Menlo Park, California
Menlo Park (/ˈmɛnloʊ/ MEN-loh) is a city at the eastern edge of San Mateo County within the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. It is bordered by San Francisco Bay on the north and east; East Palo Alto, Palo Alto, and Stanford to the south; and Atherton, North Fair Oaks, and Redwood City to the west. It had 33,780 residents at the 2020 United States census.[5] It is home to the corporate headquarters of Meta, and is where Google, Roblox Corporation and Round Table Pizza were founded.[6][7][8] The train station holds the record as the oldest continually operating train station in California.[9] It is one of the most educated cities in California and the United States; nearly 70% of residents over 25 have earned a bachelor's degree or higher.[10]
Menlo Park
United States
November 23, 1927[1]
Menlo, County Galway, Ireland
Cecilia Taylor[2]
17.38 sq mi (45.03 km2)
9.99 sq mi (25.87 km2)
7.39 sq mi (19.15 km2) 43.79%
72 ft (22 m)
33,780
3,473.3/sq mi (1,341.04/km2)
Toponym[edit]
"Menlo" is derived from Menlo (the anglicized spelling of Irish Gaelic 'Mionloch', meaning 'small lake') in County Galway, Ireland. The name "Menlo Park" was given to a ranch purchased by Irish settlers in honor of their home village in Ireland.[11][12]
Geography[edit]
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 17.4 square miles (45 km2), of which 9.8 square miles (25 km2) are land and 7.6 square miles (20 km2) are covered by water. Menlo Park is long and narrow on a northeast to southwest axis. The northeast portion borders the San Francisco Bay and includes the Dumbarton Bridge that connects Menlo Park to Fremont on the east side of the bay. The city shoreline includes the city's largest park, Bedwell Bayfront Park (160 acres (65 ha)) and the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge.[30] San Francisquito Creek marks much of the southeast border of the city. West Menlo Park (not part of the city despite its name) along Alameda de las Pulgas nearly separates the southwestern part of the city (known as Sharon Heights) from the rest. The extreme southwest is clipped by Interstate 280.
The Bayshore Freeway (part of U.S. Route 101) traverses Menlo Park northwest to southeast near the shoreline and somewhat parallel to the Bayshore Freeway to the southwest is El Camino Real. The intersection of El Camino Real and Santa Cruz Avenue is considered the heart of the city. Nearby, the Menlo Park Civic Center is bounded by Ravenswood Avenue, Alma Street, Laurel Street, and Burgess Drive. It contains the council offices, library, police station, and Burgess Park, which has various recreational facilities. Other major roads include Sand Hill Road in the Sharon Heights area.
The residential areas of Menlo Park can be unofficially divided into several neighborhoods. From "east" (northeast toward San Francisco Bay) to "west" (southwest toward the Pacific Coast), they are defined by the Palo Alto Weekly as:[17] Belle Haven is the only neighborhood east of Route 101; much of the rest of that area is business or protected land. Between 101 and the roughly parallel Middlefield Road are the neighborhoods of the Willows, Suburban Park, Lorelei Manor, Flood Triangle, Vintage Oaks, and South of Seminary (the seminary being Saint Patrick's Seminary). Between Middlefield and El Camino Real are the Caltrain track and Felton Gables, Linfield Oaks, and Park Forest. West of El Camino until the foothills of the Peninsula are the neighborhoods of Downtown Menlo Park, Central Menlo Park, and Allied Arts (sometimes also known as Stanford Park, it is named for the Allied Arts Guild in it). In the hills are Sharon Heights and Stanford Hills. Several other neighborhoods are closely associated with Menlo Park but are actually in unincorporated San Mateo county; these include Menlo Oaks and Fair Oaks (latter part of the North Fair Oaks census area) between Bayshore and Middlefield, University Heights (also known as West Menlo Park) between Sharon Heights and most of the rest of the city, and Stanford Weekend Acres, which is somewhat near Stanford Hills.
Education[edit]
For primary schools, the central portions of Menlo Park are served by the Menlo Park City School District, while the Belle Haven neighborhood and VA hospital are served by the Ravenswood City School District, and the Sharon Heights and Stanford Hills neighborhoods served by the Las Lomitas Elementary School District. For high school, Menlo Park is part of the Sequoia Union High School District, with all of the city falling into the boundaries of Menlo-Atherton High School; some areas of the city have the option to attend Woodside High School.
Private elementary schools include two Catholic parochial schools, St. Raymond Catholic Elementary School and Nativity Elementary School;[60] the Episcopalian Trinity School; Phillips Brooks School, pre-kindergarten to 5th grade; and Peninsula School, from kindergarten to 8th grade;[61]
The Willows Campus of the private K–12 Silicon Valley International School, formerly known as German-American International School and Alto International School, is also in the city.[62] Menlo School, a private middle and high school, is in Atherton on the border with Menlo Park. Sacred Heart School, Atherton, a religious middle and high school, is also in Atherton on the border with Menlo Park.
For higher education, Saint Patrick's Seminary and University is a Catholic seminary in Menlo Park.
There are two libraries, the Main branch and the Belle Haven branch. As part of the Peninsula Library System, they share many resources with other nearby libraries.
Transportation[edit]
Santa Cruz Avenue runs as the "Main Street" within Menlo Park; terminates at El Camino Real which runs concurrently with California State Route 82. The city is also the western end of the Dumbarton Bridge, which connects Menlo Park with the East Bay city of Fremont; the Menlo Park end is located immediately adjacent to Meta Platforms' headquarters. The city is flanked by U.S. Route 101 on its eastern end and by Interstate 280 on its western end.
Menlo Park's transit is primarily served by its eponymous train station, served by Caltrain. SamTrans is the primary provider of bus transport throughout the city. Menlo Park's eastern ends were previously considered for a short-lived BART extension along the Bayshore Freeway.[65]
BART and Caltrain are also the primary transit modes for Menlo Park's connections to the San Francisco Bay Area's airports. Menlo Park is located about halfway between San Francisco International Airport and San Jose International Airport; the former can be accessed by using Caltrain and either BART's red line, or yellow line during 3-line service, or SamTrans route 292 (both connecting to Caltrain at Millbrae station), while the latter connects to Menlo Park through Caltrain and VTA services through a transfer at Diridon station. Drivers to and from Menlo Park can connect to both San Jose and San Francisco airports through using US 101. Oakland Airport is the farthest of the three major Bay Area airports from Menlo Park, with drivers having to cross the Bay through one of the three bridges across it, and transit users needing to use either the Dumbarton Express, SamTrans, or Caltrain to connect to BART services.
