Where is the best place to live if you work in Palo Alto but don't like it there?

[suzyQsanjose]

How about Almaden Valley in San Jose? Unpretentious, but big houses with great neighborhoods. 30 min from the beach, too.

[tennis368fan]

Consider Fremont and Castro Valley as well. Both have good schools, with the exception of Kennedy High School in Fremont, and homes are less expensive than on the peninsula. If you are willing to drive a little further, the Tri-Valley has a lot of "obnoxious" homes and good schools with a good balance between academics and athletics. 1.6 million dollars can buy a large home in the East Bay, possibly with a pool, although you may need to install it after you buy the home as the pool may not be pre-installed.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by JenniferInILL

I will be relocating because of a job transfer to Palo Alto. I know that Palo is a nice area but it honestly isn't really my style. A little to pretentious in a hippie, politically liberal, eductaionally snobby kind of way (no offense, those are all great qualities just not for me.) Where should I start looking here are my guidelines:

Willing to drive 40 mins each way
Housing costs up to $1,600,000
2 children age 16 and 7.
want GOOD schools but I don't care if they are status school districts
I would like to live near the ocean
my 16 year old wants a big obnoxious house with a pool and a school where football (cheerleading!) is big.
My 7 year old wants to be able to ride a bike to her friends house and walk to school.


I was thinking maybe Santa Cruz, but was told the commute was pretty brutal. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

A lot of the things you want can't be found all in one spot. Santa Cruz is also hippie-ish...although less pretentious than Palo Alto. Besides a brutal commute, I don't think the schools in Santa Cruz are all that great.

Most places within 5 miles of the ocean have cool weather year round...so not exactly conducive to swimming pools. Santa Cruz is the exception....because of local geography, Santa Cruz, by the standards of coastal Northern CA, has warm summers (mid to upper 70s by day, low to mid 50s at night).

However, I would defer to what the other posters have said. There are plenty of places that are within 1/2 hour of the ocean that would meet all or most of your criteria.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by suzyQsanjose

How about Almaden Valley in San Jose? Unpretentious, but big houses with great neighborhoods. 30 min from the beach, too.

Almaden Valley might be a good choice. They do have good public schools there but not quite as status-y as what you have in Palo Alto. You get more for your housing dollar there than in P.A. Almaden Valley is more suburban in character, so no cute little downtown like Palo Alto has. I'm guessing it's also one of the more conservative parts of the South Bay. If it's liberal, it's definitely not of the hippie variety.

The downside to A.V. is that it is that the commute would be a bit of a drag, but still well within 40 miles of P.A. Personally, I would not want to commute from A.V. to P.A. every day....but I live a block away from my job, so I'm definitely spoiled in that regard. Lots of people do much worse commutes (than from AV to PA) in this area, but I personally think they're all nuts.

Also, realistically, I think A.V. is probably more like 45 minutes (from the time you get in your car until the time you find a parking space and are actually enjoying the beach) from the beach in Santa Cruz, not 30 minutes.

[zitsky]

A lot of the things you're looking for can be found in Mountain View, right next door to Palo Alto. It's a much less pretentious community that has excellent schools, good property values, and a very walkable downtown area with great restaurants and stores. We have independent shops and chains within a small area. The city has a public swimming pool near downtown, and we have many developments right in town that have their own swimming pools. Los Altos is nearby and many of the houses have individual pools there.

The city government is very well run, with a strong city council and city manager. The mayor position rotates among council members. The current mayor is an Asian American woman. The town is pretty diverse, with many different economic and social groups represented. You can see herons, geese and many other animals who live in the San Francisco Bay at our beautiful Shoreline Park, and 30-45 minutes to the ocean, either north in Pacifica/Half Moon Bay or south in Santa Cruz.

The city website will give you a lot of information about services and the community. If this post sounds like an advertisement, it's because I moved here from Chicago 14 years ago and absolutely love it here. My house near downtown has a backyard garden, and more types of fruit trees than you can possibly imagine. I can walk downtown in 5 minutes or be in San Francisco in 45 minutes to an hour.

Good luck with your decision!