We bought our first home in Mountain View last year after renting for over eight years. All our schools are great. We're part of the Los Altos School District. Schools were a big part of where we chose to buy.
At least the don't still have all those Doberman Pinchers running around and pooping in 444 Castro Street (aka "Dog City") any more. How times have changed.
>For 10 years after it was built,
the big office building on Castro
Street was empty, prompting
owners to worry that it would
become targeted by thieves or
squatters. Their solution was to
let a pack of Doberman pinchers
run loose on the building’s
ground floor.
>The dogs barked from the lobby
at anyone walking down Castro
Street, leading to nicknames for
the structure like “Dog City” and
“White Elephant.” Some called
it the largest dog kennel in the
world.
>Meanwhile, the dogs had
nowhere else to go, and so
they soiled the building, leaving
an increasingly horrible mess.
>According to recently retired
finance director Bob Locke, city
officials joked that it took years
to get rid of the smell.
(The article has an archive photo that shows how the 12 stories were built from top to bottom down! And former mayor Bill Jelavich reminiscing about how the building was actually part of his plan to revitalize the downtown.)
>“I never dreamed it would
change the way it did,” Jelavich
said of the city’s downtown.
