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menlo park neighborhood guide · property nerds® at compass
The Willows, Menlo Park Homes for sale, recent sales and a Property Nerd’s guide
East Menlo Park's creekside neighborhood between Willow Road, US 101 and San Francisquito Creek: mostly 1940s single-story homes, older houses on Pope, Laurel and O'Connor streets, and a shop row on Menalto Avenue.
The Willows by the numbers
the willows by the numbers · live from the mls
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Calculated in your browser from MLS data for The Willows: Middlefield Rd, Willow Rd, US 101 and San Francisquito Creek (approximate). Sales are single-family homes, townhomes and condos.
homes in the willows · live from the mls
Homes for sale, for rent and recently sold in The Willows
Every active listing, rental and closed sale in the Willows 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 (The Willows: Middlefield Rd, Willow Rd, US 101 and San Francisquito Creek (approximate)); it may not match every local definition.
the story
How The Willows came to be
The name is on the plats. Between Willow Road and Menalto Avenue, seven subdivision maps titled The Willows (Tract 537 through Tract 603) laid out Marmona Drive, McKendry Drive, Robin Way, Blackburn Avenue, Concord Drive, Barton Way, Lexington Drive and Trenton Way, and county records date nearly all of their original houses between 1942 and 1950. Around them sit older maps: one titled North Palo Alto, with houses on Laurel Avenue, Pope Street and Central Avenue going back to 1906; the Runnymede Fourth Addition around Oak Court and O'Connor Street; and Menalto Park No. 2 and No. 3 on Chester, Haight and Grayson streets, built out in the late 1940s.
City annexation records show most of the Willows joining Menlo Park on June 26, 1951, in an annexation filed under the name North Palo Alto. The Oak Court area followed in 1959, Falk Court and Byers Drive in 1960, and a strip of O'Connor Street in 1982. That piecemeal history helps explain a quirk buyers notice later: one neighborhood is served by two sewer agencies, three water providers and, on the O'Connor Street strip, a different elementary school district.
The City's 2013 historic resources report for its Housing Element describes Willows houses ranging from early 20th-century bungalows, neoclassic boxes and period revivals to the mid-1940s ranch style that fills the tract blocks, and it identified the blocks around Willow and Middlefield roads as a potential historic district it called Willows Southwest. The other defining neighbor is San Francisquito Creek. The 1998 flood, the worst on record, put water into homes in Menlo Park, Palo Alto and East Palo Alto. The Reach 2 flood-control effort between the Newell Road and Pope-Chaucer bridges broke ground on May 21, 2026 with a larger replacement for the 1911 Newell Road bridge; channel widening, floodwalls and a new Pope-Chaucer bridge are expected to take years longer.
streets and homes
The streets and the houses
Willow Road, an arterial with Class II bike lanes, forms the northwest edge, and Menalto Avenue runs through the middle from US 101 down to Woodland Avenue, which follows the creek. West of Menalto the 1940s tracts bend into short curving streets such as Marmona, McKendry, Concord, Lexington and Trenton; the older North Palo Alto blocks line Laurel Avenue, Pope Street and Central Avenue; east of Menalto you find O'Keefe Street, Elliott Drive, Oak Court and O'Connor Street. Pope Street crosses the creek into Palo Alto at the Pope-Chaucer bridge, and Middlefield Road crosses at the southwest corner.
City parcel records count about 1,375 parcels here, about 1,230 of them single-family lots, and 85 of those record an accessory dwelling unit. Most houses are one story (1,013 parcels against 236 two-story). Expect a mix on any block: original 1940s ranch houses of modest size, enlarged and remodeled versions, a scattering of pre-war houses on Pope Street, Laurel Avenue, Central Avenue and O'Connor Street, and about 130 houses built or rebuilt since 2000.
Most of the neighborhood is zoned R-1-U (single-family urban). The City's zoning summary sheet lists a 7,000-square-foot minimum lot, 65-foot width, 20-foot front and rear setbacks and a 28-foot height limit for R-1-U, and it notes that new construction or extensive remodeling on a substandard lot may need a use permit or architectural control review by the Planning Commission, which matters here because many lots are under 7,000 square feet. Small R-2 and R-3 pockets add attached options: townhomes on Willow Road from 1996, on O'Keefe Street from 1977 and on Euclid Avenue from 1985, plus commercial frontage on Willow Road and Menalto Avenue.
streets in the willows
- Willow Road
- Menalto Avenue
- Woodland Avenue
- Gilbert Avenue
- Laurel Avenue
- Pope Street
- Central Avenue
- O'Keefe Street
- O'Connor Street
- Oak Court
- Elliott Drive
- Chester Street
- Durham Street
- Haight Street
- Grayson Court
- Arnold Way
- Marmona Drive
- McKendry Drive
- Robin Way
- Blackburn Avenue
- Concord Drive
- Barton Way
- Lexington Drive
- Trenton Way
- Nova Lane
- Shirley Way
- Falk Court
- Byers Drive
- Emma Lane
- Euclid Avenue
- Russell Court
- Clover Lane
parks and places
Parks, shops and landmarks near The Willows
- park
Willow Oaks Park
490 Willow Road, about 3.3 acres by the City's GIS outline. The City's 2022 neighborhood profile lists an off-leash dog park, tennis courts and public art, and City asset records show playground structures and a sculpture.
- shopping
Menalto Avenue at Gilbert Avenue
A short row of storefronts just north of Gilbert Avenue, around 1921 to 1929 Menalto Avenue, holds a cafe, a small market, a florist, a dry cleaner and salons, per OpenStreetMap. It is about 0.15 mile from the middle of the neighborhood.
