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cupertino neighborhood guide · property nerds® at compass
Monta Vista, Cupertino Homes for sale, recent sales and a Property Nerd’s guide
Cupertino's first housing tract: 1907 town lots at the end of an electric railway, now small-lot streets of ranch houses and rebuilds around the Monta Vista Village shops on Stevens Creek Boulevard.
Monta Vista by the numbers
monta vista by the numbers · live from the mls
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Calculated in your browser from MLS data for Monta Vista: Stevens Creek to Imperial Ave, McClellan Rd to University Way (city neighborhood outline). Sales are single-family homes, townhomes and condos.
homes in monta vista · live from the mls
Homes for sale, for rent and recently sold in Monta Vista
Every active listing, rental and closed sale in Monta Vista 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 (Monta Vista: Stevens Creek to Imperial Ave, McClellan Rd to University Way (city neighborhood outline)); it may not match every local definition.
the story
How Monta Vista came to be
Before the houses, this was vineyard country. San Francisco lawyer John T. Doyle bought land here in 1881 for a summer home and vineyards and called his place Cupertino, after the old Spanish name for the creek. The city's own history says it plainly: the electric railway led to the development of the Monta Vista area, and Monta Vista was the name of the first housing tract in Cupertino.
The railway was the Peninsular Railway, a Southern Pacific subsidiary that ran interurban cars from 1906 to 1934. Three of its lines met here: one to Los Altos and Palo Alto along what is now Foothill Expressway, one south to Congress Junction near Saratoga, and one beside Stevens Creek Road to San Jose. In 1907, 25 acres of the old Samuel Williams property were cut into town lots where the tracks ended; those lots became Pasadena and Imperial avenues. Sales were slow until about 1912. Then promoter George Hensley bought in, called his first tract Subdivision A, and ran buses and flag-draped picnics from San Francisco to sell small lots for weekend cabins. After Doyle's death he bought the Doyle land, put in Byrne and Orange avenues as Subdivision B, and went on to name more tracts, including one called Inspiration Heights. As a promotional landmark he even moved the House of Hoo-Hoo, a timber showpiece from the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition, to a hilltop here. It later burned.
Monta Vista grew up slowly around a grocery, a gas station and a prune cannery on Imperial Avenue, known for its Monta Vista brand canned prunes. When Cupertino incorporated in 1955, Monta Vista stayed out as unincorporated county land. The city then annexed it in small pieces, often a lot or two at a time: its annexation map shows parcels joining from 1959 onward, and the last Monta Vista annexation was recorded in 2004. The cannery site became an office campus that Apple leased in 2011, and the cabins have mostly given way to permanent houses.
streets and homes
The streets and the houses
The street grid is the giveaway. Short, straight blocks with Spanish and California place names (Pasadena, Granada, Alcazar, Almaden, Hermosa, Dolores, San Fernando, Santa Clara) run off Stevens Creek Boulevard and Imperial Avenue, laid out as town lots rather than as one big postwar tract. Orange Avenue, Byrne Avenue and Imperial Avenue are the long north-south streets; Lomita and Olive avenues cross between them. North of the boulevard, Peninsula, Santa Clara and Alhambra avenues run up to University Way.
The houses are a mix. A few early cottages survive, along with 1950s and 1960s ranch houses and a lot of newer two-story rebuilds. The Cupertino Historical Society sums it up as large modern homes filling the little lots. Zoning changes from street to street: the city's map shows R1-7.5, R1-8 and R1-10 single-family zones, planned-development residential parcels, a couple of cluster and duplex zones, and the commercial and light-industrial strip. Two-story projects follow the city's R1 rules, and designs with a second floor more than 66 percent of the first, or second-floor side setbacks under 15 feet, get extra design review.
The streets look different from most of Cupertino because the General Plan lets residential streets here keep a semi-rural appearance. Some have no curbs, gutters or streetlights, while school-route streets are required to have sidewalks and street trees. The commercial core, Monta Vista Village, is a General Plan special area meant to stay small-scale and walkable, with storefronts at the sidewalk, parking behind and public parking on Pasadena and Imperial avenues. The Monta Vista Design Guidelines still govern its buildings, signs and landscaping.
streets in monta vista
- Stevens Creek Boulevard
- Imperial Avenue
- Pasadena Avenue
- Granada Avenue
- Orange Avenue
- Byrne Avenue
- Lomita Avenue
- Olive Avenue
- Alcazar Avenue
- Almaden Avenue
- Hermosa Avenue
- Dolores Avenue
- San Fernando Avenue
- Peninsula Avenue
- Santa Clara Avenue
- Alhambra Avenue
- McClellan Road
parks and places
Parks, shops and landmarks near Monta Vista
- park
Blackberry Farm
The city's park at 21979 San Fernando Ave., on the neighborhood's west edge along Stevens Creek. The city inventory lists 19.7 acres with two pools, picnic sites, bocce and sand volleyball courts and horseshoe pits, plus a 1-mile ADA pathway. Check the city's swim schedule: weekday pool hours were listed as closed until 2027.
- park
McClellan Ranch Preserve
A 13-acre city preserve at 22221 McClellan Rd. with an environmental education center, community garden and historic ranch buildings, including the McClellan Ranch Barn, the Baer blacksmith shop and the Enoch J. Parrish tank house.
- park
Stevens Creek Trail
About a mile of city-maintained creek trail links Blackberry Farm and McClellan Ranch, with restrooms at both ends. It is roughly 0.2 mile from the middle of the neighborhood.
