Alumni and Friends of Palo Alto High School

Please Note: This is the ONLY Official Paly All-Alumni site although other sites may make such claims. Older Paly Alumni sites have been disbanded and replaced with this new site. 

THE CLEM WISER FUND 

Please donate on-line at  http://palysportsboosters.org/donate/ Be sure to check box for Clem Wiser Fund

…or send a check made payable to: Paly Sports Boosters/Wiser Fund and mail to:

Clem Wiser Fund

c/o Paly Sports Boosters

50 Embarcadero Road

Palo Alto, CA 94301  

HAPPENINGS 

COMING EVENTS

FRIDAY, MAY 18 

   Paly Golf Classic

Benefiting Paly Athletics

Friday, May 18, 2018

12PM Registration

1PM Shotgun Start

6PM Reception & Silent Auction

Shoreline Golf Links

$200 per person

Your registration includes 18 holes of golf, shared cart, bag lunch, swag, reception and 2 drink tickets. ($100 tax deductible)

Paly Sports Boosters Federal Tax ID #77-0218566

Register here - click on this link: http://palysportsboosters.org/2018-paly-golf-classic/

Questions: PAHSsportsboosters@gmail.com

Donations to Alumni and Friends much appreciated. Click here  to donate, or go to top of page and click on Donations tab on Menu Items, or copy and paste: http://www.palyalumni.net/donation_center.cfm?DonationCenterID=3688

PALY CAMPUS CENTENNIAL!!!      

Please refer to Menu at left and drop-down items for updates under 

"Centennial News and Articles"

Calling all

ALUMNI and FRIENDS of

PALO ALTO HIGH SCHOOL

 Join the 2018 Centennial celebrations for Paly’s “new campus.”  

Alums and Friends welcome!

 August 23rd, 5 - 8pm      -  CENTENNIAL KICK-OFF PARTY

 October 7                           -   HISTORICAL PARADE

 March 23, 2019                 -  CELEBRATION TIME PARTY

        and more......details and updates.....keep watching 

  Holy Cow   

To mark the building and opening of our grand campus, many events are being planned for the year. The cornerstone of the building was laid 1918.  

Activities will officially begin in 2018 and continue through February, 2019 culminating in a recognition of the first graduation in February, 1919.

Everyone is encouraged to participate. Please check this site regularly for updates and invitations.

If you have suggestions for the committee to consider or wish to be involved, please contact: palyalumni@gmail.com

Donations to Alumni and Friends much appreciated. Click here to donate, or go to top of page and click on Donations on Menu Items, or copy and paste: http://www.palyalumni.net/donation_center.cfm?DonationCenterID=3688

                        Keep scrolling for more news and announcements

Paly Student Body December 1918

HISTORY:  After a delay because of the influenza epidemic, the current Paly campus opened officially on December 24, 1918.  Students, faculty, and local dignitaries marched from its Channing Avenue location to the new Palo Alto High School on Embarcadero at El Camino, with the 91st Company of High School Cadets triumphantly leading the way. The community was impressed with the school's auditorium - unique at a time when even Stanford had none - and the high-ceilinged library doubled as a ballroom.

When the present Palo Alto High School was built in 1918, some townsfolk were critical of a location so far out of town. But the 30-acre site with its Live Oak trees was being sold by neighboring Stanford University at the token cost of $1.00 per acre, and optimists thought that Palo Alto might well grow to the south.

In the news....   

The "O" has closed

by Kate Bradshaw / Almanac

The Oasis,perhaps the oldest eating establishment in Menlo Park, will close permanently March 7 after 60 years of business, according to a Feb. 21 announcement on Facebook by the business' owners, the Tougas family.

Their message stated, "To all of our loyal customers and to the greater Menlo Park community, It is with heavy heart that we announce the closing of our beloved bar and restaurant, The Oasis. After several months of effort, we were unable to negotiate a reasonable lease for our business, nor meet the requested terms of the building’s owner. Therefore, we have made the very difficult decision to close our doors, and bid farewell to the endearing community of Menlo Park and Stanford University. Our last day of business will be March 7 - please stop in for a visit and say goodbye!"

The Tougas family also made a separate farewell statement, expressing gratitude to loyal clients in Menlo Park, Palo Alto and Stanford. They have not yet responded to requests for comment.

