Los Altos, California
From Includipedia, the inclusionist encyclopedia
| Website: http://www.ci.los-altos.ca.us/ |
Los Altos (Template:IPAEng) 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.
Most of the city was developed between the 1950s and 1970s. As a formerly agricultural town, Los Altos has several unique features, many of which were the opposite of what was developed in other suburbs during that time. Commercial zones are strictly limited to the downtown area and a few shopping centers and office parks lining Foothill Expressway and El Camino Real. The town is considered one of the premier areas of the Bay Area due to its low crime rate, excellent schools and fantastic weather. 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.
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[edit] Geography
Los Altos is located at (37.36819, -122.097511)GR1.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 6.3 square miles (16.4 km²). All of it is land and none of it is covered by water.
[edit] Demographics
As of the censusGR2 of 2000, there were 27,693 people, 10,462 households, and 8,024 families residing in the city. The population density was 4,360.7 people per square mile (1,683.8/km²). There were 10,727 housing units at an average density of 1,689.1/sq mi (652.2/km²). 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] 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.
[edit] Private education
Los Altos is also served by highly regarded private and religious schools, some of which, such as St. Francis High School (Mountain View) and the Kings Academy (Sunnyvale) are in neighboring communities. St. Nicholas School, St. Simon School, and the Lower and Middle Campuses (K-6th) of Pinewood School, are located within the city limits.
[edit] Library
Los Altos Library in the downtown civic center serves the entire city. Because of low funding, Los Altos Library was closed on Mondays, but is now open again. Woodland Library, a small branch library, is located in the southern part of the city near the Cupertino border. Both libraries are part of the Santa Clara County Library System.
[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 $2 million and higher, putting it at #20 on the Most Expensive Zip Codes in America list in 2005.
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. Nevertheless, because the surrounding area is so upscale and isolated from low-income areas, there have not been any issues of urban decay.[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] 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 1930s. 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] Natural Disasters
[edit] Earthquakes
Los Altos is near the San Andreas Fault and subject to earthquakes.
- 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 (held the Sunday night of Thanksgiving weekend)
- Los Altos High School Homecoming Parade (every year on the Friday of LAHS's homecoming week.)
[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)
- Brian Salazar (noteworthy poet)
- Jerry Yang (co-founder of Yahoo!)
- Gaurav Dhillon (founder of Jaman and co-founder of Informatica)
- Michael Koch (noted Swiss actor)
- Jen-Hsun Huang (co-founder, president, and CEO of NVIDIA)
Others who are from/have inhabited Los Altos and have achieved fame include:
- John Lee Hooker (famous blues musician)
- 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)
- Lauren McFall (member of bronze-winning 2004 Olympic synchronized swimming team)
- Steve Jobs (CEO of Apple Computer)
- Alison Waite (model, Playboy Playmate)
- Scott McNealy (co-founder of Sun Microsystems)
- Lori Fair (member of 1999 Women's World Cup Champion US National Soccer Team)
[edit] Sister cities
Los Altos has four sister cities, as designated by Sister Cities International:
- Image:Flag of Australia.svg Bendigo, Australia
- Image:Flag of Russia.svg Syktyvkar, Russia
- Image:Flag of the Republic of China.svg Shilin, Taiwan
- REDIRECT Template:Country data Great Britain Rustington, UK
[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
[edit] External links
- Los Altos History Museum
- Los Altos Town Crier - city newspaper
- El Camino Hospital Health Library & Resource Center
- Los Altos discussion board
| San Francisco Bay Area |
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- Los Altos, California is at coordinates Template:Coordbg:Лос Алтос
de:Los Altos (USA) nl:Los Altos (Californië) pt:Los Altos (Califórnia) vo:Los Altos
