LLM Resourses
Stores and Restaurants
Groceries
Pharmacies
Amazon - some useful things to know
Other useful stores
Coffee on Campus
Restaurants on Campus
Restaurants/Bars off Campus
Transport and Sights
Cars
Cycling
Marguerite campus bus
Airport Shuttle
Caltrain
Local sights
Credit: In large part this comes from the Stanford Law School Unofficial Guide.
This is in rough order of proximity to campus/usefulness:
Groceries:
On campus:
The Market at Munger
Located in Munger 5 (map), entrance facing Munger 4. This has a relatively wide selection (from advil, to yoga mats to milk!) of household goods and mainly organic food. It's relatively expensive but great if you're short on time. It has awesome gelato and also has a fresh vegetable cart once a week every Tuesday, 11am-2pm from the Russo farms. Open during the week but usually not at the weekend, although hours vary depending on the time of year.
Tresidder Express
It is located on the lower level of Tresidder(map), the student union/center, on the side facing towards Lagunita. This has a pretty narrow range but if you're out of diet coke or cigarettes then it's a good bet. Open Monday - Thursday: 8:00am - 9:00pm, Friday: 8:00am - 7:00pm Saturday - Sunday: 10:00am - 6:00pm.
Near campus:
Town & Country Village
Town & Country Village is very close to campus (see map) now has a Trader Joes, as well as CVS Pharmacy, a dry cleaners and a bunch of nice little stores and restaurants, so it's good for a quick run around the things you have to do and the odd treat.
Andronico’s Market
(500 Stanford Shopping Center, Palo Alto, 94304) Expensive, but close
and lots of interesting food items. Every Tuesday there's 15% discount if you show your Stanford ID.
Whole Foods
Expensive, but a go-to for healthy and vegetarian-friendly options and great quality fruit and veg.
1. 774 Emerson St. (map)
2. 4800 El Camino (at Showers Dr.) in Los Altos/Mountain View (map)
Safeway Supermarkets
The main grocery store destination in Palo Alto—the newly renovated
one on El Camino is convenient and well-stocked and also has a pharmacy. Safeway will also deliver to campus.
1. 525 El Camino Real, Menlo Park (map)
2.
2811 Middlefield Rd., Palo Alto (map)
3. 2580 California St., Mountain View
4. 325 South Sharon Park, Menlo Park (also colloquially known as "Secret Safeway" due to
its hiddenness)
Milk Pail
(2585 California St. in Mountain View) Has a large selection of fresh fruits and
vegetables at decent prices.
Molly Stones
(164 S. California (close to Cal-Train)) Also a bit pricey, but very close, great options and largely undiscovered by SLS students.
Trader Joe's
Cheap and with lots of amazing items, what more could you ask for?
1. Town & Country Village (see above)
2. 590 Showers Drive, Mountain View
3. 720 Menlo Ave, Menlo Park
Pharmacies
Vaden Health Center (on campus)
No one ever spells this one out, but you can use the Vaden Health Center pharmacy both for prescriptions and a bunch of over the counter things like Tylenol (paracetomol) and Advil (ibuprofen).
CVS
1. 855 El Camino Real, Palo Alto (in Town & Country Shopping Center)
2. 352 University Ave, Palo Alto
Walgreens
1. 4170 El Camino Real, Palo Alto
2. 2605 Middlefield Rd., Palo Alto
Amazon
There are a few tricks to Amazon worth knowing. Firstly you can get Amazon prime (free 2 day delivery) free for a year as a student http://www.amazon.com/student . Secondly, if you (or anyone else for that matter Stanford or not) use the SLATA Amazon webportal then it means extra money for SLATA, which SLATA spends on Delicious Snacks for you at exam time, in the Study-Free Zone. Finally Amazon US actually stocks a huge range of stuff beyond what is available in a lot of other countries (author comes from the UK). So it's always worth taking a look.
