On the evening of October 23, the Country Cougars set up on the 600 block of Santa Cruz Avenue and led line dancing in a space that used to be an eastbound traffic lane. Clint Baker & The All Stars played the plaza shared by Cafe Borrone and the British Bankers Club. Sean Biggar played outside Mademoiselle Colette near Roma, and the Riekestra Band played at the Wells Fargo corner on Chestnut. Diego Ortiz played inside Feldman's Books and Rick Sanders inside Gallery House. According to InMenlo's preview, that night also included Steven Koehler at Chase Bank, Gaby Castro at Posh Bagel, Edna Acri at The Main Gallery and a Pink Ribbon Good fundraiser at Gitane.
That was the last Fourth Friday of 2026. The series page says Fourth Fridays runs through the warmer months, and that next season's dates are "coming soon." For now, the block that hosted the main stage heads into winter with no program on it. Ten days before that last show, the City Council signaled it may give part of the block back to cars.
That timing affects everything on the calendar between now and the new year. November and December events in Menlo Park are held almost entirely somewhere other than the 600 block. The block itself will spend those months as the unprogrammed version of the space the council is still deciding on.
What the council is weighing
The 600 block has been closed to eastbound traffic since 2020. The closure started as extra outdoor room for restaurants and shops during the pandemic. In June 2025, the council voted to keep it closed, in part because the block had become a regular gathering spot.
At an October 13 study session, as The Almanac reported, most councilmembers backed piloting a different layout. The pilot would:
- reopen the eastbound traffic lane
- remove the bike lane
- keep a smaller community gathering area in the parking spaces
Councilmember Drew Combs suggested running that layout for six months to a year. The city could then compare it with both the current larger plaza and the pre-pandemic setup, with both lanes open.
Mayor Betsy Nash told the council she had done a "complete 180" over the past month. She raised concerns about upkeep around the plaza. She also pointed to construction access for nearby projects, including a proposed six-story residential building at 800 Oak Grove Avenue and the council's push for housing on three downtown parking lots. "I'd actually love to see a plaza expanded at some point and generally a larger pedestrian area downtown, I just think right now is not the time," Nash said, according to The Almanac.
Councilmember Jeff Schmidt was the one dissenter. He favored going ahead with the permanent plaza and compared the pilot to "dropping the ball at the 10-yard line."
The money spent so far frames the decision. City staff said about $61,000 has gone to furniture and $30,000 to a consultant designing the permanent plaza. That leaves about $250,000 for the project. Under the current plans, construction on the permanent plaza was estimated to finish by the end of 2027.
Nothing has been decided. City Manager Justin Murphy said the next step is a council vote on reopening the lane at a future meeting. The October 27 council agenda had no item on the 600 block.
The case Fourth Fridays made in four nights
The plaza's strongest argument at that meeting came from the series that just ended. Fourth Fridays launched July 24, produced by the nonprofit Downtown Menlo Fund. It ran four times in 2026, on July 24, August 28, September 25 and October 23. The opener put The Members and The Wanderers on the main plaza stage, with more acts at nearby venues.
Marnie Foody, the fund's chair, told the council that downtown business owners reported higher sales on Fourth Fridays. She said losing the plaza would limit the group's ability to keep hosting the event. Her words, as The Almanac reported them:
"We are seeing literally hundreds of people coming not just from Menlo Park, but from the surrounding area, to our downtown. We had hoped to build our series to a full schedule of events in 2027."
The Downtown Menlo Fund works on more than music. Its stated focus areas are downtown design and beautification, retail and business support, and community-building. Sample projects include planters and greenery, public art, and wayfinding signage. Whether next season's Fourth Fridays has the same block to work with depends on a vote that has not been scheduled yet.
Where November and December are held instead
With the plaza between seasons, the next two months of downtown and near-downtown events are spread across other addresses. In date order:
- Kepler's Books author events, 1010 El Camino Real. Bryant Lin talks with Laurel Braitman on Tuesday, November 10, 7 to 8 p.m. Bing Gordon and Chloe Gordon talk with Paul Saffo on Thursday, November 12, 7 to 8 p.m. Both events require tickets.
- Kepler's Annual Benefit, Monday, November 16, 5:30 to 8 p.m. "An Evening with Abraham Verghese and Friends" offers three ticket tiers. The store lists a fair-market value of $100 per ticket.
- More Kepler's evenings. Daniel Duane with James Workman is on Tuesday, November 17, 7 to 8 p.m., and Jen Murphy Parker with Irena Smith is on Thursday, November 19, 6 to 7 p.m. Both require tickets.
- Shop local! Light Up the Season, Friday, December 4, 5:30 to 7 p.m. The city's free tree lighting is at Fremont Park, University Drive at Santa Cruz Avenue, with entertainment, youth performances and hot cocoa. The city's event page also encourages visitors to shop and dine at local small businesses while they are downtown.
- Allied Arts Guild Auxiliary Christmas Market, Saturday and Sunday, December 5 and 6, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The market is at 75 Arbor Road, with handcrafted gifts, holiday décor and local vendors. Admission and parking are free, and proceeds benefit Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford. The Guild recommends reservations for holiday lunch at Café Wisteria.
Kepler's readers have two more dates. The Deep Cuts Book Club meets Monday, November 9, at 6 p.m., with a $15 club fee per meeting. The December Non-Fiction Book Club, reading Meet the Neighbors, meets online on Tuesday, December 1, 7:30 to 9 p.m.
The holiday weekend is the busiest stretch. The Friday tree lighting at Fremont Park and the two-day market on Arbor Road fall back to back, giving December 4 through 6 three straight days of events. None of them is on the 600 block.
The storefront that turned over in October
Downtown still changed during the quiet weeks. At 712 Santa Cruz Avenue, Mrs Khan closed in September. The sisters who opened it in 2022 had made it the only Uyghur restaurant on the Peninsula. The Almanac reported that the space reopened October 14 as Dragon General, with chef-owner Minjun Li.
The new menu covers regional Chinese cooking. It includes Dongbei dishes from Li's home region, such as crispy sweet and sour pork and crispy eggplant with garlic and chili, priced $18 to $24. It also offers Peking duck, whole or half, at $48 to $88, plus housemade dim sum, Sichuan and Hunan dishes, and a Chinese American section. Dragon General also serves beer and wine, which Mrs Khan did not. The restaurant is open Wednesday through Monday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5 to 9 p.m. A 12 percent soft-opening discount was running when the story ran, with no grand-opening date set. Li told the paper he is open to bringing back some Uyghur dishes after he trims the menu.
Farther from downtown, West Menlo lost a fixture. Lutticken's Deli & After 5 Restaurant, at Alameda de las Pulgas and Gordon Avenue, set September 30 as its last day after 45 years, according to The Almanac.
The one weekly fixture that doesn't depend on the vote
The downtown farmers market runs every Sunday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The state's certified-market list, current as of October 1, 2026, places it in Parking Lot 6 on Chestnut Street between Santa Cruz and Menlo avenues and lists it as year-round. Because the market is on Chestnut Street, the 600 block decision doesn't affect where it sets up.
That leaves the 600 block in an unusual spot for the rest of 2026. It is the place downtown programming has been built around since 2020. Through December, though, the block has no scheduled events, and its next season of Fourth Fridays depends on a council vote that was not on the calendar as of late October.
If you own a home near downtown and want to know how a reopened lane on Santa Cruz Avenue, or new housing on the parking plazas, could shape your corner of Menlo Park, Shannon Ray is glad to walk through it with you over coffee. When you're curious what your home is worth as downtown changes, start with a Free Home Valuation.