Where is the center of Ventura? For most of the past century, the answer was a building on Portage Avenue. It started out as a fruit cannery and later became a Fry's Electronics. Palo Alto Online called it one of Palo Alto's major retail destinations. According to the city's 340 Portage Avenue project page, Fry's moved out in January 2020.
In 2026 things started to change around it, and not just on Portage. A mosaic now faces the old cannery's entrance. Portage Avenue has a new name. A Japanese café a short way over on El Camino Real fills its garden patio, and its full restaurant opened for dinner this fall. The new things to do in Ventura this year are clustering around the parcel that started the neighborhood. The city's plans for that parcel would make it the center again.
The building that came first
In 1918, Thomas Foon Chew bought a four-acre parcel on this site. According to The Sobrato Organization's announcement of the reopening, his Bayside Canning Company grew within two years into the country's third-largest canner of fruits and vegetables. Pioneering commercial canning of green asparagus earned him the nickname "Asparagus King." The release also says Chew housed and fed employees during the off-season and arranged transportation for workers who lived outside Palo Alto.
His family remembers the Portage building a little more modestly. At the May reopening, his granddaughter Gloria Hom told Palo Alto Online that "This building that we're standing in now was one of his smaller canneries, specializing in apricots, pears and peaches." The same report says Chew ran the cannery until 1928, when he sold it to Sutter Packing Company. For a time it was the city's largest employer.
Its history explains why the building is now being treated as a neighborhood landmark and not just reused as office space. It is the oldest working story in Ventura.
What you can see there now
On May 12, 2026, Sobrato celebrated finishing The Cannery. It's an all-electric office building at 340 Portage Ave. that, according to the company, is on track for LEED Platinum certification. Most of the building is for tenants. One part is for everyone else.
That part is the mosaic. Artist Kyungmi Shin built it on the building's retail frontage out of thousands of tiles sourced from Mexico. Interpretive displays inside and outside the building tell the cannery's history. Palo Alto Online's coverage describes how Shin worked from historical photos supplied by Chew's family. Old asparagus and apricot can labels and a black-and-white image of cannery workers sit next to a computer floating in a sea of zeros and ones, a nod to the Fry's years. A sculpture made of cans leads up to the building, and its labels spell out "Bayside Canning Company." The City of Palo Alto lists the mosaic in its public art collection.
"I wanted to honor everyone who built this place—Thomas Foon Chew, the factory workers, the families—and show how their spirit of invention runs straight through to the Silicon Valley we know today."
Shin said that in Sobrato's release.
The street is changing too. City Council decided last fall to rename Portage Avenue to Thomas Foon Chew Avenue, and at the May ceremony the city presented Hom with a street sign bearing her grandfather's name. Ventura's main historic street now carries the name of the man who built its main historic building.
A century on one parcel
| Year | What happened at or near the cannery site |
|---|---|
| 1918 | Thomas Foon Chew buys the original four-acre parcel |
| 1928 | Chew sells the cannery to Sutter Packing Company |
| January 2020 | Fry's Electronics leaves 340 Portage Ave. |
| April 25, 2025 | Expanded and renovated Boulware Park fully reopens |
| September 12, 2025 | City Council approves the Sobrato development agreement |
| May 12, 2026 | The Cannery reopens with the Kyungmi Shin mosaic |
| September 11, 2026 | Townhome parcel sale to Dividend Homes is recorded |
Read top to bottom, the table shows more than five years between Fry's leaving and the next entry, then four milestones in about seventeen months. Most of the activity since 2025 is on the cannery site or within sight of Matadero Creek, which runs along both Boulware Park and the planned townhomes.
El Camino got the first place to sit
For a place to sit down near the cannery, Yutori at 3375 El Camino Real got there first. Palo Alto Online reported that the Japanese food emporium drew long lines for its café after it debuted in April, and that its Japanese garden-inspired outdoor seating became a popular spot for meetings and socializing. The café serves matcha, coffee, tea and house-made pastries. The konbini sells seasonal bentos, sandos, onigiri and sushi, and a hot deli makes sandos and breakfast items to order.
