With bikes, booze and music, Palo Alto eager to enhance Cal Ave. vibe

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Bicyclists on California Ave. in Palo Alto on June 3, 2025. Photo by Anna Hoch-Kenney.

Eager to jazz up California Ave., Palo Alto leaders embraced on Tuesday a vision for the car-free strip that includes durable parklets, lots of live music and that most Mayfield of amenities: alcohol containers.

Zagging away from a staff recommendation, City Council members also agreed that dining areas on Cal Ave. should not be limited to tables garnished with planters and umbrellas, as recommended by urban architect Bruce Fukuji, who is leading the effort to reimagine and “activate” the street.

“It’s really about how to advance the outdoor dining and music life that’s out there and how to have a streamlined process that doesn’t create undue cost or time delays for merchants to implement things, and at the same time not really impact the safety or function of the street,” Fukuji said.

Fukuji’s proposal for activating the street received a mixed response, with council members generally supporting his efforts to enliven the street by reorganizing it and establish designated zones for dining, pedestrian walkways and bikeways. But they steered away from his most contentious recommendation: to abolished tents and enclosed structures and encourage tables with umbrellas.

Restaurant owners and area patrons pushed back, arguing that the minimalist furnishings will not protect diners from cold and rainy days. Some businesses, including Zareen’s and Terun, had invested in large outdoor dining areas that are generally bustling.

“Banning permanent outdoor roofed structures, such as those successfully utilized in downtown Palo Alto and relying on umbrellas as a primary solution is not practical or sustainable,” said Bridget Aglee, a College Terrace resident who is part of a team looking to rebuild the former Best of the West building at 414 California Ave. into a mixed-use complex.

Charlie Weidanz, CEO of Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce, said his group has been hearing from businesses who are concerned that the new Cal Ave. plan will hinder the street’s economic vitality by precluding dining when the weather gets cold.

“Without reliable and affordable options for customers to dine comfortably in rain, cold or heat, local businesses’ vitality and sustainability are at risk,” Weidanz told the council.

Council members found this argument convincing, with Mayor Ed Lauing calling any proposal to ban enclosed structures a “nonstarter.”

“It’s really a simple discussion because the umbrellas don’t work,” Lauing aid. “In that environment, they just don’t work.

“Because we want to be warm and away from the wind and away from the rain in all four seasons. Because in Northern California it’s better than Chicago, Detroit and Minneapolis, but it’s still not great.”

A scooter rider on California Ave. in Palo Alto on June 3, 2025. Photo by Anna Hoch-Kenney.

Others agreed that whatever happens on Cal Ave., dining should be encouraged year-round.

“We want the street in northern California, in Palo Alto, to be a place that people can frequent and enjoy and dine and drink and dance and listen to music and sing and play games and other things 365 days a year,” said Council member Julie Lythcott-Haims, who serves on the council’s Retail Committee. “Let’s not come up with a structure that undermines that possibility.”

Exactly what types of parklets will be allowed remains an open question. The council voted to consult the Architectural Review Board on parklet designs, which will have to strike the balance between making Cal Ave. orderly and preserving its funky, eclectic and historically irreverent charm.

Much like a century ago, when Cal Ave. was known as Mayfield, city leaders hope to lure visitors with booze. The council extended an ordinance that allows open alcoholic containers on the street during 3rdThursdays, a monthly event on Cal Ave. that includes games, concerts and the like. Most council members also suggested expanding the rule to other days of the week.

“I don’t know if it wants to be every night; I don’t oppose it,” Veenker said. “If we want to start with Thursday, Friday, Saturday, I do think that we should expand it beyond that to the extent its successful and we’re learning how to work with that.”

Above all, council members agreed that any new rules for Cal Ave. should encourage variety and provide flexibility to merchants and restaurant owners on the strip. Council member George Lu envisioned a series of parklets with different appearances and uses, some shaped like boats and treehouses, others accommodating sculptures or bike parking.

“The big thing is that we just want to give merchants more flexibility,” said Council member Keith Reckdahl, who chairs the council’s Retail Committee. “If they want to design a higher-end, more durable structure, we should accommodate that.”

Council member Pat Burt, who made the motion, agreed and suggested that the city continue to encourage music and outdoor dining on Cal Ave.

“This has been a great success despite a haphazard design,” Burt said. “And it’s been a success because we actually had this outdoor dining and outdoor music in a way that Palo Alto hasn’t had since the Grateful Dead were downtown.”

The city should “build off that” and ensure that the new program does not constrain businesses.

Biking created another conundrum. Council members generally agreed that installing bike lanes in the middle of a popular promenade might compromise pedestrian safety. But because Cal Ave. is an important connector between Stanford Research Park and the Caltrain station, no one was in favor of entirely banning bikes. The compromise that the council generally supported called for steering through-cyclists to Cambridge Avenue, one block north of Cal Ave. While cycling would still be allowed on Cal Ave., the street would be equipped with traffic-calming measures to make sure bikes move slowly.

Reckdahl, who favored this approach, said the city can simply ban bikes in the future, if things are not working out.

“But I think we can make it work and I think we should give it a shot to make it work,” Reckdahl said. “Because having acces for bikes will help merchants, will help bikers, reduce traffic. There’s a lot of advantages to bikes and we want to encourage that.”