Woodside

Today, Woodside is among the wealthiest small towns in the United States. Vacant lots, were any to be found, would sell for over a million dollars. Several well-known people live here, including Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle Corporation, who spent nine years building an architecturally authentic, $200+ million Japanese feudal castle and man-made lake in Woodside; Gordon E. Moore, co-founder of Intel and originator of Moore's Law; John Thompson, CEO of Symantec; Neil Young, rock musician and songwriter, who owns a 1,500 acres (6.1 km²) ranch and recording studio there;Michelle Pfeiffer, actress, and her husband David E. Kelley, producer; Thomas Siebel, founder of Siebel Systems; Scott Cook, co-founder of Intuit, Inc.; John Doerr, venture capitalist; Dr. Carl Djerassi, novelist and member of team that developed the birth control pill; Kenneth Fisher, founder of Fisher Investments, Forbes columnist, author, and local historian; Susan Dawson, philanthropist; and Joan Baez, folk singer. Koko, the gorilla who was taught in American Sign Language also calls Woodside home. Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs owned the Jackling House in Woodside, but had it demolished and was in the process of replacing it with a modern home on the same parcel before his death.

The intentionally small business district includes a few restaurants (Buck's, Woodside Bakery & Cafe, and The Village Pub), a grocery store (Roberts Market), a saloon (the historic Pioneer Saloon), a hardware and horse tack store (Roberts Hardware and Tack), an art gallery and picture framing store (Woodside Gallery), a home and garden store (Emily Joubert), realtors (Carey Realty, Coldwell Banker, Alain Pinel, Remax), a few venture capital funds (including Crosspoint Ventures, Tenaya Capital, and The Photonics Fund), a cleaner, a post office, and an educational consulting and tutoring company (Cardinal Education). Outside of the business district are the Stillheart Institute educational event center, Skywood Trading Post, the Mountain Terrace event center, and the following restaurants: Bella Vista, The Little Store, The Mountain House and Alice's. The Village Pub recently was awarded the highest honor for restaurants: a Michelin star. The town is home to the famous Buck's of Woodside restaurant, which is well known among Silicon Valley entrepreneurs as the location where many VC investment deals have been signed. The inside of the restaurant is decorated with historic Silicon Valley artifacts. The corporate headquarters for Fisher Investments sits atop Kings Mountain in Woodside.

Horses are part of the local culture. Numerous residents keep horses, and the town government maintains a network of horse trails.Some resident's homes are even considered farms. The town is also quite popular among local cyclists and draws them in large numbers on weekends. The most popular road cycling routes include Old La Honda Road, King's Mountain Road, Cañada Road, Southgate Drive, Skyline Boulevard and Highway 84. The Tour of California bicycle race includes several roads along and adjacent to CA-84 and Skyline Boulevard.

Woodside is home to a number of open space preserves, including the Purisima Open Space (which is part of the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space), where both horseback riding and bicycling is allowed. For mountain biking, the famous Skeggs Point is located in Woodside along Skyline Boulevard. There is also an extensive archery course maintained by volunteers in the adjacent Huddart County Park.

The Woodside Fire District is a special district serving Woodside, Portola Valley and unincorporated areas including Ladera, Los Trancos Woods, Vista Verde, Emerald Lake, Menlo Park (Unincorporated) and Skyline/State Route 35 area.

Town Information has not been verified and should not be relied upon as such.