A Menlo Park Fall After Lutticken's and Left Bank: Where the Town Gathers Now

The last dinner service at Lutticken's After 5 was Aug. 29. Two weeks later, on Sept. 12, regulars held a farewell outside the building at Alameda de las Pulgas and Gordon Avenue, with live music, because live music was the reason many of them had been coming. The deli's last scheduled day was Sept. 30, which ended 45 years at that corner of West Menlo.

Three months earlier, Left Bank Brasserie served its final dinner on Santa Cruz Avenue after 28 years. Those were two of the longest-running private rooms where Menlo Park met for an evening, one on each side of El Camino. Both are gone heading into fall. Most of the dated gatherings on the calendar between now and December are free and outdoors, held on public ground run by the City or the Downtown Menlo Fund.

Two rooms, 73 years between them

Lutticken's started in 1981 as a grocery next door to its later spot. It sold sandwiches called Poor Boys and Rich Boys for 79 cents, then moved into the corner space and reworked itself as a deli and caterer. In 2011 it added After 5, with dinner, a full bar, live music, Thursday karaoke and open mic nights. Todd Johnson ran the music and open mic program and told The Almanac that the nighttime business "had been packed up until its closure."

The business also reached well past its own walls. Menlo-Atherton Little League president Ricky Flores told The Almanac that Lutticken's had sponsored the league "as far back as the league's records go." Alpine Little League and Menlo-Atherton Little League hosted a thank-you lunch for founder Bob Lutticken on Sept. 25. In 2024, State Sen. Josh Becker named it Senate District 13's Small Business of the Year. Becker described it to The Almanac as "a neighborhood gathering place where people knew one another and everyone felt welcome."

The flagship was closing along with the two Stanford Medical Center locations and the one on Sand Hill Road. In The Almanac's Sept. 23 story, the family had not yet decided what would happen to the storefront. Carlos Magana, who managed After 5, said he and an investor were ready to take over the business. Bobby Lutticken put it this way: "there will be something there."

Left Bank was a different kind of room: a 150-seat French brasserie that opened downtown in 1998. Its parent company, Vine Hospitality, announced on June 22 that it was closing LB Steak, Meso Modern Mediterranean and Petite Left Bank as well. As The Almanac noted when the closure was announced, that leaves Bistro Vida, which also opened in 1998, as the only French restaurant operating in downtown Menlo Park.

The rules for an empty storefront changed the same night

On June 23, the same evening Left Bank closed, the City Council unanimously approved zoning changes meant to fill empty storefronts on Santa Cruz Avenue. According to The Almanac's report on the vote, the changes do the following:

• Spas, salons and similar personal services can now open on the ground floor without a conditional use permit. They had generally been limited to upper floors.
• Small-scale recreation such as gyms and arcades can now apply for use permits, which the Planning Commission reviews. These uses were previously prohibited.
• Banks and similar businesses can apply too, but the street as a whole is capped at 30,000 square feet and no single bank can exceed 5,000. Existing financial institutions already take up roughly 28,000.
• Ground-floor retailers can use the back of their spaces for limited office use, subject to Planning Commission approval.

The request came from Windy Hill Ventures, owner of the recently renovated 870 Santa Cruz Ave. The company argued that the rules in the 2012 El Camino Real/Downtown Specific Plan had made large storefronts hard to lease. Councilmember Drew Combs said at the meeting that the plan "has been almost a complete failure as it relates to actually revitalizing Santa Cruz Avenue." The Almanac pointed to 714 Santa Cruz Ave. as one vacant space a salon or spa could now take.

The changes took effect immediately.

Friday, Oct. 23: the street is the venue

Fourth Fridays is produced by the Downtown Menlo Fund and bills itself as the night "all of downtown becomes the venue." The free October edition runs 6 to 9 p.m., with one early set starting at 5. The published lineup puts a stage on nearly every block of Santa Cruz Avenue:

• 5 to 6 p.m.: Diego Ortiz plays a family-friendly early set inside Feldman's Books, 1075 Curtis St.
• 6 to 8 p.m., Plaza Stage: Pinki Martini at the center of the 600 block plaza.
• 6 to 8 p.m., Borrone Plaza: Clint Baker & The All Stars on the plaza shared by Cafe Borrone and the British Bankers Club.
• 6 to 8 p.m., Crane Stage: Sean Biggar outside Mademoiselle Colette, near Roma.
• 6 to 8 p.m., Chestnut Stage: Riekestra Band at the Wells Fargo entrance at Santa Cruz Avenue and Chestnut Street.
• 6 to 8 p.m., Kids Stage: Balloon artist Steven Koehler in the corridor by Chase Bank, Aveda, Susie Cakes and Cheeky Monkey.
• 6 to 9 p.m.: Rick Sanders inside Gallery House, plus a performer still to be announced inside Gitane.

The October map uses bank frontages as stages. Wells Fargo and Chase are among the financial institutions the Council just capped on this street, and on Oct. 23 their entrances become places to hear a band. This is also the closest thing Menlo Park has right now to the live, local, walk-in music After 5 offered for 14 years, though it happens once a month and outdoors.

The weekend after, the calendar shifts to parks and a pool

The city's Halloween events start the next morning and run through the following Wednesday, split between downtown and Belle Haven.

1. Halloween Hoopla Parade and Carnival, Saturday, Oct. 24, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The parade travels along Santa Cruz Avenue to a carnival at Fremont Park, at Santa Cruz Avenue and University Drive, and the City lists the cost as free. Trick-or-treaters also get a free bag to use at participating downtown stores.
2. Pumpkin Splash, Sunday, Oct. 25. Sessions start at 11:30 a.m. and noon at Belle Haven Pool, 100 Terminal Ave. The cost is $12.
3. Trunk-or-Treat, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 4:30 to 6 p.m. Free admission at the Belle Haven Community Campus, 100 Terminal Ave.

Fremont Park comes up again in December, which makes it the closest thing downtown has to a fixed outdoor room. Each Sunday, the Menlo Park Farmers Market runs year-round from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Parking Lot 6 on Chestnut Street, between Santa Cruz and Menlo avenues, which turns a parking lot into a weekly gathering spot.

Two tree lightings, four days apart

The holiday season begins on the east side of town. Cocoa at the Campus is Monday, Nov. 30, from 6 to 7 p.m. at the Belle Haven Community Campus. It is free and includes youth performances, cocoa, mini-churros and a small tree lighting.

Downtown's turn is Friday, Dec. 4. "Shop local! Light Up the Season" runs from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at Fremont Park, rain or shine, with a winter wonderland theme, youth performances and hot cocoa while it lasts. This year the City is lighting the Menlo Park oak and, in the City's own words, giving "our beloved pine tree a well deserved break." The event invites people to shop and dine at local small businesses while they are downtown, the same storefronts the June zoning vote was written to fill.

What the corner of Alameda and Gordon becomes next is still open. Until then, the dates above are where Menlo Park's evenings are scheduled this season: the 600 block plaza on Oct. 23, Fremont Park on Oct. 24 and Dec. 4, Belle Haven on Oct. 28 and Nov. 30, and Lot 6 every Sunday morning.

If you're wondering what this fall's downtown changes could mean for a home near Santa Cruz Avenue or in West Menlo, Warren Real Estate LLC is glad to talk it through in a confidential consultation.