Los Altos? M.V.? Palo Alto? Deciphering Addresses on El Camino Real (One Tip: Street Sign Color)

If you drive through Los Altos on El Camino Real, you'll find yourself navigating a paradox: It's impossible to drive through Los Altos on El Camino Real. The reason is El Camino does not go through Los Altos; it goes along it. The road defines one of the city's legal borders. On the other side of the street is either Palo Alto or Mountain View, depending on where you are.

I call this conglomeration the Tri-City of Mystery. Why? I used to get lost here.

It's a cardinal sin against manliness to admit any geo-location deficiencies on my part, but facts must be faced: This mile-and-a-half stretch of El Camino is tricky. It seems simple enough, a straight line that connects point A to point B, but spend a little time trying to find a specific address here without the aid of a satellite, and you'll start to feel uneasy. There are miscues, reversals, and discontinuities. In service to humankind, I embarked on an expedition to solve the mystery of El Camino and identify the exact points where things go haywire.

On May 11, I spent some time in the morning driving and walking up and down El Camino in this M.V.-L.A.-P.A. area, looking for geographical markers. I took careful note of addresses, city signs, and the colorful lamppost banners. I even looked at the color of the trash bins and the engravings on manhole covers. Yes, this region has idiosyncrasies that will break your standard assumptions, but I found there is logic here, once you understand the big picture.

You can read all the gory details and see photographic evidence in my AllCamino.com blog post, "Lost in Los Altos." Here's the executive summary:

1. The southwest side of El Camino is Los Altos. The northeast side is Palo Alto or Mountain View.
2. The border between Los Altos and Palo Alto is Adobe Creek.
3. Up north the border between Mountain View and Palo Alto has no sign to mark it, but you can spot it if you know what you're looking for.
4. Down south the border between Mountain View and Los Altos is clearly signed.
5. The street addresses in Palo Alto and Los Altos are consistent. The numbers get bigger as you go south. Los Altos has the even addresses; Palo Alto has the odds.
6. The street addresses in Mountain View bear no relation to Palo Alto's or Los Altos'. The addresses on both sides of the street are even!
7. Los Altos street numbers increase as you go south. Mountain View addresses decrease!
8. The numbers skip dramatically when you pass from Mountain View to Palo Alto or Los Altos.
9. This stretch of El Camino has a lot of hotels.

At the end of my fact-finding mission, I felt pretty satisfied that the mystery was solved and my confusion was adequately dissipated. After all the hungry legwork, I decided to treat myself to a delicious berry-topped Belgian waffle at Country Gourmet. I parked my car in Los Altos and walked across the street to Mountain View to eat. Or was it the other way around?