The last piece of the project opened this fall. The Mercury News reported that dinner service started September 24. The restaurant seats 72 inside and 30 more on the patio, and it serves dinner only for now. Brunch is expected in the spring. According to Palo Alto Online, chef-owner Jerome Ito, who is also behind Go Fish Poke Bar and Taro San Japanese Noodle Bar, called the first five months "wild (and) unexpected." Demand was high enough that the team launched dinner before brunch, because one central kitchen serves both the konbini and the restaurant. Ito told the outlet the grand opening was planned for late October or early November, so it may fall right around when this post goes up.
Here is what to know before you go:
- The menu: 15 dishes, with small plates at $19 to $36 and large plates at $34 to $98. Ito recommends starting with the Nikkei ceviche at $32.
- The bar: Bar director Francisco Carranza's Ume Chuhai pairs Ito's housemade umeshu with shochu, elderflower and tonic for $18.
- Dessert: Pastry chef Janet Tong makes a sudachi key lime tarte, hojicha Earl Grey tiramisu and nama chocolate, priced at $12 to $15.
- The best seats: A four-seat chef's table sits closest to the open kitchen. Ito and his wife, Linh Tran-Ito, designed the room themselves to closely resemble their own house.
- Hours: Yutori's website lists the café daily from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., the konbini until 5 p.m., and the restaurant Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday from 5:30 to 9 p.m., with Friday and Saturday until 10 p.m. Reservations go through OpenTable, and walk-ins are welcome at the bar. Early news reports gave different closing times, so check the site before you go.
Farther down El Camino, HolyShred opened August 8 at 3924 El Camino Real, in the space that used to be Siam Fine Thai. Palo Alto Online describes it as fast-casual Thai built around protein-forward dishes like shredded-chicken noodles and charcoal-grilled chicken rice. It was founded by Pearadet "Pete" Mukyangkoon, Thanat "Jackie" Jatuphattharachat and Jinny Akkaratatta. Hours are 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4:30 to 9 p.m. on weekdays, and noon to 9 p.m. on weekends.
The park along the creek
Boulware Park, at 390 Fernando Road, was ahead of all of this. As of April 25, 2025, the expansion and renovation were complete and the park had fully reopened. It is now 1.5 acres of open space between Matadero Creek and the nearby homes and businesses. The park ties into the same agricultural history as the mosaic. According to the city's park page, John Wesley Boulware farmed a 160-acre ranch, lived in Mayfield from 1861 to 1894, and as a county supervisor helped lay out the route of Embarcadero Road. The park was originally called South Palo Alto Neighborhood Park.
What the plan adds around the cannery
The rest of the former Fry's site is where the neighborhood center would fill in. City Council approved Sobrato's development agreement on September 12, 2025. It includes townhomes, partial demolition of the old Fry's building, research-and-development and office space that stays, and land for affordable housing and a park or public open space. At the May reopening, Mayor Vicki Veenker said the city had secured 3.25 acres for a new park, a re-naturalized creek, future housing and affordable housing.
Here is where each piece stood as of fall 2026:
- Townhomes. The Mercury News reported that Dividend Homes paid $67.7 million for the 3.9-acre housing parcel at 3200 Park Blvd., in a sale recorded September 11. The plan calls for 74 townhomes in 16 buildings along Park Boulevard between Olive Avenue and Matadero Creek. No construction timeline had been announced.
- Affordable apartments and a park. In May, Palo Alto Weekly reported that the city plans about 100 below-market-rate apartments and a new public park elsewhere on the site.
- The old Fry's structure. The Mercury News reported that Dynatomics leased 75,000 square feet inside the existing building.
The whole Fry's property covers 14.7 acres, from Portage Avenue to Park Boulevard, Ash Street and Lambert Avenue. That's a big piece of Ventura. For now, the mosaic is the only part of it with a set reason to visit. When the park and creek work are done, the parcel that was once the city's largest employer and later one of its major retail destinations will be the main public space too. The city's 3200 Park Boulevard project page is where those milestones will be posted. For more on Palo Alto blocks that changed this year, see our post on how California Avenue's temporary rules became permanent and our Palo Alto neighborhood page.
Whether it's a dinner at Yutori or a stop at the mosaic, we follow how changes like the cannery site and the creekside park reshape life on the blocks around them. If you're curious how the Fry's site plans might affect your street, David Bergman and Angela Bergman are glad to talk it through. Let's Connect.