Editing Palo Alto, California (section)

=== Later history ===

On July 2, 1925, Palo Alto voters approved the annexation of Mayfield and the two communities were officially consolidated on July 6, 1925.<ref name=Mayfield/> As a result, Palo Alto has two downtown areas: one along University Avenue and one along California Avenue (renamed after the annexation since Palo Alto already had a Lincoln Avenue).

The ''Mayfield News'' wrote its own obituary four days later:
{{blockquote|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.<ref>{{cite news |last=Diamond |first=Diana |author-link=Diana Diamond |date=2015-01-06 |title=Laying it on thick during change of the guard in Palo Alto
 |url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2015/01/06/laying-it-on-thick-during-change-of-the-guard-in-palo-alto/|access-date= 2020-09-03}}</ref>}}
[[File:Varsity Theater, Palo Alto, CA (2771895956).jpg|thumb|left|The historic [[Varsity Theatre (Palo Alto)|Varsity Theatre]], built in 1927 in a [[Mission Revival]] style]]
Palo Alto continued to annex more land, including the [[Stanford Shopping Center]] area in 1953.  [[Stanford Research Park]], Embarcadero Road northeast of Bayshore, and the West Bayshore/San Antonio Road area were also annexed during the 1950s. Large amounts of land west of Foothill Expressway were annexed between 1959 and 1968; this is mostly undeveloped and includes [[Foothills Park, Palo Alto|Foothills Park]] and [[Arastradero Preserve]]. The last major annexations were of Barron Park in 1975 and, in 1979, a large area of marshlands bordering the bay.<ref>{{cite book|title=Palo Alto Comprehensive Plan|page=50|chapter-url=http://www.cityofpaloalto.org/civicax/filebank/documents/8170|access-date=July 1, 2017|chapter=Land Use and Community Design|archive-date=January 12, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210112235103/https://www.cityofpaloalto.org/civicax/filebank/documents/8170|url-status=dead}}</ref>

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 Company|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 [[HP garage|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 Architectural District|Ramona Street]] can be found downtown between University and Hamilton Avenues. The [[Palo Alto Chinese School]] is the oldest in the entire Bay Area. It is also home to the second oldest opera company in California, the [[West Bay Opera]].

One early major business was when [[Thomas Foon Chew]], owner of the Bayside Canning Company in [[Alviso, San Jose|Alviso]] founded by his father,<ref name="bayside">{{cite web |title=Five Views: An Ethnic Historic Site Survey for California (Chinese Americans) |url=https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/5views/5views3h6.htm |website=www.nps.gov |access-date=May 10, 2023}}</ref> expanded his business by starting a cannery in 1918 in what was then Mayfield that initially employed 350 workers but later expanded.<ref name="frys">{{cite news |last1=Sheyner |first1=Gennady |title=History of Fry's site complicates city's redevelopment plans |url=https://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/2019/07/31/history-of-frys-site-complicates-citys-redevelopment-plans |access-date=May 10, 2023 |work=www.paloaltoonline.com |date=July 31, 2019 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="hrbreport">{{cite book |title=Staff Report (ID # 10499): HRE Cannery |date=July 25, 2019 |publisher=Palo Alto Historic Resources Board |url=https://www.cityofpaloalto.org/files/assets/public/agendas-minutes-reports/agendas-minutes/historic-resources-board/2019/id-10499-hre-cannery.pdf |access-date=May 10, 2023}}</ref>  In the 1920s the Bayside Canning Company became one of the largest in the world. In 1949 the Palo Alto cannery, now part of the Sutter Packing Company under the ownership of [[Safeway]], closed; at the time it was the largest employer in Palo Alto with about a 1,000 workers.<ref name="frys"/><ref name="hrbreport"/>  Various businesses used the building since including [[Fry's Electronics]].<ref name="frys"/><ref name="hrbreport"/>

Palo Alto is also home to a long-standing baseball tradition. The Palo Alto Oaks are a collegiate summer baseball club that has been in the Bay Area since 1950, eight years longer than the San Francisco Giants. The Oaks were originally managed by Tony Makjavich for 49 years.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/2010/08/01/palo-alto-oaks-headed-to-the-world-series|title=Palo Alto Oaks headed to the World Series|access-date=February 16, 2017|language=en}}</ref> The Oaks were going to fold before the summer 2016 season but were taken on by [[Daniel Palladino]] and Whaylan Price, Bay Area baseball coaches who did not want to see the team die. The Oaks have a rich history within the Palo Alto community.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/2016/06/28/the-palo-alto-oaks-gain-new-baseball-life-for-a-second-time|title=The Palo Alto Oaks gain new baseball life for a second time|last=Sports|first=John Reid/Palo Alto Online|access-date=February 14, 2017|language=en}}</ref>