
Palo Alto is a city in Santa Clara County, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. Palo Alto is located at the northern end of Silicon Valley, and is home to Stanford University (which is technically located in an adjacent area — Stanford, California), and to several successful technology companies. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 58,598. Palo Alto is home to the headquarters of Hewlett-Packard. It is named for a tree called El Palo Alto. The northern half of Palo Alto, north of Oregon Expressway, is filled with elegant homes, some of which date back to the 1890s but most of which were built in the first four decades of the 20th century on tree-lined streets. South of Oregon Expressway, in the southern half of Palo Alto, the houses, including many Joseph Eichler-designed or Eichler-style houses, were primarily built in the first 20 years after World War II. While both halves of the city contain homes that now cost anywhere from $700,000 to well in excess of $1 million, giving the entire city a somewhat-deserved reputation as a wealthy enclave, the fact is that the housing stock of south Palo Alto is rather middle-class in the style of mid-century California suburbia, and would not be so expensive were it not in such a desirable location, close to both Stanford University and the Silicon Valley. Typically, homes in the northern half of the city are even more expensive than those in the southern half. Palo Alto is also generally perceived to have excellent public schools and a high quality of life. A good description of high-tech life in Palo Alto around 1995 is found in the novel by Douglas Coupland, ''Microserfs''. One visible trend at the time was that of people who lived in San Francisco, California, but who drove south 30 to 50 miles each weekday in order to work in Silicon Valley. Palo Alto's sister city in Sweden is Linköping. Its Mexican sister is Oaxaca, Oaxaca. == Geography == Palo Alto is located at 37°25'45" North, 122°8'17" West (37.429289, −122.138162). It is in the south-eastern section of the San Francisco Peninsula. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 66.4 square kilometre (25.6 square mile). 61.3 km² (23.7 mi²) of it is land and 5.1 km² (2.0 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 7.65% water. == Demographics == As of the census of 2000, there are 58,598 people, 25,216 households, and 14,600 families residing in the city. The population density is 955.8/km² (2,475.3/mi²). There are 26,048 housing units at an average density of 424.9/km² (1,100.3/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 75.76% White (U.S. Census), 2.02% African American (U.S. Census), 0.21% Native American (U.S. Census), 17.22% Asian (U.S. Census), 0.14% Pacific Islander (U.S. Census), 1.41% from Race (U.S. Census), and 3.24% from two or more races. 4.65% of the population are Hispanic (U.S. Census) or Latino (U.S. Census) of any race. There are 25,216 households out of which 27.2% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.5% are Marriage living together, 7.0% have a female householder with no husband present, and 42.1% are non-families. 32.6% of all households are made up of individuals and 10.8% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.30 and the average family size is 2.95. In the city the population is spread out with 21.2% under the age of 18, 4.9% from 18 to 24, 32.4% from 25 to 44, 25.9% from 45 to 64, and 15.6% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 40 years. For every 100 females there are 95.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 93.6 males. The median income for a household in the city is $90,377, and the median income for a family is $117,574. Males have a median income of $91,051 versus $60,202 for females. The per capita income for the city is $56,257. 4.8% of the population and 3.2% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 4.0% of those under the age of 18 and 5.0% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line. == History == The township of Mayfield was formed in 1855, in what is now South Palo Alto some 40 years before Palo Alto. Known for its rowdy saloons, it rejected Leland Stanford's requests for reform which led him to drive the formation of Palo Alto. With Stanford's support, saloon days faded and Palo Alto grew to the size of Mayfield. The two communities came together and eventually there was talk of annexation. On July 2, 1925, Palo Alto voters approved the annexation of Mayfield and the two communities were officially consolidated on July 6, 1925. The Mayfield News wrote its own obituary four days later: "It is with a feeling of deep regret that we see on our streets today those who would sell, or give, our beautiful little city to an outside community. We have watched Mayfield grow from a small hamlet, when Palo Alto was nothing more than a hayfield, to her present size . . . and it is with a feeling of sorrow that we contemplate the fact that there are those who would sell or give the city away." == Economy == Palo Alto serves as a central economic focal point of the Silicon Valley, due in large part to the Stanford Research Park on Page Mill Road. The city's economy generally follows the economic trends of the rest of the Silicon Valley. Several well-known companies are headquartered in Palo Alto, including: * Agilent * CNF Inc. (Fortune 500) * Genencor * Hewlett-Packard * IDEO * Space Systems/Loral * Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati (technology law firm) Other notable corporate citizens: * Fry's Electronics * NYSE * PAIX * Hoffmann-La Roche * The Wall Street Journal * Xerox PARC * Lockheed Martin In addition, Palo Alto has a lively retail and restaurant trade, and the Stanford Shopping Center and downtown Palo Alto (centered around University Avenue) are popular destinations. See also: [http://www.paloaltochamber.com/ABOUTPACC/majore.html Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce list of Major Employers] == School system == ===Public schools=== The Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) provides public education for Palo Alto. === Private schools === * Pinewood School - located on Arastradero in Los Altos Hills; most of the students are from Los Altos Hills/Los Altos area * Kitty Petty Institute - a preschool for disabled children * St Elizabeth Seton Extended - a Catholic school * Castilleja School - a prestigious girls' school * International School of the Peninsula - a K-8 school emphasizing on dual language teaching * Bowman International School - a school founded in 1995 which emphasizes on teaching about different cultures == Transportation == Palo Alto is served by two major freeways, US Highway 101 and Interstate 280 (California), and is traversed by the San Francisco Peninsula's main north-south boulevard, El Camino Real (California) (California State Highway 82). The city is also served indirectly by California State Highway 84 which traverses the Dumbarton Bridge to the north. None of the highways on the Peninsula side of the bridge have been upgraded to freeway status due to opposition from residents of Palo Alto, Atherton, California and Menlo Park, California. The freeway opponents fear that upgrading Highway 84 will encourage more people to live in Alameda County (where housing is more affordable) and commute to jobs in the mid-Peninsula area, thus increasing traffic in their neighborhoods to the south of the bridge. Also, Palo Alto has only one major crosstown arterial, Page Mill Road/Oregon Expressway, which completely connects the two freeways. Because of these two defects in the regional road network, Palo Alto is notorious for severe traffic congestion at rush hour. Palo Alto boasts a municipal airport, with IATA airport code PAO. The Palo Alto airport is one of the busiest single-runway general aviation airports in the country. Train service is available via Caltrain with service to San Francisco and San Jose, California. Caltrain has two regular stops in Palo Alto, one at University Avenue (local and express) and the other at California Avenue (local only). A third, located beside Alma Street at Embarcadero Road, is used to provide special services for occasional sports events (generally College football) at Stanford University Stadium. The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) provides primary bus service through Palo Alto with service to the south bay and Silicon Valley. The San Mateo County Transit District (SamTrans) provides service to San Mateo County, California to the north. The Stanford University Free Shuttle (Marguerite) provides a supplementary bus service in and around Palo Alto. == External links == *[http://www.city.palo-alto.ca.us/ City of Palo Alto web page] *[http://www.paloaltoairport.org/ Palo Alto Airport] *[http://www.paloaltochamber.com/ Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce] *[http://www.pahistory.org/ Palo Alto Historical Association] *[http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news_features/centennial/1920D.html Two Towns Are Better Than One, Palo Alto Weekly] Cities in California Santa Clara County, California
==Two caltrain stops or three?== This article says ''"Caltrain has two stops in Palo Alto"'', but Caltrain (and the Caltrain timetable) list a ''"Stanford - event service only"'' stop between University and California. I can't quite figure out where it does stop - is there a stop where the train crosses Embarcadero (which would be relatively handy for the football)? Or does this entry in the timetable really just mean a stop at University Ave? -- User:Finlay McWalter | User talk:Finlay McWalter 02:13, 24 Jul 2004 (UTC) :I believe that it stops right before Churchill Ave., next to the PA High School track. Since this is only for standord events, I didn't list it. You're welcome to work it in. --User:ChrisRuvolo 23:28, 24 Jul 2004 (UTC) ::Hmm, I've never noticed it (must look next time I'm in town). I've added it, and clarified bus service a bit. Thanks for the info. -- User:Finlay McWalter | User talk:Finlay McWalter 23:43, 24 Jul 2004 (UTC) :::Yeah, it is hard to see. It isn't really a train stop so much as a strip of asphalt beside the track, kind of like the old Rengstorff Ave stop in Mountain View. --User:ChrisRuvolo 00:32, 25 Jul 2004 (UTC) :::Ok, I was mistaken. Official Caltrain literature says "Embarcadero Rd. & Alma St." It IS just a strip of pavement (I saw it this weekend), but I was remembering it in the wrong place. Correcting article. --User:ChrisRuvolo 01:07, 20 Aug 2004 (UTC) == North vs. South snobbery? == Well, as a resident of ''South'' I'm a bit surprised at the emphasis on North vs. South in this article. Who cares? I'm sure the guy who bought the $2.5 million dollar house around the corner from me would be surprised to learn that all of the nice expensive houses are in the north part of the city. More to