Area 151 DTLA is a newly-opened arcade in downtown Los Altos. The arcade features coin-operated arcade games, both ticket-dispensing and high-score, children's rides, skeeball, air hockey and others. Tickets may be exchanged for prizes and gifts. It also hosts private parties and birthdays. Area 151 is a UFO, sci-fi and space-themed arcade. It principally caters to young children.
This 8,200 square-foot, three-level museum opened in September 2001 and features the history of the Los Altos area, going from the Ohlone Indians to the high-tech era.
The permanent exhibit is "Crown of the Peninsula," but the museum also features a changing exhibits gallery and oral history collection. The museum hosts third and fourth grade students from area schools each year.
The museum is adjacent to the J. Gilbert Smith House, a 1905 Craftsman-style farm house that was part of the apricot orchard property that the city purchased for its civic center in 1954. Mrs. Gilbert lived in the home until her death in 1973, and the City Council created the Historical Commission to transform the house into a museum. It became the Los Altos History House in December 1977. Visitors can see the orchard house as it might have been during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
The modern museum, with its soaring ceilings and expansive brick patio and arbor, is a popular place for weddings and other celebrations.
In 2005, interested residents, the Los Altos Community Foundation and the City of Los Altos came together to move and re-purpose the cottage designed by renowned modern architect, Richard Neutra.
It was the sole surviving building from "Three Small Cottages in an Orchard," designed in 1935 by the architect who was featured on the cover of Time Magazine as Man of the Year in 1949.
The historic cottage now sits on city property between the Hillview Community Center and the Los Altos Community Foundation. The Los Altos Neutra House now serves the community as a small conference center. The Los Altos Neutra House sponsors these programs: the biennial Modern Home Tour, the annual Architecture Speaker Series and the FILM + Conversation series.
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