Palo Alto Weekly December 26, 2014 by Palo Alto Weekly

Vol. XXXVI, Number 12 Q December 26, 2014

PaloAltoOnline.com

Community thanks track guards Page 13

PAGES 5 & 20

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Our Neighborhoods Donate to the HOLIDAY FUND page 30

Transitions 18

Eating Out 26

Shop Talk 27

Movies 28

Q Arts Many ways to celebrate on New Year’s Eve

Page 23

Q Home Common threads in priciest home sales

Page 32

Q Sports Stanford faces Maryland in Tuesday’s bowl

Page 41

Check-in with Your Skin Put your best self forward this winter and make your skin care a priority. Stanford Dermatology offers the most advanced technologies for diagnosing and treating all skin conditions and diseases—from the most common to the more complex, including: • • •

Acne Eczema Sun damaged skin

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Nail problems Skin cancer

Schedule a consultation today at one of our convenient locations in Redwood City, Palo Alto, Portola Valley, or Los Altos. Make an appointment directly online at: stanfordhealthcare.org/derm or call 650.723.6316

Page 2 • December 26, 2014 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

Happy Holidays

from all of us at

2014 www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • December 26, 2014 • Page 3

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Upfront

Local news, information and analysis

2014

The year the game changed

by Gennady Sheyner

hen 2014 kicked off in Palo Alto, the city was wrestling with a problem most communities would envy: Too many people wanted to be here. The local economy was in full bloom, with revenues from every tax category surging and downtown’s commercial vacancy rates at a historic low. The city’s quality of life was ranked as “good” or “excellent” by more than 90 percent of residents who took part in a survey, and its efforts to be the nation’s greenest, most bike-friendly and digitally savviest city in all the land were proceeding apace, bringing with them a host of prestigious trophies and laurels. To an outsider, this may have seemed like a funny time for the residents to rise up and shout out, like Howard Beale in “Network,” that they’re mad as hell and they’re not going to take this anymore. Yet rise up they did. In the defining act of 2013, residents rebuffed elected officials by rejecting Measure D in the November election, effectively shooting down a proposal to build a dense housing develop-

ment on Maybell Avenue. The effects of that election didn’t just spill over into 2014, they in many ways defined it. If 2013 was the year in which the voters signaled their frustrations with the old way of doing things, 2014 was when a new way began to take shape — one that emphasized capping commercial growth, eliminating zoning exemptions and applying more scrutiny to new developments. The biggest tension point, as in the past, was on the topic of growth and development. Mayor Nancy Shepherd summed it up in February during her “State of the City” speech. “We are successful, prosperous and constantly changing,” Shepherd said. “But, there are those who may perceive this change is fundamentally altering some of the reasons why they chose to live in Palo Alto. While the university or tech-sector jobs may have brought many of us here for a great adventure, it is our neighborhoods, open space, and the quality of our schools that have been at the heart of what defines Palo Alto. And we want to protect and maintain all of these things.”

Political ruptures and hard-won compromises characterize Palo Alto’s year

The drive to protect neighborhoods from the problems of growth characterized Palo Alto’s political life in 2014 and created a rupture in its political establishment. By the time the year ended, two members of the Measure D opposition were elected to the City Council. Incumbent Councilwoman Karen Holman, whose deep skepticism toward new development has long made her an outlier on the council, received more votes than any other candidate in a 12-person field. Shepherd, who in early 2013 had beat out Holman for the vice mayoral spot and whose re-election campaign included endorsements from a litany of former mayors and civic leaders, was voted out of office. Her main ally on the council, Vice Mayor Liz Kniss, no longer seems like a shoo-in to continue the local tradition in which the vice mayor assumes the mayor’s chair. The year was also the swan song for Larry Klein, who in December concluded a council career that included nearly two decades behind the dais (he served for two terms in the 1980s before returning in 2005), three stints as mayor and leading

roles in just about every major city effort, from environmental initiatives and opposition to high-speed rail to infrastructure fixes and library projects. Also leaving is Councilwoman Gail Price, the council leading proponent of urbanization. In November, when the council unanimously adopted its new Housing Element, Price expressed some reluctance when she cast her vote, saying that the city is being “extraordinarily timid” by not including zone changes or other policies that would encourage more housing. Price chose not to seek a second term. More than anything else, 2014 was a year of transition, with the old political establishment making way for a fresh wave of civically engaged and energized residents. The 2014 election tipped the City Council balance, ensuring that at least five council members in 2015 will share the slowgrowth leanings of the residents group that stopped the Maybell development in 2013, Palo Altans for Sensible Zoning (PASZ). Joining Holman and council members Pat (continued on page 11)

YEAR IN REVIEW

Five people who inspired us in 2014 By overcoming their challenges, they showed us the meaning of resilience by Sue Dremann ooking back on 2014, five people in Palo Alto exhibited traits that made them models for handling seemingly unimaginable adversity. They include a mother who lost both arms and her child; a veteran who survived after giving up his spot in a lifeboat; students who took on Palo Alto’s culture of perfectionism after a classmate’s death; a Palo Alto fourth-grader with Down syndrome who is an advocate on behalf of people with disabilities; and a Palestinian boy who faced multiple surgeries in order to walk for the first time. Here are their stories.

Veronica Weber

At Gunn High School students posted notes of encouragement and support in the wake of two teens’ deaths this fall.

Gehane Guirguis: Faith in the ‘Hand of God’

he bus trip from her home in Cairo, Egypt, to the Red Sea was supposed to start a relaxing vacation for Gehane Guirguis. But a drug-fueled bus driver lost control and flipped the vehicle in July 2012, killing her 2 1/2-year-old daughter and (continued on page 14)

www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • December 26, 2014 • Page 5

Upfront 450 Cambridge Ave, Palo Alto, CA 94306 (650) 326-8210

Before you choose your agent, let me answer your questions. 您选经记代理前，微信或电我来討論您的房地产机会

AMY SUNG 650.468.4834 | amyconnect@gmail.com www.amyconnects.com | Lic #01436684 Former Engineer at NASA

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS

36th Annual

Tall Tree Awards The selection committee invites your nominations in four categories: CITIZEN VOLUNTEER PROFESSIONAL OR BUSINESS PERSON BUSINESS NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION

The Tall Tree Award recognizes outstanding service to the Palo Alto community, based on local impact, breadth of contribution, diversity of individuals impacted, timeliness and originality of contribution. To make a nomination, download the form at paloaltochamber.com or contact the Chamber of Commerce at (650) 324-3121 DEADLINE: JANUARY 9, 2015

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

PUBLISHER William S. Johnson (223-6505) EDITORIAL Editor Jocelyn Dong (223-6514) Associate Editor Carol Blitzer (223-6511) Sports Editor Keith Peters (223-6516 Arts & Entertainment Editor Elizabeth Schwyzer (223-6517) Express & Digital Editor My Nguyen (223-6524) Assistant Sports Editor Rick Eymer (223-6521) Spectrum Editor Renee Batti (223-6528) Staff Writers Sue Dremann (223-6518), Elena Kadvany (223-6519), Gennady Sheyner (223-6513) Editorial Assistant/Intern Coordinator Sam Sciolla (223-6515) Staff Photographer Veronica Weber (223-6520) Contributors Andrew Preimesberger, Dale F. Bentson, Peter Canavese, Kit Davey, Tyler Hanley, Iris Harrell, Sheila Himmel, Chad Jones, Karla Kane, Ari Kaye, Chris Kenrick, Kevin Kirby, Terri Lobdell, Jack McKinnon, Daryl Savage, Jeanie K. Smith, Susan Tavernetti Interns Jennah Feeley ADVERTISING Vice President Sales & Marketing Tom Zahiralis (223-6570) Multimedia Advertising Sales Adam Carter (223-6573), Elaine Clark (223-6572), Connie Jo Cotton (223-6571), Janice Hoogner (223-6576), Meredith Mitchell (223-6569) Digital Media Sales Heather Choi (223-6587) Real Estate Advertising Sales Neal Fine (223-6583), Carolyn Oliver (223-6581), Rosemary Lewkowitz (223-6585) Inside Advertising Sales Irene Schwartz (223-6580) Real Estate Advertising Assistant Diane Martin (223-6584) Legal Advertising Alicia Santillan (223-6578) ADVERTISING SERVICES Advertising Services Manager Jennifer Lindberg (223-6595) Sales & Production Coordinators Dorothy Hassett (223-6597), Blanca Yoc (223-6596) DESIGN Design & Production Manager Lili Cao (223-6560) Senior Designers Linda Atilano, Paul Llewellyn Designers Colleen Hench, Rosanna Leung EXPRESS, ONLINE AND VIDEO SERVICES Online Operations Coordinator Ashley Finden (223-6508) BUSINESS Payroll & Benefits Susie Ochoa (223-6544) Business Associates Elena Dineva (223-6542), Mary McDonald (223-6543), Cathy Stringari (223-6541) ADMINISTRATION Receptionist Doris Taylor Courier Ruben Espinoza EMBARCADERO MEDIA President William S. Johnson (223-6505) Vice President & CFO Michael I. Naar (223-6540) Vice President Sales & Marketing Tom Zahiralis (223-6570) Director, Information Technology & Webmaster Frank A. Bravo (223-6551) Marketing & Creative Director Shannon Corey (223-6560) Major Accounts Sales Manager Connie Jo Cotton (223-6571) Director, Circulation & Mailing Services Zach Allen (223-6557) Circulation Assistant Alicia Santillan Computer System Associates Chris Planessi, Chip Poedjosoedarmo The Palo Alto Weekly (ISSN 0199-1159) is published every Friday by Embarcadero Media, 450 Cambridge Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94306, (650) 326-8210. Periodicals postage paid at Palo Alto, CA and additional mailing offices. Adjudicated a newspaper of general circulation for Santa Clara County. The Palo Alto Weekly is delivered free to homes in Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Atherton, Portola Valley, East Palo Alto, to faculty and staff households on the Stanford campus and to portions of Los Altos Hills. If you are not currently receiving the paper, you may request free delivery by calling 3268210. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Palo Alto Weekly, P.O. Box 1610, Palo Alto, CA 94302. ©2014 by Embarcadero Media. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is strictly prohibited. The Palo Alto Weekly is available on the Internet via Palo Alto Online at: www.PaloAltoOnline.com Our email addresses are: editor@paweekly.com, letters@paweekly.com, digitalads@paweekly.com, ads@paweekly.com Missed delivery or start/stop your paper? Call 650 223-6557, or email circulation@paweekly.com. You may also subscribe online at www.PaloAltoOnline.com. Subscriptions are $60/yr.

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It was dark, cold and raining, and there this man stood under an umbrella. — Julie Lythcott-Haims, a Palo Alto mother, on why she started a campaign to thank the security guards who watch over the train tracks. See story on page 13.

Around Town

TAKE A BOW ... Palo Alto’s elected officials, watchdogs and onetime visitors to City Hall all rose to their feet on Dec. 15 to give standing ovations to three veteran volunteers who have just concluded their tenures on some of the city’s most influential boards. Lee Lippert and Clare Malone Prichard, two long-time members and former chairs of the Architectural Review Board, each received council resolutions honoring their terms. Lippert ended his term after a decade of volunteering that included a stint on the Planning and Transportation Commission between 2004 and 2012. Prichard served on the architecture board for more than nine years. The council also unanimously passed a resolution honoring planning Commissioner Arthur Keller, who spent eight years on the commission and whom the council decided not to reappoint for a fresh term this fall. All three thanked the council and said they had been honored to serve. Keller, a computer scientist known for his skeptical and wonky approach to projects, peppered his remarks with suggestions for improving the city’s zoning code. In Palo Alto, “hardly anything can be done without an extensive and expensive study,” Keller told the council. “A better strategy is that described by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt as ‘Do something. If it works, do more of it. If it doesn’t, do something else.’” One action he said the city can do immediately is rethink what “commercial” means in the zoning code so that retail and office space are considered separately (currently, “commercial” includes retail, services, office and other uses). He also argued that the city needs places for “older Palo Alto residents to go while staying in the community that they know and love.”

PRESERVING PALY JOURNALISM ... In their efforts to archive Palo Alto High School’s journalism history, those involved in the two-phased project are asking alumni to donate missing copies of The Campanile newspaper. The school does not have any copies

of newspapers published prior to 1923, librarian and project director Rachel Kellerman said. The school is also missing print editions from 1928 and 1967 to 1979, Kellerman added. The first phase of the project includes assembling and preserving all of Paly’s print media editions. The second phase involves creating a digital resource so that the history can be accessed online. The Media Arts Boosters bought a $9,000 scanner to help scan every print publication, and community volunteers are needed to work with student staff on the scanning process in the Journalism Library located in the new Media Arts Center, Kellerman said. DECK THE TREE ... The Palo Alto Art Center was chosen to create one-of-a-kind ornaments that were placed on the California tree as part of the Pathway of Peace National Christmas Tree display in President’s Park in Washington, according to a City of Palo Alto press release. The Art Center is one of many organizations from across the U.S. participating in Pathway of Peace, an event presented by the National Park Foundation and the National Park Service that runs until Jan. 1, 2015. The event, which features 56 unique Christmas trees to represent each state, territory and the District of Columbia, gives organizations, artists and youth a chance to create ornaments that “symbolize the history, heritage and culture of their homelands,” according to The National Tree website. Staff from the art center’s Cultural Kaleidoscope program worked with Los Robles Academy seventh- and eighth-graders to craft ornaments (made with aluminum foil, modeling clay and colorful markers) inspired by California’s natural environment. “We are honored to have been selected as the only organization in California to create ornaments for the Pathway of Peace in Washington, D.C.,” said Art Center Director Karen Kienzle in the press release. “This provides a wonderful opportunity for participating students, the Cultural Kaleidoscope program, and the Art Center.” Q

Name: _________________________________ Address: ________________________________ City/Zip: ________________________________ Mail to: Palo Alto Weekly, 450 Cambridge Ave., Palo Alto CA 94306

Page 6 • December 26, 2014 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

Upfront YEAR IN REVIEW

Embattled school district gets new leadership in 2014 While brand-new school facilities open, district faces entrenched issues

n late September, about six weeks into his new position as Palo Alto Unified School District’s superintendent, Max McGee departed from the district’s status quo. With little fanfare, information appeared in the Sept. 23 school board agenda about an August complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights regarding problems with the district’s accommodation of a Palo Alto student with disabilities. Upon learning of the complaint, McGee had worked directly with the student’s family to find a resolution, without the costly help of district lawyers. He provided to the public and the Office for Civil Rights a chronology of events leading up to the complaint, including the errors made by the district in handling the student’s accommodations, and outlined what the district

had already done to both fix the problem for this particular student and to change procedures so it wouldn’t happen again. The case was resolved within weeks. Yet at the very same September meeting, the Board of Education and McGee dug in their heels on their lobbying of local and federal officials, pursuant to a resolution the board passed in June challenging the Office for Civil Rights’ investigative practices. The meeting was emblematic of 2014 in the Palo Alto school district: a year when new faces and leadership jumped onto the boat, trying to steer it in a more productive direction while also being pushed by a strong tide of swirling issues, some of the district’s own creation.

he first few months of 2014 were dominated by ongoing Office for Civil Rights in-

vestigations and questions about the treatment of special-education students in Palo Alto. In early January, the school district was exonerated in two cases by the federal agency, which found it didn’t violate the rights of two disabled students in its handling of bullying situations. However, the parents of both students reported in the wake that their children continued to be bullied in school. At the time, two other civil-rights complaints, out of nine filed within the prior three years, remained pending. In February, then-Superintendent Kevin Skelly suddenly announced his plan to resign at the end of the school year after seven years leading the district. Though his tenure had been marred by his failure to promptly disclose a December 2012 Office for Civil Rights finding that the district had mishandled an ongoing mid-

YEAR IN REVIEW

We’re the best — no, the worst Palo Alto gets kudos for livability, dings for commute time

alo Altans tend to identify strongly with the inhabitants of Garrison Keillor’s fictitious Lake Wobegon, “where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking and all the children are above average.” And, certainly, evaluations of the city from standpoints as divergent as education and weather continue to reinforce that notion. Livability, an online resource

used for researching communities, named Palo Alto to the No. 1 spot on its “Top 100 Best Places to Live” list, citing “mild weather, thriving economy, great cultural and natural amenities, two downtowns and one of the highestranked universities in the world.” It also placed Palo Alto among the top 10 cities in the nation for kids, noting the quality of schools, percentage of households with school-age children, cost of living and restaurants with

kids’ menus. But Livability was not alone in lauding Palo Alto. Gunn High School snagged No. 5 in the nation for science, technology, engineering and math (aka STEM), according to the U.S. News’ annual Best High Schools list, as well as No. 17 in the state as a school in general, and No. 104 nationally. The latter ranking was based on state proficiency tests, college readiness and disadvantaged students’ performance. NerdWallet, a financial website, called Palo Alto the best city for job seekers — with its 3.6 percent unemployment rate, high education rate and high median income. LinkedIn noted that the three most in-demand startups — Theranos, Coursera and Wealthfront — are all located in Palo Alto.

The city also continued to win heavy praise, and prestigious national awards, for its efforts with technology and

Veronica Weber

by Elena Kadvany

Marielena Gaona-Mendoza, left, addresses the Palo Alto school board and points to friends and anti-bullying supporters Ignacio and Griselda Morales, center, Michelle Mendoza, right, and Angela B., far right, as the board prepares to vote on a policy regarding harassment of disabled and minority students. dle school bullying case, he also oversaw notable changes in the district: a massive building boom, adoption of the K-5 math curriculum Everyday Mathematics, and the move to a school calendar that ends the first semester before the December holidays. At the start of the year, the district was still working to revise its policy for handling bullying, which was mandated by its December 2012 agreement with the Office for Civil Rights. Debate raged over the reach of this policy — should it simply bring

the district into legal compliance by ensuring the safety of legally protected classes (disabled and minority students) or go beyond that to address the complaints of all students? After more than a year of work, the Board of Education gave the green light in June to a policy that would also cover harassment of students in non-protected classes. The very same month, the Office for Civil Rights opened another investigation in Palo Alto

environmental sustainability. The Center for Digital Government named Palo Alto a “leading digital city” for the second year in a row in its population category, an award that recognizes the city’s panoply of new online services and digital tools featuring real-time data. Palo Alto also picked up a Beacon Award this year from the Institute for Local Government and the Statewide Energy Efficiency Collaborative for its laundry list of green accomplishments, including a carbon-neutral electricity portfolio and a significant reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions. When it comes to cutting-edge transportation, Palo Alto was named the 2014 Most Electric Vehicle Ready Community at Silicon Valley Leadership Group’s Charged & Connected Symposium. The group noted the city’s recent requirement for new singlefamily homes to have vehiclecharging infrastructure in place. On the food front, California Avenue’s Baumé earned two Michelin stars (“excellent cuisine, worth a detour”) on its list of best restaurants. Nearby Stanford University topped four of 11 categories in U.S. News’ Best Graduate Schools report, including tying (with Harvard University) for No. 1 business school and making No. 2 in engineering and No. 3 in both law and education. The university also got a nod from Princeton Review as the “most LGBT-friendly campus.” But Palo Alto’s detractors had a lot to say as well. Drawing on census data, the Silicon Valley Business Journal found Palo Alto had the worst inbound commute in Silicon Valley,

with close to 25 percent of inbound commutes lasting longer than 45 minutes. The average commuter into the city spends 32.3 minutes behind the wheel and 22 minutes heading out. The Business Journal also found that Palo Alto has a lousy carpooling record (5.5 percent), with 71.8 percent of residents commuting by car — and 90 percent of those riding solo. San Francisquito Creek, which flows along Palo Alto’s northern border, was No. 5 on American Rivers’ list of the nation’s most endangered rivers — with fish, wildlife habitat and public safety all threatened — due to what it called the dangers of Stanford’s outdated Searsville Dam. Palo Alto only made a B- on a tobacco report card, which was issued by the Tobacco Free Coalition of Santa Clara County, Community Advocate Teens of Today and the Santa Clara County Public Health Department. The anti-tobacco folks are mostly concerned about teens’ access to tobacco, store ads, community outreach and tobacco policies. Perhaps the city will glean a few more points next year, after passing the ban on smoking in shopping centers last week. Finally, Palo Alto, at No. 24, can honestly disclaim the title of most expensive ZIP code (that right belongs to Atherton, according to Forbes Magazine). The real estate website Movoto did cite the city’s high median home price, high number of private schools and wide selection of art galleries as sufficient for earning Palo Alto recognition as the “snobbiest” small city in America. Q — Carol Blitzer and Gennady Sheyner

(continued on page 15)

www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • December 26, 2014 • Page 7

Upfront YEAR IN REVIEW

Odds and ends Palo Alto saw stripping robbers and mysterious mailings this year by Palo Alto Weekly staff

here was the news, and then there were other things that happened in and around Palo Alto this year. For a review of the some of 2014’s mishaps and misdemeanors, read on.

