Woodside Glens

While some outsiders think of Woodside as a "tony" community of the wealthy and the elite, Woodside Glens belies that description. A collection of steep and winding streets that connect to Glenwood Avenue from Canada Road, many homes were once vacation cabins for San Francisco's middle class. Today, they are populated by people with a wide variety of occupations, lots of kids, and ample amounts of down-home neighborliness.

One of those is Richard Mainz. He and wife Denise and daughter Ryan live just a few minutes walk from his parents. When the family moved from Pacifica in 1968, there were not quite as many houses as there are today. But much that he remembers fondly about his childhood still applies, Mr. Mainz says. The same creek he and friends got muddy in now lures his daughter.

The neighborhood "is absolutely this kind of Shangri-La in the middle of Silicon Valley. There are no sidewalks and no streetlights, but it's safe," he says.

One thing that attracts both newcomers and old-timers is the neighborliness. There's a mothers' group, an annual Halloween party and other get-togethers. It's the type of place where neighbors spontaneously gather for dinner, watch each other's kids, and start games of badminton in the street.

Annette Kingman grew up in the Glens, left for 15 years, and then returned with her husband Jim when her mother died 15 years ago. They built their own home. "I'm glad we came back," Ms. Kingman says. "I love it here."

Her 9- and 11-1/2-year-old daughters play with other neighbor children of all ages. "It's like a little band of kids," Ms. Kingman says.

Woodside Elementary, which is the Glens' public school for kindergarten through 8th grade, even still has some of the same teachers Ms. Kingman had when she attended the school. Children still dance the maypole dance and march in a parade at a May Day celebration. The whole class participates in an operetta in the 8th grade.

Stephanie Couch has lived in the Glens for six years. "I had no idea what I was getting into when I moved here, in a good way," she says. It's the kind of neighborhood where people help each other in times of trouble. When a neighbor died from cancer, long-time resident Norma Rawlings bought her children school clothes, Ms. Couch said. "It's how it used to be."

Norma Rawlings has lived in the Glens her entire 82 years. Her parents' house was the second house built in the Glens. Her father was "the only plumber in Woodside" and the neighborhood felt like the Russian River vacation community in those early days, Ms. Rawlings says.

Even with the changes over the years, one thing remains the same. "I have great neighbors now," she says. "I love my neighbors ... everybody seems to help everybody."

-- Barbara Wood