A clean climb at Foothill College
The climb from the parking lot to the Foothill College campus is not the steepest or longest but it is probably the newest and cleanest staircase in the Bay Area.
It’s also the only staircase of note on the Peninsula since the old Stanford Stadium was gutted, its beloved 80 rows of soft wooden bleachers replaced with two decks of plastic bucket seats and tinny aisles.
The downside to the Foothill steps is that it costs $3 to park even when school is out and the lots are empty. The upside is that the steps top out at a campus of wood and redbrick that won the Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects after it opened in 1961. The 105 concrete steps were installed five years ago, as part of a lower-campus expansion, and you can circle the school twice without spotting them, so look for the digital billboard at the bottom. The rise consists of several short flights of five followed by long landings. When you reach the longest landing, jog left across a patio to the final 30 steps.
You’ll know you’ve run out of them when you see a row of live oaks in front of KJ’s Cafe, which posts an Espresso reward if you come on a weekday. There are picnic tables at a lookout south and west into the hills, disrupted by just one stucco mansion.
Compared to this residential vulgarity, the campus architecture is small and subtle. Most of it looks like one-story beach housing at Sea Ranch, alternating circular and angular designs of wood-shingle with wide eaves. There are grassy berms, outdoor sculpture and sunken patios that add a few steps, down then up, as you cross campus.
Even when school is in, the campus is so quiet you can hear the western wind. Wait for night when the Foothill Owls (school mascot) start hooting and you’ll get more value for the $3 parking tariff.