Los Altos, California

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Coordinates: 37°22′5″N, 122°5′51″W
City of Los Altos

Location of Los Altos within Santa Clara County, California.
Country	United States of America
State	California
County	Santa Clara
Mayor	Ron Packard
Area
- City	16.4 km²
- Land	16.4 km²
- Water	0.0 km²
Population
- City (2000)	27,693
- Density	1,683.8/km²
Time zone	PST (UTC-8)
- Summer (DST)	PDT (UTC-7)
Website: http://www.ci.los-altos.ca.us/

Los Altos (IPA: [lɔs ɑltos]) is a city at the southern end of the San Francisco Peninsula, in the San Francisco Bay Area. The city is in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population was 27,693 at the 2000 census.

Los Altos is a quiet "bedroom community" suburb serving both San Jose and San Francisco. Most of the city was developed between the 1950s and 1970s. As a formerly agricultural town, Los Altos has several unique features. Commercial zones are strictly limited to the downtown area (referred to by local merchants as Los Altos Village) and a few shopping centers and office parks lining Foothill Expressway and El Camino Real. The adjacent town of Los Altos Hills has no commercial zones, post office, or public library, and is dependent upon Los Altos for such services.

1 Education
2 Design and planning
3 Neighboring Cities
4 Sister cities
5 Famous residents
6 Los Altos History Museum
7 Geography
8 Demographics
9 Earthquakes
10 1998 tornado
11 Parades/activities
12 References
13 External links

[edit] Education

[edit] Public education

Los Altos is served by a K-8 school district, the Los Altos School District, and a separate 9-12 high school district, the Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District. Students in parts of Los Altos attend schools in the Cupertino Union School District, a K-8 district including Montclaire Elementary School and Cupertino Middle School. Los Altos also hosts a K-6 charter school, Bullis Charter School.

Both districts are highly regarded^[1], and most graduates of Los Altos high schools continue their education at well-known universities throughout the United States.

There is currently some debate as to whether or not Bullis School (located in Los Altos Hills, not to be confused with Bullis Charter School) will remain part of the Los Altos district. The decision to close Bullis was unpopular in Los Altos Hills, and that town is considering forming its own school district in order to take control of the school.

[edit] Private education

Los Altos is also served by highly regarded private and parochial schools, many of which, such as St. Francis High School (Mountain View) and the Kings Academy (Sunnyvale) are in neighboring communities.

[edit] Library

The Los Altos Library serves the entire city, and has an average of ten copies per book. Many students study at the library and use the internet service. Because of the low funding, Los Altos Library was closed on Mondays, but is now open again. Woodland Library, another, smaller branch, is located near the Cupertino border. Both libraries are part of the Santa Clara County Library System. Visit the library website at santaclaracountylib.org

[edit] Design and planning

Los Altos, by design, strives to maintain a semi-rural atmosphere. Los Altos has very few sidewalks except around the commercial zones mentioned above and along the most important arterial roads like San Antonio Road. Most roads have broad dirt shoulders and little or no street lighting. The civic center sits in the middle of an orchard, a tiny remnant of the large farms which once covered the entire area. The downtown is a triangle with arterials on all sides that allow most through traffic to bypass Main Street. In contrast, several nearby cities have downtowns that lack adequate bypasses (notably, Palo Alto and Menlo Park). Due to the city's strict low-density zoning, many Los Altos homes are now valued at $1 million and higher.

From the mid-1990s onward, downtown Los Altos has experienced mild economic difficulties due to competition from shopping centers and chain stores in nearby Mountain View and Palo Alto, as well as its lack of a hotel or movie theater. The problem of how to revitalize the downtown area continues to be a major issue in city politics^[2].

Los Altos may have a legitimate claim to having the first scientifically designed sound baffle in the year 1970. Santa Clara County undertook a seminal study to mathematically calculate the effects of alternate soundwall designs along Foothill Expressway^[3]. The resulting design was built and successfully predicted reduction of seven to ten decibels in Noise pollution levels for adjacent homes.

[edit] Neighboring Cities

[edit] Sister cities

Los Altos has three sister cities, as designated by Sister Cities International:

[edit] Famous residents

Current well-known residents of Los Altos include:

Charles Geschke (co-founder of Adobe Systems)
John Warnock (co-founder of Adobe Systems)
Paul Mockapetris (inventor or co-inventor of the Domain Name System)
Jerry Yang (co-founder of Yahoo!)

