Stanford's influence extends also to the business arena, making Menlo Park the home to a preponderance of venture capital firms, SRI International, and many professional services. In fact, the international giant Google was born in a Menlo Park garage in 1998. The downtown area around Santa Cruz Avenue boasts charming restaurants, unique boutiques, and stores, while the world-class Stanford Shopping Center only blocks away. The town's friendly civic social hub is the popular Café Borrone, next to historic Kepler's Books. Perhaps most alluring of all are the beautiful, tree-dotted neighborhoods in every nook and cranny of the city. There is much to love about Menlo Park.