The Gamble House (photo above taken from The Gamble House website) and the neighboring Craftsman homes were such idyllic neighbors to a preschool that I couldn't help but be excited for the preschool based on location alone.
I called and was told that I had to attend an open house before I could get an application/wait list form. Fair enough. So my husband and I rearranged our Saturday schedule and brought our son along. The facility itself was small - like any other place they only had a handful of spaces for infants and just a little more for toddlers, with the bulk of the space going to preschool and pre-kindergarten. Infants and toddlers were divided with only a room divider, which was a bit disconcerting, but the preschool and pre-K were in another room. I didn't care for the preschool teacher and her answers to my questions ("the children do what they want") but really loved the pre-K teacher's approach. They had tiny toilets for toilet training, and a slightly bigger toilet for the preschoolers.
I think I said to my husband after the tour, "I wish we could have PCC for the Twos Room and Fair Oaks Preschool for the pre-K." Regardless, at the time we toured, it was a better option than WCC, so we decided that we would go ahead and apply. Needless to say, we put our application and a $40 check in and never heard from them again. Fun.
