SO LONG, IT'S BEEN GOOD TO KNOW YA' ... SO LONG, IT'S BEEN GOOD TO KNOW YA' ... (December 29, 2004)

A HOUSE IS NOT A HOTEL ... After years of haggling with administrators and neighborhood advocates, owners of the Hyatt Rickey'stook stock of the area's sagging economy and decided to toss out plans for a revamped hotel. The16-acre Palo Alto hotel will instead make way for 185 homes. Texas home-building giant D.R. Horton will co-develop the property.

NOT A HOLLYWOOD ENDING... Midtown Video shut its doors in late May, after 19 years in the neighborhood. A well-intentioned offer allowing customers to use store credit to purchase Midtown Video's inventory ended up soiling some individuals' memories as many discovered their coupons would not be redeemed.

OUT OF HARMONY . . . High rents pushed the popular Harmony Bakery from one location to the next. The bakery moved from a somewhat obscure block of Park Boulevard to California Avenue, replacing La Dolce Vita, a coffeehouse favored by groups as disparate as the chess crowd and the local sadomasochist club. The new location couldn't revive the bakery, but owners Nickie and Phil Nasr vowed it will rise again -- as they did in 2000 when the store was kicked out of its Midtown location.

LOST ITS EDGE . . . A nexus for California Avenue nightclubbing, The Edge lost its liquor license on May 11 after its owners allegedly failed to pay taxes. Neighborhood complaints over fights and noise nearly cost the nightclub its license in 1998.

TRAGEDY HAUNTS Q . . . Some in the nightlife community sayQ Café and Billiards' demise was in part due to rising rents, but the once popular spot was haunted by a mysterious fatal shooting, when Maria Ann Hsiao was murdered outside its doors in June 2001.

NO PLACE LIKE THE CRAIG... The Craig Hotel, one of Palo Alto's few residential hotels for low income people, closed its doors in June. An effort by developer Barry Swenson Builders and the Emergency Housing Consortium to take over the Craig fell apart when the cost of renovating the run-down hotel was deemed too expensive.

SLIPPED THROUGH THE CRACKS . . . The 1916 Craftsman-style home at 1830 Cowper St. was torn down by new homeowners to make way for a more modern structure. The home which once belonged to Dr. P.A. Ross, a distinguished professor at Stanford who contributed to the development of X-rays, was deemed at one time to potentially be worthy of a listing on the California Register of Historical Resources. However, that possibility was not enough for further study for inclusion on the city's list of historic, and therefore protected, homes.

NO LONGER SHARING ALIKE . . . Once filled with promise, CityCarShare and its rival FlexCar pulled out of Palo Alto. The car-sharing program, designed to reduce traffic and pollution on local streets, fell short of company expectations. The affluence of the community and lower population density were blamed for the closures.

A FOND FAREWELL . . . California Sen. Byron Sher was term-limited out and replaced by California Assemblyman - now Senator -- Joe Simitian. Sher spent 26 years as a state legislator and had a highly-lauded record among environmentalists. At 76, Sher plans to remain active and possibly become involved with nonprofit environmental groups.

A PERIOD OF TRANSITION . . . Controversial City Councilwoman Nancy Lytle, who saw her bid for re-election go down in flames in November 2003, discovered that 2004 had its share of changes as well . Laid off from her job as a planner in San Jose, Lytle is reportedly working as a planner in Chula Vista in Southern California.

HASTA LA VISTA, BABY . . . After 10 years of sometimes controversial leadership as Palo Alto's fire chief, Ruben Grijalva left the city for Sacramento on Aug. 16, to become state fire marshal under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

THE WALLS CAME DOWN . . . After a heated political battle that was finally resolved in 2003 in a bitter referendum campaign, Peninsula Creamery's landmark building at 800 High St. came down to make way for mixed-use condominiums and commercial space.

-- Sue Dremann

E-mail a friend a link to this story.