Palo Verde, Palo Alto
Serenity, a swim club and an annual picnic

Palo Verde is the kind of neighborhood where people could hang out on their porches and watch the world go by. If only they had porches.

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With the exception of a few scrapes, wacky remodeling projects and a cottage or two, this south Palo Alto neighborhood is block after block of Eichlers: no sloped roofs, no recessed garages, and no porches.

Until you get to Don Stone's house on Louis Road, where the long-time Palo Verde resident is boldly taking his house where no Palo Verde resident has gone before.

"Don is bringing us to the next stage," said Sandra Eakins, his neighbor around the corner. "He has a porch."

Not only a porch, but a swing, a carry-over from his Denver childhood where he spent summer evenings rocking and watching neighbors go about their business or pass by. "Palo Verde needs porches," he said. "Everyone needs porches. Porches open up the front of the house. They connect you to the neighborhood."

Still, he has to admit his porch has not exactly spawned a Palo Verde porch culture. "We do go out and sit," he said. "But there's not a lot to see."

That's because the neighborhood, which runs from Middlefield Road to Highway 101 and Loma Verde to East Meadow, was designed according to the dream of the '50s. The wide streets and numerous cul-de-sacs are quiet, good for cars and removed from the urban hubbub. There is no cafe, no supermarket, no fast food hangout and no mini, California Avenue-style downtown.

"It's not just quiet," said Eakins, former mayor of Palo Alto. "It's desperately quiet."

At this point, the 24-year resident of the area wouldn't have it any other way. "A lot of people say they live here because it's the only thing they can afford. We live here because we want to."

In her opinion, the neighborhood has the "right values": a mix of ages, a mix of races and a middle-of-the-spectrum economic profile. "You don't have the super-rich or the people who made it big on stock options," she said. "You have engineers, and scientists and artists.

"And," she adds, "we're the most liberal precinct in the flatlands."

It is certainly one of the least-known neighborhoods in Palo Alto. One of the first questions people have about the area is, "Where is it?"

Eric Fischer-Colbrie, a broker with the Midtown office of Cornish & Carey who specializes in the area, has found that the best approach in selling is to show, not tell. "People think that anything south of Oregon is less desirable," he said. "Until they see it."

What people do find, once they get there, are "great houses, and great value for the money." Often the houses are large -- several thousand square feet with four or five bedrooms and three or four baths.
The schools are a significant drawing card: Palo Verde for elementary school, JLS for middle school, and then Gunn.

The area has one park, Ramos on East Meadow Drive, the site of the annual community summer picnic. The three-year-old neighborhood association sponsors the picnic, holds meetings and publishes a newsletter, ironically titled "The Front Porch."

Like many areas of Palo Alto south of Oregon Expressway, Palo Verde was built in the '50s by developer Joseph Eichler. Before then the area was a flat vista of orchards, pheasant farms, dirt paths and empty fields.

According to the association, the first family settled the area in 1951, building a home on Evergreen Street. A six-year boom followed. By 1957, the area was pretty much as it stands today. That same year, residents experienced one of the area's worst floods. In some cases, up to 18 inches of water saturated people's homes.

The area is still defined as a flood zone, but not because of rain water. According to the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA), the area lies in a saltwater flood zone because of its proximity to the Bay.

"The flood zone does scare some buyers away," said Fischer-Colbrie. "But most people just ignore the whole thing."

The flood-zone designation means that any major remodeling efforts (defined as 50 percent of the value of the property) must bring the building into compliance with flood-zone regulations. To meet those regulations, existing buildings need to be raised 5 feet.

Apart from flood-zone regulations and a mini-wave of tear downs, grumbling tends to focus on the Ross Road YMCA. "That was probably our biggest issue, because of the parking and noise," Eakins said. "At this point, most people have accepted the Y. But there are still some hold-out dissenters."

A few other urban ills have penetrated the tranquility as well: Noise from swim meets at the Eichler Swim & Tennis Club breaks the silence on Saturday mornings, and bicyclists have occasionally run over plants. The club itself has been a fixture in the neighborhood almost since the beginning. It has 300 family memberships, four tennis courts and a large swimming pool.

The one thing the area doesn't have is a problem with traffic. "Unless you live here, there's no reason to come here," Eakins said.

-- Diane Sussman (updated by Patricia Gosalvez)

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