Good for Mr Holzemer - and thank you.

What billionaire Sobrato wants to do is just awful. This is an important building of great historical significance. It should not be subject to 40% demolition - which will destroy its integrity.

I hope the application is successful.

Good luck with your efforts, Mr. Holezmer. We have to fight to preserve our history

When 14 acres of precious land is zoned RM30 (residential), houses significant cultural history — a Billionaire gets to decide it’s fate w bullying threats ?

In 1996 the then current PACC got something right - save the past for the future. Where else does the city have such a zone? Crying poor, no land, no resources, no will. This is so rare an opportunity that it’s near fiction. In your hand, within reach — seize the day CC. Retain this once in a Century opportunity. Make good on the promise of equity, give back, sustain, retain culturally significant contributions —please do not squander or allow greed to chop up what can be a National and local example the Pride of Palo Alto. Sobrato might seriously consider donating the entire parcel and it’s cannery buildings to the City. A massive tax right off and wow! Sobrato instantly, is an International hero of the human kind . What a concept.

I am curious to know the feelings of the Palo Alto residents who are Chinese regarding preservation (or not) of the Fry's building. A large portion of Palo Alto residents are Chinese origin. I find it odd that the article doesn't seem to state any Chinese names who state interest in preserving this Chinese entrepreneur's heritage. How do they stand?

4 years ago, the City received a Historical Resource Evaluation (HRE) which determined that the old Bayside Cannery building meets the criteria to be on the California Register of Historical Resources and that the building overall is "intact" with nearly all of its original features and structure present.

Apparently, the City has done nothing to move in that direction.

This building, as noted in the HRE, is a rare surviving example of the industry that thrived in The Valley of Hearts Delight--which is what the area was known as before it became Silicon Valley--and, more importantly, right here in our town.

The building's symbolic and historical importance to the Chinese-American community is undeniable, and I hope that we no longer turn a blind eye to it.

I believe the best use for this building, would be to transform it into an art center/artist colony (to encourage and support local artists to pursue their dreams and, in turn, to enrich us all). Many cities have repurposed similar historical building sites into vibrant and prosperous hubs of culture and art; I don't see any reason why Palo Alto couldn't do this.

At the same time, the wonderful history and contributions of Chinese-Americans in the early days of Palo Alto and Mayfield can be enshrined, commemorated, and celebrated throughout the complex. Perhaps even a small museum can be curated to be used as an educational platform.

The project could be called “Mayfield Cannery” or simply “The Cannery.” It could include lofts, live-work spaces for artists and craftsmen, art galleries, museum (perhaps a satellite for Canter or a larger museum), a restaurant, cafe, brewery, convention rooms, classrooms, or a variation on this theme. I think it could be a beautiful and exciting place for the community to enjoy. Outdoor festivals could be held. The proximity to the railroad station could draw tourists down from San Francisco and up from San Jose--giving them another destination other than the University.

I love every word comment by The Palo Alto Kid! Beautiful — truly a legacy land for Hearts Desire .

Jon Jang the renowned composer who grew up in Palo Alto has written the city to preserve Thomas Foon Chew’s Bayside Cannery. He and I attended Ross Road Elementary and Wilbur Jr. High. Chew was a brilliant entrepreneur.
Architecturally the cannery building adds character and is significant to Palo Alto’s history. I urge the city council to support Chew’s legacy and keep the building’s integrity intact for future generations.

The very idea that said “monitor roofs” are driving Sobrato (sp) to their multi million dollar townhouse end, churns the deeper meaning.

In another Century, in another World, another country of encroaching dominance, monitor roofs were used to send deadly chemicals into a well of human horror.

The very fact that a developer would consider preserving an “architectural” element or feature as the #1 feature of culture, a once dominating fear for the common worker from the dominance above .

Now. Offering a fish bowl view for our current 21 Century children to see up and in ... to what? How humans were once watched from above to below on a production line?

Chew was probably cleared to produce after he agreed his workers were to be monitored w an above roof human monitor of production, oversight.

Now these same roofs are being touted as quaint, layered with kitschy design controls all on the levers history.

Flash: Monitor roofs were used then for production controls before the now pervasive cameras (AI) do now.