Other useful stores
For furniture stores - see this page http://www.law.stanford.edu/experience/beyond/paloalto/#furniture_stores
Post Offices and Banks are also listed here: http://www.law.stanford.edu/experience/beyond/paloalto/#overview
Stanford Shopping Center (on campus)
660 Stanford Shopping Center, Palo Alto, CA 94304 (650) 617-8202 website
On campus and can be reached by the B line busses, or cycling's pretty easy too (map). Fairly upscale but all the major department stores. Note if you show your Stanford ID at the J.Crew store you'll get an automatic 10% off.
Mac's Smoke Shop/Newspapers
534 Emerson St, Palo Alto, CA 94301 (650) 323-3724 Mon-Wed, Sun 6 am - 10 pm Thu 6 am - 11 pm, Fri-Sat 6 am - 12 am. If you are one of those strange strange people who still like hard copy newspapers they can be found here.IKEA
1700 E. Bayshore Road East Palo Alto, CA 94303 650 323.4532 website
Target
1. 555 Showers Dr., Mountain View (can be reached on the Margeurite Shopping Express)
2. 2485 El Camino Real, Redwood City
Wal-Mart
600 Showers Drive, Mountain View
Staples
700 El Camino Real, Suite 120, Menlo Park
Coffee on Campus
Law School Cafe
Starbucks coffee now run by the Russo Cafe, but closes at 2 pm.
Coupa Cafe
Coupa Cafe has opened a new kiosk in the center of campus between Meyer and Green library (map) and it's coffee is probably the best on campus. Open 8 am til 6pm http://news.stanford.edu/news/2010/march/coupa-cafe-opening-033010.html There's also another one over in Engineering - see map.
The Bookstore does also allegedly sell coffee. We're not so sure.
Restaurants on Campus
A comprehensive list can be found here: http://www.stanford.edu/dept/rde/shaa/retail_all.htm
Regularly haunted by previous LLMs were:
Russo Cafe
In Munger Building 4 (map), with the entrance facing Munger 5. Only open at lunchtimes and Thursday evenings. A bit pricey - but the food is great. http://www.stanford.edu/dept/rde/shaa/russo.htm
CoHo
Over in Tresidder (map) A grand Stanford tradition, selling reasonablish food, beer, coffee and live music from time to time. 7AM to Midnight Weekdays, 9AM to Midnight Saturdays and Sundays. Website here.
Union Square at Tresidder
On the right hand side of Tresidder (map) Fast-food type options combined with long lines and lots of
undergrads. Includes Jamba Juice, Subway, paninis, Chinese food, pizza and salads. Check out
Fraiche if you want frozen yogurt, soy option available. Check website for in-term hours.
The Treehouse
Located behind Tresidder (map) . Coho usually wins but the Treehouse has pizza, burgers and Mexican fare, beer by the pitcher and a much wider range than CoHo AND is open much later than other campus eateries. Monday–Sunday: 10:00am–midnight.
Coupa
(See above) also serves really good food with a Venezuelan twist including Organic and locally grown products are promoted and enjoyed in our menu offerings including eggs and omelettes, pancakes, breakfast pastries, waffles, arepas, paninis, salads, crepes and other Coupa Specialties.
Campus BBQs
Deserves an entry in its own right. All the housing have BBQs, plus there's a nice big one over by Lagunita and on the playing field next to Munger. Beers in the Munger gardens and/or a BBQ have been a huge favorite of previous years LLMs.
Restaurants/Bars off Campus
There are plenty of restaurants and bars in Palo Alto and a long list can be found in the SLS Unofficial Guide. The Bar Tsars will also make sure you make a full tour of said bars! The following have been previous LLM favourites and/or will usually cater to a largeish group and so worth flagging:
Coupa
538 Ramona St - Palo Alto - California 94301 Tel: (650) 322-6872
Fax: (650) 322-6874 website
Getting boring I know, same chain as discussed above, great food and coffee and sometimes it's just nice to get off campus once in a while. Open 7 days a week – 7:00am to 11:00pm. Gets very busy 10 am to 2pm.
