Victor Calvo is a life-long resident of Mountain View. The son of Spanish immigrants, young Calvo worked on his family's 100-acre orchard near San Antonio Road. Calvo saw duty as an Army Air Corps pilot over Europe during World War II, returning to Stanford in 1948 to earn his political science degree. Calvo was appointed to the Mountain View Planning Commission in 1958, maintaining his interest in De Anza Lumber Company in Cupertino.

He was a member of the Mountain View City Council from 1962 to 1968, serving three times as mayor. Calvo was elected to the board of supervisors in 1968 and ran unopposed in 1972. A believer in regional government, Calvo served on a number of commissions such as the Association of Bay Area Governments, the Bay Conservation and Development Commission, the regional transportation policy committee, and the Bay Area Pollution Control District.
The District 5 supervisor was an early conservationist who recognized the importance of land planning and trans­portation management. When the Santa Clara County Transit District was formed in January 1973, Calvo served as its first chair. He was considered to be the resident "smog expert" on the board.

Among Calvo's greatest contributions while supervisor were his efforts to set aside funds for parks acquisition. During his second term in office in 1974, Calvo chose to make a run for the state assembly and won. Assemblyman Calvo's biggest accomplishment was the creation of the "California Energy Policy." Calvo left office in 1980. Calvo passed away in 2010. In 2015, the North County Social Services Agency Building in Mountain View was named in his honor.