Diverse-City: A Concise History of East Palo Alto

By Jacob Rodriguez

Nestled along the pristine peninsula of the San Francisco Bay Area is the vibrant City of

East Palo Alto – a diamond in the rough to its neighbors, a gem of pride to those who call

it home. It’s truly a city like no other, certainly around the Bay, and perhaps across the

country. In spite of a population just fewer than 30,000 and a compact 2.5 square miles of

land1, the social fabric of East Palo Alto is as vivid as the trees and flowers that array our

neighborhoods. To better understand East Palo Alto’s distinctive ethos, we’ll take a brief

look back at our city’s rich history.

1940’s: The Early Years

East Palo Alto has seen many changes since the early days of the 1940’s, when it

was primarily a Japanese farming community. With its balance of nutrient-rich soil and

perfect weather, East Palo Alto became a lush destination for farmers to plant their crops

and build flower nurseries. However, as the plot of World War I thickened, Japanese

residents were forced out of their homes and placed in internment camps. It’s fair to note

that the unfair treatment of Japanese-Americans during the war further marginalized

minorities and ethnic groups. East Palo Alto along with other American cities became

early victims of this injustice.

1940’s – 1950’s: Growing Pains

                                                                                                               1  East Palo Alto, California. (2012, July 26). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 07:36, July 30, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=East_Palo_Alto,_California&oldid=504231226  

With the war and years of depression in its rearview mirror, America began to

recover economically which spawned a population and housing development boom. It

was during this era that East Palo Alto benefited from a tide of middle-class Caucasian

families who were attracted to a city with a centralized location and lots of promise.

As automobile traffic increased in the Bay Area, the Bayshore Highway (which

divided East Palo Alto’s land) expanded from its original two-lane route into a major

artery from San Francisco to San Jose. This type of growth in the Bay Area put

communities along the Peninsula in a precarious position, none more than East Palo Alto,

which at the time was still unincorporated.

The development of the wider multilane freeway would further divide East Palo

Alto from the rest of the Peninsula. These changes would later handicap the region and

stunt it’s potential for autonomy. Despite an overwhelming disapproval of the new

Bayshore Highway plans, which would eliminate or displace many local businesses,

public officials ignored the outcry of East Palo Alto residents. To this day, the Bayshore

Highway (US 101) slices an already small city in two.

1960’s: Culture Shift

As the 1960’s rolled in, the United States became the social battleground for a

cultural revolution which included: an Anti-war movement, the rise of feminism, and

particularly the African-American Civil Rights Movement which sought to restore equal

rights and outlaw racial discrimination. As the sociological climate in America began to

change, African-Americans formed grassroots movements and campaigns to fight

discrimination in their hometowns. East Palo Alto found itself at the epicenter of the Bay

Area’s own Cultural Revolution.

Many African-American families migrated to the Bay Area, in search of a place

where they could raise their children and stake their claim on the American dream. As

families explored the Peninsula for homes to buy, real estate agents were pressured to

divert them to East Palo Alto. The late Mrs. Barbara Mouton, an African-American

woman and East Palo Alto’s first mayor, recalled her own experience:

“We went out with a real estate person, and she showed us all

around the places in Menlo Park, Palo Alto, and everywhere else. There

were several places that we really liked. The next day, she came back very

tearful. So I queried her as to what was causing the tears. And she said

she had been instructed that she could not show us any houses, in any

place but East Palo Alto.”2

This event in Mrs. Mouton’s life paints a tragically common picture of how

minorities were discriminated against and underserved. Real estate agents employed

unfair practices, which deliberately widened the racial divide. One such practice was

called “block busting”, a tactic where agents would shuttle African-Americans in from

San Francisco and only drive through East Palo Alto streets. The underlying message

became painfully clear to those honest and intelligent families: “you’re not welcomed

anywhere else”. These series of events would eventually reshape the social framework of

                                                                                                               2  Mouton, B. (Narrator). (2012). Dreams of a City: Creating East Palo Alto. Retrieved July 30, 2012 from http://vimeo.com/23458988  

East Palo Alto. In a matter of a few years, the demographics dramatically changed from

being mostly Caucasians to predominately African-Americans.

1970’s – 1980’s: A City is Born

Undeterred by the prejudices and political setbacks of the Sixties, the citizens of

East Palo Alto would come to embrace their distinction and evolve as a community. As

more ethnic groups settled into East Palo Alto, it soon became a melting pot of different

cultures. People from diverse backgrounds found an unusual acceptance and affinity in

East Palo Alto, something you can’t always find in other places. This cultural tapestry

included African-Americans, Caucasians, Asians, Pacific Islanders, Mexicans, and other

Hispanics.

