On weekday mornings, Hawthorne becomes the Hotel California of Brisbane suburbs – you can never leave. The main artery, Hawthorne Road, crests at girls’ school Lourdes Hill College, a shiny Camelot visible for miles around, then it hits Wynnum Road. It’s a slow-moving car park.As a resident, I really don’t mind. All my needs are met within walking distance of our house. On Monday night, I attend a fitness class at Dance Fiit above Sister cafe on Hawthorne Road. I’ve celebrated birthdays at Cartel del Taco; met with friends for dinner at Downtown Istanbul; and had a memorable date night at Mameek Kitchen.Lourdes Hill College can be seen from New Farm Park across the river. Markus RavikSister cafe on Hawthorne Road.Markus RavikIf you like spending money, there’s Dan and Andy’s Hawthorne Garage – the place for a last-minute rotisserie chicken, Yarra Valley caviar, or flat white. If you don’t like spending money, there’s the centrepiece of the neighbourhood, the Hawthorne Cineplex, which is where I saw The Odyssey for the princely sum of $10.The cinema has Brisbane’s second-largest curved screen, behind the Cineplex in South Bank, and has been here since 1940. In 2004, two smaller auditoriums were added to the building; then in 2016, the new Deluxe Cinema opened across the street, built around a repurposed pre-1900s Queenslander that had been raised.The Hawthorne Cineplex building has been here since the 1940s.Markus RavikAn adult ticket here can be as low as $10.Markus RavikIt’s been converted into a three-cinema complex with an annexe across the road.Markus RavikThere are two street libraries in the neighbourhood – one on Carr Street and another on Elliott Street – in case the nearby Bulimba Library or Riverbend Books in the next suburb over seem like too much of a journey.We have it all. We are lucky.Eleven years ago, when we first returned to Australia from New York City, we scored a dreamy, creamy-toned Queenslander on a double block in one of the river avenues of Hawthorne. Our rent then was what my co-worker now pays for a townhouse in Morningside.The primary school catchment zone was Bulimba State School, and my sons rode bicycles to and from (some parts of Hawthorne fall into the Morningside State School catchment zone).The little library in Carr Street.Markus RavikThe Chevrolet truck permanently outside Hawthorne Garage grocery store and cafe.Markus RavikAfter a year and a half, the Queenslander’s owners returned from the Middle East, so we found another Hawthorne abode, this time brick and modern, just 200 metres away – our shortest-distance house move. Recently, a real estate agent called to inform me of an upcoming house sale on Jenolan Avenue, and I was like: hang on, we used to live in that house.Hawthorne, of course, is one of Brisbane’s most pricey places to buy or rent. The lifestyle we enjoy here is out of reach for many people, and we arrived before an expensive suburb became an astronomical one.Last year, Olympian Libby Trickett and her entrepreneur husband spent $20 million on a riverfront Virginia Avenue mansion, complete with internal lift, wine cellar, rooftop terrace, tennis court, pontoon, boatshed – you get the idea. Even Gina Rinehart didn’t pay that much for her house here on a sprawling riverside block. But then, that was pre-COVID.Gina Rinehart’s riverside Hawthorne mansion. Markus RavikMy daily commute: Hawthorne ferry terminal.Markus RavikIt’s a privilege to travel to work this way. Markus RavikThe other reason the peak-hour bottleneck doesn’t bother me lies at the end of Lindsay Street in Hardcastle Park (named after a well-regarded head teacher who lived on the waterfront in Virginia Avenue). Each morning, it’s my privilege to walk down it with all the other office-bound folk and catch the ferry, express to Riverside. The Hawthorne ferry stop is a charming structure built in 1925 – the architectural twin of the Bulimba ferry terminal just up the river.During king tides, the park fills with an inch of water and commuters tiptoe around the puddles. (If anyone is reading this with any council sway, could we please have a toilet block in Hardcastle Park?)Jack Esplen Oval hosts Morningside Panthers games. Markus RavikThe houses get bigger the closer you get to the water.Markus RavikBarton Road Pocket Park, a small riverside outlook with benches.Markus RavikMy favourite thing to do in my suburb is to go for a night walk. I often meet a girlfriend on the corner of Riding Road and Pashen Street. We do laps within Hawthorne Park in the dark and gossip, squealing whenever a bat swoops. It’s a surprisingly busy loop in the evening, filled with couples, cavoodles and teens on bikes. Which is a nice reminder that from 1929 until 1988, the park was a velodrome. The cycling club has since been moved to Murarrie.Within the centre of the park is Jack Esplen Oval. On most nights, the bright lights drench the field as local teams train and play Australian rules football.My other favourite night-walking route is the stroll to Barton Road Pocket Park. This is more of an in-suburb solo adventure. From my house, I cross Hawthorne Road and just keep walking down Barton Road. I love the shadows that the broad poinciana trees cast on the bitumen and grass verges.If you follow Barton Road to the very end, as the houses get progressively larger, there’s a lip of a park on the river between two mansions. Walk down a small flight of stone stairs, take in the frangipani on a summer evening, and there are two metal seats. I often lean against the railing and spy a Lime scooter in the river, party boats decked out in lights, and the blue glow from the US-Australia joint naval memorial across the river and think how lucky I am to never leave.Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.