- shopping
El Rancho Supermarket
812 Willow Road near Bay Road, about 0.4 mile from the middle of the Willows in a straight line.
- shopping
The Willows Market
60 Middlefield Road at the neighborhood's southwest corner, by the Middlefield Road creek crossing, about 0.6 mile from the middle of the Willows in a straight line.
- landmark
San Francisquito Creek
Woodland Avenue traces the creek along the south edge. The creek is the Palo Alto city line and the reason much of the Willows is mapped in a FEMA flood zone; Reach 2 flood-control work between the Newell Road and Pope-Chaucer bridges began in 2026.
- landmark
Former Sunset Magazine campus, 80 Willow Road
At Willow and Middlefield roads on the Palo Alto border. A builder's-remedy proposal for the 6.7-acre site (665 homes, offices, a hotel and towers up to 458 feet) was in a standoff between the City and the state attorney general in fall 2026.
schools and commute
School districts and getting around
School districts
City parcel data and U.S. Census school-district maps put nearly all of the Willows in the Menlo Park City School District for elementary and middle school and the Sequoia Union High School District for high school. The exception is a strip on the north side of O'Connor Street, annexed in 1982, which both sources place in the Ravenswood City School District. The Menlo Park City School District's Laurel School Upper Campus is inside the neighborhood at 275 Elliott Drive. Attendance boundaries change, so confirm any specific address with the district.
Menlo Park City Schools guide · Las Lomitas guide · Sequoia Union guide · Silicon Valley school districts
Getting around
- Caltrain: Menlo Park station (1120 Merrill Street) is about 1.5 miles west of the middle of the Willows, and Palo Alto's University Avenue station about 1.3 miles southwest across the creek (straight-line distances).
- US 101: the Willow Road interchange is at the neighborhood's north corner, about 0.65 mile from the middle (straight line); the University Avenue interchange is in East Palo Alto, about a mile east.
- Bike: Willow Road has Class II bike lanes (City 2022 profile); Pope Street and Middlefield Road cross the creek into Palo Alto, and Stanford Shopping Center is about 1.5 miles southwest in a straight line.
- Bus: the City's 2022 profile counts two SamTrans routes on Willow Road and Menalto Avenue with typical waits over 15 minutes; check SamTrans for current routes and schedules.
- Creek crossings: the Newell Road bridge between Palo Alto and East Palo Alto is being replaced, with completion expected in spring 2027 per May 2026 reporting; Pope-Chaucer bridge work is further out.
nerd notes
Buying or selling in The Willows: what we check
Buying here
- Pull the FEMA flood zone for the exact parcel. City parcel data shows 824 of about 1,375 Willows parcels in Zone AE and 15 in Zone A, mostly west of Menalto Avenue, and 158 parcels with a Letter of Map Amendment on file. Ask for any elevation certificate or LOMA, and get a flood insurance quote before you remove contingencies.
- Confirm utilities by address. City records split the Willows among Menlo Park Municipal Water, the O'Connor water system (listed as O'Connor Water District) and Palo Alto Park Mutual Water, and between West Bay Sanitary District and East Palo Alto Sanitary District for sewer. Rates, connection fees and lateral rules differ.
- Doing rebuild math? Compare the lot to R-1-U's 7,000-square-foot minimum first; a substandard lot can add Planning Commission review, and a Zone AE parcel brings floodplain building rules. Ask Menlo Park Planning and Building before you pay for plans.
- For a 1940s house, check the electrical panel and wiring, original plumbing and the sewer lateral, drainage on low lots, and permits for past additions and garage conversions.
- On O'Connor Street, verify the elementary district; the 1982 annexation strip is in Ravenswood City School District.
- Watch two projects: Reach 2 creek work and the Pope-Chaucer bridge are years out, and the 80 Willow Road proposal could change traffic at Willow and Middlefield.
Selling here
- Assemble flood paperwork up front: the FEMA zone for the parcel, any LOMA or elevation certificate, and your flood insurance history.
- State the water provider, sewer agency and school district for the address in the listing; buyers here ask early.
- Pull permit history for additions and conversions so the square footage in your marketing matches county records.
- On a smaller lot, show buyers the R-1-U numbers and what has been approved nearby; anyone pricing a rebuild will want to know whether substandard-lot review applies.
nerd noteCommissions are always negotiable, and we offer bundled services, so ask us what's included.
faq
The Willows questions, answered
Where is the Willows in Menlo Park?
Southeast of Willow Road between Middlefield Road and US 101, with San Francisquito Creek and Palo Alto on the south and the East Palo Alto city line on the east. Menalto Avenue runs through the middle.
Is the Willows in a flood zone?
Much of it. City parcel data based on FEMA's 2019 maps puts about 60 percent of parcels in Zone AE or Zone A, mostly west of Menalto Avenue; the rest are Zone X. About 158 parcels have a Letter of Map Amendment. Check the exact address on FEMA's map.
When were most Willows homes built?
In the 1940s. The median recorded year built is 1948; the seven Willows tract maps were built out between 1942 and 1950, older blocks on Laurel Avenue and Pope Street date from as early as 1906, and about 130 homes are 2000 or newer.
Which school district serves the Willows?
Menlo Park City School District and Sequoia Union High School District for nearly all addresses; a strip of O'Connor Street is in Ravenswood City School District. Confirm the exact address with the district.
Is the Willows part of East Palo Alto?
No. It has been in Menlo Park since annexations between 1951 and 1982, but the city line zigzags, and some creekside blocks just east of the Willows are East Palo Alto. Check the city on the tax bill.
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