City of Palo Alto
—  City  —
Palo Alto
Seal
Location in Santa Clara County and the state of California
Coordinates: 37°25′45″N 122°8′17″W / 37.42917°N 122.13806°W / 37.42917; -122.13806Coordinates: 37°25′45″N 122°8′17″W / 37.42917°N 122.13806°W / 37.42917; -122.13806
Country	United States
State	California
County	Santa Clara
First Settled	1769
Incorporated as City	April 16, 1894
Government
• Type	Council-Manager
• Mayor	Yiaway Yeh[1]
• Council Member	Karen Holman
• Council Member	Larry Klein
• Council Member	Gail A. Price
Area[2]
• Total	25.787 sq mi (66.787 km2)
• Land	23.884 sq mi (61.858 km2)
• Water	1.903 sq mi (4.929 km2)  7.38%
Elevation	30 ft (9 m)
Population (2010)
• Total	64,403
• Density	2,500/sq mi (960/km2)
Time zone	PST (UTC-8)
• Summer (DST)	PDT (UTC-7)
ZIP codes	94301, 94303, 94306
Area code	650
FIPS code	06-55282
GNIS feature ID	0277572
Website	www.cityofpaloalto.org [6]

Palo Alto ( /ˌpæloʊˈæltoʊ/; Spanish: palo: "branch" and alto: "tall") is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. It is named after a redwood tree called El Palo Alto.

The city includes portions of Stanford University, is headquarters to a number of Silicon Valley high-technology companies, including Hewlett-Packard, VMware, Tesla Motors, Ning, IDEO, and Palantir Technologies, and has served as an incubator to several other high-technology companies, such as Google,^[3] Facebook, Logitech,^[4] Intuit, Sun Microsystems,^[5] and PayPal. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 64,403 residents. Palo Alto was established by Leland Stanford when he established Stanford University, following the death of his son Leland Stanford Jr. on March 13, 1884. Palo Alto is one of the most expensive cities in the United States.

History[link]

Palo Alto's earliest recorded history stems from 1769, when Gaspar de Portolà noted an Ohlone settlement. This remains an area of known Indian mounds. A plaque is erected at Middlefield Road and Embarcadero Road to commemorate this area.

The city got its name from the tall landmark Redwood tree, El Palo Alto, which still grows on the east bank of San Francisquito Creek across from Menlo Park. One trunk of the twin-trunked tree can still be found by the railroad trestle near Alma Street in El Palo Alto Park^[6] (the other trunk was destroyed during a storm in the late 20th century). There a plaque recounts the story of the Portolà expedition, a 63-man, 200-horse expedition from San Diego to Monterey from November 7–11, 1769. The group overshot Monterey in the fog and when they reached modern-day Pacifica they ascended Sweeney Ridge and discovered San Francisco Bay. Portolà descended from Sweeney Ridge southeast down San Andreas Creek to Laguna Creek (now Crystal Springs Reservoirs and the Filoli estate, and thence to the San Francisquito Creek watershed, ultimately camping at El Palo Alto from November 6-11, 1769. Thinking the bay was too wide to cross, the group retraced their journey back to Monterey, never discovering the Golden Gate entrance to the Bay.

About 1827 Rafael Soto, tenth child and son of De Anza Expedition settler Ygnacio Soto and María Bárbara Espinosa de Lugo of Alta, California, came to stay with Máximo Martínez at his Rancho Corte de Madera for seven years. Located south of the San Francisquito Creek, west of today's I-280, Rancho Corte de Madera covered most of Portola Valley to Skyline Boulevard extending south to about Foothill College. In 1835, Rafael Soto and family settled near the San Francisquito Creek near Newell and Middlefield, selling goods to travelers. Rafael Soto died in 1839, but his wife, Maria Antonia Mesa, was granted Rancho Rinconada del Arroyo de San Francisquito in 1841.

Their daughter María Luisa Soto married in 1839, John Coppinger, who was the grantee of Rancho Cañada de Raymundo. Rancho Cañada de Raymundo was West of San Francisquito Creek, and began at Alambique Creek, the north border of Rancho Corte de Madera, and extended north, including present day Woodside. Bear Gulch Creek (Bear Creek) flowed on his land in Portola Valley. The rancho also abutted Buelna's grant near Skyline Boulevard and Matadero Creek. Upon Coppinger's death, Maria inherited it and later married a visiting boat captain, John Greer. Greer owned a home on the property that is now Town & Country Village on Embarcadero and El Camino Real. Greer Avenue and Court are named for him. To the west of Rafael Soto, near El Camino and following the Creek, was Rancho San Francisquito granted in 1839, to Antonio Buelna and wife Maria Concepcion.

To the south of the Sotos, the brothers, Secundino and Teodoro Robles, in 1849 bought Rancho Rincon de San Francisquito from José Peña, the 1841 grantee.^[7] The grant extended from San Francisquito Creek, Alpine Road and Bishop Ln. (behind Stanford Shopping Center) and golf course. Then South along the Santa Cruz Foothills between Junipero Serra & Hwy 280 to the (Intersection of Matadero Creek/ Hillview /Miranda) & then SW near the intersection of Page Mill & Arastradero Rd. (where the Jone's House was), then east down Arastradero Rd. to the north property line of Alta Mesa Memorial Park and Terman Park. Follow the trail of what was once the old stage road over Adobe Creek (then Yeguas Creek) to El Camino Real & then east on San Antonio Rd. to the Bay marshes passing over the RR and what was once the Jeffry's House & Stables. The property then went along the bay to the Embarcadero, a major boundary in the day. Then up to the Stanford University gates, up Galvez and along Campus way to the hills near the golf course. The grant was bounded on the south by Mariano Castro's Rancho Pastoria de las Borregas grant across San Antonio Road. That's the Robles Rancho, about 80% of Palo Alto and Stanford University. It was whittled down by 1863 through courts to 6,981 acres (28.25 km²). Stories say their grand hacienda was built on the former meager adobe of José Peña near Ferne off San Antonio Road, midway between Middlefield and Alma Street.^[8] Their hacienda hosted fiestas and bull fights. It was ruined in the 1906 earthquake and its lumber was used to build a large barn nearby which it is said lingered until the early 1950s. In 1853, they sold 250 acres (1.0 km²), comprising the present day Barron Park, Matadero Creek and Stanford Business Park, to Elisha Oscar Crosby, who coined Mayfield as she called her new property Mayfield Farm. In 1880 Secundino Robles, father to twenty-nine children, still lived near present day Sears store.

Many of the Spanish names in the Palo Alto area represent the local heritage, descriptive terms and former residents. Pena Court, Miranda Avenue, which was essentially Foothill Expwy was the married name of Juana Briones and the name occurs in Courts and Avenues others in Palo Alto to Mountain View in the quadrant where she owned vast areas between Stanford Univ., Grant Road in Mountain View and west of El Camino. Yerba Buena was to her credit. Rinconada was the major Mexican land grant name.

