Posted by Earle Jones, a resident of the Portola Valley: other neighborhood, on Dec 4, 2012 at 5:41 pm

In 1956 I worked for SRI (then Stanford Research Institute) in Menlo Park. On our lunch hour, a few of us would grab a bite to eat and head for Kepler's. At that time it was about 10% of its present size – perhaps even less. Roy Kepler would be there, with Ira Sandperl at the front desk and, if we were fortunate, Joan Baez would be sitting in the back, playing guitar and singing. I was 25. We watched Kepler's grow and become the institution it is today. My favorite Menlo Park "institutions" were SRI, Beltramo's and Keplers!