Welcome To Menlo Park Planning, Our Newest Flickr Commons member

As part of the recent City Hall Renovation Project, the Planning Division of the City of Menlo Park (CA) uncovered a number of older photos that were worthy of preservation. After having them professionally scanned, staff has done some basic sorting/labeling and posted them to their public Flickr account for all to enjoy!

Photos of interest include the 1968 Downtown Building Survey  This collection includes almost all of downtown and El Camino Real, including the following sights:

• Kepler’s second location at 825 El Camino Real
• Nixon/Agnew local campaign headquarters in the building that’s now the British Banker’s Club
• Train station with a Southern Pacific train loading
• Peninsula Building Materials at the current El Camino Real site of Charles Schwab and BevMo/Big 5
• Magoo’s Pizza Parlor at 639 Santa Cruz Ave, where The Warlocks played one of their first shows before becoming the Grateful Dead

There’s also a gallery of 1980s Construction, showing the progress of major projects like:

• Stanford Park Hotel
• Menlo Business Park
• 1000 El Camino Real
• High-resolution aerials from 1969
• Civic Center, including the 1969 installation of the Council Chambers roof
• Recreation, Parks, and Schools

Locations and dates have been added where available, but everyone is encouraged to add comments and tags on Flickr with corrections or additional details! All photos can be downloaded in their full digital resolution.

Planning staff enjoyed showing some highlights at the 2017 Block Party, and community members on the “Do you remember the (old Menlo Park)?” Facebook group have already been having fun digging through the old sights. City staff intends to meet with the Menlo Park Historical Association to show them the digital photos and offer the originals for their use.

Have you been to Menlo Park? Do you know any of the locations in these photos? Feel free to add some context or some stories if you have any.