cafe
Alice's Restaurant
A legendary biker and car enthusiast hangout on Skyline Boulevard in the Santa Cruz Mountains, a must-stop on one of California's best riding roads.
14 km · about 25 min drive
North AmericaUnited StatesCalifornia
East Palo Alto
California, United States · North America
About East Palo Alto
East Palo Alto is worth a stop: 5 minutes from Menlo Park, 49km from Golden Gate Bridge.
East Palo Alto is in California, United States, with about 30,000 people. You drive on the right here. The nearest town is Menlo Park, about 4 km away.
East Palo Alto ( EAST PAL-oh AL-toh; abbreviated E.P.A.) is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of East Palo Alto was 30,034. It is situated on the San Francisco Peninsula, roughly halfway between the cities of San Francisco and San Jose. To the north and eastRead more
is the San Francisco Bay, to the west is the city of Menlo Park, and to the south the city of Palo Alto. East Palo Alto was founded as an unincorporated community and was incorporated in July 1983. The two cities are separated only by San Francisquito Creek and, largely, the Bayshore Freeway (the vast majority of East Palo Alto is northeast of the freeway, while all of the residential part of Palo Alto is southwest of the freeway). The revitalization projects in 2000, and high income high-tech professionals moving into new developments, including employees from Google and Facebook, have begun to slowly eliminate the historically wide cultural and economic differences between the two cities. East Palo Alto and Palo Alto share both telephone area codes and postal ZIP codes.
In 1990, 43% of East Palo Alto's residents were African Americans, which was the result of redlining practices and racial deed restrictions in Palo Alto, while 34% were Latinos. As of 2020, African Americans were 11%, while Latinos are about 66%. A small minority of Pacific Islanders also reside in East Palo Alto, most of Tongan, Samoan, and Fijian origin.
The prosperity that benefited Silicon Valley during the dot-com boom of the late 1990s largely bypassed East Palo Alto. The Ravenswood City School District, which serves East Palo Alto and part of adjoining Menlo Park, has struggled with low academic performance. Eventually, however, the Peninsula's shortage of land and soaring property prices meant that East Palo Alto became an option for urban regeneration.
East Palo Alto includes a small piece of land southwest of the Bayshore Freeway (U.S. Route 101), across the freeway from the Gateway 101 shopping center. This land is roughly triangular and sits between the freeway and San Francisquito Creek. This land was formerly the site of a two-block-long retail business district known as Whiskey Gulch. Since 1888, Stanford University, on the west side of Palo Alto, prohibited alcohol sales within a radius of 1.5-mile (2.4 km) from the campus. Whiskey Gulch, which was just outside these limits, became home to a number of liquor stores, bars, and music venues. The rules were relaxed in 1970, but the neighborhood still retained this character until 2000, when the city tore down Whiskey Gulch and replaced it with the University Circle office complex. A 200-room Four Seasons hotel opened in University Circle in 2006.
Over 25% of East Palo Alto (400+ acres) has been bulldozed and replaced with brand new housing and brand-name retail establishments since approximately 1997, attracting an entirely new demographic. The University Square community has become particularly appealing to young high-tech professionals and high-income couples, including many employees from Google, Facebook, Sun Microsystems, Yahoo!, and various other software and startup companies.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is there to see near East Palo Alto?
Within an hour or so of East Palo Alto: Alice's Restaurant (14 km), Tom Lantos Tunnels (Devil's Slide) (35 km), Blackhawk Museum (42 km), Exploratorium (43 km).
Are there any good drives near East Palo Alto?
The nearest famous roads are 17-Mile Drive, Pacific Coast Highway - Big Sur (CA-1) and Pacific Coast Highway (Highway 1).
Where is East Palo Alto?
East Palo Alto is in California, United States, about 4 km from Menlo Park.
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Quick Information
- Population
- 29,662
- Continent
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Region
- California
- Timezone
- America/Los_Angeles
- Coordinates
- 37.4688, -122.1411
Emergency & Services
Essential numbers in United States
AAA roadside assistance: 1-800-222-4357. Right turn on red is legal in most states unless signed otherwise.
Full driving guide for United StatesTags
Worth the detour from East Palo Alto
8 notable places within an hour's drive.
tunnel
Tom Lantos Tunnels (Devil's Slide)
Twin highway tunnels that bypass the notorious Devil's Slide cliffs on Highway 1 south of Pacifica; the old clifftop roadbed is now a spectacular coastal trail.
35 km · about 40 min drive
museum
Blackhawk Museum
Classic and rare automobiles displayed as art in an elegant gallery setting in the San Francisco Bay Area.
42 km · about 50 min drive
museum
Exploratorium
A pioneering hands-on science museum on San Francisco's waterfront that inspired interactive museums worldwide.
43 km · about 50 min drive
landmark
Coit Tower
Art Deco observation tower on Telegraph Hill offering 360-degree views of San Francisco, the bay, and the Golden Gate Bridge.
44 km · about 50 min drive
museum
California Academy of Sciences
A unique museum combining an aquarium, planetarium, and natural history museum under a living green roof in Golden Gate Park.
44 km · about 50 min drive
landmark
Alcatraz Island
Notorious former federal penitentiary on a rocky island in San Francisco Bay that once held America's most dangerous criminals.
47 km · about 55 min drive
bridge
Golden Gate Bridge
The Art Deco suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate strait in famous International Orange; drive, cycle, or walk it, with classic viewpoints at Battery Spencer and Fort Point.
49 km · about 55 min drive
Driving roads near East Palo Alto
3 named roads, passes and coastal drives within 150km.
- 35 kmTom Lantos Tunnels (Devil's Slide)Twin highway tunnels that bypass the notorious Devil's Slide cliffs on Highway 1 south of Pacifica; the old clifftop roadbed is now a spectacular coastal trail.
- 49 kmGolden Gate BridgeThe Art Deco suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate strait in famous International Orange; drive, cycle, or walk it, with classic viewpoints at Battery Spencer and Fort Point.
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