East Palo Alto, California

East Palo Alto (often called EPA or East PA) is a city located in San Mateo County, California, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 29,506 (31,915: 2003 estimate). It is situated on the San Francisco Peninsula, roughly halfway between the cities of San Francisco and San Jose. To the east is the San Francisco Bay, and to the west the prosperous city of Palo Alto. Many assume that East Palo Alto is merely the eastern side of Palo Alto, but East Palo Alto is in fact a separate city in Santa Clara County's neighboring San Mateo County - with an entirely different demographic make-up. Though the two cities are separated only by San Francisquito Creek, they are worlds apart.

Related Topics:
San Mateo County, California - United States - 2000 - 2003 - San Francisco Peninsula - San Francisco - San Jose - San Francisco Bay - Palo Alto - Palo Alto - Santa Clara County - San Mateo County

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Although half of East Palo Alto's residents were African Americans in 1990, Latinos quickly moved in and now form about three-fifths of the total population, while the proportion of African Americans has dwindled to about 20%. A small Tongan population also resides in East Palo Alto.

Related Topics:
African American - 1990 - Latino - Tonga

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

East Palo Alto has an unenviable reputation for crime and poverty, a reputation well deserved during the 1980s and early 1990s (for several years the city had the highest per-capita murder rate in the country). Since then the city's problems have eased, although the enormous prosperity which lavished the Silicon Valley during the dot-com boom of the late 1990s largely passed East Palo Alto by, and the Norteño and Sureño gangs contest the area. Eventually, however, the Peninsula's shortage of land and soaring property prices meant that even East Palo Alto became an option for urban regeneration.

Related Topics:
1980s - 1990s - Silicon Valley - Dot-com - Norteño - Sureño

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Significant gentrification occurred in East Palo Alto from around 2000, with the construction of a large shopping center named Ravenswood 101 (including branches of Home Depot and Best Buy, and a controversial IKEA store) and several upscale housing communities (intended for high-earning Silicon Valley workers). This gentrification has faced opposition from local residents. Some residents charge that it serves to price locals out of one of the region's only affordable communities while providing only low-paying jobs in the retail developments and consuming an increasing proportion of the tiny city's land area.

Related Topics:
Gentrification - 2000 - Shopping center - Home Depot - Best Buy - IKEA

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

East Palo Alto also owns a small piece of land across the Bayshore Freeway from the shopping center, which was formerly a downtown slum known as Whiskey Gulch. The city has torn down Whiskey Gulch and replaced it with the University Circle office complex. A 200-room Four Seasons hotel is scheduled to open in University Circle in mid-2005 to serve the Silicon Valley market. The new hotel is being promoted as the most lavish and luxurious full-sized hotel available in the mid-Peninsula and West Valley area. There are several existing luxury hotels in the area, but they are quite small in comparison to their competitors in San Francisco and San Jose.

Related Topics:
Slum - Four Seasons - San Francisco - San Jose

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~