"We want to express our warmest appreciation to all of the wonderful customers who passed through our doors. Your love is engraved in our many tables and booths. Thank you for sitting down in our beer garden to have a beer with us, cracking open some peanuts, carving up our tables with your first loves, playing some pinball, and filling our restaurant with your children and children’s children. We are so grateful to have shared these past 60 years with you!" the letter reads.

The joint is considered an institution by many and beloved for its burgers, pizza, beer and slightly sticky wooden tables engraved with what appear to be generations of initials.

Within four hours of the Facebook announcement, people had posted 362 comments.

Some people tagged other people or shared the announcement to spread the news; others expressed sadness at the announcement or shared memories.

"NNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!! The last great hole-in-the-wall in Menlo Park / Palo Alto ... RIP," wrote Todd Curtis Fryburger.

"Spent time there growing up starting back in the 70’s and my father even spent time there when he was in College at Stanford. I try to get there every time I’m in town visiting. It feels like home to walk in there. So sad to see it go," wrote Gary Lee Chrisman.

"The Oasis was the extension of the Homebrew Computer Club, where after the meeting adjourned staff of competing companies would drink and exchange tips about how to run their businesses. It deserves historic recognition for that reason alone," wrote Lee Felsenstein.

A Menlo Park native launched an online petition, titled "Don't let the O Go!" (a reference to the watering hole's nickname) on Thursday, urging the landlords to keep the restaurant open.

The petition's author, Alison Perris, shared her memories of The Oasis: "I was born and raised in Menlo Park, CA and ever since I can remember The Oasis has been our hangout. ... As a kid I can remember going to the O with my Dad for pizza and a (root beer) and feeling so grown up as we sat in the large wooden booths with names of Stanford students past and present carved into the tables and walls. Then when I was older meeting friends over beers after softball games or watching the Giants in the World Series."

As of about noon on Feb. 22, the petition had 764 supporters.

History

According to the Menlo Park Historical Association, the building that houses the Oasis was once the YMCA building at Camp Fremont, when the area was a training camp for World War I. It was originally built in 1917 at Santa Cruz Avenue and Chestnut Street, but was moved to its current location at 241 El Camino Real around 1920.

The Menlo Park Historical Association reports that Alexander Beltramo, son of John Beltramo, founder of the former Beltramo's Wine & Spirits, converted the building into a beer garden in 1933. Diana Beltramo Hewitt told the Almanac he named it that "because he thought that was fitting after Prohibition."

Beltramo operated the beer garden for about two years, and in 1946 was leased to a man named Archie Marshall. In 1958, the business changed hands again, and Bernie Tougas took over tenancy at the site, Beltramo Hewitt said.

"He and his wife Doris really poured their heart and soul into the place and made it what it is today," she said. "They were great tenants for many years."

Beltramo Hewitt declined to comment further on the conditions of the lease, but noted that they do not have development plans for the site and will be looking for a new tenant.

According to "Menlo Park: Beyond the Gate," a history book about Menlo Park by historians Michael Svanevik and Shirley Burgett, the building's front office was used as the air raid warden's office during World War II.

Notable incidents referenced in that book claim that once, a young John F. Kennedy came by to eat a hamburger. Another time, when flooding from San Francisquito Creek had left the restaurant inundated, customers just took off their shoes and "partied as usual."

The restaurant currently has around 20 to 25 employees, who were alerted about the closure plans on Tuesday, after the final decision was made Monday, according to an employee who asked to remain anonymous.

The Tougas family owns five similar restaurants around the Bay, according to their farewell letter: Jake's, in Saratoga, Willow Glen and Sunnyvale; The Garret in Campbell, and the Garret Station in Los Gatos.

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PALY - THEN...

And   PALY - now

 PERFORMING ARTS CENTER -  facing Embarcadero

MEDIA ARTS CENTER

Click here > Campus Updates to see more photos and slide shows.

NEW LIBRARY   - OPENING IN 2018/2019

For Paly's website click on link: http://www.paly.net/  

Donations to Alumni and Friends much appreciated. Click here to donate, or go to top of this page and click on Donations on Menu Items, or copy and paste: http://www.palyalumni.net/donation_center.cfm?DonationCenterID=3688

Thanks for coming....  See you again soon!!!