Vero
530 Bryant Street Palo Alto, CA 94301 tel. 650.325.VERO (8376) fax. 650.325.8306 website
A nice Italian restuarant that's pretty reasonable with great food and (usually) good wine. Sadly doesn't get much trade because it is off University Avenue so usually quiet, ie it's possible to land on them with 10-20 people without a reservation and they probably won't mind and will have space.
Nolas
535 Ramona St, Palo Alto, CA 94301 | (650) 328-2722 website
Nolas is a big lively bar with New Orleans theme, that does some food albeit not a wide range. It did a great fixed price menu for a huge graduation dinner for a previous year of LLMs. However, do watch out if it isn't a fixed price, dinner and wine have been known to come in in the region of $80 a person.
The Wine Room
520 Ramona Street, Palo Alto , CA 94301 | 650.322.1292 | website
Open every day 4pm til midnight, quite upscale but a civilized place to go for a quiet glass of wine.
Transport and Local Sights
Cars
Cabs
Yellow Cab. Call (408) 293-1234 for pick-up.
Zipcar
Zipcar is one of the easiest ways to have access to a car on campus. It's essentially a car sharing club, and a card gives you access to any cars you book at any time of day or night. This Stanford resource on zipcar has a useful map of where cars are available on campus. It works out usually at $8 an hour and all Zipcar reservations include gas, insurance, maintenance and 180 miles per day.
Tips: You'll need a copy of your driving record in English to apply for membership and it's worth getting this sorted out before you come to campus. Also make sure you use the link above or this one http://www.zipcar.com/stanford/ so that you get the discounts Stanford has negotiated. You'll need to use your Stanford email address and enter your Stanford ID number when asked for your 'Employee or Institutional Number.'
Enterprise Rent-a-Car
There is a car rental company on campus, Enterprise, over near Stanford Hospital. You're of course either going to need to take the Marguerite or cycle, or walk for the best part of an hour to get there. You will need daily parking permits for Enterprise cars if you park them on campus.
Used cars
There are a number of used car dealerships down in Mountain View, some of which will offer a one year warranty or alternatively you can try Craigs List or try Stanford Classifieds. Bear in mind if you do have a car you will need to get a parking permit for it.
Drivers Licence
If you decide to opt for a Californian Drivers Licence - details can be found here. There are plenty of videos out there on the test like this one. If you use a rental car to take the driving test you'll need approval document (for using the car for the driving test) from a rental car office to submit to the DMV to prove you're insured.
Most people will not be California resident, regarding the definition in VC12505, so can drive on their home country drivers license. http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d06/vc12505.htm
Getting around on campus/into Palo Alto
Cycling
Cycling is the easiest way to get around campus by far, and often the fastest way into Palo Alto. The Campus Bike Shop over in Tresidder has a good stock of new and second hand bicycles and are really helpful if you ever need any repairs done. The Stanford University transportation website has a much bigger list of local bike stores and the Stanford Classifieds usually have some bikes too.
It is worth comparing prices to those at Menlo Velo particularly if you like the Specialized bike brand - easiest way to get there without a car is to take the Marguerite to Stanford Shopping Center and then walk
If you are cycling around Palo Alto - there some roads with much better cycle lanes than others and El Camino Real is definitely a no no. So check using one of the maps at the bottom of the transportation website such as this one if you're taking a route you're not familiar with.
Campus bus - Marguerite
The Marguerite is Stanford's free bus service. There are a number of routes round campus, and A and B will both go to the CalTrain station. The Shopping Express will go up to Showers Drive/San Antonio Shopping Center where there's a big Whole Foods as well as a Walmart and a Target.
There are schedules on the transportation website, as well as a real time map that will tell you where they actually are (generally not wise to rely on the scheduled time).
The downside about the Marguerite is that the hours it runs are a bit limited, and in particular most don't run on the weekends, and really helpfully when you first arrive, most lines don't run until September.
Getting to and from the airports
Stanford has a discount with Super Shuttle that can usually be found here. The shared rides are the cheapest, but can take up to twice as long as a cab would. The ideal thing at the end of term is to exclusively book a van or car with a group of friends.
