| The Palo Alto History Project |
| The Superblock University Avenue to Lytton Avenue from Ramona Street to Florence Avenue |
| Bringing Down the Superblock Palo Alto reached a turning point in 1970 and 1971. No longer the quiet small town of years gone by, developers began to pitch projects that sought to attract big-name businesses to further economic development in Downtown Palo Alto. But such projects also threatened the small-scale downtown environment that many cherished. The debate over what type of city Palo Alto was to become reached its zenith in the late 1960s with the debate over a sizable downtown office complex nicknamed the Superblock. Three years of political battle would ensue before the Superblock was finally rejected by the city’s voters in a 1971 referendum. And when the dust had finally settled, a new political course was set that would lead Palo Alto to become the city that it is to this day. In the 1950s and ‘60s many local governments decided that the concept of “The City” was no longer working economically. Shoppers were abandoning Main Street America, opting instead for the convenient parking and air-conditioned serenity of suburban shopping malls. As cities watched their business districts suffer, they groped for a way to survive economically. In many city halls across the country, the answer was Urban Renewal. By declaring downtown neighborhoods and small shopping districts “blighted,” many cities tore down large swaths of urban neighborhoods and replaced them with office centers, parking garages, and skyscrapers. While in some ways, Palo Alto was the type of suburb that was growing because of the exodus from big cities, it was a different story in Palo Alto’s downtown. The University Avenue area began to suffer economically as many of its shoppers were on the move. Built in the mid ‘50s, the Stanford Shopping Center was luring buyers away from downtown, forcing Palo Alto to spend much of the 1960s trying to figure out a way to revitalize University Avenue. In an effort to adjust to the times, developers and their allies in City Hall sought their own version of urban renewal. Not that it was blighted, but for some modernists, the quaint Downtown Mom & Pop storefronts and oldtime five & dimes were yesterday’s news. They believed Palo Alto would have to change --- either become a business center or a ghost town. Although the rise of the residentialists began with the blockage of an 18-story hospital in 1970 scheduled to be built in Professorville, the final defining battle would be the Superblock. Actually proposed by the Cornish & Carey firm as the “Bryant Street Project,” the massive 250,000 square foot, $13 million office complex was nicknamed the Superblock by opponent and council member, Kirke Comstock. The project proposed leveling nearly everything that stood in a two block rectangle between University and Lytton, from Ramona all the way to Florence. In its place, Cornish & Carey proposed building twin 11 story office towers, along with a one story Bank of America building and a two story commercial building. Developers proposed eliminating Bryant Street altogether through this stretch, tearing down the old police headquarters at 450 Bryant and building an underground garage holding some 1,200 cars. It is difficult to comprehend the difference this would have made to Downtown. But if you walk down to University Avenue and picture two large steel boxes overtaking that entire two block section, you will get a sense of the radical change the Superblock would have made in the ambience of Palo Alto. The fight to defeat the Superblock began with Richard Rosenbaum --- dubbed by one paper as Palo Alto’s “one-man army.” In 1970, the 36 year-old Lockheed engineer spent $700 of his own money to take out a full page newspaper ad entitled “A Citizen of Palo Alto Speaks Out against the Superblock.” Rosenbaum soon found there were enough folks in town against the idea to begin an opposition group. Opposition to the Superblock, as with the hospital the year before, became a rallying call for those who wished to save the small-town feel of Palo Alto. The issue dominated city politics throughout 1970 and 1971. Developer Scott Carey and proponents rallied to secure its passage, while opponents called the project a “white elephant.” To opponents, the Superblock represented “super big buildings, a super big garage, super big traffic and super big pollution,” while supporters like Palo Alto Mayor Jack Wheatley countered that it was the only way to keep Downtown economically viable. Eventually, the voters decided. On January 26th, 1971 in a city-wide referendum, the Superblock went down to a decisive defeat. An overwhelming 10,269 opposed the project while just 6,572 were in favor. In the years following, residentialists were able to get their own members elected to the City Council (including Rosenbaum himself) and eventually wrestled political control away from their opponents. And in the end they proved themselves correct --- Downtown Palo Alto did bounce back, selling itself for what it was, not trying to become what it was not. -Matt Bowling |
| A pro-Superblock ad |
| Dick Rosenbaum who fought the Superblock project |
| Kirke Comstock, the liberal city council member |
| An illustration of the two proposed Superblock towers |
| Palo Alto: Then & Now |
| Scott Carey was ready to build the towers |
| An anti-Superblock postcard depicting the project as a "white elephant" |
| Mayor Wheatley supported the project |
| Supporters called the project "The Bryant Street Project," even though it proposed eliminating Bryant Street from University to Lytton |
| Sources: Palo Alto Times, Peninsula Times-Tribune, PAHA, Interview with Dick Rosenbaum |
| Superblock would have sat in the middle of what is still Bryant Street --- and the street itself would have been no more. |
| Cornish & Carey sits today across the street from where they would have engineered the construction of the Superblock. |
| 2007 |
| circa 1958 |
| Looking west down University Avenue in the late 1950s. By 1970 the Superblock plan threatened to get rid of everything on the right side of the picture as well as Bryant Street (the cross-street in the photo) from University to Lytton. The Stanford Theatre can be seen in both pictures at center left. The old Roos-Atkins store has become a Restoration Hardware. |