Stanford Theatre

The Ramona Street Architectural District, in downtown Palo Alto, California, is a Registered Historic District. This portion of the street, between University Avenue and Hamilton Avenue, is a highly distinctive business block. It showcases the Spanish Colonial and Early California styles with gentle archways, wrought iron work, tile roofs of varying heights and courtyards. The development of Ramona Street, named after the 1884 novel Ramona, was an early successful attempt to expand laterally the central commercial district. Pedro de Lemos, a craftsman, graphic artist and curator of the Stanford Museum had been concerned with the larger scale and somewhat linear development along University Avenue. He believed that an informal architecture full of whimsy and integrated with nature was indeed compatible with commercial businesses. The first building to go up, in 1925, was the Gotham Shop at 520 Ramona, built by de Lemos, who had bought the property to preserve a very old oak tree (finally removed in the 1980s). He designed the building around the venerable oak and created shops with rustic benches, ceramic tiles and stucco walls. In 1938, de Lemos built another Spanish Colonial Revival commercial office building across the street at 533 - 539 Ramona, with a recessed arched entrance, an interior patio, wrought iron and more tiles. Noted local architects Birge Clark, W. H. Weeks and others added to the Spanish flavor of what de Lemos started. In 1928, Clark designed the multistory Medico-Dental Building at Hamilton and Ramona, which now houses the University Art Center on the ground floor. Across Ramona, Weeks designed the Cardinal Hotel, Palo Alto's first non-frame hotel. Excitement attended the Cardinal's debut, for it became the scene of tea dances and balls. The hotel had another purpose; it was intended to help make Hamilton a commercial street. The unified aspect of the 500 Ramona Street block was recognized by its designation in 1985 as a Historic District in the National Register of Historic Places. Since then, Plaza Ramona and other remodelings at the University Avenue end of the block have enhanced the theme.

165 University Avenue or Karma building is a small rented office building on University Avenue, the main commercial street in downtown Palo Alto, California, that gave rise to Plug and Play Tech Center and to the Amidi Group. It is run by Rahim & Saeed Amidi, whose family fled from the Iranian revolution in the 1970s. Located near Stanford University, the building has served as an incubator for several noted Silicon Valley companies, including Logitech, Google, PayPal, Danger, Inc (bought by Microsoft), BetterWorks, Milo.com (bought by eBay), and Yummly (bought by Whirlpool). YouTube also provides this location as the example address when setting the location of an uploaded video. Until 2000, the ground floor was home to a Palo Alto institution, Chimaera Books & Music. Like many independent bookstores, its closure was due, in part, to competition from the dot com economy.

Maum was a Korean restaurant in Palo Alto, California. The fine dining establishment had received a Michelin star before closing.

The Fraternal Hall Building is a historic building in Palo Alto, California. It was built in 1898 for the Fraternal Hall Association. The founding members included Knights of Pythias and Freemasons. The association sold the building in 1925, and the second floor was home to the Elks Club.The building was designed in the Renaissance architectural style. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since February 15, 1990.

Bike Arc LLC, located in downtown Palo Alto, California, is a Silicon Valley startup that designs secure bicycle parking racks and systems. It was founded by Joseph Bellomo and Jeff Selzer in 2008. Jeff Selzer sits on the Board of Directors of the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition and is the General Manager of Palo Alto Bicycles. Joseph Bellomo, a California-licensed architect, is the founder and owner of Joseph Bellomo Architects, Inc. in Palo Alto, which he founded in 1986. In addition to collaborating on Bike Arc, Mr. Bellomo and Mr. Selzer also worked together on the Palo Alto Bikestation at the Caltrain depot. In 2009, the American Institute of Architects, California Council, gave Bike Arc the Honor Award for Small Projects.

The Pacific Art League (PAL), formally known as the Palo Alto Art Club was founded in 1921 in Palo Alto, California and is a membership-run nonprofit arts organization, school, and gallery. The group is located in a historic building at 668 Ramona Street in downtown Palo Alto.

The Hostess House is a historic house in Palo Alto, California. It was built in 1918 by the YWCA for members of the United States Army to meet their relatives while they were still serving in World War I. The Hostess House was originally located in Camp Fremont.The building operated as a hostess house from May through October 1918. The house was designed by architect Julia Morgan. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since July 30, 1976. The building moved locations after World War I ended and was repurposed into a municipally sponsored community center, the first in the nation.

Palo Alto station (also called Palo Alto Transit Center) is an intermodal transit center in Palo Alto, California. It is served by Caltrain regional rail service, SamTrans and Santa Clara VTA local bus service, Dumbarton Express regional bus service, the Stanford University Marguerite Shuttle, and several local shuttle services. Palo Alto is the second-busiest Caltrain station after San Francisco, averaging 7,764 weekday boardings by a 2018 count. The Caltrain station has two side platforms serving the two tracks of the Peninsula Subdivision and a nearby bus transfer plaza. The San Francisco and San Jose Railroad was built through then-empty land north of Mayfield in 1863. The first Palo Alto station was opened in 1890 to serve the then-newly established Stanford University. It was replaced by a larger depot in 1896. The Southern Pacific Railroad opened a new station in 1941 as part of a grade separation project. Designed by John H. Christie, it was constructed in the Streamline Moderne style to match the railroad's Daylight series of streamlined passenger trains. Intercity service to Palo Alto ended in 1971; the Peninsula Commute service continued and was renamed Caltrain in 1985. The station building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Palo Alto Southern Pacific Railroad Depot in 1996.

The Varsity Theatre was a single-screen Mission Revival movie palace located on University Avenue in Palo Alto, California. The building is notable for its distinctive neon marquee and elongated, colonnade-lined courtyard.

The U.S. Post Office, located at 380 Hamilton Ave., is the main post office in Palo Alto, California. The U.S. Post Office was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 5, 1981.

The Museum of American Heritage (MOAH) is a museum in Palo Alto, California. It is dedicated to the preservation and display of electrical and mechanical technology and inventions from the 1750s through the 1950s. The museum has a large collection of artifacts that are generally not accessible to the public. Selections from the collection are displayed in a historic house at 351 Homer Ave, Palo Alto, California. MOAH is a 501 (c) (3) non profit organization and a member of the American Alliance of Museums.

Started in 1901 and completed in 1902, St. Thomas Aquinas Church is the oldest church in Palo Alto, California and is a registered historic landmark. Its distinctive Carpenter Gothic Victorian style makes it a signature building for the downtown area. The church is located just three blocks south of University Avenue. At the corner of Waverley and Homer Avenues, it's at the northern edge of the historic Professorville neighborhood of the city. The church was used as a location in the Hal Ashby film Harold and Maude (1971).St. Thomas Aquinas Parish also includes two other churches, Our Lady of the Rosary Church and St. Albert the Great Church, both also in Palo Alto. The three parishes, as well as St. Aloysius Church in Palo Alto and the Newman Center and St. Ann Chapel at Stanford University were merged into one parish in 1987. St. Aloysius was closed in 1994, the Newman Center at Stanford was reestablished as St. Dominic Parish in 1997, and St. Ann was sold in 1999. As of the present St. Thomas Aquinas Church is the parish church of St. Thomas Aquinas Parish, which also has two Chapels of ease.