- shopping
Monta Vista Village
The small shopping district on Stevens Creek Boulevard around Imperial Avenue, with the post office at 21701 Stevens Creek Blvd. The General Plan calls for it to serve as the neighborhood commercial center for Monta Vista Village and the streets around it.
- landmark
Arroyo de San Joseph Cupertino
California Historical Landmark No. 800, marked at Monta Vista High School, 21840 McClellan Rd. It recalls the creek name the 1776 Anza expedition gave to what is now Stevens Creek.
- landmark
Woelffel Cannery site
A city commemorative site at 10120 Imperial Ave. The prune cannery is gone; the site became the Measurex campus and later an Apple office campus.
schools and commute
School districts and getting around
School districts
Monta Vista is served by the Cupertino Union School District for kindergarten through eighth grade and the Fremont Union High School District for high school. Three public schools sit along its southern edge on McClellan Road and Bubb Road, an area the General Plan calls the tri-school area: Lincoln Elementary (21710 McClellan Rd.), Kennedy Middle School (821 Bubb Rd.) and Monta Vista High School (21840 McClellan Rd.). Attendance boundaries change, so check the exact address with both districts before you rely on a listing.
Cupertino Union guide · Fremont Union guide · Silicon Valley school districts
Getting around
- VTA Route 51 runs along Stevens Creek Boulevard and Foothill Boulevard between West Valley College and Moffett Field by way of the Mountain View Transit Center. The current schedule shows weekday trips about once an hour; check VTA for the latest timetable.
- Hwy 85 crosses Stevens Creek Boulevard just east of Bubb Road, about 0.4 mile from the middle of the neighborhood (straight-line).
- I-280 is about 0.8 mile north as the crow flies; the nearest ramps are reached by Hwy 85 or by Foothill Boulevard (approximate).
- Caltrain: the Sunnyvale station is about 4.2 miles northeast and the Mountain View Transit Center, with Caltrain and VTA light rail, about 5.2 miles north (straight-line).
- The Stevens Creek Trail runs along the west edge through Blackberry Farm and McClellan Ranch, and De Anza College is about 0.7 mile east (straight-line).
nerd notes
Buying or selling in Monta Vista: what we check
Buying here
- Much of Monta Vista was county land until it was annexed piecemeal between 1959 and 2004. For older additions and conversions, check permit records with both Santa Clara County and the City of Cupertino.
- Confirm the zoning and lot size for the specific parcel. They vary street to street here (R1-7.5, R1-8, R1-10, planned-development, cluster and duplex zones), and they decide what you can rebuild and how an ADU or SB 9 project would work.
- If you plan to add a second story, read the city's R1 rules first: a second floor more than 66 percent of the first, or second-floor side setbacks under 15 feet, triggers design review, and second-story windows facing neighbors may need privacy planting.
- Parcels near Stevens Creek can fall in mapped flood zones, and the city's geologic map shows liquefaction and slope-instability zones along the creek. Read the natural hazard disclosure and check FEMA's flood map for the address.
- Some houses here started as small cottages on small lots. Have the inspector look closely at the foundation, electrical, sewer lateral and any unpermitted additions, and expect the federal lead-paint disclosure on anything built before 1978.
Selling here
- Pull the permit history from both the county and the city before you list. Buyers here ask how older work was approved.
- Lead with the lot: size, zoning designation and frontage. Many buyers in Monta Vista are weighing a remodel against a rebuild.
- Give real walking distances to Blackberry Farm, the Stevens Creek Trail, the Monta Vista Village shops and the McClellan Road school campuses.
- If your parcel is near the creek, get the flood-zone status and natural hazard report early so it doesn't surprise a buyer in escrow.
nerd noteCommissions are always negotiable, and we offer bundled services, so ask us what's included.
faq
Monta Vista questions, answered
Why is it called Monta Vista?
Monta Vista was the name of the first housing tract in what is now Cupertino. It was laid out in 1907 where the Peninsular Railway's electric line ended, and promoters later sold lots under the Monta Vista name through the 1910s and 1920s.
Is Monta Vista part of Cupertino?
Yes. It stayed unincorporated when Cupertino became a city in 1955, then joined the city in many small annexations. The city's annexation map shows the last Monta Vista annexation in 2004.
What is Monta Vista Village?
It's the small commercial core on Stevens Creek Boulevard around Imperial Avenue. The General Plan treats it as a special area to keep as a small-town, walkable mixed-use district, and the Monta Vista Design Guidelines govern its storefronts, signs and landscaping.
Is there still a train in Monta Vista?
Not for passengers. The interurban cars stopped in 1934. Part of the old right-of-way is still a Union Pacific freight line across Stevens Creek Boulevard; the General Plan describes it as very low-frequency, about three trips each way per week, mostly in daytime. The nearest Caltrain station is Sunnyvale, about 4 miles away.
Which school districts serve Monta Vista?
The Cupertino Union School District (K-8) and the Fremont Union High School District. Lincoln Elementary, Kennedy Middle and Monta Vista High sit on the neighborhood's southern edge, but boundaries change, so confirm the exact address with each district.
Why do some maps show Monta Vista much larger?
The name gets used loosely. The city maps the Monta Vista neighborhood as the original village covered here, but the General Plan's Monta Vista North and Monta Vista South planning areas cover most of west Cupertino south of Stevens Creek Boulevard.
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