| The Willows, Menlo Park
Eucalyptus, oak and bay trees line the intricately connected streets of the Willows, where in 1857, cattle were driven along a private road to the willow groves along the marsh at the eastern end of what is now Willow Road.
Click the map to view a larger image |
Tucked between San Francisquito Creek and the winding part of Willow Road, this quiet, older neighborhood with understated charm has been undergoing beautification. New roadways, sidewalks parking and plantings are sprucing up the area, especially around the Hacienda area on Menalto and Gilbert, revitalizing a shopping mall and planting trees and shrubs.
Originally known as North Palo Alto when the first homes were built along Central Avenue, following the Depression, developer Si Simon built a series of "Simon Built" homes there. In 1953 the area was renamed the Willows after the incorporation of Menlo Park. Its contemporary borders are Willow Road, Highway 101 and East O'Keefe Street, Middlefield Road and San Francisquito Creek.
| The Willows facts:
FIRE STATION: 300 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park
PARK:Willow Oaks Park, Willow Road near Gilbert Avenue, Menlo Park
PRIVATE SCHOOLS:German-American School of San Francisco, 275 Elliott Drive, Menlo Park
PUBLIC SCHOOLS: Menlo Park City Elementary School District -- Laurel School, 95 Edge Road, Atherton; Encinal School, 195 Encinal Ave., Menlo Hillview Middle School, 1100 Elder Ave., Menlo Park Sequoia Union High School District -- Menlo-Atherton High School, 555 Middlefield Road, Atherton
SHOPPING: Willow Road
MEDIAN HOME PRICE: $984,000 (700,000-$1,711,000)
NO. OF HOMES SOLD: 34
NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION: Willows_neighborhood@yahoogroups.com |
The area has a rural, comfortable atmosphere, says Chuck Bernstein, a 38-year resident who recalls swimming in San Francisquito Creek when he was a boy.
Large homes are making their way into the Willows, where a drive through shows a mixture of stuccos and cottages mixed in with "Simon Built" homes.
The surrounding community is undergoing a transformation where nearby East Palo Alto has built office buildings and the Four Seasons hotel at University Circle. The neighborhood has been active in preserving its trees and culture, but Mr. Bernstein is cautious: refurbished, higher density rental housing in East Palo Alto may threaten the character and peace in the Willows.
But Brett Murphy, an 12-year resident, remembers Whiskey Gulch, the run-down commercial district of East Palo Alto, and its attendant crime. Those days are past, with the University Circle project taking its place. He doesn't mind the cut-through commuter traffic on Woodland Avenue. The Willows was one of the first neighborhoods in the city to consider traffic-calming techniques, with speed bumps slowing down cut-through traffic.
The area has seen a lot of changes, once considered one of the more modest parts of town, but that is changing. "It's no longer the inexpensive part of Menlo Park," he says.
-- David Weaver |