Veronica Weber

CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS ... Minutes after she reportedly robbed a Wells Fargo Bank on California Avenue on Sept. 3, Joyce Rodriguez stumbled upon a novel way to thwart Palo Alto police: shedding her clothes and dumping them into a nearby parking lot. Spoiler alert: It didn’t

work. The sight of the 20-year-old San Francisco resident walking down a quiet College Terrace street in her bra and jeans aroused suspicions and led officers to arrest her just minutes after the robbery occurred. It also didn’t take long for the police to find her pile of clothes, along with a wig she allegedly wore during the robbery, and to arrest her on charges of felony robbery, felony burglary, destruction of evidence and an outstanding warrant for prostitution. Discretion also wasn’t a strong suit for Ryan Goodson, who in February led police on a wild and

Actor, author and artist James Franco — and Paly grad — created murals just in time for the grand opening of the Media Arts Center at Palo Alto High School in October. violent chase through downtown Palo Alto after a resident spotted Goodson in his backyard. The 34-year-old Fresno resident began his Feb. 6 rampage by climbing backyard fences in Downtown North. He then proceeded to University Avenue, where he smashed through the window of Da Hookah Spot in a less-than-subtle burglary attempt. When officers caught up with him, he did not go down quietly. During the chase and the fight that ensued, Goodson reportedly bit an officer on the shoulder, ripped off the officer’s gun and tried to pull the trigger. Fortunately, the amped-up felon couldn’t remove the Glock 22 from its holster, and the weapon would not fire. After two more officers joined the struggle, Goodson was buzzed with a Taser, restrained with a legimmobilization device, taken to a local hospital and ultimately booked at the Santa Clara County Main Jail and charged with taking a peace officer’s firearm, resisting arrest with violence, brandishing a deadly weapon while resisting and battery on a peace officer with injury. Ciera Pasturel

NBA point guard and Paly grad Jeremy Lin stands next to his wax figure at Madame Tussauds in San Francisco on Aug. 2.

We want things to be solved at the lowest level. — Kevin Skelly, superintendent of the Palo Alto school district, on his reluctance to recommend district-wide procedures for handling bullying complaints.

January 10

Conﬂict is not a bad thing in a democracy. — James Keene, Palo Alto city manager, on likely criticism of city leadership as more people get involved in planning out the city’s future.

January 24

OH NO YOU DIDN’T! ... Under the heading of “Things you can no longer do ...” come three new Palo Alto ordinances. Feeding ducks and squirrels at the local duck pond in the Bay-

Every crime in this city is a personal affront to us. — Zach Perron, Palo Alto Police lieutenant, following the Jan. 23 homeinvasion robbery of an elderly Palo Alto couple.

February 7

Page 8 • December 26, 2014 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

lands used to be a popular pastime. Now, it’s a crime. This June, the city banned people from feeding wildlife and feral animals in city parks and open space, attaching a $250 fine to the offense. The move was prompted by hungry animals, accustomed to the generosity of humans, who were said to be getting aggressive, stealing food from golf carts, biting people at Mitchell Park and intimidating hikers at Pearson-Arastradero Preserve. Meanwhile, with the drought continuing, Palo Alto also banned use of potable water to wash sidewalks and to make fountains splash — although, the penalties that come with it make the bans seem a tad more like suggestions: The first violation will result in a door hanger or an educational email or phone call; the second violation will bring the same “punishment”; and the third will net a letter from the Utilities Department warning of a potential future fine of up to $100, which would then actually be issued upon the fourth violation. Speaking of bad habits, smokers now have even fewer places where they can take a puff. This month, Palo Alto continued its crusade against cigarette smoke by expanding its existing ban to commercial districts, such as Stanford Shopping Center, Town & Country Village, downtown and Cali-

That’s when my jaw dropped. — Burton Richter, a plaintiff in a lawsuit against Vi at Palo Alto, on hearing that his retirement home’s corporate parent wasn’t obligated to remit residents’ entrance fees. The suit was dismissed Nov. 25.

February 21

fornia Avenue, and “neighborhood commercial” sites such as Alma Village. Smoking is now prohibited at all publicly owned sidewalks, alleys, parking areas, public places, outdoor dining areas and service areas in these districts. The one exception: ecigarettes, which the City Council will discuss at a later date. MISHAPS ... Sometimes things just don’t go as well as they should have. Early on the morning of April 6, an intoxicated East Palo Alto man literally and figuratively shot himself in the foot. The 20-year-old injured himself with a handgun in the 2200 block of Terra Villa Avenue shortly after 7 a.m., was taken to a local hospital to be treated for the wound — and then admitted to police what happened, said Sgt. Jeff Liu. He was booked into San Mateo County Jail for negligent discharge of a firearm, a misdemeanor. Well, at least he was honest. And also in April, someone lost some weed, and not the dandelion kind. A Palo Alto medical office received an unexpected USPS delivery with four pounds of marijuana hiding inside. The receptionist at One Medical Group at 590 Forest Ave. promptly called police, who later said the box had been mailed from a Palo Alto post office to an address for a vacant

There really are dogs your dog wants to meet. — Cynthia Typaldos, a ﬁnalist in Palo Alto’s Apps Challenge, on the beneﬁts of her team’s social-networking app, Dogs in the Neighborhood!

March 21

It feels like something’s missing now. — A student, Palo Alto High School, on the lack of streaking on campus this spring.

June 6

Upfront

YEAR IN REVIEW

The 10 most-viewed stories in 2014 Accidents, retail comings and goings, and positive psychology top Palo Alto Online’s list by My Nguyen

8. New push for music program in East Palo Alto schools by Chris Kenrick, April 25 A desire to give kids a “sense of belonging” in high school is fueling a new push to restore music education in public schools in East Palo Alto and eastern Menlo Park.

OF WAX AND MEN ... Hometown boys Jeremy Lin and James Franco returned for visits this year. Actor Franco, most recently of “The Interview” fame, used his alma mater, Palo Alto High School, as a canvas this fall by hand-painting two blackand-white murals on the outside walls of Paly’s student center and hanging his art in the library and new Media Arts Center. Franco had

We’re basically ignoring the elephant in the garage. —Jim Barbera, an electric-vehicle advocate, on the need to deal with cars as emitters of greenhouse gases.

July 4

plenty of company while he painted, with adoring teen girls hanging on his every brushstroke. And NBA point guard Jeremy Lin got perhaps one of his most memorable gifts ever just two days before his 26th birthday: a life-size wax figure of himself, which was unveiled in August at Madame Tussauds Wax Museum near Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. Lin, joined by his mother and other relatives, admired the 6-foot 3-inchtall statue of himself frozen in mid-air, dunking an invisible basketball into a net and sporting a purple and yellow jersey. “I think it’s awesome; it’s a little too real,” Lin joked. Q

It’s not growth; it’s change. — Mark Michael, chair of the Planning and Transportation Commission, on the inevitability of new development in Palo Alto.

July 11

5. Ex-Paly principal disciplined for harassment by Palo Alto Weekly staff, April 11 Former Palo Alto High School principal Phil Winston, who resigned last June 13 citing health and “worklife balance” reasons, was under investigation at the time by school district officials for multiple allegations of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior involving both staff and students, according to documents obtained by the Weekly from the district.

7. Two people require surgery after car crashes into Palo Alto restaurant by Elena Kadvany, Sue Dremann and Gennady Sheyner, July 31 Two people who were injured, one critically, required surgery after a silver Nissan crashed into a downtown Palo Alto cafe on Thursday. The accident, which injured six people including the driver, prompted police to shut

10. Palo Alto considers a ‘netzero’ growth vision by Gennady Sheyner, July 9 As Palo Alto moves toward adopting a new vision for growth, officials are considering one ambitious alternative that would significantly transform the city’s commercial hubs: a transition into a “net-zero” community.

house in Chicago. It was then sent to the return address — One Medical’s — which the sender had presumably chosen randomly. We’re guessing no one stepped forward to claim it.

6. Shop Talk: More mall, restaurants flock downtown by Daryl Savage, Aug. 18 In this week’s Shop Talk column, read the latest on Stanford Shopping Center’s big expansion, three new restaurants set to open in downtown Palo Alto and the sad closure of a 200-squarefoot business.

We have a long way to go.

4. Happy Donuts to close on Friday by Sue Dremann, June 5

Residents and walkers/runners who love the Stanford Dish trail have been at odds with Stanford University over its plan to add a parking lot more than half a mile away. One of the two sit-down places in Palo Alto where one can hang out or satisfy a 3 a.m. craving, Happy Donuts at 3916 El Camino Real, is closing on Friday, June 6. 3. In new classes, students explore the brighter side by Chris Kenrick, Feb. 21 In the academically intense culture of Gunn High School, a class where students gather in “gratitude circles” and practice mindfulness exercises has become a welcome respite for stressed-out teens. 2. Residents return stacks of catalogs to Palo Alto

Restoration Hardware by Barbara Wood, June 18 Nancy Reyering and six other volunteers from Woodside and Portola Valley made a delivery to the Restoration Hardware store in Palo Alto on Wednesday that they hope might send a message to the home furnishings store’s corporate headquarters. 1. Palo Alto teen killed on tracks Tuesday by Elena Kadvany, Nov. 4 A 16-year-old Palo Alto male died on the train tracks early Tuesday morning, Caltrain spokeswoman Christine Dunn has confirmed.

Ducks and geese may as well scurry, since the city banned people from feeding wildlife and feral animals in city parks and open space — including the duck pond at the Baylands.

There are human beings here at risk.

— Marty Grimes, Santa Clara Valley Water District spokesman, on the need for county residents to cut water use by 20 percent over last year.

July 25

Carol Blitzer

in 2014? Our top stories this year included everything from a thoughtful piece on teachers easing the academically intense culture at local high schools by creating “positive psychology” courses to the heated clash between visitors to the Stanford Dish and residents over a proposed parking plan. Also attracting attention were the July car crash on a University Avenue sidewalk that injured six people and the Palo Alto High School principal disciplined for harassment. Based on the number of page views for each story, here are the most-read stories of 2014 on the Palo Alto Weekly’s website.

Weekly file photo

down a section of University Avenue to traffic for most of the afternoon.

9. Residents clash over Dish parking plan by Gennady Sheyner, Feb. 7 A plan to move dozens of parking spaces from the street next to the Stanford Dish trail to a parking lot more than half a mile away has created a rift between visitors to the scenic preserve and the residents who live next to it.

hat local stories gripped readers of PaloAltoOnline.com

August 15

— Dennis Parker, East Palo Alto resident, pleading with the Regional Water Quality Control Board to OK a local flood-control project. It was finally certified in November.

In the whole, we let down the community. — Pat Burt, Palo Alto City Councilman, apologizing for the city’s private negotiations with developer John Arrillaga in 2012.

September 12

We knew it was going to get ugly before it got pretty. — Robert Martinez, owner of Palo Alto Eye Works, on the ongoing California Avenue renovation project.

October 31

Lives of others are not always as they seem. — Julia Maggioncalda, a Stanford University sophomore and Gunn High School graduate, on the devastating impact of her pursuit of perfection.

December 5

www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • December 26, 2014 • Page 9

Upfront YEAR IN REVIEW

Four game changers of 2014 They worked behind the scenes to bring big changes to Palo Alto by Gennady Sheyner

Jessica Sullivan

er task has been compared to herding cats and rolling a boulder up a mountain, and by all accounts Jessica Sullivan has excelled. Sullivan, who in 2013 became Palo Alto’s first-ever parking manager, spent her year working on more than a dozen parking initiatives, from new garage technologies to establishment of a nonprofit to manage downtown’s commute programs. Sullivan’s crowning achievement in 2014 was the creation of a downtown Residential Parking Permit Program, which aims to provide frustrated downtown residents with relief from commuters who park their cars all day on neighborhood streets. Drafted after nine months of bickering, negotiations and comprom ises Jessica by downtown Sullivan residents, employers and property owners who participated in a stakeholders’ group, the program won unanimous approval from the City Council on Dec. 2. Her leadership did not go unnoticed. Toward the end of the year, Sullivan was feted and applauded by those who participated in the process at just about every meeting where the parking program

was discussed. “I have heard so many positive comments about your efforts, work and diligence and your commitment that we all should applaud you, and I do,” Councilwoman Karen Holman said at the Dec. 2 meeting. One of the few people who did not laud Sullivan at that meeting was downtown resident Neilson Buchanan, a member of the stakeholders group and a long-time proponent of the parking program. That was not, however, because he disagreed with those who celebrated her accomplishment. “The most important thing to do is to quit complimenting Jessica because someone is going to hire her away, and the whole thing is going to collapse,” Buchanan warned the council.

Andrew Swanson

espite its name and location, the Palo Alto Airport wasn’t under the city’s control until August, when the City Council and the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors agreed to transfer operations of the small but busy Embarcadero Road airport from the county to the city. The agreement was the conclusion of a turbulent ride that began seven years ago. The county, arguing that it was losing money on the venture, sought to terminate early its 50-year lease of the airport, which was set to expire in 2017. The city accused the county of letting the airport fall into dis-

Inspirations a guide id tto th the spiritual i it l community

Inspirations is a resource for ongoing religious services and special events. To inquire about or to reserve space in Inspirations, please contact Blanca Yoc at 223-6596 or email byoc@paweekly.com Page 10 • December 26, 2014 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

repair and agreed that local control would be best. The county’s ongoing disagreement with the Federal Aviation Administration, unrelated to Palo Alto, didn’t help matters. It ensured that there wouldn’t be any federal grants for any countyrun facility, including the one Andrew in Palo Alto. Swanson Into this bureaucratic mess stepped Andrew Swanson, whom the city hired in April 2013 to fill the new position of airport manager. It fell to him to complete the negotiations with the county and begin fixing up the airport. This year, he hit milestones on both fronts. In a quick conclusion to a long process, the council unanimously approved the transfer agreement on Aug. 11. Two months later, the city announced that it had received a federal grant: $500,000 to repair the airport’s dilapidated runway and taxiway. The airport still faces plenty of questions about its financial future. It will need at least a few years of loans from the city’s general fund, though Swanson predicts that it will be in the black in 2018. In September, the council approved a construction contract to begin improvements. The funding and repairs wouldn’t have been possible without the airport trans-

fer, and Swanson deserves credit for getting the job done. “It was multiple different things that needed to happen to be able to get to this point,” he told the Weekly after the construction contract was awarded. “Over the last year, those things have all got us to where we are today.”

Elaine Uang

here are two camps in Palo Alto’s debate on city growth: one that sees a split between slow-growth “residentialists” and a pro-growth political establishment and another that rejects the very notion that there are two camps. If the citizens group Palo Altans for Sensible Zoning espouses the former view, the fledgling group Palo Alto Forward epitomizes the latter. Nobody personified the spirit of collaboration better than Palo Alto Forward co- Elaine Uang founder Elaine Uang, a mother of two who lives downtown and whose passions include design, architecture and transportation. This year, Uang served on four different citizen committees: ones devoted to exploring a limit on downtown development; getting residents involved in the Comprehensive Plan update; passing a new Housing Element, which plans for future housing; and establishing a downtown Residential Parking Permit Program. She has become a familiar face at City Council meetings, and Palo Alto Forward now has an email list of more than 1,000 people. In discussing Palo Alto Forward, Uang highlights the diversity of views that its members espouse. Though its stated goal is

to work for better transportation and housing options, Palo Alto Forward includes members with different perspectives about what exactly that means and how much more growth the city can handle. Uang said she’d like to see Palo Alto get more people out of cars, further reduce greenhouses gases and make downtown more vibrant. But rather than advocate for particular measures or candidates, she is hoping to bring together for a civil discussion residents who have been pushed apart by Palo Alto’s recent land-use debates. “I think there is a really good opportunity and space to say, ‘Let’s step up. Let’s talk about the things that we value and the things that we want,’” Uang told the Weekly. “A lot of things happen in other towns that we can really learn from. We have a lot of diversity of perspectives and we welcome more.”

Roger Smith

“

I’m a big believer, spending my career in the private sector, that time is money,” Roger Smith told the City Council in May, when he made his case for reducing the council’s size from nine members to seven. For the next few months, the founding president of Silicon Valley Bank devoted plenty of time and money to a crusade that faced significant skepticism and opposition at just about every step. Though Smith argued that many Palo Altans share his view that trimming the council will make governance more efficient and effective, most council members weren’t so sure. The measure only landed on the ballot after a 5-4 vote, with an ambivalent Marc Berman casting the swing vote. Roger Smith Even Mayor Nancy Shepherd, who in 2013 co-authored a memo with Liz Kniss and Gail Price urging that the item be placed on the ballot, characterized her support as “51 to 49” — hardly a vote of confidence. The group Palo Altans for Sensible Zoning came out against the measure. Strikingly, not one of the 12 council candidates seeking a seat on the council spoke out in favor of it (though many spoke out against it, characterizing it as inimical to democracy). Undeterred, Smith funded a campaign in support of Measure D and enticed dozens of dignitaries to lend their signatures (if not their cash) to the effort. His once-quixotic quest proved successful on Nov. 4, winning 54 percent of the votes. The victory was pure vindication for Smith, who briefly ran for council in 2005 but ultimately withdrew from the race. Smith told the Weekly the change will “make staff more effective. “I’ve never talked to someone who prefers to have nine bosses to seven bosses,” Smith said. The change will take effect in 2018. Q

Upfront YEAR IN REVIEW

New library? Check. Free Wi-Fi? Check. The Weekly takes a look at the city’s to-do list for 2014

Way and Wilkie Way. The city’s bicycling program is in high gear, with new projects now planned for Bryant Street, Churchill Avenue and Maybell Avenue. In addition, the city is moving ahead with two major east-west bike connections: a bike boulevard along Matadero and Margerita avenues and a bike bridge over U.S. Highway 101 at Adobe Creek. About 25 bike projects are in progress as of December.

ometimes it’s hard to keep track of what actually has been completed, especially when a project drags on for months, if not years. Here’s a quick guide to what’s new in the city this year and what will soon be finished.

CONSIDER IT ‘DONE’ Mitchell Park Library and Community Center: The reconstruction of Palo Alto’s flagship library did not go by the book, but the sad story finally reached a happy ending on Dec. 6, when thousands of residents flocked to Mitchell Park to celebrate the facility’s grand opening. Nine days after the community event came the happy epilogue — a comprehensive settlement between the city and its fired contractor, Flintco Pacific. By averting years of litigation, the city bought itself some closure and ended the busy year on a high note.

City Hall renovation: A $4 million renovation of City Hall blazed forward so quickly this year that almost no one outside 250 Hamilton Ave. saw it coming — the antithesis of the “Palo Alto process” that usually entails thorough, inclusive and painfully methodical review of proposals. Whatever one’s opinion is of this hastily approved project, the new glass-walled meeting room, renovated lobby, refurbished conference room and new carpets and upholstering in the Council Chambers are largely completed, with a new digital billboard in the lobby scheduled for installation in spring 2015.

Bike projects: New bike lanes and road markings popped up all over the city this year, including green bike lanes on West Meadow Drive between El Camino

Digital tools: Residents and visitors can now bring their tablets, laptops and other tech gizmos to City Hall’s King Plaza, where the city installed free public WiFi this year. It’s part of a continuing city effort to enable over-theair Internet access in the city’s parks and plazas. Though Palo Alto’s fiber-optic dream of bringing high-speed Internet service to every household remained elusive in 2014, the city still managed to move the digital needle, launching new apps and services online. These include BuildingEye, which allows residents to track planning projects, and PulsePoint, which shows real-time activities of emergency responders.

