Ramos Park

Ramos Park is the kind of place locals use when Mitchell Park is too busy. It sits a short walk east along East Meadow Drive from the Magical Bridge Playground, with lots of open grass, a renovated playground, a basketball court and, since 2025, its own restroom. On a weekend morning when the Mitchell library lot is full, Ramos often has room to spare.

The City of Palo Alto describes it as a 4.4-acre neighborhood park with an abundance of open space for a variety of recreational activities. Its official name honors Don Jesus Ramos, an early resident of Mayfield. This guide covers what is in the park, the 2025 renovation and the maintenance that followed, its history and how to get there.

Ramos Park at a glance

The city tags Ramos as a park with athletic fields. Its feature list:

• A playground, renovated in 2025.
• A basketball court.
• Soccer fields, meaning the large open lawn.
• Picnic tables and barbecue grills.
• Walking and bicycle trails.
• A restroom, added in the 2025 renovation.

There is no fenced dog area and no tennis court. For those, Mitchell Park is next door. Entry is free.

The 2025 renovation

The renovation that reshaped Ramos took about five years from first meeting to reopening. At a community meeting on January 29, 2020, neighbors used sticker boards to answer three questions: did they want a restroom, where should it go and how did they use the playground and the concrete court area. An online survey followed. The city's Parks and Recreation Commission reviewed the proposed renovation on February 25, 2020. A second community meeting on August 13, 2020 looked at the revised plan. On December 15, 2020 the commission recommended approval of the Park Improvement Ordinance for Ramos.

The finished park reopened on April 18, 2025. The city announced that the upgrades included a new restroom and a renovated playground. The restroom answered the most common request from those early meetings. A Palo Alto Online item from February 2020 reported that residents had put a bathroom at the top of their list.

The dog park question

At the same December 15, 2020 meeting the commission discussed a pilot off-leash dog area at Ramos. That idea did not become a permanent fixture. The city's dog park list in 2026 names only Mitchell, Peers, Greer and Hoover parks. At Ramos, keep dogs leashed. The nearest fenced run is at Mitchell Park. Our dog parks guide has the details.

Maintenance in 2026

Freshly renovated parks need settling in. Ramos had several short closures in 2026. The city's park page and fact sheets list them:

• Turf renovation: staff removed the raised lips of grass along the walkways to improve drainage, then reseeded and top-dressed the lawn with organic compost. The turf stayed closed until July 10, 2026 to grow in.
• Walkway repairs: tree roots had damaged concrete paths near the playground. Crews replaced sections from Friday, May 8 to Tuesday, May 12, 2026, with the playground and walkways closed during the work.
• Path seal coat: the city scheduled a seal coat on the asphalt paths for June 9, 2026.

All of those dates have passed. On October 30, 2026 the city's page still listed them, but no new closure. Check the city's Ramos Park page or call the Parks Department at 650-496-6962 if you are planning a party around the lawn.

Don Jesus Ramos and Meadow Park

Ramos opened in 1958 as part of a city plan to add recreation space south of Oregon, as south Palo Alto filled with new tract homes. It was first called Meadow Park, after the tract of land it was part of. A nearby group of Eichler streets still goes by the Meadow Park name.

The city later renamed it for Don Jesus Ramos. According to the city, Ramos was a native of Mexico who came to California in search of gold. He arrived in the Mayfield area in 1851. In 1883 he bought a couple of acres and built a house at 727 Page Mill Road, where he lived with his family until he died in 1912. His story runs through the early history of Mayfield, the town that stood around California Avenue before Palo Alto annexed it in 1925. Our page on Mayfield covers that era.

Using Ramos and Mitchell together

The two parks complement each other. Mitchell Park has the Magical Bridge Playground, a water play structure, tennis and pickleball courts, the expanded dog run and the library and community center. It is also crowded on weekends. Ramos has more open grass per visitor, a simpler playground and far fewer people.

A few ways to combine them:

1. Start at Magical Bridge when it is quiet early in the morning, then walk to Ramos for a picnic on the lawn when Mitchell fills up.
2. Use Ramos as the base for a birthday with barbecue grills and picnic tables. Walk older kids to Magical Bridge for an hour.
3. Bring the dog to the fenced run at Mitchell, then walk it on a leash along East Meadow Drive to Ramos.

Getting there by bike and transit

South Palo Alto is flat and good for cycling. Ross Road, which crosses East Meadow Drive in this part of town, was part of Phase 1 of the city's neighborhood bicycle boulevard program. It was partly built in 2018, then adjusted between 2020 and 2022 with new stop signs and trimmed traffic circle islands. Bryant Street, the city's original bike boulevard, reaches East Meadow Drive farther west. Our guide to Palo Alto bike boulevards explains the network.

East Meadow Drive also leads east toward Highway 101 and the bicycle and pedestrian bridge at Adobe Creek, which opened in November 2021. It gives south Palo Alto a year-round crossing to the Baylands and the Bay Trail.

For transit, VTA Route 21 runs along Middlefield Road and lists Mitchell Park among its stops, a short walk west. The nearest Caltrain station is San Antonio, a little over a mile away in a straight line. By car, street parking around the park is usually easy outside party season.

What is nearby

Ramos is the neighborhood park for Adobe Meadow and Meadow Park, built from 1956 on the former Piers Dairy land. Palo Verde, with its late 1950s Eichler tract, lies close by too. Local profiles of Palo Verde mention regular neighborhood dog playgroups in Ramos Park.

For food and errands, Charleston Shopping Center and the shops along Middlefield Road are a short drive or ride away. For a longer outing, head across Highway 101 to the Baylands for flat walking and birdwatching on the marsh.

Frequently asked questions