Feb 19, 2004

Street Scene: Via Mateo Street

Janet Romero has lived on Via Mateo Street in Almaden for 16 years and has been dubbed the street historian because of the photo albums she has in her possession, of all the neighborly events that have gone on over the years.

Sixteen years ago, the Romero children weren’t in school yet, and there were few chances to get to know the neighbors without children mingling in the lawns.

“We actually met a lot of our neighbors through our children,” says Romero, “when they got a little older, started kindergarten, or started being a part of sports or certain organizations, we started meeting the neighbors.”
Considering the fact that Almaden has many organized athletic programs, such as Little League, and others organized by the YMCA, such as basketball, which Romero’s husband, Rom, coached for a couple of years.

“We did so many things with the neighborhood kids over the years, lots of games from baseball to volleyball, swim parties, hide-n-seek and tons of other things. It’s been really neat to go through the milestones of life with the other families around here,” says Romero, “Watching the kids learn to walk, swim, ride a bike or drive a car has really been fun.”

Eleven years ago, Romero decided it would be fun to have a progressive dinner with some other families in the neighborhood. She figured that not many people had more place settings or table space for more than 12 people. “So six couples were invited; it started out as a New Year’s Eve party but over the years, since so many people have other plans, it has developed into a Christmas-time event.”

At the annual progressive dinner party, the six couples that are invited all contribute in some way. A different house is chosen for each course, one for appetizers, another for soup, another for salad, then another for the main entrée, and another for dessert.

“At the house where we have dessert, we have a White Elephant gift exchange, which are kind of like gag gifts, but they’re all wrapped really elaborately and disguised really well,” says Romero. She also mentioned a certain bottle of cognac that has been passed around for about eight years now, and people do such a good job of disguising it that no one ever knows what it is.

Romero says that she hasn’t known of any problems on Via Mateo, no speeding, vandalisms or burglaries, but she says everyone watches out for one another. Such as making a phone call to a neighbor when they’ve seen their house being toilet papered, or closing a garage door after a hurried parent rushed off in the morning.
“We all help out. For example, our skylight blew off in the storm [Tuesday] morning and our neighbor just dropped what he was doing to run over and let us know about it, then helped us fix it. He basically did everything on his own without us asking,” says Romero.

Romero says that in 16 years, she’s seen a lot of people move away, and a lot of people move in, and although it’s sad to see them go, it’s always a happy time meeting the newcomers.

“We’ll be the only original couple at next year’s progressive dinner,” says Romero.

From purse parties to candle parties to supporting each and every fund-raiser the children have for school or athletics, the neighborhood is a friendly one, where people can go next door to borrow some flour, or a glue gun for a project.

“This is a great place to live. Great public schools, great community and there are lots of great parks right around the corner,” says Romero.

Her children went to Graystone Elementary, Castillero and Bret Harte middle schools, and Leland High School. “I think we have excellent schools in this area,” says Romero who was president of the Leland Foundation for two years, and participated on the board all four years her son, Daniel, now 18, attended.

Houses in the area, Romero guessed, are going now for about $850,000. She lives in a four-bedroom, 2,000-square-foot home, “These houses aren’t identical, although, I think there is a basic floor plan.”

Romero also shared an interesting side note about the neighborhood. Apparently, a man by the name of John Culligan was the developer, and had two friends, Mathew, and Jose. Via Mateo means Mathew Lane in Spanish, and the two streets in front of Via Mateo are Culligan Lane, and Via Jose. And a street named Via Amigos connects all three.

—By Miranda Schultz