Palo Alto Orchards - Palo Alto, CA Area Guide

Before explorers “discovered” Palo Alto and before settlers began to arrive, the region was inhabited by the Oholone tribe. View a commemorative plaque at the corner of Embarcadero and Middlefield Road.

By the 1830s, many families were settled into the area. In 1885, Leland Stanford, a railroad tycoon and former governor of California, founded Stanford University. As the institute of higher learning grew, so did the city. A portion of the campus lies within Palo Alto city limits.

Palo Alto houses a number of art galleries and museums. Don't miss the Rodin sculpture garden at Cantor Arts Center near the Stanford University campus.

Notable past and present residents of Palo Alto include actor James Franco, Stephan Jenkins of Third Eye Blind, folk singer Joan Baez, Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham and theoretical physicist Michio Kaku.

Cruise the commercial El Camino Real and Middlefield Road corridors to find numerous restaurants, coffee shops and nightlife venues.

Start your day with an eye-opening coffee from Hobee's Restaurant. Locals tout the oatmeal bar as a breakfast favorite - as well as the fresh coffee bakes baked in house for visitors. The warm reception and friendly staff keep you wanting to stay in this diner all day.

Residents find the most authentic Chinese meals in the area from Su Hong Eatery on El Camino Real. The menu, including favorites like Shanghai fried rice and Wuxi spareribs, boast some intense flavors, so faint-of-heart customers should expect to order some extra water with their meals. Those more seasoned with Asian food are sure to love the spices used at Su Hong Eatery.

With no bars in the neighborhood 4141 El Camino serves as one of the local watering holes a short distance away. A sports bar that's just divey enough to be interesting, here late-night revelers enjoy adult beverages like screwdrivers made with fresh-squeezed orange juice, a perfect greyhound or a shot of maple-bacon bourbon. Eat before you get here, because the bar doesn't serve food.

Looking to do something a little out of the ordinary on a Friday night? Head across town to Friday Night Waltz and learn to dance in 3/4 time. Bring a partner or meet one at the First United Methodist Church on Hamilton Avenue two blocks south of Middlefield Road. By the end of a two-hour class, you'll be ready to enjoy three hours of waltz, cha cha, tango, Lindy hop and salsa dancing.

Highway 101 and State Route 280 serve the Palo Alto area. In the city, State Route 82 is known as El Camino Real.

Around 10 percent of the commuters in Palo Alto get to work on bicycle. In the 1980s, the city was the first to enact the “bicycle boulevard” concept, revamping Bryant Street by installing traffic diverters and removing stop signs.

There are no parking meters in Palo Alto, and municipal parking lots are free. You will find ample bicycle and vehicle parking opportunities all around town.

Palo Alto remains one of the most walker-friendly cities in the Bay Area. Use caution when crossing high-traffic surface streets El Camino Real and Oregon Expressway.

Public transportation to Silicon Valley and the South Bay is provided by Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA). San Mateo County Transit District (SamTrans) takes riders to and from San Mateo. Stanford University offers free shuttle service between Palo Alto and the campus. Caltrain provides service from Palo Alto to San Francisco to the north and San Jose to the south. Caltrain makes two stops in Palo Alto, on California and University avenues.

Several cab companies, including Yellow Cab, Hybrid Cab Company and Bay Cities Taxi, offer ride service throughout the area. You might hail a cab on busy commercial streets, but your best bet is to call a cab company when you want a ride. If you have an Uber app on your phone, you can use it to summon a ride in Palo Alto.

Mitchell Park on East Meadow Drive presents big grassy areas, volleyball areas, climbing structures, water features, BBQs and picnic tables, and sandboxes for the kids. Mitchell Park is one of the best places in Palo Alto for an off-leash dog walk.

Serene Shoreline Park & Lake offers paddle boats, small sailboats and kayaks for rent. No motorized water craft are permitted, due to the fragile nature of the local ecosystem. Shoreline Park is a wildlife and bird sanctuary where you can glimpse rare burrowing owls and migrating waterfowl. Admission to the park is free, and so is parking.

Every summer, the City of Palo Alto and the local chamber of commerce combine forces to present the Palo Alto Festival of the Arts. The annual event attracts tens of thousands of art and music lovers from around Northern California who come to enjoy more than 300 exhibits and booths along California Avenue.

The Museum of American Heritage presents a remarkable, ever-changing display of the little things that make America great. Like Legos. And toasters. Find the quirky little museum on Homer Avenue, northeast of Bryant Street.

Life is good in Palo Alto, but it can be very expensive. The median rental price for a one-bedroom apartment exceeds $2,400 a month.

A gallon of gas in Palo Alto costs 20 percent more than the national average. VTA will take you from Palo Alto Orchards to the city center for $2 and a draft pilsner at a local Palo Alto pub costs $7 to $9.

While there aren't any super markets in the neighborhood many options lye a short distance away. Right south of the neighborhood on El Camino Real you'll find Sprouts, Walmart, Safeway, Trader Joe's and Whole Foods Country. Sun Natural Foods on California Avenue by Stanford presents a wide range of organic and GMO-free foods, eco-friendly cleaning products and cruelty-free body care items. They also sponsor a small Sunday farmer's market in the parking lot.

Another farmer's market, the California Avenue Farmer's Market , offers an extensive variety of organically grown fruits and veggies as well as fresh flowers, artisanal bread and cheeses, honey, made-to-order foods and handmade crafts. The market is open every Sunday of the year, from 8 am to noon.

The Downtown Palo Alto Farmer's Market opens the second Saturday in May and runs through the second Saturday in December. The seasonal market on Gilman Avenue offers a place where you can meet and greet the local farmers who grow your food. Live music in the morning, too. Find the farmer's market behind the downtown post office. Park for free under City Hall.

For more commercial shopping, Stanford Shopping Center presents upscale shopping with flagship stores such as Nieman Marcus, Betsey Johnson, Burberry, Abercrombie & Fitch, Tiffany and Brooks Brothers. If you prefer more boutique stores, visit Style and Form for unique and modern furnishings for your home. The skilled craftmanship put into each product sold in this store is sure to keep your home stylish for many years to come.

Red Door Movies on El Camino Real rents a splendid selection of major movies, independent films and foreign flicks that you're not likely to find anywhere else.

Locals don't need to travel to San Francisco to purchase upscale clothing. Romi Boutique offers a select inventory of fashionable ladies clothing that's hip and wearable. Find the upscale boutique on Emerson Street about two blocks north of Alma Street.