A stroll up and down California Street is a wonderful experience. It has a very relaxed feel about it and the number of opportunities to stop and take it all in are many, either on one of the benches or sitting outside one of the many cafes.
California Street is about two miles from the main shopping street in Palo Alto and the Stanford Shopping Center. It used to be a separate town altogether called Mayfield, which was here before Palo Alto even existed. The founder of Stanford University, Leland Stanford, wanted to build his university in Mayfield but it was on condition that alcohol be banned from the town. The residents were not happy with that condition as they had over a dozen saloons doing a roaring business. So Leland Stanford went two miles north to build his university. Palo Alto came into existence at the same time and eventually became larger than Mayfield. In 1925 Mayfield was annexed by Palo Alto and the town of Mayfield was no more.
There are lots of places to eat, ranging from the ubiquitous Starbucks and bagal shops to cafes like Cafe Brioche and Joanie’s to slightly pricier venues like Bistro Basia and Illusions (with belly dancer) right up to Spalti Restorante and Bistro Elan. But my favorite (apart from Joanie’s for breakfast) is Printers Cafe. Ideal for a quick snack and a drink, sitting outside and watching the world walk by. Also it has the Gallery House opening from the main room. This is owned and operated by a co-operative of artists and there are regular exhibitions there. It is open on Tuesday from 11-5 and from 11-9 on Wednesdays to Saturdays.
There are two natural food markets - Mollie Stone’s at the station end and Country Sun, which is nearer to El Camino. Other businesses include a cobblers, hair and nail saloons, a florist, several opticians, a yoga center, a massage therapy center, a second hand bookshop with a very original name - Know Knew Books, an art supplies shop, a stationers which sells a variety to goods and Keeble and Shuchat Photography has two shops almost opposite each other. Tom disappeared into one of them for about an hour which gave me the opportunity to really explore the neighborhood.
Watch out for the art as well. There is an interesting statue on the corner of Ash which is called ‘Go Mama’ by Marta Thomas. On the other side of the street is a sculpture entitled ‘Love Spoken Here’ by William Wareham which is four large chairs and a small table made of of metal. I wonder if it is OK to sit on them? Hmm, maybe I’d better not. In the median on either side of Birch there are two more sculptures, one of metal and one of wood. There are also quite a few wall murals. On a wall to the side of Starbucks are three and on the side of Country Sun there is a huge picture of a volcano with a field of California poppies in the foreground. On the corner of California and Ash there is the Hotel California with several murals, one of them very amusing.
All in all, a wonderful neighborhood. Check it out.
March 27 2008 | Neighborhoods | No Comments »
Today is going to be a beautiful sunny day. We are later than usual starting off because we are not going too far - Palo Alto to be exact.
Our mission today is to find an outfit for me to wear to my daughter’s wedding in five weeks time. For several weeks I have been searching for something suitable but without luck. Yesterday I spent several fruitless hours at the Gilroy Outlets but everything was far too young and strappy for me. I even stopped off at a bridal shop on the way home and checked out their outfits for the ‘Mother of the Bride’ but these were not only far too ornate but out of my price range.
So today It will be Stanford Shopping Center where I’ll check out Talbots, Bloomingdales and possibly Nordstrom. Let’s hope I will be successful.
Our first stop though is Stanford University. It’s a lovely campus with many grand Italian Spanish-colonial style buildings (thanks to Dave for pointing out my mistake) but they were not on our itinerary. There were two places we wanted to visit - the Stone River sculpture and the Cactus Garden.
We knew roughly where they were but were not a 100% certain. I knew the Stone River sculpture was near the Cantor Arts Center so when we stumbled on that building we knew we were close. But it is hard to find because a) there are no directions to be seen and b) it can’t be seen from the road as it is below ground level. If you have a desire to see it for yourself here are the directions. The Cantor Arts Center is on Lumita Drive. When you stand on the steps in front of the Cantor, you can see Museum Way in front of you. Walk across the road to Museum Way. There is a car park on your left. Behind the car park look out for two granite blocks and walk towards them. You will then see the Snake River to your left.
It was designed by the British sculpture Andy Goldsworthy. If you have never heard of him or seen any of his work, let me introduce you. He was born in the north of England and his sculpture is unique as he uses basic tools and his works consist of twigs, thorns, stones, ice, leaves, rocks, chalk and literally anything natural in the vicinitiy. Most of them are reclaimed by nature pretty quickly but he takes photographs as a record. For a fascinating documentary of his life and work see if you can lay your hands on the DVD entitled ‘Rivers and Tides’.