University Avenue at the Circle with train steaming toward El Palo Alto, 1894

The township of Mayfield was formed in 1855, in what is now southern Palo Alto. In 1875 French financier Jean Baptiste Paulin Caperon, better known as Peter Coutts, purchased land in Mayfield and four other parcels around three sides of today's College Terrace - more than a thousand acres extending from today's Page Mill Road to Serra Street and from El Camino Real to the foothills. Coutts named his property Ayrshire Farm. His fanciful brick 50 foot tall brick tower near Matadero Creek likely marked the south corner of his property. Leland Stanford started buying land in the area in 1876 for a horse farm, called the Palo Alto Stock Farm. Stanford bought Ayrshire Farm in 1882.^[9] Jane and Leland Stanford, Sr. founded Stanford University in 1891, dedicated to his son who died of typhoid fever at age 15 in 1884. In 1886, Stanford came to Mayfield, interested in founding his university there. He had a train stop created near his school on Mayfield's downtown street, Lincoln Street (now named California Avenue). However, he had one condition: alcohol had to be banned from the town. Known for its 13 rowdy saloons, Mayfield rejected his requests for reform. This led him to drive the formation of Palo Alto as a Temperance Town in 1894 with the help of his friend Timothy Hopkins of the Southern Pacific Railroad who bought 740 acres (3.0 km²) of private land in 1887 for the new townsite. The Hopkins Tract, bounded by El Camino Real, San Francisquito Creek, Boyce, Channing, Melville, and Hopkins Avenues, and Embarcadero Road,^[10] was proclaimed a local Heritage District during Palo's Alto Centennial in 1994. Stanford set up his university, Stanford University, and a train stop (on University Avenue) by his new town. With Stanford's support, saloon days faded and Palo Alto grew to the size of Mayfield. On July 2, 1925, Palo Alto voters approved the annexation of Mayfield and the two communities were officially consolidated on July 6, 1925. This saga explains why Palo Alto has two downtown areas: one along University Avenue and one along California Avenue.

The Mayfield News wrote its own obituary four days later:

It is with a feeling of deep regret that we see on our streets today those who would sell, or give, our beautiful little city to an outside community. We have watched Mayfield grow from a small hamlet, when Palo Alto was nothing more than a hayfield, to her present size … and it is with a feeling of sorrow that we contemplate the fact that there are those who would sell or give the city away.

Many of Stanford University's first faculty members settled in the Professorville neighborhood of Palo Alto. Professorville, now a registered national historic district, is bounded by Kingsley, Lincoln, and Addison avenues and the cross streets of Ramona, Bryant, and Waverley. The district includes a large number of well preserved residences dating from the 1890s, including 833 Kingsley, 345 Lincoln and 450 Kingsley. 1044 Bryant was the home of Russell Varian, co-inventor of the Klystron tube. The Federal Telegraph laboratory site, situated at 218 Channing, is a California Historical Landmark recognizing Lee de Forest's 1911 invention of the vacuum tube and electronic oscillator at that location. While not open to the public, the garage that housed the launch of Hewlett Packard is located at 367 Addison Avenue. Hewlett Packard recently restored the house and garage. A second historic district on Ramona Street can be found downtown between University and Hamilton Avenues. The Palo Alto Chinese School is the oldest in the whole Bay Area.

Geography[link]

Topography[link]

Palo Alto is crossed by several creeks that flow north to San Francisco Bay, Adobe Creek on its eastern boundary, San Francisquito Creek on its western boundary, and Matadero Creek in between the other two. Arastradero Creek is tributary to Matadero Creek, and Barron Creek is now diverted to Adobe Creek just south of Highway 101 by a diversion channel. The San Francisquito Creek mainstem is formed by the confluence of Corte Madera Creek and Bear Creek not far below Searsville Dam. Further downstream, Los Trancos Creek is tributary to San Francisquito Creek below Interstate 280.

Environmental features[link]

Guinda Street in Palo Alto

Palo Alto has a number of significant natural habitats, including estuarine, riparian, and oak forest. Many of these habitats are visible in Foothill Park, which is owned by the city. The Charleston Slough contains a rich marsh and littoral zone, providing feeding areas for a variety of shorebirds and other estuarine wildlife.^[11]

Palo Alto is in the south-eastern section of the San Francisco Peninsula. It is bordered to the north by East Palo Alto, to the east by Mountain View, to the southeast and south by Los Altos and Los Altos Hills, to the southwest by Portola Valley, and to the west by Stanford and Menlo Park.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 25.8 square miles (67 km²). 23.9 square miles (62 km²) of it is land and 1.9 square miles (4.9 km²) (or 7.38%) is water.

The official elevation is 56 feet (17 m) above sea level, but the city boundaries reach well into the peninsula hills. There are signs denoting the city limits on Skyline Boulevard (highway 35) and the Stevens Canyon trail (San Andreas fault rift zone).

Climate[link]

Typical of the San Francisco Bay Area, Palo Alto has a Mediterranean Climate with cool, wet winters and warm, dry summers. Typically as the sun goes down the fog bank flows over the foothills to the west and covers the night sky, thus creating a blanket that helps trap the summer warmth absorbed during the day.

In January, average temperatures range from 38.5 °F (3.6 °C) to 57.4 °F (14.1 °C). In July, average temperatures range from 54.9 °F (12.7 °C) to 78.4 °F (25.8 °C). The record high temperature was 107 °F (42 °C) on June 15, 1961, and the record low temperature was 15 °F (−9 °C) on November 17, 2003. Temperatures reach 90°F (32°C) or higher on an average of 9.9 days. Temperatures drop to 32°F (0°C) or lower on an average of 16.1 days.

Due to the Santa Cruz Mountains to the west, there is a "rain shadow" in Palo Alto, resulting in an average annual rainfall of only 15.32 inches (389 mm). Measurable rainfall occurs on an average of 57 days annually. The wettest year on record was 1983 with 32.51 inches (826 mm) and the driest year was 1976 with 7.34 inches (186 mm). The most rainfall in one month was 12.43 inches (316 mm) in February 1998 and the most rainfall in one day was 3.75 inches (95 mm) on February 3, 1998. Measurable snowfall is very rare in Palo Alto, but 1.5 inches (38 mm) fell on January 21, 1962.^[12]

(The annual average high is 20.7°C and the average low 8.1°C.)

Local government[link]

Palo Alto was incorporated in 1894, and in 1909 created, by municipal charter, a local government consisting of a fifteen-member City Council, with responsibilities for various governmental functions delegated to appointed committees. In 1950, the City adopted a Council-manager government. Several appointed committees continue to advise the City Council on specialized issues, such as land use planning, utilities, and libraries, but these committees no longer have direct authority over City staff. Currently, the City Council has only nine members.

The terms of the Mayor and Vice-Mayor are for one year and expire at the first meeting in January. The General Municipal Election is held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, in odd-numbered years. Council terms are for four years. A former Mayor once described her position as "I get a parking spot; that's about it".^{[citation needed]}

Politics[link]

The city is strongly Democratic with 52% of those registered with any party being Democrats, versus 25% registered with the Republican Party.^[14] In the state legislature Palo Alto is located in the 11th Senate District, represented by Democrat Joe Simitian, and in the 21st Assembly District, represented by Democrat Rich Gordon. Federally, Palo Alto is located in California's 14th congressional district, which has a Cook PVI of D+21^[15] and is represented by Democrat Anna Eshoo.

