Talk:Palo Alto, California

article split - notable people?
Hi, with almost 100 notables, is it time to have a separate list article? Coolabahapple (talk) 03:25, 15 April 2016 (UTC)


 * I've split and added to the Palo Alto template. I suspect the only people who should be listed in this article should be those who can be included in the running text. --Erp (talk) 03:22, 1 July 2017 (UTC)
 * thanks. Coolabahapple (talk) 13:03, 2 July 2017 (UTC)

External links modified
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 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20110510163721/http://www.nanosysinc.com/contact_us/ to http://www.nanosysinc.com/contact_us/
 * Added tag to http://www.bangkokstartup.com/2013/06/01/skype-office-palo-alto/
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090628175411/http://html.ifoman.com.s3.amazonaws.com/chronology_2001-2003.html to http://html.ifoman.com.s3.amazonaws.com/chronology_2001-2003.html
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20131028195535/http://www.chconline.org/esther-b-clark-school/overview to http://www.chconline.org/esther-b-clark-school/overview
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20160125170140/https://www.pahistory.org/ to http://www.pahistory.org/

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Delete Bike Arc
The references to Bike Arc are shameless advertisement for a minor and largely unsuccessful product. Hundreds of important and historically significant items originated in Palo Alto, and they are (properly) not mentioned in this article about a municipality. The reference and photographs should be deleted. Jds13 (talk) 23:24, 16 June 2017 (UTC)

Highest point
I would guess that the highest point in Palo Alto would be Black Mountain at 2,812 ft (857 m) but does anyone have a good reference for this? There also seems to be a story about how the land got annexed by Palo Alto but the reference isn't as reliable as I would like (https://theland.wikispaces.com/ though backed up by the legal documents https://www.leagle.com/decision/19821043136CalApp3d907_1964/ELDRIDGE%20v.%20BURNS). --Erp (talk) 03:03, 16 July 2017 (UTC)

External links modified
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California historic landmarks in Palo Alto
Acquired from ; some of this could be researched and incorporated into the article. Also The National Registry has though most don't seem important enough to include Any other sources to mine? --Erp (talk) 05:32, 11 August 2018 (UTC)
 * NO. 524 SITE OF JUANA BRIONES DE MIRANDA HOME ON RANCHO LA PURÍSIMA CONCEPCIÓN
 * NO. 836 PIONEER ELECTRONICS RESEARCH LABORATORY
 * NO. 857 JOHN ADAMS SQUIRE HOUSE
 * NO. 895 HOSTESS HOUSE (already mentioned in article)
 * NO. 969 HOME SITE OF SARAH WALLIS
 * NO. 976 BIRTHPLACE OF SILICON VALLEY (Packard Garage, already mentioned in article)
 * NO. 1000 SITE OF INVENTION OF THE FIRST COMMERCIALLY PRACTICABLE INTEGRATED CIRCUIT
 * PALO ALTO SOUTHERN PACIFIC RAILROAD DEPOT (covered in the Palo Alto station article)
 * Allen, Theophilus, House https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/AssetDetail?assetID=b6ab8b8f-0d3b-4c63-ab0f-b7516fcbeff5
 * de Lemos, Pedro, House https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/AssetDetail?assetID=5f460801-7cb6-4cfa-9e33-ec47b5e80f4d
 * Downing, T. B., House https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/AssetDetail?assetID=087d83e3-5fde-44ac-be7e-80c57a9a897d
 * Dunker House https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/AssetDetail?assetID=b01cb307-49cc-413f-aa72-2c191982743b
 * Fraternal Hall Building https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/AssetDetail?assetID=df95f717-4f0a-4380-816f-1000d0a2051d
 * Green Gables https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/AssetDetail?assetID=8cadffeb-522c-4f1e-a9f2-824faa37df70
 * Greenmeadow https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/AssetDetail?assetID=9045e8b8-559b-43ce-8546-12bb24f49aab
 * Kee House https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/AssetDetail?assetID=3bcd1e24-9411-4c55-b5bc-7cdb12f133f9
 * Professorville Historic District
 * Ramona Street Architectural District
 * U.S. Post Office (downtown post office)
 * Wilson House https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/AssetDetail?assetID=273cce82-f30e-4e0c-be57-32f87417c8e2

Palo Alto Networks
How about Palo Alto Networks? Why nothing about it? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 141.192.161.196 (talk) 21:29, 19 September 2018 (UTC)
 * Palo Alto Networks is not located in the city; furthermore the company's Wikipedia article lists no connection with the city. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.225.17.141 (talk) 16:03, 16 August 2021 (UTC)

Foothills Park
I've started a draft article on Foothills Park. Could do with some pictures and some more info.--Erp (talk) 01:34, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
 * The Foothills Park, Palo Alto article is now official but still lacks pictures. --Erp (talk) 01:15, 16 May 2020 (UTC)

Proposal: Update the climate table to include more data (calculate more attributes and include more years in base data)
The current climate table includes three attributes: average high and low temperature and average precipitation. The current table uses data from 1981-2010 as the basis for the presented values.

I'd like to update this table along two dimensions: add four additional attributes (record high, average record high, average record low, record low) and use a larger data set (spans more years, 1953-2017) to calculate the values.

