Picturesque Los Altos Hills with its lavish estates, rolling hills and views of the Bay Area has become a favorite hideaway for the movers and shakers of Silicon Valley. The town's strict zoning regulations which require minimum lot sizes of an acre or more lend an air of privacy and seclusion. Although the town has been incorporated since 1956, there is no commercial district in Los Altos Hills which shares many of its services including schools and shops with the neighboring communities of Palo Alto, Los Altos and Cupertino. The largest and only commercial enterprise is Foothill Community College, a rambling, scenic campus which blends attractively into the foothills along highway #280.
A hallmark of Los Alto Hills' exclusive, rural lifestyle is the many acres of parks and recreation within the town. The Mid-Peninsula Regional Open Space Preserve adjacent to Los Altos Hills features 567 acres of open space with nearly 10 miles of hiking and riding trails. 167 acre Rancho San Antonio County Park offers more hiking and riding trails, a special area for designated for flying model gliders and Deer Hollow Farm, a working farm open to visitors. One of the largest and most unique open space areas in Los Altos Hills is Hidden Villa. This 1,600 acre preserve is an educational farm featuring native plant gardens, a wilderness area, visitor center, nature shop, trails and a youth hostel. The property which attracts more than 40,000 visitors annually was a gift from Frank and Josephine Duveneck and is owned and operated by a non-profit trust. The town also has a little league field, riding ring and country club.
7,902 residents live within the 8.6-square-miles of Los Altos Hills, earning a median household income of $173,570 yearly. 123 single family homes were sold last year, with a median price of $2,773,194. Los Altos Hills shares its 94022 zip code with neighboring Los Altos ?C a zip code dubbed the 19th most affluent in the United States in the April 2005 issue of American Demographics magazine. Famous Los Altos Hills current and former residents include; actress Adrienne Barbeau who attended Foothill College, baseball legend, Barry Bonds, John Chambers, president and CEO of Cisco Systems, Wilf Corrigan, chairman and CEO of LSI Logic Corporation and Steven T. Kirsch, founder of Infoseek, an early Internet search engine.