Demographics[link]

2010[link]

The 2010 United States Census^[16] reported that Palo Alto had a population of 64,403. The population density was 2,497.5 people per square mile (964.3/km²). The racial makeup of Palo Alto was 41,359 (64.2%) White, 1,197 (1.9%) African American, 121 (0.2%) Native American, 17,461 (27.1%) Asian, 142 (0.2%) Pacific Islander, 1,426 (2.2%) from other races, and 2,697 (4.2%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3,974 persons (6.2%).

The Census reported that 63,820 people (99.1% of the population) lived in households, 205 (0.3%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 378 (0.6%) were institutionalized.

There were 26,493 households, out of which 8,624 (32.6%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 13,975 (52.7%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 1,843 (7.0%) had a female householder with no husband present, 659 (2.5%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 979 (3.7%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 188 (0.7%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 7,982 households (30.1%) were made up of individuals and 3,285 (12.4%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.41. There were 16,477 families (62.2% of all households); the average family size was 3.04.

The population was spread out with 15,079 people (23.4%) under the age of 18, 3,141 people (4.9%) aged 18 to 24, 17,159 people (26.6%) aged 25 to 44, 18,018 people (28.0%) aged 45 to 64, and 11,006 people (17.1%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41.9 years. For every 100 females there were 95.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.0 males.

There were 28,216 housing units at an average density of 1,094.2 per square mile (422.5/km²), of which 14,766 (55.7%) were owner-occupied, and 11,727 (44.3%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.5%; the rental vacancy rate was 5.6%. 39,176 people (60.8% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 24,644 people (38.3%) lived in rental housing units.

2000[link]

As of the census^[17] of 2000, there were 58,598 people, 25,216 households, and 14,600 families residing in the city. The population density was 955.8/km² (2,475.3/mi²). There were 26,048 housing units at an average density of 424.9/km² (1,100.3/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 75.76% white, 2.02% African American, 0.21% Native American, 17.22% Asian, 0.14% Pacific Islander, 1.41% from other races, and 3.24% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.65% of the population.

There were 25,216 households, of which 27.2% had resident children under the age of 18, 48.5% were married couples living together, 7.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.1% were non-families. 32.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.30 and the average family size was 2.95.

In the city the population was spread out with 21.2% under the age of 18, 4.9% from 18 to 24, 32.4% from 25 to 44, 25.9% from 45 to 64, and 15.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 95.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.6 males.

According to a 2007 estimate, the median income for a household in the city was $119,046, and the median income for a family was $153,197.^[18] Males had a median income of $91,051 versus $60,202 for females. The per capita income for the city was $56,257. About 3.2% of families and 4.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.0% of those under age 18 and 5.0% of those age 65 or over.

Housing[link]

Palo Alto, north of Oregon Expressway, is filled with older homes, including Craftsman and California Colonials, some of which date back to the 1890s but most of which were built in the first four decades of the 20th century. South of Oregon Expressway, the homes, including many Joseph Eichler-designed or Eichler-style houses, were primarily built in the first 20 years after World War II.

While the city contains homes that now cost anywhere from $800,000 to well in excess of $40 million, much of Palo Alto's housing stock is in the style of California mid-century middle-class suburbia. It has highly rated public schools (see: Paly and Gunn), a high quality of life, and a vibrant downtown area. The median home sale price for all of Palo Alto was more than $1.3 million in 2006.^[19] and $1,363,000 in July 2009^[20] Palo Alto ranks in as the 5th most expensive city in the United States, with an average home sales price of $1,677,000 as of 2007.^[21] In 2010, Palo Alto ranked as the 2nd most expensive city in the United States, at $1.48 million.^[22] Palo Alto is by some measures the most expensive college town in the United States;^[23] as a result, most Stanford University students live on campus.

Economy[link]

Palo Alto serves as a central economic focal point of the Silicon Valley, and is home to more than 7,000 businesses employing more than 98,000 people.^[24] Many prominent technology firms reside in the Stanford Research Park on Page Mill Road, while nearby Sand Hill Road in the adjacent city of Menlo Park is a notable hub of venture capitalists. The city's economy generally follows the economic trends of the rest of the Silicon Valley. Well-known companies and research facilities headquartered in Palo Alto include:^[25]

The main entrance of the HP headquarters building

The main entrance to the Tesla Motors headquarters

Other notable companies with significant presences in Palo Alto include:

• Accenture (Former North American HQ. The main HQ now resides in Ireland)
• AOL Inc.
• BMW (Technology)
• CNF Inc.
• Dell
• EPRI
• Genencor (based in Palo Alto)
• Groupon
• Lockheed Martin
• Slam Content^[27]
• Merrill Lynch (largest office outside New York)
• Nokia Research Center
• Onlive
• Posedge Inc
• Rave Wireless (founded in Palo Alto)
• SAP AG (North American Labs)
• Schering-Plough Biopharma
• Skype
• The Wall Street Journal
• Wso2

In addition, Palo Alto has a lively retail and restaurant trade. Stanford Shopping Center, an upscale open air shopping center established in 1955, and downtown Palo Alto (centered on University Avenue) are popular eating venues and shopping destinations.

Palo Alto is also home to the first street-level Apple Store,^[28] the first Apple mini store,^[29] the first Whole Foods Market store on the West Coast,^[30] and the first Victoria's Secret.^[31]

Top employers[link]

According to the City's 2010 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report,^[32] the top employers in the city are:

Utilities[link]

Unlike surrounding communities, electric and gas service within city limits are provided by the city of Palo Alto. A minor exception is a rural portion of the city limits in hills area—west of Interstate 280, past the Country Club, which does not receive gas from the City.

Water and Gas Services (WGS) operates gas and water distribution networks within the city limits. PG&E does not serve customers within CPA limits. The city operates gas meters and the distribution pipelines. Water comes from city-operated watershed and wells and the City and County of San Francisco Hetch Hetchy system. The city is located in Santa Clara Valley Water District, North Zone. Hetch Hetchy pipeline #3 and #4 pass through the city.

The city operates its own electric power distribution network and telemetry cable network. Interconnection points tie the city into PG&E's electric transmission system, which brings power from several sources to the city. A claim to fame is the city's exemption from rolling blackouts during the summer 2000 power shortages. Palo Alto is a member of a joint powers authority (the Northern California Power Agency), which cooperatively generates electricity for government power providers such as the City of Santa Clara, the City of Redding, and the Port of Oakland. Roughly the same group of entities operate the Transmission Agency of Northern California (TANC). TANC transports power (called wheeling) over its own lines from as far as British Columbia through an interconnection with the federal Bonneville Power Administration. A local oddity is a series of joint poles on Arastradero Road near Page Mill Road. The primary conductor cross arms are marked PGE and CPA (city of Palo Alto) to identify each utility's side of the shared cross arms.