NEARING THE FINISH LINE California Avenue: It took a while to get to the starting line, but Palo Alto’s push to transform the eclectic and long-neglected commercial hub along California Avenue into a vibrant strip more akin to University Avenue surged ahead this year. The makeover, which includes wider (and shinier) sidewalks, two new public plazas,

Game changed Burt and Greg Schmid, who hold philosophical leanings similar to Holman, will be Councilmenelect Tom DuBois and Eric Filseth, members of PASZ. Yet by the time the year came to a close, a backlash to the backlash had also begun to emerge. A new citizens group, Palo Alto Forward, formed with the intent of fostering discussion about adding housing options in the city. Several affiliated with the group won seats to local boards and commissions in the waning months of the year, and one, Cory Wolbach, snagged a council seat after a nail-biter conclusion to the election. Besides the power shift witnessed in the election, 2014 was a year of deep political frustrations. Council members confronted an embarrassing county Grand Jury report and publicly apologized for their secret (and ultimately doomed) negotiations with developer John Arrillaga in 2012 and also were forced to backtrack on their 2013 ban on people living in their vehicles. Perhaps connected to that, the city’s on-again-off-again debate about shrinking the size of the City Council from nine to seven members finally landed on the ballot this year after simmering for decades. Even without much in the way of a campaign for Measure D, voters readily approved

Veronica Weber

(continued from page 5)

City Council candidates Karen Holman, left, Eric Filseth and Tom DuBois smile as election results start coming in showing the three among the top vote-getters for five open slots on Election Day, Nov. 4. the move to a smaller council, ture, which is estimated to need hundreds of millions of dollars’ with 53.7 percent voting in favor. The year was also a game- worth of work, the council in June changer in arenas outside of poli- approved a plan for doing so. In tics. From waste management and November, a hotel-tax hike to help parking policies to the city’s take- fund the improvements gained sufover of its namesake airport and ficient voter support to pass. The city’s takeover of Palo Alto the completion of Mitchell Park Library and Community Center, Airport, an effort launched seven Palo Alto finally saw some results years ago, also came to a concluon efforts that have stymied city sion in 2014, when both the council and the Santa Clara County officials for years. The city’s infamous “planned Board of Supervisors signed in community” zoning, which al- August the needed transfer agreelows developers to exceed zon- ment. And stalled negotiations ing requirements in exchange for over the city’s lease of Cubberley public benefits (and which for Community Center saw a breakdecades has been derided by lo- through in November after two cal land-use critics as “zoning for years of bureaucratic bickering. sale”), was suspended in February The city and the school district finally agreed to a five-year lease and is now being reformed. After years of talking about fix- that will lead to a joint vision for ing up the city’s sagging infrastruc- the sprawling, dilapidated south

Ciera Pasturel

by Gennady Sheyner

Magical Bridge founder Olenka Villareal, Palo Alto Mayor Nancy Shepherd and other Magical Bridge Playground supporters broke ground ceremonially June 23 on the inclusive playground project in Mitchell Park. a replaced waterline, new newsracks and benches, a freshly paved road and a reduction of traffic lanes from four to two, stretched through much of the year. To the relief of merchants who have weathered the jack-hammering and other construction distractions, the work is set to conclude in the spring of 2015. Magical Bridge: In one of the feel-good stories of the year, the group Friends of the Magical Bridge broke ground on construction of a new “universal playground” in Palo Alto in June. For group founder Olenka Villarreal, who was looking for a playground

Palo Alto hub and a commitment of public funds toward the needed repairs. The city’s long-simmering dilemma over the future of organic waste also marked a milestone in 2014. After years of acrimony between environmentalists who wanted to keep composting local and conservationists who wanted to protect the Baylands, a hard-won truce emerged on Dec. 8, when the city decided not to pursue a composting facility near Byxbee Park at this time because of high costs. Earlier in the year, both sides in the green-versusgreen debate supported the city’s decision to move ahead with a plan that would retire its toxic, sludge-burning incinerators in the Baylands and pursue a wasteto-energy facility for processing food waste near the water-treatment plan. Perhaps no action embodies the game-changing spirit of 2014 more than the council’s Dec. 2 votes to establish a Residential Parking Permit Program downtown and to create a framework for similar programs in other areas of town. Designed to provide downtown residents relief from commuters who have long relied on neighborhood streets for free all-day parking, the new program is also seen as the tip of the spear for the myriad parking and traffic initiatives that the city will be launching in the coming months. The council approved the program after years of complaints

that could accommodate children with disabilities, the project has been a steep challenge and labor of love. This year, the Friends secured close to $4 million in funding, earned the city’s enthusiastic blessing and began building the Magical Bridge Playground, which is now set to be completed in late January or early February 2015. Main ... I mean ... Rinconada Library: The old library near the Palo Alto Art Center will have a new wing and a new name when it opens to the public (continued on page 16)

from residents, nine months of meetings by a stakeholder task force and reluctant buy-in from the business community. Councilman Marc Berman reflected the view of the entire council when he called the result “a good and necessary step in setting up so many other transportation management issues and programs that we’re going to be implementing in this coming year.” These include an expanded shuttle program, implementation of technology at local parking garages and a new nonprofit that will work with downtown’s employers to shift commuters from cars to public transit or other modes of transportation through a range of incentives. “I think this is a really, really important night for starting to address the concerns that residents have been expressing to the council for years about decreasing quality of life in the neighborhoods,” Berman said. Normally, there would be nothing newsworthy about a councilman talking about the need to protect residential neighborhoods. But the fact that Berman’s comment was backed up by a unanimous vote that was years in the making and that will have a lasting effect on residents, employees and visitors further underscores the year was truly a game-changer for Palo Alto. Q Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner can be emailed at gsheyner@ paweekly.com.

www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • December 26, 2014 • Page 11

Upfront

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A late-night fight between two groups of men in downtown Palo Alto last weekend ended with one man unconscious in the hospital and two others arrested. On Sunday, Dec. 21, at about 2:04 a.m. Palo Alto police officers heard a commotion near The Aquarius Theatre between Emerson and High streets, according to a police department press release. As the officers ran to assist a man lying in the street, four men jumped into a car. Officers had to sidestep it to avoid being hit, police said. They were able to get the license plate number. The unconscious man, a Palo Alto resident in his 20s, was transported by paramedics to a local hospital. He remains in critical condition with severe head injuries, police said Wednesday. The two groups of men didn’t know each other, police said. They earlier argued outside The Patio bar. When the argument escalated down the street, one man punched the victim once in the face. He fell backwards, hit his head and has not regained consciousness, police said. A patrol car dashboard camera captured the incident. Neil Brian Rotroff, 28, of Cupertino, was later arrested and faces a count of felony assault with a deadly weapon (his fist). The driver, Akshay Vijay Mastakar, 21, of Sunnyvale, faces two counts of assault with a deadly weapon — one count covering the victim, and one count for swerving at the two officers. The charges could change if the victim dies, police said. Q — Elena Kadvany

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Page 12 • December 26, 2014 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

The rate of unemployment in the Bay Area dropped in November, compared to a year ago, according to data released Dec. 19 from the state’s Employment Development Department. Over the past 12 months the Peninsula and East Bay labor force has added 84,000 workers, far more than came from population growth alone. The year-over-year data showed that the number of jobless people in Santa Clara County stood at 48,600, or 5.1 percent of the labor force, down from 6.2 percent in 2013. The unemployment rate in San Mateo County was 4.1 percent in November, down from 5 percent a year ago. The unemployment rate in Marin County was 3.9 percent in November, down from 4.6 percent a year ago, according to EDD officials. Those two counties had the lowest unemployment rates of the ninecounty Bay Area, which includes Alameda, Contra Costa, Napa, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Sonoma and Solano counties. EDD officials said comparing the unemployment rate on a yearover-year basis, rather than a month-to-month basis, is more appropriate because the unemployment data are not seasonally adjusted. Data can vary monthly, for example, because more people are employed during the holiday season. Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin and Santa Clara counties saw reductions of 1.1 percentage points from a year ago, according to EDD officials. In the greater San Francisco metro area, which includes San Mateo, Marin and the city and county of San Francisco according to the EDD, the unemployment rate was 4.2 percent in November, the lowest since November 2007’s 4 percent, Villalobos said. Two-thirds of the job growth in the San Francisco metro area was in the professional, scientific and technical services sector. High tech, which is part of that sector, accounted for 18 percent of the net job growth in the San Francisco metro area, EDD labor market consultant Jorge Villalobos said. The state’s unemployment rate dropped to 7.2 percent in November, down from 8.4 percent a year ago. In all Bay Area counties, the number of employed increased and the labor force expanded from a year ago. Q — Bay City News

Fire originated in oven, damages kitchen Two people in Palo Alto were able to make it out of a house safely after an oven caught fire Sunday, fire officials said. Fire crews responded to a one-alarm fire at a single-family home on the 2900 block of Cowper Street in Palo Alto at 3:53 p.m., said Palo Alto Fire Department Battalion Chief Bobby Davis. Davis said a man and woman escaped before fire crews arrived. The fire was mostly contained to the oven and parts of the kitchen, but smoke caused damage throughout the house, Davis said. Fire crews doused the blaze around 4:03 p.m., and Davis said firefighters left the scene roughly 35 to 45 minutes later. There were no injuries reported, he said. Q — Bay City News Service LET’S DISCUSS: Read the latest local news headlines and talk about the issues at Town Square at PaloAltoOnline.com

Upfront YOUTH WELL-BEING

Donations pour in to thank Palo Alto track guards Social-media post helps raise thousands of dollars in days

n effort to thank the security guards who stand watch at several Palo Alto train crossings started as a hopeful Facebook post and ended in a group of community members raising almost $4,000 in less than a week. Julie Lythcott-Haims, mother of two Palo Alto students and former longtime Stanford University dean of freshmen, felt the pull to do something to express her gratitude while driving by a guard on a rainy evening last week. “It was dark, cold and raining and there this man stood under an umbrella,” she remembered. “I just felt this emotion rise in my chest. I cranked down my window and shouted, ‘Thanks,’ but by the time I got to the end of the word, my voice was already cracking. In some ways, the raw humanity of the entire situation was on display somehow. I just thought, ‘Here I am in my car, warm and dry, making my way across these train tracks,’ and I just wanted to do something.” So she took to Facebook, as she often does to share her opinion and connect with others on current events and important issues, and put forth the idea of collecting money to purchase gift cards for the 11 guards, who in shifts stand seven days a week at several Palo Alto train crossings. The guards are employed by a private security firm and contracted through the Palo Alto Police Department as part of Track Watch, which was created after several suicides in 2009 and 2010. The guards’ presence was increased this year after two young men died in October and

November. Lythcott-Haims posted her query on Facebook shortly before dinner on Monday, Dec. 15, asking people to spread the word to other networks and communities — and it did so quickly. Before she went to bed, she had received $800. When she woke up Tuesday morning, the total had jumped to $1,200. People started sending her money electronically on PayPal, VenMo and Square as well as cards with checks in the mail. She planned to use the money to purchase Visa gift cards for the guards, leaving the use of the money up to them, and wanted to be able to give the gifts by this Monday, Dec. 22, before the holidays. Lythcott-Haims talked to the police department and the security firm to let them know her plans and make sure it was appropriate, she said. On Sunday evening, she had raised $3,752 — just short of being able to give each guard a $350 gift card. Lythcott-Haims reached out to a woman who, along with her initial donation of $100, had told Lythcott-Haims, “Let me know if you need help topping it off.” Lythcott-Haims did, and the woman did. Fast forward through a small fiasco over buying that many Visa gift cards in one sitting, and Lythcott-Haims had a $350 gift card to Target, along with a letter of thanks, for each guard. Donations from 74 people ranged from $5 to a $600 contribution Lythcott-Haims received from a woman she didn’t know before the campaign. One person contributed packs of hand warmers.

Dan Lythcott-Haims

by Elena Kadvany

Palo Alto parent Julie Lythcott-Haims reads a letter of thanks to lead Track Watch guard Derrick on Monday, Dec. 22. “I think we all want to be out there,” Lythcott-Haims said. “We all want to be out there preventing any child, anyone from deciding that that’s the only option. Practically speaking, we can’t all be out there, and thankfully the police department has hired a set of people to do this work, but I think we feel a level of indebtedness to them that can never be repaid.” Lythcott-Haims’ initial Facebook Dec. 15 post garnered more than 250 likes and 65 comments and has been shared more than 20 times. “This was a small way in which people could come together and join forces and feel that we’re

doing something, we’re acknowledging a problem and expressing gratitude for one element of the solution, which is not to say this is the only solution,” she said. “I think many of us know how important it is to express gratitude for the efforts made around us.” Lythcott-Haims returned to Facebook on Monday to announce that she would be presenting the gifts that afternoon to the lead Track Watch guard, Derrick, who asked that his last name not be published. Ten people — including Lythcott-Haims’ 75-yearold mother and two former Stanford students — showed up. “That was lovely,” Derrick told the Weekly Tuesday. “I know ev-

erybody appreciated that. You can’t beat that. Normally, you would see somebody get a $20 or $50 gift, but when you (give) that amount — that will definitely make everybody stand on their toes. We appreciate it to the fullest, too.” Derrick and other guards said people will often bring them coffee or food, but this gift went above and beyond. Guard Stanley Cortez said he thought Derrick was joking when he said a $350 gift card would be waiting for him at work this week. “It’s a good feeling, you know what I mean?” Cortez said. Q Staff Writer Elena Kadvany can be emailed at ekadvany@ paweekly.com.

HOLIDAY FUND

Family pledges huge match for Holiday Fund donations Local family hopes $100,000 challenge will inspire support for community programs by Palo Alto Weekly staff

or the fourth year in a row, a Palo Alto family is urging residents to step up and make gifts to the Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund by pledging $100,000 of their own in matching funds. The family, who wishes to remain anonymous, wants to inspire others to support the local programs for kids and families funded by the Holiday Fund. Last year, a similar challenge sparked enough donations to set a record total of $400,000, which was awarded last spring in grants

to local nonprofits serving children and families. The donation will be used to match the contributions of other donors with the hope of encouraging additional giving from readers of the Weekly. “This generous Palo Alto family believes strongly in the mission of the Holiday Fund and the efficiency with which we are able to assist many local nonprofits,”

Palo Alto Weekly Publisher Bill Johnson said. Since the Weekly and Silicon Valley Community Foundation absorb all the costs of the program, every dollar that is donated is distributed without any overhead or expenses deducted. In a statement accompanying the donation, the donors stressed their desire to support local causes. “We grew up in Palo Alto and have always appreciated the extraordinary services provided by the city, the schools and the

many community-based organizations. We want to support these efforts and the Holiday Fund is a superb way to do that,” they said. Over the last 21 years, the Holiday Fund has raised and distributed more than $5 million to local nonprofits. The Holiday Fund program has enjoyed ongoing support from the Packard and Hewlett foundations, the Peery and Arrillaga foundations and several other family foundations. The annual Palo Alto Weekly Moonlight Run, which has grown to

become one of Palo Alto’s largest community events, also benefits the Holiday Fund. To make a contribution to this year’s campaign, see page 30. The campaign runs through January. Q To read about the work of Holiday Fund agencies in the community, go to PaloAltoOnline. com. There are articles about the Downtown Streets Team, Youth Community Service, Silicon Valley FACES, 10 Books A Home, Palo Alto Historical Association and Cultural Kaleidoscope.

www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • December 26, 2014 • Page 13

Inspire (continued from page 5)

severely maiming Guirguis. Both arms were amputated above the elbows. Unable to care for herself, her husband closed his business to tend to her and their 5 1/2-year-old child. But Guirguis, 37, was not bitter. “This looks as if this is an extremely difficult life experience. Since the very, very beginning, we have felt God’s presence. It doesn’t feel as difficult because this is the act of God, and we are handling it with peace and resilience,” she said. Bay Area entrepreneur Sameh Michaiel heard of her plight and helped her receive prosthetic arms with the aid of dozens of Palo Alto and Mountain View medical professionals. They donated their time and facilities at little or no cost. “She had nothing but gratitude. There was just a fire in her that you could see was driving her,” said Charlie Kelly of Norell Prosthetics Orthotics in Mountain View, who helped to fit the new arms. (See March 14 story, “Medical community rallies around injured Egyptian woman.”)

Ned Gallagher: Selflessness and prayer

s a U.S. Marine and World War II veteran, Palo Altan Ned Gallagher survived

a triple-torpedo hit on the USS Houston and 3 1/2 years in a Japanese prison camp. As the warship sank off Java, Gallagher, an experienced swimmer, decided to forgo the crowded lifeboat, believing he had a better chance of making it to land than other shipmates. He swam for nine hours, he said. A Japanese platoon eventually captured Gallagher and other survivors. They received barely more than a half-cup of insect-infested rice to eat each day, he said. But the men often talked about food to survive. Gallagher kept hidden a tiny notebook in which he wrote down the best places and dishes his imprisoned mates remembered. And he got on his knees each day and prayed for their release, which finally came. He has continued to pray every morning and night since. “Because of his age, this year his doctor gave him special dispensation to get off his knees,” his daughter Mary Gallagher told the Weekly. (See July 4 story, “At 99 years old, Palo Altan recalls a ship’s sinking.”)

Palo Alto students: Courage to speak and reach out When Gunn High School students received word of another classmate’s death by suicide this year, they started a movement to urge the community to change its

Veronica Weber

Upfront

Ohlone fourth-grader Dashiell Meier excitedly holds his award in the air after a special presentation at the Palo Alto school board meeting where he was awarded the 2014 California Council for Exceptional Children’s “Yes I Can!” Award for Self-Advocacy in October. culture of perfectionism. Gunn student Hayley Krolik wrote that Palo Alto needs to replace a culture that has led to excessive pressure to perform and sent the email to the parents of Gunn students, which was shared broadly. Ricky Shin, a Gunn junior, posted a raw essay about his own grieving to inspire others to also open up. And Gunn student Martha Cabot

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shared her thoughts and feelings in a YouTube video that immediately went viral. Palo Alto High School students published an article in the school news website the Paly Voice to destigmatize counseling. An editorial focused on how the schools and community can improve their approach to mental health issues. “I think spreading awareness (about pressure and students’ well-being) is just really, really important because at the end of the day, that’s what’s going to actually make an impact. The more and more people who realize and care about it will come together and do something about it,” Cabot told the Weekly. (See Nov. 14 cover story, “In the wake: Teens respond with messages of hope, change.”)

Dashiell Meier: Advocate for acceptance

hlone Elementary School fourth-grader Dashiell Meier has taken his message about living with Down syndrome to Sacramento, as well as to Washington, D.C. Whether meeting with members of Congress or speaking to fellow Palo Alto elementary school students, Dashiell has worked to create a culture of acceptance and tolerance by educating people about why he’s different. This year he won the Council for Exceptional Children’s “Yes I Can!” Award for self-advocacy, a national honor. Dashiell has been talking to his classmates about his disability since the first grade. “It helps them know about me and what it’s like to have Down syndrome,” he said. Others have taken notice. “He doesn’t let obstacles get in his way. He has this ‘I can do everything everyone else can do’ attitude,” Ohlone language pathologist Cynthia Ehrhorn said. Added Renee Alloy, a resource specialist: “What I’ve noticed

has changed is social awareness of other conditions and children interacting where normally they would have been isolated. When he tells others how this has impacted him, I see them walking around on the playground arm in arm, arm over shoulder, playing games ... just being more accepting of a variety of differences that there are in our human culture.” (See Oct. 24 story, “Palo Alto fourth-grader with Down syndrome wins self-advocacy award.”)

Hadi Abukhadra: Endurance and a smile

e is a champ. Despite the pain, Hadi Abukhadra handled the multiple surgeries like a pro, medical staff at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital said of the 6-year-old. The Palestinian boy was brought to Stanford to undergo corrective surgery for extreme orthopedic deformities earlier this year, traveling 7,500 miles from a refugee camp in the West Bank of Palestine. His knees were bent the wrong way and his feet faced upside down. Before treatment, he could only crawl or be carried. Casts gradually stretched his skin, ligaments, nerves and other soft tissue, and surgeries changed the position of his feet, stretched leg muscles and strengthen his knees. Hadi’s response was to sing and dance throughout the ordeal, even in his hospital bed right before going into surgery, said Richard Gee, a Lucile Packard physical therapy clinical specialist. Then, the boy who’d never taken a step in his life learned to walk in just two weeks. (See June 6 story, “Palestinian boy walks for first time after treatment at Lucile Packard.”) Q Staff Writer Sue Dremann can be emailed at sdremann@ paweekly.com.

Upfront

School (continued from page 7)

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; this time over alleged student sexual harassment at Gunn High School. This case remains open.

Veronica Weber

n 2014, the board bid farewell to many other school heads: Gunn High School Principal Katya Villalobos, Ohlone Elementary School Principal Bill Overton, Fairmeadow Elementary School Principal Gary Prehn, Addison Elementary School Principal Jocelyn Garcia-Thome, Palo Alto Adult Schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Kara Rosenberg and Jordan Middle School Assistant Principal Ellie Slack all announced in March that they would be stepping down at the end of the school year. (Villalobos stayed in the district, however, heading the Adult School.) Two months later, the news came that Denise Herrmann would be coming from Wisconsin to lead Gunn. And in April, the news broke that former Palo Alto High School Principal Phil Winston, who resigned in June 2013 citing health and â&#x20AC;&#x153;work-life balanceâ&#x20AC;? reasons, had been under investigation at the time by school district officials for multiple allegations of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior involving both staff and students. Winston was reassigned to teach special education at Jordan. The month of May saw the very beginnings of a 2014 changing of the guard on the school board, with parents Ken Dauber, Catherine Crystal Foster and Terry Godfrey expressing interest in the two seats to be vacated by Barb Mitchell and Dana Tom. At the same time, just as seniors were graduating from Paly and Gunn, the board sealed the deal with Max McGee as the districtâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new superintendent. McGee, a seasoned and entrepreneurial educator, had a decades-long career in Illinois as a teacher, principal, school- and state-level superintendent and most recently, head of an elite international math and science academy. He hit the ground running on Aug. 1. At the boardâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s annual retreat in August, McGee brought in six ambitious goals for the year (later cut down to five), that push consistency, collaboration, professional development, accountability and proactive rather than reactive communication. During a live TV interview with two high school journalism students in October, McGee announced that he would be convening a committee tasked with analyzing and issuing a set of specific, actionable recommendations on Palo Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s achievement gap. December saw early work of the committee dedicated to aiding lower-performing minority students, with meetings set to continue through April. With McGee at the helm, the district also achieved a breakthrough on negotiating the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lease of Cubberley Community

Superintendant Max McGee greets the students at Duveneck Elementary School during the schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s opening ceremony on the first day of school on Aug. 19. Center, the sprawling Middlefield Road campus whose future remained in limbo for the past two years. Yet it has largely been business as usual when it comes to Office for Civil Rights issues, save the complaint that McGee expeditiously resolved in September. The district spent more than $200,000 in the first seven months of 2014 in legal fees related to its cases and conflicts with the Office for Civil Rights, including just under $50,000 for attorneys to research, develop and follow-up on the boardâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s June resolution. McGee has expressed an unwillingness to withdraw two outstanding Freedom of Information Act appeals that the district filed in 2013 over two Office for Civil Rights cases, one of which is closed, despite the urging of newly elected board member Dauber.

he same month McGee began his post in Palo Alto, the roster of Board of Education candidates solidified, with Gina Dalma, a parent and senior education officer for the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, and Jay Cabrera, a Palo Alto schools graduate and the only non-parent in the race, joining Dauber, Foster and Godfrey. The election saw some divisiveness over civil-rights issues, but the five candidates otherwise found much common ground on the main issues facing the district: a need for evaluation and data to make more concrete, evidencebased decisions; the cultivation

of innovation; the importance of social-emotional health and reduction of student stress. On Nov. 4, Dauber earned an early win. In a September interview with the Weekly, he said he hoped a win would indicate backing for the actions he specifically, repeatedly promised during the campaign: opening a 13th elementary school, improving the districtâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s relationship with special-education families, curtailing Office for Civil Rights-related legal costs, bringing foreignlanguage instruction to middle schools, more careful use of data, and a focus on student mental health and well-being. Foster and Godfrey were locked in a tight battle for the second open seat for more than a week after election night, as votes continued to be counted. Foster conceded on Nov. 13, and Godfrey eventually secured the win by about 200 votes. The new board will oversee even more school construction, as a $378 million Strong Schools bond that voters passed in 2008 continues to bear fruit throughout the district. At Paly, the state-ofthe-art Media Arts Center and a two-story classroom building finally opened as construction on the schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Performing Arts Center got started. A new classroom building opened at Duveneck Elementary School this school year as talks over the need for a 13th elementary school continued, with McGee urging the board to gather a committee that would research and then issue an informed

CityView A round-up

of Palo Alto government action this week

City Council

The council did not meet this week.

