Even though there is no longer a Newsweek to be found in print, it ranks Burlingame High well amongst the 2000 schools listed. http://www.newsweek.com/2013/05/06/america-s-best-high-schools Others in SM County ranked well too. Awesome dude!
This is B High just after its completion. Photo courtesy and copyright Burlingame Historical Society
The Daily Journal has a piece about the possible naming of the BHS football field
The stadium field at Burlingame High School could be named after a champion of the school’s athletic department once the stadium’s bleachers are complete by fall of next year.
Thursday night, the San Mateo Union High School District’s Board of Trustees discussed naming the field after Panther class of 1954 alumnus Peter Umland, who died in September 2001 shortly after being named Alumnus of the Year. He was 66.
Another key part is
Umland and his wife Dolores made the district a residual beneficiary in the Peter S. Umland and Dolores T. Umland Trust. Under the trust, portions of the residual estate are bequest to the district “for use by the Burlingame High School Athletic Department in its athletic endeavors.”
This gets a Gems of Burlingame notation! Click through and read the whole article about Mr. Umland. With school starting this week, football is in the air as well.
Back in the day, Washington Park had two bocce ball courts. they were built by the Burlingame Lions Club. Over the years, however, the sport became less and less popular and the courts disappeared. Seems it is making a comeback, at least here in Burlingame. Burlingame Parks Department folks put some hard labor against buildng three new courts and relocating the courts of another sport of yesteryear, horsehoes. The grand opening celebration was held yesterday, with a crowd mostly of dignitaries and parks staff with a few neighbors, ( myself included.)
I would never have thought that our ever-changing dining scene would have meant the demise of Roti. But here it is and they haven't had time to update their website yet! I tried to go for lunch today and it is buttoned-up tight ;-(
"A brush with fame" was how my Voice colleague Russ Cohen introduced Lee Mendelson at last night's Historical Society meeting. As a San Mateo High School graduate, USAF veteran ("worst navigator ever") and television producer for more than 50 years, Lee is perhaps best known for the Charlie Brown shows that are still hugely popular today. He admitted to being nervous in front of the crowd because his family, neighbors, classmates and his first attorney were all in the audience. I can't relay all of the funny and impressive stories Lee told but here are three:
His first brush with real fame came when he convinced Willie Mays to allow him to follow The Say Hey Kid around with a camera and produce a documentary. Willie would only do it if Henry Fonda would narrate. When Lee expressed some doubt about being able to get Fonda, Willie picked up the phone, called Fonda and sealed the deal in a minute.
Mendelson got the idea to do a Charlie Brown show while reading the cartoon strip in Towle's (now The Melt on the Avenue). He called Charles Schultz up and while trying to convince him to do it, he mentioned the Willie Mays piece. Schultz said, "If Will Mays can trust you with his life, I guess I can too." He sold the idea to Coca-Cola (as a sponsor) before it was even written and when Schultz asked how they would do it, he replied "It's something you are gonna write tomorrow". Schultz said yes as long as Linus got to read from the Bible in the script.
Another idea was to do something with John Steinbeck, but Lee was afraid to call him until his son, local guy Glenn Mendelson, said "you weren't afraid to call Willie Mays or Charles Schultz, why are you afraid to call John Steinbeck?" That got the phone into Lee's hand.
There's more, lot's more and the Historical Society filmed the talk, but these were some of the highlights for me. Here's Lee and the crowd last night in the Lane Room.
Lee is hard at work on the 50th anniversary show of Charlie Brown's Christmas, so we all have something to look forward to.
I was not able to make the retirement celebration for Central County Fire Chief Don Dornell last night but Mayor Keighran and my lovely wife, Councilmember Cathy Baylock, were there along with a sizeable crowd to send Don off to retirement. From the program we learn that Don was
Hired with the City of Burlingame Fire Department as a firefighter in 1977. Promoted to Fire Captain in 1985 and Assistant Chief in 1997. Appointed to be the second Fire Chief of the Central County Fire Department in 2006 and the shared Fire Chief for the CCFD, Millbrae Fire Department and San Bruno Fire Department in 2012.