If you live at Munger beware, Bowdoin Lane is not yet on most GPS, but Bowdoin Street over where the Rains houses are is. Every other pick up Super Shuttle will usually go to Bowdoin Street not Bowdoin Lane - thus it's usually easier to ask to be picked up at the corner of Arguello Way and Campus Drive.
Jet lag
While we're on airports, we might as well cover jet lag. Travelling from various parts of the world to California can cause some seriously brutal jet lag. Even flying to NY for an interview can be unfunny. The rule of thumb is it takes a day for every hour you're trying to time shift. Getting out in the sunlight (easy to do in California) and going for a walk, run or cycle helps. Take it easy, try to adapt to the local time line as best you can and try to sleep at a "normal" time. Melatonin - available at most pharmacies and Whole Foods also helps.
Caltrain
The Caltrain is probably the easiest way to get into San Francisco if you don't want to drive. Some of the trains take around 30 minutes, but most take an hour. The Schedules are here. The station is at the top of Palm Drive - see map. Either take the B line going counterclockwise or cycle - there are bike racks on both sides of the station. Note you must buy a ticket before boarding.
Information on local sights
This is a little crazy to attempt to do because there is simply so much out there that you could be at Stanford for 10 years and never manage to see it all. Below are just a few of the things that LLMs have got up to in previous years and have been favorites we'd recommend.
On campus
Cantor Center for Visual Arts
Wednesday–Sunday Thursday 11 am–5 pm 11 am–8 pm
Free and an easy walk from most accommodation. There's an amazing Rodin Sculpture Garden as well as the museum itself. Website. Map. Do have a wander over, lots of us got through most of the year before realizing it was there.
Hoover Tower
Usually open 7 days a week from 10am to 4:00pm, free with a student pass (website and map). Just another place on campus worth a visit, also a great navigation point if you get lost!
Lake Lagunita
Nice short running track and very pretty to wander round (map). There's also a big BBQ and fireplace there.
Main Quad
The original heart of Stanford. Map for the heck of it. Worth a visit every now and then.
Stanford Gardens
There are several maintained by the Grounds Services listed here. Probably the best known is the Arizona cactus garden but all are worth a visit. The Grounds Services also recommends walking routes.
Stanford Football
Not so much a place but something you need to go see, if only just once and if only for the Tree and the Stanford Band. None of which I can begin to do justice - so, just go see :o) 2010 Schedule here. Stadium map here. Students enter for free at the gate no. 3.
You need to gain loyalty points to get into the annual Stanford vs. Cal grudge match - see here for details http://www.gostanford.com/ot/redzone.html.
The Dish
Probably one of the best loved Stanford landmarks. The Dish itself is a radio telescope belonging to Stanford that is still in use (see http://dish.stanford.edu/). Other research and teaching programs also use the dish area. This is quite a nice site listing the routes to walk or run round it.
Off campus
Filoli
86 Canada Road, Woodside, CA 94062-4143 (650) 364-8300 (website) (map).Students $5 instead of $15 with a Student ID. Located 30 miles south of San Francisco, Filoli is an historic site of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and one of the finest remaining country estates of the early 20th century. We had a lovely wander round one morning after Winter exams when all the spring flowers were out.
Foothills
The foothills contain some great cycling - see section above. The foothills also have lots of great Open Space Preserves - all visible on this map.
Half Moon Bay
Half Moon Bay and it's nearby beaches are a great place to go take a break. It's about 45 minutes drive from campus. Map. Website. Easiest route is up the I280 towards San Fran, and then take route 92 over the Foothills.
Pescadero State Beach at Half Moon Bay is probably our closest beach and one of our favourites. Map. Website. You can take the scenic Pescadero Road over the foothills to get to it. It's just lovely, but bear in mind it'll be a good deal colder than the temperature at Stanford.
Muir Woods
Muir Woods National Monument Mill Valley, CA 94941-2696. The park is open every day of the year from 8 am to sunset, including all of the holidays. Map. Website
About an hours drive from Stanford, one of the oldest stands of Redwoods in the area.