Palo Alto has an ongoing community debate about the city providing fiber optic connectivity to all residences. A series of pilot programs were proposed. One proposal called for the city to install dark fiber which would be made live by a contractor.

Services traditionally attributed to a cable television provider were sold to a regulated commercial concern. Previously the cable system was operated by a cooperative called Palo Alto Cable Coop.

The former Regional Bell Operating Company in Palo Alto was Pacific Telephone. The company is now called AT&T and was previously called SBC and Pacific Bell. One of the earliest central office facilities switching Palo Alto calls is the historic Davenport central office (CO) at 529 Bryant St. The building was sold and is now the home of the Palo Alto Internet Exchange. The former CO building is marked by a bronze plaque and is located on the north side of Bryant Street between University Avenue and Hamilton Avenue. It was called Davenport after the exchange name at the introduction of dial telephone service in Palo Alto. For example, modern numbers starting with 325- were Davenport 5 in the 1950s and '60s. The Bryant CO, located at 37°26′44″N 122°09′39″W / 37.44556°N 122.16083°W / 37.44556; -122.16083, contained several floors of clattering Western Electric Step-by-Step switching equipment that historically handled calls for homes and businesses in Menlo Park, Atherton, East Palo Alto, and Palo Alto. The Step-by-Step office was scrapped and replaced by stored-program-controlled equipment at a different location about 1980. Stanford calls ran on a Step-by-Step Western Electric 701 PBX until the university purchased its own switch about 1980. It had the older, traditional Bell System 600 Hz+120 Hz dial tone. The old 497-number PBX, MDF, and battery string were housed in a steel building at 333 Bonair Siding. (The building still stands but Stanford's present-day PBX switch is elsewhere). From 1950s to 1980s, the bulk of Palo Alto calls were switched on Number 5 Crossbar systems. By the mid-1980s, these electromechanical systems had been junked. Under the Bell System's regulated monopoly, local coin telephone calls were ten cents until the early 1980s.

During the drought of the early 1990s, Palo Alto employed water waste patrol officers to enforce water saving regulations. The team, called "Gush Busters", patrolled city streets looking for broken water pipes and poorly managed irrigation systems. Regulations were set to stop restaurants from habitually serving water, run off from irrigation and irrigation during the day. The main goal of the team was to educate the public in ways to save water. Citations consisted of Friendly Reminder post cards and more formal notices. To help promote the conservation message, the team only used bicycles and mopeds.

Fire and police departments[link]

Palo Alto City Hall, as seen in 2004.

The city was among the first in Santa Clara County to offer advanced life support (ALS) paramedic-level (EMT-P) ambulance service. In an arrangement predating countywide paramedic service, Palo Alto Fire operates two paramedic ambulances which are theoretically shared with county EMS assets. The Palo Alto Fire Department is currently the only fire department in Santa Clara County that routinely transports patients. Rural Metro holds the Santa Clara County 911 contract and provides transportation in other cities. Enhanced 9-1-1 arrived in about 1980 and included the then-new ability to report emergencies from coin telephones without using a coin. Palo Alto Fire also provides service to the Stanford University campus.

The police station was originally housed in a stone building (still) marked Police Court at 450 Bryant St. The building is now a senior citizens center. In modern times, police are headquartered in the City Hall high rise. The Department is staffed by just under 100 sworn officers ranking from Chief, Captain, Lieutenant, Sergeant, Agent (corporal) and Officer. The staff is supplemented by approximately 10 Reserve Officers and professional staff to support the Police Department and the Animal Services organization.

School system[link]

Public schools[link]

The Palo Alto Unified School District provides public education for most of Palo Alto. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, Palo Alto has a student-teacher ratio of 14.9,^[33] much lower than some surrounding communities. Juana Briones Elementary has a student/teacher ratio of 14.4.^[34] The school board meets at 7 p.m. the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of the month; the meetings are open to the public and city cast live on Government-access television (GATV) Cable TV Services Channel 28 in Palo Alto. Palo Alto students attend one of two high schools, the critically acclaimed Gunn High School or Palo Alto High School.There are also 3 middle schools, J.L.S., Jordan, and Terman.

The Los Altos School District and Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District provide public education for the Monroe neighborhood portion of Palo Alto off El Camino Real south of Adobe Creek.

Private schools[link]

• Bowman International School – a K-8 school founded in 1995 which emphasizes learning about different cultures.
• Castilleja School – an all-girls’ college preparatory school for grades 6-12.
• Challenge Summer School - Morrissey/Compton – Challenge is a five-week summer program for elementary students with mild to moderate learning or language disabilities. The program focuses on maintenance of academic skills, instruction in new strategies to succeed in school, and the continuing development of self-esteem.
• Challenger School – a K-8 School with extreme emphasis on academics
• Gideon Hausner Jewish Day School – a K-8 Jewish day school; school's name changed from Mid-Peninsula Jewish Community Day School (MPJCDS)^[35]
• The Girls' Middle School – an independent, all-girls day school for students in sixth, seventh, and eighth grade^[36]
• International School of the Peninsula – a Nursery-8 bilingual immersion school with two Palo Alto campuses. Offers two Nursery - 5 programs: Chinese-English and French-English, and an international middle school. Established in 1979.^[37]
• Kehillah Jewish High School – a new preparatory high school with both secular and Jewish studies
• Keys School – a co-ed, independent K-8 school focused on learning for life
• Kitty Petty Institute – a preschool for disabled children
• Meira Academy - A Orthodox Jewish all-girls high school opening up the fall of 2011.
• Palo Alto Montessori School – an accredited preschool which has been educating 2- to 5-year-olds since 1977.
• Pinewood School – located on Fremont Road in Los Altos Hills; most of the students are from Los Altos Hills/Los Altos area
• St Elizabeth Seton Extended – a Catholic school
• Palo Alto Chinese School - oldest Chinese school in Bay Area
• Stratford School – a K-5 school focused on all round development^[38]

Libraries[link]

The Palo Alto City Library has five branches, with a total of 265,000 items in their collections.^[39] The library's mission is to enable people to explore library resources in order to enrich their lives with knowledge, information, and enjoyment. For Palo Alto library card holders, the main library web page also offers links to primary source databases with collections of magazine, newspaper, and other print articles. The Palo Alto City Library is also a member of the Northern California Digital Library, which allows card holders to browse and download the digital resources made available. Library cards are freely available for Palo Alto residents.

Media[link]

The Palo Alto Daily Post publishes six days a week. Palo Alto Daily News, a unit of the San Jose Mercury News, publishes 5 days a week. Palo Alto Weekly is published Fridays. Palo Alto Times, a daily newspaper served Palo Alto and neighboring cities beginning in 1894. In 1979 it became the Peninsula Times Tribune. The newspaper ceased publication in 1993.^[40]

KDOW 1220 AM began broadcasting in 1949 as KIBE; it later became KDFC, simulcasting classical KDFC-FM. As KDOW it broadcasts a business news format. The transmitter is in East Palo Alto near the western approach to Dumbarton Bridge with power of 5,000 watts daytime and 145 watts nighttime.

