Foothill College

Most people know Foothill College as the campus they pass on Interstate 280 at the El Monte Road exit. It is worth a stop. On clear Friday nights the college opens its observatory to anyone who wants to look through a telescope, free. By day the hilltop campus is one of the most admired pieces of postwar college design in California. It also hosts lectures, performances and sports that draw people from across the area.

This page is written for visitors rather than students. It covers the observatory, the campus and its architecture, the parking rules and the events open to the public. Our Los Altos Hills guide explains the town around it.

The college in brief

Foothill is a public community college and part of the Foothill-De Anza Community College District, whose headquarters sit in one corner of the campus. Its sister school is De Anza College in Cupertino. The address is 12345 El Monte Road, Los Altos Hills.

The college's early history, as summarized on Wikipedia, runs like this. A July 1956 meeting called by Palo Alto school superintendent Henry M. Gunn led to the new college, which was founded on January 15, 1957. Classes began on September 15, 1958, in the old Highway School on El Camino Real in Mountain View. The board soon dropped "Junior" from the name. Even the owl mascot dates from that first campus, where a concrete owl decorated the school's bell tower. It was later moved to the hilltop.

The college offers associate degrees, two bachelor's degrees and many certificates. Unusually for a California community college, it runs on a quarter system. For other places to study in the area, see our schools and universities guide.

The observatory and public viewing

The Foothill College Observatory is the most useful reason for a Palo Alto visitor to come here. The college's observatory page lists a regular schedule:

• Friday evening public viewing: 9 to 11 p.m. every clear Friday. Targets depend on the season and what is in the sky.
• Saturday solar viewing: 10 a.m. to noon every clear Saturday, with views of the sun in white light and through a hydrogen-alpha filter.
• Special viewings for eclipses, bright comets and other events.

Programs are free for all ages. The observatory is closed when it is cloudy, so check the Clear Sky Chart linked from the college page or call the observatory hotline at 650.949.7334 before you drive over. The dome houses a 16-inch computer-controlled Schmidt-Cassegrain reflector and a hydrogen-alpha solar telescope. It stands next to Parking Lot 4 and the Krause Center for Innovation, Building 4000.

Who runs it

Volunteers from the Peninsula Astronomical Society staff the sessions. According to a July 2026 report in The Almanac, a club member donated his telescope to the new college on condition that it hold regular public viewing nights. When Proposition 13 cut community college funding in the late 1970s, the club offered to run the nights with volunteers. It has done so ever since. The club also holds free monthly talks.

The college's events listing also includes the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures. The next one posted is on November 18, 2026, when Dr. Alexie Leauthaud discusses dark energy. Check the college events page for the time and place.

Stanford's own student observatory opens to the public only a few times a year. Our Stanford observatory page compares the two.

The campus and its Japanese garden design

Foothill's campus is a landmark of California college planning. It was designed by architect Ernest J. Kump with landscape architects Hideo Sasaki and Peter Walker. Wikipedia, citing contemporary sources, describes the design as intended to resemble a neo-Japanese garden. The college was planned for 3,500 full-time students on a 122-acre hilltop and was among the first of the many junior colleges built in California after World War II. It was soon held up as a model for new campus design.

The campus outgrew that plan. By 2003 the college served nearly 14,000 students and began renovating almost the whole site, including replacing buildings that were no longer safe. Two buildings in the newer lower campus complex have grass-covered green roofs.

For visitors, the best way to see the design is on foot. Walk the upper campus and notice how buildings, paths and planting were laid out together around the hilltop. For more on regional design history, see our guide to Palo Alto architecture.

Parking permits

Parking is where visitors most often get caught out. The district's parking page sets these rules:

1. Digital parking permits are required in all district lots at Foothill, De Anza and the Sunnyvale campus.
2. The system is called iParq. Your license plate is your permit, so there is nothing to display.
3. Visitors and guests must register for a daily digital permit through the FHDA Visitor Permit Store. Daily permits are valid only on the dates selected but work at every district campus.
4. Visitors with a pre-approved complimentary code can enter it when getting a permit.
5. Vehicles with a disabled placard or plates are exempt and may park in any marked disabled, student or staff space.
6. Rules apply 365 days a year, even when classes are not in session. Overnight parking is not allowed.

There is one wrinkle. The observatory page says parking at Foothill College is free, while the district page says visitors must register for a daily permit. To be safe, register your plate or check with the district before an evening or weekend visit. Questions go to the district's parking office by email at the address on its parking page.

A passenger drop-off area is in Lot 1C. Elevators link the lower parking lots with the upper main campus near Smithwick Theatre.

Classes and events open to the public

Beyond the observatory, a few things draw non-students:

• Classes. Foothill is an open public college. Adults who want a single course can apply and enroll. Check the college's site for current fees, quarter dates and deadlines. For noncredit adult classes nearby, our Stanford Continuing Studies guide is another option.
• The Physics Show. Started in 2007 by physics professors Frank Cascarano and David Marasco, it has become one of the largest popular physics presentations in the country, according to a 2025 article in The Physics Teacher. Check the college's events page for dates.
• Sports and the track. Foothill teams play in the Coast Conference. Wikipedia notes that the track and field is open to the public. Check posted hours, since school use comes first. Our running guide lists other tracks and routes.
• A flea market? We could not confirm a current flea market at Foothill. A flea market run by De Anza College's student government is listed at De Anza in Cupertino.

History notes

Two stories link the campus to the region's tech past. From 1973 to 1991 an electronics museum built by the Perham Foundation stood on campus, with papers of vacuum tube pioneer Lee de Forest. After a legal fight the collection went into storage and was later acquired by History San José. For the bigger picture, visit the Computer History Museum in Mountain View.

The college also works with its neighbors. Foothill history students have helped organize the archives of Hidden Villa, the farm and wilderness preserve 1.7 miles up Moody Road.

Getting there from Palo Alto

From Palo Alto, take Interstate 280 south to the El Monte Road exit. The campus is right at the interchange. From Stanford the drive is about 15 minutes outside rush hour. VTA buses serve the college; see our VTA guide and check current routes and late-evening service before relying on a bus home from the observatory. Without a car, you can compare rental cars or use a rideshare.

Frequently asked questions