Midtown

Midtown is the part of Palo Alto that most visitors drive through without noticing and most residents use every week. It has no famous campus or historic district. What it has is a grocery store, pharmacies, cafes and everyday services within a few blocks of each other, plus some of the city's most used parks. Its streets are flat, its houses are mostly one story and its kids bike to school.

This guide explains where Midtown begins and ends, how it grew, what the homes look like and where to go once you are there. If you are comparing parts of town for a move or a longer stay, it also covers the trade-offs locals talk about.

Where Midtown is

The name is literal. Midtown sits in the middle of Palo Alto, south of the older neighborhoods and north of the big postwar tracts. A Palo Alto Online neighborhood profile puts its edges at Oregon Expressway to the north and Loma Verde Avenue to the south, with Alma Street and the Caltrain tracks on one side and West Bayshore Road along US 101 on the other.

Middlefield Road is the spine. It runs the length of the neighborhood and carries most of the traffic and nearly all of the shops. The commercial heart is Middlefield at Colorado Avenue, with a second cluster of stores where Middlefield meets Loma Verde. Residential streets such as Cowper, Waverley, Bryant and Ross Road fill the blocks in between.

Neighborhood names in Palo Alto are informal and some residents use Midtown loosely for everything from Oregon Expressway down to East Meadow Drive. The area just south of Loma Verde is sometimes called South of Midtown. It belongs to the same residents' association.

From orchards to a postwar neighborhood

Like most of south Palo Alto, this land was farms and orchards until after World War II. Longtime residents interviewed by Palo Alto Online recalled walnut trees and open views to the East Bay hills before the tract builders arrived in the late 1940s and 1950s. The street trees that now shade Midtown were saplings when the first owners moved in.

The shopping area followed the houses. Midtown's stores on Middlefield Road were developed after the war to serve the fast-growing south side of the city. Over the decades the mix included markets, bakeries, gas stations and a small department store. It became the place where south Palo Alto ran errands without driving downtown.

The neighborhood's most unusual business arrived in that same era. On February 15, 1956, an engineering professor named Duncan Williams opened an outdoor skating rink on Middlefield Road called The Winter Club. Facing redevelopment in the early 1980s, supporters formed a nonprofit to save it and reopened it as Winter Lodge in 1983. In 1985 Palo Alto voters approved measures that let the city swap land with the owner so the rink could stay. It still operates today on land leased from the city.

Homes: Eichlers, ranches and rebuilds

Midtown's housing is mostly single-story postwar homes on modest lots, with older Craftsman-era houses near the northern edge. Two building types define the look.

• Eichlers. Developer Joseph Eichler built about 2,700 homes in Palo Alto, mostly in the central and southern parts of town. One of his earliest tracts, known as Greer Park, went up in 1950 and 1951 near Greer Road and Amarillo Avenue. The city's Eichler inventory also lists a 1957 tract on Amarillo Avenue. Look for flat or low-pitched roofs, blank street facades and walls of glass facing the back garden.
• Ranch houses. Conventional one-story ranch homes from the same period fill many other blocks. They have pitched roofs, attached garages and front lawns.
• Rebuilds. Many original houses have been replaced by larger two-story homes. One longtime resident told Palo Alto Online in 2019 that more than half the homes on her block had been torn down and rebuilt since the 1970s.

In 2018 the City Council adopted voluntary design guidelines for Eichler neighborhoods to help owners remodel without losing the style. Some tracts have also adopted a Single Story Overlay that limits new homes to one floor. If you are buying, ask whether a particular street has one. For market context and how prices compare across the city, see our Palo Alto real estate guide.

The Midtown shopping area

The shops on Middlefield Road are neighborhood retail, not a destination mall. Safeway at 2811 Middlefield Road is the main grocery. Around it you will find chain drugstores, small restaurants, a few cafes, banks and service businesses such as dry cleaners and salons. Parking is in surface lots behind and beside the storefronts, which is one reason south Palo Alto residents like it.

