Portola Valley, California

Today I want to share my guide to Portola Valley, California with you. I grew up in this town in San Mateo County, and I love going home to visit.

Apparently, so do wild turkeys. The birds have taken over my home town in California. Seriously. They’re everywhere. The locals don’t know what to do with them, and the animals don’t know what to make of them.

But they’re not the only things that have changed about Portola Valley over the years, and being home this week made that clear.

According to my mother, the turkeys appeared around the time the raccoons went away. There used to be so many masked mammals around our house they’d get into our kitchen at night if we didn’t close the screen doors properly.

And that’s to say nothing of the coyotes and mountain lions that have grown in number as new housing developments in Portola Valley have caused habitat loss.

The changes aren’t hard to see. Looking out the window of my childhood bedroom in Portola Valley Ranch is like peering out of a Northern California safari jeep.

In the last hour, I’ve been mesmerized by a parade of deer, a flock of wild turkeys, numerous grey squirrels, a long-eared hare, a mohawk-sporting Steller’s Jay, and lots of little hummingbirds.

Portola Valley Town Center

The fauna isn’t the only thing that’s changed about Portola Valley, California either. While the giant redwood trees have grown in groves by the Town Center for centuries, the buildings around them have come and gone.

First there was the historic one-room schoolhouse in Portola Valley. It was built in the early 20th century in the Mission Revival style. It’s now a town meeting hall.

Then a larger school was built, decommissioned, and eventually demolished when it was discovered the school was sitting on the mighty San Andreas earthquake fault line.

Recently the Portola Valley Town Center has been given a facelift, with a beautiful new library and offices under the trees. The parking lot even features dedicated spots for electric cars. This is Silicon Valley, after all.

Then again, it also has a hitching post for horses. Despite being at the heart of the world’s technology hub, it still seems like there are more equine residents than human ones here.

I guess there are a few things that don’t change so quickly in Portola Valley.

Portola Valley Shops

In fact, my mother even saw a sign at the local grocery store saying “No Horses Allowed”.

Presumably this is because someone tried to parade their Palomino down the aisle while shopping for organic, farm-fresh, free-range, pesticide-free eggs. Welcome to Northern California.

But you won’t find many shops in Portola Valley, California. No, there are rules against anything that would draw people in from outside the community (pity there isn’t a parallel rule for wild turkeys).

Local is local, and for better or for worse, the town wants to keep it that way.

The one exception is the handful of restaurants in Portola Valley. The most famous of these is Rossotti’s Alpine Inn. Founded in 1852, it’s the second oldest continually operating tavern in California (it’s also continually changing its name).

Sitting right on Los Trancos Creek, the Alpine Inn has a huge beer garden that’s perfect for outdoor dining on sunny days.

Hiking Trails

Speaking of the outdoors, Portola Valley has miles of trails that are perfect for hikes in Northern California open space preserves like Windy Hill.

Many of them have been blazed and signposted in recent years, adding changes to the landscape and welcome places to see California’s famous wildflowers.