Swiimmin' Pools and Movie Stars.

[dnalexander]

Thought I would ad some info on the town where I live. Forbes magazine included Belmont in its list of the Top 25 Towns to Live Well in earlier this month.

Belmont has country feel - with city amenities

The morning commute rush over, Gar Gilmore and Larry Caesar park their tow trucks side-by-side at the Len Turner Memorial Vista on Ralston Avenue and - until the next call to rescue a motorist in distress comes in - admire the view. "It's a nice community," said Gilmore, who lives in San Jose. "It's a nice town." "Yeah," said Caesar, a resident of San Carlos, "It's low-key.
The view they're taking in on this sunny Friday - rolling hills that give way to flat land between Interstate 280 and Highway 101 - is the city of Belmont: A small, mid-Peninsula city halfway between San Francisco and San Jose that was founded by a somewhat mysterious Englishman, favored by an Italian count and is presently populated by 26,000 souls.
For its size, Belmont boasts a disproportionate number of amenities - including a new library, a 499-seat performing arts center, a sports complex and senior center, a community garden and park space. It has a university (Notre Dame de Namur) two high schools (one of which is a Distinguished California School) and a distinguished middle school. All that, said the mayor, attests to the city's devotion to lifelong learning, and is part of the reason Forbes magazine included Belmont in its list of the Top 25 Towns to Live Well in earlier this month.
"I think that really is a feather in Belmont's cap," said Mayor David Braunstein. "We're very lucky. We all feel very blessed."
While Forbes judged the city on its cultural amenities, pro-business environment, education of the workforce and salaries, some residents use a different set of criteria to determine the quality of life in their town.
"It's the air," said Janet Pepe Davis, a local  real estate agent. "You've got a great relaxing energy. It's rejuvenating - that's why people like it here. It's kind of like a larger Tahoe. The deer are out. You're out in the country, but you're not."  Many of her clients, she said, are initially attracted to Belmont because it is centrally located and within a reasonable commute to San Francisco or Silicon Valley. Others are drawn to the hilly terrain, the quiet, winding, tree-lined streets and bay views. "It's individual homes over here," said Davis. "It's not cookie-cutter."
Braunstein, who moved to Belmont from San Jose in 1995, said that in a way, the place reminds him of the summer camps he attended as a kid in the Santa Cruz Mountains. "It smells and feels like you're away from the city," he said. "When we were visiting Yosemite and watching the deer, my wife and I were yawning: We have all that at home - quail, deer, rabbits. We're not out in the boondocks, but it feels like it."  One of the reasons the schools are so good, he said, is that so many parents are involved. They help out in the classrooms and elsewhere. They also created School Force, a foundation devoted to raising money for the schools. The community's support of its children, said Braunstein, goes beyond the classroom. For children, as well as adults, there are a number of sports programs - including softball, baseball and soccer leagues. There are hiking trails at nearby Water Dog Lake and art classes at Barrett Community Center.
The Tuesday evening City Council meetings, said Braunstein, are well-attended. "Belmont people are very passionate about their issues," he said.
While Belmont has not been hit as hard as some other Bay Area cities by the recession, it had to make a 5 percent cut in its budget this year. A hiring freeze has been in effect since fall, said Braunstein, but layoffs are unlikely.
"We're not unlike other cities," said Braunstein. "We have roadways that need to be improved and we're aware of that. We're interested in creating more economic development - in mixed residential projects, in attracting more business to enlarge our tax base."
Braunstein said he also would like the city to develop the area around El Camino Real into a more recognizable downtown.  "We don't really have a bustling downtown."
In 1850, downtown Belmont was a roadhouse called the Angelo House, owned and operated by Charles Aubrey Angelo, an Englishman and the first official European settler in the area. Angelo House, which soon became known as Angelo's Corners, was located at Ralston Avenue and Old County Road. It served as a stage stop, store and, since Judge Benjamin Fox heard cases there, a courthouse. An early advertisement for Angelo's Corners praised it for its "peculiar advantages for salubrity that cannot be excelled by any part of California."
Not much was known about Angelo, who took off for Canada in 1853 after selling his place to Marcus Flashner, who quickly changed the name to Flashner's Corners. In succession, Flashner's Corners became known as Cañada del Diablo and, finally, Belmont. The city incorporated in 1926.
Another early settler, Col. Leonetto Cipriani, built a chateau about the time Angelo left for Canada. In 1862, the retired soldier became Count Cipriani and was appointed to the Italian Senate. The chateau was sold to Bank of California founder William C. Ralston. Built around the count's chateau, Ralston Hall resides on the campus of Notre Dame de Namur University and is a historic landmark.
Belmont may not have a downtown, but it does have something else going for it. Turn off Ralston - the main thoroughfare that runs east-west through the city - onto just about any street, say, Cipriani Boulevard and then onto Wooster Boulevard, and stop. As Davis said, the houses aren't cookie-cutter. They are fairly large one- and two-story, custom-built homes on good-sized lots along a narrow, winding street on a hill overlooking the bay. There are palm trees, pines, firs and redwoods, shrubs, flowers and grass and the buzz of a lawnmower in the distance.
"The homes here have lots of square footage and they're on larger lots," said Maxine Dumas, with Dumas & Co. in San Carlos. "There are a lot of trees - you feel like you're in the woods."
The houses range in price from the entry-level, two-bedroom, two-bath, 900-square foot bungalow for around $600,000 up to a sprawling $1.8 million mini-mansion.
In the first quarter of 2009, the median price of a home in Belmont was $650,000, a drop from the first quarter of 2007, when the median was $900,000. The most inexpensive condo, of which only nine are currently on the market, goes for around $275,000.



