| The Palo Alto History Project |
| Liddicoat's 322 University Avenue |
| 2006 |
| Liddicoat's: How a Place Does Change Often when walking down a street in Palo Alto---or any city really---one wonders what other buildings might have existed in that same location. What would the scene have looked like in 1968, 1932, or 1900? For many locations outside of downtown Palo Alto, the answer might well be, an empty field. But downtown is different---these sites have always been prime real estate and so they often rotate from use to use throughout the years. In the case of 322 University Avenue, one can obviously presume that the current location holder, Z Gallerie, wasn't there in 1900. In fact, that location originally housed a rather historic building---Nortree Hall. This was Palo Alto's first meeting hall and community center and many of the early debates concerning the shaping and vision of the city took place there. In 1921 came Liddicoat's---a grocery store (with requisite soda fountain) that lasted until 1977. That year Liddicoat's was converted into a kind of mini restaurant mall featuring such international flavors as the Bon Appetit Mediterranean food counter, Dimples & Company Barbecue and the brainchild of a 20 year old entrepreneur named Debbi Fields---Mrs. Fields Chocolate Chippery, which has since become a must in seemingly every mall food court in America. But time marches on. In 1990, the county health department cracked down on the abundance of rats, cockroaches, and electrical problems at Liddicoat's. The owners cleaned things up and spent $150,000 on improvements but, too little, too late---by then the property owners were already on the lookout for a new tenant. In 1995, that new tenant was announced as Z Gallerie, a posh furniture store with delusions of grandeur that take the form of an art gallery. One wonders what might we find here in 2050? Do we even have a name for the product that they will sell? -Matt Bowling |
| By 1983, the store was officially, Liddicoat's International Foods & Cocktails. (PAHA) |
| Z Gallerie, 322's current inhabitant |
| A very small picture of the Mrs. Fields portion of Liddicoat's in 1977 |
| circa 1950 |
| The map below shows the Downtown East area |
| Debbi Fields, the original Mrs. Fields |
| Palo Alto: Then & Now |
| In this 50s era photo, Liddicoat's occupies the center spot along University Avenue. F.W. Woolworth's, the one-time king of Main Street USA is its eastern neighbor. Other stores such as Thom McAn shoestore, Wightman's, the Golden Crescent Bakery and Schneider's hold down the block. The Hotel President is at far left. Clearly parking along four-lane University was already an issue. |
| Today's photo is interestingly dominated by trees---and would be more so if taken in summer months. In fact, the trees completely block out the Hotel President, now apartments. None of the other stores from our earlier photo have lasted the 5 plus decades. Siam Royal restaurant, Disco Rex Pharmacy, the restaurant with the interrogative name Pasta?, a jewelers and Z Gallerie now do business. The Woolworth's has become a Long's Drugs. Parking is still an issue on the street, despite only having two lanes of traffic. |
| Nortree Hall originally sat at 322 University Avenue (PAHA) |
| The Liddicoats Mall from above (PAHA) |
| "We would go in there and we would ask for 'one pound of top ground, cut off all the fat and grind it twice,' because we ate it raw in those days. Only we would we do that from Liddicoats." And my kids remember saying that. That was fun to think that we ate it raw...nowadays it's a little different." "They used to get me my beef bones with marrow, but with the marrow in them, so I could make marrow dumplings." -Dot |
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