Sure the industrial design once served a function of production, yet also served a much more serious service. it’s now being used again by power, yet as as a vintage re rendering of a long gone use.

It is Why this parcel is ripe for honoring the legacy for the past massive fruits of the labor of a Chinese work force — serving a struggling global populous than lil Palo Alto.

Isn’t it irony that Sobrato purchased at the height of 2008 downturn of “the Great Recession”. A similar era which The Cannery served was WWI, The Great Depression and WWII? 14 acres of historic and yes, contemporary significance is soon to be buried by greed in a candy corn moment. Wheels of wax are greasing the tracks holding up rolling forward yet sugar when wet locks the wheels. Sobrato is throwing wet sugar on these historic Hearts Desire tracks . God’s Will the CC will not cave in.

I won't comment on the historic aspect of this, but I wish someone had done something similar to preserve our last bowling alley so that we could have some recreational activity for all the residents. It is sadly missed.

Perhaps this building could house a new bowling alley with all the modern features so that a new generation can spend time having fun!

Applause for The Palo Alto Kid. Maybe PA's "leaders" could take some inspiration from the folks behind the Los Altos Food Hall and do something similar.

This has nothing to do with historical preservation. It's just a last-ditch effort by the NIMBYs. Historical preservation can be better done with a plaque or something similar, rather than that completely unremarkable building with no discernible architectural merits whatsoever. This town needs more housing and shopping options, not more so-called "historical monuments".

I loved Frys but this seems like a ideal place for housing. It's proximity to Caltrain is reason enough.

"I find it odd that the article doesn't seem to state any Chinese names who state interest in preserving this Chinese entrepreneur's heritage. How do they stand?"

Here's one.

This whitesplaining our own heritage is a cynical ploy by a NIMBY to use someone else's race card to hinder development.

Disgusting. I'm appalled.

"It's just a last-ditch effort by the NIMBYs. Historical preservation can be better done with a plaque or something similar, rather than that completely unremarkable building with no discernible architectural merits whatsoever. This town needs more housing and shopping options, not more so-called "historical monuments".

So there's mo shopping veat the Los Altos Food Hall that encompasses a whole block of State Street?? And none at the incredibly popular Eataly in San Jose? Web Link

Re Nimby's and housing, I guess you missed all the recent articles about the slowdown in apartment construction all over the Bay Area due to COSTS, not Nimby's.

Here's one of many, this one from today: Web Link

Apartment construction in Silicon Valley grinds to a halt amid cost crunch
After adding thousands of apartments in recent years, development is slowing across the Bay Area

If the Bay Area hopes to solve its housing crunch, it will need to build a lot more apartment buildings. But after adding thousands of units in recent years, construction is grinding to a halt.

In fact, no apartment projects broke ground in Silicon Valley during the first half of 2023, according to data from CoStar, an international real estate analytics company. Compare that to the last six months of 2022, when developers started construction on 5,298 multifamily units in the region.

There’s also a slowdown in the East Bay, where construction began on just 672 apartments, condos or townhomes, down from 1,170 during the last half of 2022. In San Francisco and on the Peninsula, work started on only 229 multifamily units, falling just slightly from the back end of last year but well below the 1,846 units during the first six months of 2022.

The reasons for the downturn are plenty: Higher interest rates are making financing development more expensive..."

I'd hate to see a housing project railroaded through, though there is certainly a dire need for housing. The first question I'd like to see answered is whether the building itself has architectural merit. Are other similar industrial buildings in existence or would this literally be erasing history? In the former case, I think the legacy of Thomas Foon Chew should be celebrated, but not necessarily by keeping an outdated structure. In fact, there are a variety of ways that this could be done that would increase awareness far more than simply keeping the building. I don't have the information to know the answer.

I may be unusual in bemoaning the demolition of the "brutalist six-story building at 2600 El Camino Real". While not to everyone's taste, it captured an architectural style and was certainly a memorable landmark (and a personal one as it brought back thoughts of my time at a startup near there during the first dot-com boom). I do worry that Palo Alto risks losing what short history it has if every project comes down to dollars and cents, or number of housing units. It would not be my first guess to attach importance to the old Fry's building, but this should be determined by architects and historians, not the needs of the moment.

