Palo Verde, Palo Alto

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It was "blisteringly hot," Palo Verde resident Eve Agiewich remembers of the August 1977 days when she was shopping for a house.

But when Agiewich arrived on Janice Way -- where she still lives -- she felt as if the temperature had dropped about 10 degrees because of the street's canopy of ash trees.

"It's shady," Agiewich said of Palo Verde. "It's just an easy place to live."

Like Agiewich, many Palo Verde residents describe their neighborhood as a comfortable one where the living is easy. Residents of Palo Verde's tree-lined, quiet streets enjoy socializing with neighbors and taking advantage of the neighborhood's many outdoor amenities, such as parks and the Eichler Swim & Tennis Club.

Facts: CHILDCARE AND PRESCHOOLS: Palo Verde Kids' Club, 3450 Louis Road FIRE STATION: No. 4, 3600 Middlefield Road LIBRARY: Mitchell Park branch, 3700 Middlefield Road NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION: Palo Verde Residents Association, Smita Joshi, 650-494-1005, smita@villagetree.com PARKS (NEARBY): Don Jesus Ramos Park, 800 E. Meadow Drive; Henry W. Seale Park, 3100 Stockton Place POST OFFICE: Main, 2085 E. Bayshore Road PUBLIC SCHOOLS: Palo Verde Elementary School, J.L. Stanford Middle School, Gunn High School SHOPPING: Midtown Shopping Center, Middlefield Road and Colorado Avenue; also Middlefield Road at Loma Verde Avenue MEDIAN 2007 HOME PRICE: $1,364,000 ($1,050,000-$2,400,000) # HOMES SOLD: 22 MEDIAN 2007 CONDO PRICE: $859,444 ($765,000-$950,500) # CONDOS SOLD: 4

Joseph Eichler built or inspired many of the houses in Palo Verde, which is bordered by Loma Verde Avenue, Middlefield Road, East Meadow Drive and West Bayshore Road. Inside this rectangle winds a maze of very wide cul-de-sacs and quiet streets that loop off of larger ones. Eichler insisted on this design to keep the traffic-flow low on most streets and to inspire a sense of community.

The concept seems to be working.

Resident Diane Reklis, who raised three children in Palo Verde, said her street is so quiet and safe that children regularly play on it.

Residents of the same street also commonly organize social events, such as block parties, Fourth of July picnics and progressive dinners.

In 2006 residents were concerned to learn that three new developments were planned nearby, with potential for 950 housing units. Since February, members of the newly organized Palo Verde Residents Association (PVRA) have served as a conduit between the city of Palo Alto and developers to make sure information flows both ways, said Smita Joshi, president of the group and a resident since 1991.

With the goal of building "a stronger community," PVRA has successfully negotiated for better landscaping around the perimeter of one development, as well as extension of the bike lane on Loma Verde to West Bayshore, and funding of a traffic study when the project is completed.

While new developments drew them together, social events are continuing the contact. "We had a very successful cooking demonstration in the fall," Joshi said, noting that she was the first volunteer. She demonstrated West Indian vegetarian food from Gujarat. "Residents here are from many different countries," she said, adding that they hope to make this an annual event.

They also have high hopes for the fall picnic, even though it was cold and blustery this year.

Palo Verde contains many places where residents can socialize -- and exercise -- with people who do not live on their block. The neighborhood is home to the Palo Alto Family YMCA, and is close to Don Jesus Ramos and Henry W. Seale parks.

But perhaps Palo Verde's most famous fitness facility is the Eichler Swim & Tennis Club on Louis Road.

The club, which was founded in 1958, is so popular that prospective members must wait between two and one-half to three years to join, manager and head swim coach Sue Kelly said.

Most of the club's 300 member families are Palo Verde residents, but anyone with patience can join. Eichler, who also built a swim club in Greenmeadow, did not require that members come from just Palo Verde, because the club was built before many of the neighborhood's houses.

Today, Palo Verde has many Eichler and Eichler-inspired houses. These modernist structures, with their clean, boxy design and solid blocks of colors, look like an architect's version of a Piet Mondrian painting. The homes have no front porch and few front windows, but do contain many windows on the other three sides, high ceilings and back-yard patios. Because of these characteristics, the houses are very bright and airy, and harmoniously blend outdoor and indoor living.

While most Eichler houses are one-story, some of the Palo Verde models have two stories, complete with a large, open atrium inside.

The inhabitants of Palo Verde's houses are a good mix of families with children and empty-nesters.

This diversity in age range was not always the case. In its early days in the 1950s, Palo Verde was full of families with young children. But by the 1970s and 1980s, when these children grew up and when some of the neighborhood's elementary schools closed, the area had a large proportion of older residents, Kelly said.

"It was getting to be a geriatric ward," said Kelly, whose family moved to Palo Verde in 1953. "But now that's reversed," which Kelly thinks enhances its vivacity and sense of community.

While Palo Verde's earliest residents -- like many of the first residents of South Palo Alto -- were predominately blue collar, most are now white-collar professionals.

Agiewich, who served on Palo Alto's Human Relations Commission for nine years, characterized the residents as civic-minded and not interested in one-upping their neighbors.

"I think people aren't house proud," Agiewich said. "It's a pretty democratic area."

Most of Palo Verde's new crop of children goes to Palo Verde Elementary School, the only school remaining in the neighborhood. Kelly remembers that when she moved to the neighborhood, children often would walk to school. But because some of the schools closed and the buildings no longer are just around the corner, most get rides these days.

But Palo Verde's most fit residents can stave off this car culture.

In addition to walking to the parks and athletic facilities, many Palo Verde residents enjoy walking to CrËme de CafÈ, a coffee shop on the corner of Loma Verde and Middlefield in Midtown. Midtown offers the closest shopping to Palo Verde -- a very quick drive for some or a healthy walk for others. And if residents walk north, away from Middlefield, they reach the Baylands Nature Preserve.

With many amenities within Palo Verde's quiet streets, and with others just a stone's throw away, some residents were hard-pressed to find aspects of the neighborhood that they did not like -- aside from the rising cost of real estate.

-- Jamie Schuman