Barron Park

There’s nothing too interesting about Barron Park. For the most part, it’s your typical run-of-the-mill, middle-class community with old-fashioned residential accommodations and not much else. Geographically speaking, the district stretches about 0.75 square miles of fairly dense residential terrain. But this is to be expected with the neighborhood situated along El Camino Real, the main commercial zone of Palo Alto. And with its convenience to popular job hubs of San Jose and Mountain View, the area has garnered attention from young professionals looking to upstart their career.

If you’re just passing through, Barron Park’s residential aesthetics are somewhat dull and unappealing. Residences are mostly single story residences with shallow front yards and mildly charming house fronts. Most homes were built during the mid 20th century and still maintain an old-fashioned (somewhat outdated) aesthetic. However, newer, more attractive starter homes and/or remodeled houses have been popping up in the neighborhood in recent years combatting that traditional look that has plagued the area for so long. For parking, properties usually accommodate two-car garages and enough driveway space to hold two more cars. And lots are usually well-maintained, with small front lawns and bushy common areas. For the perspective resident, median house prices are estimated at around $1.2 million, but can sell for as high as $2.8 million. Those who can afford it typically rake in an annual household income of $115,000.

Barron Park offers a more rural way of life compared to most Palo Alto communities. While its proximity to Stanford University does provide a wealth of fun activities, the district maintains a pretty quiet and calm sense of lifestyle. For young families, Barron Park is within walking distance to all four local public schools, especially with the re-opening of Terron Middle School in 2006. For older students, the Henry M. Gunn High School skirts the southern border and has gained some positive notoriety with the local community.

I house sat a professor’s house on a little cul-de-sac in this neighborhood over Christmas break. This is a great neighborhood. It is, first of all, just an incredibly beautiful neighborhood. It’s not your typical flat Ranch house neighborhood. It is flat and there are Ranch homes (though even they tend to avoid conformity, opting for different roofs and for bi-levels rather than the usual single story that is common in lots of Ranch homes). But you also have a number of other kinds of homes. Like on the cul-de-sac where my professor lives, the house next door is some kind contemporary style home with a front entry way that is recessed into the house so that you have to walk up under the roof awning and into a little outdoor foyer to knock on the front door. (It kind of reminds me of the entry way to a medieval castle in miniature, if that makes any sense.)

When we took the dogs for a walk around the neighborhood we notice that the houses in the area have a lot of eclectic touches like that. The front lawns, for example: one house will have a cactus motif, while another has a driveway with small tan colored bricks that perfectly match the color of the roof while at the same time have a lawn, that even in the middle of winter, is perfectly green.

Now that is not to say that every house in the neighborhood is kept in this immaculate fashion. There are ramshackle hovels here and there where lawns are un-kept and the house looks pretty ordinary, but only just enough of these to provide a contrast to the rest of the neighborhood.

The cul-de-sacs in this neighborhood are the best spots, as far as I am concerned. Some have basketball nets set-up so that the kids who live there can take advantage of the virtually non-existent traffic (another great benefit of living on a cul-de-sac).

When the BF and I were looking for a place to live in the summer, we looked into living here, but it was simply beyond our means. The best deal that we found was a one-bedroom apartment for about $1700/month. But that was just outside of our means. And that was the best deal. Typically what we would find was $1000/room plus an extra thousand just because. So a one bedroom was $2000, a two bedroom, $3000 etc. (The only studio we found was $1500).

We loved the neighborhood but just weren’t comfortable with paying that much just as we were starting out and with me in school and all.

Okay, so that’s the housing situation here.

The other thing we really liked about this neighborhood was that it was very walkable. Sidewalks all around (definitely not something to be taken for granted in car crazed California where a lot of the newer neighborhoods don’t bother with proper sidewalks, making a car a necessity for anyone who doesn’t want to take his or her life into their own hands every time they stroll out the door). Which is great for kids riding bikes too.

There are sidewalks all around this neighborhood and even from one of the cul-de-sacs way at the back western edge of the neighborhood it is not inconceivable to walk out to El Camino where you can hop on a bus and be able to get where you are going without a hitch.

The parks here are pretty good too. Bol Park is a nice little park, especially for kids and if you are a cyclist you will love the bike path that runs along the back of the park. Brionnes Park is pretty good too. It has a kid’s play area and a basketball court.

Now this is not a typical residential neighborhood because along El Camino, you have a pretty good selection of restaurants as well. While the BF and I were here we went to Fuki Sushi one night, and though on the expensive side (like everything in Palo Alto) we loved it. You can also find a handful of other East Asian restaurants, and at least on Mexican place that I noticed. Even if these restaurants weren’t here, you are so close to downtown Palo Alto that you could be to one those places within 5 minutes anyway.

Put simply, I’ve developed a little crush on Barron Garden. Oh Barron Garden, won’t you one day be mine? Please!

(Oh yeah, and the schools here are outstanding too!)