The Midpeninsula Community Media Center provides Public, educational, and government access (PEG) cable tv channels 26, 27, 28, 29, and 30.^[41]

Among other programs, Palo Alto Institute runs a unique film festival, the Palo Alto International Film Festival, that focuses on the ways in which new technologies influence and are influenced by artistic revolution in media.

The movie "Palo Alto, CA" was filmed in the town and many landmarks can be seen in the background but the plot could be centered in any smaller town or city.^[42]

Transportation[link]

Roads[link]

Palo Alto is served by two major freeways, Highway 101, and Interstate 280, and is traversed by the Peninsula's main north-south boulevard, El Camino Real (SR 82).

The city is also served indirectly by State Route 84 which traverses the Dumbarton Bridge to the north. None of the highways on the Peninsula side of the bridge have been upgraded to freeway status due to opposition from residents of Palo Alto, Atherton and Menlo Park. The freeway opponents fear that upgrading Highway 84 will encourage more people to live in Alameda County (where housing is more affordable) and commute to jobs in the mid-Peninsula area, thus increasing traffic in their neighborhoods to the south of the bridge. Also, Palo Alto has only one major crosstown arterial, Page Mill Road / Oregon Expressway, which completely connects the two freeways.

There are no parking meters in Palo Alto and all municipal parking lots and multi-level parking structures are free (limited to two or three hours any weekday 8am–5pm). Downtown Palo Alto has recently added many new lots to fill the overflow of vehicles.

Air[link]

Palo Alto is served by Palo Alto Airport of Santa Clara County (KPAO), one of the busiest single-runway general aviation airports in the country. It is used by many daily commuters who fly (usually in private single-engine aircraft) from their homes in the Central Valley to work in the Palo Alto area. Major airlines offer service at San Francisco International Airport (SFO), about 21 miles north, and San Jose International Airport (SJC), about 15 miles southeast.

Rail[link]

Train service is available via Caltrain with service between San Francisco and San Jose and extending to Gilroy. Caltrain has two regular stops in Palo Alto, one at University Avenue (local and express) and the other at California Avenue (local only). A third, the Stanford station, located beside Alma Street at Embarcadero Road, is used to provide special services for occasional sports events (generally football) at Stanford Stadium. The University Avenue stop is the second most popular (behind 4th and King in San Francisco) on Caltrain's entire line.

Bus[link]

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) provides primary bus service through Palo Alto with service to the south bay and Silicon Valley. The San Mateo County Transit District (SamTrans) provides service to San Mateo County to the north. The Stanford University Free Shuttle (Marguerite) provides a supplementary bus service to and from the campus, and the Palo Alto Free Shuttle (Crosstown and Embarcadero), which circulates frequently, and provides service to major points in Palo Alto, including the main library, downtown, the Municipal Golf Course, the Caltrain University Ave. Station, and both high schools.[7]

Cycling[link]

Cycling is a popular mode of transportation in Palo Alto. It accounts for 7.5% of commute to work trips,^[43] which is the third highest bicycle commute mode share among cities in the Bay Area, after Berkeley and Menlo Park. Since 2003, Palo Alto has received a Bicycle Friendly Community status of "Gold" from the League of American Bicyclists. The city's flat terrain and many quiet tree-shaded streets offer comfort and safety to cyclists, and the temperate climate makes year-round cycling possible. Palo Alto pioneered the bicycle boulevard concept in 1970s, enhancing residential Bryant Street to make it especially convenient for cyclists by removing stop signs, providing special traffic signals, and installing traffic calming devices and a bicycle bridge. However, busy arterial streets which often offer the fastest and most direct route to many destinations, are dangerous for cyclists due to high volumes of fast-moving traffic and the lack of bicycle lanes. El Camino Real, Alma Street, and Embarcadero and Middlefield roads, all identified as "high priorities" for adding bicycle lanes to improve safety by the Palo Alto Bicycle Transportation Plan in 2003, still contain no provisions for cyclists.

Sister cities[link]

Palo Alto has six sister cities, as designated by Sister Cities International:

• Albi, France, since 1994
• Linköping, Sweden, since 1987
• Oaxaca, Mexico, since 1964
• Enschede, Netherlands, since 1980
• Palo, Philippines, since 1963
• Tsuchiura, Japan, since 2009^[44]

In 1989, Palo Alto received a gift of a large, whimsical wooden sculpture called Foreign Friends (Fjärran Vänner)—of a man, woman, dog and bird sitting on a park bench—from Linköping. The sculpture was praised by some, called "grotesque" by others, and became a lightning rod for vandals. It was covered with a large addressed postcard marked "Return to Sender." A former Stanford University professor was arrested for attempting to light it on fire. It was doused with paint.^[45]

When the original heads were decapitated on Halloween, 1993, the statue became a shrine—flowers bouquets and cards were placed upon it. Following an anonymous donation, the heads were restored. Within weeks, the restored heads were decapitated again, this time disappearing. The heads were eventually replaced with new ones, which generated even more distaste, as many deemed the new heads even less attractive.^{[citation needed]}

A few months later, the man's arm was chopped off, the woman's lap was vandalized, the bird was stolen, and the replacements heads were decapitated and stolen.^{[citation needed]}

The sculpture was removed from its location on Embarcadero Road and Waverley Avenue in 1995, dismantled, and placed in storage until it was destroyed in 2000. Ironically, the statue was designed not as a lasting work of art, but as something to be climbed on with a lifespan of 10 to 25 years.^{[citation needed]}

Notable buildings and other points of interest[link]

Aerial view of Stanford University

Palo Alto Community House

Frenchman's Tower on Old Page Mill Road

• Arastradero Preserve
• Arizona Cactus Garden
• Cantor Arts Center
• Digital DNA, egg-shaped sculpture downtown
• Elizabeth Gamble Garden^[46]
• Frenchman's tower^[47]

• Former Community House in MacArthur Park at the intersection of University Avenue and El Camino Real; designed by Julia Morgan for the YWCA but first used as a social centre in Camp Fremont, Menlo Park during World War I; now a restaurant
• Institute of Transpersonal Psychology
• Lou Henry Hoover Girl Scout House^[48]
• Matadero Creek
• Mental Research Institute (MRI)
• Packard's garage
• Palo Alto Art Center
• Palo Alto Airport, off Embarcadero East, is surrounded by numerous flying schools, and is a convenient bay area *
• Palo Alto Foothills Park
• Palo Alto Baylands Nature Preserve
• Palo Alto University
• Printers Inc. Bookstore, now defunct, was a landmark independent bookstore on California Ave. and was referenced in Vikram Seth's novel, The Golden Gate. It closed in 2001.
• Stanford Shopping Center
• Stanford University
• Stanford University Arboretum
• University Avenue (Downtown Palo Alto)
• Palo Alto Varsity Theater
• Papua New Guinea Sculpture Garden at Stanford ^[49]
• Stanford Terrace Inn ^[50] formerly Tiki Inn Motel ^[51]
• Stanford Theatre
• Saint Thomas Aquinas Parish

