"It feels like our 'Cheers,'" one longtime regular told The Almanac about Lutticken's After 5, the dinner, bar and music program at 3535 Alameda de las Pulgas. Her band played there once a month for years. She also went for Thursday karaoke and for open mic nights. After 5 served its last dinner on Aug. 29. The deli followed on Sept. 30.
Menlo Park still has plenty of live music this fall. Nearly all of it is downtown now, and it comes in two forms: ticketed concerts and organized street events. Hardly anything on the calendar works the way After 5 did. That was a weeknight room where neighbors signed up and played.
What Closed on Alameda de las Pulgas
Lutticken's lasted 45 years. It began as a grocery store in the building next door, selling Poor Boy sandwiches for 79 cents. After a decade it moved next door and became a deli and catering business. In 2011 it started After 5, which added dinner, a full bar and live music to the daytime deli.
The two halves of the business ended up in different shape. Manager Judy Congdon told The Almanac that the daytime business never came back after the pandemic shutdowns. The man who ran After 5's music and open mic nights said the evenings stayed packed until the very end. So the music side didn't close because it lacked an audience. It closed along with the business that hosted it.
All four Lutticken's locations closed together: the Menlo Park flagship, two at Stanford Medical Center and one in a Sand Hill Road office building. Neighbors held a farewell with live music outside the building on Sept. 12.
Next door at 3567 Alameda, the Dutch Goose is open and turned 60 this year. Owner Greg Stern told The Almanac he was looking into adding breakfast, and the outdoor deck recently got new flooring. The Dutch Goose calls itself a family-friendly pub with burgers, beer, pizza and arcade games. The corner still has a place to gather. Our research found no regular music listing there this fall.
The Fall Calendar, Downtown
What's left sits on El Camino Real and Santa Cruz Avenue. Here are the evening dates listed from mid-October through December:
| Date | Where | What's listed |
|---|---|---|
| Oct. 16 | The Guild Theatre, 949 El Camino Real | Shovels & Rope with Nolan Taylor, 8 pm |
| Oct. 18 | The Guild Theatre | Chris Isaak, 8 pm |
| Oct. 23 | Downtown Menlo Park | Fourth Friday, 6 to 9 pm |
| Oct. 23 | Cafe Borrone, 1010 El Camino Real | Clint Baker & The All Stars, 6 to 8 pm |
| Oct. 31 | The Guild Theatre | Haunted Halloween with Stu Allen & Mars Hotel, 8 pm |
| Nov. 13 | Cafe Borrone | Clint Baker & The All Stars, 6 to 8 pm |
| Nov. 16 | The Guild Theatre | Son Volt with Kelly Willis, 8 pm |
| Dec. 4 | Fremont Park | Light Up the Season tree lighting, 5:30 to 7 pm |
| Dec. 13 | The Guild Theatre | Jason Crosby's Cosmic Charlie Brown Christmas, 5 pm family show and 8 pm show |
The Guild carries most of this. Its calendar has shows nearly every week through Dec. 22, when Molly Tuttle plays with Family & Friends. A few event links on the page don't match the dates displayed, so check each show on the theater's site before you buy. The nonprofit Peninsula Arts Guild runs the theater. Its 100th-anniversary series runs June through November 2026 and includes the Oct. 16 Shovels & Rope show and Son Volt on Nov. 16. The Guild's fifth anniversary as a concert venue comes in February 2027.
These are touring acts on a ticketed stage. That's a different kind of evening from a burger at After 5 while a neighbor's band plays in the corner.
Cafe Borrone is closer to the old model. A January Almanac profile covered the Cafe Borrone All-Stars, a traditional jazz group that was then playing one Friday evening a month. The café's events page lists Clint Baker & The All Stars on Oct. 23 and Nov. 13, both from 6 to 8 pm. No December date is posted yet.
October 23 Is When It All Lines Up
The busiest night of the fall is Friday, Oct. 23. Downtown Menlo Fund, a nonprofit founded in 2025 to support the downtown, produces Fourth Fridays. It started on July 24 with crowds, businesses staying open late and free live music. The October edition runs 6 to 9 pm. The organizer's lineup for that night:
- Diego Ortiz at Feldman's Books, 5 to 6 pm
- Pinki Martini on the Plaza Stage, 6 to 8 pm
- Clint Baker & The All Stars at Borrone Plaza, 6 to 8 pm
- Sean Biggar on the Crane Stage, 6 to 8 pm
- Riekestra Band on the Chestnut Stage, 6 to 8 pm
- Rick Sanders at Gallery House, 6 to 9 pm
- A Gitane set, listed as TBA, 6 to 9 pm
That Borrone Plaza set is the same All Stars date on the café's own calendar, so the street event and the café's regular night are the same performance. The Guild has PLAYLIST 2026: Everything's Better With Horns that evening too, with doors and show at 6:30 pm.
The Santa Cruz Avenue businesses have their own part in the series. At the July debut, Cheeky Monkey Toys did balloon art for kids, Feldman's Books hosted Melodious Thunk, and Gitane had a jazz band. Bistro Vida and its next-door neighbor Bar Loretta both got more customers that night. Bar Loretta, at 639 Santa Cruz Ave., sits on the site where the Grateful Dead first played in 1965.
The next morning, Saturday, Oct. 24, the city's free Halloween Hoopla Parade and Carnival goes down Santa Cruz Avenue to Fremont Park from 11 am to 2 pm. It includes trick-or-treating at downtown businesses.
The Kind of Night With No Listed Home
Oct. 23 is also the last Fourth Friday on the organizer's calendar. The page doesn't list a November or December date. After that, until the fund posts more dates, downtown's free street music falls back to holiday events like Light Up the Season at Fremont Park on Dec. 4. That evening has family entertainment, youth performances, cocoa and a tree lighting.
Open mic and karaoke are the bigger gap. We found no current listing for a regular open mic or karaoke night anywhere in Menlo Park, and none in this year's local news. After 5 had both, and the people who ran its music nights did it twice a month for 14 years. Local players have two options on the calendar right now. Cafe Borrone's events page asks local musicians to apply to perform. And the city says its band application portal for the 2027 Summer Concert Series opens in late November 2026. Both are booked stages that pick their acts. Neither is a sign-up sheet by the door.
What 3535 Alameda Might Become
The storefront's future is undecided. Bobby Lutticken, son of founder Bob Lutticken, told The Almanac the family needed to "sit back and figure out where we stand." He added, "there will be something there." After 5 manager Carlos Magana said he and an investor were ready to take over the business and keep the Lutticken's name going. As of the Sept. 23 report, that was an offer and not a deal. Our research found no later news of a new tenant, lease or reopening date.
So for now, music nights in Menlo Park mean a Guild ticket, a Friday at Cafe Borrone or the Oct. 23 Fourth Friday on Santa Cruz Avenue. Until someone reopens 3535 Alameda or another room starts a sign-up night, the town has no listed open mic.
Tom grew up here and pays attention when a room like After 5 closes. Places like that shape a neighborhood's daily life long before they show up in a listing description. If you're near Alameda de las Pulgas or downtown and wondering how changes like these affect your home's value, Tom Correia is happy to walk through it with you. Request a Free Home Valuation.