Belmont Residential Area


View of the Redwoods Looking West


View From Belmont to SF\SF Bay

[dnalexander]

Santa Barbara....made me think of Santa Clara. Have you been there? There is a huge 30 ft. tall stainless steel statue, Our Lady of Peace. It was created by a long time friend, Charles Parks. The beautiful statue was on display here for a time before it was trucked to California. I was the family baby sitter when his three kids were little. Charles, Chris and Inga Laura. On the handicapped tags, here they are only good for two years, so the kids can't keep using them after grandma dies. I have personally made comments to able bodied people, with no tag, who abuse the parking. 

The Statue

In August of 1980, Msgr. John Sweeny, then pastor of Our Lady of Peace Church in Santa Clara, California, fulfilled a long-time desire to give special honor to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. That month, he commissioned Charles C. Parks, a noted sculptor, of Wilmington, Delaware, to design a 32-foot stainless steel statue of Our Lady, under this title. Thus began a remarkable odyssey, of a truly extraordinary image of the Blessed Virgin, the Mother of God. After several models, the masterpiece was begun.

The statue, which some have called "the awesome Madonna," was finished in the Summer of 1982. It stands higher than most three-story buildings. The 7200-pound statue rises to a height of thirty-two feet and rests on a twelve-foot landscaped mound. The head, hands, and feet are cast in stainless steel. The gown is constructed of welded strips of stainless steel.

It was erected outdoors, on the lawn of the artist's studio. It created so much interest, and attracted so many visitors -- day and night -- that the Mayor of Wilmington invited the sculptor to put it on public display in the heart of the city. There it remained from September 1 to October 10, 1982. Many busloads of pilgrims came from distant cities, to see the statue, and to pray.

During that period, the local paper printed a special supplement titled "The Madonna In Rodney Square", telling the story of the statue and of the vision of Fatima. The first 10,000 copies sold out in one day. In November 1982, Delaware Today magazine published a special article with full color pictures under the title "The Madonna Phenomenon."
Our Lady's Image

The statue was blessed and dedicated by Bishop Pierre DuMaine of the Diocese of San Jose, in Santa Clara, California. The ceremony took place on October 7,1983, Feast of the Most Holy Rosary. Msgr. Sweeny considered the date significant. This date was the 15th anniversary of the beginning of monthly First Friday all-night vigils in this parish.

Pope John Paul II sent a special blessing for the dedication ceremony. During the three days of October 7th to 9th, there were religious and civic ceremonies and public acknowledgements at the foot of the statue. At the final service, on Sunday, October 9th, Father Patrick Peyton, C.S.C., of the Family Rosary Crusade, gave the homily.

The Shrine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary at Our Lady of Peace is the only major Marian Shrine on the West Coast between Our Lady of Sorrows Shrine in Portland, Oregon, (over 700 miles to the north), and the famous Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, (over 2,300 miles to the south).

[Diane Amberg]

No wonder you like it there. Great article and lovely photos.Thanks for sharing.  David, that's her! Isn't she beautiful?

[dnalexander]

Diane that statue is spectacular. Santa Clara is just about 20 miles from me. I am going to have to make a special trip down there to see the statue. I never heard of it before. Just think I heard about her logging on in California to a forum in Kansas, from a member in Delaware? Small world is getting smaller.

David

[sixdogsmom]

Thank you both for sharing! Now that is America, as far as I am concerned, filled with art, beautiful houses, and awesome views. Of course I would probably be among the homeless should I be in California, $650,00 median for a house? No, not a house but a condo. Wow! How do people do it? 

[Ms Bear]

Six Hundred Thousand for a two bedroom, two bathroom house.  Can't even imagine it.

[Diane Amberg]

Yes David, it is a small world. When you go to see her, please tell her we love her and miss her. She is very special to us here too. But we know she got a good home .           

[dnalexander]

Thank you both for sharing! Now that is America, as far as I am concerned, filled with art, beautiful houses, and awesome views. Of course I would probably be among the homeless should I be in California, $650,00 median for a house? No, not a house but a condo. Wow! How do people do it? 

Six Hundred Thousand for a two bedroom, two bathroom house.  Can't even imagine it.

The best I can explain it to you is simply this. To some extent it is Monopoly (the game) money. People  here have higher wages, but the cost of living is higher. In Howard the road crew makes $10 per hour but they can buy a house for 25-30,000 dollars. (Just basing m info on what has been posted on here by folks that live in EK). In the end why we choose to live where we do has to do with very personal choices and preferences. I have lived in many places big and small expensive and cheap. I always found the best in the places I lived and made the best of it. Over the last 30 years I have left but always keep coming back to this area.  It gives me the things I love about city life and the things I loved about growing up in the Midwest and small towns. It fits for me. Of  all the places I ever lived the only place I would never go back to is Reno.

David

[Diane Amberg]

There must be a story about Reno?

[Mom70x7]

People here have higher wages, but the cost of living is higher.

Very true!
We used to live in Minnesota. Wages were definitely higher, but so was the cost of living.

Much prefer Kansas.