Notable people[link]

Artists and entertainers[link]

• William Ackerman, acoustic guitarist. He founded and ran for many years the influential New Age record label Windham Hill Records.
• Joan Baez, folk singer^[52]
• Lindsey Buckingham, member of Fleetwood Mac
• The Grateful Dead, rock "jam" band (early incarnations of the band were based in Palo Alto)^[53]
• The Donnas
• Yehuda Feldman
• Dave Franco, actor
• James Franco, actor, director, screenwriter, producer, artist, author
• Teri Hatcher, born in Palo Alto, actress
• Amy Irving, actress*
• Stephan Jenkins, rock musician (Third Eye Blind)
• Ugly Kid Joe
• Ollie Johnston, Academy Award–winning Disney animator (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Fantasia)^[54]
• Kingston Trio
• Grace Slick, singer
• Serhiy Timoshenko,^[55] Ukrainian famous architect and politician Anti-communist (member of Central Council of Ukraine), brother of Ukrainian scientist Stephen Timoshenko
• Alessandra Torresani, actress
• Shemar Moore, actor
• Doug Clifford, drummer of Creedance Clearwater Revival

Business leaders and entrepreneurs[link]

• Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google.
• Debbi Fields, founder of Mrs. Fields Bakeries
• David Filo, co-founder of Yahoo!
• Steve Jobs, deceased co-founder of Apple Inc.; lived in Palo Alto 1980-2011; buried at Alta Mesa Cemetery in Palo Alto
• Jawed Karim, co-founder of Youtube.
• Marissa Mayer, Vice President of Search Products & User Experience at Google
• William Hewlett, deceased co-founder of technology company Hewlett-Packard; buried at Alta Mesa Cemetery in Palo Alto
• Mark Hurd, past chairman, chief executive officer, and President of Hewlett-Packard.
• David Packard, deceased co-founder of technology company Hewlett-Packard; buried at Alta Mesa Cemetery in Palo Alto
• Larry Page, co-founder and CEO of Google.
• Romesh Wadhwani, founder and chairman of Symphony Technology Group
• Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder and CEO of Facebook.
• Owen Van Natta, COO of Facebook, CEO of Myspace, COO of Zynga.
• Elon Musk, CEO of TESLA Motors, Space X

Politicians and civil servants[link]

• Ron Christie, former advisor to Vice President Dick Cheney and political pundit
• Herbert Hoover, the 31st President of the United States of America
• Jon Huntsman, Jr., former governor of Utah and U.S Ambassador of China
• Condoleezza Rice, former US Secretary of State
• Manabendra Nath Roy, Indian nationalist and revolutionary ^[56]
• Ron Wyden, US Senator

Novelists[link]

• Erle Stanley Gardner, detective fiction author, creator of Perry Mason^[57]
• Robert S. Gerleman, New York Times Adult Best Selling Author^[58]
• Tad Williams, New York Times Adult Best Selling Author

Scientists[link]

• Pamela Melroy, astronaut, second woman to command a space shuttle mission
• Perley Ason Ross, physicist who worked on essential problems in the behaviour of X-rays
• Robert Spinrad (1932–2009), computer pioneer as director of the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center.^[59]
• William Shockley, Nobel laureate in physics and eugenicist^[60]

Sports figures[link]

• Matt Biondi, born in Palo Alto, Olympic swimmer, won a total of 11 Olympics medals (8 gold)
• Jim Harbaugh, football player and coach^[61]
• Phil Hellmuth, professional poker player
• Katie Hoff, Palo Alto native, Olympic swimmer
• Dana Kirk, Olympic swimmer, coaches for Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics
• Tara Kirk, swam with Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics, Olympic swimmer, American Record holder 100 and 200 yard breaststroke
• Francie Larrieu-Smith, born in Palo Alto, long distance runner, first female athlete to make five Olympic teams
• Jeremy Lin, alumnus of Palo Alto High School and is currently a basketball player for the New York Knicks of the NBA
• Jim Loscutoff, basketball player who won seven NBA championships with the Boston Celtics^[62][63]
• Steve Young, NFL hall-of-famer and former 49ers quarterback

Footnotes[link]

Further reading[link]

• John Jenks, David Crimp, C. Michael Hogan et al., Engineering and Environmental Evaluations of Discharge to the Coast Casey Canal and Charleston Slough, prepared by Kennedy Jenks Engineers and Earth Metrics Inc. (1976)
• Santa Clara County Heritage Resource Inventory, Santa Clara County Historical Heritage Commission, published by Santa Clara County, San Jose, Ca., June 1979
• A description of high-tech life in Palo Alto around 1995 is found in the novel by Douglas Coupland, Microserfs.
• Coleman, Charles M., P. G. and E. of California: The Centennial Story of Pacific Gas and Electric Company 1852–1952, (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1952).
• Hanson, Warren D., San Francisco Water and Power: A History of the Municipal Water Department and Hetch Hetchy System, (San Francisco: San Francisco Public Utilities Communications Group, 2002).
• Map: PG&E Backbone Gas Transmission System, (San Francisco: Pacific Gas and Electric Co., undated).
• Map: Water Conveyance, Treatment, and Distribution System, (San Jose: Santa Clara Valley Water District, 1978).
• Earthquake Planning Scenario Special Publication #61, (Sacramento, California: State of California, Division of Mines and Geology, 1981).
• $117,730,000 Bond Offering: Transmission Agency of Northern California, (Sacramento, California: Transmission Agency of Northern California, 1992).

External links[link]

San Francisco Bay Area portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Palo Alto, California

• Palo Alto neighborhood map
• City of Palo Alto official website
• Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce
• Palo Alto History.Com
• Palo Alto Historical Association
• Palo Alto local portal

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Jeremy Lin

Lin in his first game for the Knicks, following a game against his former team the Golden State Warriors on December 28, 2011
No. 17 – New York Knicks
Point guard
Personal information
Born	(1988-08-23) August 23, 1988 (age 23) Los Angeles, California
Nationality	American
High school	Palo Alto HS (Palo Alto, California)
Listed height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Listed weight	200 lb (91 kg)
Career information
College	Harvard (2006–2010)
NBA Draft	2010 / Undrafted
Pro career	2010–present
Career history
2010–2011	Golden State Warriors
2010–2011	→Reno Bighorns (D-League)
2011	Dongguan Leopards (China)
2011–present	New York Knicks
2012	→Erie BayHawks (D-League)
Career highlights and awards
NBA BBVA Rising Star (2012) ABA Club Championship MVP (2011) 2× All-Ivy League First Team (2009, 2010) All-Ivy League Second Team (2008) CIF Division II champion (2006) 2× SCVAL MVP (2005, 2006)
Stats at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Jeremy Shu-How Lin^[1] (born August 23, 1988) is an American professional basketball player with the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). After receiving no athletic scholarship offers out of high school and being undrafted out of college, the 2010 Harvard University graduate reached a partially guaranteed contract deal later that year with his hometown Golden State Warriors.