Public Agenda A preview of Palo Alto government meetings next week

decision to the board on the topic. The new board will also oversee Gunnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Central Building Project, which includes a â&#x20AC;&#x153;wellness centerâ&#x20AC;? that will consolidate all student health services in one space. Student mental health returned to the forefront of the communityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mind this fall after two young men â&#x20AC;&#x201D; one a current Gunn High School student and the other a recent Gunn graduate â&#x20AC;&#x201D; died by suicide at the train tracks. The schoolsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; crisis response teams, as well as community organizations, sprang into action, providing counseling and other forms of support to students and staff at Gunn. The high school held a meeting with a panel of mental health experts that was attended by hundreds of parents yearning for answers and help. A Gunn mother helped organize a similar meeting for the Mandarin-speaking community, which more than 100 parents attended. Students spoke out in their own circles but also publicly on YouTube, social media, blogs and a Gunn parentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; email list, sharing their experiences directly with parents, teachers, school administrators and community members. Many said they did so in the hopes of steering the emotional conversation away from finger pointing to a deeper understanding of the culture that makes many students feel like theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re emotionally drowning.

One of those students, Martha Cabot, also teamed up with former Gunn English teacher Marc Vincenti to launch Save the 2,008, a grassroots campaign to create a happier, healthier life for Gunnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 2,008 students and teachers. Cabot and Vincenti have become a regular team presence at board meetings, hoping to keep issues about stress, mental health, homework load and AP classes at the forefront of everyoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s minds. Also this fall, Palo Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s broadreaching youth health coalition Project Safety Net found itself at a crossroads after losing its second director in two years. The city also called on its main partner, the school district, to boost its commitment during this transition period. McGee said in October that the district has two proposals for supporting Project Safety Net: either taking the lead and hiring the staff necessary along with procuring more financial support, or working to develop the new wellness center at Gunn. With the book not yet quite closed on Office for Civil Rights cases, a still-fresh superintendent and two new board members who have yet to make their mark, 2014 might well be remembered as the year that, by its end, left the district poised on the brink of more serious change in 2015. Q Staff Writer Elena Kadvany can be emailed at ekadvany@ paweekly.com.

NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETING of the City of Palo Alto Historic Resources Board [HRB] 8:30 A.M., Wednesday, January 7, 2015, Palo Alto Council Chambers, 1st Floor, Civic Center, 250 Hamilton Avenue. Plans may be reviewed at the Development Center at 285 Hamilton Avenue or online at: http://www.cityofpaloalto.org/planning projects; contact Diana Tamale for additional information during business hours at 650.329.2144. 251 Lincoln Avenue [14PLN-00301]: Request by Margaret Wimmer, on behalf of Donna and Harry Schmidt, for Historic Resources Board review and recommendation regarding proposed alternations and additions to a residence, initially constructed in 1903, that is listed on the Cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Historic Inventory in Category 4 and located in the Professorville Historic District. The project would include relocation of the house on the site seven feet farther from the property line at Ramona Street. The project is subject to the regulations of the Single Family Individual review (IR) process. Environmental Assessment: Categorically Exempt from the provision of CEQA, Section 15331. Zoning District R-1. This item was continued from the meeting of December 3, 2014. $P\ )UHQFK &KLHI 3ODQQLQJ 2IĂ&#x20AC;FLDO The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request an accommodation for this meeting or an alternative format for any related printed materials, please contact the Cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ADA Coordinator at 650.329.2550 (voice) or by e-mailing ada@cityofpaloalto.org.

CITY COUNCIL ... The council has no meetings scheduled this week.

www.PaloAltoOnline.com â&#x20AC;˘ Palo Alto Weekly â&#x20AC;˘ December 26, 2014 â&#x20AC;˘ Page 15

Upfront (continued from page 11)

in early 2015. Formerly known as the Main Library, the Newell Road facility will be rechristened as Rinconada Library once itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s back in operation. It will feature a new program room, entrance lobby, four glass-walled study rooms, upgraded ventilation systems and fresh landscaping. The $22 million project will also mark the conclusion of the ambitious library-system overhaul that voters approved when they passed Measure N in 2008.

Business registry: Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a critical question nobody seems to be able to answer: How many workers come to Palo Alto every day? The question has stumped council members, city planners and even a consultant who was hired to explore it but who ultimately conceded that thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not enough information to draw any firm conclusions. Palo Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new business registry, which will debut in 2015 and require businesses to disclose employment information, should finally shed some light on the biggest mystery of the startup world, with significant ramifications for planning and parking initiatives.

CITY OF PALO ALTO Notice of Funding Availability Program Years 2015-16 & 2016-17 Community Development Block Grant Program

Michelle Le

Accomplishments

Wise and Whimsy, an art installation by artist Brad Oldham, are featured at the entrance to the Mitchell Park Library and Community Center. El Camino Park: The petite but bustling park on the edge of downtown has been closed since October 2011, when the city began building an underground water reservoir at the site. That project was completed in January of this year, but the various improvements that were supposed to accompany the reservoir project have been in planning limbo for years, with designs constantly changing. In December, the council finally approved a construction contract for the park improvements, which will cost more than $5 million and include new athletic fields, synthetic turf, field lighting, an expanded parking lot, new pathways, landscaping and benches. Construction is set to commence in January and be completed in October 2015.

Attendance at a Pre-Proposal Conference is MANDATORY for all applicants. Pre-Proposal Conference schedule: PREVIOUSLY OCCURRED: @10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, December 10, 2014 UPCOMING: @10:00 a.m. on Monday, January 5, 2015 APPLICATIONS DUE: by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, January 9, 2015

Applications are now available for the City of Palo Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 201516 & 2016-17 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program years. The applications are for funding under the Cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s two-year funding cycle that includes FY 2015-16 (July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016) and FY 2016-17 (July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017). The City expects to distribute locally more than $500,000 in M\UKZ LHJO Ă&#x201E;ZJHS `LHY MYVT [OL < : +LWHY[TLU[ VM /V\ZPUN HUK <YIHU +L]LSVWTLU[ /<+ MVY [OL *+). 7YVNYHT ;OL WYPTHY` objective of the Program is: â&#x20AC;&#x153;The development of viable urban communities, including decent housing and a suitable living environment, and expanding economic opportunities, principally for persons of low and very low income.â&#x20AC;?

Parking program: Downtown residents rejoiced, exhaled and, in many cases, gritted their teeth when the council finally approved in December the Residential Parking Permit Program. Set to start around April, the program aims to move commutersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; cars out of residential streets and into public garages. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s great news for downtown residents who have long complained about the inability to find parking on their own blocks. Less thrilled are those who donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to purchase

The CDBG Program is directed toward expanding and maintaining [OL HŃ&#x153;VYKHISL OV\ZPUN Z\WWS`" WYVTV[PUN OV\ZPUN VWWVY[\UP[PLZ HUK JOVPJLZ" THPU[HPUPUNa HUK PTWYV]PUN JVTT\UP[` MHJPSP[PLZ" PUJYLHZPUN LJVUVTPJ VWWVY[\UP[PLZ HJJLZZPIPSP[` LULYN` LŃ?JPLUJ` HUK Z\Z[HPUHIPSP[`" HUK WYV]PKPUN Z\WWVY[P]L ZLY]PJLZ ZWLJPĂ&#x201E;JHSS` MVY persons of low and very low income. Targeted groups might include persons who are homeless, seniors, persons with disabilities, and other special needs groups. A Pre-Proposal Conferences is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Monday, January 5, 2015, in the City Council Chambers at the Civic Center, First Floor, 250 Hamilton Avenue, Palo Alto, California. ALL Proposers intending to submit a proposal are required to attend a Pre-Proposal Conference. Proposers who previously attended the Pre-Proposal Conference on December 10, 2014 have met the requirement.

permits to park in front of their homes. Whether or not youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re down with RPPP, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a game changer, as well as one of the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most promising tools in its battle against parking congestion.

IMPORTANT, BUT NOT QUITE URGENT Downtown garage: Every council member in Palo Alto agrees that the city needs a new downtown garage. In 2014, they took a few actions to expedite the construction of a new facility. This includes approving an infrastructure plan that lists a garage as one of the priority items, passing a hotel-tax increase that would help pay for these costs and identifying a downtown site for the new facility: a public lot on the corner of Hamilton Avenue and Waverley Street. Anaerobic digester: Palo Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s heated debate over the future of organic waste reached an impasse of sorts in May when the city approved a four-stage plan that begins with retiring the sludge-burning incinerators and proceeds to building a waste-toenergy plant that will turn local sewage and food scraps into energy. The city also tried to find a way to bring a composting operation to the Measure E site in Byxbee Park, though by December everyone agreed that there

The application submittal package must be received by the *+). 7YVNYHT 6É&#x2030;JL I` ! W T VU -YPKH` 1HU\HY` in order to be considered for funding during the period that includes FY 2015-16 & 2016-17. Applications are available at the City of Palo Alto Planning Division, *P[` /HSS [O -SVVY /HTPS[VU (]LU\L K\YPUN YLN\SHY VŃ?JL OV\YZ Applications are also available on the Cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s website: http://www. cityofpaloalto.org/gov/depts/pln/cdbg.asp. To request an application or for more information please contact Matthew Weintraub, Planner - CDBG at 650.329.2247 or via email at Matthew.Weintraub@ CityofPaloAlto.org.

ADA Coordinator, City of Palo Alto, 650-329-2550 (Voice) ada@cityofpaloalto.org Page 16 â&#x20AC;˘ December 26, 2014 â&#x20AC;˘ Palo Alto Weekly â&#x20AC;˘ www.PaloAltoOnline.com

Michelle Le

Persons with disabilities who require auxiliary aids or services in using City facilities, services or programs, or who would like information on the Cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact:

A trio walks through along a detour as construction workers pour cement to fill the new sidewalk along California Avenue in late October.

are no cost-effective options for doing so at this time. Public-safety building: Every year, the city seems to get closer to its goal of building a new police headquarters, only to see the latest plan fizzle for some reason or other. When 2014 ended, the new public-safety building remained atop the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s priority list, but there was one big reason for optimism: The city now has the funds. With the infrastructure funding plan in place, staff has been evaluating potential sites for the new building and is expected to report its findings in early 2015. 101 bike bridge: Of the two dozen bike projects that Palo Alto is now pursuing, none is as ambitious or expensive as the planned bridge over U.S. Highway 101 at Adobe Creek. In December, the city concluded a design competition for the â&#x20AC;&#x153;iconicâ&#x20AC;? structure that will connect south Palo Alto to the Baylands. The jury in the competition chose the boldest of the three designs on the table, one that features a prominent arch. In February, the council will make the final decision on the bridge, and design work should begin shortly thereafter. Golf course: Palo Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s plan to revamp its golf course in the Baylands and to make a portion of it available for a flood-control project near the San Francisquito Creek ran into a severe setback this year, when the flood-control effort stalled amid a dispute over permits. With the two projects closely connected, the delay in the latter led to a corresponding delay in the former. That dispute appeared to be resolved by the end of the year, when the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board finally agreed to sign off on the flood-control project. If the rest of the permitting process goes as planned (admittedly, a huge â&#x20AC;&#x153;ifâ&#x20AC;?), construction on one or both long-awaited projects could begin in 2015. Q

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Violence related Assault . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Child abuse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Theft related Burglary undefined . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Grand theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Identity theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Petty theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Residential burglaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Theft undefined. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Vehicle related Auto recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Bicycle theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Driving with suspended license . . . . . . 4 Hit and run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Reckless driving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Theft from auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Vehicle accident/injury . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Vehicle accident/minor injury . . . . . . . . 1 Vehicle accident/no injury. . . . . . . . . . . 1 Vehicle tow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Alcohol or drug related Driving under influence . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Drug activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Drunk in public . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Possession of drugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Possession of paraphernalia . . . . . . . . 1 Under influence of drugs . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Miscellaneous CPS cross report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 CPS referral . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Disturbance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Found property. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Info case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Juvenile problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Missing person . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Possession of switchblade . . . . . . . . . . 1 Psychiatric evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Psychiatric hold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Suspicious circumstances . . . . . . . . . . 2 Vandalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Warrant arrest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

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POLICE CALLS Violence related Domestic violence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Theft related Commercial burglaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Counterfeit currency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Credit card fraud. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Grand theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Identity theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Petty theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Residential burglaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Vehicle related Auto burglaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Auto recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Auto theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Bicycle theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Driving with suspended license . . . . . . 1 Driving without license . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Hit and run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Theft from auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Vehicle accident/minor injury . . . . . . . . 5 Vehicle accident/property damage. . . . 8 Vehicle impound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Vehicle tow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Alcohol or drug related Driving under influence . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Drunk in public . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Possession of drugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Possession of paraphernalia . . . . . . . . 1 Under influence of drugs . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Miscellaneous Found property. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Psychiatric hold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Suspicious circumstances . . . . . . . . . . 1 Unattended death. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Vandalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Violation of court order . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Warrant/other agency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

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www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • December 26, 2014 • Page 17

Speaking about both of the Wymans, former Vice Mayor Enid Pearson said, “They were always there when there was a big issue. You can count on them. They were faithful and steady.”

Transitions In memoriam

Ira Ruskin, a former state Assemblyman who represented Palo Alto for six years, died on July 3. He was 70.

He served nine years as a city councilman in Redwood City starting in 1995 and was mayor from 1999 through 2001. He was elected to the State Assembly as a Democrat in 2004, when he defeated Republican Steve Poizner to succeed former Palo Alto Mayor Joe Simitian. Ruskin was re-elected twice before being termed out in 2010. As a Redwood City councilman, he worked with Palo Alto officials to advocate for the creation of the Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency, an organization of cities that use Hetch Hetchy water, and he was its founding chairman. Ruskin was also a member of the Committee for Green Foothills. In the California State Assembly, he championed an environmental bill to safeguard the state through toxic-substances reporting. He also introduced a bill that funded the successful Parolee Reentry Program in East Palo Alto, which helped more than 100 persons change their lives for the better. He served on the Budget, Business and Professions, Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials and Higher Education committees of the Assembly, among others. Ruskin had planned to run for Simitian’s seat in the state Senate in 2012, but in 2011 he announced that he had undergone surgery for a malignant brain tumor and was preparing to go through further radiation and chemotherapy treatment. His Assembly successor Rich Gordon praised Ruskin’s service in the Assembly after the 2011

Visit Kevin Hagen

Tom and Ellen Wyman, longtime Palo Alto residents and volunteers, sit in their home in April 2005. They died this year, both at age 86. Page 18 • December 26, 2014 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

Lasting Memories An online directory of obituaries and remembrances. Search obituaries, submit a memorial, share a photo. Go to: www.PaloAltoOnline.com/obituaries

Ryland Kelley, a Palo Alto native, developer and poet, died on Aug. 30 of liver cancer. He was 88. A prominent real estate developer in a firm started by his father (Hare, Brewer & Kelley), he brought to life many landmark, and sometimes controversial, projects in the area with his brother, William “Bill” Kelley. Throughout his life, he supported land-preservation efforts, innovative solutions to ecological problems and the arts. He and his wife, Shirley, were also founding shareholders of the Palo Alto Weekly. “Rye was a fire hose of ideas, some brilliant, some ahead of their time and some completely crazy,” Weekly Publisher Bill Johnson said. “This creativity and joie de vivre touched everything he did professionally and, in retirement, came out in beautiful poetry written for friends and family.” Born in 1925 at the old Palo

Courtesy of Virginia Bacon

Tom Wyman, a longtime Palo Alto volunteer, died on March 17. He was 86. Ellen Wyman, Tom’s wife and a lifelong activist and volunteer, died on Sept. 14. She was 86. Together the Wymans were involved in many local civic issues, from supporting the “residentialist” mission of the 1960s and ’70s to curb Palo Alto’s urbanization to advocating and fundraising for Palo Alto’s libraries. In 2005, they were both honored with the Avenidas Lifetimes of Achievement award. Tom Wyman moved to Palo Alto in 1936 from a mining camp in Tennessee. He grew up in Palo Alto, attending local schools including Palo Alto High School. He went on to study at San Jose State University for two years before joining the U.S. Navy and touring the Pacific. Upon his return, he studied mining engineering and geology at Stanford University. Afterwards, he did stints in Eastern mines as a “powder monkey” in coal mines. He

Norbert von der Groeben / Palo Alto Weekly

Tom and Ellen Wyman

Ryland Kelley

Ira Ruskin

seum, among other posts. Ellen Wyman grew up in Danville, Illinois. She went on to graduate from the University of Illinois and worked for a time as a marketing and opinion researcher. After marrying Tom in 1955, she moved multiple times for his work, including to Bakersfield where she taught at a local college. When the couple moved to San Francisco, Ellen became involved with the League of Women Voters and successfully recruited corporations to help distribute nonpartisan voting materials. Her volunteering and activism continued in Palo Alto. She helped to found the Association for a Balanced Community, which identified pro- and slowgrowth City Council candidates prior to the recall election of 1967. She helped fight growth again in the 1980s by founding Palo Alto Tomorrow, a group that surveyed public opinion on growth, with her friend Betty Meltzer. Her civic involvement went beyond that single issue: She helped to educate the public on local issues through Palo Alto Civic League and connected community leaders through Leadership Palo Alto (later Leadership Midpeninsula). She also served with the PTA, the Palo Alto Civic League and the Santa Clara County Grand Jury. In addition, she worked with her husband to revamp the Friends of the Palo Alto Library’s book sales.

also worked in Texas oil fields, learning the business from the bottom up, before becoming an oil executive for Chevron, where he worked for 42 years. He met Ellen in Chicago, and the couple married in 1955. They moved for his work a few times before returning to Palo Alto in 1964 to raise a son and daughter. A lover of the city’s libraries, Tom devoted the last few decades of his life to enhancing them. He was proud of his work with the Friends of the Palo Alto Library book sales, which he and Ellen helped turn into a robust fundraising operation bringing in $100,000 annually. Together they also grew the ranks of the organization’s volunteers. In 1999, he wrote a book, “Palo Alto and its Libraries, a Long Time Love Affair.” He also advocated politically for local libraries, opposing the closure of branch libraries and acting as the first chair of the Palo Alto Library Advisory Commission. He also served as president of the Palo Alto Historical Association and as a board member with the Palo Alto History Mu-

Business

Politics

nother year is gone, and its passing has seen the departure of many citizens, friends and loved ones. Through their actions and personalities, each community member who died in 2014 made an undeniable impact upon those around them, leaving memories to contemplate and cherish. The Weekly’s “In memoriam” section highlights a few figures whose achievements and activities encapsulated the vitality of local life and culture. As always, selecting those to include from the list of notables has been challenging. That list included Chinese artist Anna Wu Weakland; biotechnology entrepreneur Alejandro Zaffaroni; community member Setsuko Ishiyama; Downtown Streets Team supervisor Michael Davis; two former Palo Alto mayors, Ed Arnold and Alan Henderson; former planning commission chair Eduardo Martinez; and a number of venerable Stanford University professors. The following provides a sampling of the many rich and inspiring lives that ended — and were celebrated — throughout 2014.

Community

announcement of his illness. He said he has been “impressed by the deep respect that so many in Sacramento have for Ira.”

