Palo Alto is a bustling suburb in Santa Clara County south of the city of San Francisco. It is adjacent to Stanford University and home to hundreds of Silicon Valley technology companies, ranging from VMware and Hewlett-Packard to tiny startups operating in garages.
Palo Alto means tall tree in Spanish, and in this case refers to an aging redwood tree at the north end of the city appropriately named "El Palo Alto". The 1061-year-old Coast Redwood, which stands 110 feet (34 m) high and has a base diameter of 90 inches (229 cm), marks a campsite for the Portola Expedition Party of 1769.
Accessible by train, bus or automobile from nearby San Francisco (about 25 miles/40 km) and San Jose (about 20 miles/32 km) airports. US 101 is the primary highway access, although I-280 also passes through the western edge of Palo Alto. Palo Alto Municipal Airport, which is a few miles from the center of the city, serves private aircraft.
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