A Peninsula community for seniors that's more like a 5-star hotel and resort

Menus can be found on each white-clothed table touting the day’s offerings, which include black bean cilantro soup, sautéed garlic prawns, braised lentils and creamy polenta, and an assortment of sandwiches, such as liverwurst and a sundried tomato and grilled chicken quesadilla. Diners who don’t see anything they like can also order staples, like burgers or pasta, which aren’t listed on the menu, but are always available. The walls are covered with vintage and handmade quilts, part of a rotating art exhibit every few months that features new artists and in the private dining room, which can be reserved for special events, a throng of visitors have come to dine with a friend who lives at Sterling Court. After their meal, as they head down to the parking garage, one of the women remarks, “That was lovely. Do they serve food like that everyday?”

The answer: Yes. It might seem hard to believe, but this is how it is all the time at Sterling Court. The food is consistently high quality, freshly made, and elegantly prepared, and the social calendar is always packed with activities and classes. As one family member wrote on Yelp, there’s a reason why this retirement home is known as being “far from boring.”

With its lavish, but tasteful interior décor — think floor-to-ceiling windows draped in curtains, a marble fireplace, Grand piano, and wood-paneled library — Sterling Court is like a cross between a country club and a stationary cruise ship. Elegant, yet quaint, it has been around since 1990, housing approximately 175 residents in a thickly wooded, four-story building that used to be an elementary school. Though the average age is between 80 and 82, the oldest resident is 103 and she still helps Sterling Court put together its monthly newsletters.

It’s clear the staff, which is managed by executive director Sarah St. Charles, genuinely cares about the residents and wants to see them flourish in their new environment. Says St. Charles, “I feel very responsible for our residents.”

Unlike other retirement homes, Sterling Court also allows pets, which it feels are especially important in helping residents fight depression and loneliness. Not that that’s a problem at Sterling Court. How could it be when there’s so much to do and literally everyone knows your name?

“It’s always scary to go to a place where you don’t know anyone,” says Pam Thornburg, who moved her father Ernie Howe into the community in 2012. “But the staff was so welcoming and the residents were so friendly, as well. All the fears we had about dropping him off, like you would a college student going into the dorms for the first time, instantly vanished. We knew we didn’t have to worry.”

Unlike other retirement homes, Sterling Court is privately owned through a partnership. As a result, because it’s not part of a chain managed by a major corporation, Sterling Court’s turnover is “much lower,” St. Charles says, especially among staff, many of whom have been working there for years. The community is also unique in that it doesn’t charge “community fees” or require residents to sign long-term leases when moving in. Its convenient location, which is but a few blocks away from Burlingame Avenue’s bustling shopping district,

Sterling Court is a non-medical establishment that houses both independent and assisted living residents. As for what level of care a resident will receive, that’s a decision that is made between the resident, you may not get to decide what level of care you are at,” St. Charles says. “But at Sterling, you, your family, and I decide what is best for you.”

If you want to customize your care plan in independent living and hire a caregiver for a few hours but not every day, that is possible, too. “It’s flexible,” says St. Charles who frequently works with “residents that are in that gray area where they’re not ready to go to assisted living, but who need help with their medications or maybe getting their breakfast or laundry.”

In addition to regular housekeeping, residents can be driven to the grocery store three days a week and they can reserve one of the community’s drivers to take them to appointments. Weekly computer classes are available and there’s even a beauty shop on the premises that St. Charles says can “do everything from teasing and rollers to blow-drying.”

Every Tuesday and Friday, there are Happy Hour soirees in the living room where residents are served beer, wine, champagne, soda, and appetizers, and every third Sunday are the ever-popular Pancake Bingo. Both Church and Shabbat services are held every week, and the community makes sure to stock a slew of newspapers, from the San Francisco Chronicle to the Daily Journal.

Field trips are also part of the fabric of life at Sterling Court, and past excursions have included visits to San Francisco Museums, Graton Casino, Sam’s Chowder House, and ferry trips to Tiburon. “We go where they want to go,” St. Charles says, adding that impromptu stops on the drive home for ice cream are not uncommon.

The food at Sterling Court is also top notch. For most meals, there are always three different entrées, multiple sides, daily soups, a salad bar, and desserts, but chef Denis Simon is always willing to concoct something that’s not on the menu if a resident doesn’t see anything they like.

“Variety is important,” he says. “If you go to a restaurant and you don’t like the food, you don’t go back, right? Well, I see these residents every day, so when they leave here, I want them to be happy customers.”

The dishes are also crafted with the utmost care and attention to detail. Instead of salt, Simon uses fresh herbs and seasonings, and even though it doesn’t taste like it, the double chocolate cake is (gasp!) sugar-free.

A private, smaller dining room is also available for residents to entertain family and friends, allowing for a more intimate environment.

Holidays at Sterling Court are particularly decadent. There is always a big Christmas feast with costumed carolers, a brunch for Mother’s Day, and a barbecue in the courtyard for the Fourth of July, to name a few.

With so much good food available, it’s important that seniors maintain a healthy weight and stay fit, which is easy to do at Sterling Court. There is a temperature-controlled fitness center that houses multiple cycling and cardio machines, hand weights, a scale, and a wall of mirrors, and exercise classes are also frequently held in the facility’s Revere Room. St. Charles likes to joke that residents can even burn calories simply by walking the halls on the first floor as they all connect.

Speaking of the halls, residents are allowed to hang their own paintings and artworks on the walls, In fact, on the whole, residents are encouraged to bring their own furniture when moving into Sterling Court because, St. Charles says, “It’s so much better and makes it feel like home.” Most of the community’s 148 apartments are one-bedrooms that have adjoining outdoor patios, but there are also junior one-bedroom suites with no patios and two-bedroom apartments with two patios. As they turn over, each apartment is remodeled with stainless steel appliances cherry cabinetry and granite countertops.

Regardless of a resident’s level of care, each apartment is equipped with multiple emergency pull chords in both the bedrooms and bathrooms (as well as in the living rooms for those in assisted living). The bathrooms are also specially suited for their elder clientele, consisting of spacious walk-in showers with low ledges that are easy to step over, customizable showerheads, and ample security bars.

Each resident actively driving is given a parking space if needed, and family members can receive their own garage door openers to make visiting more convenient. In fact, everything at Sterling Court is done with the intention of making resident’s lives just a little bit easier.

“Little touches like that mean a lot to the families because we know we don’t have to worry about them,” Thornburg says. “It gives us peace of mind and that, to me, is priceless.”