"I find it odd that the article doesn't seem to state any Chinese names who state interest in preserving this Chinese entrepreneur's heritage."

This is a red herring, since a successful entrepreneur, even one primarily noteworthy for being an Asian immigrant at a time when this was uncommon, is part of the shared legacy of the Bay Area, and not merely of interest to other Asians. For instance, I'm the descendant of several generations of Irish immigrants who settled in Brooklyn (some pre-famine), but no less intrigued by the contribution of Thomas Foon Chew to Palo Alto.

You may doubt my sincerity, but I am definitely not making a NIMBY argument. In fact, I think it would be great to have housing in that location if that was the only question.

That said, it is a leap from the need to preserve Chew's legacy to the conclusion that we need to hold onto an old cannery structure. That's a question for architects and historians.

"This is a red herring, since a successful entrepreneur, even one primarily noteworthy for being an Asian immigrant at a time when this was uncommon, is part of the shared legacy of the Bay Area, and not merely of interest to other Asians. "

No it's not. His Chinese-American heritage has been prominently promoted cynically in an attempt to preserve a crumbling building. Somehow he's supposed to be a shining beacon defining our heritage here in California.

Let us decide that. Not you.

Get over your white guilt some other way.

"I believe the best use for this building, would be to transform it into an art center/artist colony (to encourage and support local artists to pursue their dreams and, in turn, to enrich us all). Many cities have repurposed similar historical building sites into vibrant and prosperous hubs of culture and art; I don't see any reason why Palo Alto couldn't do this."


White guilt has nothing to do with wanting to see the building transformed into something fun and interesting as proposed above.

Me 2: "Get over your white guilt some other way."

Now who's being presumptuous? The question of preserving this building should be based on architectural merit, not NIMBYism and not "white guilt". I find it hilarious that you leap to conclusions like that.

My gut reaction is that the merit of this structure itself is non-obvious, and there may be much better ways to commemorate Chew (whose Wikipedia entry is of suspiciously recent vintage). Let's hear from an architect and expert on period industrial buildings, not from me. That said, I'm interested in learning about him and his success. That has nothing to do with "guilt." It's a feel-good "only in the SF Bay Area" story that I endorse heartily.

If this is being used cynically to stop much needed development, then shame on those doing so, but please don't insult me by suggesting that my interest in a local immigrant entrepreneur is somehow less valid than those with more recent common ancestors or a reflection of "guilt".

Have been to that location numerous times during the past four decades and conclude there is no historical importance related to the site. There is an unfinished construction site where Foot Locker was on El Camino which has the same historical importance. Scratch it and build a new facility.

What should be built ? A combination of office space, housing and small retail as this city is being hammered on the retail side without city leadership. Since Sobrato and other will be making good money from an expanded project, add middle class retirement building. And let's be cautious about the new non-profits springing up to build low cost housing using the builders remedy.

I worked for 10 years in that building. There is absolutely nothing worse preserving in that building.

When talking about housing, let’s not compare Palo Alto to Mountain View or San Jose, who are trying to meet their housing state quotas.
Also the slowdown in housing transactions due to the decreased buyer affordability, is instead an argument to build more housing units instead of fewer.

[Portion removed.] The Fry’s building is the notre dame of Palo Alto!

I was puzzled at the description of "monitor roofs" as a way of monitoring employees - or even of venting toxic fumes - given the appearance of the building, so I checked Wikipedia:
"A monitor in architecture is a raised structure running along the ridge of a double-pitched roof, with its own roof running parallel with the main roof. The long sides of monitors usually contain clerestory windows or louvers to light or ventilate the area under the roof." An important feature in the days before electrification and air conditioning!

If the topic involved the demolition or restoration of an earlier Birge Clark architectural design would we be having this discussion?

While the former Chew/Maximart/Fry's building has a place in Palo Alto's history, it is not a noteworthy or particularly attractive architectural design.

Perhaps it can be converted to a Palo Alto Cannery Row or Sacramento Old Town of sorts with nice restaurants, high-end shopping, and bars with evening entertainment.