Lin seldom played in his rookie season and was assigned to the NBA Development League (D-League) three times. He was waived by the Warriors and the Houston Rockets the following preseason before joining the Knicks early in the 2011–12 season. He was again assigned to the D-League and continued to play sparingly. In February 2012, he unexpectedly led a winning streak by New York while being promoted to the starting lineup, which generated a global following known as Linsanity. Lin is one of the few Asian Americans in NBA history, and the first American of Chinese or Taiwanese descent to play in the league.^[2] He is known for his public expression of the Christian faith.^[3]

Early life[link]

Lin was born in Los Angeles, and raised in a Christian family in the San Francisco Bay Area city of Palo Alto.^{[4][5][note 1]} His parents, Lin Gie-Ming and Shirley Lin, emigrated from Taiwan to the United States in the mid-1970s, first settling in Virginia, and later residing in Indiana, where they both attended universities.^[8][9][10] They are dual nationals of both Taiwan and the U.S.^[11] Lin's paternal family comes from Beidou, Changhua, in Taiwan (his father's distant ancestors immigrated to Taiwan from Zhangpu County, Fujian, in mainland China, in 1707),^[11][12][13] while his maternal grandmother immigrated to Southern Taiwan in the late 1940s from Pinghu, Zhejiang in mainland China.^[11][14][15]

Lin's parents are both 5 feet 6 inches (1.68 m) tall.^[16] His maternal grandmother's family was tall, and her father was over 6 feet (1.8 m).^[15] Lin has an older brother, Josh, and a younger brother, Joseph.^[10] Gie-Ming taught his sons to play basketball at the local YMCA.^[17] Shirley helped form a National Junior Basketball program in Palo Alto where Lin played. She worked with coaches to ensure his playing did not affect academics. She was criticized by her friends for letting Lin play so much basketball, but she allowed him to play the game he enjoyed.^[18]

High school career[link]

In his senior year in 2005–2006, Lin captained Palo Alto High School to a 32–1 record and upset nationally ranked Mater Dei, 51–47, for the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Division II state title.^[19][20] He was named first-team All-State and Northern California Division II Player of the Year, ending his senior year averaging 15.1 points, 7.1 assists, 6.2 rebounds and 5.0 steals.^[19]

College career[link]

Recruiting process[link]

Lin sent his résumé and a DVD of highlights of his high school basketball career to all the Ivy League schools, University of California, Berkeley, and his dream schools Stanford and University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).^[21][22][9] The Pac-10 schools wanted him to walk-on, rather than be actively recruited or offered a sports scholarship. Harvard and Brown were the only teams that guaranteed him a spot on their basketball teams, but Ivy League schools do not offer athletic scholarships.^[23] Rex Walters, University of San Francisco men's basketball coach and a retired NBA player, said NCAA limits on coaches' recruiting visits had an impact on Lin's chances. "Most colleges start recruiting a guy in the first five minutes they see him because he runs really fast, jumps really high, does the quick, easy thing to evaluate," Walters said. Lin added, "I just think in order for someone to understand my game, they have to watch me more than once, because I’m not going to do anything that’s extra flashy or freakishly athletic."^[24]

In July 2005, then-Harvard assistant coach Bill Holden saw that Lin was 6 feet 3 inches (1.91 m), which fit the physical attributes he was seeking, and he had a 4.2 grade point average in high school, which fit Harvard's academic standards. However, Holden was not initially impressed with Lin's on-court abilities, and told Lin's high school basketball coach, Peter Diepenbrock, that Lin was a "Division III player". Later that week, Holden saw Lin playing in a much more competitive game, driving to the basket at every opportunity with the "instincts of a killer". Lin became a top-priority for Holden.^[25] Harvard coaches feared that Stanford, close to Lin's home,^{[note 2]} would offer Lin a scholarship, but it did not, and Lin chose to attend Harvard.^[26] "I wasn't sitting there saying all these Division I coaches were knuckleheads," Diepenbrock said. "There were legitimate questions about Jeremy."^[27] Joe Lacob, incoming Warriors' owner and Stanford booster, said Stanford's failure to recruit Lin "was really stupid. The kid was right across the street. [If] you can't recognize that, you've got a problem."^[28] Kerry Keating, the UCLA assistant who offered Lin the opportunity to walk-on, said in hindsight that Lin would probably have ended up starting at point guard for UCLA.^[29]

Harvard[link]

After failing to receive any athletic scholarship offers, Lin attended Harvard.

A Harvard coach remembered Lin in his freshman season as "the [physically] weakest guy on the team",^[30] but in his sophomore season (2007–08), Lin averaged 12.6 points and was named All-Ivy League Second Team.^[19] By his junior year during the 2008–09 season, he was the only NCAA Division I men's basketball player who ranked in the top ten in his conference for scoring (17.8), rebounding (5.5), assists (4.3), steals (2.4), blocked shots (0.6), field goal percentage (0.502), free throw percentage (0.744), and three-point shot percentage (0.400),^[17] and was a consensus selection for All-Ivy League First Team. He had 27 points, 8 assists, and 6 rebounds in an 82–70 win over 17th-ranked Boston College, three days after the Eagles defeated No. 1 North Carolina.^[19][31]

In his senior year (2009–10), Lin averaged 16.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 2.4 steals and 1.1 blocks, and was again a unanimous selection for All-Ivy League First Team. He was one of 30 midseason candidates for the John R. Wooden Award^[32] and one of 11 finalists for the Bob Cousy Award.^[33] He was also invited to the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament.^[34] Fran Fraschilla of ESPN picked Lin among the 12 most versatile players in college basketball.^[31] He gained national attention for his performance against the 12th ranked Connecticut Huskies, against whom he scored a career-high tying 30 points and grabbed nine rebounds on the road.^[35] After the game, Hall of Fame Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun said of Lin: "I've seen a lot of teams come through here, and he could play for any of them. He's got great, great composure on the court. He knows how to play."^[17]

For the season, Harvard set numerous program records including wins (21), non-conference wins (11), home wins (11) and road/neutral wins (10).^[36] Lin finished his career as the first player in the history of the Ivy League to record at least 1,450 points (1,483), 450 rebounds (487), 400 assists (406) and 200 steals (225).^[19] He graduated from Harvard in 2010 with a degree in economics and a 3.1 grade-point average.^[37]

Professional career[link]

Undrafted[link]

At the Portsmouth Invitational, Lin first met the sports agent Roger Montgomery and later gave Montgomery a commitment. To Montgomery's disappointment, Lin went undrafted in the 2010 NBA Draft.^[38] The NBA had not drafted an Ivy League player since Jerome Allen of Penn in the second round in 1995. The last Ivy League player to play in the NBA was Yale's Chris Dudley in 2003, while the last Harvard player was Ed Smith in 1954.^[39][9] Eight teams had invited Lin to predraft workouts. Diepenbrock said that NBA tryouts do not play five on five. Lin acknowledged that the workouts were "one on one or two on two or three on three, and that’s not where I excel. I've never played basketball like that."^[24] Scouts saw what The New York Times later described as "a smart passer with a flawed jump shot and a thin frame, who might not have the strength and athleticism to defend, create his own shot or finish at the rim in the N.B.A."^[30] Lin joined the Dallas Mavericks for mini-camp as well as their NBA Summer League team in Las Vegas.^[40] Donnie Nelson of the Mavericks was the only General Manager that offered him an invitation to play in the Summer League. "Donnie took care of me," said Lin. "He has a different type of vision than most people do."^[23]

