palo alto weekly • 2009 edition OUR NEIGHBORHooDS PALO ALTO CRESCENT PARK CHARLESTON MEADOWS EVERGREEN PARK OLD PALO ALTO PROFILES, MAPS AND VITAL FACTS OF FEATURED NEIGHBORHOODS IN THE COMMUNITY PaloAltoOnline.com COLDWELL BANKER californiamoves.com Thank you for your trust. Market Share Leader Counties: Santa Clara and San Mateo (Percentage by Dollar Volume) Based on information from RE Infolink for the period 11/22/2007 through 11/21/2008. Due to MLS reporting methods and allowable reporting policy, this data is only infor- mational and may not be completely accurate. Therefore, Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage does not guarantee the data accuracy. Data maintained by the MLS may not reflect all real estate activity in the market. WHEN YOU WANT RESULTS, CALL US. WE MARKET AND NEGOTIATE FOR YOU. NEIGHBORHOODS NEIGHBORHOODS Palo Alto Downtown on Lytton 650.325.6161 John Carman Palo Alto Midtown on Middlefield 650.328.5211 Manager 650.752.0700 Owned and Operated by NRT Incorporated. ©2006 NRT Incorporated. [email protected] 3 PaloAlto apr.com The Art of Real Estate THE PALO ALTO REAL ESTATE MARKET REFLECTS SECURITY. Based upon: Education excellence City parks and libraries Great weather Innovative culture Economic impact of Stanford University, Stanford Shopping Center and Stanford Research Park Venture Capital Industry Close proximity to Silicon Valley, center of innovation and investment Beautiful neighborhoods When headlines generate fear, trust the reality, exceptional lifestyle and protection Carol Rosemary Nicole Carnevale Squires Aron of owning 650.543.1184 Palo Alto real estate. [email protected] CarolRosemaryAndNicole.com NEIGHBORHOODS 1550 El Camino Real Menlo Park, CA 94025 4 OUR NEIGHB O RH oo DS PALO ALTO Kelley Cox Marjan Sadoughi Norbert von der Groeben Named for an ancient redwood tree that But people continue to flock to Palo Alto, was a living landmark for late-1700s Spanish taking pride in its environmental conscious- explorers, Palo Alto today is a diverse commu- ness, city-owned utilities, support of social INDEX nity, a mixture of high-tech and locally owned services and some firsts, including opening a Adobe Meadow/ companies and more than 26,000 homes. public Children‘s Library in 1940 and becom- Meadow Park ..........................36 Since incorporation in 1894, Palo Alto has ing the first U.S. city to have an Internet home Barron Park ..............................34 expanded to encompass the area stretching page in 1994. Charleston Meadows ..............39 from San Francisquito Creek to the north In addition to the neighborhoods included College Terrace .......................28 to San Antonio Road to the south, from the here, you can view profiles of Charleston Community Center ..................16 San Francisco Bay to the Skyline Ridge. It is Gardens, Esther Clark Park, Greater Miranda, Crescent Park ...........................14 home to nearly 60,000 residents — but dur- Greendell/Walnut Grove, The Greenhouse, Downtown North ..................... 6 ing weekdays the population swells to nearly Monroe Park, Palo Alto Hills, Palo Alto Duveneck/St. Francis ................18 140,000 with the daily flow and ebb of com- Orchards, St. Claire Gardens, South of Embarcadero Oaks/Leland muters. Midtown and Triple El at Manor/Garland Drive ...............20 Over time, the demographics of Palo Alto www.paloaltoonline.com/neighborhoods/. Evergreen Park.........................26 have changed dramatically. What once was a This publication, like Palo Alto itself, is ever- Fairmeadow .............................37 homogeneous, mostly blue-collar community, evolving. If we‘ve missed your neighborhood Green Acres .............................40 with an enclave of Stanford University profes- (either here or online), or if you have addition- Greenmeadow .........................38 sors, has become a diverse, mostly well-to-do, al tidbits about your neighborhood you‘d like Midtown ..................................30 well-educated, but aging, population. to share with the Weekly, please let us know. Old Palo Alto ............................22 Despite a median household income of Palo Verde ................................32 $117,574 in 2000, many are challenged to keep Carol Blitzer, Editor Professorville ...........................10 up with the ever-rising median home price — [email protected] Southgate ................................24 $1,600,000 (from December 2007 through University South ....................... 8 November 2008). Ventura ....................................33 staff Palo Alto Weekly Publisher: William S. Johnson 703 High St., Palo Alto, CA 94302 Editor: Carol Blitzer 650-326-8210 Art Director: Scott Peterson www.PaloAltoOnline.com Researchers: Susan Robles, Johanna Toivio, Kris Young NEIGHBORHOODS Additional copies of Palo Alto Neighborhoods are available from the Palo Alto Weekly for $5 each. Almanac Vice President Sales and Neighborhoods and Mountain View/Los Altos Neighborhoods are available online at www.paloaltoonline.com/neighbor- Marketing: Walter Kupiec hoods/. Sales representatives: Judie Block, Copyright @2009 by Embarcadero Publishing Co. