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A pleasant place with trails and bay views to walk, bike, watch birds and bring children to explore local nature.
© OpenStreetMap contributors
formerly Facebook
A stronghold squeezed between the freeway and the Bay, Meta's headquarters neighbor the less-privileged Belle Haven area of Menlo Park. The large, iconic thumbs-up sign has been replaced by the Meta logo. On the other side of the sign, cloaked by the trees, you can still find the rusting logo of Sun Microsystems—the defunct tech company, once hailed for its advocacy of open-source software, which used to be headquartered here until its acquisition by Oracle in 2010. Back then, the offices used to be nicknamed "Sun Quentin", due to their resemblance with the prison of San Quentin in the North Bay.
USGS
The USGS has a large office in Menlo Park where visitors can see various geology-related exhibits. Allow one hour for the self-guided tour. See this page for additional information. You can also obtain detailed maps before setting off on an expedition to a remote location.
As a biking hub, Menlo Park has excellent rail and bike trail connections with other cities or destinations in the region. Bike rides can be combined with CalTrain or taken from Menlo Park to Stanford (2 miles), Palo Alto (3 miles), Woodside (6 miles), Mountain View (8 miles), Los Altos (8 miles), or the classic and more hilly Portola Valley Loop (16 miles).
The Menlo Park train station depot was built in 1867 and expanded with Victorian-era decorative features in the 1890s to serve the opening of Stanford University. This is the oldest railroad passenger station in California.
Enjoy a walk (between the historic railroad station and the equally historic Camp Fremont Park) along Santa Cruz Ave, Menlo Park's old-fashioned commercial district. You can shop, have a coffee and a snack, or a meal at an outdoor table, do some thrifting at the second hand stores, admire the boutique furniture shops and art galleries along the way.
A music and event performance space providing live music and entertainment to the Peninsula region. The venue holds about 500 patrons and hosts a wide range of music, film, and special events programming.