Alto Hospital, Kelley attended Palo Alto High School. He graduated from Stanford in 1949, where he met his wife, Shirley. Kelley and his brother’s development projects included the beach resort community Pajaro Dunes on Monterey Bay; the 10-story building at 525 University in Palo Alto; five-star Palo Alto restaurant La Tour; Mayfield Mall, an early indoor mall; and the planned communities of Lindenwood in Atherton and Ladera in Portola Valley. He also built the community of Hidden Valley in Woodside and was involved in the creation of the Stanford Research Park. Kelley’s company rescued the 500-home Ladera development in the early 1950s, after he was approached by the nonprofit cooperative Peninsula Housing Association, which was facing bankruptcy. He and his wife lived in Ladera for 55 years. At the time of his death, the couple lived in Woodside, his family said. He is also known for landpreservation efforts that include donating the first land acquisition to the nonprofit Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) in 1979, which became the Windy Hill Open Space Preserve. He was also a co-founder and chairman of the board of trustees at the

Shirley Temple Black

After marrying in 1950 and leaving Hollywood behind, she lived in Woodside for much of her life. She met Charles Alden Black in 1950 when she was vacationing in Honolulu, and the couple married later that year at his parents’ Monterey ranch. After retiring from her film career at age 21, Shirley Temple Black became active in politics and held several diplomatic posts. She was U.S. ambassador to Ghana and later to Czechoslovakia during the collapse of the communist regime there in 1989. In 1967, Pete McCloskey beat her and nine other candidates to win a seat in Congress. George Roberts, the owner of Roberts Market in Woodside,

After a stint in the U.S. Army during World War II, he earned a doctorate from University of California, Berkeley, in zoology and a master’s degree in science education at San Jose State University. He went on to teach at several schools during his academic career and published numerous books on learning. Dubbed a “Renaissance man” because of talents that spanned multiple career fields, Wong wrote about and produced jazz shows for decades, and he spent more than 25 years sharing his musical passions with others. He served as president of the International Association for Jazz Education and was elected to the Jazz Education Hall of Fame. Seven original jazz compositions have been written in his honor. “Before they called it jazz education, this is what Herb was doing,” said Paul Fingerote, a colleague and friend. In addition to his part in the formation of the Palo Alto Jazz Alliance, he taught 78 classes through the Palo Alto Adult School. All different, they focused on jazz instruments and great musicians, including vocalist Carmen McRae, who was the subject of his last course. Kara Rosenberg, principal of the Palo Alto Adult School, said his classes developed a “tremendous following” and usually had somewhere between 25 and 75 students. “He knew everybody,” Rosenberg said, “and he knew whatever there was to know about jazz. It was actually mind-blowing.”

Henry S. Breitrose, professor emeritus in film at Stanford University, died on Oct. 2 at his home on Stanford campus after suffering from cancer. He was 78. He founded the lauded master’s program in documentary film and television at Stanford, which today boasts around 500 graduates. His magnetic teaching style and belief in the power of documentary film were admired by many students and fellow faculty members. Born on July 22, 1936, in Brooklyn, New York, he attended Stuyvesant High School. He then studied history and English at University of Wisconsin-Madison. While there he worked as a lighting and camera technician, or a grip, for the university — where he became enamored with film. He went on to receive a master’s degree from Northwestern University in 1959 and then took a temporary position at Stanford as a “Film for Television” instructor. He was later convinced to enter a Stanford Ph.D. program and joined the Communication Department faculty, where he developed the documentary film

Courtesy of Prudence Breitrose

Shirley Temple Black, popular child movie star, diplomat and longtime Woodside resident, died on Feb. 10 at her home surrounded by her family. She was 85. She started her acting career at age 3 and starred in such hits as “Stand Up and Cheer” and “The Little Colonel.” She ruled the box office in the 1930s.

Courtesy of the Black family

Greg Brown, a Palo Alto muralist whose work continues to shock and amuse local pedestrians, died on Aug. 29 after a brief battle with cancer. He was 62. A Barron Park resident, Brown had been a fixture of Palo Alto’s public-art scene since 1975, when the city hired him as “artist in residence.” The following year, he launched his “Pedestrian Series” — nine trompe l’oeil vignettes on the walls of downtown buildings — a project he pitched to the city’s first Art Commission. These include the images of Spiro Agnew pushing a cat (later changed to an alien) in a baby stroller on the Restoration Hardware building and of a boy casting a fishing line on the historic U.S. Post Office building. His wife, Julie Brown, said the subjects in the murals were often modeled after friends and family, as well as just regular people. “He loved people,” she said. “He just thought people, with all their foibles and perfections and imperfections, should be glorified.” He drew his first mural in 1956 as part of a grade-school assignment. He went on to take a few classes at the Palo Alto Art League but later opted for a more informal approach, an apprenticeship to artist and neighbor Roberto Lupetti. He grew as an artist, selling paintings in San Francisco as a teenager in order to buy his first car. He also spent time in his youth at Smith Andersen, then a gallery in downtown Palo Alto, where he met other artists and showed off his work, owner Paula

W. Patrick Hinely

Greg Brown

Martin L. Perl, professor emeritus of physics at Stanford University and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, died on Sept. 30 at Stanford Hospital. He was 87. A prolific and persistent researcher, he garnered the Nobel Prize in physics in 1995 for the discovery of a new group of elementary particles called the tau lepton. He was born in 1927 in New York City to two immigrants

Linda A. Cicero / Stanford New Service

Norbert von der Groeben / Palo Alto Weekly

Arts & Media

Herb Wong, a longtime Menlo Park resident renowned as a jazz expert and educator, died on April 20. He was 88. Wong had strong ties to Palo Alto — teaching jazz at the Palo Alto Adult School for 26 years and co-founding the Palo Alto Jazz Alliance, a nonprofit jazz education organization where he served as artistic director.

Kirkeby said. He graduated from Palo Alto High School early and worked with Lupetti until he was about 21. As Palo Alto’s artist in residence, Greg Brown started with paintings but quickly changed to murals, preferring the public nature of the art. For the rest of his career, he never stopped working, toggling between public and private realms. Other projects included art for Palo Alto’s centennial celebration in 1994 and a mural of a peacefully falling violinist on a concert hall in Linkoping, Sweden, one of Palo Alto’s “sister cities.”

Martin Perl

Henry Breitrose

Herb Wong

Artist Greg Brown works on a mural on the wall behind the former Travelsmith and Territory Ahead store on Middlefield Road in August 2005. He died this year in August at the age of 62. Palo Alto Medical Foundation, a board he served on for more than 30 years. In his retirement, Kelley became a prolific poet. He composed a 100-page book of poems for Palo Alto’s 100th anniversary, “Rings of Growth.” He also wrote and staged a play, “Lyndon,” about former President Lyndon Johnson playing a fictitious role in the death of President Kennedy.

Stanford University

said, “She just was a very downto-earth person, not like a celebrity. It was just a joy to know her. She was just like the gal next door.” She received many honors, including a special juvenile Academy Award in 1935, Kennedy Center Honors in 1998 and the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2006. In the late 1970s, she was grand marshal of the Woodside May Day parade, and she also served as a president of the Commonwealth Club of California.

and television program. Throughout his time teaching at Stanford, he assisted at other film schools in the U.S. and around the globe as a lecturer, consultant and instructor. Outside of academia, he served on a number of boards locally, among them ones for KQED and the Page Mill YMCA.

who had fled persecution in a Polish region of Russia. After graduating high school at 16, he began college studies but left them to serve with the Merchant Marine and military during World War II. Upon returning, he studied chemical engineering at Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn and earned his bachelor’s degree in 1948. For a time he worked as an engineer at General Electric, but at his wife Teri’s urging, he returned to school to study physics. He went on to earn a Ph.D. from Columbia University. While first on the faculty of University of Michigan, he came to the Bay Area in 1963 to do research at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, then under construction. Perl participated in the scientific communities at SLAC and Stanford for 50 years, working as an elementary particle physicist. During his career he published more than 200 scientific papers, and in 1982 he received the Wolf Prize in physics. His Nobel Prizewinning research on the tau lepton lasted multiple decades, with major progress made during mid1970s experiments with a machine that could detect short-lived particles. Even after he retired, he worked on projects at SLAC, including one funded by NASA investigating dark energy. Q

SUBMITTING TRANSITIONS ANNOUNCEMENTS The Palo Alto Weekly’s Transitions page is devoted to births, weddings, anniversaries and deaths of local residents. Obituaries for local residents are a free editorial service. Send information to Obituaries, Palo Alto Weekly, P.O. Box 1610, Palo Alto, CA 94302; fax to 650-326-3928; or email to editor@paweekly.com. Please include the name and telephone number of a person who might provide additional information about the deceased. Pho-

tos are accepted and printed on a space-available basis. The Weekly reserves the right to edit obituaries for space and format considerations. Announcements of a local resident’s recent wedding, anniversary or birth are also a free editorial service. Photographs are accepted for weddings and anniversaries. These notices are published as space is available. Send announcements to the mailing, fax or email addresses listed above.

www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • December 26, 2014 • Page 19

The Weekly looks back at photographs that defined 2014

his year, 2014, was a time when people drew together. In groups large and small, with the young and the old, they gathered to celebrate, commemorate and agitate. They came together to be community. In solidarity, teens at Gunn High School rose in support of their peers, letting them know through impromptu notes posted throughout their campus that no one is truly alone and that it’s OK to not be OK. There were also protests: against the possible closure of Palo Alto’s only mobile-home park, Buena Vista, the sexual assault of women at Stanford University and police brutality throughout the nation.

Michelle Le Veronica Weber

Ciera Pasturel

At top: Playing the role of one of the water spirits, Menlowe Ballet dancer Jenna McClintock strikes a pose during a production rehearsal of “Legend.” Above: Visitors stop at muralist Greg Brown’s memorial in downtown Palo Alto to acknowledge and remember his work. He died Aug. 29. Page 20 • December 26, 2014 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

Students post positive messages at Gunn High School to support their classmates in November.

Cover Story

Veronica Weber

Above: With the Palo Alto High School gym slated for demolition, students play a final basketball game in March. Right: A young competitor in the Horse Stick Race waits for the race to begin during the Big Hope Little Rodeo in East Palo Alto in June. Below: Asgharali Mandviwala, left, and Jun Salangsang apply gold leaf to the mihrab in the first level of a prayer hall in south Palo Alto’s new mosque in late August.

Veronica Weber

People came together to celebrate the human spirit, from the Big Hope Little Rodeo in East Palo Alto to the art of dance with Menlowe Ballet. The religious gathered to bring to life a new mosque in south Palo Alto. And as part of the

cycle of life, the city’s firefighters and police officers, together with community members, paused to remember those who have lost their lives. But Palo Alto is not a city in isolation, and its members not only reached in, they also

reached out. Time and again, people aided those in need both at home and abroad. Once strangers, they afﬁrmed their shared humanity through actions that brought hope and (continued on next page)

Veronica Weber

Palo Alto Police Department Honor Guard, from left, Agent Eric Bulatao and Detective Du Juan Green, stand beside the Palo Alto Police Officers Memorial Grove at Cogswell Plaza during a ceremony honoring the force’s three fallen officers on May 15.

Battalion Chief John Owen of the Mountain View Fire Department walks past a burning detached garage as fire crews work to douse a fire on Fernando Avenue in Palo Alto on Jan. 15. www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • December 26, 2014 • Page 21

Cover Story

Veronica Weber Veronica Weber

Veronica Weber

(continued from previous page)

inspiration to everyone involved. Here, then, is a look back at 2014, as seen through the lenses of Palo Alto Weekly

Clockwise from top left: Giselle Montano, 5, center, stands next to mom Lordis Ruiz, right, and little sister Jackelyn Montano, alongside Calixto Hernandez, far left, and other residents of the Buena Vista Mobile Home Park during a May 1 protest against the landowner’s proposal to sell the land. Students from Stanford University lie in the middle of University Avenue at High Street to symbolize the number of young people killed by law enforcement during a protest against a grand jury’s decision to not indict Officer Darren Wilson for the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, on Nov. 25. Stanford student Leah Francis leads a chant during a rally in support of victims of sexual assault at White Plaza at Stanford on June 5.

photographer Veronica Weber, Almanac photographer Michelle Le and photo intern Ciera Pasturel. Q — Jocelyn Dong

SEE MORE ONLINE www.PaloAltoOnline.com

A slideshow of these and many more photos from 2014 has been posted at PaloAltoOnline.com and YouTube.com/paweekly.

Page 22 • December 26, 2014 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

Veronica Weber

Ohlone Elementary School students Charlie Rock, left, Zoe Russell, center, and Avery Hanna, right, and others greet visiting students from China with a dragon as the visitors exit a bus at the Palo Alto school on Jan. 22.

Five-year-old Carole Guirguis holds onto the prosthetic limbs of mom Gehane Guirguis, with dad Essam beside them, as the three tell the story of how Gehane lost both arms in a bus accident in Egypt and was flown to the Palo Alto area to receive new arms and for physical therapy.

Arts & Entertainment A weekly guide to music, theater, art, culture, books and more, edited by Elizabeth Schwyzer

Courtesy Cheryl Burke Dance

Ten different ways to celebrate the New Year by Elizabeth Schwyzer

Revelers shake their stuff at last year’s New Year’s Eve party at Cheryl Burke Dance.

1. Party like it’s 2015 Mountain View’s newest nightclub is promising a New Year’s Eve to impress even the most particular nightlife aficionados. With multiple bars, a state-of-the-art sound-system, LED video wall and DJ spinning house and hip hop, Opal is the place for those seeking a high-adrenaline New Year’s experience. As the clock strikes midnight, clubbers can join the DJ’s countdown and enjoy a complimentary champagne toast. Private rooms are open for booking, and VIP bottle and table service is available. Where: Opal, 251 Castro St., Mountain View When: Wednesday, Dec. 31, at 9:30 p.m. to Thursday, Jan. 1, at 2:30 a.m. Cost: $25 general admission, $55 VIP Info: Go to opalnights.com or call 650-318-6732.

2. Be grateful for the New Year Looking for a nightclub experience without the thumping techno? Over at Redwood City’s Club Fox, Grateful Dead cover band the China Cats will be playing familiar favorites. The ensemble prides itself on a repertoire that spans the Dead’s entire career and oeuvre, from the greatest bluegrassy hits to the most obscure tunes. But it’s not all nostalgia: Club Fox will be marking the stroke of midnight with a balloon drop and champagne. Sorry kids; this one’s for partygoers age 21 and up.

3. Feast your way into 2015 Many restaurants around the Midpeninsula will be offering special menus and live music on New Year’s Eve, but for something a little different, head to Morocco’s Restau-

Many businesses are closed on New Year’s Day, but not Stanford’s Cantor Arts Center, which opens its doors to the public Dec. 31 and Jan. 1. Among the works on view are a self-portrait by Andy Warhol, contemporary Chinese landscape paintings and photographs of 1950s America by Robert Frank. The first days of 2015 are also the last chance to catch sculptor Richard Serra’s “Sequence” — a 67-foot long work of contoured steel that critics call one of the artist’s greatest achievements — before it moves to SFMOMA later in the month.

rant in Mountain View. There, you’ll find tantalizing belly dancing, live jazz music and a lavish eight-course menu featuring delicacies like 25-spice braised lamb or chicken and vegetarian tagine. Early birds can enjoy a slightly smaller discounted menu, and the chef will keep the ovens hot until midnight for those who want small plates and drinks.

Where: Cantor Arts Center, 328 Lomita Drive, Stanford When: Wednesday, Dec. 31, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.; Thursday, Jan. 1, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Cost: Free Info: Go to museum.stanford.edu or call 650723-4177.

Where: Ananda Palo Alto, 2171 El Camino Real When: Wednesday, Dec. 31, meditation 5-7 p.m.; worship service 7:30 p.m. Cost: Free Info: Go to anandapaloalto.org or call 650-3233363.

6. Honor your elders

Where: Morocco’s Restaurant, 873 Castro St., Mountain View When: Wednesday, Dec. 31, from 4:30-8:30 p.m. Cost: $35-$65 depending on time and menu Info: Go to moroccosrestaurant.com or call 650968-1502.

4. Meditate and contemplate If New Year’s resolutions are your thing, you might want to consider a ceremony designed to help you clarify your goals and let go of limitations. The spiritual community Ananda Palo Alto will hold a New Year’s Eve service that includes meditation, chanting and a symbolic fire ceremony during which participants will be encouraged to “burn up and release the energy of the past.” Both the meditation and worship service are free and open to all, regardless of denomination.

Courtesy Andy Warhol Foundation

Where: Club Fox, 2209 Broadway St., Redwood City When: Wednesday, Dec. 31; doors open at 8 p.m., show starts at 9 p.m. Cost: $25 in advance, $35 day of show Info: Go to clubfoxrwc.com or call 877-435-9849.

5. Start the year with art

or some, the shift from one year to the next is a time for reflection and contemplation. For others, it’s the best excuse of the year for a bang-up party. No matter how you choose to mark it, New Year’s Eve is a symbolic moment: an annual opportunity to take stock, celebrate and begin again. Below, you’ll find 10 different ways to ring in the New Year, from DJs and dance parties to feasts and religious ceremonies. No matter how you choose to spend Dec. 31, have fun, stay safe and Happy New Year, one and all.

Among the works on display at the Cantor Arts Center is this Andy Warhol self-portrait from 1967.

For those who’ve seen more than a few new years come and go, there’s a special way to mark the start of 2015. On Jan. 31, the City of Palo Alto hosts its 30th annual senior New Year’s Eve champagne brunch: an afternoon of feasting and celebration featuring live music, dancing and raffle prizes. It’s a chance for the elders of our community to raise their glasses (at noon) for a champagne toast to ring in the New Year. (For those who don’t make the cut, a ticket to the brunch makes a great stocking stuffer for grandma.) Where: Cubberley Community Center Pavilion, 4000 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto When: Wednesday, Dec. 31, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Cost: $15 in advance; $18 at the door Info: Go to tinyurl.com/k53wdch or call 650-3292350.

(continued on page 24)

www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • December 26, 2014 • Page 23

Arts & Entertainment 8. Spend New Year’s on the green

Ring in 2015 (continued from page 23)

Whether or not you know a sand trap from a water hole, you’re welcome at Emerald Hills Golf Course on Dec. 31, when the club hosts its New Year’s Eve bash. The party tees off at 7 p.m. with cocktails, and a set menu (including filet mignon and chocolate lava cake) is served at 8 p.m. Leave your clubs at home, trade your golf balls for a ballgown and dance ’til the ball drops.

7. Dance with pride and joy Looking for a truly funky dance party to celebrate the start of 2015? Boogie through the end of this year and into the next with soul

Courtesy Pride & Joy

Pop/soul band Pride & Joy will play the Fox Theatre on Dec. 31.

Where: Fox Theatre, Redwood City When: Wednesday, Dec. 31; doors open at 9 p.m., band starts at 10 p.m. Cost: $50 general admission, $105 VIP Info: Go to tinyurl.com/p5ldswa or call 650-369-7770.

For a different kind of dance party, check out Mountain View’s Cheryl Burke Dance studio, where the evening starts with a social dance class at 8 p.m., followed by live music by Metro Big Band. The ballroom studio, run by a former “Dancing with the Stars” champ, boasts a 14,000-square-foot floating floor. Appetizers will be served, and 2015 will be ushered in with a balloon drop and an apple cider toast. Where: Cheryl Burke Dance, 1400 N. Shoreline Blvd. #A-1, Mountain View When: Wednesday, Dec. 31, 8 p.m. Cost: $25-$35 Info: Go to cherylburkedance.com or call 650-864-9150.

9. Live it up, Latin-style Send 2014 out with a bang at Monte Carlo, Mountain View’s hottest Latin nightclub. The club is planning a New Year’s Eve to remember (or not, as the case may be) complete with party favors, live music from Banda Exclusiva, DJs playing top 40 American and Latin hits, a midnight ball drop and a complimentary champagne toast. Forget “Auld Lang Syne” and get ready for a night of livin’ la vida loca. Where: Monte Carlo Night Club, 228 Castro St., Mountain View When: Wednesday, Dec. 31, 9:30 p.m.Thursday, Jan. 1, 2 a.m. Cost: $20-$30 Info: Go to montecarloniteclub.com or call 650-988-1500.

Courtesy Cheryl Burke Dance

band Pride & Joy and DJ Dinero at Redwood City’s Fox Theatre. Known for their infectious pop/ soul covers and dynamic performances, Pride & Joy promises to keep the danceable hits coming into the wee hours. A VIP pass gets you upstairs access, appetizers and drinks.

Where: Emerald Hills Golf Course, 938 Wilmington Way, Redwood City When: Wednesday, Dec. 31, 7 p.m. Cost: $55 Info: Call 650-369-4200.

10. Dance with the stars

Strike a pose on the dance floor at Cheryl Burke Dance’s New Year’s Eve party.

*Four course dinner with Complementary glass of Proseco Champagne $59 per person

Celebrate New Year’s Eve With live Music a and a special Menu

Dinner by the movies

Appetizers Bruschetta – toasted slices of oven baked bread topped with Roma tomato cubes marinated with olive oil, garlic and fresh basil. Crispy Zucchini Cakes – served with marinated cucumber & mint yogurt.

Soup/Salad Butternut Squash Soup – Garnished with pumpkin seeds and olive oil. Venti Garden – Butter lettuce with organic mixed greens, shaved funnel, red onions, cherry tomatoes and toasted pecans with champagne vinaigrette dressing. Greens & Apples - Organic mix greens, topped with gorgonzola cheese crumbles, walnuts, cranberries, granny Smith apples and poppy seed dressing.

