Palo Alto is a city right next door to Mountain View in the heart of Silicon Valley. About 68,000 people live there. The city is named after a very tall, very old redwood tree called “El Palo Alto,” which means “the tall stick” in Spanish. That tree is still standing today and is over a thousand years old!
Stanford University is one of the most famous colleges in the world, and its beautiful campus takes up a big part of Palo Alto. You can walk around and see the tall Hoover Tower and the colorful Memorial Church. The Palo Alto Junior Museum & Zoo is a fun place for kids with animals and hands-on science exhibits. The Baylands Nature Preserve is a huge open space along the bay where you can spot birds, rabbits, and even the occasional fox.
Like Mountain View, the Palo Alto area was home to the Ohlone people for thousands of years. The city was founded in 1894 when Leland Stanford built Stanford University in memory of his son. Many students and professors started technology companies in Palo Alto, and the city became one of the birthplaces of Silicon Valley. The very first Apple computer was built in a garage in nearby Los Altos, just minutes from Palo Alto.
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