Home&Real Estate Home Front
OPEN HOME GUIDE 60
Also online at PaloAltoOnline.com
This home on Oak Hill Avenue is part of the Esther Clark Park neighborhood.
Veronica Weber
Veronica Weber
PLANT CLINIC ... UC Master Gardeners are offering a free “Summer’s End Plant Clinic” from 9 to 11 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 8, at Gamble Garden, 1431 Waverley St., Palo Alto. The clinic features personal consultations on cool-season planting, use of compost, as well as information on soil types, plant nutrition, watering, organic sprays, attracting beneficial insects and roses. Information: Master Gardeners at 408-282-3105, between 9:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., Monday through Friday or http://mastergardeners.org HISTORIC WALKING TOURS ... Palo Alto Stanford Heritage (PAST) will offer free docent-led walking tours on the next three Saturdays, each beginning at 10:30 a.m.: Professorville, Sept. 8, meet at corner of Addison Avenue and Bryant Street; Downtown Palo Alto, Sept. 15, meet at City Hall; and Historic Homer Avenue, Sept. 22, meet at the corner of Homer Avenue and Cowper Street. Information: www.pastheritage.org TREE WALK ... A leading arborist will lead a tree walk from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Sept. 8, around the Barron Park neighborhood, noting the coast redwood, California buckeye, marina madrone, Modesto ash, Douglas fir, Atlas cedar, Aleppo pine and silver dollar gum trees. The free walk begins at Cornelis Bol Park, 3590 Laguna Ave., Palo Alto. Information: www.canopy.org
PALY FLEA MARKET ... This month, the Palo Alto High School Music Boosters Flea Market takes place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 9, in the parking lot at Palo Alto High School, 50 Embarcadero Road. Parking is free in the Paly lot. The flea market usually happens on the second Saturday of every month, except when there’s a conflict with things such as Stanford football home games. The next flea markets are scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 13, and Sunday, Nov. 11. Information: 650324-FLEA or palyflea@gmail.com FALL CLASSES ... The City of Menlo Park is offering several home-related classes this fall, including “Cake Decorating - Level 1 with emphasis on making roses, leveling a cake, making icing and learning decorative strokes such as stars and clowns (Christine Hopkins, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Mondays, (continued on page 40)
Veronica Weber
DIVIDING PERENNIALS ... Mimi Clarke will offer a class on “Dividing Garden Perennials” from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 8, at Filoli, 86 Cañada Road, Woodside. Dressed to dig in and work (with gloves and bottled water), participants will learn how to divide perennials in the Filoli garden, then take home a plant division of their own. Cost is $65 for nonmembers, $50 for members; price includes all materials. Information: 650-364-8300 or www.filoli.org
Esther Clark
Park
A neighborhood with nature at its doorstep
Avi Meyers’ backyard deck, above, overlooks a natural landscape of oak trees and hills. Homes in the Esther Clark Park neighborhood, including the one on Old Adobe Road pictured in the inset photo, sit on at least an acre. by Helen Carefoot
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sther Clark Park, a 21-acre area of land surrounded by Old Adobe Road, Old Trace Road and Manuela Avenue is a glimpse into Palo Alto’s past. Expansive Spanish villas and old-style ranch homes with huge yards (each plot has a minimum area of 1 acre) adorn hills covered with oak trees. Wild animals such as deer, jackrabbits and ground squirrels roam the grounds in between homes. Nestled just around the park, residents literally have nature at their doorstep. Though the neighborhood has experienced increased development since Esther Clark, the founder of the Palo Alto Medical Clinic and Children’s Health Council, sold her land, the space retains the characteristic that makes it so desirable: its natural surroundings. Marjorie Chauvel, who has lived in her home on Old Adobe Road since it was built in 1974, treasures the wildlife that sur-
NEIGHBORHOOD SNAPSHOT rounds her. “My favorite thing about the neighborhood is definitely the wildlife,” she said. “Deer come onto my property all the time, right by the house. It’s also a wonderful neighborhood to take walks in.” An original resident of the neighborhood who bought her land from Esther Clark herself, Chauvel fondly remembers the original days of the neighborhood. “There used to be this huge area across the hills that was vacant. My husband and our neighbor built a platform on that area and used to hit golf balls into the hills,” Chauvel shared with a laugh. “It shows you how remote the place used to be!” Though development has occurred since (continued on page 39)
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