Entrees

Happy Holidays from all of us! Call today for a reservation

Filet Mignon – Filet mignon in a red wine reduction Served with broccolini and a risotto cake ﬁlled with blue cheese. Cioppino-Fresh salmon, snapper, clams, mussels, crab legs and prawns in spicy Venti tomato sauce. Braised Short Ribs in a light red wine sauce – served with polenta and seasonal fresh cut vegetables. Grilled Lamb Chops in a lemon vinaigrette sauce – Served with Swiss chard, and roasted potatoes. Linguine Pescatore – fresh salmon, snapper, clams, mussels and prawns in a spicy tomato sauce. Mushroom Ravioli – with Roma tomatoes and fresh spinach, in a light Marsala cream sauce. Grilled Salmon – served with sautéed spinach, wild rice and vegetables.

Dessert Tiramisu – Italian dessert, consisting of alternating layers of coffee-soaked lady ﬁngers and sweet mixture of mascarpone cheese, eggs and sugar. Executive Chef -Antonio Zomora Limited Seating — Make reservations through opentable.com or cucinaventi.com Hours: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday - Thursday 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday - Saturday • 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday

1390 Pear Ave., Mountain View | (650) 254-1120 | www.cucinaventi.com Page 24 • December 26, 2014 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

Arts & Entertainment

Worth a Look

Installation

Concert

Maybe you’ve noticed them as you’ve driven down Newell Road at night: a series of egg- and amoeba-shaped sculptures nestled in the grass, glowing

Every year, the International Menuhin Competition names one young virtuoso violinist as the best in the world. In 2014, the winner of the world’s most prominent violin competition for musicians under age 22 was Palo Alto’s own 18-year-old Stephen Waarts. On Jan. 1, Waarts will perform with the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra in a free public concert in Palo Alto. On the program are Felix Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s overture to “Cosí fan tutte” and Sergei Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 1 in D major, Op. 25, otherwise known as his “Classical Symphony.” SFCO music director Benjamin Simon will conduct. The concert will take place on Thursday, Jan. 1, at Palo Alto’s First United Methodist Church, 625 Hamilton Ave. SFCO members are invited to arrive up to one hour early; doors open to non-members 45 minutes before the show. There is no admission charge. To learn more about the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, go to thesfco.org or call 415-692-3367. For more on Waarts, go to stephenwaarts.com.

‘Small Works’ and ‘Winter Wonder’ The last days of 2014 are also the last chance to catch an annual holiday tradition in the Palo Alto arts community. The “Small Works Holiday Exhibition” is on display at the Pacific Art League now through Jan. 1. The show consists of more than 100 works in a variety of media, none of which measures more than 10 inches. Also on Peter Carey’s “Ripples” is part of the display will be “Winter Winter Wonder exhibit at Pacific Art Wonder,” a group show League. of seasonally themed works of art juried by Pacific Art League curator Lisa Ellsworth, as well as a solo exhibition of abstract acrylic paintings by Mexican-born artist Isaias Sandoval. All three shows are free and open to the public. And if finding a creative outlet is among your New Year’s resolutions, make sure to check out PAL’s winter and spring catalogue of workshops and classes, featuring everything from wire mesh sculpting to encaustics, Japanese-style woodblock printing, and much more. The Pacific Art League is located at 668 Ramona St., Palo Alto. For more information, go to pacificartleague.org or call 650-321-3891. Q — Elizabeth Schwyzer

SF Chamber Orchestra

Courtesy Palo Alto Art Center

“Brilliance,” a public art display by Joe O’Connell & Blessing Hancock, is on view at the Palo Alto Art Center.

SEE MORE ONLINE

PaloAltoOnline.com

Watch a YouTube video of violin virtuoso Stephen Waarts in the 2014 Menuhin Competition in the online version of this story on PaloAltoOnline.com.

Matt Dine

brightly and casting their reflections into the trees. Together, they make up “Brilliance,” a permanent, site-specific public art installation on the grounds of the Palo Alto Art Center. Creators Joe O’Connell and Blessing Hancock crafted the six lantern-like metal sculptures, which are lit from within by colored LED lights and change colors at the press of a button. The sculptures feature text from proverbs in many languages; the phrases were gathered from Palo Alto community members and are meant to reflect the linguistic and cultural diversity of the region. Check out the installation at close range for a more interactive experience, or add “Brilliance” to your tour of Christmas lights. The installation is located in the Plaza between Palo Alto Art Center and the new Rinconada Library, on Newell Road. To learn more about the project, go to tinyurl.com/qahe9su.

Courtesy Pacific Art League

Brilliance

Art

Palo Alto’s Stephen Waarts, recent winner of the International Menuhin Competition for young violinists, will perform works by Mozart, Prokofiev and Mendelssohn.

Robert Frank, Detroit, 1955. Gelatin silver print. Gift of Raymond B. Gary. © Robert Frank. Courtesy Pace/MacGill Gallery

ROBERT FRANK IN AMERICA September 10–January 5 This groundbreaking exhibition of photographs by Robert Frank sheds new light on his legendary work in 1950s America.

Tickets sold @ Avenidas only!

CANTOR ARTS CENTER AT STANFORD UNIVERSITY 328 LOMITA DRIVE STANFORD, CA 94305 0 8 6 ( 8 0 6 7 $ 1 ) 2 5 ' ( ' 8 ;I KVEXIJYPP] EGORS[PIHKI WYTTSVX SJ XLI I\LMFMXMSR ERH MXW EGGSQTER]MRK GEXEPSKYI JVSQßXLI 'PYQIGO *YRH XLIß)PM^EFIXL 7[MRHIPPW ,YPWI] 7TIGMEP )\LMFMXMSRW *YRH XLI ,SLFEGL *EQMP] *YRH ERHßXLIß1EVO ERH &IXW] +EXIW *YRH JSV 4LSXSKVETL]

www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • December 26, 2014 • Page 25

Natalia Nazarova

Eating Out

Thierry Fassiotti, the manager of Alkymists, stands in the restaurant. The enterprise, which planned to merge food and philanthropy, only lasted two months.

trendy transplants

From to the greatest

comeback

For Palo Alto’s restaurant scene, 2014 was a year of dynamic change

Avenue — home to LYFE Kitchen, Project Juice and Bare Bowls, with Fraiche Yogurt nearby — becoming a foodie health haven?) Longtime dining institutions, from upscale Zibibbo, housed in that iconic, massive yellow Victorian house on Kipling Street for 17 years, to low-brow Cho’s Mandarin Dim Sum, which called California Avenue home for 35 years, shut their doors. (Cho’s is also the biggest comeback story of the year, though. See below.) Meanwhile, traditional Chinese restaurant Hunan Garden on El Camino Real changed hands from father to son and was reborn as Mandarin Roots, with a revamped California-Chinese concept. And the last day of Ming’s Restaurant as we know it, Palo Alto’s oldest and largest Chinese restaurant at 1700 Bayshore Road, is this Sunday, Dec. 28. After months of delays, the 10,000-square-foot restaurant is finally scheduled to be demolished to make way for a

Page 26 • December 26, 2014 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

hotel, which will house a smaller version of Ming’s. With many open spaces downtown, construction booming on California Avenue and Town & Country Village somehow continuing to find space for new foodie spots, 2015 promises to be just as intriguing for Palo Alto diners. GREATEST COMEBACK ... Uproar swept through Palo Alto after the announced closure of Cho’s Mandarin Dim Sum in January. A Change.org petition gathered thousands of signatures; a Palo Alto Online story on the closure got a record number of views; and a “Save Cho’s Restaurant” post on Town Square, the online discussion forum, circulated with ideas like donating money for a Cho’s food truck. The owners of the hole-in-the-wall restaurant at 213 California Ave., husband and wife Cho and Daisy Yu, received a 60-day notice from their property manager, Sue Ross,

Veronica Weber

by Elena Kadvany n any given year in Palo Alto, restaurants come and restaurants go. But depending on who you ask, this year’s turnover was either a disruptive revolution or simply a natural evolution. The bottom floor of dilapidated Casa Olga at 180 Hamilton Ave. downtown was transformed into uber-trendy Lure + Till restaurant, armed with a San Francisco chef and bartender. Plans were announced that third-wave Blue Bottle Coffee will operate in the historic Varsity Theatre as part of a remodel planned by tech giant SAP. San Francisco pizza darling Pizzeria Delfina opened its doors after remodeling the landmark Empire Tap Room, which closed in June of 2013 after more than 20 years at 651 Emerson St. Palo Alto’s first acai bowl shop opened, as well as its second-ever juice shop. (Is the square block bordered by Hamilton, Emerson Street, High Street and University

Carlos Yturria, beverage director at the newly opened Lure+Till restaurant and bar, shakes up a cocktail in his bar in April. on Jan. 16, and said they were not given a chance to renew the lease or stay. Some months later, Ross, who also owns the two spaces on either side of Cho’s — the Michelin-rated restaurant Baume

at California and Park Boulevard and a Farmers Insurance outpost at 217 California Ave. — commenced on a remodel of building. At the time, Daisy said relocating elsewhere would be too much

Eating Out

TRENDY TRANSPLANTS ... San Francisco restaurateurs continued in 2014 to hungrily eye Palo Alto. Pizzeria Delfina opened to much fanfare on Emerson (almost directly across from Tacolicious, also a San Francisco-born restaurant group). Lure + Till, the Epiphany Hotel’s restaurant, snagged

Patrick Kelly, previously executive chef at Gitane in San Francisco and Michelin-starred Angèle in Napa, to lead the kitchen, and Carlos Yturria, whose cocktail career started at age 17 in San Francisco. (“I’ve been screaming ‘Palo Alto’ since, like, 2003,” Yturria told the Weekly in April. “I think a lot of people are on their way here, for sure.”) Belcampo Meat Co., a hypersustainable meat company that prides itself on controlling every step of the meat-production process, from raising to slaughtering to serving customers at the deli counter, snagged a tiny 900-square-foot space at Town & Country. Belcampo opened its first butcher shop and restaurant in Larkspur, then San Francisco, Santa Barbara, downtown Los Angeles, Palo Alto and Santa Monica. (Fun fact: CEO and owner Anya Fernald is a Palo Alto native who once delivered papers for the Weekly and always hoped to open in her hometown.) There will be plenty more external transplants in 2015, including San Francisco’s Sushirrito, a casual hybrid sushi-burrito spot replacing Sabrosa Taqueria at 448 University Ave. downtown; and

ShopTalk by Daryl Savage

NEW TOY/BRAIN STORE IN TOWN ... A toy store for the brain? Toys that are called fidget tools and patience blocks? All the salespeople are trained psychologists? Oh yes. Gray Matters, 330 S. California Ave., opened in late October, and is clearly not a run-of-the-mill toy store. It specializes in toys that engage the brain. “The theme here is building cognitive skills,” explained toy store owner and clinical neuropsychologist Dr. Richard Abbey. “We’re trying to get people thinking and unplugged from their computers.” He added that he opened the toy store as a way to spread the word about expanding one’s own brain capacity by playing simple and complex games. Abbey, a Palo Alto resident and former Stanford faculty member, also runs a clinic just down the street from the store. It’s called Abbey Neuropsychology Clinic (366 S. California Ave.), and his team of psychologists shuffle back and forth when it’s their turn to staff the toy store. “They love coming here. It’s a lot of fun for them,” Abbey said of the salespeople/psychologists. Abbey handpicked nearly all the toys in the shop, labeling them as smart toys. The site of the two-story building has an illustrious past. The previous tenant was an herbalist and acupuncturist. Before him was the legendary Draper’s Music Center, which had survived on Cal Ave. for 38 years. In addition to selling and

renting instruments, the center was a gathering place for local musicians. It’s been said that Grateful Dead musician Jerry Garcia used to practice there. “There’s a lot of folklore in this building,” Abbey said. ACAI CAFE TO OPEN ON CAL AVE ... One of the latest fads in superfoods is the edible acai berry, a nutritionally rich, inch-long, reddishpurple fruit from Central and South America. And no surprise that Palo Alto, remaining at the top of the trend curve, is about to get its second cafe whose main feature is acai berries. The first, Bare Bowls, opened last month downtown. The second cafe that touts acai berries is scheduled to open in late March 2015 at 213 S. California. Called Vitality Bowls, it has taken over the former location of Cho’s, the tiny dim sum eatery that closed with little warning earlier this year and is now preparing to reopen in downtown Los Altos. Vitality Bowls has had quite a run in the short time it has been in business. “We opened our first Vitality Bowl four years ago in San Ramon,” said owner Tara Gilad. “My daughter had severe allergies and we needed a safe place for her to eat. That’s why we started it.” Since then, Gilad and her husband, Roy, opened a few more Vitality Bowls in the East Bay, and after seeing its popularity, decided to create a franchise for the

Tout Sweet Patisserie, also San Francisco-born, slated to open next door to Belcampo. OUTGROWING PALO ALTO ... Two Palo Alto-born restaurants have found so much success that they were able to open second locations this year. Oren’s Hummus Shop, which has enjoyed nearconstant lines of people waiting for its authentic hummus, pita and falafel since opening on University Avenue in 2012, laid claim to another busy downtown strip in 2014. The second Oren’s Hummus opened on Castro Street in downtown Mountain View this summer, with double the seating and a more streamlined ordering process to cut down on those notorious lines. Downtown Burmese spot Rangoon Ruby, which also launched in 2012, expanded first to San Carlos and then again in Palo Alto this year. Rangoon Ruby No. 2, dubbed Burma Ruby, opened just blocks away from the first location, down University in the space vacated by Italian restaurant Figo. BIGGEST MYSTERY ... The biggest restaurant mystery of 2014 has got to be the still-dark Apple Store at the corner of Unicafes. “We started franchising eight months ago and thought, maybe if we’re lucky, we’ll sell five franchises. But we’ve sold 29 franchises since April. We still can’t believe it,” she said, adding that the couple has done no advertising. “We just have our website. That’s it,” Gilad said. The Palo Alto Vitality Bowl, which will serve smoothies, soups, salads and panini, in addition to the acai bowls, has been franchised to three friends who graduated from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. “Once we ate the food, we were blown away,” said one of the grads who asked not to be identified. “One thing led to another, and here we are in Palo Alto setting up shop.” MING’S TO CLOSE DEC. 28 ... The absolute last serving of Ming’s famous Chinese chicken salad will be Dec. 28. That’s the day that Ming’s Restaurant, Palo Alto’s oldest and largest Chinese restaurant, will close its doors. Located at 1700 Embarcadero Road, the 10,000-square-foot restaurant is finally and firmly scheduled to be demolished to make way for an extended-stay hotel and a newer, smaller Chinese restaurant. Ming’s owner Vicky Ching had expected her restaurant to shutter earlier this year — first in March, then in June — but because of a combination of factors including financing and weather, the closing was delayed until now. Once the current site is leveled, new construction is expected to take about two years.

Heard a rumor about your favorite store or business moving out or in, down the block or across town? Daryl Savage will check it out. Email shoptalk@ paweekly.com.

Elena Kadvan

for her and her husband. But lo and behold, a Dec. 12 Facebook post announced their reopening in downtown Los Altos. “Something new is coming to Los Altos,” the post reads, with a photograph of the shiny new Cho’s at 209 First St. The reincarnated Cho’s is slated to open the first week of January, the restaurant’s general contractor said last week. It has a shiny new kitchen and “Cho’s” in vivid red signage both inside and out. However, the kitchen takes up the majority of the 650-squarefoot space, so there’s no indoor seating. The general contractor said there will be seating outside along First Street, where people can nosh on the same dim sum staples that made Cho’s so beloved for so many years: dumplings, pork buns, potstickers, egg rolls and the like.

Cho Yu, who owned and operated Cho’s Mandarin Dim Sum on California Avenue for 35 years, plans to reopen in downtown Los Altos in January. versity and Kipling Street. Applications for architectural review for façade renovations and a conditional-use permit for alcohol sales were submitted to the city in 2013 on behalf of Bibigo, a Korean restaurant chain. Renderings showed a rooftop dining area; plan drawings were posted in the window of the old Apple Store. Maureen Hardy, a representative from BCV Architects, the San Francisco-based firm who submitted the applications, said at the time that the owner was not ready to talk about the project. (BCV Architects is also behind multiple notable food marketplaces — the Ferry Building in San Francisco, Oxbow Market in Napa, Jack London Market in Oakland — as well as local restaurants such as M.Y. China, Gott’s Roadside and Hog Island Oyster Co.) At some point, new drawings were taped over the old in the Apple Store windows with a new restaurant name: Maum. It turned out that Patrick Tsui, former general manager at Frances in San Francisco, was behind Maum. Reached via email a few times this year, he first said things had been delayed and then ceased responding, and 451 University remains dark. SHORTEST TENURE ... Restaurant turnover is high in Palo Alto, but one opening (and closing) this year took the cake. al-

kymists, an unusual downtown Palo Alto restaurant that hoped to merge food and philanthropy in one space, with meals and cooking classes for homeless and abused women as well as regular lunch and dinner service for patrons, closed after two months of operations at the corner of University and High. Before alkymists, there was Palo Alto Grill, which lasted for 15 months. alkymists general manager Thierry Fassiotti alluded to bad blood with owner Luka Dvornik, who brought him in to flip the space after Palo Alto Grill closed in July and in November “pulled the rug out from our entire team.” Fassiotti alluded to financial trouble, saying that the restaurant struggled to pay investors back. The kitchen crew walked out after Dvornik announced the closure. Dvornik did not return requests for comment on the situation. The 3,926-square-foot space (and its Type 47 liquor license) immediately went on the market, listed for rent for $14,000 Triple Net plus $6,000 Triple Nets or for sale for $300,000. (In the comments section on the listing: “Seller invested over $1.0 million in the past two years. Please do not talk to employees.”) Q Staff Writer Elena Kadvany, aka the Peninsula Foodist, blogs on the food scene at PaloAltoOnline.com/blogs.

TIM FLANNERY CIRQUE ZIVA from the SF Giants Golden Dragon Acrobats Jan. 25, 2 & 4 PM Jan. 23, 8 PM LES MISERABLES MY FAIR LADY March 6–15 June 5–14 WEST SIDE STORY KISS ME KATE August 14–23 November 6–15 Get Your Tickets Online At: www.FoxRwc.com 2215 Broadway St., Redwood City

650.FOX.7770 www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • December 26, 2014 • Page 27

OPENINGS

Giants can be good Hollywood goes ‘Into the Woods’ for Sondheim musical 000 1/2 (Century 16, Century 20) “Careful the tale you tell ... Children will listen.” The 1987 Broadway musical “Into the Woods” — with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim (“Sweeney Todd”) and book by James Lapine — appears, on the surface, to be a postmodern consideration of fairy tales and what kids derive from them. But “Into the Woods” is a far more multilayered work than that, and I’m happy to report that Walt Disney Pictures and director Rob Marshall (“Chicago”) haven’t broken it with their cinematic adaptation. “So into the woods you go again,/You have to every now and then./Into the woods, no telling when,/Be ready for the jour-

ney.” If the greatest works of art are those that tackle the journey of life itself, “Into the Woods” is among them. Its characters venture into the woods in pursuit of their wishes, revealing it to be a place of Jungian shadows. Many of the characters are drawn from various Grimm fairy tales — bean-buying Jack (Daniel Huttlestone of “Les Miserables”) and his mother (Tracey Ullmann), Little Red Riding Hood (Lilla Crawford), Cinderella (Anna Kendrick) and Rapunzel (Mackenzie Mauzy) — but the play adds a Baker (James Corden), his wife (Emily Blunt) and a Witch (Meryl Streep) who promises them a child in exchange for their help.

The Weinstein Company

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Fairytale mashup “Into the Woods” stars Meryl Streep as the witch; and James Corden plays the baker.

“Careful the wish you make/ Wishes are children/Careful the path they take/Wishes come true, not free.” Conflicting desires, the fallout therein, and the terrifying responsibilities and fears of parenting all come into play as secrets and crises emerge. The story’s “happily ever after” first act, childish and innocent, yields to a disturbing second act of tough adult truths, among them disappointment, death, war and infidelity. The play has been trimmed, ostensibly by screenwriter Lapine, mostly judiciously and rarely recklessly (though the foolish hack job done to the play’s “Finale” is close to criminal). The production’s most valuable player is music supervisor and conductor Paul Gemignani, the (highly skilled) Sondheim vet who performed the same honors for Tim Burton’s film of “Sweeney Todd,” but the film is also exceptionally well cast, with top honors going to Streep, Blunt (who sticks the landing of “Moments in the Woods”), Corden, and juvenile performers Crawford and Huttlestone. Though any film adaptation of a classic musical is bound to be a mixed bag, Sondheim fans have pulled off an impressive transplant, one that retains the play’s complicated moral character along with most of its music. “Wrong things, right things ... / Who can say what’s true? ... /Do things, fight things ... /You decide, but ... /You are not alone ... / Witches can be right. Giants can be good./You decide what’s right. You decide what’s good.” Rated PG for thematic elements, fantasy action and peril, and some suggestive material. Two hours, 4 minutes. — Peter Canavese

Painter Margaret Keane (Amy Adams) finds her artistic talents usurped by her ambitious husband (Christoph Waltz) in “Big Eyes.”

