| University Heights, Menlo
Park
 Click the map to view a larger image
|
After the commute hours, it's often quiet enough to hear owls hooting in the backyards of University Heights homes. And it's not uncommon to find runners, bicyclists and children playing on the narrow, often sidewalk-free, residential streets.
Bordered by Las Lomitas and La Entrada schools and bisected by Alameda de las Pulgas, University Heights is located in an unincorporated area of San Mateo County that has been called a variety of names -- including Menlo Heights and West Menlo Park. University Heights seems to have stuck.
| University Heights facts:
CHILD CARE & PRESCHOOLS: Children's Creative Learning Center, Las Lomitas School, 299 Alameda de las Pulgas, Atherton; Littlest Angels Preschool, Bethany Lutheran Church, 1095 Cloud Ave., Menlo Park; The Phillips Brooks School, 2245 Avy Ave., Menlo Park; University Heights Montessori Children's Center, 2066 Avy Ave., Menlo Park
FIRE STATION: 3322 Alameda de las Pulgas, Menlo Park
PRIVATE SCHOOLS: Phillips Brooks School, 2245 Avy Ave., Menlo Park; Trinity School, 2650 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park
PUBLIC SCHOOLS: Las Lomitas School District -- Las Lomitas School, 299 Alameda de las Pulgas, Atherton; La Entrada School, 2200 Sharon Road, Menlo Park Sequoia Union High School District -- Menlo-Atherton High School, 555 Middlefield Road, Atherton SHOPPING:Alameda de las Pulgas
MEDIAN HOME PRICE: $1,410,000 ($820,000-$2,293,000)
NO. OF HOMES SOLD: 18 |
In recent years neighbors have come together to redesign the three-block commercial strip to make it more community-oriented. Parking, public access and pedestrian safety were of concern to area residents. Rows of trees on each side of the Alameda as well as sidewalk and parking were reconfigured.
"It's a wonderful neighborhood," says resident Maggie Heilman, who has lived there for more than five years.
"At any given time, you have a choice of a family-friendly dinner at Lutticken's, coffee at Starbuck's, or pizza at Avanti or the Round Table. Another great neighborhood gathering spot is Lulu's Taqueria where you always run into someone you know. And of course, you can go down to the Dutch Goose and mingle with families, from toddlers to teenagers," she said.
The long-planned streetscape project is completed, with sidewalks, bike lanes and street trees sprucing up the Alameda neighborhood, she says. One reason she chose the neighborhood is because it has a great school system -- Las Lomitas School District -- where her daughter Jessica attends school, she says.
Frank Helfrich has lived on Cedar Avenue for 78 years and is an active member of the Menlo Park Historical Association. University Heights is a wonderful neighborhood, but over the years, it's changed much, he says.
The earliest settlers in the area arrived in 1887. The Harkins family purchased the block of land bordered by the Alameda, Sharon Road, Altschul Avenue and Harkins Avenue. Most of the early residents were drawn by work at Stanford University or the nearby Sharon estate, he added.
Mr. Helfrich recalls his mother trying to sell six lots on Cedar Avenue for $100 each at the end of the Depression. By the end of World War II, land was quickly snatched up during the building boom.
The 1920s summer bungalows are gone, he says, replaced with larger homes. University Heights today is an eclectic mixture of housing, ages and families. A recent ordinance allows slightly larger homes to be erected in west Menlo Park than in downtown, but the way they are sited on the lots is more strictly controlled.
Although residents are concerned with drivers speeding on the Alameda -- making it a challenge for pedestrians to cross -- they still just wait for 7 p.m. to regain their rural atmosphere, when the owls begin hooting.
-- Jennifer Desai, Carol Blitzer and Sue Dremann |
