Cam Pablo, Orinda

Named after the upstate New York town that Washington Irving made famous, Sleepy Hollow could not be a better setting for a tribute to that classic American story, nestled away on the farthest northern end of Orinda as it is. Even for those just barely familiar with the famous story, the names of the streets and lanes will ring a bell: Ichabod Lane, Washington Lane, Irving Lane, and Sleepy Hollow Road for example. For real fans of the story, they will find more obscure allusions such as Van Tassel Lane and Van Ripper Lane. There are even a few little inside jokes here for the true Irving fan, such as having Ichabod Lane dead end in Berrybrook Hollow.

But you need never have heard of Irving nor his rendition of the tale of the Headless Horseman. In fact, even if you did a Rip Van Winkle right through all of that stuff in elementary school, you can still fall in love with this neighborhood’s quaint upscale seclusion. A drive through the long leafy lanes of this area reveals a neighborhood occupied by very wealthy families (75% are married and most own their homes). It is not so much that the homes are large and opulent—they actually are somewhat modest given the six figure average incomes of most of the residents here, but rather it’s the little details that make you feel as if you are driving through a model home catalogue. You can tell that the big building spurt for this neighborhood was the 1950’s as the vast majority of the homes are either fairly classic Prairie or, slightly less often, Ranch homes. What exudes wealth is the picture perfect exactness of the front lawns where topiary is arranged just so into perfect patterns so they at once seem just a touch wild, while still indicating a carefully choreographed layout. Driveways are often measured out with attractive weathered brick trim (which also picks up along the sidewalk and walkway). The homes are set well back from the lane so that an arriving visitor approaches the entrance a good enough distance so they can be greeted before entering the home. Many lawns are also guarded by partially obscured ceramic gnomes.

(Excuse the tangent, but this in fact reminds me of a humorous story. Back in college, I delivered pizzas here in Orinda for a few months. At night, Orinda really is a bit difficult to negotiate if you are not wholly familiar with the area. Many lanes have little lighting. The fact that my vision was starting to go and I had not yet realized it probably didn’t help either. One wintery night (a very Sleepy Hollow sort of night now that I think of it) I was sent here to deliver a pizza, and I remember driving up to the home and thinking how strange it was that they should have a grass driveway in this neighborhood. I delivered the pizza, got my money, but got a strange vibe from the homeowner who was staring at me disconcertedly. As I turned around to go, I suddenly realized that behind the short hedge that I thought marked the end of his property was actually the drive way. With the homes light now behind me I realized I had driven right up onto his lawn barely missing one of these tiny gnomes. As I pulled back, I could distinctly make out the marks of my tire tracks right across the guy’s lawn. I am actually surprised he didn’t complain and get me fired.)

Sleepy Hollow Elementary is also an outstanding school, perfectly nestled right up against the reservoir so that the students are gifted with a bucolic setting for their studies. (Which they of course take for granted being the scions of the privileged and successful.)

Overall, however, one of my favorite neighborhoods in Orinda.