At a press preview on October 2, Alexander S.C. Rower joked that a couple of his grandfather's mobiles were "in jeopardy." Rower is the grandson of Alexander Calder and the founder and president of the Calder Foundation. He was standing in a century-old former post office on Hamilton Avenue, where the mobiles hung in the middle of the room, nearly at visitors' eye level, with nothing between them and the people walking past.
The building is now Hauser & Wirth Palo Alto, which opened to the public on October 3 with "Calder | O'Keeffe." The international gallery group, which has 18 locations across Europe, Asia and North America, chose downtown Palo Alto for its newest space. A few doors down at 229 Hamilton is the space another international gallery, Pace, left four years ago. Read together, the two addresses make the 200 block of Hamilton Avenue the closest thing downtown has to a gallery row. Admission is free at both, and no booking is required.
Why the mobiles hang where they do
Rower explained the hanging height himself, as reported by Palo Alto Online:
"The reason I let them hang it at this low height and right where your body is is because that's how Calder wants it to be. … In a museum you never get to do that. So in this space, and because it's a gallery, and because the Calder Foundation is very adventuresome, we really want you to have the experience of being with the work."
That distinction between a museum and a gallery is what makes the new space useful to people who live nearby. The show brings together the work and the friendship of two of the most recognized American artists of the twentieth century. Hauser & Wirth Senior Curatorial Director Alexis Lowry said at the preview that "there's never been a project that looks at the fact that they had a friendship or acquaintance over many decades." At the preview, Calder's bronze "Snag" stood in front of O'Keeffe's painting "Pelvis with the Moon – New Mexico," and archival material runs through the rooms with the work.
A pairing like this would usually call for a ticketed museum visit and a drive. Here it sits a short walk from University Avenue, with no ticket.
The block Pace left in 2022
Hamilton Avenue has hosted an international gallery before. Pace Gallery began building a presence in Palo Alto with a pop-up in 2015 and opened its gallery at 229 Hamilton Ave. in 2016. In July 2022, Palo Alto Online reported that Pace would close the space after a final solo show of paintings by Brice Guilbert. Pace was moving its West Coast operations to the Los Angeles gallery it had opened that April.
Pace CEO Marc Glimcher's statement at the time described the Palo Alto years in warm terms. It credited the gallery's work with collectors from the technology and financial industries and its partnerships with Stanford. It also said Los Angeles now let Pace reach collectors across California and the Pacific Northwest from a single location. As of 2022, that pointed toward one large gallery in the south of the state serving the whole region.
The space did not stay empty. Qualia Contemporary Art moved into the former Pace space, and The Almanac set the new site's opening for November 11, 2023. Qualia's current show, "Beyond the Endgame – Nine Artists from Paris," was curated by Martina Köppel-Yang and runs from September 26 through November 14, 2026, according to Qualia's site.
A post office, and the extra year it took
Hauser & Wirth's decision runs the other way from Pace's. Its group already has two Los Angeles spaces, in the Downtown Arts District and West Hollywood. Even so, its announcement said Northern California "occupies an equally powerful position" because of its collectors and the museums they have built. At the October preview, co-founder Iwan Wirth said artists responded well when he raised the idea. He quoted George Condo's reaction about showing paintings in "the birthplace of new technology," then added, "we go where the artist wants us to go."
The project took longer than first planned. Artforum reported that the gallery announced the expansion on July 30, 2025, with a target opening of spring 2026. It opened on October 3.
The building may be part of why it took longer. The gallery describes it as a century-old corner post office at 201–225 Hamilton Avenue, typical of early twentieth-century Bay Area architecture, with expansive street-level windows. It has about 2,600 square feet of exhibition space, a bookshop included. Architect Luis Laplace, a longtime collaborator of the gallery, led the adaptation as part of what Hauser & Wirth calls its commitment to the "adaptive conservation" of significant buildings. Beatrice Shen, Senior Director, leads the space. She previously helped oversee the gallery's Downtown Los Angeles location and led its participation in San Francisco's FOG Design+Art fair.
Those street-level windows help the gallery read as part of the block. Someone walking to dinner can see the room before deciding to go in.
A Saturday route
Hours line up best on Saturday. Hauser & Wirth is open Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and is closed Sunday and Monday. Qualia stays open until 7 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and is by appointment on Sundays and Mondays. The Pacific Art League, the downtown community arts venue at 668 Ramona Street, has two shows up through late October.
| Stop | Address | On view | Through | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hauser & Wirth Palo Alto | 201 Hamilton Ave. | "Calder | O'Keeffe" | January 24, 2027 | Tue–Sat, 11 a.m.–6 p.m.; free |
| Qualia Contemporary Art | 229 Hamilton Ave. | "Beyond the Endgame – Nine Artists from Paris" | November 14, 2026 | Tue–Thu 11 a.m.–6 p.m.; Fri–Sat 11 a.m.–7 p.m. |
| Pacific Art League | 668 Ramona St. | "Water: The Gift of Life" by Judy Kramer, Forest Gallery; "Postcard Exhibition," Ramona Gallery | October 27, 2026 | Hours not posted on its exhibits page |
Start at the post office when it opens at 11, since the mobiles are easiest to walk among before the room fills. Then head to 229 Hamilton, and finish at Ramona Street. Qualia's later Saturday closing leaves room to reverse the order and end at the old Pace space around dinnertime. The Hauser & Wirth bookshop keeps the gallery's hours. The gallery says it will host ongoing public programs there.
This Friday, and the weeks that follow
The block's most unusual event this week is outdoors. On Friday, October 9, from 6 to 8 p.m., the City of Palo Alto is hosting "Bennu W<3: Interactive Art with Miguel Novelo" at Lytton Plaza, 200 University Ave. Visitors use their phones to see an asteroid installation in augmented reality. Lytton Plaza is at the University Avenue end of the same downtown grid. Hauser & Wirth closes at 6 on Fridays, so Qualia, open until 7, pairs more naturally with the plaza that evening.
After that, the end dates set the order. The Pacific Art League shows close October 27, Qualia's Paris exhibition closes November 14, and "Calder | O'Keeffe" stays up through January 24, 2027. A visit before mid-November catches all three Hamilton Avenue and Ramona Street spaces at once. After that date, the Calder and O'Keeffe show is the one still open into the holidays and past New Year's.
Pace left Hamilton Avenue in 2022 to consolidate in Los Angeles. Qualia took over its space in 2023, and in October 2026 a larger international group adapted a historic post office on the same block.
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