Costantini Team | Bay Area, CA Real Estate Experts

Late in September, every parklet on California Avenue came down. The car-free block between El Camino Real and Birch Street sat open and, in the words of Palo Alto Online's Around Town column, "a little barren." That cleared the way for repaving scheduled for Oct. 1 and 2. The city's notice before the work said that "once repaving is complete, new outdoor dining standards will be in effect."

The repaving closes out Cal Ave's temporary era. Any parklet built from here on follows rules the City Council adopted in June. Those rules give restaurants preapproved designs and enough certainty to spend real money on them. That decides which kinds of businesses will do well on Palo Alto's "second downtown" in the years ahead.

How a Pandemic Detour Became the Plan

Cal Ave didn't go car-free in one decision. It got there in steps, and each one made it harder to undo:

During the pandemic, the stretch from El Camino to Birch closed to cars and turned into a pedestrian promenade.
On March 10, 2025, Palo Alto permanently closed that segment to through traffic. The near-term improvements listed for it included paving, planters, bollards and entrance markings.
In January 2026, Palo Alto Online reported that the broader redesign had slipped after pushback against eliminating parklets. Alternatives were waiting on the Architectural Review Board.
On June 1, 2026, the council adopted parklet standards and street activation rules by a 6–1 vote.
On Oct. 1 and 2, 2026, repaving was scheduled to run from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the cleared street.

Step three matters most here. The outdoor dining rooms survived a redesign effort because people pushed to keep them. The June vote then turned them from tolerated leftovers into something the city sets standards for.

Three Designs, Settled in Advance

Under the June guidelines, a restaurant that wants a parklet can pick one of three preapproved options for streamlined city approval:

A roofless parklet, the simplest of the three.
A cabana with a sloped roof and overhangs.
A pergola with a flat roof and no overhangs.

A restaurant can propose something else, but a custom design goes through a more extensive review. The city's Outdoor Dining Program page has the Cal Ave application route and plans.

Charlie Weidanz, CEO of the Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce, explained at the June meeting why the menu of designs matters more than any one of them. "For some Cal Ave. businesses, they've been hesitant to fund high-quality permanent outdoor structures while operating under temporary rules," he said, according to Palo Alto Online. The preapproved designs, he added, give restaurants "the certainty the restaurants need to confidently invest their own capital into long-term outdoor spaces."

So whatever goes up on the new pavement can be built to last. Under temporary rules, the safe move was something you could take down. Under the June standards, a restaurant can put up a roofed cabana and plan to keep it for years.

What the Street's Numbers Showed Before the Reset

Bruce Fukuji, the urban architect leading the Cal Ave plan, told the council in June that vacancy on the street fell from 16% in 2023 to 7.5% in 2025. He also said food sales revenue on Cal Ave had risen 13% over the car-free period.

Some of the street's largest restaurants backed the plan publicly. The owners of iTalico, Terun and Zareen's all supported Cal Ave's continued evolution as a pedestrian street. Sahlik Khan, head of operations at Zareen's, wrote to the council that foot traffic had "increased tremendously since the closure," with more people "lingering longer, and enjoying the district as a destination rather than simply passing through." Maico and Franco Campilongo, co-owners of iTalico and Terun, curated a lineup of classic cars for the street's big kickoff party in May. Maico also played at that first concert.

Not every merchant agreed. Michael and Lara Ekwall, co-owners of the Cuban restaurant La Bodeguita del Medio, were among the merchants who asked the city to rethink car-free Cal Ave. Their proposal would have added one eastbound car lane between El Camino and Birch and made parallel Cambridge Avenue one-way the other direction. In June, according to Palo Alto Online, the council "showed no appetite" for reopening the question of car access. With that settled, the remaining question was which businesses the street suits.

A Founder's Read on the Street

Marc Schechter, founder of Square Pie Guys, gave his own read on that question when he announced the Detroit-style pizzeria's Cal Ave farewell. The restaurant opened at 369 California Ave. in September 2025, in the former Local Kitchens space, and Schechter set Friday, Oct. 30, as its final service. Palo Alto Online reported that catering at the location was going well. The brand continues in San Francisco, Oakland, Campbell and Walnut Creek.

He told the paper that the restaurants that do well on Cal Ave tend to be either grab-and-go concepts in small shops or full-service restaurants, and his format sat between the two. An August pop-up called Bar Pie Guys tested full service and "was really successful," he said. He also said street frontage helps people find a restaurant they've heard about. "A big thank you to everybody who came and supported us over the last year," he said. "Keep supporting local businesses."

The June rules fit his two models. A preapproved cabana is an investment that suits a full-service restaurant with servers and a dinner crowd. On a block that people walk rather than drive past, a small counter works for a different reason. Around the corner at 2450 Park Blvd., The Farm opened in June 2025 serving organic coffee and all-day food, taking over the former Pizza Boulevard space.

Who Else Shares the Pavement

As a pedestrian street, Cal Ave has open questions that a street with cars wouldn't. In June, residents and merchants complained to the council about fast e-bikes. Staff had proposed thermoplastic bands across the street to slow cyclists. Bruce Fukuji called them "behavioral cues." The council asked for a bike-free alternative instead. Council member George Lu cast the only no vote. He told Palo Alto Online he worried that "reckless riders may be more dangerous without passive street designs that make cyclists slower and more predictable."

Mayor Vicki Veenker added a point that ties back to the parklets. Merchants will share responsibility for keeping the new structures out of the way of emergency vehicles, which she suggested will take a culture shift.

The Calendar That Fills the Street

The city's events show the same commitment. In the June report, Palo Alto Online described a historically neighborhood-serving strip that city leaders are remaking into one of Palo Alto's premier party zones. In March, the council's Economic Development Committee endorsed an entertainment zone that would allow outdoor alcohol at special events on Cal Ave. Here is how 2026 has played out on the street, with the Halloween details from the Palo Alto Ledger and the Thursday Live dates from the city's event listings:

Date	Event	Details
May 28, 2026	Thursday Live opener	Vice Mayor Greer Stone cut the ribbon; two music stages, food, games, a photo booth and classic cars
Sept. 24, 2026	Thursday Live finale	"Jazz and Harvest Fest," with The Footnotes Jazzband and The Sixth Edition on the bill
Oct. 31, 2026	Halloween on Cal Ave	10 a.m. to 1 p.m., with music, karaoke, dance performances, face painting and balloon twisting
Every Sunday	California Avenue Farmers Market	9 a.m. to 1 p.m., year-round

The Sunday market was on Cal Ave long before the promenade, and it's still the steadiest draw. Santa Clara County lists the Urban Village Farmers' Market Association as the operator at 400 California Ave. The state's certified market list names Ron Pardini as market manager for the block between El Camino and Birch.

December is next. Last year's Cal Ave Holiday Spectacular ran on Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, with family activities, music and dance from noon to 4 p.m., plus tree lightings at California & Birch, California & Ash, and California & El Camino. Downtown has its own date this year. The free Lytton Plaza tree lighting is Friday, Dec. 4, from 5:30 to 7 p.m., with School of Rock, the Boost Class Merry Holiday Dancers and the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra.

When Cal Ave restaurants apply for new outdoor rooms, they'll pick from the roofless, cabana and pergola plans posted on the city's Outdoor Dining Program page.

If you own a business near Cal Ave or a home a short walk from it, and you want to talk through what a permanent pedestrian street could mean for your corner of Palo Alto, The Costantini Team follows these changes block by block and is glad to share what we're seeing. Schedule a Consultation.