Archive Mode. Call January | 12th Annual PleinAir Salon ended on 2/1/23, 11:59 PM. Call settings are read only. See Current Open Calls
El Palo Alto is a 1000+ year old coastal redwood tree located just south of the Stanford University Campus. It served as a way-finding landmark and camp site for both the indigenous Ohlone people and the early Spanish explorers. It is on the seal of The City of Palo Alto, the seal of Stanford University, and is the inspiration for the Stanford mascot. "Fear the Tree". It is believed that its seed originated in the coastal mountain range and floated down San Francisquito Creek taking root near San Francisco Bay. It has survived fires, floods, droughts, vandalism, local development, being climbed by inebriated students, a concrete retaining wall crowding its roots and first coal smoke and then diesel smoke from the adjacent train tracks. El Palo Alto is the embodiment of perseverance. It can be easily missed in its park, but standing at its base it is a marvel of gnarled bark and self-buttressed limbs reaching to the heavens and terminating in a star burst of sun drenched redwood.
