by Mary Pope-Handy | Dec 3, 2022 | East Los Gatos, Los Gatos Neighborhoods, Maps of Los Gatos, Parks, Schools Serving Los Gatos, Videos of Los Gatos
The Belwood, Belgatos, and Surmont neighborhood in east Los Gatos is a tidy community at the base of the hills and close to beautiful Belgatos Park. It includes 4 subdivisions which all share access to the Belwood of Los Gatos cabana. They include:
- Surmont, the oldest section of the neighborhood, with semi custom homes (“Class D” optional cabana membership)
- Belgatos, which was built next and is on the west side of Belgatos Road (“Class D” optional cabana membership)
- Belwood of Los Gatos, a large tract neighborhood with the cabana at its heart (mandatory cabana membership, many homes now extensively remodeled or rebuilt)
- A small subdivision with 14 homes built between 1977 and 1979 that wasn’t given a name, unfortunately: Tract 5921 (10 homes) and Lots A – D. (“Class D” optional cabana membership)
Where is the Belwoood, Belgatos, and Surmont neighborhood?
The community is located on the south side of Blossom Hill Road, generally between Westhill Drive and Harwood Road.
Nearby public landmarks are Belgatos Park and the Walgreen’s shopping center (corner of Blossom Hill and Harwood), with a Mountain Mike’s Pizza and a newly added cake shop.
There’s a fair amount of confusion about what is or isn’t in this neighborhood or who can use or join the pool. Adding to the location confusion, The Los Gatos Monte Sereno Police cert map identifies the whole region plus the Strathmore neighborhood, which is across Blossom Hill Road, as “Belwood” generally.
What are the schools for this neighborhood?
The public schools for this area are Noddin Elementary, Union Middle, and Leigh High School.
What’s the neighborhood like?
The terrain is nearly level, with very low, gentle hills over most of the area. For those looking for an arduous climb on foot or bike, though, Harwood Road provides a nice challenge. At the top, you’ll see a fantastic view of downtown San Jose and Silicon Valley for your trouble. There are some challenges to be found in the open space trails, too.
With winding, mostly tree-lined roads and tidy houses as a rule (there are only a very few exceptions). It is a very attractive neighborhood overall.
Some streets have sidewalks, but many do not. There are not a lot of street lamps, which makes for wonderful night sky viewing.
Park and trails
At the middle of this community is the very inviting Belgatos Park, a scenic, setting which includes a playground near the parking lot, picnic areas, restrooms, trails into the hills (with some wonderful valley views), and access to the Heinz Open Space Preserve and its network of trails also. (And it’s not far to the Santa Rosa Open Space area either.)
One hill attracts kids who enjoy sliding down it on bits of cardboard, and thus has been nicknamed “cardboard hill” for decades. Most of the time these cardboard sledding enthusiasts are pretty good about picking up their “sledding vehicles” when done.
The paths are popular with people on foot, but also those on mountain bikes or horseback. As there are a few larger properties which are zoned for horses in the area, this is a very nice equestrian option. There are 2 nearby places for horse boarding, too.
For photographers, the park has abundant worthy subjects year round, both of the open space and the valley views below. In the early morning hours, or near sunset, you may see some deer too. But be careful: bobcats and mountain lions are in these hills also.
What are homes like in this part of town?
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by Mary Pope-Handy, Clair Handy | Nov 18, 2022 | Los Gatos Neighborhoods, East Los Gatos
A handful of streets on and off Blossom Hill Road make up the Winterbrook Rochin area. Residents there enjoy the highly acclaimed Los Gatos Union School District and a close proximity to Blossom Hill Elementary School, Blossom Hill Park, and much more. Many properties can boast a view of the coastal range, too.
Not every neighborhood in Los Gatos has a name, and I could not locate one for residential part of town, either, so I’m calling it the Winterbrook Rochin area as those streets bookend these homes.
Where is the Winterbrook Rochin area?
This pocket sits just a little east of Blossom Manor in east Los Gatos, separated from the Manor by Ross Creek, and it hits the eastern boundary of the Los Gatos Union School district for this part of town (a snippet of Los Gatos schools can be found in Almaden Valley off of Camden and Coleman in the farther side of the Campagna subdivision – that is the very far east boundary!).
The streets include Winterbrook Road, Stephanie Lane, Linda Avenue (south of Ross Creek), Costances Court, Rochin Terrace, Rochin Court, and part of Blossom Hill Road.
What are homes and streets like in the Winterbrook Rochin area?
This area has a lot of variety in home age, size, style and more. I pulled the data up in Realist, which provides MLS members info from the county records, for the following statistics.
Quick stats:
- There are 76 single family homes in this neighborhood.
- 49 of them are single story, the rest are 2 story homes.
- The most modest homes have 2 bedrooms and 1 or 2 bathrooms. The largest has 8 bedrooms and 8 bathrooms.
- The houses have living space square footage from 850 SF to 6828 SF. Most houses have between 2,000 and 3,000 SF. (Three homes are under 1,000 SF. The three largest have 3,951, 4,646, and 6828 SF.)
