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Charleston Meadows, Palo Alto
Some call it a 'secret refuge'
It's 6 p.m. in Silicon Valley. You're on your way home from a grueling day in the office, stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic near the corner of El Camino Real and West Charleston Road. At the stoplight, you take a look out your window. You see a Jiffy Lube and consider stopping to get an oil change just to avoid the continuing corridor of traffic extending south towards San Jose. The last thing you're thinking as you scan the commercial sprawl around you is that if you lived here you'd be home now.
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Yet, nestled just one block off El Camino, behind the Hyatt Rickey's Hotel and the Elks Lodge, is a community where dog-walking and stroller-pushing, not abrupt lane-changing and horns honking, are typical evening activities.
Welcome to Charleston Meadows, an enclave of more than 300 single-family homes secretly sandwiched between the major thoroughfares of El Camino and Alma Street.
"We're a giant cul-de-sac over here," said Deborah Ju, who lives with her husband and three children in the tree-lined, well-manicured Palo Alto neighborhood.
A basketball hoop graces the driveway of the Jus' beautiful blue two-story home on Whitclem Street, one of the few roads in the neighborhood that isn't a short cul-de-sac lined with ramblers.
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Charleston Meadows facts: Fire station: 3600 Middlefield Road |
"The community has people of all ages and is very close-knit," Ju said. In the 12 years the Ju family has lived on their block, only two homes have changed residents. "People in other parts of Palo Alto long for this kind of community," she said.
"There are kids crawling around this neighborhood," she added. "My kids are outside all the time, riding their bikes, shooting baskets."
Becky Epstein and her husband moved into the neighborhood in 1996. She now enjoys walking her 11-month old daughter down the quiet streets fragrant with flowers. "I feel like this is a welcoming environment, particularly for young families," Epstein said. "We've been able to get acquainted with people of all different ages and backgrounds. That is one of the perks."
Roger Kohler agrees. He grew up in Charleston Meadows and after going away for college returned to raise his own family on Wilkie Way. "It's been a good neighborhood," he said. "I've always gotten a kick out of hiring some boy to mow the lawn just like I used to do.
"The bike path has always been kind of fun also," he said. Kohler's home sits two doors down from the neighborhood pedestrian and bike bridge. Across the bridge, there is a small park where Kohler used to take his kids to play.
On the other side of West Charleston, there is another larger neighborhood park complete with a baseball diamond, basketball courts, and playground equipment.
Up until now, Kohler hasn't had a problem living behind the hustle and bustle of El Camino. "I've always enjoyed living next to (the Hyatt) Rickey's," he said. "We used to take the kids over there to see the swans and for their festival at Christmas."
However, what Kohler and many of his fellow residents aren't so excited about is Rickey's plan to build upscale condominiums in Charleston Meadows, projected to house more than 300 new residents.
"The middle school and industrial park already cause traffic," Kohler said. Charleston Road is the biggest school corridor in the city of Palo Alto. There are seven area schools that children are walking or riding their bikes to and from every morning and afternoon. Not to mention the fact that traffic from El Camino and Alma often overflows down West Charleston, which connects the two roads.
Today, Wilkie Way, which parallels El Camino, is not a through street, so residents don't have to worry about unwanted cars clogging their neighborhood and creating an unsafe environment for their children to play in.
"Here, people cherish their community and we're going to lose it if density grows too large. That's more important than traffic, but not as measurable."
"Overall, the neighborhood, Rickey's and the Elks are fine, but the whole corridor is just becoming lots of homes and the intensity is increasing beyond what is going to be livable," Kohler said.
In spite of the growing pains, none of these Charleston Meadows residents are going anywhere anytime soon. The proposed project for Hyatt Rickey's is still a long way off, and there are plenty of other things neighbors have to concern their time with, like figuring out when they can make it out to Alma without waiting through four light changes.
"What we really need is breathable space," Ju said. "You have to battle it out everyday out there and you want to be able to come home to a nice neighborhood."
"This is a great place to live," Epstein said. "And we're going to do everything to preserve it that way."
-- Sarah Heim