Los Altos and Los Altos Hills
The Dawn Thomas Team understands that when considering purchasing a home in the Los Altos area, knowing as much as you can about Los Altos is the first step. The City of Los Altos is located on the “mid-Peninsula” of the San Francisco Bay Area – approximately halfway bewteen San Francisco and San Jose. Its central location, small town feel, and proximity to most Silicon Valley employers makes it one of the most desirable locations in the area.
Los Altos was once a rural agicultural town with numerous orchards. It strives to maintain this “semi-rural” feeling in the middle of Silicon Valley. In Los Altos, you will find few sidewalks except in major shopping areas. Most roads in the residential areas have wide unpaved areas along the side of the road for street parking, instead of curbs. There is little or no street lighting outside of commerical areas. And in Los Altos, the median lot size is 0.25 to 0.5 acres – significantly larger than neighboring Palo Alto or Mountain View. In many areas -the loudest sound at night is the hum of the crickets.
Unlike some neighboring towns, Los Altos has concentrated its commercial zones in several specific areas. The popular downtown “Village” is a triangular area bounded by Foothill Expressway, San Antonio Road, and Edith Avenue. Other commercial areas include shops along El Camino near the Palo Alto border, the Rancho San Antonio shopping center in the southern part of town, and Loyola Corners.
Los Altos by the Numbers (U.S. Census Bureau):
- Population (2006 est) – 27,483
- Size: 7 square miles
- Number of homes: 10,727
- Home Ownership Rate: 85.6%
- Average commute time: 22.1 minutes
Los Altos Schools
- Los Altos School District serves grades K-8
- Mountain View – Los Altos High School District serves grades 9-12
- Some parts of southern Los Altos are located in the Cupertino Union School District
- Los Altos also hosts a K-6 charter school – Bullis
Los Altos Links
- City of Los Altos
- Los Altos Chamber of Commerce
- Los Altos Town Crier - the local weekly newspaper
- Los Altos City Statistics from City-Data.com
- Los Altos City Profile – from Wikipedia
- Los Altos History Museum – located behind the libarary
- Los Altos Parks and Recreation
- Los Altos Library
Los Altos Events
- Los Altos Kiwanis Annual Pet Parade – on the Saturday in May following Mother’s Day
- Los Altos Rotary Art in the Park - on the Saturday in May following Mother’s Day
- Los Altos Arts and Wine Festival – the second weekend in July
- Los Altos Fall Festival - the first weekend in October
- Los Altos Festival of Lights Parade - the Sunday after Thanksgiving
- Weekly Los Altos Farmer’s Market - every Thursday, May through September from 4 to 8 p.m.
Utilities and Services
- Electricity & Gas: Pacific Gas & Electric
- Water: California Water Service Company
- Garbage: Los Altos Garbage
- Police: Los Altos Police Department
- Fire: Santa Clara County Fire Department
This blog is courtesy of The Dawn Thomas Team who is an award-winning Real Estate Agent team at Intero Real Estate Services in Los Altos 650-701-7822. We help nice people with selling and buying homes from Palo Alto to West San Jose!