Except for epicurean adventures, both Downtown PA and California Avenue offer little in terms of cool bars and noteworthy musical acts.

Call them dullsville with countless venues catering to a customer base primarily concerned with eating and little more.

I am in full wholeheartedly support of preserving the physical space of Thomas Foon Chew’s Bayside Cannery because of its historic significance on a national level.
My name is Jon Jang. I am a composer, pianist, bandleader and a changemaker. Many of my music works, such as the Chinese American Symphony, commemorate and celebrate Chinese American transnational history.
I grew up in Palo Alto during the early 1960s at a time when Joseph Eichler, a Jewish liberal real estate developer fought for the rights of people of color (minorities) in Palo Alto. He sold an Eichler house to my widowed mother who had to raise three children on her own. At Ross Road Elementary School, I was one of two Chinese American students.
I was often reminded in Palo Alto that Stanford built the railroad.
In May 1969, I read an article in the San Francisco Chronicle about a ceremony in Utah to commemorate the centennial anniversary of the completion of the Central Pacific Railroad. I was surprised to learn that it was the Chinese immigrant workers, not Stanford, who built the first transcontinental railroad in the US. I was surprised to learn that John Volpe, the keynote speaker who was the Secretary of Transportation, declared ten times that it was “American workers who built the railroad.”

On May 6, 1882, President Chester Arthur signed the Chinese Exclusion Act (1882-1943) which banned Chinese immigrants from entering the United States as well as denying naturalization to Chinese immigrants to become US citizens. This was the first US law that excluded people in this country solely based on race.

What is remarkable about Thomas Foon Chew’s Bayside Cannery in 1918 is that it became one of the major canneries in the world during the Chinese Exclusion Act era where “in a few short years, the dominant image of Chinese lurched from despised oriental ‘other’ to wartime ally to dangerous communist threat.” Mae Ngai’s book, Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America.

Big developers and a certain number of City Council members have been HOT to tear down the old Bay Side Cannery and build condominiums since at least the early 1980s. This push to cash in big on this property is nothing new! But now there's even more profit to be made! Makes one wonder how many with skin in the game are aggressively downplaying its historical significance to the region, to Chinese-Americans, and to the entrepreneurial spirit that is the life-blood of Palo Alto.

What is truly amazing is that the old Bay Side Cannery wasn't demolished back in the day. Back then, there was no mention of the building's history by anyone--that is a fairly new development, which is surely frustrating to some folks. Sorry, not sorry.

Saving this historic resource, Thomas Foon Chew’s Bay Side Cannery, has no correlation to preventing the construction of housing.
The city attorney Albert Yang said townhouses may never be built should Sobrato decide that it would not be commercially viable to do so based on market forces.
No housing is to be built in the former cannery per the Development Agreement. Only office is allowed with 2600 square feet allocated for retail. Many posts on this thread reveal a lack of understanding of this Development Agreement.

[Post removed.]

I am of Chinese ethnicity and feel this land would better serve the community as desperately needed housing. I know people don't like change but when restaurant and retail workers and young families can't afford housing, our quality of life will suffer. We have lived here for 25 years and the younger generation of our extended family has had to leave the Bay Area to raise their families due to the lack of affordable housing which is due to the low supply. Please don't use my ethnicity and your supposed reverence for it as your excuse to achieve your agenda.

"No housing is to be built in the former cannery per the Development Agreement. Only office is allowed with 2600 square feet allocated for retail. Many posts on this thread reveal a lack of understanding of this Development Agreement."

Correct. I have not read the new Development Agreement.

So, NO HOUSING IS GOING TO BE BUILT ON THE SITE? I guess that argument is dead now.

Thanks for the update.

Sobrato is allowed to build housing but is not REQUIRED to build housing. Entitlements are the trend in the Bay Area. Developers can sit on the project and not do a thing. Housing is not required and sadly is hard to achieve in this case. The entire property should be dedicated to truly affordable housing while keeping the cannery as an amenity
for the public’s use.

Let's not whitewash Palo Alto history. Unlike Los Altos which has acknowledged his food processing contributions, most Palo Alto residents had never heard of him until the Sobranto development. Go figure.