the point, Is this the second most important thing to discuss in an article on Palo Alto? : Small articles like this, which have been worked on seriously by only a few people, tend to be rather unbalanced. I do think the article should mention the urban form of the city (mature city articles often do), but indeed it's not the most important thing about PA. I don't really think it's snobbery (I'm a former south-central PA resident myself), but PA does have a reputation of being only mansions, when really that's largely not the case (and the fact is, I think, significant enough to merit a mention). The article certainly needs more stuff added about the city and its form. We need, I figure: :* a sentence or two about university ave and the central biz district (wasn't the apple store the first one?) (didn't webTV start in that crappy building on Alma beside the watertower opposite the caltrain station?) :* it really needs a map (which, legally, someone needs to draw) :* PA goes to the bayshore (I think) south of EPA, so some discussion of that would be good :* unless I'm very much mistaken, the Sun office on San Antonio is no longer Sun (could someone check?) (yes- it is now the JCC) - edited by themoliugecko :* someone added highschools, but other schools (and the DeAnza campus on middlefield) could be discussed briefly too :So yes, the article is unbalanced. We'd really appreciate your help in adding more stuff to balance and enrich the article. -- User:Finlay McWalter | User talk:Finlay McWalter 00:52, 29 Aug 2004 (UTC) I live in the South and thouhgt the article's descriptions pretty accurate. I agree it is perhaps an odd thing to feature, but serves the article as a way to characterize geography and real estate. == Palo Alto Schools == I've seen Gunn High school ranked a couple times well within the top 1 % of high schools nationally, so maybe the "at least by California standards" caveat about school quality could be misleading, since California is near the bottom by many educational metrics. :* Where do you see the statement "at least by California standards?" I don't see it anywhere. If you're talking about the statement on the high school page, it simply lists the high school's rank in the state and the nation. No caveat. User:Wodan 01:49, Oct 1, 2004 (UTC) == Vagrants / Bums / Homeless == Palo Alto is unsual in the large number of vagrants, bums, and homeless people who congregate on University Avenue. Typically, "affluent" communites don't have these problems. They're there mostly because the Stanford crowd pays them to be there. Perhaps there should be some mention of this troubling phenomonon?
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Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto is a city in Santa Clara County, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. Palo Alto is located at the northern end of Silicon Valley, and is home to Stanford University (which is technically located in an adjacent area — Stanford, California), and to several successful technology companies. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 58,598. Palo Alto is home to the headquarters of Hewlett-Packard. It is named for a tree called El Palo Alto. The northern half of Palo Alto, north of Oregon Expressway, is filled with elegant homes, some of which date back to the 1890s but most of which were built in the first four decades of the 20th century on tree-lined streets. South of Oregon Expressway, in the southern half of Palo Alto, the houses, including many Joseph Eichler-designed or Eichler-style houses, were primarily built in the first 20 years after World War II. While both halves of the city contain homes that now cost anywhere from $700,000 to well in excess of $1 million, giving the entire city a somewhat-deserved reputation as a wealthy enclave, the fact is that the housing stock of south Palo Alto is rather middle-class in the style of mid-century California suburbia, and would not be so expensive were it not in such a desirable location, close to both Stanford University and the Silicon Valley. Typically, homes in the northern half of the city are even more expensive than those in the southern half. Palo Alto is also generally perceived to have excellent public schools and a high quality of life. A good description of high-tech life in Palo Alto around 1995 is found in the novel by Douglas Coupland, ''Microserfs''. One visible trend at the time was that of people who lived in San Francisco, California, but who drove south 30 to 50 miles each weekday in order to work in Silicon Valley. Palo Alto's sister city in Sweden is Linköping. Its Mexican sister is Oaxaca, Oaxaca. == Geography == Palo Alto is located at 37°25'45" North, 122°8'17" West (37.429289, −122.138162). It is in the south-eastern section of the San Francisco Peninsula. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 66.4 square kilometre (25.6 square mile). 61.3 km² (23.7 mi²) of it is land and 5.1 km² (2.0 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 7.65% water. == Demographics == As of the census of 2000, there are 58,598 people, 25,216 households, and 14,600 families residing in the city. The population density is 955.8/km² (2,475.3/mi²). There are 26,048 housing units at an average density of 424.9/km² (1,100.3/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 75.76% White (U.S. Census), 2.02% African American (U.S. Census), 0.21% Native American (U.S. Census), 17.22% Asian (U.S. Census), 0.14% Pacific Islander (U.S. Census), 1.41% from Race (U.S. Census), and 3.24% from two or more races. 