Sculptures You Can Now Walk Past on East Bayshore Road

I wanted to share a very beautiful free sculpture walk in East Palo Alto that is even more accessible now. It's located on the northeast corner of East Bayshore Rd and Addison Ave, at 1270 East Bayshore Rd, East Palo Alto, CA 94303. If you've been to it, you may recognize that it's the artist studio of East Palo Alto resident Oleg Lobykin, who is famous for creating the Talking Heads sculpture.

Many residents may recall that a couple years ago Talking Heads was temporarily installed (for free to the City) at the north east corner of University Ave and Bay Rd. It's since been moved to a few cities:

What Happened to the Talking Heads Sculpture?

While walking to dinner in Hayes Valley, I spotted the “Talking Heads” sculpture—once in East Palo Alto. Its creator, local artist Oleg Lobykin, told me it was a temporary installation to spark conversation about public art. Now in San Francisco, it may return home someday.

East Palo Alto SunChristopher Kao

I've had a few interactions with Oleg in the past year, starting with an initial visit to his studio and then a follow up visit 5/2/26 - 5/3/26 when he opened his studio during Silicon Valley Open Studios. What I found really cool is that he has shown willingness to share his art with the East Palo Alto community.

After Talking Heads moved, Oleg's new art sculpture Shift was installed 3 months ago at Colibri Commons, a recently completed affordable housing building in East Palo Alto.

Anyways, back to the art walk. While Oleg's artist studio has always had several pieces of art to see from the street, in the past it was almost impossible for anyone to see the sculptures from the street because there was no easy access to view it from the street: there was no sidewalk, only a dirt area that often had cars parked.

Now, East Palo Alto residents can walk on the new sidewalks and see the sculptures as they walk home or to the nearby stores, churches, and businesses. I especially appreciate that Oleg seems to have intentionally removed many of the wooden boards so that pedestrians can view the sculptures from the street.

The pedestrian access is enabled by the City of East Palo Alto's recently completed East Bayshore Road Pedestrian and Cyclists Safety Improvements project. The project includes the "installation of sidewalks, bikeways, traffic calming measures, and green infrastructure measures" on 8 blocks on the north side of East Bayshore Road in East Palo Alto, between Euclid Ave to the south and Menalto Ave to the north. This is a project that I helped shape while I formerly served as chair of the East Palo Alto Public Works & Transportation Commission, and as a former member of the San Mateo County Transportation Authority, which funded the project using sales tax Measure A and W dollars. Be on the lookout for next continuation of this project to the north of this project's boundary which is funded by the SMCTA and funds improvements on East Bayshore Road and Saratoga Drive (link).

I'm glad the sculptures at Oleg Lobykin's studio are now easy to see. For years the pieces were there, but with no sidewalk and cars often parked on the dirt, almost no one could take them in. The City's East Bayshore Road Pedestrian and Cyclists Safety Improvements project changed that with new sidewalks, bikeways, traffic calming, and green infrastructure. Now you can see the art on your way home or to nearby stores, churches, and businesses. If you're nearby, I hope you'll stop by 1270 East Bayshore Rd and take a look.