Fairmeadow

Fairmeadow's claim to fame is the plan itself: concentric circular streets — one of the most distinctive tract layouts in America — laid out by Anshen & Allen off Alma, East Charleston and East Meadow. The circles slow traffic, kill the through-route, and give the neighborhood a legibility no grid can.

The original 1951 sales launch covered 167 homes in the circles; the full tract grew to roughly 270 or more, depending on where you draw the boundary. Later phases brought Jones & Emmons models.

Fairmeadow sits in the heart of south Palo Alto's Eichler belt, minutes from Greenmeadow and the Charleston shopping corridor — and inside one of the school districts that keeps this market permanently supplied with buyers.