4.65% of the population are Hispanic (U.S. Census) or Latino (U.S. Census) of any race. There are 25,216 households out of which 27.2% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.5% are Marriage living together, 7.0% have a female householder with no husband present, and 42.1% are non-families. 32.6% of all households are made up of individuals and 10.8% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.30 and the average family size is 2.95. In the city the population is spread out with 21.2% under the age of 18, 4.9% from 18 to 24, 32.4% from 25 to 44, 25.9% from 45 to 64, and 15.6% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 40 years. For every 100 females there are 95.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 93.6 males. The median income for a household in the city is $90,377, and the median income for a family is $117,574. Males have a median income of $91,051 versus $60,202 for females. The per capita income for the city is $56,257. 4.8% of the population and 3.2% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 4.0% of those under the age of 18 and 5.0% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line. == History == The township of Mayfield was formed in 1855, in what is now South Palo Alto some 40 years before Palo Alto. Known for its rowdy saloons, it rejected Leland Stanford's requests for reform which led him to drive the formation of Palo Alto. With Stanford's support, saloon days faded and Palo Alto grew to the size of Mayfield. The two communities came together and eventually there was talk of annexation. On July 2, 1925, Palo Alto voters approved the annexation of Mayfield and the two communities were officially consolidated on July 6, 1925. The Mayfield News wrote its own obituary four days later: "It is with a feeling of deep regret that we see on our streets today those who would sell, or give, our beautiful little city to an outside community. We have watched Mayfield grow from a small hamlet, when Palo Alto was nothing more than a hayfield, to her present size . . . and it is with a feeling of sorrow that we contemplate the fact that there are those who would sell or give the city away." == Economy == Palo Alto serves as a central economic focal point of the Silicon Valley, due in large part to the Stanford Research Park on Page Mill Road. The city's economy generally follows the economic trends of the rest of the Silicon Valley. Several well-known companies are headquartered in Palo Alto, including: * Agilent * CNF Inc. (Fortune 500) * Genencor * Hewlett-Packard * IDEO * Space Systems/Loral * Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati (technology law firm) Other notable corporate citizens: * Fry's Electronics * NYSE * PAIX * Hoffmann-La Roche * The Wall Street Journal * Xerox PARC * Lockheed Martin In addition, Palo Alto has a lively retail and restaurant trade, and the Stanford Shopping Center and downtown Palo Alto (centered around University Avenue) are popular destinations. See also: [http://www.paloaltochamber.com/ABOUTPACC/majore.html Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce list of Major Employers] == School system == ===Public schools=== The Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) provides public education for Palo Alto. === Private schools === * Pinewood School - located on Arastradero in Los Altos Hills; most of the students are from Los Altos Hills/Los Altos area * Kitty Petty Institute - a preschool for disabled children * St Elizabeth Seton Extended - a Catholic school * Castilleja School - a prestigious girls' school * International School of the Peninsula - a K-8 school emphasizing on dual language teaching * Bowman International School - a school founded in 1995 which emphasizes on teaching about different cultures == Transportation == Palo Alto is served by two major freeways, US Highway 101 and Interstate 280 (California), and is traversed by the San Francisco Peninsula's main north-south boulevard, El Camino Real (California) (California State Highway 82). The city is also served indirectly by California State Highway 84 which traverses the Dumbarton Bridge to the north. None of the highways on the Peninsula side of the bridge have been upgraded to freeway status due to opposition from residents of Palo Alto, Atherton, California and Menlo Park, California. The freeway opponents fear that upgrading Highway 84 will encourage more people to live in Alameda County (where housing is more affordable) and commute to jobs in the mid-Peninsula area, thus increasing traffic in their neighborhoods to the south of the bridge. Also, Palo Alto has only one major crosstown arterial, Page Mill Road/Oregon Expressway, which completely connects the two freeways. Because of these two defects in the regional road network, Palo Alto is notorious for severe traffic congestion at rush hour. Palo Alto boasts a municipal airport, with IATA airport code PAO. The Palo Alto airport is one of the busiest single-runway general aviation airports in the country. Train service is available via Caltrain with service to San Francisco and San Jose, California. Caltrain has two regular stops in Palo Alto, one at University Avenue (local and express) and the other at California Avenue (local only). A third, located beside Alma Street at Embarcadero