Others who are from/have inhabited Los Altos and have achieved fame include:

Alan Cranston (former U.S. senator)
Juli Inkster (renowned LPGA golfer)
George Seifert (former head coach of NFL team San Francisco 49ers)
Steve Young (former quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers and current Hall-of-Famer)
Lee Woodall (former NFL linebacker for the San Francisco 49ers, Carolina Panthers, and Denver Broncos)
Colt Cannon (professional skateboarder)
Lauren McFall (member of bronze-winning 2004 Olympic synchronized swimming team)
Steve Jobs (CEO of Apple Computer)
Jim Morrison (frontman of the 60s rock band, The Doors)

[edit] Los Altos History Museum

Located in one of the few remaining apricot orchards of Santa Clara Valley, the Los Altos History Museum explores the rich history of local people and how the use of the land over time has transformed the agricultural paradise once known as the "Valley of Heart's Delight" into the high technology hub of today's Silicon Valley.

Opened in spring of 2001 and nestled next door to the Los Altos Library, the Los Altos History Museum resides in an impressive three-level, 8,200-square-foot building – built entirely with private donations; building ownership was transferred to the City of Los Altos in 2002. The Museum features a changing exhibits gallery as well as the permanent exhibit, "Crown of the Peninsula," that describes the rich history of Los Altos. There's more history just across the lushly landscaped courtyard in the landmark J. Gilbert Smith House. Built in 1905, the home is nestled under majestic heritage oaks and has been meticulously refurbished to replicate a farmhouse of the 1930's. Visitors are welcome to enjoy the gardens and picnic tables even when the House and Museum are closed.

With the mission to "collect, preserve and interpret the history of the Los Altos area," the Museum provides educational opportunities for children and adults to learn about the community via interactive exhibits and hands-on activities aligned with Museum objectives. Other programs include third and fourth grade tours and curriculum for local school children, oral history collections, the traveling Ohlone kit, and much more.

[edit] Geography

Los Altos is located at 37°22′5″N, 122°5′51″W (37.36819, -122.097511)^GR1.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 16.4 km² (6.3 mi²). All of it is land and none of it is covered by water.

[edit] Demographics

Main Street in downtown Los Altos

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 27,693 people, 10,462 households, and 8,024 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,683.8/km² (4,360.7/mi²). There were 10,727 housing units at an average density of 652.2/km² (1,689.1/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 80.35% White, 0.47% African American, 0.17% Native American, 15.42% Asian, 0.16% Pacific Islander, 0.66% from other races, and 2.77% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.97% of the population.

There were 10,462 households out of which 33.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 69.4% were married couples living together, 5.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.3% were non-families. 18.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.61 and the average family size was 2.98.

In the city the population was spread out with 23.7% under the age of 18, 3.5% from 18 to 24, 24.5% from 25 to 44, 29.1% from 45 to 64, and 19.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44 years. For every 100 females there were 93.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.0 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $126,740, and the median income for a family was $148,201. Males had a median income of $100,000 versus $67,332 for females. The per capita income for the city was $66,776. About 1.1% of families and 2.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.2% of those under age 18 and 1.5% of those age 65 or over.

[edit] Earthquakes

A store badly damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.

1906 — Affected after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The big rush was to rebuild the San Jose Missionaries, known as the Mission Revival.
1989 — On October 17, Los Altos was affected by the Loma Prieta earthquake, the most recent major earthquake to hit the area. It caused a lot of mess in stores which took days to clean up. Los Altos and its churches combined efforts to clean up hard hit areas such as Watsonville and Santa Cruz.

[edit] 1998 tornado

In 1998, a pair of tornadoes, one in Los Altos and one in Sunnyvale, touched down, causing some damage. [1] [2] [3]

[edit] Parades/activities

Los Altos Kiwanis Club Pet Parade (Egan students play music)
Halloween Festival
Main Street Parade
Los Altos Rotary Club Fine Art Show
Downtown Los Altos Arts & Wine Festival, Los Altos Village Association
Los Altos Fall Festival, Los Altos Chamber of Commerce
California Country Annual Fall Antique Americana Show & Sale, June & October, Los Altos History Museum
Festival of Lights Parade

[edit] References

^ Blitzer, Carol. "Building on Success." San Jose Business Journal, 6 March 1995, sec. S, p. 3.
^ McPherson, Sarah. "Small Town, Hard Sell: Village leader trying to pump up downtown." San Jose Mercury News, 6 April 2005, sec. B, p. 1.
^ Hogan, C. Michael and Harry Seidman. "Design of Noise Abatement Structures along Foothill Expressway, Los Altos, California" County of Santa Clara Public Works Department, dir. Jim Pott, Oct., 1970