Old Mountain View is the city's oldest residential district: more than 2,400 homes bordered by El Camino Real, Shoreline Boulevard, Evelyn Avenue and Highways 85 and 237, wrapped around the downtown on Castro Street. Most of its streets were built between the late 1800s and the Second World War, and they still look it — Victorians, Craftsman bungalows and Spanish Revival cottages under mature trees.
Those houses came with garages built for a Model A. Many are detached, set at the back of the lot at the end of a narrow or shared driveway, with openings an inch or two off any modern standard, low headers and timber framing that has moved over a century. Some still have swing-up or sliding doors. Converting one to a modern sectional door, or keeping an original one working, means measuring carefully, using low-headroom track and sometimes reinforcing the opening first. Done well, a carriage-style door can suit the house better than the one it replaces.
Neighborhoods We Serve in Old Mountain View
From quick repairs to full installs, we cover homes throughout the area, including:
- Castro Street and downtown
- Dana and Calderon
- Mercy and Bryant
- the Civic Center blocks
- Church Street
- Pioneer Park side
🌊 What Old Mountain View Garage Doors Are Up Against
Original one-piece swing-up doors still turn up here, hung on pivot arms that swing the whole slab out over the driveway. They are heavy, hard to balance and genuinely dangerous once the springs tire. Converting one to a sectional door starts with the header and jambs: century-old redwood framing is often sound, but rot at the foot of a jamb is common and gets repaired before any new track is anchored to it. Stucco Spanish Revival garages bring their own puzzle — openings that have cracked and shifted until nothing is square.
Street parking near Castro Street is tight, so we plan the visit to keep the car out of the garage for as short a time as possible.
Know the area? You'll find our trucks near Pioneer Memorial Park, the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, Castro Street, the Mountain View Public Library, Eagle Park and the downtown transit centre.
Local information: Old Mountain View Neighborhood Association.