| University Café, 271 University Avenue Across the street from Starbucks is the ambient rich University Café. Bearing multiple personalities, this location is juice and coffee bar by morning, caters to the lunch crowd at midday and becomes a romantic sit-down restaurant at night --- no laptops allowed. Open since 1994, the cafe's popularity seems to assure its remaining a part of University Avenue's scenery for some time. |
| The Downtown Cafés: A Photographic Tour A recent study showed that Palo Altans consume more coffee per capita than any other city in the nation. And given how energetically the free market responds to statistics, it is no surprise that Palo Alto now probably rivals Paris in the number of cafés per city block. The downtown area is rife with coffee shops, cafés, and tea bars that seem to stretch the very definition of economic supply and demand. Are there really so many Downtown patrons ready to sit and sip a cup of hot java? Apparently so. While a few of the cafés have closed in recent years, most are still going strong. Here is a quick photographic tour of the cafés and coffee shops just in the Downtown area encompassing Lytton Avenue, University Avenue and Hamilton Avenue. Of course, there are dozens of other coffee shops and cafés in the rest of Palo Alto, but Downtown remains the best place to sit outside and enjoy a double shot cappuccino, oriental tea or plain old steaming cup of joe... |
| The Palo Alto History Project |
| The Downtown Cafés |
| Links: Tea Time Website Sehbali's Website Caffe Del Doge Website Neotte Tea Bar Website Bistro Maxine Website Coupa Cafe Website The Prolific Oven Website |
| Starbucks, 278 University Avenue These days, any coffeehouse tour has to begin with Starbucks. One of six franchises in Palo Alto, the green-trimmed, Seattle based franchise at 278 University Avenue was the subject of controversy in the late 1990s, when it pushed for a no-smoking ordinance outside its doors. |
| Sehbali Café, 235 University Avenue In late 2006, Mills the Florist got the boot in favor of a modern trend with an ancient past --- the hookah bar. While the florist still occupies a small University Avenue side alcove, the new Sehbali Café has taken over most of the 1902 built structure. In the back, hookahs are ready to smoke along with interesting and original coffees and chais straight from India. |
| The Prolific Oven, 550 Waverley Street By itself on a Waverley Street tangent, the Prolific Oven is famous for its baked treats and goodies. Offering a small sandwich menu and assortment of coffees, the Prolific Oven has had catered to a small, but loyal group of customers since opening nearly ten years ago. It is part of a three store chain and owned by Henry Chan. It's a long-time "Best of" winner in the Palo Alto Weekly. |
| Peet's Coffee and Tea, 436 University Avenue Like Starbucks, Peet's Coffee and Tea has to fight the Palo Alto bias against "corporate domination." Still with a location in the SOFA District, at Town & Country, Charleston Center as well as University Avenue, they are obviously doing alright. This Peet's occupies a historic 1920-built structure featuring a second floor balcony and an attractive first floor archway. |
| The Oh! Croissant Café, 125 University Avenue (Out of Business) The Oh! Croissant Café is no more. The small Café located on the Western end of University Avenue is a victim of the Café traffic jam in Downtown PA. |
| Bistro Maxine, 548 Ramona Street Teeny-tiny Bistro Maxine which opened in the summer of 2006 has room for just 13 chairs and 5 tables and counts itself as the smallest place in Palo Alto to hold a liquor licence. Sharing a tiny corner of the Cardinal Hotel building and just a few paces away from Coupa Café, Bistro Maxine has done well in its first year in town. Their specialty is crepes and they have received strong reviews for such French fare. |
| Coupa Café, 538 Ramona Street Coupa Café began in 2004 and had a "wildly successful" first year according to Palo Alto Weekly. Specializing in South American coffee, specifically from Venezuela, owner Jean Paul Coupal wished to "re-educate Americans about coffee." Offering coffee as well as deserts and side dishes from his home country, Coupal provides customers with a South American themed Café that includes artifacts on display such as a turn-of-the-century Venezuelan green bean coffee selector and Brazilian Indian hammocks. He also imports his coffee beans directly from the South American plantation that he owns and has hired has a full-time barista (coffee expert) from Venezuela to train his staff. |
| Espresso Bettola Coffeehouse, 115 Hamilton Street (Out of Business) Opening in 2005, Espresso Bettola Coffehouse had a short run. Wayne Vicker used a specially self-invented espresso machine at Bettola's that proved a hit with customers. Vicker hoped to profit from its Hamilton & Alma corner location near the Caltrain stop, but never really got the big crowds of nearby competitors. The business closed just shy of its second birthday. Future location of Spot Pizza. |
| Caffe Del Doge, 419 University Avenue Caffe Del Doge is a new arrival on University Avenue. The home company is actually based in Venice, Italy and has locations in Budapest and Tokyo. We'll see if their international flavor will entice here in Palo Alto. |
| Neotte Tea Bar, 429 University Avenue Neotte Tea Bar opened on University Avenue opposite to Borders in October of 2005. Featuring every variety of tea imaginable, Neotte will see if there is a niche market in tea drinkers in a market over-saturated with coffee. |
| Café Verona, 236 Hamilton Avenue (Out of Business) After 19 years in business, Café Verona closed its doors in August of 2003. Since then the old building on Hamilton Avenue has sat empty --- upsetting many in town who feel the landlord forced the Café to fold for no reason. Known for its espresso, open mike Thursdays, art exhibits and delicious panini, Café Verona won the Weekly's 2003 award for "Best Solo Dining Experience." |
| Michael's Gelato & Café, 440 University Avenue Taking over Swensen's Ice Cream, Michael's Gelato & Café opened next door the Borders on University Avenue in 2006. Operated by Michael and Sladana Lucich,who have been in the salon business for 20 years, Michael's offers 30 different flavors of gelato that you can eat inside, outside, or upstairs in a small seating area. The gelatos get rave reviews all around, just don't try combining your flavors. |
| Tea Time 542 Ramona Street Another tea establishment, Tea Time features 85 tea flavors in an over-the-counter operation on Ramona Street. Sandwiches, scones, cookies, and crumpets are also part of the Tea Time attraction, although only the teas can be purchased online at www.teatime.com. The establishment also has regular tea tastings and even classes to help educate your tea pallet. |
| Penrhyn Café and Bakery, 165 University Avenue This University Avenue sweet shop offers up ice cream pastries and their speciality: Belgian chocolate. The ultra-tiny shop also has outdoor seating and has hard-to-find boba (pearl) teas and leonidas. They are located at the famous "Golden Spot" Silicon Valley office where Logitech, Google and Paypal all have had offices. And then there's this comment from a Ben D. on Yelp.com: "Calling Penrhyn Café & Bakery a hidden gem is not enough. This place is like that giant sand-lion's head that Aladdin could only explore after Jafar conjured it up with magic." Wow. |
| Tea Time 542 Ramona Street Another downtown tea establishment, Tea Time features 85 tea flavors in an over-the-counter operation on Ramona Street. Sandwiches, scones, cookies, and crumpets are also part of the Tea Time attraction, although only the teas can be purchased online at www.teatime.com. The establishment also has regular tea tastings and even classes to help educate your tea pallet. |
| Lytton Roasting Company, 401 Lytton Avenue A long-time Palo Alto establishment, Lytton Roasting Company is a bit off the beaten track from the other downtown cafés and is known for its fine service and presentation. |
| Sources: Palo Alto Weekly, Palo Alto Historical Association, Palo Alto Daily News |
| Palo Alto: Then & Now |
| 2007 |
1974 |
| circa 1980 |
| 2007 |