CITY OF EAST PALO ALTO by Amazon Stones

As of the 2000 census, the population of East Palo Alto was 29,506. It is situated on the San Francisco Peninsula, roughly halfway between the cities of San Francisco and San Jose. East Palo Alto is divided into 4 Specific Neighborhoods, despite being only 2.6 square miles. These areas are known as Midtown, Palo Alto Gardens, University Village, and Flood Park Estates.To the east is the San Francisco Bay, and to the west the prosperous city of Palo Alto. While widely assumed to be part of the city of Palo Alto, East Palo Alto has always been a separate entity, being located in a different county since its founding as an unincorporated community (Palo Alto is in Santa Clara County) and having an entirely different demographic makeup. Though the two cities are separated only by San Francisquito Creek, they are very different culturally and economically. East Palo Alto and Palo Alto share both telephone area codes and postal ZIP codes.

Although half of East Palo Alto's residents were African Americans in 1990, Latinos now constitute about three-fourths of the total population, while the proportion of African Americans has decreased to about 16%. A small minority of Pacific Islander population also resides in East Palo Alto, mostly Tongans with some Samoans and Fijians. East Palo Alto has the largest concentration of Pacific Islanders of any U.S. city or town outside of Hawaii.

East Palo Alto has experienced crime and poverty, especially during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1992, the city had the highest per-capita murder rate in the country with 24,322 people, and 42 murders, equaling a rate of 172.7 murders per 100,000 residents. Since then the city's crime problems have somewhat subsided, and the murder rate in particular has declined. In 2006, East Palo Alto experienced a comparatively low 6 murders. There were 7 murders in 2007. According to a 2008 report provided by Ron Davis, Chief of Police, violence is on the decline. Davis reports an overall 42% reduction in homicides and a 20% reduction in overall crime between 2006-2008, compared to the previous three years.

The prosperity that benefited the Silicon Valley during the dot-com boom of the late 1990s largely bypassed East Palo Alto. The Ravenswood City School District, which serves East Palo Alto and part of adjoining Menlo Park, has struggled with low academic performance. Eventually, however, the Peninsula's shortage of land and soaring property prices meant that even East Palo Alto became an option for urban regeneration. Until recently, gentrification has been rare in East Palo Alto. East Palo Alto was depicted in the 1995 film Dangerous Minds, which was based on the experiences of a Carlmont High School teacher and her experiences with bussed in students from East Palo Alto.

East Palo Alto also includes a small piece of land across the Bayshore Freeway (US 101) from the shopping center, a roughly triangular area between US 101 and the San Francisquito Creek, which includes a former two-block-long retail business district known as Whiskey Gulch. (The name dates back to the time that Stanford University, in Palo Alto to the west, was dry and prohibited alcohol sales within a radius of one mile (1.6 km) from the campus: Whiskey Gulch was just outside the limits, and was home to a number of liquor stores and bars.) The city has torn down Whiskey Gulch and replaced it with the University Circle office complex. A 200-room Four Seasons hotel opened in University Circle in 2006.

Culture

East Palo Alto is also the home to several rappers. These rappers include The Youngen, Chunk, Bigg Rigg, Band-Aide, Scoot Dogg, Ad Kapone, and Mac-10. Rapper Band-Aide of the Hoodstarz was arrested as of March 7, 2009 in a large-scale attempt to dismantle a East Palo Alto based gang known as the Taliban.

This raid to dismantle the Taliban consisted of more than 500 FBI agents and Bay Area Police.

East Palo Alto is the home of the Major Taylor Cycling Club, named after the famous African-American bicycle racer "Major" Marshall Taylor.