Lake Tahoe Neighborhood Highlight: The Bijou Neighborhood

The Bijou Neighborhood of South Lake Tahoe, California is one of the oldest neighborhoods and is very well located in town to give easy access to a lot of activities.  Skiing at Heavenly Valley is just blocks away, there is a 9 hole municipal golf course here and the lake is at the northern border of the neighborhood.  The meadows around the golf course are great for biking, hiking and also cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. There is even a new dog park located off of Al Tahoe Blvd.

The History of the Bijou Neighborhood

Bijou’s neighborhood formation came in 1929 when William Bliss (son of D.L. Bliss of Tahoe’s lumber industry) developed Bijou Pines.  50′ x 100′ lots were available for $250 which you could buy for $25 a year with interest deferred payments.  Check out the sales brochure that was distributed at that time:

“Bring your children to your own cabin site for the summer in the Great Tahoe out-of-doors, where they learn every flower, every tree, every rock, every mountain peak, every stream and every cloud has a story to tell of a great orderly universe; where they learn “big muscle activities” which lay the foundation for a vigorous adult life’ where they learn to be dependent for their amusements by themselves, where the parent does not hear the youngster’s continual plea “What can I do next?”  There is always something to do that will give your children an experience which will bring them rich rewards in health, happiness and character building.”

The first town on the south shore was the town of Rowlands, formed where the Al Tahoe neighborhood now lies. When roads came into the area and followed what is now Highway 50, the town closed up and moved to Bijou where their services could better be used by travelers who didn’t want to detour to their town. Homes started to appear and then the Bijou Pines neighborhood was formed.

Lake Tahoe Real Estate Sales in the Bijou Neighborhood

There are consistently more home sales in the Bijou area than any other neighborhood in South Lake Tahoe.  For real estate purposes, the neighborhood is divided into two parts: Bijou 1 and Bijou 2.  The median sales price of homes in Bijou 1 was $226,000 over the past 12 months with 60 homes sold. In Bijou 2 there were 29 sales with $260,000 as the median.  Between the two Bijou areas, there are currently 22 homes for sale, 13 of which are single family homes and 9 are condos.

The inventory of homes for sale in Bijou has dropped just as in the other South Lake Tahoe neighborhoods.  Bijou 1 experienced a 46% drop in homes for sale over the last 12 months while Bijou 2 saw a drop of just 17%.  While single-family homes on the market in Bijou 2 dropped, condos listed rose 8.5%, a rare occurrence in the Lake Tahoe (there are more condos and townhomes for sale in Bijou 2 than single family homes).

The Bijou Neighborhood

Watch this video review of the area:

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