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Published on 04/28/1999 All articles from this issue

Trees soften Los Altos streets downtown, thanks to many chants

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Voice of the Past

Shadeless storefronts, barren strips of concrete, and skeletal telephone poles - downtown Los Altos wasn't a very attractive place to go shopping during the l950s. In fact, it was downright bleak. Over the next eight years, it would get a fresh new look.

A program that included adding the Chinese pistache trees that currently line State and Main streets, and the addition of landscaped and paved customer parking, depended on cooperation among many local citizens, merchants and city officials.

Longtime resident and downtown property owner, U. S. Senator Alan Cranston, said, in a 1974 interview, "I saw main streets losing their vitality. The shopping centers were new and glamorous. I wanted more trees and better parking areas."

According to Senator Cranston, "It was impossible to park in Los Altos in the early 1950s. We didn't have any sewers in the downtown area. We had septic tanks behind the places of business. The open spaces were just dirt that you couldn't park on in the winter. Maybe you could park there in the summer, but it was totally chaotic.

"We developed the concept of getting rid of the septic tanks, bringing in sewers, and then paving them over with the parking plaza. That led, in effect, to turning Los Altos into a shopping center, and making it relatively easy to park, and having two store fronts - one toward the street and one toward the rear," Cranston said.

A $1 million assessment district was formed to finance the plazas. The plan included a pistache or oleander for every two parking spaces.

In l954, two years after Los Altos incorporated as a city, a committee of 50 merchants, Kiwanis and Rotary Club members, city employees and citizens staged a "tree-planting bee" on Main and State streets.

A contractor dug planting holes for free, and a nurseryman provided the trees at wholesale cost, paid for by merchant contributions.

"People had a lot of public spirit," recalled the late Joe Salameda, who helped organize the bee. He added, "At first, some merchants didn't like the idea of trees blocking their signs. That's why we used deciduous trees. The merchants took care of the trees in front of their own stores and soon found them to be a benefit."

By 1959 the young trees still seemed puny next to their stakes. Today the colorful trees dominate the scene and almost overshadow parked cars. City crews prune and water the trees now.

Adapted by Donna Shoemaker, Courtesy History House of Los Altos. For information about participating in the Los Altos Oral History program, call 650-948-9427, or e-mail LAVoices@aol.com