Livermore's Los Altos Heights: 1966–1968 homes & subdivision history
Welcome to Los Altos Heights
In the late '60s, Livermore wasn’t just growing—it was elevating itself, quite literally. On the south side, Masud Mehran’s Sunsetown was humming along nicely. But up north, things got fancy fast.
Enter Duc & Elliot, seasoned developers who arrived in 1966 with something more exclusive in mind: Los Altos Heights. The name said it all—elevated, aspirational, and just a little geographically confused.
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| “...above the rest. View homes with a prestige address.” A 1967 ad for Los Altos Heights in Livermore, featuring a Spanish-contemporary model home and promoting the neighborhood’s elevated setting and upscale appeal. |
Where is this "Heights" exactly?
Perched just north of downtown Livermore, this hillside subdivision came with views, acreage, and… prices that made Sunsetown look like the clearance aisle. While Mehran’s homes were going for $19,950, Los Altos Heights opened at a not-so-humble $27,500. Why the markup?
Air conditioning. Big lots. Bonus prestige if you worked at the Lab.
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| Map of Los Altos Heights, a 1960s-era subdivision in North Livermore. Today, the neighborhood is known as The Meadows. |
A home with a view (and a line of credit)
Duc & Elliot leaned into luxury with big, Neo-Mediterranean homes on 8,500–10,000 sq. ft. lots. One ad featured a model so aspirational it was never actually built. But hey, it looked stunning in ink.
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| A 1966 ad for Los Altos Heights in Livermore highlights the use of wood and adobe trim to evoke an early California architectural style—an approach that set the neighborhood apart in a period dominated by more conventional suburban designs. |
Really, it was the views that stole the show. On trip up there and you saw the valley as you've never seen it before. Breathtaking!
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| “The view from the top of the rainbow is Los Altos Heights of Livermore.” A 1966 ad showcasing a Monterey-style home, promoting the elevated setting and aspirational tone of this North Livermore subdivision. |
The 1966 homes of Los Altos Heights
Model complex: St. George Court (1966—1967)
Six model homes opened atop St. George Court, where the curbs were crisp, and the optimism was high. While homes were available for purchase, buyers could also buy lots and build their own custom homes.
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| Map of the Los Altos Heights model home site on Saint George Court in north Livermore. These homes introduced buyers to the neighborhood’s early California–inspired architecture and elevated setting. |
Pricing history
- 1966: $27,500 - $30,950
- 1967: $28,800 - $32,450
Model homes
1. The Plan 1 - 4 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, 2,425~ sq. ft. Offered an oversized garage.
2. The Mount Rushmore - 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2,003 sq. ft.
3. The Mount Whitney - 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 1,710 sq. ft.
4. The Plan 4 - 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2,125 sq. ft.
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| “Enjoy the advantages of inner space!” A 1968 ad from the Contra Costa Times featuring Plan 4 in Los Altos Heights, with a central kitchen layout that was considered ahead of its time. |
5. The El Capitan - 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 2,256 sq. ft. A stunning Monterey design home.
6. The Plan 6 - 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 1,739 sq. ft.
1966 Los Altos Heights today
Here are what the former model homes look like today.
A Plan 1 today
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| A different example of Plan 1, the original tri-level model from 1966. The model home itself has proven camera shy, but this home shares the same 4-bedroom, 2.5-bath, 2,425 sq. ft. layout that defined the design. |
The Mount Rushmore today
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| The Mount Rushmore model today—a 4-bedroom, 2-bath, 2,003 sq. ft. single-story home with classic mid-century lines and subtle exterior updates. |
The Mount Whitney today
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| The Mount Whitney model as it appears today: a wide 3-bedroom, 2-bath, 1,710 sq. ft. single-story home, featuring a prominent picture window across the front. |
The Plan 4 today
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| The Plan 4 model today. This 4-bedroom, 2-bath, 2,125 sq. ft. single-story home once promoted its central kitchen as a forward-thinking layout. |
The El Capitan today
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| The El Capitan model today—a 2,256 sq. ft., two-story Monterey-style home with four bedrooms and three baths. The original design has been expanded but still reflects its 1966 roots. |
The Plan 6 today
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| The Plan 6 model today, originally a 1,739 sq. ft. split-level with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. The home now includes expansions but still shows its 1966 split-entry form. |
The 1968 homes of Los Altos Heights
In a post-recession economy, even a perfect stucco archway couldn’t outrun lending restrictions. Sales stalled.
So in 1968, the pivot came: three smaller, less grand homes were introduced on Briarwood Drive. The prices dropped (starting at $24,500), the square footage shrank, and the ad copy got just a little more practical.
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| A 1968 ad from the Contra Costa Times previews the next phase of homes at Los Altos Heights, now starting at just $24,500—a surprising drop from the 1966 starting price of $27,500. The ad marked a shift toward more competitively priced models during a changing housing market. |
Model complex: Briarwood Drive (1968)
A model complex of three homes opened on Briarwood Drive in February 1968.
A soft landing? Not quite. By April, the models were closed, the builders packed, and Los Altos Heights—at least as Duc & Elliot envisioned it—was mostly a memory.
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| Map of the 1968 Los Altos Heights model home site on Briarwood Drive, where three updated floor plans were introduced as part of the neighborhood’s second phase. |
Pricing history
- 1968: (January preview): $24,500 +
- 1968: (February opening): $24,800 +
Model homes
1. The Plan 1 - 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 1,553 sq. ft.
2. The Plan 2 - 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 1,579 sq. ft.
3. The Plan 3 - 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 1,670 sq. ft.
1968 Los Altos Heights today
Here are what the former model homes look like today.
The Plan 1 today
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| The Plan 1 model today: a single-story home featuring 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and approximately 1,553 sq. ft., maintaining much of its original mid-century design. |
The Plan 2 today
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| The Plan 2 model as it appears today, offering 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and 1,579 sq. ft. of living space in a single-story layout. |
The Plan 3 today
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| The Plan 3 model today, a 4-bedroom, 2-bathroom single-story home with 1,670 sq. ft., showcasing a well-preserved mid-century neighborhood style. |
A hillside of what-ifs
Of the planned 285 homes, only about 35 were ever built by Duc & Elliot. The rest? Sold off to local realtors and aspiring custom-home dreamers. What followed was a scatterplot of design choices—some bold, some bewildering—all tucked into winding streets with names like Wimbledon and St. George.
By the early '70s, Masud Mehran returned to pick up where Duc & Elliot left off, rebranding the area as The Meadows. The Los Altos Heights name quietly disappeared. But the bones remained.
The legacy
Los Altos Heights today is a neighborhood with an identity crisis that somehow works. There are still original models—Mount Rushmores and Whitney types—mixed with custom homes built in the 1970s and beyond. Walk through and you’ll see decades of optimism layered in stucco, shake roofs, and bay windows.
It’s a living archive of a time when luxury living” meant double-door entries, scenic lots, and a very specific kind of debt.
The neighborhood didn’t quite become the gated Eden Duc & Elliot envisioned, but in its own way, it did reach the heights—it just took a few extra builders, and a whole lot of time.
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