Los Altos vs. Los Gatos (Los Angeles, San Jose: renting, houses, school district)

[mrzod]

Which one is more expensive to live in? Prestigious?

[hsw]

Presume you mean Los Altos Hills vs Los Gatos?

LG often appeals to (typically hardware) execs who work deep in SJ; has an LA-SFV-OC feel to town/people; poor air quality as SV smog rolls down into S Bay; notably hotter/more arid than PA area; very distant from SF (and SFO) for those who like to/need to visit SF for dinner/business mtgs/confs or need to fly often (and don't have a pvt plane)....

Most expensive SV suburbs w/most notable centimillionaires/billionaires are Woodside, Atherton, PortolaValley and LAH....much depends upon one's preference re: terrain and where is one's office....and Stanford alums tend to live in PA area, rather than in LG area...

[treedonkey]

Definately Los Altos Hills

And in case you're not from here, here's an acronym decoder for hsw's post (above):
LG = Los Gatos
SJ = San Jose
LA - Los Angeles
SFV = San Fernando Valley
OC = Orange County
S Bay = South Bay
PA = Peninsula (?)
SF = San Francisco
SFO = SF International Airport
pst = private
LAH = Los Altos Hills
re: = Regarding

[krudmonk]

Originally Posted by treedonkey

PA = Peninsula (?)

Palo Alto

And on the topic, Los Gatos has more down-to-earth parts as it borders San Jose. It is more analogous to Los Altos. Los Altos Hills has a counterpart in Monte Sereno, though, which is a town right next to Los Gatos. The two share a police department.

[mrzod]

I'd like to pay a visit this weekend and check out their "monster homes"

[sonarrat]

Originally Posted by mrzod

I'd like to pay a visit this weekend and check out their "monster homes"

Take a drive down University Avenue in Los Altos - lots of impressive houses on that stretch.

[kdog]

Originally Posted by sonarrat

Take a drive down University Avenue in Los Altos - lots of impressive houses on that stretch.

Don't you mean Palo Alto?

[sonarrat]

Originally Posted by kdog

Don't you mean Palo Alto?

No, I mean Los Altos. I drive on it once a week during the school year. Best stretch is between Main Street and El Monte.

[Ludachris]

Los Altos is definitely considered more "high end". But Los Gatos is really nice because it's nestled in the corner of the valley, surrounded by hills, and located very close to the Santa Cruz beaches, just over HWY 17. You can find some really nice (huge) homes way out in the Los Gatos hills. You've got Saratoga and Monte Sereno on one side, and then San Jose on the other (which many see as a downside). They call eastern Los Gatos, the side that borders San Jose, the "slums" - even though the housing prices there wouldn't necessarily give you that impression.

[jaynetarzana]

Originally Posted by krudmonk

Palo Alto

And on the topic, Los Gatos has more down-to-earth parts as it borders San Jose. It is more analogous to Los Altos. Los Altos Hills has a counterpart in Monte Sereno, though, which is a town right next to Los Gatos. The two share a police department.

I'd love to hear about the more down to earth parts if you don't mind sharing. DH really wants to consider renting in the area to get our kids into the school district, but LG just seems to snooty to me every time we go there. It feels like it is all upper class.