Greater Miranda

While keeping a kind of rural feel of isolation, Greater Miranda is one of the smallest neighborhoods in Palo Alto. In fact, it only encompasses about four residential streets (that end in cul-de-sacs) as well as part of the Alta Mesa Cemetery. Its best attribute is its proximity to the Palo Alto Unified School District (and Stanford University) which ranks as one of the best along the San Francisco peninsula. As a result, the school system has raised the price in real-estate dramatically, but has done little in actually improving the aesthetic nature of the neighborhood.

Greater Miranda’s residential terrain has a bit of a muddled Palo Alto feel to it. Though in the past couple of years an influx of young families have slowly crept into the neighborhood, filling elementary and middle school classrooms to the brim. For numbers sake, the average house prices are estimated at an expensive $1.3 million while some homes have sold for about $3 million (little bang for a lot of buck). Geographically speaking, Greater Miranda is situated along Arastadero Road and Foothill expressway, adjacent to the Henry Gunn High School. The prep school is known for feeding the largest number of students into Stanford University.

Greater Miranda isn’t really known for much. That might be because the Alta Mesa Cemetery takes up most of the land area. The non-denominational cemetery is somewhat isolated from the public, hidden behind a fence and heavy foliage. The area itself spans 72 acres and is the location where Steve Jobs was laid to rest. Elsewhere, the neighborhood is situated just down the block of a Palo Alto satellite hospital.