Here's the proposed new table:

Please let me know your thoughts-- thanks. Absent advice to the contrary, I'll replace the existing table in about a month. Count3r (talk) 22:59, 27 September 2020 (UTC)
 * I think this could be confusing between average record high and average high (same for lows). More useful might be to indicate what year the record high/low for each month was recorded. --Erp (talk) 05:25, 30 September 2020 (UTC)
 * Agree that the difference is subtle-- if it were me I'd work on the language in the first column. But this is an issue with the Weather Box template, which is where the language is defined. For purposes of this article the choice is to include/exclude those rows. My preference is to include them (I guess obviously since I did :) ). Certainly other pages (see, for example, San Francisco, Los Angeles or New York City) have included them. Thanks-- Count3r (talk) 17:05, 30 September 2020 (UTC)
 * Installed the above table earlier today. Next step is to update the prose above it to accurately reflect the new data-- for example the prose and table now disagree on the average annual rainfall. Count3r (talk) 23:56, 8 November 2020 (UTC)

Economy section, list of companies
I've added a see also to the List: Category:Companies based in Palo Alto, California which means we can delete the bulleted list in the article. Companies mentioned in the article should include a description of why they are important vis a vis Palo Alto (e.g., the largest employer boxes or significance in the history section). We may want to set up a category of former companies based in Palo Alto, California --Erp (talk) 13:58, 21 March 2021 (UTC)
 * I've set up Category:Non-profit organizations based in Palo Alto, California and Category:Companies formerly based in Palo Alto, California to make it a bit easier to organize things. --Erp (talk) 14:44, 21 March 2021 (UTC)

History of Housing in Palo Alto
I have removed two paragraphs with misinformation related to blockbusting and redlining due to both citations (websites) not existing. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 23.119.126.139 (talk) 19:03, 25 March 2021 (UTC)
 * I provided citations. Content is restored. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 19:13, 25 March 2021 (UTC)

Requested move 18 July 2021

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion. 

The result of the move request was: Speedy close. Not going to happen unless WP:USPLACE is overturned. King of ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠ 05:31, 19 July 2021 (UTC)

Palo Alto, California → Palo Alto – Qualifier not required (page is the primary topic) and make consistent with the related disambiguation page. Sean Stephens (talk) 06:20, 18 July 2021 (UTC)
 * This is a contested technical request (permalink). Anthony Appleyard (talk) 23:07, 18 July 2021 (UTC)


 * queried move request Anthony Appleyard (talk) 23:10, 18 July 2021 (UTC)
 * This goes against WP:USPLACE: except for a select few cities, places in the US always have a state qualifier even if they're the primary topic. Lennart97 (talk) 08:58, 18 July 2021 (UTC)
 * This should be simply refused not placed in RM queue. In ictu oculi (talk) 09:02, 18 July 2021 (UTC)
 * I think this raises a question about how the 'contested' section should actually work. Per the instructions above, If your technical request is contested, or if a contested request is left untouched without reply, create a requested move... What I'm seeing is that regulars here often convert contested requests into RMs without giving the filer of the request any time to respond, apparently without considering if the filer wants to go through with it at all. In this case, for example, I moved the request here just to let Sean know the reason for contesting the move, expecting him to most likely withdraw it or to start an RM himself if he insists. If he were to not respond to this anytime soon, I agree this request shouldn't default to an RM. Maybe we should have a wider discussion about this elsewhere. Lennart97 (talk) 09:26, 18 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Oppose. This U.S. placename falls under the WP:USPLACE guideline, and does not qualify under the so-called AP Stylebook exception rule like San Francisco or Los Angeles. See also Perennial proposals for the rationale for WP:USPLACE. (As for Lennart97's question regarding specific procedures for contested technical requests, and whether the OP should primarily be the one to start the RM, probably the best place to discuss it is back on WT:RM. This is likely a case where an editor was not aware of a specific guideline -- particularly one that has been heavily debated in the past, once had a moratorium placed on its discussions, and has been listed on Wikipedia:Perennial proposals. Once learning about such a guideline, some editors might not feel that it is worth it to go through an RM). Zzyzx11 (talk) 02:43, 19 July 2021 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Housing paragraph is quite dated - can it be updated using reputable sources?
Many of the facts in this area are actually incorrect, just in the Bay Area, Palo Alto is not in the top 5 most expensive cities but the article cites small real estate web sites that parse data to make points rather than being accurate. In any case, the numbers references are from 15 years ago. Can US Census, more reputable sources be used when making claims about Palo Alto's current housing? Also, the rate of new construction for affordable housing is cited but used as if it is referring to the total amount of affordable housing. Palo Alto has more affordable housing than almost all the cities in Santa Clara county and has agressively developed affordable housing over a long number of years. THe article referes to new development recently which is subject to market variations, inflation, etc. 126.253.142.102 (talk) 07:26, 27 November 2022 (UTC)

Further reading section
Hi! I just removed the following sources from the further reading section since they seem very specific. Maybe they can be used as references for the Utilities section of this article?


 * John Jenks, David Crimp, C. Michael Hogan et al., Engineering and Environmental Evaluations of Discharge to the Coast Casey Canal and Charleston Slough, prepared by Kennedy Jenks Engineers and Earth Metrics Inc. (1976)
 * Santa Clara County Heritage Resource Inventory, Santa Clara County Historical Heritage Commission, published by Santa Clara County, San Jose, Ca., June 1979


 * Coleman, Charles M., P. G. and E. of California: The Centennial Story of Pacific Gas and Electric Company 1852–1952, (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1952).
 * Hanson, Warren D., San Francisco Water and Power: A History of the Municipal Water Department and Hetch Hetchy System, (San Francisco: San Francisco Public Utilities Communications Group, 2002).
 * Map: PG&E Backbone Gas Transmission System, (San Francisco: Pacific Gas and Electric Co., undated).
 * Map: Water Conveyance, Treatment, and Distribution System, (San Jose: Santa Clara Valley Water District, 1978).
 * Earthquake Planning Scenario Special Publication #61, (Sacramento, California: State of California, Division of Mines and Geology, 1981).
 * $117,730,000 Bond Offering: Transmission Agency of Northern California, (Sacramento, California: Transmission Agency of Northern California, 1992).

Aap1890 (talk) 22:08, 19 July 2024 (UTC)