Unless you happen to call Atherton home, you might never have reason to stop there! Atherton is a place you pass on your way to somewhere else, like Redwood City or Menlo Park. Everyone who has lived in the Bay Area for any length of time knows that Atherton is where the “rich” people live; now that’s saying something since there are a lot of wealthy people in Silicon Valley! Indeed, the Atherton zipcode was recently listed as the second most expensive in the country (the first being Sagaponack, New York!).
It all started a century ago, when wealthy San Franciscans bought country property on the then-undeveloped Peninsula. Over the course of the century, many of these families joined the national exodus to the suburbs, with the difference that they already owned property and houses they proceeded to develop. Since their business typically remained in the City, Atherton didn’t develop local amenities like malls and theaters—or even schools. The town shares districts with Menlo Park and Redwood City (where local shopping happens, too). These homeowners often prefer to send their children to private schools, of which there are several in the town itself.