Duveneck/St. Francis, Palo Alto

When Walt and Crystal Gamage moved into their new home on Channing Avenue, the stay was supposed to be temporary. The house wasn't big enough for a family with three teenage daughters, and the small lot had a short list of inconveniences to boot.

"The back yard was a disaster. I didn't like the garden. I didn't like the orientation," Crystal Gamage said.

Click the image to view a larger map

Bottom line: She didn't like the house.

The family of five had planned to stay for a year before browsing the market for another place to live. That was in 1957. Now, nearly 50 years later, Crystal still lives in her little home in the Duveneck/St. Francis neighborhood of Palo Alto, and she can't see herself anywhere else.

"I'm happy here," she said. "I feel very comfortable."

Facts: CHILDCARE AND PRESCHOOLS: Duveneck Kids' Club, 705 Alester Ave. FIRE STATION: No. 3, 799 Embarcadero Road LIBRARY: Main Library, 1213 Newell Road NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION: Karen White, 650-494-7026, KarenWhite4@sbcglobal.net PARK (NEARBY): Rinconada Park, 777 Embarcadero Road; Eleanor Pardee Park, 851 Center Drive POST OFFICE: Main, 2085 E. Bayshore Road PRIVATE SCHOOL: International School of the Peninsula, 151 Laura Lane; St. Elizabeth Seton School, 1095 Channing Ave. PUBLIC SCHOOLS: Duveneck Elementary School, Jordan Middle School, Palo Alto High School SHOPPING: Edgewood Shopping Center MEDIAN 2007 HOME PRICE:$1,525,000 ($980,000-$2,200,000) # HOMES SOLD: 32

Most of the homes in the area were built in the early 1950s and sold for little over $14,000, Gamage said. Prices today are often above the $1 million mark.

Although the homes were originally built as tract houses, each has developed its own little piece of individuality over time. Her family added a new living room in 1961 in order to increase living space. Nowadays new residents often pursue similar projects to accommodate larger families, she said.

Nearly every home in Duveneck has a tree in its front yard. Some blocks, like one on Iris Way, have two street-long rows of trees planted with such symmetry that the little street resembles a tunnel of greenery that leads to a quiet place in the country.

The community was once called Green Gables before the merger of Green Gables and Crescent Park elementary schools in 1982. The neighborhood and the elementary school at its center were then named for Los Altos Hills philanthropists Frank and Josephine Duveneck, founders of the Hidden Villa environmental education center.

Neighborhood Association President Karen White has been a resident of the Duveneck/St. Francis area since 1979. Last September, she and her husband co-hosted a block party with the help of longtime residents Tad and Maureen Simons. The event was designed to bring together neighbors new and old and to promote a "Neighborhood-Watch" type of camaraderie. More than 200 people took part in the festivities, White said.

"Everyone seemed to have a great time," White said. "We plan on making it an annual event."

Newer residents are often drawn to Duveneck/St. Francis because of the opportunity to send their children to the many esteemed public schools in the area, White said.

"We have more children now than we had 15 years ago," she said. "Many families move from other cities because of our excellent schools."

Jonathan Foster is no exception. He moved in directly across from Duveneck Elementary in 2000, just as he and his wife were about to have their second child. Both of his sons currently attend Duveneck and will move on to Jordan Middle School and eventually Palo Alto High School.

"We were undoubtedly attracted by the good public schools," Foster said.

The neighborhood is close to the main library and both Rinconada and Eleanor Pardee parks, making it a perfect place for a growing family, Foster said. He was also drawn in by the quiet community atmosphere and the relatively less-expensive housing costs.

"The reality is that it's a very attractive neighborhood that is perhaps a little bit less expensive realistically than some of the other neighborhoods around here," he said.

One issue concerning residents in the last 10 years was the flooding of the area in 1998. The incident is still fresh in the minds of some neighborhood homeowners. Gamage vividly remembers waking at 3 a.m. to find floodwaters within three feet of her front door.

White hopes that the outcry from locals will influence the city to speed its efforts on making the area completely flood safe, but she doubts that progress will be made any time soon.

"Residents want to be protected from floods," White said. "As I understand it we may not see improvements for years."

Many of the neighborhood's residents are active in the Palo Alto community. In 2005, Foster led the effort to pass Measure A, the parcel-tax initiative benefiting schools in the Palo Alto Unified School District. He and hundreds of others are also taking part in the ongoing discussion of what to do with Edgewood Plaza shopping center, located at the heart of Duveneck/St. Francis.

The future of Edgewood has been a local debate topic for most of the last decade. The shopping center is home to about a dozen retail stores, including a small bar and grill, a liquor store and a Laundromat, and contains a handful of vacant storefronts as well. A small Albertson's was the plaza's only major retail store until its closure last June.

White believes that the condition of the Albertson's mirrored the deterioration of the shopping center as a whole.

"As a chain, they neglected the site, and consequently, not only the store but its contents were uninviting and unappealing to residents," she said.

Development firm Sandhill Properties recently acquired the site and bought out Albertson's 22-year lease on the property, Foster said. The addition of retail stores alone may not cover the cost of a redevelopment, and Foster believes that a renovation would likely include the addition of town homes to make additional revenue from tenants.

This proposal marks the third attempt at beginning an Edgewood renovation in the last 10 years.

"They say the third time's the charm," White said, "I'm hoping that's the case here."

Altering the shopping center brings about an issue concerning historical preservation. Edgewood is the only shopping center built by Joseph Eichler, the California-based real estate developer who built more than 2,700 homes in Palo Alto between 1950 and 1974.

Despite the history, Foster thinks the plaza needs to be torn down and replaced -- preferably by a supermarket and other retail establishments -- and he believes most of the surrounding neighborhood shares his sentiments.

"Most people say that it's not necessarily of such architectural merit to be preserved," he said. "I don't particularly think that just slapping a coat of paint on what's there now is the way to go."

It's a quiet neighborhood and a great place to raise children, Foster said of Duveneck/St. Francis. He believed that all the neighborhoods in Palo Alto have that to offer.

"In Palo Alto you're living right next to your neighbor on your little 6,000-square-foot lot, so you're basically making a decision that you want to live in a community," Foster said.

-- Justin Bull