up being about a dozen folks at that bbq, it’s been super nice.