Grand Stand in Googletown - Page 3

This has always been a good neighborhood for children (even when their numbers dwindled). Few cars use the interior streets other than homeowners, so kids have played, and still play outdoors on their own.

Emily Tripiano, who grew up here in the 1970s, remembers the Trophy Drive cul-de-sac as "definitely an area where the kids gathered on Fourth of July. I remember going out, when the fireworks were still legal, and doing like little snakes, the Twizzlers, the little, tiny ones."

Donna Monferdini, who with husband Dave Pinson raised a daughter here, says children brought parents together.

"The kids would be out riding bikes, scooters, and stuff, and you'd start talking to the parents if you were out with the kids. We let our kids go out and play kind of unsupervised a lot, because there was so little traffic."

There has been a bit of a baby boom recently, with new couples, many working for Google, arriving.

"We had a long period where there was very little [in the way of houses] that came on the market," says Janet Sloan, who, with Peter, has lived here since 1996. "And then, in one year, there were five houses that came on the market, which [realtors] said was extraordinary."

"We have a bunch of people who have children," Joyce Yin says. "They're all about the same age. And everyone was OK with the kids wearing masks, playing outside. Just let them play old-school style."

"And the neighbors who don't have kids are wonderful too," Joyce says. "They let them trample through their yard. Everyone's playing 'hide and seek,' tucked behind the cars."

Most of the homes in this tract appear largely intact from the street, and it's clear that newcomers love the Eichlers as much as longtime owners. Utility lines are underground, which adds to the aesthetics but makes it expensive to do electrical upgrades, some neighbors say.

The tract was laid out as a lazy loop by Eichler's regular engineer, George S. Nolte & Associates. Eichler Drive meets Trophy Drive at a cul-de-sac—that's where the annual block party occurs—and there's another cul-de-sac too, Eichler Court. Other Eichlers face away from the neighborhood, on Miramonte Avenue.

The layout of the tract adds to its sociability, says Barbara Burbach, a resident since 1983 whose late husband was an original buyer. "It's easier to get to know your neighbors because [the tract] is a U-shaped thing," she says.

Today, two tech incomes are required to buy into the neighborhood, says Peter Stahl. His wife, Janet Sloan, observes, "A lot of the people who've moved here and work at Google, they also have families." You see them outside with their children, which makes it easy to meet.

Yaar Schnitman says there are at least seven households in Grandmeadow who work for Google, probably more. Those he knows love their Eichlers; they are buying here for more than the quick commute. When they remodel, they do so with care.

"The house is amazing," Yaar says of his own Eichler. "It feels like we're on a permanent vacation.

"When we do go on vacation, and when we return, we're always so happy to have the house feel so welcoming and calming. We do a lot of 'staycations' as a result."

All the Googlers, as they call themselves, know each other, Yaar says, and some are close friends. One of his wife's close Googler friends "moved here because he saw where we were living."

"It's 'Googletown,'" he says of Mountain View.

Homes were designed by Claude Oakland & Associates and include atrium and gallery models. One of the homes, which just sold for more than $3 million, was custom designed for Tom Tripiano, Frank's father, whose firm did plumbing for Eichler Homes, including this tract.