Local favorite closes, citing fallout from COVID shutdown After more than a decade operating out of Town & Country Village, Mayfield Bakery & Cafe shuttered this past week, citing the impact of COVID measures and local rent costs. (Photo by Magali Gauthier) The owners of Mayfield Bakery & Cafe in Palo Alto, unable to sustain the business due to the coronavirus shutdown, have closed the Town & Country Village restaurant for good. “Like many ...
Read MoreA rare recording of Monk’s 1968 concert was shaping up to be one of the most exciting from-the-vaults musical releases of 2020…until it fell into legal limbo. An eccentric jazz master. An ambitious local high school student. An enterprising janitor. Yes, the story behind the little-known recording of Thelonious Monk’s 1968 concert at Palo Alto High School is a fascinating tale with no shortage of compelling characters. It is also a local ...
Read MorePamela Walsh Gallery finds a new footing by featuring live and virtual art experiences for every taste “Le Sommeil” by the Spanish celebrated surrealist Salvador Dali is one of the pieces currently on display in the new virtual exhibit by Pamela Walsh Gallery in Palo Alto. (Image courtesy of Pamela Walsh Gallery) Since the beginning of the pandemic-related shut downs, viewing visual art has been mostly limited to online offerings by major museums. ...
Read MoreMap out your tour of the streetside seascapes and portals to paradise The shelter-in-place life might mean containment for many things, but imagination isn’t one of them. Creativity doesn’t need a gallery space. Neighbors strolling the tree-lined Triple El neighborhood of Palo Alto have recently discovered al fresco art cropping up on house exteriors and across garage doors. Behind these pleasantly unexpected sights is international artist Martha Sakellariou and a fascinating dialogue on “home.” After ...
Read MoreMeet Darius Johnson of Bay La Soul. The new socially distanced outdoor patio in the parking lot of Antonio’s Nut House in Palo Alto. (Photo by Elena Kadvany) Darius Johnson grew up in Palo Alto’s Ventura neighborhood, practically down the street from Antonio’s Nut House on California Avenue. The longtime dive bar reopened on Monday after a months-long pandemic-forced closure, with Johnson leading the kitchen. Taqueria Azteca, which for three decades had served ...
Read MoreRichard Rothstein’s book The Color of Law documents how American communities—including much of the Bay Area—were purposefully segregated along racial lines. In 1954, one Peninsula real estate agent seized upon the sale of a single home on the east side of Palo Alto. (Book cover image via Liveright/W.W. Norton Publishing) Floyd Lowe, President of the California Real Estate Association at the time, quickly began amplifying racial tensions by warning residents that the one black family ...
Read MoreSan Agus opens in Palo Alto with Mexico City street food — for takeout only Owner behind RWC’s La Viga & LV Mar opens newest venture amid an uncertain landscape Tacos al Pastor at the newly-opened San Agus. (Image courtesy of Steven Renteria/La Viga) Manuel Martinez of LV Mar and La Viga opened his latest project, San Agus Cocina Urbana & Cocktails, in downtown Palo Alto last week, though it’s not quite what he envisioned for ...
Read MoreKilliney Kopitiam’s opening in downtown Palo Alto was stalled due to the coronavirus shutdown. (Photo by Magali Gauthier) Singapore’s oldest cafe was about to open in Palo Alto. Then, the coronavirus hit. ‘We were pretty much ready to go.’ Killiney Kopitiam falls into Covid-19 limbo on the Peninsula. When six Bay Area counties first ordered all residents to shelter at home for three weeks in mid-March, Killiney Kopitiam—a Singaporean cafe in downtown Palo ...
Read MoreWading into the reality of climate change— one portrait at a time Photographer Gideon Mendel discusses his “Drowning World” series ahead of his upcoming talk at the Palo Alto Photo Forum Ahmed. Khairpur Nathan Shah, Sindh; Pakistan. September 2010. (Courtesy of Gideon Mendel) These days it can be difficult to determine which is more alarming—the increasingly frequent news each year of catastrophic weather-related events, or the denialist viewpoint that nothing unusual is happening in that regard. It is ...
Read MoreOn Leland Stanford’s orders, PA was dry for a really, really long time. Oh man…if Leland knew: Stanford students drinking up (presumably on a remote section of campus) in 1938. (Courtesy of the Stanford Photo Archive) A few months back I was chatting with my father-in-law, who grew up in Palo Alto back in the 1950s. It’s funny talking with him about the area back then, because he doesn’t so much tell me stories ...
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