Cal Ave Keeps Picking Pastry Counters and Dinner Tables

On the last day of September, California Avenue looked emptier than it has in years. Every parklet on the car-free block had been taken down so crews could repave the street on Oct. 1 and 2. The city posted that once the work was done, "new outdoor dining standards will be in effect supporting the continued activation of Cal Ave." Palo Alto Online reported the change in its Oct. 4 Around Town column.

Four weeks later, Square Pie Guys said it would close its 369 California Ave. shop after its Friday service, a year after it opened. Since the city made the block between El Camino Real and Birch Street car-free for good, Cal Ave has been rewarding two kinds of food business: small counters you walk up to, and full sit-down restaurants. The bakeries lining up to open and the new parklet rules both lean further that way.

A Pizzeria With Busier Tuesdays Than Saturdays

Square Pie Guys opened in the former Local Kitchens space in September 2025. The Detroit-style pizza brand still runs locations in San Francisco, Oakland, Campbell and Walnut Creek. Founder Marc Schechter told Palo Alto Online that catering out of the Palo Alto shop went well. Dinner and weekend business did not.

"Our Saturdays and Sundays were slower than our Tuesdays and Wednesdays."

He said all four of his other shops get dinner and weekend rushes. He gave two reasons Palo Alto was different. The first was visibility. His other shops have "really good frontage on the street," he said, so people who heard about the pizza online can drive past and spot it. On a car-free block, nobody drives past.

The second reason was format. As Palo Alto Online summarized him, restaurants that make it on Cal Ave "either are grab-and-go concepts in small footprint shops or full-service restaurants," and Square Pie Guys sat in between. He tested the full-service side in August with a Bar Pie Guys pop-up at the same address. He called it "really successful," but said turning the shop into a full-service restaurant would have been too big a project.

He left on good terms. "A big thank you to everybody who came and supported us over the last year," he said. "Keep supporting local businesses."

Who Has Moved In, and What Format They Use

Hold Schechter's two formats up against recent arrivals and announced plans in and around Cal Ave, and most of them land clearly on one side.

The bakeries are the clearest sign. Croissante started in Santa Clara in 2023 and is known for cube-shaped croissants and mango-filled pastries. It is taking over the former Antonio's Nut House, the Cal Ave dive bar that closed in 2020. Arsicault, the San Francisco bakery many consider the city's best croissant, is building its Palo Alto shop in a new mixed-use building near California Avenue. Both are small-counter businesses where people order and leave with a box.

Backyard Brew is a longtime Cal Ave coffee shop. Palo Alto Online reported that the city ordered it closed in February 2025 over permit violations, and the owner, Ryan Khalil, had hoped to reopen over the summer. In September he said permitting was taking longer than he expected.

Bar Underdog comes from the team behind Palo Alto's Michelin-starred Protégé, and it is a place you sit down for the evening. Both the counters and the sit-down places are moving into the space between El Camino and Birch.

The Parklet Rules Are Built for Table Service

Any parklet built on the repaved street falls under standards the City Council approved 6 to 1 on June 1, 2026. Restaurants can pick one of three pre-approved designs and get faster approval: a roofless parklet, a cabana with a sloped roof, or a pergola with a flat roof. Other designs are allowed but go through a longer review.

A parklet is an outdoor dining room, and the businesses that backed the rules were mostly sit-down restaurants. Palo Alto Online reported that the owners of iTalico, Terun and Zareen's, which the outlet described as among Cal Ave's largest restaurants, all supported the street continuing as a pedestrian area. Sahlik Khan, head of operations at Zareen's, wrote to the council that foot traffic had "increased tremendously since the closure."

Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce CEO Charlie Weidanz said what the rules change for owners. "For some Cal Ave. businesses, they've been hesitant to fund high-quality permanent outdoor structures while operating under temporary rules," he said. The pre-approved designs give restaurants "the certainty the restaurants need to confidently invest their own capital into long-term outdoor spaces."

The city's own numbers suggest the investment makes sense. Bruce Fukuji, the urban architect leading the Cal Ave plan, told the council that vacancy on the street fell from 16% in 2023 to 7.5% in 2025, and that revenue from food sales rose 13% over the car-free period. Fewer empty storefronts and more food revenue help explain why a bakery and a cocktail bar would sign leases here, and why a format that relies on drive-by traffic would have a harder time.

Bikes Are What the Council Hasn't Settled

The council did settle one bigger question. Michael and Lara Ekwall, co-owners of the Cuban restaurant La Bodeguita del Medio, were among the merchants who asked the city to bring back one eastbound car lane between El Camino and Birch. Their plan would have made parallel Cambridge Avenue a one-way street running the other direction. The council showed no interest in reopening the car question.

What it left open was bikes. The Ekwalls wrote that "the growing mix of bicycles, ebikes, scooters, pedestrians, delivery traffic, and outdoor dining activity has, at times, created congested, confusing, and unsafe conditions." City staff had suggested thermoplastic bands across the street to slow riders down. Fukuji described these as "behavioral cues." The council went further and told staff to develop a bike-free alternative. Council member George Lu voted no. He said design features that make cyclists "slower and more predictable" could be safer than a ban, and that most riders are careful.

Both proposals point the same way. They would make Cal Ave more of a place where people walk, sit and stay. That suits a pastry counter with a line out the door and a dining room with a parklet. It does less for a business that needs people to pass by and notice it.

The Parts of the Week That Stay the Same

Whatever the street looks like after the reset, a few things on and near the street keep a fixed schedule:

• California Avenue Farmers Market: Sundays, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., at California Avenue by El Camino, every week of the year, rain or shine.
• Gamble Garden Winter Festival: Dec. 3 through 5, with a Holiday Marketplace of more than 30 vendors open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Dec. 4 and 5.
• Palo Alto Holiday Tree Lighting: Friday, Dec. 4, 5:30 to 7 p.m., at Lytton Plaza, 200 University Ave. School of Rock, the Boost Class Merry Holiday Dancers and the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra are on the city's lineup.

Thursday Live, the free monthly concert series the city started on Cal Ave on May 28, ran from May through September. The city's Thursday Live page also listed a special Halloween and Oktoberfest edition on Oct. 31. Croissante's Cal Ave shop and Arsicault on Cambridge Avenue are both planned within a few minutes' walk of the Sunday market.

A storefront that turns into a bakery, or a block that gains new dining parklets, changes what buyers see when they walk the area. If you own near California Avenue and want to know how this fall's changes affect your home's value, The Sidhu Team will put together a valuation that reflects the street as it is today. Get Your Home Valuation.