The Almanac
The
roots of the Almanac go back
to 1965, when the paper was founded by a trio of Portola Valley mothers
who were frustrated by the lack of education and local government
coverage in their daily newspapers. Th first edition of the Almanac was mailed
to 3,000 households in Portola Valley and Woodside, and was assembled
on kitchen tables. It was immediately popular. Where else could residents find reports on the births, deaths, schools and organizations, government decisions and the people that bring a community to life?
As the paper grew and prospered in the 1970s, the founders saw their priorities shifting, and they sold the paper to Mort and Elaine Levine in 1980. The Levines had owned and sold a chain of 17 weekly papers in Santa Clara County and were ready for a new challenge. In 1984, the Almanac purchased the collapsed Menlo Park Recorder, effectively doubling its circulation.
In 1993, the Levines sold the paper to Embarcadero Publishing Company, a locally owned company, which owned and operated the Palo Alto Weekly and the Mountain View Voice. Today, The Almanac is delivered to most homes in Menlo Park, Atherton, Portola Valley and Woodside, providing thoughtful reporting, analysis, feature writing and arts and entertainment coverage to residents of the Midpeninsula.