In 1998, I drove through East Palo Alto, and it was just like South-Central Los Angeles, or West Oakland. The contrast from the rest of the Peninsula was striking. I haven’t been there since, but with prices of bungalows in the rest of Palo Alto west of the freeway going for seven or eight figures, perhaps gentrification has set in.
Yes. East Palo Alto is poor, in contrast to west Palo Alto. I used to fear driving through East Palo Alto in the 1980s and 1990s. The Dumbarton Bridge from Fremont would cross the Bay and exit at East Palo Alto. I would visit family in Fremont, a couple of my sisters moved there from SF because property is very cheap in Fremont. But lots of gang activity there. Same went for East Palo Alto. One time I had to gas up in East Palo Alto after exiting the bridge, and I thought I would get mugged by the criminal elements hanging around there. That was the last time I let my gas tank get so empty crossing the bridge.
Millionaires live in west Palo Alto, so the contrast is very striking. You won't find anything under 1 million, not even tiny bungalows. We shop at Stanford Shopping Center there. East Palo Alto has gentrified in the last 25 years, with a lot of commercial development. We shop at Ikea there, across the street from Amazon corporate buildings. Safer now than 25 years ago. If you visit, take the San Mateo/Hayward Bridge, much safer than the Dumbarton Bridge across SF Bay.