Mr. Chew's untimely and premature passing paved the way for other white-owned Santa Clara County canneries (i.e. Libby's, Del Monte, S&W) to thrive and prosper in his absence.

Mr. Chew was a pioneer in the canning industry and perfected various processes, most notably the canning of asparagus.

He also had canning facilities in Alviso and there is a street named in his honor.

How about a compromise...if the building is to be demolished to accommodate new housing, let's consider renaming the entire strip of Park Boulevard to Thomas Foon Chew Boulevard.

Then his name will ring a bell to the average Palo Altan.

AP Giannini democratized banking. He treated all people fairly.In 1904 for the first time “ the little guy” could borrow money from the Bank of Italy. Thomas Foon Chew borrowed money from Giannini’s bank
thrived as did many others. The bank did well and the clients did well.

"The bank did well and the clients did well."

And years later, The Bank of Italy became the Bank of America which still strongly adhers to the humanistic and customer-oriented visions of AP Giannini.

As for the former cannery, it is time to move on and make way for the future. While Mr. Chew richly deserves a place in Palo Alto history, his older building is not worthy of any restoration or preservation as it has undergone far too many remodelings to accommodate MaxiMart and Fry's Electronics.

A complete teardown is warranted.

Helen Tang proposes an idea far more respectful to Thomas Foon Chew than the preservation of an aging, featureless building. There are any number of others including a statue and historic display at the site or in the proposed park at the development.

If the building itself is so very important why did it take 74 years since it ceased cannery operations for people to insist on its preservation?

I like HT's idea of renaming part or all of Park Blvd.

Also, as paulbc wrote, "I think the legacy of Thomas Foon Chew should be celebrated, but not necessarily by keeping an outdated structure. In fact, there are a variety of ways that this could be done that would increase awareness far more than simply keeping the building."

In Mtn View on San Antonio near ECR, the unremarkable building that housed the Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory (whose internal dysfunction created Silicon Valley's unique startup culture) was not preserved. Instead, it was memorialized by creative public art - 12 foot tall yellow metal transistors and circuit representations embedded in the sidewalk.

As Palo Alto Kid hints, we should memorialize Thomas Foon Chew's achievements via accessible public art in the area.

I think people are missing some key points.
It has already been established by expert review that the building does qualify for historic status and if registered would need to conform with historic demo/Reno requirements.
The applicant has not suggested demolishing the entire building and does not want to do so. The applicant would like to demolish about 40% of the building which eliminates its historic value.
There is a second historic building on the sight which the applicant is keeping as is.
I cannot remember a time when an applicant suggested demolishing some or all of the building which is probably why the issue of preservation did not need to come up.
Many in the community were aware of the history of the building and it’s various contributions to the history of the area for a long time.
It might be worth mentioning that the entire site has been zoned multifamily residential with the hopes it would redevelop under multi family zoning for over three decades.
The proposed development agreement , as was mentioned earlier, allows for 74 townhomes but does not require that they be built.
The agreement also gives 3.25 acres to the city to one day build an affordable housing project and improve the creek with a park along it.

"let's consider renaming the entire strip of Park Boulevard to Thomas Foon Chew Boulevard."
^ How about partially renaming Park Boulevard to Thomas Foon Chew Boulevard? There is no reason for residents in Evergreen or Southgate to acknowledge this hypothetical name change.

"The Bank of Italy became the Bank of America which still strongly adhers to the humanistic and customer-oriented visions of AP Giannini."
^ No different than Wells Fargo, Chase, and U.S. Bank.

If the Sobranto development does goes through, maybe name the complex after Thomas Foon Chew? No different than the Tanland apartments in Palo Alto.

It could easily be called Bayside (after Mr. Chew's Palo Alto cannery) or Chewland (like Tanland).

Another option would be for the Sobranto architects to design the proposed housing in a classic pagoda style to honor Mr. Chew.

"Another option would be for the Sobranto architects to design the proposed housing in a classic pagoda style to honor Mr. Chew."

If such is the case, the new building should also be painted red and black, similar in coloration to the former Ming's restaurant in Barron Park with Feng Shui sensibilities