Silver Creek Valley, San Jose, CA

Silver Creek Valley is San Jose's marquee gated golf community, wrapped around a private championship course in the eastern foothills. The Silver Creek Valley Country Club, whose Ted Robinson-designed course opened in 1992, is the heart of it, and the neighborhood is a collection of gated, HOA-governed luxury homes climbing the Silver Creek Hills above the valley, with open-space preserves for a backdrop. Homes here are mostly large hillside houses on view lots, set inside HOA-run gated sections with manicured common landscaping. Locals draw a line between being up in Silver Creek, meaning the gated hillside, and the flatter Evergreen tracts below, and the difference shows first in elevation and the size of the homes. Open space is the other half of the setting. The Silver Creek Open Space Preserve covers much of the hills above, so the ridgeline behind the houses stays grass and oak instead of rooftops. The fairways and most clubhouse amenities are for members. Without a membership, the draw is the scenery itself, open hills on one side and long green fairways on the other. Casual meals happen down the hill at a small strip of shops on Silver Creek Valley Road. The Creek Eatery fires its pizzas in a copper-clad wood oven and keeps a rotating lineup of local beers on tap, which makes it the default for a relaxed weekend lunch. Con Azucar Cafe, in the same center, is the coffee stop, with horchata espresso drinks, a spiced chocolate latte, conchas and churros. Errands all require the car, and the gates add a step for guests and deliveries. Freeway access means heading downhill toward US-101, and grocery runs head down into the valley as well, so daily life runs on short car trips in and out of the hills. The honest tradeoffs are the ones that come with the territory: it is gated with HOA dues, the golf and most amenities are members-only, and it is among the most car-dependent parts of the city, with every errand a drive down the hill. But for buyers who want a private, upscale, view-filled address with golf and open space at the doorstep, Silver Creek Valley is the top of the east-side market and has been for a generation.