Cal Ave. Took Down Its Parklets This Month. What Goes Back Up Is Meant to Stay.

On September 30, a Palo Alto Online photographer caught a single pedestrian crossing California Avenue, and the street behind them looked almost bare. Every parklet on the car-free stretch had been taken down. The dining decks, cabanas and pieced-together platforms that had collected along the street since the pandemic were gone, cleared so crews could grind and repave the full block from El Camino Real to Birch Street.

The structures that return will be the first ones built under rules the City Council actually finished writing. For five years, outdoor dining on Cal Ave. ran on temporary terms. This fall the street starts over with a permanent rulebook, a settled answer on bikes, and a few new businesses that are signing up for the next version of the block instead of the old one.

The street became permanent before the dining did

The car-free status was settled first. The City of Palo Alto says Council made the closure permanent on March 10, 2025, for California Avenue from El Camino Real to Birch Street and for part of Ramona Street downtown. The outdoor dining that filled that space took more than a year longer to get the same treatment.

Charlie Weidanz, CEO of the Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce, described the gap at the June 1 Council meeting, as reported by Palo Alto Online: "For some Cal Ave. businesses, they've been hesitant to fund high-quality permanent outdoor structures while operating under temporary rules." He said the new guidelines give restaurants "the certainty the restaurants need to confidently invest their own capital into long-term outdoor spaces."

The block was already doing well before that certainty arrived. Bruce Fukuji, the urban architect leading the Cal Ave. plan, told Council that vacancy on the street dropped from 16% in 2023 to 7.5% in 2025, and that revenue from food sales rose 13% over the car-free period. Sahlik Khan, head of operations at Zareen's, wrote to Council that foot traffic had "increased tremendously since the closure." So the street that went bare this month was not struggling. It was full of businesses that had been waiting on a rulebook before they spent money on lasting structures.

Three designs will set the look of the block

Council adopted the parklet standards on June 1 by a 6–1 vote. The city said on social media that the standards would take effect once repaving was finished. Restaurants choose from three pre-approved designs:

Restaurants can still propose their own design, but anything outside these three goes through a longer review.

The practical effect for anyone walking the street is more consistency. Most new parklets will probably follow one of three templates, because the templates are the quick way through approval. The city's Outdoor Dining Program page describes the pre-application and staff-review steps a restaurant goes through. The city has not published a timeline for when parklets will be back along the block, so expect them to return one restaurant at a time.

Council members and city staff also said the new structures must keep the street open for emergency vehicles. Mayor Vicki Veenker said that would take a culture shift, and she told the meeting, according to Palo Alto Online, "There's phenomenal potential, if we do it right."

The bike question ended differently than June suggested

If you followed Cal Ave. news early in the summer, you may still think bikes are on their way out. That was the direction on June 1, when Council told staff to develop a bike-free alternative and steer riders toward Cambridge Avenue.

Two weeks later the position changed. At the June 15 meeting where Council unanimously adopted the 2026 Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation Plan, several speakers said Cal Ave. is an important link in the bike network, including for students. Palo Alto Online reported that several council members backed off their June 1 positions, and that Mayor Veenker said she had not previously appreciated how many schoolchildren use the route. Staff later told the city's Pedestrian and Bicycle Advisory Committee that Council "directed staff to maintain bicycle access on all of California Avenue, including the car-free portion."

This affects how the rebuilt street will work. Parklets are going back onto a street that will still carry bikes, including students and commuters. Council member Pat Burt suggested that staff look at how to balance bike access with pedestrian safety at the busiest times, such as the monthly concerts. The final adopted plan document is expected this fall at paloalto.gov/bikepedplan.

How the reset plays out, by date

The city's current street projects page lays out the work, and the rest of the fall calendar follows from it:

1. October 1. Crews ground out the old asphalt from El Camino Real to Birch Street, then paved from El Camino to Ash Street.
2. October 2. Paving was scheduled to finish from Ash Street to Birch Street.
3. October 21–23 and 26. The contractor was scheduled to install stamped asphalt crosswalks. The city noted that all dates could shift for weather.
4. Saturday, October 31. The last Thursday Live event of the year takes over the car-free block.
5. Every Sunday. The California Avenue Farmers Market runs 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., year-round, rain or shine, at California Avenue and El Camino.
6. Late November. Croissante's projected opening at 321 California Ave.
7. First quarter of 2027. Arsicault's projected opening at 388 Cambridge Ave.

The farmers market kept running all through the repaving, according to Urban Village Farmers' Market. Its 2026 calendar also keeps the Sunday market open on the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's weekends.

Saturday's finale is the first big crowd on the new surface

The city's Thursday Live series started on May 28 with a ribbon cutting, two stages and classic cars curated by Maico and Franco Campilongo, co-owners of iTalico and Terun. It ends on a Saturday. The October 31 Halloween and Oktoberfest event is free and runs 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. between El Camino Real and Birch Street.

The city lists this lineup:

• Ash Stage: Marcus D. Najera, Everyday People, Andy Z, and Line Dancing Lisa with DJ Shivers
• El Camino Stage: Monsoon Dance, karaoke with KJ Jive'n Jim, Dance Expressions, then a second karaoke set
• Around the block: a roping game, pet-horse grooming, face painting and balloon twisting

Stanford Research Park, a series sponsor, is providing a photo booth, orange drawstring bag giveaways and mini-pumpkin decorating. The Sunday market is the next morning, so you can visit both over one weekend.

Two bakeries are betting on the next version of the block

The newest businesses headed for the Cal Ave. area are arriving after the rules were settled.

Croissante plans to open at 321 California Ave., in the space that was Antonio's Nut House, the longtime Cal Ave. bar that closed in 2020. Owner Sean Kang told The Almanac in mid-September that he expects to open in late November. The bakery started in Santa Clara in 2023, opened in Los Gatos in 2024, and is known for cube-shaped croissants and croissants filled with fresh mango. Croissante first announced the space in late 2024, so the late-November date is the latest in a series of estimates.

Arsicault, the San Francisco bakery founded in 2015 by CEO Armando Lacayo, is coming to 388 Cambridge Ave., in a new mixed-use building near California Avenue. The Almanac now puts its opening in the first quarter of 2027. That is later than the "September or October" target Palo Alto Online reported in January.

Backyard Brew at 444 California Ave., on the street since 2016, is still waiting on permits. Owner Ryan Khalil told The Almanac he hopes to reopen about two months after the permits are issued. The spot is known for its relaxed outdoor seating, so it fits a block that is rebuilding its outdoor spaces under new standards.

By Thanksgiving, Cal Ave. should have its new pavement and crosswalks, its first parklets under the three approved designs, bikes still riding through, and possibly a new bakery in the old Nut House space.

I've watched streets like this one change over two decades on the Peninsula. If you own a home near California Avenue and want to know how a more permanent commercial street could figure into your home's value, Ryan Gowdy offers a complimentary home valuation and consultation.