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Published on 08/11/1999 All articles from this issue

$800 for a 1920s Los Altos lot on Del Monte Avenue

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Ruth Erichsen was interviewed at her home in l997 by Marion Grimm and Amy Heath of History House of Los Altos. Ruth's story could be called typical of early Californians and particularly the early settlers of this area. But few local stories are recalled with such lively detail.

My grandfather, Barney Job, had a friend who came here in the late 1800s. He wrote back to my grandfather in Canton, Mo., and said, "Hey Barney, you'd better come out here." They said my grandfather had a "tickle foot," because he couldn't stay in one place. As soon as he got here, he knew orchards would do well. He sent for his wife, Juliette Job, who was pregnant at the time. She came on the train, by herself, to join her husband. My father, Merle Job, was born here in 1890.

My mother's family, the Stevens family, has been here since the Gold Rush days. My grandfather, Mark Stevens, was born in Spanish Town in Half Moon Bay. He weighed just a little over 2 pounds at birth, and he was put in a small box and kept in the warming oven of the family's big old wood stove.

Grandfather Mark married my grandmother Grace, and they moved to Washington State in 1890, where my mother was born. Mother felt cheated because she was born out of California. They only lived up there four years, and she didn't think it was quite right. Her name was Alpha Tacoma Stevens, a name she never liked; Alpha, because she was the firstborn, and Tacoma because that was the town where she lived at the time of her birth.

The Stevens family came back to this area from Washington in 1894 and bought property at Springer and Giralda. My grandfather Mark planted the orchards there. So, my mother and my father were raised very close to each other. They were in the Baptist Church and elementary school together. Just four days after they were married, my father had to leave for boot camp in San Diego. He served in the Navy during World War I. Mother said she cried through the first four days of her married life. He came back OK in 1919.

My parents designed and built their own house here on Del Monte Avenue. The subdivision was called Los Altos Park. My father paid $800 for the lot. The development opened in 1925. Our house was finished in 1930. I was just 8 years old then.

There was hardly anything else built around here until after WWII. The military people stationed here liked our weather. Just like my grandfather's friend had done so many years before, they called back home and said, "Hey, you had better come out here. This is the place to be."

So, after the war, Los Altos really started to bloom again.

- Adapted by Donna Shoemaker of History House of Los Altos