Overview

The Split City

The city of Palo Alto is a charter city, established by Leland Stanford, Sr. in honor of his son, Leland Jr., who died of typhoid fever at age 15. The land had changed ownership multiple times before an eccentric Frenchman named Paulin Caperon, AKA Peter Coutts, sold the land to Stanford.

From the founding of the university, Palo Alto has become a main focus of Silicon Valley, hosting the headquarters of dozens of prominent high tech companies, including Hewlett-Packard, Skype, Lockheed-Martin, Skype, Facebook, and Apple. There are nearly twenty private elementary and high schools in town, as well as weekend schools for Japanese and Chinese language.

The city is divided into two parts: the urban, highly populated northern half; and the nature preserves of the southern half, which are connected to the north by a very narrow corridor.

Things to do in Palo Alto:

• Hiking, biking and horseback riding – These are popular activities. In the Baylands Nature Preserve, an area of sloughs and marsh that borders the Bay, there are fifteen miles of trails, mainly for hiking and birding.
• Multiple nature preserves occupy the southern half of the city, from the Pearson-Arastradero Preserve to the Monte Bello Preserve. There are many miles of trails for hiking, biking, and riding. The trails wander through the hills and along creeks, climbing to heights with spectacular views of the Bay.
• The downtown runs along University Avenue which is lined with small shops, coffee shops, and restaurants.
• There are many theaters and museums that offer live music concerts, plays, and exhibitions.
• Frenchman’s Tower is a two story tower, built by the eccentric Peter Coutts. it looks like a tower from a castle that wandered off and got lost.
• The Hoover Tower is 285 feet high and the views from the top are marvelous. 

Palo Alto is known for its small town friendliness. The population is only 63,000. The climate is wonderful, encouraging outdoors activities. Biking and walking are popular ways to get to work. This is your hometown. Palo Alto is waiting for you.