Martens-Carmelita, Mountain View

In 1996, after Christina Girerd had given up hope of finding a bigger house and lot that she could afford, she spotted an old home in the southwest corner of Mountain View. With a natural architect's eye, she saw potential in the small house and found the large yard appealing. She remodeled, adding a second story with four rooms and has lived there happily ever since.

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Many others have had similar experiences in the Martens-Carmelita neighborhood, also known as the Huff neighborhood. The area, roughly bounded by Phyllis Avenue, Grant Road, Sleeper Avenue, Highway 85 and El Camino Real, is a combination of old and new homes as well as long-time residents and young families.

"There's a mix," Girerd said. "There seems to be an older generation that's been living here years and years and years in original homes and some younger families who have remodeled."

Martins-Carmelita facts CHILDCARE AND PRESCHOOLS: St. Timothy's Nursery School, 2094 Grant Road; YMCA -- Huff Kids' Place, 253 Martens Ave. FIRE STATION: No. 2, 160 Cuesta Drive NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION: Martens-Carmelita Neighborhood Association, Robin Iwai, 650-961-8257, robin.iwai@yahoo.com PARKS: Huff Park, Martens Avenue POST OFFICE: Blossom Valley, 1768 Miramonte Ave. PRIVATE SCHOOLS (NEARBY): St. Simon Catholic School, 1840 Grant Road, Los Altos PUBLIC SCHOOLS: Mtn. View-Whisman School District -- Huff Elementary School, Graham Middle School; Mtn. View-Los Altos Union High School District -- Mountain View High School SHOPPING: Grant Park Plaza, Grant Road at El Camino Real; Mountain View Center MEDIAN 2006 HOME PRICE: $1,340,000 ($852,600-$2,195,000) # HOMES SOLD: 8 MEDIAN 2006 CONDO PRICE: $830,000 # CONDOS SOLD: 1

Composed mainly of single-family homes, adobe houses with red-tiled roofs mingle with one-story cottages and contemporary takes on the Greene and Greene style. But other types of housing exist, including a few apartment complexes, backyard cottages and the Sahara Village mobile home park on El Camino Real.

At the core of the neighborhood are Martens Avenue and Carmelita Drive, streets that along with adjacent cul-de-sacs form an approximately 100-home neighborhood with a loosely organized association.

"It's kind of a self-contained little neighborhood," said Robin Iwai, a Carmelita Drive resident since 1993. The neighborhood association holds an annual block party, where the city closes the street, she said. They've also held a garden tour and worked on an emergency response plan.

The two roads and Grant Road were the first in the area to contain housing during the war boom. Beginning in 1950, the section even held the Monta Vista Drive-In Theater, the largest on the Peninsula. Before that, the neighborhood was an apricot orchard.

A Martens Avenue landmark is Huff Elementary, a school that opened in 1957, then closed in 1980 due to declining enrollment. It reopened in 1998 to accommodate a district class-size reduction program.

The school and its accompanying playground draw residents who come on weekends to play soccer, baseball or basketball, picnic and walk their dogs. But the school has also created a few traffic problems for residents.

"Martens is the primary access to Huff School, so we get a little traffic backup at 8:10 and 2:30," Iwai said, adding "but it's not as bad since they renovated the parking lot."

However, when the subject of traffic arises, residents tout the neighborhood's proximity to such major thoroughfares as El Camino Real and highways 85 and 237.

"As far as hopping on a freeway, it's great for convenience," Girerd said, "and if I had to, I could walk to everything."

-- Katie Vaughn