My, what a Tim Burton movie you have ‘Big Eyes’ recalls the sturm, drang and kitsch of painter Margaret Keane 000

(Aquarius, Century 20)

Tim Burton has always loved his kitsch, from Pee-wee Herman to Ed Wood to “Mars Attacks!” trading cards. Turns out Burton’s loves also include Margaret Keane, painter of doe-eyed waifs, whose work the director has collected for years. Now, in an ultimate act of fandom, Burton has turned Keane’s career and relationship travails into the cockeyed dramedy, “Big Eyes.” Like Burton’s “Ed Wood” and Miloš Forman’s “The People vs. Larry Flynt” and “Man on the Moon,” “Big Eyes” comes with a screenplay by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, masters

Knows when to walk away, when to run Remake of 1974’s ‘The Gambler’ plays its cards right Mark Wahlberg as a verbose literature professor isn’t exactly likely casting, but the star walks away a winner with “The Gambler,” Rupert Wyatt’s remake of Karel Reisz’s 1974 drama “The Gambler.” Taking inspiration from an 1867 Dostoyevsky novella, James Toback (“Bugsy”) wrote the original picture, and also produces the remake, but Oscar-winning screenwriter William Monahan (“The Departed”) does the honors this time around. Wahlberg’s prof Jim Bennett is one antiheroic sonuvagun: a tortured, selfloathing individual who doesn’t see much point in living (“Life’s

a losing proposition — might as well get it over with”) and therefore sees little reason not to gamble at the probable expense of everything. Bennett teaches “all or nothing at all ... to be or not to be” and “The only thing worth doing is the impossible,” to name a few of the many koans in this deliriously script-y script. An early sequence follows Bennett on a gambling jag that puts him, within minutes, into a $240,000 hole that frames the rest of the narrative: With one week to pay off the massive debt, Bennett weighs and pursues options that are their own kinds of gambles. Wyatt kicks the narrative along with stylish use of source music

Page 28 • December 26, 2014 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

Claire Folger/Paramount Pictures

000 (Century 16, Century 20)

A slimmed down Mark Wahlberg plays English lit professor and gambling addict Jim Bennett in “The Gambler.” (including the Dinah Washington vocal “This Bitter Earth”) and sleek cinematography and production design. Bennett’s tenuous balance of disdain for life on the one hand and prideful individualism on the other makes him both unlikeable and a uniquely American

archetype. An erstwhile novelist, Bennett lectures his students, “If you’re not a genius, then don’t bother,” an embittered spin on “Go big or go home.” Mortality and the ineffectuality of legacy also frame Bennett’s midlife considerations, with George Kennedy putting in a one-scene ap-

of fact-based kookiness. Opening in 1958 Northern California (a boost in fun factor for local viewers), Bruno Delbonnel’s cinematography and Rick Heinrichs’ production design wistfully evokes the VistaVision and Technicolor of the era. Newly arrived San Franciscan Margaret Ulbrich, a runaway single mother, quickly runs afoul of Walter Keane (Christoph Waltz), a man whose unctuous repertoire of false emotion spans a wolfish grin and crocodile tears (“All I ever wanted was to support myself as an artist ... I’m just a Sun(continued on next page)

pearance as a deathbed dad. Monahan’s hyper-witty screenplay contributes to a highly entertaining heightened reality while offering vivid supporting roles. John Goodman and Michael Kenneth Williams sling wisecracks as competing loan sharks. The winningly unsentimental Brie Larson (“Short Term 12”) plays Amy, a student of Bennett’s who becomes drawn to his challenging nature and reckless abandon, while Jessica Lange charges back onto the big screen as Bennett’s wealthy, at-wit’s-end mother. The extent to which “The Gambler” may intentionally (or unintentionally) glamorize gambling does raise concerns, but thoughtful viewers can put the practice, the addiction and this story into contexts. For the most part, any given bet can go either way for the gambler, and though Ben(continued on next page)

Movies

‘Big Eyes’ day painter”). Walter moves quickly to woo and wed Margaret, but their marriage sours rapidly, in no small part due to a husband’s jealousy over his wife’s talent and incipient success. Walter gets his paintings — every one a Parisian street scene — on the walls of the famed Hungry i nightclub, but it’s Margaret’s work that draws attention, prompting Walter to swoop in and claim credit for work he initially dismissed as unsellable “lady art.” The conflict therein defines the downward course of the Keanes’ marriage, culminating in a trial straight out of a Marx Brothers movie. With deadpan deftness, Adams walks a line in portraying Margaret as a pop artist and flowering feminist hero, but possessed of a double-edged naivete: Without it, she would never have achieved such success, yet with it, she became prone to Walter and, later, the Jehovah’s Witnesses (Adams also wears Colleen Atwood’s perky period costumes well). Waltz throws caution to the wind to make Walter an enjoyable if cartoony riff on the banality of evil, while Danny Huston brings in a touch of “Sweet Smell of Success” as ink-stained wretch Dick Nolan (“I make things up for a living. I’m a reporter.”). Burton pokes fun at Keane’s art, but he kids because he loves, and “Big Eyes” productively asks the question of whether the paintings are art or kitsch (or both). The specter of Andy Warhol hovers over the story: A Warhol epigram opens the film, and Walter snipes, “That fruit fly stole my act,” referring to the idea of producing art for maximum consumer consumption. And though Burton has always followed the (off)beat of a different drummer, there’s a twinkle in “Big Eyes”’ line, “What’s wrong with the lowest common denominator? That’s what this country was built on!” Rated PG-13 for thematic elements and brief strong language. One hour, 45 minutes. — Peter Canavese

‘The Gambler’ (continued from previous page)

nett refuses to be cowed as he stares repeatedly into the evermore-yawning abyss, Wahlberg’s

MOVIE TIMES All showtimes are for Friday – Sunday only unless otherwise noted. For other times, reviews and trailers, go to PaloAltoOnline.com/movies. Movie times are subject to change. Call theaters for the latest. Annie (PG) Century 16: 9:45 a.m., 12:50, 3:55, 7:10 & 10 p.m. Century 20: 11:50 a.m., 1:05, 3:05, 4:25, 6, 7:20 & 9:15 p.m. Big Eyes (PG-13) +++ Aquarius Theatre: 1:30, 4:15, 7:20 & 9:45 p.m. Century 20: 10:50 a.m., 1:35, 4:20, 7:05 & 9:45 p.m. Big Hero 6 (PG) Century 16: 9 & 11:40 a.m., 2:20, 5, 7:45 & 10:25 p.m. Century 20: 10:40 a.m., 1:25, 4:05, 6:50 & 9:30 p.m. Palo Alto Square: 1:15, 4:15, 7:15 & 10:05 p.m.

Birdman (R) +++

Citizenfour (R) +++1/2

Aquarius Theatre: 1 & 9:55 p.m.

Exodus: Gods and Kings (PG-13) ++1/2 Century 16: 9 a.m., 12:25, 3:50, 7:15 & 10:40 p.m. Century 20: 12:15 p.m., 3:40, 7 & 10:25 p.m. Foxcatcher (R) +++1/2 Aquarius Theatre: 3:45 & 7:05 p.m. Century 20: 10:15 a.m., 4:15 & 10:15 p.m. The Gambler (R) +++ Century 16: 9 & 11:45 a.m., 2:30, 5:15, 8 & 10:45 p.m. Century 20: 11:35 a.m., 2:25, 5:10, 8 & 10:45 pm.

GOLDEN GLOBE

N O M I N E E

BEST ACTRESS • REESE WITHERSPOON

DRAMA

(continued from previous page)

SCREEN ACTORS GUILD AWARD NOMINEE ®

BEST ACTRESS • REESE WITHERSPOON

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (PG-13) ++1/2 Century 16: 9:15 a.m., 12:30, 1:40, 3:45, 7:15, 8:30 & 10:40 p.m. In 3-D at 10:20 & 11:20 a.m., 2:40, 5:05, 6:10 & 9:30 p.m. Century 20: 10:20 a.m., 1:45, 3:50, 7:10 & 9:35 p.m. In 3-D at 11:25 a.m., 12:30, 2:45, 6:10, 8:25 & 10:30 p.m. Century 20: 5:05 p.m.

Horrible Bosses 2 (R)

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 (PG-13) ++1/2 Century 16: 10:25 a.m., 1:20, 4:20, 7:30 & 10:30 p.m. Century 20: 11 a.m., 1:55, 4:45, 7:40 & 10:35 p.m. The Imitation Game (PG-13) +++ Century 16: 9:55 & 11:25 a.m., 12:45, 2:15, 3:40, 5, 6:30, 7:50, 9:15 & 10:35 p.m. Century 20: 11 a.m., 1:55, 4:50, 7:45 & 10:40 p.m. Interstellar (PG-13) ++1/2 Century 16: 3:15 p.m. Century 20: 11:10 a.m., 2:50, 6:30 & 10:05 p.m. Into the Woods (PG) +++1/2 Century 16: 10 a.m., 1, 4, 7:05 & 10:05 p.m. Century 20: 10:20 a.m., 1:20, 4:25, 7:30 & 10:35 p.m. Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (PG) Century 16: 9:25, 10:40 & 11:55 a.m., 1:10, 2:25, 3:40, 4:55, 6:15, 7:40, 9 & 10:10 p.m. Century 20: 10:30 & 11:30 a.m., 2, 4:35, 7:05, 9:40 & 10:40 p.m. P.K. (Not Rated)

Century 16: 11:30 a.m., 7 & 10:35 p.m.

The Penguins of Madagascar (PG) ++ Century 16: 9:10 & 11:35 a.m., 2 & 4:30 p.m. Century 20: 11:05 a.m., 1:40, 4:10, 6:40 & 9:10 p.m. St. Vincent (PG-13)

Century 16: 7:20 & 9:55 p.m.

The Ten Commandments (1956) (Not Rated) Stanford Theatre: 7:30 p.m., Sat & Sun 2 p.m. The Theory of Everything (PG-13) ++ Century 20: 1:15 & 7:25 p.m. Palo Alto Square: 1, 4, 7 & 10 p.m. Top Five (R) ++1/2

Century 20: 11:45 a.m., 2:20, 5, 7:50 & 10:45 p.m.

Unbroken (PG-13) ++1/2 Century 16: 9:50 a.m., 1:10, 4:20, 7:35 & 10:45 p.m. Century 20: 11:15 a.m., 2:30, 5:45 & 8:55 p.m. In X-D at 12:45, 4, 7:15 & 10:25 p.m. Wild (R) +++ Century 20: 10:55 a.m., 1:50, 4:40, 7:35 & 10:20 p.m. Guild Theatre: 1:30, 4:15, 7:05 & 9:40 p.m.

+ Skip it ++ Some redeeming qualities +++ A good bet ++++ Outstanding

NOW PLAYING IN THEATRES EVERYWHERE CHECK LOCAL LISTINGS FOR THEATRES AND SHOWTIMES

Aquarius: 430 Emerson St., Palo Alto (266-9260) Century Cinema 16: 1500 N. Shoreline Blvd., Mountain View (800-326-3264) Century 20 Downtown: 825 Middlefield Road, Redwood City (800-326-3264) CinéArts at Palo Alto Square: 3000 El Camino Real, Palo Alto (493-0128) Guild: 949 El Camino Real, Menlo Park (266-9260) Stanford: 221 University Ave., Palo Alto (324-3700) Internet address: For show times, plot synopses, trailers and more information about films playing, go to PaloAltoOnline.com/movies ON THE WEB: Up-to-date movie listings at PaloAltoOnline.com

newly lean physique suggests a shrunken man whose redemption, if any, may well have more to do with luck than design. Despite the ambiguous philosophy “If I get to nothing, then I can start over,”

“The Gambler” remains a study in the self-destructive personality. Rated R for language throughout, and for some sexuality/nudity. One hour, 51 minutes. — Peter Canavese

3BEST PICTURE ®

GOLDEN GLOBE AWARD NOMINATIONS

Support our Kids with a gift to the Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund Drive.

Century Theatres at Palo Alto Square

DRAMA

INCLUDING

©HFPA

STEVE CARELL CHANNING TATUM MARK RUFFALO

Wednesday 12/24 Birdman – 1:15, 4:15, 7:15 The Theory of Everything – 1:00, 4:00, 7:00 Thurs-Thurs 12/25/14-1/1/2015 Birdman – 1:15, 4:15, 7:15, 10:05 The Theory of Everything – 1:00, 4:00, 7:00, 10:00

FOXCATCHER

Tickets and Showtimes available at cinemark.com

VIEW THE TRAILER AT WWW.FOXCATCHERMOVIE.COM

WRITTEN BY E. MAX FRYE AND DAN FUTTERMAN DIRECTED BY BENNETT MILLER

WWW.SONYCLASSICS.COM

CENTURY 20 DOWNTOWN REDWOOD CITY LANDMARK AQUARIUS NOW 430 Emerson Street Middleﬁeld Road STEVE CARELL 825 CHANNING TATUM MARK RUFFALO Palo Alto (650) 327-3241 Redwood City (800) FANDANGO PLAYING

Donate online at siliconvalleycf.org/paw-holiday-fund

CHECK THEATRE DIRECTORIES OR CALL FOR SHOWTIMES

www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • December 26, 2014 • Page 29

Support our Kids with a gift to the Holiday Fund. Last Year’s Grant Recipients 10 Books A Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$7,500 Ada’s Café . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$20,000 Adolescent Counseling Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$10,000

ach year the Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund raises money to support programs serving families and children in the Palo Alto area. Since the Weekly

Bayshore Christian Ministries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000

and the Silicon Valley Community Foundation cover all the

Breast Cancer Connections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000

administrative costs, every dollar raised goes directly to

Building Futures Now . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000 CASSY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$10,000

support community programs through grants to non-profit

Children’s Center of the Peninsula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,200

organizations ranging up to $25,000.

Collective Roots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$7,500 Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$7,500

And with the generous support of matching grants

Computers for Youth Foundation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000

from local foundations, including the Packard, Hewlett,

Deborah’s Palm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$10,000 Downtown Streets Team. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000 DreamCatchers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$15,000 East Palo Alto Kids Foundation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000 East Palo Alto Youth Court . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000 Environmental Volunteers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000 EPA Tennis & Tutoring. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000 Family Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$7,500 Foothill-De Anza Foundation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$7,500 Foundation for a College Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$10,000 Friends of Palo Alto Junior Museum & Zoo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000 Hidden Villa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000

Arrillaga & Peery foundations, your tax-deductible gift will be doubled in size. A donation of $100 turns into $200

Give to the Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund and your donation is doubled. You give to non-profit groups that work right here in our community. It’s a great way to ensure that your charitable donations are working at home.

with the foundation matching gifts. Whether as an individual, a business or in honor of someone else, help us reach our goal of $350,000 by making a generous contribution to the Holiday Fund. With your generosity, we can give a major boost to the programs in our community helping kids and families.

CLICK AND GIVE

Donate online at si siliconvalleycf.org/ paw-holiday-fund

InnVision Shelter Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$10,000 JLS Middle School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,500 Jordan Middle School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,500 Kara. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$15,000

Enclosed is a donation of $_______________

Mayview Community Health Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$10,000 Music in the Schools Foundation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$15,000

Name _________________________________________________________

New Creation Home Ministries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000 New Voices for Youth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$2,500 Nuestra Casa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$7,500 Palo Alto Art Center Foundation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000 Palo Alto Community Child Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$10,000

Business Name _________________________________________________ Address _______________________________________________________ City/State/Zip __________________________________________________

Palo Alto Historical Association . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000 Palo Alto Housing Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000 Palo Alto Humane Society. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$2,500 Parents Nursery School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000 Peninsula HealthCare Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$7,500

E-Mail __________________________________________________

Credit Card (MC, VISA, or AMEX)

All donors and their gift amounts will be published in the Palo Alto Weekly unless the boxes below are checked.

________________________________________ Expires _______/_______

T I wish to contribute anonymously.

Phone _________________________________________________________

Project WeHOPE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$15,000 Quest Learning Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000 Racing Hearts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$2,500

T Please withhold the amount of my

Rebuilding Together Peninsula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$10,000 Silicon Valley FACES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$7,500

contribution. Signature ______________________________________________________

St. Elizabeth Seton School. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$7,500 St. Francis of Assisi Youth Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000

I wish to designate my contribution as follows: (select one)

St. Vincent de Paul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$6,000 Teen Talk Sexuality Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000 Terman Middle School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,500

T In my name as shown above T In the name of business above

TheatreWorks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$7,500 Youth Community Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$20,000 Youth Speaks Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$5,000

OR:

T In honor of:

T In memory of:

T As a gift for:

_____________________________________________________________ (Name of person)

Non-profits: Grant application and guidelines at www.PaloAltoOnline.com/holiday_fund Application deadline: January 9, 2015 Page 30 • December 26, 2014 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

Please make checks payable to: Silicon Valley Community Foundation Send coupon and check, if applicable, to: Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund c/o Silicon Valley Community Foundation 2440 West El Camino Real, Suite 300 Mountain View, CA 94040 The Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund is a donor advised fund of Silicon Valley Community Foundation, a 501 (c) (3) charitable organization. A contribution to this fund allows your donation to be tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law.

Movies

Thank you for donating to the Holiday Fund

If it’s ‘Unbroken,’ don’t ‘flicks’ it Bestseller becomes a film of prestige and suffering 00 1/2 (Century 16, Century 20)

Through December 21, 298 donors have contributed $ 116,146. With match, $232,292 has been raised for the Holiday Fund. New Donors Anne Talbott ................................ 300 Diane & Brandy Sikic........................ * Irene Schwartz................................. * Helen Feinberg ......................... 2,000 Jack & Susan Thomas ...................... * Veronica Tincher .......................... 100 Bryan Wilson ............................... 100 William Macrae ................................ * Elisabeth Seaman ........................ 100 Living in Balance .............................. * Sandra Slater .................................. * Daniel Cox ................................... 200 Weil Family .................................. 250 Lorrin Koran M.D. .......................... 50 Mary Lorey ...................................... * David Wells ................................... 50 Robert & Betsy Gamburd.................. * Anne & Don Vermeil ......................... * Sandra & Scott Pearson ............... 500 Bjorn & Michele Liencres........... 1,000

In Memory Of Bob Markevitch ................................ * Dominic Greening .......................... 50

Sallie & Jay Whaley ...................... 100 Eric Richert.................................. 100 Jerry and Linda Elkind .................. 250 Leif & Sharon Erickson ................. 250 Russell Evarts ................................. * Solon Finkelstein ......................... 150 Annette Isaacson ......................... 100 Hoda Epstein ................................... * Chittra Chaivorapol....................... 400 Arden King..................................... 20 Marie Earl & Peter Skinner............ 100 John & Florine Galen ........................ * Greg & Penny Gallo ...................... 500 Betty Gerard ................................ 100 Dena Goldberg............................. 250 Margot Goodman ............................ * Lynda & Richard Greene ............... 300 Eric and Elaine Hahn ........................ * Phil Hanawalt & Graciela Spivak.... 500 The Havern Family..................... 5,000 Walt and Kay Hays ........................... * Joe and Nancy Huber ....................... * Jon & Julie Jerome ........................... * Michael & Marcia Katz ................. 200

Foundations, Businesses & Organizations The Nancy Fund ........................ 5,000

Previously Published Donors 29 Anonymous ......................... 7,590 Lorraine Macchello........................... * Ken & Michele Dauber ................. 500 Amy Harris & Joss Geiduschek ..... 100 Jack & Martha McLaughlin ............... * Barbara & Charles Stevens............... * Patrick & Emily Radtke .............. 2,000 Margaret & Les Fisher .................. 100 Marjorie Giles .............................. 300 David & Karen Backer .................. 250 Laura Simeone .............................. 50 Noble & Lorraine Hancock ................ * Martha Shirk ............................... 500 Ellmann Family............................. 100 Dorsey and Katherine Bass .......... 300 Faith Braff ................................... 500 Wendy Sinton .............................. 100 Victor & Norma Hesterman ............... * William & Sally Hewlett.............. 1,000 Edward Kanazawa ............................ * Donald & Adele Langendorf .......... 200 Ellen Lillington ............................... 75 Jean M. Colby .................................. * Chris & Beth Martin ......................... * Lawrence Naiman ........................ 100 Tom & Patricia Sanders .................... * Dorothy Saxe ................................... * Roger Smith ................................ 300 Marian Adams ............................. 100 Brigid Barton ............................... 400 Lucy Berman ............................ 1,000 Harriet & Gerald Berner .................... * Roy & Carol Blitzer ........................... * John & Olive Borgsteadt ................... * Linda & Steve Boxer......................... * Larry Breed ................................. 100 Bruce F. Campbell ..................... 2,000 Mr. George Cator ....................... 300 Ted and Ginny Chu ........................... * Keith Clarke..................................... * Constance Crawford ......................... * Theodore and Cathy Dolton .......... 350 Eugene & Mabel Dong ................. 200 Tom & Ellen Ehrlich ..................... 300 David & Diane Feldman ................ 750 Bonnie Packer ............................. 100 Hans & Judith Steiner .................. 100 Harry & Susan Hartzell .................... * Carolyn & Tony Tucher ...................... * Marc & Ragni Pasturel ................. 200 Tony & Priscilla Marzoni.................... * Tom & Patricia Sanders .................... * Robert & Connie Loarie .................... *

