Claraboya, California

Claraboya sits at the top of Mountain Avenue in the northwest corner of Claremont, California, rising above the city on the lower slopes of the San Gabriel Mountains. It is not simply another foothill neighborhood. Claraboya is Claremont's first and only hillside residential development within city limits, a community conceived in the early 1960s with an architect-led vision that placed views, topography, and custom design at the center of every home built here.

 

Laura Dandoy is a licensed California real estate broker who has represented buyers and sellers in Claraboya for more than two decades. She has closed more transactions in Claraboya than any other agent in the neighborhood's recorded sales history. That record is not an accident. It reflects a depth of knowledge, a network of relationships, and a level of community presence that no out-of-market agent can replicate.

What Makes Claraboya Different from Every Other Neighborhood in Claremont?

 

Claraboya is the only residential community in Claremont built entirely on a mountain, not simply at the base of one. Every home in Claraboya is a custom home. There are no production floor plans, no repeated facades, and no cookie-cutter layouts. The community's founding architects, Fred W. McDowell and Theodore Criley Jr. of Criley and McDowell, AIA, established design guidelines in the 1960s that required each home to respond to its specific lot, its solar and wind orientation, and its relationship to the views below.
McDowell's guiding principle was that total environment occurs when earth and dwelling merge into a recognizable whole, where terrain, floor plan, exterior design, building materials, and landscaping work together consciously. That principle shaped every structure in Claraboya and continues to define what makes this community architecturally distinctive.
All utility lines in Claraboya are buried. There are no overhead poles, no wires crossing the skyline, no visual interruptions between the homes and the mountain behind them. That decision was made at the time of original development and remains one of the details that residents and prospective buyers consistently notice.

A Neighborhood Born from the Land Itself

 

 

The land beneath Claraboya has a history that predates the neighborhood by decades. In the 1890s, Cassius C. Johnson, a Claremont citrus grower, acquired the hillside area that now encompasses Claraboya and the land directly north of it. On that northern portion, later known as Johnson's Pasture, his family planted eucalyptus and other trees, built a small reservoir, and pastured cattle and sheep. The Johnsons lived on Base Line Road in a large rock house that still stands today.
Mr. Johnson died in 1906. His son James D. Johnson continued to operate the property for decades. In the 1940s, the entire acreage sold for $75,000. The land eventually passed to the developers who would create Claraboya in the early 1960s. Johnson's Pasture, the land directly behind the community, is now part of the Claremont Hills Wilderness Park, a 1,740-acre preserved open space. That wilderness will remain preserved for future generations, making Claraboya the only residential neighborhood in Claremont that permanently borders protected open land to the north.
Phase one of Claraboya was built between 1962 and 1970, with flat-roof mid-century modern homes as the dominant style in the original section. In 1970, the Armstrong Brothers expanded the community with two additional streets. The mid-century modern homes of the original section are joined by Spanish, Mediterranean, and contemporary custom builds added in subsequent decades.

Architecture, Views, and the Experience of Living in Claraboya

Standing in a Claraboya yard on a clear day, the view south extends across the San Gabriel Valley and Pomona Valley to the Santa Ana Mountains. To the east, San Jacinto is visible. To the west, on the clearest winter days, the skyline of downtown Los Angeles appears on the horizon. Santa Catalina Island is visible from the highest points of the community.

 

The original design guidelines specified continuous use of glass to allow living areas to share the views from terraced lots. That directive is evident throughout the neighborhood. Glass walls, elevated decks, open floor plans oriented toward the south-facing valley, and seamless indoor-outdoor living are features buyers consistently find in Claraboya homes across every decade of construction.

 

Because Claraboya is all custom construction, the range of architectural styles is deliberately broad. Mid-century modern homes with flat roofs and exposed beams from the 1960s sit alongside Spanish and Mediterranean estate homes built decades later. Contemporary builds with floor-to-ceiling glass occupy lots that would be unremarkable in any other neighborhood and become extraordinary because of what is visible from every window.

 

Award-winning architect Fred McDowell designed the Concrete House in Claraboya in 1964 as part of the nationwide Concrete Industries Horizon Homes program. That home was selected as the outstanding Horizon Home in the West for California, Oregon, Washington, Utah, Arizona, and Nevada. Life magazine photographed one of the original Claraboya homes during landscaping, a moment that reflected the national design community's attention to what was being built on this mountain.

Wildlife and the Natural Character of the Community

Claraboya borders native chaparral habitat. The Claremont Hills Wilderness Park and the Thompson Creek corridor create a continuous natural edge along the northern and western boundary of the neighborhood. Residents encounter deer, foxes, coyotes, and a range of native bird species regularly. The wilderness park protects Riversidean Alluvial Fan Sage Scrub, a threatened California habitat, and shelters rare plant species including Chorizanthe Parryi and Berberis Nevinii.

