Almond Grove

Almond Grove sits just west of downtown Los Gatos, a roughly forty acre grid of tree lined streets between North Santa Cruz Avenue and the foothills. It is one of five historic districts the town formally designates, along with Broadway, the Downtown Commercial district, Fairview Plaza and University-Edelen. Broadway is actually the older subdivision, laid out in 1881, but the town describes the Almond Grove addition as the first and largest subdivision after Los Gatos incorporated in 1887, and it is the one most people picture when they think of old Los Gatos.

Almond Grove History and Streets

Before it was streets it was an almond orchard, part of the 162 acres John Mason bought in 1865, which is where the name comes from. Four men developed it: banker Alphonse Eli Wilder, Augustine Nicholson, Magnus Tait and the orchardist John Bean, whose spray pump business grew into the Food Machinery Corporation. Wilder Avenue, Tait Avenue and Bean Avenue still carry their names, and Bachman and Glen Ridge Avenues round out the district. The Town of Los Gatos historic districts page has the district map and the full story.

What you get here is a real late nineteenth and early twentieth century streetscape. Victorians, Craftsman bungalows, Spanish and Tudor revival houses and English cottages sit on compact lots, many with front porches a few steps from the sidewalk. The great majority of the housing in the district is historic, and the town’s historic district rules shape what owners can change, which is exactly why the neighborhood still looks the way it does.

Selling a Historic Almond Grove Home

For someone selling here, that designation cuts both ways and it is worth understanding before you list. Historic status protects the character that makes these houses desirable and supports the premium they command, and it also means a buyer planning a major exterior remodel or a second story faces design review. In my experience the buyers drawn to Almond Grove want the house as it is, so the restrictions matter less than sellers fear, but the conversation should happen early rather than in the middle of escrow.

Old houses also come with old house disclosures: foundations, original wiring, galvanized plumbing and past remodels done with or without permits. Getting the inspections done before you list, and pricing with them in hand, is almost always the better path here than letting a buyer’s inspector set the terms.

Downtown, Parks and Things to Do

The practical appeal is walkability that almost nowhere else in the South Bay can match. Downtown Los Gatos, with North Santa Cruz Avenue and Main Street, is a few blocks away, so restaurants, coffee, the Sunday farmers market and the town library at 100 Villa Avenue are all reachable on foot. My guide to downtown Los Gatos shopping and dining covers the favorites.

Oak Meadow Park and Vasona Lake County Park are a short drive or a longer walk, with flat, shaded paths around the reservoir, and the Los Gatos Creek Trail runs from town through Campbell and into San Jose. For a different flavor of old Los Gatos, the bungalows of nearby Edelen District sit just across North Santa Cruz Avenue, and Glenridge and Bachman Park, right next door toward the Monte Sereno line, mix older homes with later infill.

Almond Grove Schools

Schools run through Los Gatos Union School District for kindergarten through eighth grade and the Los Gatos-Saratoga Union High School District for high school, with Los Gatos High a short walk or drive across downtown. As always I confirm the actual assignment for a given address rather than assuming.

Is Almond Grove a Good Fit for Downsizers?

For walkability, it is one of the best spots in the county. The Adult Recreation Center at 208 East Main Street, home of the town’s senior services program and the LGS Recreation 55 Plus classes, is under a mile away, and El Camino Health’s Los Gatos Hospital on Pollard Road is about a ten minute drive. The streets are mostly level, there is no HOA, and you can get through most of a week without moving the car.

The catch is the housing stock. These are old houses, many with front steps, narrow doorways, steep stairs to a second floor and the maintenance profile that comes with a building of that age, and true single level homes are a minority. Condos and townhomes near downtown are the usual next step for owners who want to stay close, and longtime owners 55 and over should look at how Proposition 19 lets them carry their property tax base to a replacement home, since that changes the math on staying in town.

The Almond Grove Housing Market

Almond Grove is small, and only a handful of homes sell in a given quarter, so any median swings hard. According to Redfin’s Almond Grove data, the median sale price over the three months ending September 2026 was about $3.8 million, at roughly $1,330 per square foot, on very few sales. That sits well above the Los Gatos town median of about $2.44 million for September, which matches what I see: well preserved examples here draw buyers from well outside the county. My Los Gatos area guide covers the rest of town.

Frequently Asked Questions About Almond Grove

If you own one of these houses, you are holding something scarce, and presenting it properly makes a larger difference here than in an ordinary tract. Between that, capital gains on decades of appreciation and what Proposition 19 now means for passing property to children, there is real value in planning early. That planning is what I do with older adults and their families, full time. Book a call with me for a candid read on your options.