Favorite Places and Things in Old Mountain View

By Bruce Karney

I recently read on pps.org that great neighborhoods have ten or more great public places.  I asked OMVNAtalk for help in identifying our neighborhood’s ten best.  Because I wrote “things” when I meant to ask about places, I’m printing my original suggestion of seven wonderful places, followed by another list of places and things suggested by neighbors, some of which I’ve edited slightly.

My Seven Favorites
Library
Farmers Market
All the restaurants
Stevens Creek Trail
Pioneer Park
Performing Arts Center
Public transit access

Your Local Favorites

  • Margaret Hutz: Friendly, involved neighbors
  • Aaron Grossman: Good assortment of large and small parks, especially Pioneer Park; generally friendly people-oriented style of housing (front porches, etc);  pe-destrian-friendly neighborhood layout; responsive city government;
  • Pat Broemser: OMVNAtalk
  • Jeff Segall: Many mature trees
  • Kathy Swartz: OMVNA; sidewalks and trees; eclectic selection of fun places on Castro.
  • Ronit Bryant: Knowing our neighbors; neighbors socializing at Mercy-Bush and Pioneer Parks; our very useful OMVNAtalk list.
  • Laura Blakeley: Summer concerts; street closure evenings; PYT in the park; Halloween!
  • Connie Chin: OMVNAtalk; walking-friendly layout of homes and businesses; Landels School
  • Kristen McGuire-Husky: Eagle Park Playground is popular with parents from all over town because it’s nicely shaded by the big old oak trees.
  • Andrew Holbrook: Fun festivals like Art & Wine, the spring one & Thursday Night Live; easy freeway access
  • Maja Popovic: Down to earth attitude of its residents; varied residential architecture with old world charm; magnet programs in Castro elementary – Dual Immersion and PACT (on the border of Old MV);  free mediation and dispute resolution services with a staff of 25 vol-unteers at City Hall; events at park plaza; kids’ programs at the Library
  • Paul & Carole Goldstein: Caring/sharing helpful community; CERT; communication via OMVNAtalk and the Newsletter; walkability and proximity to transit; respect and acceptance of diversity; variety of housing available; local service clubs; City and Chamber of Commerce events here in downtown; so many restaurants to find good food
  • Ronnie Falcao: Walkability to banks, post office, parks and shopping; sense of safety that comes from everyone’s being involved and feeling that I could knock on any door for help; Mercy-Bush Park; OMVNA’s CERT is outstanding and contributes greatly to my sense of personal safety and security.
  • Alison Hicks: Highly walkable neighborhood; varied, often charming and sometimes even historic residential architecture
  • Allen Price: City Hall AND Performing Arts Center; architecture of houses (setback garages, etc.); transit access to freeways; varied shopping options.
  • Maureen Blando: Mountain View is a real town, full of amenities – the opposite of suburbia; public transit; great auto accessibility to highways 101, 237, 85 and Central Expressway; walkability; financially healthy city due to major employers like Google and well-managed city with an eye on preserving natural amenities and quality of life; financial diversity (compared to Saratoga, for exam-ple, this is a town for everyone).
  • Lauren Angelo: Bikeability; family-friendly community with lots of children; OMVNA (I love the socials and the newsgroup); proximity to high-tech employers; proximity to El Camino Hospital and YMCA.
  • Max Hauser: Old MV embraces one of the most pleasant, pedestrian-friendly small town downtowns in the Bay Area.  Presence of this feature is a reason why I moved to OMV.
  • Valerie Harris: Post Office; Minton’s; City Hall; Merchants – books, coffee, keys, drugstore, etc.; Halloween House; CERT; MVPD – keeps insurance low; MVFD – keeps insurance low; festivals and parades on Castro; great Chamber of Commerce; historic buildings (for quaintness); early Shoreline Amphitheatre tickets; close access to all major freeways; safe neighborhood; neighborly neighbors; walkability; mature trees; good schools and churches; great weather in our microclimate; fertile soil for great gardens and fruit trees
  • Mia Whitfield: Walkability (pedestrian friendly, interesting streets); beautiful tall, mature trees; friendly, neighborhood parks; pro-gressive community supportive of education.
  • Melissa Buren: walkability; trees; parks.
  • Carolyn Dawn: The Post Office! It’s one of the best around. Not all cities have the automatic machine for shipping packages.
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