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With its large lots and the privacy offered by the nearby foothills, Menlo Park’s Sharon Heights neighborhood remains a pleasant, family-friendly place to live. Plus, like many small towns, it has hardly any traffic lights.
The neighborhood, built in the 1960s, is bounded by the Sharon Heights Golf and Country Club, Sand Hill Road and Altschul and Santa Cruz avenues.
At one time, Sharon Heights was comprised of a single, large estate, according to longtime resident Kimberly Birn. However, she said that throughout the 1950s and 60s it was subdivided into many ranch-style homes. Despite the demolition of many of the original homes in favor of newer, larger houses, residents continue to see the neighborhood as a hidden oasis in the middle of the tech-centric Peninsula.
Birn, who has lived in the neighborhood since the 1980s, said she always dreamed of living in Sharon Heights.
“We love the foothills and the large lots and the privacy this neighborhood affords,” she said. “Sharon Heights is ideally situated for commute. We are bordered by Sand Hill Road, the Alameda and a little past Sharon Heights is Highway 280. When my husband and I commuted to San Francisco, we had one traffic signal between our home and San Francisco; now there are two.”
Birn also said other advantages include the neighborhood’s beautiful homes, wide streets and underground utilities and power lines, noting that many residents enjoy strolling around the neighborhood’s duck pond where the community gathers together for an egg hunt in the spring and that everyone comes together for the annual National Night Out.
Likewise, 11-year resident Khanh Nguyen has found very few disadvantages to living in Sharon Heights.
Although the Sharon Heights Shopping Center with a Safeway, CVS and Starbucks is nearby, Nguyen said the main downside is the neighborhood’s lack of closeness to resources, but she also believes the proximity to the dog-friendly Sharon Park and pleasant neighbors compensates for any neighborhood drawbacks.
“It’s a quiet neighborhood,” she said. “Close to a very nice park, convenient for commuters and in a very good school district.”
Although Nguyen said she and her husband chose the neighborhood not for the schools, but for its nearness to Stanford University and Interstate 280, she mentioned a recent rise in younger families with children moving into the neighborhood. Birn, however, has noticed little home turnover near her house and said despite there being residents of all ages and stages of life, very few people leave the neighborhood once they’ve purchased their home.
“(There are) no disadvantages except for buyers, as once you are a resident of Sharon Heights there is no reason to leave,” Birn said. “What I particularly like about the houses in Sharon Heights is due to the foothill topography one always feels separate from neighboring houses.”
Melissa McKenzie, 2018
FACTS
CHILD CARE & PRESCHOOLS: Trinity School, 2650 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park; Littlest Angels Preschool, 1095 Cloud Ave., Menlo Park; University Heights Montessori Children’s Center, 2066 Avy Ave., Menlo Park
FIRE STATION: 3322 Alameda de las Pulgas, Menlo Park
LOCATION: Sand Hill Road and Interstate 280 to Altschul Avenue, Alameda de las Pulgas and Santa Cruz Avenue
PARKS: Sharon Park, Sharon Park Drive; Sharon Hills Park, Valparaiso Avenue at Altschul Avenue
PRIVATE SCHOOLS: Phillips Brooks Sschool, 2245 Avy Ave., Menlo Park; Trinity School, 2650 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park
PUBLIC SCHOOLS: Las Lomitas Elementary School District — La Entrada School, 2200 Sharon Road, Menlo Park; Las Lomitas School, 299 Alameda de las Pulgas, Atherton.
Sequoia Union High School District: — Menlo-Atherton High School, 555 Middlefield Road, Atherton
SHOPPING: Sharon Heights Shopping Center, Stanford Shopping Center