Why does a free lecture on dark energy at Foothill College now come with a three-dollar charge, payable before you leave the house? Admission to Smithwick Theatre is still free. The charge is for the daily parking permit that the hilltop campus now requires for the lot outside.
Los Altos Hills has no downtown or civic theater of its own. For many years the town's evening calendar has run largely through Foothill College at 12345 El Monte Road: a theater program, an astronomy lecture series that dates to 1999, and an observatory that opens to the public on clear Friday nights. This fall the Foothill-De Anza Community College District changed how you get in. Visitors now need a digital parking permit tied to your license plate, and the rule applies at night and on weekends too.
The Rule That Changed at the Gate
Foothill's parking page opens with a "Parking Update for Fall 2026." Digital permits are now required in every lot at Foothill, De Anza and the Sunnyvale campus. The system is called iParq, and there is no decal or hangtag. Your license plate is the permit.
Visitors register for a daily permit through the FHDA Visitor Permit Store. It's good only on the dates you select, at any of the three campuses. The store lists the daily visitor permit at $3.00 per selected day, with up to five consecutive days per order.
The enforcement section matters most for anyone heading up the hill after dinner. Per Foothill's parking page, the rules apply 365 days a year unless otherwise noted, cars can be cited or towed even when classes are out, and overnight parking is not allowed. Drivers with a DMV disability placard or plate don't need an FHDA permit. Designated spaces are in Lots 1, 2A, 4A through 4C, 5 and 8.
If you go up a lot, the store also sells a Quarterly Visitor Fall 2026 permit. It costs $27.50, runs from September 21 to December 11, 2026, and is valid in student lots only.
Theater Opens Friday, With a Second Item to Claim
Foothill Theatre Arts opens Almost, Maine by John Cariani on Friday, November 6. Francine Torres directs, and the show plays the Lohman Theatre through November 22. The play is nine standalone vignettes set on one cold, moonless winter night in a fictional corner of rural Maine. Runtime is about two hours with a 15-minute intermission. Foothill's event calendar lists tickets from $15 to $28.
| Week | Evening shows at 7:30 p.m. | Matinee at 2 p.m. |
|---|---|---|
| Opening week | Fri., Nov. 6 and Sat., Nov. 7 | None |
| Second week | Thu., Nov. 12; Fri., Nov. 13; Sat., Nov. 14 | Sun., Nov. 15 |
| Closing week | Thu., Nov. 19; Fri., Nov. 20; Sat., Nov. 21 | Sun., Nov. 22 |
The production page is where the new parking rule appears most plainly. Foothill Theatre Arts puts it in bold:
New this season, FTA patrons will need to claim a digital parking pass prior to their ticketed performance via iParq.
The pass covers Lot 8, the lot closest to the Lohman. Theatre Arts posts a code for the run. Here's how to claim it, following the page's instructions:
- Open the FHDA Visitor Permit Store.
- Enter the code MAINE2026 when prompted.
- Choose your performance date.
- Create an account and add your vehicle.
- Select the vehicle and place the order. Nothing goes on the car.
The page also says your parking pass and your show ticket are two separate items and can't be swapped for each other. In practice that means two confirmations per performance: one from Tix for the seat and one from iParq for the car. The box office is in Building 8000, at Lot 8.
November 18: A Free Lecture With Parking to Book
Once the play is running, the hilltop's best free evening arrives midweek. The Silicon Valley Astronomy Lecture Series presents Dr. Alexie Leauthaud on dark energy on Wednesday, November 18, 7 to 8:30 p.m., at Smithwick Theatre. Admission is free.
The series is one of the longest-running public programs on the campus. According to Foothill's astronomy department, it began in 1999 and puts on six Wednesday evening lectures each academic year. Andrew Fraknoi moderates, and the sponsors are Foothill College, the SETI Institute and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. The talks are pitched at a general audience.
The lecture has no code of its own, so for anyone without a DMV disability placard or plate the night's only cost is the $3 daily permit. Smithwick is Building 1000 on the upper main campus. Foothill's campus map notes that if you park in the lower lots, there's an elevator from Lot 8 up to the main campus at Smithwick. That means a theater night and a lecture night use the same lot and need the same plate registration, but each night needs its own permit date.
The Observatory Page Still Says Parking Is Free
The observatory is the campus venue where the old habits run deepest, and its web page hasn't caught up. The Peninsula Astronomical Society runs the Foothill Observatory next to Parking Lot 4 and the Krause Center for Innovation. Foothill's observatory page lists Friday evening public viewing from 9 to 11 p.m. and Saturday solar viewing from 10 a.m. to noon, both on clear days only. Programs are free for all ages, and the observatory stays closed when it's cloudy.
The same page still says "Parking at Foothill College is free." That line predates the fall 2026 change. The district's current parking page requires a daily digital permit for visitors in every lot, every day of the year. If you're going to a Friday viewing, book the $3 permit for that date before you go.
Weather is the other thing to plan around, and the usual way of checking is offline for now. The observatory page sends visitors to a PAS webcam to see whether the dome is open. The Peninsula Astronomical Society says that webcam is temporarily out of service. The fallbacks are the Foothill Observatory Clear Sky Chart linked from the college's page and the observatory hotline at 650.949.7334.
So a Friday night out now takes two checks before you drive up El Monte Road: whether the sky will be clear and whether the plate is registered for that date.
How a Hilltop Week Lines Up
Here are the three campus venues side by side. All three need the same permit, but they have different hours and costs.
| Venue | What's on | Closest parking | What the car needs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lohman Theatre, Bldg 8000 | Almost, Maine, Nov. 6–22 | Lot 8 | Pass claimed with code MAINE2026 for your show date |
| Smithwick Theatre, Bldg 1000 | Leauthaud lecture, Wed., Nov. 18, 7 p.m. | Lower lots, elevator from Lot 8 | $3 daily visitor permit |
| Foothill Observatory | Fridays 9–11 p.m., Saturdays 10 a.m.–noon, clear skies only | Lot 4 | $3 daily visitor permit |
Daily permits are sold for up to five consecutive days per order, so you can cover the Wednesday lecture and that Friday's viewing in one transaction by selecting those dates.
When the Calendar Comes Back Down the Hill
After the play closes on November 22, the town's biggest gathering of the season moves to a venue Los Altos Hills owns itself. According to the Los Altos Town Crier, the town bought Westwind Community Barn and its 15 acres in 1975, and the barn's oldest wing dates to the 1940s. The barn still offers horse boarding, a year-round riding program and 4-H therapeutic riding.
The annual Barn Lighting is Sunday, December 6, from 2 to 5 p.m. at 27210 Altamont Road. The town's event listing includes hot chocolate or wine, cookies and ice cream, children's games, crafts and face painting, pony rides, a petting zoo, Santa, and a countdown to the lighting at 5 p.m.
There's also something on Moody Road before then. Hidden Villa lists a free Garden Volunteer Day on November 9 on its program schedule, with no start time posted. Its $15 private farm tour on November 7 is already marked full.
The barn lighting needs no permit, but the evenings at Foothill do. For a play, a dark-energy lecture or a clear Friday at the telescopes, registering your plate is the first thing to do.
Foothill's theaters and observatory, Hidden Villa and Westwind Barn are all within the same hills. If you'd like to talk through what your Los Altos Hills home is worth today, Douglas Marshall can walk you through it. Get Your Free Home Valuation.