In the 1980’s, interracial alliances were formed and the residents of East Palo Alto

were now poised to realize a long-over-due endeavor: incorporate the city. After a failed

attempt to rename and incorporate in 1968, a new generation of community leaders and

residents rallied together to accomplish this task. Wills and hearts were tested as the

incorporation process was met with legal challenges. But in June of 1983, East Palo Alto

prevailed and was incorporated as a city.

The incorporation of East Palo Alto was a major milestone. However,

incorporating the city was only the beginning of a long road to social and economic

success. It seemed from that point on, the city would be shaken to its core and forced to

face old wounds and strongholds that were created decades before. In the words of the

late Ed Becks, a community leader, political activist, and longtime resident of East Palo

Alto: “the pursuit of happiness doesn't give you anything, it just gives you some track

shoes and a course to run on”. That course would prove difficult and even deadly as East

Palo Alto entered the 1990’s.

1980’s – late 1990’s: Crime Waves

The introduction of crack cocaine in the Eighties and early Nineties gave way to

the deadliest era in urban American cities. Crack was cheap, abundant and extremely

addictive. Tethered to the drug epidemic was a surge of violent crimes and profound

poverty. In East Palo Alto, these grisly realities hit close to home. The year was 1992

when East Palo Alto earned the highest homicide rate per-capita in the county – 42

murders with a population around 24,0003. News of this crisis brought national media

attention and inked an infamous reputation that lingered for years. However, East Palo

Alto was resilient. Community activists, city officials, law enforcement, and residents

joined together to stop the violence and drug trade.

2000’s: Breaking New Ground

Restoring the city’s image and confidence proved to be a great challenge, despite

the fact that violent crimes had dramatically declined. The aftermath of the Eighties and

Nineties exposed a plethora of deep-rooted social problems such as low academic

performance, subpar medical services and underdevelopment. While neighboring cities

enjoyed wealth from the dot-com bubble, East Palo Alto was mostly overlooked. Added

to the mix was a growing mistrust of local government and law enforcement as reports of

misconduct began to surface, such as the case of police Sgt. Tracy Frey who faced

                                                                                                               3  Warren, J. (1993, January 5). E. Palo Alto Murder Rate Worst in U.S.; Drug Wars Blamed. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from http://articles.latimes.com/1993-01-05/local/me-833_1_east-palo-alto  

charges for discriminatory remarks towards minorities within the department. In

defending his conduct, Frey argued that, “racially discourteous and discriminatory

remarks are routinely made by officers in the department from the Chief to the patrol

officers and in fact, has become part of the culture of East Palo Alto Police Department.”4

The aftershock of scandals like these generates fear in the public and further deepens the

mistrust among minorities. Around 2005, new law enforcement officials and updated

policies helped to alleviate racial tensions and crack down on a surge of crime.

The silver lining of the 2000’s is that it also birthed a new social awakening in

East Palo Alto. New non-profit organizations began to spring up with more emphasis on

improving public health and innovating new ways to curb high unemployment and school

dropout rates. In East Palo Alto, less than 10 percent of high-school graduates continue

their education at a four-year college.5 However, youth organizations and initiatives are

working to challenge the status quo. Urban redevelopment has also become a high

priority for the city. Over the last 15 years, 25% of East Palo Alto has been regenerated

with new housing, strong retail establishments and even a luxury hotel.6 While these

programs and redevelopment efforts may not solve every problem in East Palo Alto, they

position the city for a more prosperous future.

In conclusion, East Palo Alto’s most valuable asset and catalyst for change has

always been its people. This city has weathered many storms over its lifetime, and still,

the diversity that knits our community together is impregnable. There still exist a need for

                                                                                                               4  Ofgang, K. (2009, November 4). Court of Appeal: Police ‘Culture’ No Justification for Racist Remarks. Metropolitan News-Enterprise. Retrieved from http://www.metnews.com/articles/2009/frey110409.htm 5  East Palo Alto Charter School. (n.d.). Our Community: East Palo Alto. Retrieved from http://www.epacs.org/community_epa.php    6  City of East Palo Alto. (n.d.). Economic Development in East Palo Alto. Retrieved from http://www.ci.east-palo-alto.ca.us/economicdev/successes.html

social justice and higher quality services for our citizens. Those are real conversations we

must continue to have as we explore better solutions. Our children deserve it. Our

communities deserve it. East Palo Alto deserves it. With a proper understanding of our

history, we can avoid mistakes of the past and chart new territories of success.