- Lot sizes range from 7823 to 65,213 SF
- The oldest house was built in 1925, and the newest in 2020. The two oldest homes are on Linda. The three youngest are tear downs that were built new.
- The newest subdivision is on Constaces Court. There are 7 houses there, 6 built in 2014 and 1 constructed in 2018.
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by Mary Pope-Handy | Sep 15, 2022 | Equestrian, East Los Gatos
While south county has many equestrian centers, Harwood Farms horse boarding is right in Los Gatos and conveniently close to trails – and home!
Where is the Harwood Farms horse boarding?
Harwood Farms horse boarding is located at the corner of Harwood Road and Alerche Road in Los Gatos. (Alerche is a loop road, and this stable is at the upper one, further from Blossom Hill Road.)
This location is excellent for accessing the trails at Belgatos Park, which in turn lead to a network of trails: Heintz, Shannon Valley open space, and Santa Rosa open space.
Equestrian land in a residential setting with many nearby trails
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by Mary Pope-Handy, Clair Handy | Jul 17, 2022 | East Los Gatos, Los Gatos Neighborhoods
Today I visited a friend in the convenient National and Los Gatos-Almaden neighborhood and wanted to write about it as it is super convenient, particularly for medical workers wanting a short commute to Good Samaritan Hospital or the many offices nearby.
Honestly I didn’t know what to call that residential area (and not every part of town has a name). Often we Realtors refer to neighborhoods by their major roads or cross streets, so when I saw it named Los Gatos-Almaden neighborhood on the Nextdoor site, I thought it was as good a name as could be found.
There are a lot of things to love about this area. First, it has highly prized schools (more on that below), second it’s a great commute location (both Highway 17 and 880 are easily accessed, and if someone is working in the nearby hospitals or medical offices, it’s pretty quick!), and third, there are loads of wonderful things within a short ride or even by bike or on foot.
Very close by is the Live Oak Manor Park, which can be entered at the end of Blackwell Drive. It’s also a short jaunt to Vasona Lake County Park, downtown Los Gatos, Campbell, and many other areas. Shopping venues abound.
Where is the National and Los Gatos-Almaden neighborhood?
Generally, this area is fairly close to Good Samaritan Hospital and even closer to its branch, Mission Oaks. It’s very close to the border with Cambrian Park (and also abuts against the school district border between Union and Los Gatos School Districts.
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by Mary Pope-Handy | May 3, 2022 | East Los Gatos, Los Gatos Neighborhoods, Videos of Los Gatos
The Vista del Monte neighborhood is a cherished and attractive area in Los Gatos 95030.
Few quick points about why the Vista del Monte neighborhood is so popular:
- scenic area close to the hills, tree lined streets
- many streets have sidewalks
- enjoys a beautiful neighborhood park
- highly prized Los Gatos schools
- out of the downtown hustle and bustle – but close by!
- most sections have a wonderfully quiet sound score on the HowLoud.com website
- the terrain is mostly level or gently sloping, but there are a few homes with views.
- there’s a video drive through at the end of this article – click through to see it!
Like most of Los Gatos, there is some variation in the size of the houses and lots, but to describe the area generally, it’s fair to say that most are ranch style homes (single story, split level and 2 story homes) built in the late 1950s to mid 1960s, with some built in the late 70s. The average home size is about 2300 SF (most range between 1500 and 3000 SF) and the average lot size is about a quarter acre (many are 8000 to 10,000 SF, but a few are far larger). Most houses include attached 2 car garages, but a few of the larger homes or those built more recently offer 3 car garages.
This is a nicely maintained area where you’ll find pride of ownership in the upkeep of homes and yards.
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by Mary Pope-Handy | Aug 26, 2021 | Los Gatos Neighborhoods, East Los Gatos
The Stonybrook neighborhood of east Los Gatos, just off Kennedy Road, is particularly scenic with its large canopy of trees, big lots, gently curving roads, and mostly understated and sprawling ranch style homes. This area has a semi-rural feel as there are no sidewalks and only soft gutters. It’s also a close in Los Gatos neighborhood, which adds to its appeal.
In December, this area is especially festive with holiday lights, making it a fun part of the season for driving through.
Interestingly, the Stonybrook area is listed in the county’s list of subdivisions as Stony Brook. (Similarly, we refer to a nearby neighborhood as Surry Farms, but the official name is Surry Farm – in the singular. There was in fact just one ranch or farm there!)
Where is the Stonybrook neighborhood?
You’ll find the Stonybrook (Stony Brook) pocket Los Gatos east of Los Gatos Blvd and north of Kennedy. The streets are Stonybrook Road, Cardinal Lane, Robin Way, plus 3 homes on Kennedy just west of Cardinal. From here it’s a quick trip to downtown LG! All but the 3 with Kennedy addresses are part of tract # 1642.
The zip code here is 95032. It is part of the highly sought after Los Gatos Union School District and the Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint High School District.
Nearby neighborhoods include Kenwood Acres, Surrey Farm (aka Surry Farms), and Vista Del Monte.
Homes and land in Stonybrook
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