Every post can't be about the Doom Loops of EssEff and San Mateo County.  Well maybe they all could be, but let's not.  Instead, how about something historical and tipsy today?  This weekend I plucked a booklet called San Mateo,USA: The Golden Years at an estate sale in San Mateo.  It was published in 1975 by Donald P. Ringler and credits the San Mateo County Historical Society for a lot of the info and photos.  Sprinkled in with the pieces about town lot sales and the SF to SJ Railroad, subsequently purchased by Southern Pacific, was a tidbit close to my neighborhood, my heart…and my liver.

Out in the hills beyond the W.H. Clark property Gustave Mahe's Gold Wine hobby was sure to turn commercial any year.  In 1874 Wisnom had build the 34 x 150 foot wine house, and already Byrnes and Mahe were talking about a warehouse on the Byrnes' property across from the depot.

As shown below

Further on (in the present vicinity of Brewer Avenue in Hillsborough), nestled among the foothills of and protected from the strong winds is the vineyard of G. Mahe.  The vineyard consists of 60,000 vines, forty-five acres, of different ages and varieties, the oldest vines being seven years of age…..

Imagine 2 million square feet of vines just up Barriolet Ave "protected from the strong winds".  It is a special privilege to live in B'game, H'borough and San Mateo.  If you don't think so, you probably need counseling.