Brookside Park

Brookside Park is yet another of these woody Portola Valley neighborhoods where homes pop up in the middle of winding woody lanes.

Homes here run between about $1 million and $2.5 million for the most part. These are not huge homes and they would certainly cost a lot less if they were not in Portola Valley. You will find a mix of homes here dating from the 50’s to the 90’s, with older homes tending to be smaller (around 2250 ft.) and newer homes tending to be bigger (~3500 ft.) and prices following a similar pattern.

The area feels very secluded and remote, though you are within a half hour’s drive (maybe less?) of Palo Alto, so although Portola Valley does not have much of anything to offer in terms of entertainment or nightlife, you are close enough to Palo Alto, San Jose and San Francisco where you can go and come back even on a busy weekend.

The schools are good. The neighbors are wealthy, or at least fairly well off. Over all, fairly typical Portola Valley.

Nestled deep into Portola Valley, Brookside Park is a very wealthy, secluded community fit for the recluse. As a result, the neighborhood’s community quarters are pretty bare, with only large woodsy properties popping up every couple acres or so. However, homes are pretty expensive and some offer great vistas of the surrounding suburbs. The district as a whole is largely residential, except a small commercial plaza centered along Portola Road. But its true reputation lies in its isolated hillside theme that Portola Valley is so adamantly known for.

Brookside Park is a very small, countryside neighborhood that is rarely visited amongst the general public. For the perspective resident, the district offers pretty of sizable homes (mixed between one and two story residences) hidden beneath the leafy residential landscape. Properties are also on the large side and rarely visible from the street. If you drive through the narrow roads, you’ll start to notice the quiet, serene landscape, but might be put off by the fact that there is really no sense of tight-knit community.

For the young family, the school of Corte Madera skirts the eastern side of the community and serves grades 4 through 8. Elsewhere, the Windy Hill Open Space Preserve lies just a couple blocks off the neighborhood’s limits. The grassland provides some challenging hills and amazing 360 panoramic views of the countryside. Its downsides are rooted in its location. As you might expect, its pretty boring, public transportation is fairly limited (the Caltrain and US Route 280 are a good 10 minute drive) and its commercial quarters are limited. In fact, the corner plaza only offers a hardware store, hair salon, small market and an automotive center.