Why My Family Moved To Los Altos in 1964 – History Repeating Itself For Many Silicon Valley Families

My family moved to south Los Altos in 1964, having lived briefly in Sunnyvale and before that in Minnesota.  My parents bought a 4 bedroom home on a quarter acre that backed up to Awalt High School (renamed Mountain View). We were the second owners of the home.  The first owners having lived there for only about 2 years. 

When I ask my mother why my parents chose South Los Altos over any other neighborhood she responded with reasons similar to those of buyers today:

• Great Los Altos Schools
• Larger homes on good sized lots
• At that time, the homes were newer construction
• The street our home was on did not have much car traffic yet was accessible to major traffic routes
• It was a neighborhood of younger families with children

Its funny how some things never change.  Buyers 35 years ago looked for the same things as buyers of today.