Greenmeadow

Although old fashioned, Greenmeadow is a quaint, family-friendly neighborhood that has succeeded in maintaining its historic order of the 1950’s. For perspective residents, most homes are owner-occupied, built just after World War II. They are the upward move (in price), mainly due to the public school district’s rising acclaim. The neighborhood itself spans about 0.5 square miles of dense residential terrain (total population exceeds 2,000). It is also relatively safe, on par with most other Palo Alto communities. Demographically speaking, the racial makeup is predominately white (over 65%), with a relatively sizable asian minority (20%).

Greenmeadow’s residential aesthetic mostly concerns itself with keeping with its mid-century charm. For the most part, the neighborhood is saturated with an eclectic mix of house styles from Eichler homes to long, single-story ranch houses. A couple of these homes have gone under renovation in the past couple of years, trying to elicit a more modern aesthetic to appeal to younger families. Properties are somewhat adequate, but can have shallow (sometimes garage-less) driveways with only mildly attractive front yards. Communal spaces are nothing more than orderly roads, healthy sidewalks and bushy trees popping up in every lot. If you’re looking to own a home, you’ll likely pay upwards of $1.1 million for an Eichler while condominiums are listed, on average, at $750,000.

Greenmeadow is a firmly middle-class community, only holding high praise because of the local school district. In fact, the neighborhood is served by the Palo Alto Unified School District, an area which has fostered a number of students into the UC school system and the prestigious Stanford University. For your commercial needs, a small shopping plaza is situated at the corner of Middlefield Road and East Charleston Road. The area is outfitted with a hair salon, ice cream parlor and a small food market (basically your neighborhood essentials). There is also a communal pool and park within every community clubhouse.

This is yet another Eichler neighborhood, filled with that Nor Cal architect’s classic low roofs, exposed beams, and recessed entryways. This is not quite as impressive a neighborhood as the Fairmeadow neighborhood but Greenmeadow definitely does have its charms. As I have mentioned elsewhere I am a real fan of these Eichler style homes when they are well-kept, and I think they work especially well when they are all next to each other in a neighborhood. Unlike other home styles, like Ranch homes which just look really bland and indistinguishable, I find that Eichlers, for whatever reason, retain their individuality, even when placed next to each other in this way.

Greenmeadow is relatively well kept. There are faded front lawns and some less than immaculate paint jobs here and there, but overall, it is a pretty good spot. This is not really a renter’s neighborhood. Right now there is only one home for rent that I can find. It is $1800 for a 2-bedroom, which is pretty good by Palo Alto standards where you usually have to multiply the number of rooms times $1000 and then add an extra thousand just for the convenience of being in Palo Alto.

This is pretty much suburban Palo Alto, so you have all the usual conveniences and mediocrities that come with that: strip malls, bland restaurants, daycare, fast food. It’s not exciting but it is practical.

There is also the Cubberley Community Center on the eastern end of this neighborhood. It is home to several local groups including the Chinese reading room, the Friends of the Library, and a dance group that puts on classes. The location also used to be home to Cubberley High School, which those who are familiar with the book and film The Wave will recognize as the high school where that thought experiment took place. (Basically, a local high school teacher managed to recreate a Nazi style movement among suburban tenth graders in just one week.)

Overall though, a pretty bland, fairly forgettable neighborhood by Palo Alto standards.