| Menlo Oaks, Menlo Park
There are no sidewalks or streetlights in Menlo Oaks, and residents
want to keep it that way.
Click the map to view a larger image |
That's what Deborah Rice, a resident of the Menlo Oaks District, says about the 106-acre area in San Mateo County bounded by Ringwood Avenue, Bay Road, Berkeley Avenue, Coleman Avenue and Arlington Way. The big issue is always whether or not to incorporate and become part of Menlo Park, but residents don't want that, she says. "We just lack the city feel," she adds.
Also adding to that rural feel are the many mature, towering oak, eucalyptus and evergreen trees among the 300 homes. Most are sited on half-acre lots, and only 13 -- built before 1941 -- are considered historically significant. The architecture is as eclectic as the neighbors themselves: side by side are representatives of Craftsman, ranch, Spanish and California bungalow, with an Eichler or two thrown in, and new homes have been added recently.
| Menlo Oaks facts:
CHILD CARE & PRESCHOOLS: Peninsula School, 920 Peninsula Way, Menlo Park; The Roberts School, 641 Coleman Ave., Menlo Park FIRE STATION: 300 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park
PARK:Flood County Park, 215 Bay Road, Menlo Park; Seminary Oaks Park, Santa Monica Avenue near Middlefield Road, Menlo Park; Willow Oaks Park, Willow Road near Gilbert Avenue, Menlo Park
PRIVATE SCHOOLS: Peninsula School, Peninsula Way, Menlo Park PUBLIC SCHOOLS: Menlo Park City Elementary School District -- Laurel School, 95 Edge Road, Atherton; Encinal School, 195 Encinal Ave., Menlo Park; Hillview Middle School, 1100 Elder Ave., Menlo Park Sequoia Union High School District -- Menlo-Atherton High School, 555 Middlefield Road, Atherton
SHOPPING: Downtown Menlo Park
MEDIAN HOME PRICE: $1,060,000 ($801,000-$2,750,000)
NO. OF HOMES SOLD: 6
NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION: Menlo Oaks District Association, Holly Still, president, 650-322-9888 E-mail: president@menlo-oaks.org |
The Menlo Oaks District Association holds its annual picnic at Peninsula School, a private, progressive K-8 that was formerly the Coleman Mansion. (Built in 1882, the 22-room Italianate Victorian is among the oldest on the Peninsula. The mansion was on the former site of the 165-acre Maria O'Brien Coleman estate, which was purchased from James Flood and Robert Doyle in the late 1870s.) The neighbors formally meet once a year, but pick up news from a newsletter published electronically three times a year and a directory of residents. Their electronic bulletin board shares information on everything from handymen to dealing with mail-box vandalism.
Community action is a byword in Menlo Oaks. Over the years neighbors have successfully prevented a storm drain project from killing their cherished trees, promoted installation of traffic-slowing street circles, and joined together in a successful drive to transfer their neighborhood from the Ravenswood to the Menlo Park City School District. The community also has vetoing power over removal of heritage trees.
"We bought the family home. My husband grew up here and his parents bought it for $37,000 in the early '60s," Ms. Rice says.
The demographics of Menlo Oaks are changing, she adds. There is much new development and many young families. But it's a quiet neighborhood where "you forget you're living between two major highways."
"I love the rural feel in this busy world. You can take walks and forget where you are," she says. "It's a very private neighborhood, a very special spot."
--Carol Blitzer and Renee Batti |