 

The Thompson Creek Trail, a 4.3-mile paved path accessible from the base of Mountain Avenue, connects the neighborhood to one of the most heavily used recreational corridors in Claremont. The trail follows Thompson Creek southwest from the Claremont Hills Wilderness Park, lined with wildflowers in spring, and is accessible to walkers, cyclists, and runners of all ability levels. The trail is maintained by the City of Claremont and has been repeatedly cited as one of the most accessible and scenic walking paths in the Inland Empire.

Claremont Schools Serving Claraboya

 

Claraboya is served by the Claremont Unified School District. Students in the neighborhood attend Chaparral Elementary School, El Roble Intermediate School, and Claremont High School.

Chaparral Elementary School

 
Chaparral Elementary outperforms the Claremont Unified district average and the California state average in both English Language Arts and Mathematics across all grade levels. The school ranks better than 84.6 percent of California elementary schools according to SchoolDigger.

El Roble Intermediate School

 
El Roble Intermediate School earns a Niche grade of A-minus and a GreatSchools rating of 8 out of 10. The school consistently outperforms both state and district averages in reading proficiency.

Claremont High School 

 
Claremont High School earns a Niche grade of A and a GreatSchools rating of 9 out of 10. Claremont High is a California Distinguished School, a two-time national Blue Ribbon School of Excellence, and a nationally recognized International Baccalaureate World School. The school ranks among the top 30 percent of all public high schools in California.
 
School attendance boundaries within Claremont Unified shift periodically. Use the Claremont USD School Site Locator to confirm the specific school assignment for any address in Claraboya.

Claraboya Real Estate Market Data

 

Claraboya's residential market consistently places among the highest in Claremont for both median sale price and price per square foot. Based on MLS data from January 2021 through March 2026, the median closed sale price in Claraboya is $1,600,000, with an average closed sale price of approximately $1,621,000. The price range over that period spans from $998,000 to $2,320,000.
 
Homes in Claraboya typically range from 2,539 to 4,494 square feet of living space. The community offers limited inventory. Claraboya has recorded approximately 33 closed sales since 2021, with turnover driven primarily by estate planning, relocation, and life transitions rather than typical move-up patterns.
Laura Dandoy's most recent listing-side closing in Claraboya, 664 Napa Court, sold for $2,095,000 at $825 per square foot. That figure represents the highest price per square foot in Claraboya's available MLS sales history. Laura Dandoy has closed more real estate transactions in Claraboya than any other agent in the neighborhood's recorded sales history, with 65 total transactions across both listing and buyer representation since 2002.
 
Active listings in Claraboya typically price between $1.4 million and $2.5 million, with the highest-value properties carrying views, larger lots, and significant architectural distinction.

Frequently Asked Questions About Claraboya Real Estate

What Type of Homes Are in Claraboya?

All homes in Claraboya are custom-built. There are no production tract homes in the neighborhood. Architectural styles include mid-century modern, Spanish, Mediterranean, and contemporary custom design. Homes typically range from 2,539 to 4,494 square feet on terraced hillside lots. The neighborhood was designed with precise guidelines around solar orientation, glass walls, and open floor plans to maximize the views available from every lot.

What Is the Price Range for Homes in Claraboya?

What Schools Serve Claraboya?

Where Is Claraboya Located?

Is Claraboya a Gated Community?
 

What Is the Difference Between Claraboya and Highpoint?

How Do I Find Out What My Claraboya Home Is Worth?

Why Buyers and Sellers Choose Laura Dandoy in Claraboya

Laura Dandoy is a licensed California real estate broker, Certified Residential Specialist, and the most active agent in Claraboya's recorded transaction history. She has represented buyers and sellers in Claraboya continuously since 2002, accumulating 65 closed transactions in the community across both listing and buyer representation. No other agent comes close to that record in this neighborhood.
Buyers in Claraboya tend to be deliberate. They have researched the market. They ask precise questions about lot orientation, view corridors, construction quality, and long-term value. They want accurate data and direct answers, not sales language. Laura provides both. She understands the architectural distinctions between the 1962 original section and the homes built in subsequent decades, the elevation differences between streets, and the specific characteristics of lots that back up to the Claremont Hills Wilderness Park. She has access to off-market relationships and transaction history that only come from two-plus decades of continuous presence in a community this tightly held.
Sellers in Claraboya choose Laura because positioning a custom home requires judgment that goes well beyond running comps. In a neighborhood where no two properties are alike, the ability to identify and communicate what makes a specific home worth more than its nearest comparable is the difference between an acceptable result and an exceptional one. Her listing at 664 Napa Court set the highest price per square foot in Claraboya's MLS history at $825 per square foot. That outcome required a precise read of the market, a buyer who understood value, and a negotiation that protected every dollar of the seller's position.

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Laura Dandoy lists and sells homes throughout Claraboya, from mid-century modern estates in the original 1960s section to contemporary custom builds at the highest elevations of the neighborhood. Whether you are buying or selling in Claraboya, Laura brings the market knowledge, precision pricing, and negotiation record that this community demands.

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