Waverly Park

Bordered by Grant Road, Sleeper Avenue, US Route 85 and Bryant Avenue, Beverly Park is the embodiment of the 1950‘s era family-accommodating Mountain View community. The district is primarily residential with a plethora of traditional and historic homes. They are actually architecturally specific to dividend houses and the Ditz-Crane style. While some are renovated with minor tweaks, others are completely remodeled to minor remodeled to fit a more modern appeal. As a whole, the district is a fairly expensive, but you’re paying for the Mountain View location.

Waverly Park’s residential terrain is split into two very separate and distinct suburban accommodations. On one side, there are plenty of ranch homes, all of different variations. Many are of those long, one-story homes, but have significantly larger lots than what Mountain View is used to. Many lots are, indeed, accented with white picket fences or those short, thick bushes that you see on older, 1960’s properties. Also, its communal spaces are neat and orderly with trees usually lining every street (but it’s nothing too fancy).

If you head towards the southern end of the neighborhood (especially Milton Court and Waltham Street), you’ll notice a large batch of beautiful, enormous homes with elegant, traditional house fronts. While likely renovated or completely torn down and built back up again, homes are trying to slowly update its architecture and neighborhood ambiance to fit current trends in the market. As such, they have improved each lot with two-car garages, spacious driveways and two bulky stories of living space. Each home has also been treated with well-manicured properties to develop an overarching theme of family-friendliness. And like each house style, house values vary drastically in price. Some of the long, old, California ranch variety circle around $800,000, while the newer developments can run you up a good $1.5 million.

If you have a young family, the school system within the neighborhood has garnered mixed reviews. Students usually attend the Mountain View-Whisman School District, which oversees Huff Elementary, Graham Middle School and either Mountain View or Los Altos High School. To get there, people can hitch a ride on the bus routes that run through Grant Road every so often. Or if you’re from out-of-town, US Route 85 is a convenient option, connecting locals with the various surrounding highways.

For your shopping needs, El Camino Real features the only close commercial strip. The area is filled with a variety of dining options for every taste and budget, along with a couple eclectic shops and suburban businesses. For recreation, Cuesta Park skirts the northwestern corner. The lush green environment is outfitted with a couple community tennis courts, a youth baseball field and space for a couple soccer fields.

Waverly is the neighborhood just two blocks over from my brother’s neighborhood. It is just north of Mountain View High School which is really outstanding (consistently holds an API of 10—the highest rating possible).

I love a neighborhood named after a Sir Walter Scott novel, even if they did misspell it, but that’s not what I really like most about this neighborhood. Actually what I like most are the historic homes located here. If you are a bit of an architecture buff like I am, you will probably enjoy visiting Waverly and taking a gander at some of the older homes here. For example, right by the corner of Biericx and Kern there is a 1925 Mission Colonial manor that is just beautiful. It feels like the kind of house you would usually find in Beverly Hills and that dates back to the Golden Age of Hollywood. But it stands out even more for being surrounded by fairly typical modern homes.

There is also a really well kept 1913 American Craftsman at the bottom of the Saint Giles Lane cul-de-sac. The front porch is really attractive and gives you a good sense of the style, known for its feeling of protective comfort. Saint Giles Lane, by the way, is beautiful in and of itself with its palm trees and attractive newer homes.

But even without the historic homes, there are some pretty great houses here. Although many of these are close to what you would call Ranch homes, they have a lot of different variations. Some are two story houses and others just have a rather flat look to them. It is really refreshing actually to see this kind of heterogeneous neighborhood—especially given how often you come across these completely monotone planned neighborhoods these days.

Okay, but what does it cost to live here? Well, there aren’t any current homes for sale in Waverly that I know of, but over by
Grant Avenue where there used to be an open field, there is a whole new section of the neighborhood starting to go up. Homes here are projected to run you around $2 million.

As for what it is actually like living in Waverly, it is actually pretty nice. It is a fairly typical suburban neighborhood, but it was created long enough ago that it is still pedestrian friendly, with flat sidewalk filled surface streets that are great for kids on bikes and walking. Most streets are pretty quiet and relatively safe in terms of traffic.

There is also a good park, Cooper Park, on the northeastern end of the neighborhood where you can find a very nice play area for the little ones. (The park is sort of an extension of the local elementary school.) There are a couple of baseball fields and some good tennis courts as well. But you don’t have to settle for these parks if you live here. Since the Cuesta Park neighborhood is just to west, you can also go to Cuesta Park just to the west. Or if the tennis courts are full here, go to the Mountain View Tennis club.

The other nice thing is that even though you are in a quiet, safe suburban neighborhood you are also pretty close to the restaurants over on El Camino, so that you can practically walk to get a bite to eat. (Although to get there is a little trickier than a walk allows since the Steven’s Creek highway creates a sort of barrier for those trying to get to that part of town. )

And should you need a hospital—El Camino Hospital (one of Mountain Views biggest employers) is just to the west as well.
That is where my brother’s last kid was born as a matter of fact. They also offer a ton of outreach programs from breast feeding to just general health programs.

Overall, this is one of the several really great Mountain View neighborhoods. Though, of course, like most of Mountain View, you will definitely pay for it.