| Palo Alto Weekly 25th Anniversary |
The 800 block of Hamilton Avenue
The homes on the 800 block of Hamilton Avenue look spit-shined
and well cared for. All the lawns are neatly mowed and edged
and walkways are swept. The street reflects the calm and wealth
of old Palo Alto, where a number of prominent Palo Altans reside.
The houses are a blend of old and new - a bone of contention
for some in the neighborhood who decry the three monster homes
that have been built on the block.
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Fifteen years ago the Weekly profiled the 800 block
of Hamilton Avenue and found it in a state of flux. A new crop
of residents
were just beginning to move onto the block. There seemed to be
a quiet distance between the new and the old. At the time, one
resident said "if the people who bought the house across the
street a while back walked into my living room today I wouldn't
recognize them." Since then, all but three homes on the block
have been sold. The households are now mostly two-income and self-sufficient.
Live-in nannies, landscapers and house cleaners are common. On
a daily basis, there's little mingling between neighbors, who are
busy working and spending time with their families. It's a rarity
today to see school children running from home to home, turning
their neighbors into surrogate families. Two decades ago, that
wasn't the case. Children were seen as the glue that kept the neighbors
together.
25th Anniversary • 1979-2004 |
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