Sue Kemp ................................... 250 Christina Kenrick....................... 1,000 Michael & Frannie Kieschnick ........... * Hal & Iris Korol ................................ * Tony & Judy Kramer.......................... * The Kroymann Family ................... 250 Patricia M. Levin .......................... 100 Steve and Nancy Levy .................. 500 Mandy Lowell............................... 100 Gwen Luce ...................................... * Lori & Hal Luft ............................. 100 Kevin Mayer & Barbara Zimmer......... * Richard L. Mazze ......................... 100 Drew McCalley & Marilyn Green .... 100 Eve & John Melton ....................... 500 Merrill & Lee Newman ................. 250 Craig & Sally Nordlund.................. 500 Jim & Alma Phillips....................... 250 Helene Pier...................................... * David & Virginia Pollard ................ 300 Teresa Roberts ......................... 2,000 Dick and Ruth Rosenbaum ........... 100 Peter and Beth Rosenthal ............. 300 Steve & Karen Ross ..................... 100 Nancy & Norm Rossen ..................... * Don & Ann Rothblatt ........................ * Dan and Lynne Russell................. 250 John and Mary Schaefer ............... 100 Jerry & Donna Silverberg .............. 100 Bob and Diane Simoni.................. 200 Art and Peggy Stauffer ................. 500 Peter S Stern ................................... * Jeanne and Leonard Ware ................ * Roger Warnke .............................. 200 Susan & Doug Woodman.................. * Gil and Gail Woolley ..................... 300 Lawrence Yang & Jennifer Kuan . 1,000 Art & Helen Kraemer ........................ * Barbara Klein & Stan Schrier ............ * Patti Yanklowitz & Mark Krasnow... 200 Andrea Smith............................... 100 Larry Baer & Stephanie Klein............ * Ms. Amy Renalds ........................... * Jody Maxmin................................... * Van Whitis ................................... 200

Diane Doolittle ................................. * John & Nancy Cassidy .................. 300 Charles P. Bonini.............................. * Lee & Judy Shulman ........................ * Robert & Barbara Simpson ............... * Janis Ulevich ............................... 100 Judith & James Kleinberg ................. * Leo & Marlys Keoshian .................... * James & Renee Masterson............... * Ralph Britton ............................... 300 Nancy Steege .............................. 100 Joanne Koltnow ........................... 200 Diane & Steve Ciesinski ............... 500 Charlotte Epstein ............................. * Caroline Hicks & Bert Fingerhut .... 100 Jessie Ngai.................................. 100 Xiaofan Lin .................................... 50 Hal and Carol Louchheim ................. * Rathmann Family Foundation ............ * Judy Ousterhout ............................... * Debby Roth.................................. 100 Sandy & Rajiv Jain........................ 101 Dennis & Cindy Dillon ....................... * Ho John Lee ................................ 100 Stan & Yulia Shore ........................... * Mehdi Alhassani .......................... 150 Dmitri Seals .................................... * Mike & Dana Nelson ...................... 75 Brigid Barton & Rob Robinson ...... 400 Adria & Beau Brown ......................... * Meri Gruber & James Taylor .............. * Janice Bohman ............................ 250 Jan Swan......................................... * Dexter & Jean Dawes ....................... * Nina Kulgein ................................ 200 Rick & Eileen Brooks ........................ * Michael & Jean Couch .................. 250 Martha Cohn ............................... 100 Maureen Martin ............................... * Diane Moore.................................... * Micki & Bob Cardelli ......................... * Matt Glickman & Susie Hwang ...... 500 Ralph Wheeler ............................. 225 Robyn Crumly .................................. * Bill Johnson & Terri Lobdell........ 1,000 Jan Thomson & Roy Levin ............. 250 Shirley Ely.................................... 500 Tatyana Berezin ............................... * Bonnie & Bryan Street ..................... * Bob & Joan Jack .......................... 300 Annette Glanckopf & Tom Ashton ...... * George & Betsy Young ...................... * Mahlon & Carol Hubethal ................. * John & Ruth Devries......................... * Linnea Wickstrom ........................ 100 David & Lynn Mitchell ................... 300 Virginia Fehrenbacher ................... 100 Lani Freeman & Stephen Monismith.................... * Mike & Cathie Foster.................... 500 Don & Bonnie Miller ......................... * Page & Ferrell Sanders................. 100 Joyce Barker ................................ 100 Lijun & Jia-Ning Xiang ................... 200 Hugh McDevitt ............................. 200 Robert French.............................. 100 Patricia Thomas ........................... 100 Scott Wong .................................. 200 Pam Mayerﬁeld ............................ 100 Thomas Rindﬂeisch .......................... * David Labaree ............................. 200 Mike & Lennie Roberts................. 100 Boyce & Peggy Nute ......................... * Zelda Jury ................................... 100 Karen Sundback & James Moore .. 500 Steve & Mary Chapel ....................... * John & Lee Pierce ........................ 250 Mary Jo & Leonard Levy ............... 250

In Memory Of Nickolas Rudd ............................. 100 Ludwig Tannenwald .......................... *

Jack Sutorius ............................... 300 Nick ........................................... 500 Emmett Lorey .................................. * Becky Schaefer ................................ * Ted Linden................................... 200 Al and Kay Nelson ............................ * Dr. Elliot Eisner ................................ * Ruth & Chet Johnson ....................... * Robert Lobdell ................................. * Baxter Armstrong ......................... 100 Phillip Gottheiner ............................. * Boyd Paulson, Jr .............................. * Dan Dykwel ..................................... * Dr. David Zlotnick ............................. * Dr. John Plummer Steward............ 100 Richard Brennan .............................. * Bob Donald ..................................... * Leonard W. Ely ............................. 200 Don and Marie Snow .................... 100 Kathy Morris .................................... * Pam Grady................................... 250 Carol Berkowitz ................................ * Yen-Chen and Er-Ying Yen ............. 250 Francine Mendlin ............................. * Richard Brennan .......................... 100 Helene F. Klein ................................ * Jean M. Law ................................ 100 Ernest J. Moore ............................... * Mary Floyd..................................... 25 Thomas W. and Louise L. Phinney ..... * Leo Breidenbach .............................. * Bob Schauer................................ 150 Bertha Kalson ................................. * Steve Fasani................................ 100 Jimmie Dickinson ......................... 100 John F. Smith............................... 250 Robert Spinrad ............................ 500 My sweet Dad Al Pellizzari ................ * My sweet dog “Tuﬁ” ......................... * Ed Arnold......................................... * Sam Stewart & Alan Stewart ............ * August Lee King ............................. 25 Nate Rosenberg ............................. 75 Betty Meltzer ................................... * Aarol O’Neill .................................... * John Black................................... 500 Jim Byrnes................................... 100

In Honor Of Marilyn Sutorius ........................... 300 The Barnea-Smith Family .................. * Hamilton Avenue friends................... * Sallie Tasto.................................. 100 Gary Fazzino .................................... * Uncle Bill’s 50th birthday ................. * The Settle Family ......................... 500 Palo Alto Weekly staff ...................... * Sandy Sloan ................................ 100 Larry Klein’s service on City Council .............................. *

As a Gift For Mark Zuanich............................... 150

Foundations, Businesses & Organizations United Methodist Women of the First United Methodist Church of Palo Alto .................... 500 Arrillaga Foundation ............... 10,000 Peery Foundation .................... 10,000 Communication & Power Industries500 Attorney Susan Dondershine ........ 250 Harrell Remodeling, Inc. ................... * Bleibler Properties LLC ................. 500 Alta Mesa Improvement Company ............................... 1,500

As a 13-year-old, I thrilled to the adventures of Jim Graham in Steven Spielberg’s “Empire of the Sun,” and I imagine today’s 13-year-old boys will prove similarly enthralled by Angelina Jolie’s “Unbroken.” That’s the best news about Universal Pictures’ adaptation of the non-fiction bestseller by Laura Hillenbrand (“Seabiscuit”), which also boasts supple photography by Roger Deakins (“No Country for Old Men”) and a creditable lead performance by newcomer Jack O”Connell (“Starred Up”). But demographics outside of male pubescence are likely to be tougher audiences for this flatfooted recounting of the life of Louis Zamperini, the ItalianAmerican Olympic runner whose Army Air Forces service found him adrift in the Pacific Ocean and, later, trapped in a Japanese P.O.W. camp. Jolie’s respectful, tasteful version of events — her second narrative feature as director — realizes a respectful, tasteful screenplay from Joel and Ethan Coen (“No Country for Old Men”), Richard LaGravenese (“The Fisher King”) and William Nicholson (“Shadowlands”). That’s a heck of a lot of screenwriting talent attached to what turns out to be a perfectly obvious, generic and even corny script. Suffering is decidedly the point, to the tune of this advice from Louis’ brother, Pete (John D’Leo): “If you can take it, you can make it.” While that might make a fine bumper sticker or fortune cookie, it’s not a lot on which to hang a picture like this one. Tom Stoppard’s script for “Empire of the Sun” — likewise about traumatic WWII isolation and prison camp survivalism — carried his signature intelligence and lyricism. Following blistering early sequences of military aviation, Jolie’s film works its way predictably through Zamperini’s story with little in the way of surprise or creative spark to justify a cinematic treatment. The film’s only subtlety is in momentarily feigning toward plot developments that never come. “Unbroken” does arrive at lessons in forgiveness — for the war crimes perpetrated by Mutsuhiro Watanabe, a.k.a. “The Bird” (Miyavi) — though the drama of these lessons remains effectively off screen. Ultimately, the lesson of “Unbroken” seems to be this: Louis Zamperini suffered horribly for America, so the least you can do is watch this movie about it. Rated PG-13 for war violence including intense sequences of brutality, and for brief language. Two hours, 17 minutes. — Peter Canavese

www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • December 26, 2014 • Page 31

Home&Real Estate Home Front LOOKING AHEAD ... Homerelated classes through Palo Alto Adult School, beginning in mid-January, include “Upholstery: Basic Techniques” (Kathleen Koenig and Ann Laveroni, 9 a.m.-2:30 p.m., Tuesdays or Thursdays, Jan. 13-March 17 or Jan. 15-March 19, $215); “Floral Design With Ikebana” (Thanh Kosen Nguyen, 12:30-4 p.m., Tuesdays, Jan. 13-March 17, $95); and “Gardening in Winter” (Sherri Bohan, 10 a.m.-noon, Wednesdays, Jan. 14-March 18, $70). Info: 650329-3752 or paadultschool.org (to learn about locations and registration details).

LEARN TO COOK? ... Hands-on cooking classes at Sur La Table, #57 Town & Country Village, Palo Alto, include “Holiday Tapas Party” (Reiji Ohmine, Dec. 27, 2:30 p.m., $69); “Classic Croissants from Scratch” (Elizabeth Prado, Dec. 28, 9 a.m., $69); “Learn to Cut Like a Pro” (Reiji Ohmine, Dec. 28, 1 p.m., $59); “Date Night: Chef’s Table Favorites” (Scott Tomelleso, Dec. 28, 4 p.m., $79); and “Date Night: New Year’s Celebration” (Dec. 31, 5 p.m., $79). Info: 650289-0438 or cooking073@surlatable.com TIDYING UP? ... If you’ve come across expired medication, paints or solvents, fuels, cleaners, pesticides, etc., you can dispose of them safely at a Household Hazardous Waste Drop Off Day from 3 to 5 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 2, or from 9 to 11 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 3. The drop-off spot is the Regional Water Quality Control Plant, 2501 Embarcadero Way, Palo Alto. Bring proof of Palo Alto residency. Info: cityofpaloalto.org

Real Estate Matters

2014’s priciest local home sales share common threads by David Barca

ur local real estate markets have seen a significant uptick in sales activity at the highest end of the spectrum thus far in 2014. According to MLS data, there were 17 $10 million-plus single-family home sales in the communities of Atherton, Palo Alto and Woodside between Jan. 1 and Nov. 30, a 70 percent increase from that same period in 2013. This year’s 10 most expensive home sales in the aforementioned communities that were listed on the MLS through Nov. 30 ranged from $27.4 million to $13.5 million — six in Atherton and two each in Palo Alto and Woodside. The properties run the gamut in terms of size, from a 13,558-squarefoot mansion in West Atherton to a relatively modest 5,240-square-foot home in the coveted Old Palo Alto neighborhood. And although these 10 top-dollar homes are unique on their own, a few common threads weave through the transactions: Springtime sales: Seven of these homes sold in the second quarter, underscoring that real estate activity heats up in the spring and early summer when sellers are likely to encounter many buyers hoping to land a home before schools close for the summer. At that time of year, even the priciest properties can attract motivated, fast-acting buyers. For example, two Atherton homes that sold in late June — one for $14 million and one for $13.5 million — were gone in just four days. The appeal of new: Newer homes are increasingly popular in the Bay Area, particularly given the influx of buyers from Asia who tend to prefer more recently built properties. Six of this year’s 10 most expensive homes were constructed since the turn of the most recent cen-

This Spanish Colonial Revival home, designed by Frederick Confer and Morgan Stedman and extensively remodeled in 2011, is located in Palo Alto’s Crescent Park neighborhood. The asking price has been lowered to less than $10 million. Proper pricing key: Our local real estate markets have recently involved frenzied competition, in which multiple bidders drive the final sales price far beyond the original. In one July instance, a brand-new home in Downtown Palo Alto sold for more than double its original price. Six of the 10 most expensive homes appear to have been accurately priced, with half of them selling for their exact asking prices and one fetching a modest premium. The other four homes may not have been priced correctly, allowing buyers a bit of wiggle room to write lower offers. One such home in West Atherton, initially priced at $16.9 million, sat on the market for almost a year before selling for $15 million, 88.5 percent of its original price. This highlights the fact a property must be priced accurately in order to sell quickly, even in markets where willing buyers far outnumber the inventory of available homes. Q David Barca is vice president of Pacific Union’s Silicon Valley Region.

tury, including No. 1 and No. 2: $27.4 million in Atherton and $25 million in Woodside, respectively. That’s not to say that a home with a little more history won’t appeal to buyers, especially in superheated markets like Palo Alto. The aforementioned Old Palo Alto home, built in 1925, sold for about 2 percent more than original price, the only one of the 10 priciest properties to command a premium. Hefty prices per square foot: Paying top dollar per square foot holds especially true at the highest end of our real estate market. The average price per square foot paid for these 10 homes was $1,935, compared with $1,100 for all properties sold in the three communities from January through November. A three-bedroom home in Woodside that sold in September offers a drastic example of what some affluent, motivated buyers are willing to pay: At just less than 6,000 square feet, the home sold for its $25 million list price, which translates to a staggering $4,170 per square foot.

TOP TEN HOME SALES

RESTORE HABITAT ... On the second and fourth Saturdays, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., volunteers work with Acterra to restore habitat at the Pearson-Arastradero Preserve (1530 Arastradero Road, Palo Alto) and local creeks. Gloves, tools, snacks and training are provided. Tasks include removing invasive plants, collecting seeds, spreading mulch and planting native grasses. Wear long sleeves and long pants, and bring a hat and reusable water bottle. Info: acterra.org/stewardship Q BluSkyeMedia

Send notices of news and events related to real estate, interior design, home improvement and gardening to Home Front, Palo Alto Weekly, P.O. Box 1610, Palo Alto, CA 94302, or email cblitzer@ paweekly.com. Deadline is one week before publication.

Also online at PaloAltoOnline.com

Veronica Weber

HOLIDAY TREE COLLECTION ... GreenWaste of Palo Alto will pick up Christmas trees post-holiday, as long as they are cut into 4-foot lengths and all ornamentation, including tinsel, nails and tree stands, are removed. Info: 650493-4894

OPEN HOME GUIDE 40

This historic home at 12775 Viscaino Road in Los Altos Hills not only features a sixbedroom Italianate-style main house, but a guesthouse, pool house and tennis courts. It’s offered for $15 million.

Page 32 • December 26, 2014 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

1. 250 Atherton Ave., Atherton - $27.4 million 2. 156 Hidden Valley Lane, Woodside $25 million 3. 215 Lowell Ave., Palo Alto - $19.88 million 4. 244 Polhemus Ave., Atherton - $18.9 million 5. 279 Park Lane, Atherton - $15.3 million 6. 139 Albion Ave., Woodside - $15 million 7. 435 Coleridge Drive, Palo Alto - $15 million 8. 60 Monte Vista Ave., Atherton - $15 million 9. 1 Ridge View Drive, Atherton $13.99 million 10. 333 Atherton Ave., Atherton - $13.5 million

Warmest wishes for a wonderful holiday season From your friends at DeLeon Realty

650.488.7325 | www.deleonrealty.com | DeLeon Realty CalBRE #01903224

www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • December 26, 2014 • Page 33

Home & Real Estate

Exotic proteas come to local markets

Jennah Feeley

Mike Astone has been cultivating proteas (pictured at left), which are native to South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, since 1981. Today he grows 200 varieties at his Aptos farm and sells them at the Menlo Park Farmers Market on Sundays.

Soon thereafter, Astone and his wife, Bettina, bought a 25-acre parcel in the Aptos hills where they nested in an airstream trailer with their two sons. In 1981, Astone planted his first batch of South African protea seeds. “The property was an old apple orchard that was totally decrepit with hardly anything even on it. So we put in a well and got water going first, of course,” Astone said. “My plant thing started out very small. I had this 8 by 10 greenhouse, which was plenty for me.” One greenhouse soon turned into two, however, and that eventually expanded to the several thousand proteas the Astones cultivate today. Astone had worked at nurseries in his younger years but didn’t feel it was his calling. At nurseries, you tend to grow the same plants all the time and always sell them as soon as they are

Jennah Feeley

eading under a gas lamp on a Santa Barbara winery, Mike Astone had no idea that one book from the shelf would soon redirect the course of his life. When a growing manual for exotic protea flowers piqued his interest, his boss at the winery let him in on a secret: He could harvest them in the Santa Cruz mountains.

pretty, he said, adding that proteas are much more diverse, and the work feels more encompassing and enjoyable. The flowers are native to South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, and according to Astone, the Santa Cruz hills have almost the same climate and conditions. Much like their original breeding grounds, Aptos offers open hillsides with good drainage, decent sun exposure and cool, coastal air. Some of the flowers are quite large, while others have smaller buds, and each variety of protea has a unique shape, color and texture. Many have pointed, flat bracts that have a mix of red, green and gold hues, which Astone said can determine their aesthetic appeal. Maintenance, Astone assures, is pretty easy. He waters every three to four weeks during the two first summers and then leaves it up to the environment to take care of the rest. Weeding and pruning are part of the job, but they are managed by Astone and his wife alone. Between working in the field and making deliveries, Astone often works from dawn until dusk. “The plants in general don’t take a lot of effort to take care of. If they did I could never keep up,” Astone said. “What I pick is what I need to prune, and that keeps the plants in good shape.” The Astones’ farm produces more than 200 varieties of protea, which allows their season to run for 10 months of the year. Astone said he has everything from small flowers to big bushes and tall trees, and they all flourish at different times of the year.

Page 34 • December 26, 2014 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com

Santa Cruz hills recreates South African climate by Jennah Feeley “Most protea growers grow 10 or 15, maybe 20 varieties. I grow a couple hundred,” Astone said. “A lot of them I only have a couple plants of, but I have so much different variety that my season goes very long.” The extended season allows the Astones to sell to florists and at farmers markets almost year-round. At their peak with two sons helping out they were at five markets each week. These days they stick to a few markets in the outer and southern Bay Area. Depending on which plants are ready for harvest, each week Astone brings a different collection of cuts to sell, which keeps his product new and interesting. He said he sees many of the same faces, because so many of his customers return again and again. “I’ve been to these same three markets so long people kind of are waiting for me,” Astone said. “I come back, and sometimes I get inundated right when I get back.” The Astones’ booth can be found at the Menlo Park market every Sunday, where the couple brings buckets and buckets of fresh-cut flowers. Bouquets are made on sight so customers can pick and choose what they want to include. The cuts usually last two or three weeks, but many people keep them past the expiration date because they’re still so beautiful, Astone said. “I have people come back and tell me they’ve had them in a vase for a year,” he said. “You know they’re dead at that point, but that’s how much people like them.”

In addition to the bouquets, the Astones bring protea wreaths to the markets for the holiday season. If kept on a covered porch, they can last for a full month because the moist air rehydrates the plants at night. They also sell potted plants for $15 for customers to plant in their own backyards. Astone said anyone with a sunny spot in the garden that never gets watered can successfully grow proteas. At the very least they need half a day of sun and soil that drains well. Planting the flowers on slopes or in sandy soil is best, which can be compensated for by manually mounding the grow site. “They’re such a killer plant, and there is such a variety to grow,” Astone said. “I just think they should be grown more, not less.” Q Editorial intern Jennah Feeley can be emailed at jfeeley@paweekly.com. What: Menlo Park Farmers Market When: Sundays, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., yearround Where: in parking lot on Chestnut Street, between Santa Cruz and Menlo Avenues, Menlo Park Info: localharvest.org/menlo-parkfarmers-market-M3662