Let’s Cross Back to the Draegers side of First Street
Figure 8: Here is a close up of the condos at 396 First.
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Figure 8: Here is a close up of the 396 First street condos on the south end of Los Altos First Street. The big problem with the sidewalks here is the telephone pole shown and the other one hidden behind it at the other end of the building. The City expects to underground the utilities along this part of First Street in the next couple of years or so. This will improve the walkability quite a bit.
Figure 9: Notice that this condo does a pretty decent “NYC Brownstone style” raised first floor.
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Figure 9: Notice that this condo does a pretty decent “NYC Brownstone style” raised first floor. It’s about 4+ feet above the level of the sidewalk. Lalahpolitico thinks that’s good because as a pedestrian, one is not going to “accidentally” see into the first floor condos without craning one’s neck. However, the landscape “hard” elements abutting the sidewalk could be set back in a more generous way. Think about NYC sidewalks. The retaining walls at this condo are still a little too close to the sidewalk. And look at that stairway railing on this condo. Who wants to accidentally bump into that?
Figure 10: At least the 396 First CONDO PUT IN A SIDEWALK WHERE THERE HAD BEEN NONE. See the red tiled building from the 90s with a generous setback across part of its frontage.
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Figure 10: Looking back over one’s shoulder is this view of 396 First condo – Foothill Expressway side – looking north. At least the CONDO PUT IN A SIDEWALK WHERE THERE HAD BEEN NONE. The still unredeveloped area, as in the foreground, has NO SIDEWALK. But note that across the street, that 90’s red tile roof building was somehow persuaded to include significant setback from the sidewalk along half of its frontage.
Figure 11: A hardware store that is in a old ice cream store from the 1950s.
Figure 11: Across the street from the new condo, a bit south of it, is a hardware store that is in a old ice cream store building from the 1950s. Some people think this building is so antiquey cool. Do you? It has about 6 feet porch as a setback from the sidewalk, but the space is fully used to display merchandize. Thus the sidewalk does not feel appreciably roomier here during business hours.
Figure 12: The real or perhaps faux Victorian house, shown from a different angle..a large setback from the sidewalk along 50% of the frontage.
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Figure 12: Roughly arcoss the street from the condo at 396 Los Altos First Street is this real or perhaps faux Victorian house, shown from a different angle than in Figure 5. It’s cute but showing some wear. It is now apparently home to a software business. How unusual to house a startup someplace with such a traditional vibe! If it is a Victorian reproduction from the 1970’s or later (?), the builders were persuaded to include a large setback from the sidewalk along 50% of the frontage.
Figure 13: This photo still on Google Earth shows how the corner of Los Alto First Street at San Antonio looked in 2011. This is the southernmost end of Los Altos First Street.
Figure 13: At the southern most end of First Street, where it intersects San Antonio and abuts Foothill Expressway, pedestrians and drivers have had to look at this cleared lot for about decade. Before that we looked at an shuttered gas station for about a decade. This is a photo from Google Earth of how it looked in 2011.
Figure 14: As of January 2016 a three story office building is going up…on the vacant triangle and a couple of adjoining small parcels.
Figure 14: As of January 2016 a three-story office building is going up on the empty triangle at the intersection of San Antonio and First Street. Here – Images of the office building’s planned exterior .
