South of Seminary / Vintage Oaks

South of Seminary, also called Vintage Oaks, is a leafy, upper middle-class community huddled deep into Menlo Park community. While bounded by Willow Road to the east, Middlefield to the south, Ringwood Avenue to the west and Coleman Avenue to the north, the area spans about 0.4 square miles of exclusive residential terrain. Demographically speaking, the district is highly dense, with a total population of about 2,000 (with a largely white community base and a somewhat sizable asian minority).

Vintage Oak’s residential terrain is saturated with charming suburban aesthetics. For the most part, homes are mixed between one and two stories with appropriate sized properties. There is a somewhat noticeable change with nicer homes congregated more towards the western half, while you get more of the garden-variety is situated opposite. According to the 2010 US Census, the average estimated housing prices circle around a lofty $1.6 million. Yet, most households can afford it, raking in about $135,000/year (well above the city’s average). If you drive through the neighborhood, you’ll immediately notice its quaint, bushy neighborhood aesthetics. Every other block it seems like you’ll get your fair share of tree-lined streets, revamped house fronts and pleasant white picket fences.

For young families, the community is nestled next to the Menlo-Atherton High School, a well-regarded school which has garnered a 4-out-of-5 stars. Elsewhere, the Fuller Theological Seminary lies within the district’s bounds and is an accredited Christian education institute and one of Pasadena’s satellite schools. And its biggest perk, is its proximity to the highly recognized University of Stanford and its many scholastic activities.

Vintage Oaks is the home of St. Patrick’s Seminary, a 100+ year old seminary that helps feed the West Coast and Hawaii with priests. The large facility has an Olympic sized swimming pool, tennis courts and a gymnasium where the seminary students take on the local priest in a yearly game of hoops.

It is one of those neighborhoods with wonderful old houses—many of them clearly dating to about 100 years ago. There are also
a number of Ranch homes around here. The neighborhood is well kept but a bit dreary to me for some reason. I like older looking neighborhoods usually but when I was walking through this neighborhood the other day checking out the homes I just found them a little unimpressive—especially on the southern end of the Vintage Oaks neighborhood.

My favorite part of Vintage Oaks is Gloria Circle on the northern end of the neighborhood. It has this really amazing early century feel to it—the kind of neighborhood that just feels as if it was made for walking through rather than driving. The homes here are largely of the really old variety. They are those homes with symmetrical facades with the door at the center and windows on the both sides—I think they are called neo-classical homes and the look has been popular in one form or another since the Revolutionary War.

Overall, I wouldn’t want to live here but I really do like the look of that section of Vintage Oaks.