SubscribeMenlo Park’s Fair Oaks neighborhood: A touch of the rustic in the middle of suburbia
December 20, 2006
One of the hidden treasures of Menlo Park is the Fair Oaks neighborhood, nestled between Middlefield Rd, Marsh Rd, and a seldom-used industrial rail track. Squashed between the three neighboring towns of Atherton, Menlo Park, and Redwood City, it nonetheless manages to have a character all its own.
A stranger walking the streets of Fair Oaks wouldn’t help but notice a lack of sidewalks and proper drainage, and an abundance of little British-style roundabouts. Both help create the unique sense of neighborhood for which Fair Oaks residents are justly proud — a uniqueness that comes from a peculiar combination of benign neglect (as part of unincorporated San Mateo County instead of Menlo Park proper) and a strong neighborhood association (which installed the roundabouts to slow down commuters who use the neighborhood as a way to avoid the traffic on Marsh and Middlefield).
The neighborhood association also oversees Fair Oaks Park, a little gem maintained without a cent of public money and situated on a Hetch Hetchy right of way; residents keep their fingers crossed that the massive water system’s pipes will never need to be dug up.
Being part of unincorporated San Mateo County — “Menlo Park” in this neighborhood being technically only a mailing address — is a mixed blessing. On the one hand, Fair Oaks residents don’t have the luxury of access to Menlo Park’s phenomenal elementary school system; on the other hand, property values are a good 20% to 30% lower than nearby Menlo Park proper, most of the difference being accounted for by…the poorer schools. What you would pay just under a million dollars for in nearby Flood Park would set you back a mere $800,000 or so in Fair Oaks.
Many of the homes are small — 1200 sq ft or less — and sit on small lots of 4500 sq ft or less, a testament to Fair Oak’s origins as weekend country homes for rich San Franciscans and San Jose-ans in the 1920’s. There are a smattering of larger lots left, mostly a relic of spillover estates from nearby Atherton, which technically the southeast corner of Fair Oaks is still part of.
Conveniently located only minutes from the bustling downtown of Palo Alto, as well as Menlo Park’s more bucolic downtown, Fair Oaks is also only a vigorous stone’s throw from highway 101, making it a convenient location for commuting to many of Silicon Valley’s top high-tech employers.
Tags: 94025, Area-information, Atherton, Fair Oaks, Flood Park, Local information, Menlo Park, Real estate
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