The area has had a rough few years. A city-hired retail consultant in 2023 identified Midtown and downtown as the two Palo Alto commercial districts showing physical decline. Several familiar names have closed. Mike's Diner Bar, a Midtown fixture for about 30 years, served its last meals in June 2024.

The most visible gap is at 3191 Middlefield Road. A three-alarm fire in February 2023 destroyed a row of storefronts there, including a cafe and a dry cleaner. By June 2026 the burned building had been cleared and the fenced lot was back on the market as a redevelopment site. City Council members said publicly that they want ground-floor shops kept in any new project, even if housing is added above. Residents are watching closely, so expect changes to this block over the next few years.

Parks and outdoor space

Midtown is unusually well supplied with parks for its size. These are the ones locals use most:

Jerry Bowden Park at 2380 High Street is close by, but it lies just across Oregon Expressway to the north, in Old Palo Alto. Our Bowden Park guide covers it.

Greer Park is the big one. A Palo Alto Online report described it as roughly 22 acres, the largest city park outside the open space preserves. It stretches along West Bayshore Road between Amarillo and Colorado avenues with soccer fields, softball and Little League diamonds, basketball courts, a skateboard bowl and a toddler playground. It is busy on weekend mornings during youth sports season.

Hoover Park's fenced dog area is one of only four official dog parks in the city. Dogs must stay leashed elsewhere in Palo Alto parks. The City of Palo Alto dog park page lists the current rules and hours. For bigger outings, the Baylands Nature Preserve is a short bike ride east across US 101. See our outdoors guide for the full list of preserves and trails.

Skating at Winter Lodge

Winter Lodge at 3009 Middlefield Road is Midtown's one true attraction. It is a small, recreation-sized outdoor rink with fireplaces for warming up. The rink describes itself as the only permanent outdoor ice rink west of the Sierra Nevada. It is run by a nonprofit and has one of the larger skating schools in the region.

The 2026 to 2027 season opened for public skating on October 16, 2026. According to the rink, the last day of public skating is April 11, 2027. Tickets for public sessions are sold online only and must be bought in advance, up to 30 days ahead. The rink also closes on certain holidays. Check the Winter Lodge website for current session times and prices before you go. A holiday tree goes up after Thanksgiving, which makes December evenings the most festive time to visit. It is a good pick for families. Our Palo Alto with kids guide has more ideas nearby.

Getting around

Midtown is flat and compact, so bikes are the easiest way to get around. Ross Road is part of the city's bicycle boulevard network, which uses traffic circles, raised crossings and signage to slow cars and favor bikes. A roundabout at Ross Road and East Meadow Drive was built in 2017 as part of that project. Bryant Street to the west is another popular north and south bike route.

The closest Caltrain stop is California Avenue, about a mile west across Alma Street. From there trains run to San Francisco and San Jose. Our getting around guide covers bikes, buses and shuttles in more detail.

Living in Midtown

For residents, Midtown's appeal is convenience. Groceries, a pharmacy and parks are close. The Mitchell Park Library at 3700 Middlefield Road is just to the south and is open seven days a week. Downtown Palo Alto and California Avenue are each a short drive or bike ride away.

Public school assignments depend on the exact address. A 2019 Palo Alto Online profile listed El Carmelo, Fairmeadow, Hoover, Ohlone and Palo Verde elementary schools as serving parts of Midtown, followed by Jane Lathrop Stanford Middle School and either Gunn or Palo Alto High. Always confirm with the Palo Alto Unified School District school finder. Our schools guide explains how the district works.

Visitors rarely stay in Midtown, but families on longer visits sometimes rent a house here for the quiet streets and nearby parks. You can browse vacation rentals in Palo Alto or see our where to stay guide. To compare Midtown with the Eichler tracts just to the south, read our guide to south Palo Alto, or step back to the neighborhoods overview.

Frequently asked questions