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los altos neighborhood guide · property nerds® at compass
Central Los Altos (Covington area) Homes for sale, recent sales and a Property Nerd’s guide
The 94024 side of Los Altos between El Monte Avenue and Grant Road, north of Foothill Expressway, strung along Covington Road. Mostly 1946-59 ranch houses on quarter-acre lots, plus a steady run of rebuilds.
Central Los Altos by the numbers
central los altos by the numbers · live from the mls
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Calculated in your browser from MLS data for Central Los Altos: El Monte Ave to Grant Rd, north of Foothill Expwy to the Mountain View line (approximate). Sales are single-family homes, townhomes and condos.
homes in central los altos · live from the mls
Homes for sale, for rent and recently sold in Central Los Altos
Every active listing, rental and closed sale in Central Los Altos from the MLS, updated automatically, with a map of the neighborhood outline.
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Listings come from MLSListings and other MLSs through IDX and show their listing brokerage; confirm details with the listing agent. The map outline is the neighborhood boundary used by our listing search (Central Los Altos: El Monte Ave to Grant Rd, north of Foothill Expwy to the Mountain View line (approximate)); it may not match every local definition.
the story
How Central Los Altos came to be
Central Los Altos is real-estate shorthand, not a name on a city map, and people draw it differently. On this page it means the 94024 side of town north of Foothill Expressway: everything between El Monte Avenue and Grant Road, up to the Mountain View line. El Monte Avenue roughly marks where the 94022 and 94024 ZIP codes meet, and Covington Road is the spine, running about 1.9 miles from El Monte Avenue to Grant Road.
Before the houses, this was a patchwork of big ranch and estate parcels: the Campbell Ranch, mapped into lots along Fremont Avenue, Springer Road and Campbell Avenue in 1905; Francis Costello's Costello Acres country lots of 1916; the Madigan estate around Clark Avenue; the Cyrus Berry subdivisions around Berry Avenue; and the Emerson tract near Miramonte Avenue. The county's map books show them cut into house lots almost all at once after World War II. Cuesta Vista and the Harry H. Hollister Tract were filed in 1946, the Doud-Jones Tract and the Wilder Company's Los Altos Rancho in 1947, Rancho del Nido and Tibbs Rancho Homes in 1950, Glen Alto and El Monte Terrace in 1951, Covington Manor in 1952 and Bountiful Lands in 1953, along with dozens of smaller tracts. The City of Los Altos incorporated in the middle of it, on December 1, 1952.
Schools followed the houses. The Los Altos Elementary School District surveyed its Covington Road school site in 1948, and the district's own history says Covington School was built in 1950 and became its first true junior high (grades 7-8). Springer School followed in 1955 and Blach in 1957. Today the Covington campus is Covington Elementary, with the district office next door at 201 Covington Road, and Blach Intermediate sits near the other end of the road at 1120 Covington Road.
streets and homes
The streets and the houses
The street pattern is a quilt of those small tracts. A few long streets carry the traffic (Covington Road, Springer Road, Campbell Avenue, Cuesta Drive, Parma Way, Riverside Drive, Berry Avenue and Miramonte Avenue), and the tracts hang short loops and cul-de-sacs off them: Rosewood, Arrowood, Maywood and Briarwood courts off Riverside Drive, Los Pajaros Court off Rosita Avenue, Bellevue Court off Covington Road, and Brentwood Street, Court and Place near Berry Avenue.
County assessor figures in the city's GIS count about 2,500 single-family parcels here. About 55 percent of the houses were built between 1946 and 1959, about 12 percent in the 1960s and about 19 percent in 2000 or later. The typical lot is a quarter acre (median about 10,900 square feet; the middle half fall between roughly 10,000 and 12,600), and the median recorded living area is about 2,500 square feet, additions included. The originals are mostly single-story ranch houses. Most post-2000 houses replaced an original on the same lot, so the typical block mixes 1950s ranch houses with newer ones.
Zoning is almost all R1-10, the city's single-family district with 10,000-square-foot minimum lots. The exceptions matter: about 50 large lots on Covington Road, Fremont Avenue and Campbell Avenue between El Monte and Campbell avenues are R1-20 (that is Costello Acres); seven parcels around Rosewood Court sit in a single-story (R1-S) overlay; the Rancho Shopping Center is zoned CN; and the Loyola Corners district on the south edge has its own specific plan. A few houses predate the tracts entirely. The city's historic resources inventory includes 960 and 965 Berry Avenue (both about 1890), 980 Covington Road (1904), 331 El Monte Avenue (1908) and 235 Fremont Avenue (1920).
streets in central los altos
- Covington Road
- Springer Road
- Campbell Avenue
- Cuesta Drive
- Parma Way
- Riverside Drive
- Echo Drive
- Rosita Avenue
- Benvenue Avenue
- Arboleda Drive
- Paco Drive
- San Luis Avenue
- Giralda Drive
- Hawthorne Avenue
- Clark Avenue
- La Prenda Road
- Glen Alto Drive
- Harrington Avenue
- Rosewood Court
- Arrowood Court
- Briarwood Court
- Bellevue Court
- Fremont Avenue
- Berry Avenue
- Russell Avenue
- Golden Way
- Altos Oaks Drive
- Oakhurst Avenue
- Holly Avenue
- McKenzie Avenue
- Lisa Lane
- Payne Drive
- Miramonte Avenue
- Alegre Avenue
parks and places
Parks, shops and landmarks near Central Los Altos
- park
Rosita Park
401 Rosita Avenue, next to Covington School. The city lists about 5 acres with three tennis courts, a multi-use baseball and soccer field with a concession stand, a playground, a walking track, chess and checker tables, picnic tables and restrooms.
