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EspañolWOODSIDE, CALIFORNIA
'Woodside' (pop. 5,352) is a small incorporated town in San Mateo County, California, United States, on the San Francisco Peninsula. It uses a council-manager system of government.
Woodside is among the wealthiest areas in the United States.
| Contents |
| History and culture |
| Geography and climate |
| Environmental features |
| Demographics |
| Film and television |
| Notable residents |
| See also |
| External links |
History and culture
The Woodside area was originally home to natives belonging to the Ohlone tribe. In 1769, led by Gaspar de Portolà, Spanish explorers searching for San Francisco Bay camped at a site near Woodside.
Woodside is said to be the oldest English-speaking settlement in the Southern part of the San Francisco Peninsula. The first English-speaking settlers arrived in the early-19th century to log the rich stands of redwoods. Charles Brown constructed the first sawmill in Woodside on his Mountain Home Ranch around 1838. His adobe house, built in 1839, still stands today. By mid-century, the Woodside area could boast a dozen mills producing building materials for a booming San Francisco.
In 1849, during the California Gold Rush, 20-year-old Mathias Alfred Parkhurst purchased of timberland and named it “Woodside"; of course, this name kept. By the late 19th century, Woodside was home to country estates. The town was incorporated in 1956 to prevent urbanization, and it still retains a rural residential character, though it is a short commute to Silicon Valley.
Today, Woodside is among the wealthiest small towns in the United States. Affordable housing is unavailable; vacant lots, were any to be found, would sell for over a million dollars. Several well-known people live here, including Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle Corporation; Gordon E. Moore, co-founder of Intel and originator of Moore's Law; John Thompson, CEO of Symantec; Neil Young, rock singer, who owns a 1500 acre (6 km²) ranch there; Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and Pixar has a house here, but actually lives in Palo Alto; Shirley Temple Black, US ambassador and former child actress; Ted Belanoff, a famous Calfornia chess player, Michelle Pfeiffer, actress, and her husband David E. Kelley, producer; Thomas Siebel, founder of Siebel Systems; Scott Cook, co-founder of Intuit, Inc.; John Doerr, venture capitalist; Dr. Carl Djerassi, novelist and inventor of the birth control pill; Kenneth Fisher, billionaire investor, ''Forbes'' columnist, author, and local historian ; and Joan Baez, folk singer. Woodside is also home to Koko, the gorilla who was taught American Sign Language.
The very small business district includes a few restaurants (Buck's, Woodside Bakery & Cafe, John Bentley's, and The Village Pub), a grocery store (Roberts Market), a hardware store, and a home and garden store. The town is home to the famous Buck's of Woodside restaurant, which is well known among Silicon Valley entrepreneurs as the location where many VC investment deals have been signed. The inside of the restaurant is decorated with historic Silicon Valley artifacts. The corporate headquarters for Fisher Investments sits atop Kings Mountain in Woodside.
Horses are part of the local culture. Many residents keep horses, and the town government maintains a network of horse trails. The town is also quite popular among local cyclists and draws them in large numbers on summer weekends. Most popular road cycling routes include Old La Honda Rd., King's Mountain Rd, Canada Rd., Southgate Dr., Skyline Rd. and Highway 84. Woodside is home to a number of open space preserves, including the Purisima Open Space (which is part of the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space), where both horseback riding and bicycling is allowed.
The Woodside Fire District is a special district serving Woodside, Portola Valley and unincorporated areas including Ladera, Los Trancos Woods, Vista Verde, Emerald Lake, and Skyline/State Route 35 area.
Dr. Carl Djerassi founded an artists colony in the community in memory of his late daughter. The Djerassi Resident Artists Program is one of several Bay Area programs which house artists in an environment where they can be creative without worrying about how to pay the rent. Others include Villa Montalvo in Saratoga and Marin Headlands Center for the Arts north of San Francisco.
All in all, Woodside is an extraordinarily beautiful town, very lush and green. It is adjacent to the campus of Stanford University, which is east of the town.
Downtown Woodside, California
Geography and climate
Woodside is located at (37.420704, -122.259777).
Woodside is located on the San Francisco Peninsula, midway between San Jose and San Francisco, just north of Silicon Valley, in San Mateo County. The infamous San Andreas Fault runs through town. This fault is a major source of earthquake activity in California, including the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
Much of Woodside is wooded, with redwoods dominating in the western hills and more oaks and eucalyptus in the lower areas. San Francisco Bay lies to the east, while Pacific Ocean beaches lie to the west. The Santa Cruz mountains separate Woodside from the ocean and extend down to Monterey Bay about forty miles south.
As is true of most of the California coastal areas, weather is mild during most of the year. Summers are dry and can be hot; winter temperatures rarely dip much below freezing. Snowfall is extremely rare. Hills between Woodside and the Pacific coast make fog much less prevalent than in nearby San Francisco.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 30.5 km² (11.8 mi²), all land.
The nearest cities and towns are Redwood City, Menlo Park, Portola Valley, Atherton, San Carlos, Belmont, East Palo Alto and Palo Alto.
Environmental features
Woodside has a variety of habitat types including California oak woodland and riparian zones. There is considerable biodiversity present, Woodside being within the California Floristic Province. Notable species present include the rare and endangered species ''Acanthomintha duttonii'', the San Mateo Thornmint'
Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 5,352 people, 1,949 households, and 1,516 families residing in the town. The population density was 175.7/km² (455.1/mi²). There were 2,030 housing units at an average density of 66.6/km² (172.6/mi²). The racial makeup of the town was 90.21% White, 0.37% African American, 0.15% Native American, 4.99% Asian, 0.11% Pacific Islander, 1.31% from other races, and 2.86% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.33% of the population.
There are 1,949 households, of which 31.6% have children under the age of 18. 68.8% were married couples living together, 5.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 22.2% were non-families. 15.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.74 and the average family size was 2.98.
In the town the population was spread out with 23.4% under the age of 18, 3.6% from 18 to 24, 24.1% from 25 to 44, 32.9% from 45 to 64, and 16.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44 years. For every 100 females there were 98.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.1 males.
The median household income in the town is $171,126, and the median family income is $196,505. The per capita income for the town was $104,667. About 1.6% of families and 2.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 1.4% of those under age 18 and 4.8% of those age 65 or over.
Film and television
The house in the Robin Williams movie ''Bicentennial Man'' is in Woodside. ''Dynasty'' was filmed at the Filoli Estate (not the interior of the mansion, but the exterior), as were the films ''The Wedding Planner'', ''The Game'', ''Lolita'', ''George of the Jungle'', ''Heaven Can Wait'', and ''Harold and Maude''. The musical Rent also has a scene filmed inside the Filoli Estate.
Notable residents
See also
★ Skeggs Point
External links
★ Town of Woodside home page
★ Woodside Public Library - a branch of the San Mateo County Library
★ Woodside Fire District
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