You will recall from this post about the Screaming Eagles that Don
Served as the first Chairman of the Burlingame Adopt-a-Unit Program since 2004 which as sponsored the adopted soldiers in the 101st Airborne Division through 5 deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.
I hope Don enjoys his retirement and welcome to new CCFD Fire Chief Mark Ladas. Here's Cathy Baylock wishing Don well last night.
There's a nice piece in the Daily Journal about one of the gems of B'game, Velma Santana, who has worked the cash register at the Pick of the Litter Humane Society thrift store since 1999. It notes
After retiring from Caltrans, Santana was asked by one of her closest friends to be a volunteer cashier. Five months later, she was hired because she said they needed someone reliable and knowledgeable to work the register. She just celebrated her 85th birthday and shows no signs of slowing down.
“The store is like my second home,” she said.
Pick of the Litter collects donations such as clothing, furniture, books, jewelry and households items. Those items are then priced for sale. After rent and other expenses, the store has cleared more than $120,000 in net profits, which will greatly benefit the animals, said PHS spokesman Scott Delucchi.
The shop is just a block south of B'way. Say hi and congratulations to Velma the next time you are in there, I certainly will.
If you are an early riser on Sunday mornings, you might turn on the telly for a peaceful view of the world through the stories on CBS Sunday Morning. Today, while watching I heard a recognizeable name. The story was about the shared economy and the opening of the story featured Burlingame's own Doug Studebaker talking about his treehouse B & B.
Here are two links. One to the story and one to his rental listing.
This video features Linda Studebaker as well.
The Daily Journal piece about the 55th anniversary of the service organization Sons in Retirement got me thinking about a past local luminary, Lorenz Hansen. The DJ notes
SIR was conceived by the late Damian Reynolds in 1958 who then recruited Claus Hink, Lorenz Hansen and Wallace Plummer who held its first luncheon in San Mateo.
The group has about 180 branches in Central and Northern California now and Branch 1 in San Mateo is one of its strongest with about 200 members.
Founding SIR was just one of many, many accomplishments this B'game luminary had. Hansen was the Vice President and manager of San Francisco Bank overseeing its expansion into Burlingame when it was the only lending institution financing home purchases during the depth of the Great Depression. It was Hansen’s clout and influence that convinced the bank to expand into Burlingame which the local papers documented as a “vote of confidence and investment in Burlingame’s future”.
His community involvement was very broad-based. He was the Shriner's long-time treasurer that helped the annual East-West football game gain its fame, San Mateo County treasurer for Gov. Earl Warren's campaigns (prior to his move to the U.S. Supreme Court), and Burlingame District Captain for the War Finance Committe during WWII.
His other Treasuer positions included the San Mateo County Red Cross and the Salvation Army, his presidency of the Kiwanis Club and his Director’s position for the Burlingame Chamber of Commerce after which he was the first person awarded an Honorary Lifetime membership in the Chamber. He also had the good fortune to be in the 13th vehicle on the day cars were first allowed into Yosemite.
The Sons in Retirement publicity is a good memory prod to recall this B'gamer of old who lived here for more than 50 years before passing in 1975.
We have a number of luminaries in B'game in all sorts of walks of life. One of our luminaries is really a lumVinary in that he is a luminary in the wide world of wine. Over the weekend, the Wall Street Journal had an article about drinking a wider variety of wines rather than the same ole, same ole vino. Here's the latest quote that brings national attention to our little burg and our lumvinary
I'll drink fewer of the wines that I already love, and more of the wines that I've somehow ignored. The latter will likely prove easier to pull off than the former; most wine drinkers I know—including professionals and amateurs—have wines that they love and tend to favor. According to Gerald Weisel, proprietor of Weimax Wine & Spirits, in Burlingame, Calif., many of his customers want to drink the same wine over and over again.
Mr. Weisel's New Year's wish would be for those wine drinkers to walk into his shop and ask for something " 'below the radar' or, as my Italian friends say, 'fuori strad'—off the road," he said.
This is the fourth or fifth WSJ quote I have seen from Gerald over the years and his pithy nature shines through each time. Gerald holds court six days a week at his family shop on B'way and adds a lot of flavor to our local scene.
NYE 2023 update: Ten years later, here's Gerald with his front page photo!
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