- park
McKenzie Park
707 Fremont Avenue near Springer Road. The city lists 4.3 acres with two lighted tennis courts that are also lined for pickleball, a playground, a dog park, a grass field, picnic and barbecue areas and restrooms.
- shopping
Rancho Shopping Center
At Springer Road and Foothill Expressway; construction began in 1951. Andronico's, at 690 Fremont Avenue, is the grocery anchor.
- shopping
Loyola Corners
The small shopping district where Miramonte Avenue, Fremont Avenue and Foothill Expressway meet, on the area's south edge. Its commercial core is governed by the city's Loyola Corners Specific Plan.
- landmark
The Covington Road schools
Covington Elementary (205 Covington Road) and the Los Altos School District office (201) at the west end, and Blach Intermediate (1120 Covington Road) near Grant Road at the east end.
schools and commute
School districts and getting around
School districts
The Los Altos School District (TK-8) serves the whole area, and the Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District assigns high school by address (Los Altos High or Mountain View High). LASD's own school-boundary locator splits Central Los Altos among five elementary attendance areas (Covington, Oak Avenue, Loyola, Springer and Almond), with most addresses assigned to Blach for grades 7-8 and the Almond-area addresses near El Monte Avenue assigned to Egan. Covington Elementary and Blach are physically on Covington Road; Springer Elementary is just over the city line in Mountain View. Attendance boundaries change, so check the exact address with LASD's locator and MVLA's street search.
Los Altos School District guide · Mountain View-Los Altos high schools · Silicon Valley school districts
Getting around
- Caltrain: there is no station in Los Altos. Mountain View station is about 2.2 miles (straight line) from Covington Road and Springer Road, and San Antonio station is about 2.9 miles.
- Foothill Expressway runs along the southwest edge on the old Southern Pacific right-of-way and is a popular cycling route.
- I-280: Springer Road becomes Magdalena Avenue south of Foothill Expressway and meets I-280 at exit 15; Grant Road reaches I-280 at exit 13 along with Foothill Expressway.
- Downtown Los Altos is about 1.4 miles (straight line) from Covington Road and Springer Road.
- Bus: VTA routes link Los Altos with the Mountain View Transit Center and Caltrain; check VTA's trip planner for current routes near the address.
nerd notes
Buying or selling in Central Los Altos: what we check
Buying here
- Pin down the micro-location. Central Los Altos has no official boundary, and Costello Acres (R1-20), the Rosewood Court single-story overlay and the commercial edges at Rancho and Loyola Corners each come with their own rules. Check the parcel on the city's GIS zoning map.
- Check school attendance by address. This one area is split among five LASD elementary attendance areas and two junior highs (Blach and Egan), and MVLA assigns Los Altos High or Mountain View High by street.
- For an original 1940s or 1950s house, ask about the electrical panel, foundation, sewer lateral and any unpermitted additions, and pull the permit history from the city.
- FEMA's flood map puts most parcels here in shaded Zone X (0.2 percent annual chance), but about 20 parcels along creek channels near Springer Road, Covington Road and Miramonte Avenue are in Zone A or AE, where federally backed mortgages generally require flood insurance. Check the map for the exact parcel.
- Planning a second story or an ADU? Most lots are R1-10, but Rosewood Court is single-story only. Ask Los Altos Planning about design review, ADU and SB 9 rules for the specific lot before you count on them.
Selling here
- Price against the right comparables: a 1952 original and a 2015 rebuild on the same street are different products, and neighborhood-wide numbers mix both.
- Put the facts buyers ask about in writing: lot size from the assessor or a survey, the LASD attendance area from the district's locator (with the boundaries-change caveat) and the MVLA high school.
- For an original house, have permits, roof and sewer lateral records ready; for a rebuild, the final permit and any design-review conditions.
- If the house is on the city's historic resources inventory, say so up front and explain what that does and does not limit.
nerd noteCommissions are always negotiable, and we offer bundled services, so ask us what's included.
faq
Central Los Altos questions, answered
Where exactly is Central Los Altos?
There is no official boundary. On this page it is the 94024 part of Los Altos north of Foothill Expressway, between El Monte Avenue and Grant Road, up to the Mountain View city line. Covington Road runs through the middle, and it includes the Rancho and Costello Acres pockets.
How old are the houses?
County assessor data show about 55 percent built from 1946 to 1959, matching a burst of tract filings from 1946 to 1953. About 19 percent were built in 2000 or later, mostly on original lots.
Which schools serve Central Los Altos?
The Los Altos School District for TK-8 and the Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District for high school. LASD's locator splits the area among Covington, Oak Avenue, Loyola, Springer and Almond elementary attendance areas, with Blach or Egan for junior high. Boundaries change, so check the exact address with the districts.
Is Covington School the old junior high?
Yes. LASD's history says Covington School was built in 1950 and became the district's first true junior high. The campus is now Covington Elementary, with the district office next door at 201 Covington Road.
Can I build a second story?
On most lots, yes, subject to Los Altos zoning and design review. Most of the area is R1-10; about 50 Costello Acres lots are R1-20; and seven parcels around Rosewood Court are in a single-story (R1-S) overlay where two-story houses are not allowed. Confirm with the Planning Division for the specific parcel.
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