In five Summer League games, while playing both guard positions, Lin averaged 9.8 points, 3.2 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 1.2 steals in 18.6 minutes per game and shot a team leading 54.5% from the floor.^[41][42] He outplayed first overall pick John Wall;^[30] Lin scored 13 points to Wall's 21, but did so on 6-for-12 shooting in 28 minutes. Wall was 4-for-19 in 33 minutes.^[43] While Wall received the biggest cheer for any player during introductions, the crowd turned on Wall and was cheering for Lin by the end of the game.^[44] Lin received offers to sign from the Mavericks, Los Angeles Lakers, and an unnamed Eastern Conference team. In addition to the original three teams, the Golden State Warriors also offered Lin a contract.^[45]

Golden State Warriors (2010–2011)[link]

Lin at Warriors practice in 2010

On July 21, 2010, Lin signed a two-year deal with his hometown Warriors, his favorite team growing up. Lin's deal was partially guaranteed for 2010–11, and the Warriors held a team option for the second season.^[46] The deal included a first-year salary of close to $500,000 with more than half of it guaranteed.^[47] Lin said the counteroffers from the three other teams were higher, but he wanted to play for the Warriors.^[48] Lin's agent Roger Montgomery negotiated the deal with the Warriors.^[38] Lin also signed a three-year guaranteed contract with Nike.^[49] His jersey was already on sale before his first NBA game.^[50]

The Warriors held a press conference for Lin after his signing, with national media in attendance. "It was surprising to see that ... for an undrafted rookie," said then-Warriors coach Keith Smart.^[51] "The San Jose Mercury News wrote that Lin "had something of a cult following" after his signing.^[52] The San Francisco Bay Area, with its large Asian-American population, celebrated his arrival.^[2] He became the first American of Chinese or Taiwanese descent to play in the NBA.^[2][53][54] Lin received the loudest ovation of the night in the Warriors' home exhibition opener at Oracle Arena when he entered the game in the fourth quarter.^[55] The crowd had started chanting for him in the third quarter and cheered whenever he touched the ball. "That really touched me. It's something I'll remember forever," Lin said.^[56] During the first month of the season, Oracle Arena fans continued to root for Lin to play in the end of games and cheered every time he touched the ball.^[57] He drew the crowd's attention on the road as well. Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com attributed the attention Lin received out of town to the unique angle of "an Asian-American rising to rare basketball prominence".^[5] ESPN.com NBA editor Matt Wong wrote after a game in New York, "Lin checked into the game to loud applause, presumably from the many Asian-Americans in attendance."^[58] Still, Lin played more relaxed at home. "There's a lot of pressure on him at home, with all of the applause for just checking into the game, so I'm sure that cranks his nerves up a little bit," said teammate Stephen Curry. "You can tell on the road he plays a lot better, because he can just go out there, play and have fun."^[57]

Lin noticed the expectations that followed him and warned, "I won't be an All-Star this year."^[59] He was appreciative of the support, especially from the Asian-American community, but he also preferred concentrating on his play without all the attention when he had not "proven anything to anybody."^[5] Smart saw that Lin was skilled at getting to the paint, but needed to learn to pass because, he said, Lin "couldn't shoot the ball at all". The coach also noticed that the player always arrived early for practice and left late. Lin studied and rehearsed Steve Nash and other top point guards' pick-and-roll plays.^[30] Frank Hughes of Sports Illustrated wrote that he talked with the occasional "seeds of self-doubt", which he said was not common to hear in the NBA. Hughes also found it rare when Lin compared himself to the Phoenix Suns' backup point guard Goran Dragić.^[60] "Neither of us is a freak athlete, but we're both effective and know how to play the game," Lin said.^[61] Lin and Curry, the 2009–10 runner-up Rookie of the Year, received more interview requests than any other Warrior. Team officials regularly denied requests for Lin to help him keep his focus. He was approached to be the subject of documentaries.^[5] Smart planned to take pressure off Lin since Lin had a tendency to be hard on himself and get frustrated,^[59] but the coach admitted that he once succumbed to the home crowd's wishes and put Lin into a game in the wrong situation.^[5]

Lin received little playing time during the season with two dominant ball-handling guards, Curry and Monta Ellis, starring for the Warriors.^[62] He initially competed with Charlie Bell and Reggie Williams, and later Acie Law, for playing time at backup point guard.^[63][64] Lin started the regular season on the Warriors' inactive list,^[65] but made his NBA debut the next game during the Warriors' Asian Heritage Night. He received a standing ovation when he entered the game in the final minutes.^[66][67] In the next game against the Los Angeles Lakers, Lin scored his first NBA basket, had three assists, and recorded four steals. He played 11 of his 16 minutes in the third quarter and committed five fouls but played a role in a 12–1 run by the Warriors in a 107–83 loss to the defending NBA champions.^[68][69] Lakers' guard Derek Fisher praised Lin for his energy and aggressiveness.^[70] At Toronto on November 8, the Raptors held Asian Heritage Night to coincide with Lin's visit with the Warriors. Over 20 members of Toronto's Chinese media covered the game.^[71][72] In a 89–117 road loss to the Lakers, Lin scored a (then) career-high 13 points in 18 minutes after scoring only seven total points in his first six games.^[73][74]

Three times during the season, Lin was assigned to the Warriors' D-League affiliate, the Reno Bighorns.^[75][76][77] Each time, he was later recalled by the Warriors.^[78][79][80] He competed in the NBA D-League Showcase and was named to the All-NBA D-League Showcase First Team on January 14, 2011. Lin helped lead the Bighorns to a 2–0 record at the Showcase with averages of 21.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 3.5 steals.^[81] Lin posted a season-high 27 points with the Bighorns on March 18.^[82] In 20 games he averaged 18 points, 5.8 rebounds and 4.4 assists with Reno.^[30] Lin initially felt he was not good enough to play in the NBA, but he later realized he was learning and getting playing time in the D-League that he would not have received with the Warriors.^[83][84] Lin credited Bighorns coach Eric Musselman with "helping him regain [his] swagger."^[85] Musselman recalled that Lin was a good scorer for himself but was not yet skilled at "using the whole floor". He scored many offensive fouls, but Musselman believed Lin was as good as Gilbert Arenas in the dribble drive, an ability "you can't teach". The player continued to improve his pick-and-roll, how to handle double teams and traps, and improved his jump shot and, especially, his three pointer. Musselman also noticed that Lin, who as an NBA player received first-class airplane tickets, gave them to his teammates.^[30]