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is strictly prohib- Kathryn Brottem, Connie Jo Cotton, ited. Neal Fine, Rosemary Lewkowitz On the Cover: Katherine Wotring gives her son Isiah a gentle push on the swing at Heritage Park in Palo Alto. Photo by Home-sales data: Courtesy of J. Veronica Weber. Photos of Crescent Park by Veronica Weber; Charleston Meadows by Hardy Wilson; Evergreen Park by Robert Taylor, Taylor Properties Norbert von der Groeben; and Old Palo Alto by Sam Tenney. 5 DOWNTOWN NORTH Downtown North, Palo Alto’s north- ernmost neighborhood, is also one of its oldest. Soon after Palo Alto began as an offshoot of Stanford University in the 1890s, the town was dry, and a trolley ran up University Avenue. Much has changed since the post- World War II downtown developed into a Norman Rockwell-esque landscape of creameries, movie houses and five-and- dimes. Instead of Woolworth’s, today you can find an Apple store, an icon of Silicon Valley, along a bustling main street. Downtown North is bounded by the meandering San Francisquito Creek on Marjan Sadoughi the north, University Avenue on the south and tucked between Alma Street and Middlefield Road. By the end of the 1920s the neighbor- hood was built out, according to Palo Alto Historian Steven Staiger. Vestiges of the — encouraging neighborly interaction. A town at night because nothing was open,” old blue-collar populace still remain in the few larger rebuilt houses and apartment she said. smaller properties and houses designed complexesDowntown North represent the current need and The largest sore spot for Downtown like cottages or bungalows. Houses are development for the growing town. North is its parking and traffic situation, built closer to the sidewalks, porches sit Jeanese Snyder, whose children will be Staiger said. Commuters drive through out front, the driveways off to the side the family’s fifth generation to grow up in Downtown North to get to Stanford or use her Downtown North house, has its residential areas for parking while work- Creekside seen the town shift from small ing around University Avenue. And the Creek Park ito qu is c town to urban center. Gone is the closer a resident lives to University Avenue, n O A a L L r PA T El Camino F O n a A S “slower-pace” that Snyder refers to the bigger traffic and parking hassles are. P A V Park L POE ST. O E . ST. TASSO A LT V when people used to fish and inner The city has implemented a combina- O A E RUTHVEN AVE. tube down San Francisquito Creek tion of traffic-slowing techniques such as EL CAMINO REAL CAMINO EL or when her grandmother actually no-turn signs and traffic circles, which pro- HAWTHORNE AVE. BYRON ST. BYRON WEBSTER ST. WEBSTER Johnson ROAD MIDDLEFIELD COWPER ST. COWPER KIPLING ST. KIPLING used to hose down the dirt road vide some relief to the ongoing situation, Park EMERSON ST. EMERSON RAMONA ST. RAMONA BRYANT ST. BRYANT ALMA ST. ALMA HIGH ST. HIGH outside their house. though parking still remains troublesome. EVERETT AVE. “Growing-up (in the ’70s) But the inconveniences are easily offset WAVERLEY ST. WAVERLEY EVERETT CT. we thought we lived in the most by Downtown North’s proximity to every- TASSO ST. TASSO LYTTON AVE. boring town there was because thing, residents say. Cogswell Plaza University Avenue closed up. I Darel and Elu Chapman and their UNIVERSITY AVE. mean we road our bikes down- three young boys live in a house built in the 1910s next to the creek, on Palo Alto Avenue. Elu Chapman said she “wouldn’t CHILDCARE AND PRESCHOOLS (AND Johnson Park, Everett Avenue and Waverley NEARBY): Discovery Children’s House — Street trade anything for the convenience.” They moved into their house in 2002 and are Montessori, 437 Webster St.; Downtown Chil- POST OFFICE: Hamilton, 380 Hamilton Ave. dren’s Center, 555 Waverley St.; First School, part of a shift from older residents to more 625 Hamilton Ave. PUBLIC SCHOOLS: Addison Elementary families and children in the area. School, Jordan Middle School, Palo Alto High Within walking distance are Stanford FIRE STATION: No. 1, 301 Alma St. School events, such as fireworks and public lec- LIBRARY: Downtown branch, 270 Forest SHOPPING: University Avenue, Stanford tures, as well as the annual May Fete Parade Ave. Shopping Center and Palo Alto Festival of the Arts on NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION: Dan MEDIAN 2008 HOME PRICE: University Avenue, the downtown farmers’ Lorimer, 650-322-5566 $1,595,000 ($899,000-$3,800,000) market and even Sunset Magazine. “At work ... it’s fast-paced tech, and I PARKS: Cogswell Plaza, Lytton Avenue HOMES SOLD: 13 between Ramona and Bryant streets; El come home and it’s almost like a step back Camino Park, 100 El Camino Real; El Palo MEDIAN 2008 CONDO PRICE: into the ’50s or the ’20s and it’s green and Alto Park, Alma Street at El Camino Real; $1,120,000 ($775,000-$1,395,000) it’s older and I know people. It’s quite a Hopkins Creekside Park, Palo Alto Avenue CONDOS SOLD: 11 contrast actually,” Darel Chapman said.