The Stone River is a dry stone wall which took eight men, working six days a week, 11 hours a
day, three and a half weeks to construct back in the summer of 2001. Another place to see a permanent piece of work by Andy Goldsworthy - ‘Faultline’ - is outside the entrance of the De Young Museum in Golden Gate Park.
While Tom was taking photos, I walked over to the Cantor Arts Center. Off to the left of the building is the Roden Sculpture Garden where some of Auguste Roden’s sculptures are displayed in a pleasing setting. Roden is famous for his sculpture entitled ‘The Thinker’. Here though you will see his ‘Gates of Hell’, ‘Adam’, ‘Eve’, ‘The Martyr’, ‘The Three Shades’ plus fifteen more.
To the right of the Cantor is a completely different sculpture. This is large and red and built out of stainless steel girders and is called ‘The Sieve of Eratosthenes’ by Mark di Suvero.
In front of the Cantor are some bike racks and what really amused me is that some of the bikes, firmly secured to the racks, must have been there for some considerable time.
Now for the Cactus Garden. Once again it is hard to find as it is not marked in any way. We have been here before and we knew it was near the California Cafe. The exact location is on Quarry Road, just off the car park opposite the Wells Fargo bank. Look out for the wooden posts which mark the start of the a footpath.
The actual name of the garden is Arizona Garden. It was laid out in 1880s for Jane and Leland Stanford (Leland Stanford was the founder of Stanford University). They planned to build their home nearby but it was never constructed. Their son, Leland Stanford, Jr. died of typhoid just before his sixteenth birthday and they used the land to build the Stanford family mausoleum instead.
The time is 8.30 in the morning and it is very peaceful. I wandered around looking at the many different cacti and succulents and then found a bench in the sun to write my journal. It’s a perfect day with hardly a breeze to stir the leaves. Every so often I gaze at the garden, which is showing its age a bit. Up to the 1920’s it was well maintained but then left completely untended until it was restored in 1997. There are some original plants still in existence but not all of them are in good shape. It adds to the charm of the place though.
Time for breakfast and then we will hit the shops.
PS - I did find the perfect outfit at Stanford Shopping Center - mission accomplished.
March 25 2008 | Special Places | 1 Comment »
Before we headed to Palo Alto We checked where to have breakfast. We could not find anywhere on University Avenue, which is the main street of Palo Alto, but on California Avenue we found Joanie’s at 447 California Avenue. California Avenue is in a separate neighborhood and is about two miles from University and has a completely different feel about it. It used to be the main street in the town of Mayfield. Mayfield was incorporated into Palo Alto in 1925.
We have eaten here before in June of 2003 and were impressed. It is very small with just 5 tables for four and 9 for two with 3 places at the counter inside and a few tables outside. There are no booths. We arrived at 9.30, which is late for us, and the place was full so we had to wait for ten minutes. The first places to become available were at the counter so we took them. This is a first for me.
The service is quick and efficient and in no time at all we had our coffee and water and our order was taken. Tom ordered Eggs Benedict with Smoked Salmon ($9.50) and it was the usual oatmeal for me ($4.95). Back in 2003 the oatmeal was $4.00 so that is nearly a 25% increase in five years.
The only decoration in the place, apart from a large vase of fresh flowers on the counter, were a series of black and white photos around the walls. They were all done by the husband and wife team of Mark and Myshel Morgan and the photos were of London and San Tropez and Paris in France. Very impressive.
Our food was quick to arrive and it sure looked good. The Eggs Benedict looked really pretty and, for once, the hash browns did look extra crispy. It came with a small bowl of fruit containing sliced strawberries, cubes of melon and apple. My oatmeal came in a large, shallow bowl. On a separate plate were three toppings in stainless steel bowls - brown sugar, raisins and granola. I was asked whether I wanted full milk or reduced fat and chose the latter. It came hot and steamed in a white ceramic jug. The oatmeal looked very white so I’m guessing it was cooked in milk and not water.
A quick trip to the restroom but it wasn’t very noteworthy. It was very small with just one small picture on the wall entitled ‘Arles Flowerbox, France’.
We both loved the food and highly recommend it. It is a happy, bustling place with a very nice atmosphere and the service is great.
March 23 2008 | Breakfast Log | 1 Comment »
