History (Rico's) for the day

Rico found an old clipping about one of his early NDEs, back in 1964, from The Palo Alto Times*:

Boy falls from treeAged 12, living at 995 Matadero, Palo Alto, he was hospitalized Monday night with injuries received when he fell 16 feet from a tree, according to police. Santa Clara County Sheriff's Deputy Paul H. Dewey said the boy was swinging on a rope from a tree at 960 Matadero when he lost his grip and fell to the ground. Dewey reported that the boy fell on his back. He was reported in 'fair' condition at Palo Alto-Stanford Hospital. Attendants said the extent of his injuries is not yet known.

Rico says that it was a little more complicated than that, of course. He thought he was being very smart by having a closed loop at the end of the rope, into which he put his foot, and holding the line, which was strung over a very large branch of a typical eucalyptus tree. The very end was held by his friend Sumner Hushing, in whose yard we were playing. Unfortunately, Rico was holding the bight of the rope that ran over the branch and, when his foot slipped out of the loop, the whole apparatus slid over the branch, and down he went...

Rico says that a little Google search turned up these local facts:

Palo Alto is also home to the first street-level Apple Store, the first Apple mini-store, the first Whole Foods Market on the West Coast, and the first Victoria's Secret.

It was on University Avenue (photo) that Rico had his first cheesesteak (long before he even knew they came from Philadelphia), at a long-gone place called Poppycock, and he used to play in Matadero Creek.

*The Palo Alto Times, a daily newspaper, served Palo Alto and neighboring cities beginning in 1894. In 1979, it became the Peninsula Times Tribune. The newspaper ceased publication in 1993.