Road, is used to provide special services for occasional sports events (generally College football) at Stanford University Stadium. The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) provides primary bus service through Palo Alto with service to the south bay and Silicon Valley. The San Mateo County Transit District (SamTrans) provides service to San Mateo County, California to the north. The Stanford University Free Shuttle (Marguerite) provides a supplementary bus service in and around Palo Alto. == External links == *[http://www.city.palo-alto.ca.us/ City of Palo Alto web page] *[http://www.paloaltoairport.org/ Palo Alto Airport] *[http://www.paloaltochamber.com/ Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce] *[http://www.pahistory.org/ Palo Alto Historical Association] *[http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news_features/centennial/1920D.html Two Towns Are Better Than One, Palo Alto Weekly] Cities in California Santa Clara County, California
Palo Alto, California
==Two caltrain stops or three?== This article says ''"Caltrain has two stops in Palo Alto"'', but Caltrain (and the Caltrain timetable) list a ''"Stanford - event service only"'' stop between University and California. I can't quite figure out where it does stop - is there a stop where the train crosses Embarcadero (which would be relatively handy for the football)? Or does this entry in the timetable really just mean a stop at University Ave? -- User:Finlay McWalter | User talk:Finlay McWalter 02:13, 24 Jul 2004 (UTC) :I believe that it stops right before Churchill Ave., next to the PA High School track. Since this is only for standord events, I didn't list it. You're welcome to work it in. --User:ChrisRuvolo 23:28, 24 Jul 2004 (UTC) ::Hmm, I've never noticed it (must look next time I'm in town). I've added it, and clarified bus service a bit. Thanks for the info. -- User:Finlay McWalter | User talk:Finlay McWalter 23:43, 24 Jul 2004 (UTC) :::Yeah, it is hard to see. It isn't really a train stop so much as a strip of asphalt beside the track, kind of like the old Rengstorff Ave stop in Mountain View. --User:ChrisRuvolo 00:32, 25 Jul 2004 (UTC) :::Ok, I was mistaken. Official Caltrain literature says "Embarcadero Rd. & Alma St." It IS just a strip of pavement (I saw it this weekend), but I was remembering it in the wrong place. Correcting article. --User:ChrisRuvolo 01:07, 20 Aug 2004 (UTC) == North vs. South snobbery? == Well, as a resident of ''South'' I'm a bit surprised at the emphasis on North vs. South in this article. Who cares? I'm sure the guy who bought the $2.5 million dollar house around the corner from me would be surprised to learn that all of the nice expensive houses are in the north part of the city. More to the point, Is this the second most important thing to discuss in an article on Palo Alto? : Small articles like this, which have been worked on seriously by only a few people, tend to be rather unbalanced. I do think the article should mention the urban form of the city (mature city articles often do), but indeed it's not the most important thing about PA. I don't really think it's snobbery (I'm a former south-central PA resident myself), but PA does have a reputation of being only mansions, when really that's largely not the case (and the fact is, I think, significant enough to merit a mention). The article certainly needs more stuff added about the city and its form. We need, I figure: :* a sentence or two about university ave and the central biz district (wasn't the apple store the first one?) (didn't webTV start in that crappy building on Alma beside the watertower opposite the caltrain station?) :* it really needs a map (which, legally, someone needs to draw) :* PA goes to the bayshore (I think) south of EPA, so some discussion of that would be good :* unless I'm very much mistaken, the Sun office on San Antonio is no longer Sun (could someone check?) (yes- it is now the JCC) - edited by themoliugecko :* someone added highschools, but other schools (and the DeAnza campus on middlefield) could be discussed briefly too :So yes, the article is unbalanced. We'd really appreciate your help in adding more stuff to balance and enrich the article. -- User:Finlay McWalter | User talk:Finlay McWalter 00:52, 29 Aug 2004 (UTC) I live in the South and thouhgt the article's descriptions pretty accurate. I agree it is perhaps an odd thing to feature, but serves the article as a way to characterize geography and real estate. == Palo Alto Schools == I've seen Gunn High school ranked a couple times well within the top 1 % of high schools nationally, so maybe the "at least by California standards" caveat about school quality could be misleading, since California is near the bottom by many educational metrics. :* Where do you see the statement "at least by California standards?" I don't see it anywhere. If you're talking about the statement on the high school page, it simply lists the high school's rank in the state and the nation. No caveat. User:Wodan 01:49, Oct 1, 2004 (UTC) == Vagrants / Bums / Homeless == Palo Alto is unsual in the large number of vagrants, bums, and homeless people who congregate on University Avenue. Typically, "affluent" communites don't have these problems. They're there mostly because the Stanford crowd pays them to be there. Perhaps there should be some mention of this troubling phenomonon?
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