Publication Date: Friday, May 28, 2004
Green Acres
Green Acres
(May 28, 2004) Nearby schools make life simple for young families
by Dana Green
F or most mothers, shuttling kids to school is a daily chore. But Lynn Kidder won't ever have to drive her children to school -- barring extreme circumstances.
"I don't have to worry about driving -- unless they start to play the tuba or it's raining," she said.
Kidder's home in the Green Acres neighborhood is within walking distance of a trio of nearby schools: Juana Briones (formerly Loma Vista), Terman Middle School and Gunn High School. For busy parents like Kidder, the proximity of their children's schools is the main draw of this quiet, low-key neighborhood tucked away off busy Arastradero Road.
"It is still the only neighborhood in Palo Alto where students can walk to all three schools [elementary, junior high and high school] within two blocks," said John Elman, who moved to Green Acres 41 years ago. "If you had children, Green Acres II was the best bargain in town."
Today, the schools are attracting an ethnically diverse mix of young families to Green Acres. The original residents, who bought homes in the 1950s and '60s, are now joined by young professionals starting families of their own.
This has led to a kaleidoscope of cultures in the tidy neighborhood. "There are 15 to 17 different languages spoken at home," said Kidder, who is also a former PTA president at Juana Briones. "Japanese, Korean, Russian, even Swedish. ...It's a neat thing. It's one of the smaller schools, and [it] has a nice, family-oriented feel. The school is a major part of the appeal of the neighborhood."
Development at Green Acres II (north of Arastradero Road) started in 1948, when Palo Alto was bustling with post-World War II construction. Soon modest, one-story ranch houses began to appear amid the vast fruit orchards. Green Acres I, south of Arastradero, is a slightly older neighborhood, begun before the war ended.
Jeanne Hutchins remembers when they moved to Green Acres in 1954, it was just a few houses under construction, surrounded by apricot and plum trees. "My son used to pick apricots -- bushels of them," Hutchins said. "I loved it."
Violet Evatt, another longtime Green Acres resident, remembers a close-knit neighborhood with a strong sense of community. "We had all kinds of activities...Halloween parades, Easter egg hunts," Evatt said. Some of her favorite memories were of neighbors gathering at the nearby Hyatt Rickeys Hotel for evening parties.
"It's been a wonderful place to live," she said.
By the 1960s, the orchards were starting to disappear in the face of further development. But Green Acres remains true to its name, with two nearby parks where residents can indulge in a picnic or just enjoy some open space. Juana Briones Park remains an inviting, rolling patch of green with a playground and park benches.
Terman Park is another welcome place to play. Tucked away behind the middle school, the park has a soccer field, tennis courts and basketball hoops.
Access to city bike routes is also a major perk of Green Acres. The tree-lined bike path behind Gunn High School, tucked alongside the Foothill Expressway, is one of the best-kept secrets of the neighborhood.
"We can bike all the way to Bol Park without going on a main street," one mother said. "I love biking that way with my kids."
The demolition fever that has struck most Palo Alto neighborhoods has largely passed by Green Acres. A few Spanish-style manors and modern dwellings dot the neighborhood, and many of the houses have been updated or added onto over the years. But most of the ranch houses have retained their familiar outline.
At the end of Los Palos in Green Acres I, the new Glenbrook development -- 12 new homes -- marks a major change for the quiet street.
Despite its pastoral character, Green Acres is faced with modern challenges. Cut-through traffic from busy El Camino Real is steadily increasing, and parents are concerned with traffic as they drop their children off at area schools.
Bike and pedestrian safety issues, and the future of the Charleston/Arastradero corridor, have brought the neighborhood together in recent years. Betsy Allyn, who helped organize the newly rejuvenated neighborhood association, said that they are actively working to seek solutions to traffic and school safety.
Partly because of neighborhood activism, a new right-hand turn lane has been added to the Gunn High School entrance, as part of the newly unveiled Charleston/Arastradero Corridor Plan.
"We'll see a lot less cross-through traffic," Allyn said.
Ultimately, Green Acres remains a neighborhood centered around its children and its schools. Winnie McGannon, who has lived in Green Acres since 1968, believes that the qualities that first attracted homebuyers to the neighborhood have remained. "Housing prices are a major change," she said. "But it's still close to all the schools, and it's still a family neighborhood."
Green Acres facts
Fire station: Fire Station 5, 600 Arastradero Road
Library: Mitchell Park branch, 3700 Middlefield Road
Neighborhood association (Green Acres II): Betsy Allyn, (650) 493-8859
Parks: Juana Briones Park, Arastradero Road between Foothill and El Camino Real; Terman Park, 655 Arastradero Road
Post office: Cambridge station, 265 Cambridge Ave.
Pre-school: Palo Alto Montessori School, 575 Arastradero Road
Private school: Bowman International School, 4000 Terman Drive
Public Schools: Juana Briones School, Terman Middle School, Gunn High School
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