Category: Historical

  • Town Square: Postal bliss

    About 300 community members came together under a clear blue sky last week for the ribbon-cutting at our new Town Square. It’s a long story which you can revisit via the Post Office category here from the groundbreaking in 2021 all the way back to 2012. I thought Mayor Michael Brownrigg delivered an outstanding speech and Michael kindly gave me his detailed notes to excerpt here. Here are some very lightly edited highlights of that speech.

    The history of Burlingame last 50 years is history of parking lots: buying and leveling our bowling alley, the old City Hall, and others to build parking lots to compete with malls. 15 years ago, with our downtown sagging, we realized it was not parking, it was vitality and activity that mattered. And those parking lots – bought as a way to enhance Burlingame — now looked a lot like underutilized assets.

    In 2008/9, in the heart of the Great Recession, our city leaders challenged our community, let’s reimagine our downtown. Over the course of a couple of years and many, many meetings, a vision arose. It was the product of robust input from groups like Citizens for a Better Burlingame and the downtown BID, Planning Commission, community leaders, etc.

    We now see so many fruits from that 2010 Downtown Plan: affordable housing, creative and efficient parking, expanding energy and retail over to Howard, enhancing Burlingame Avenue with wide sidewalks and more pedestrian amenities. And today, the cherry on top, our new Town Square.

    There are so many people to thank. Neighbors like the Salmas and the Karps and the owners of Yves De Lorme, who have consistently leaned in. Other business owners like Janet and Carl Martin who worked hard to make Safeway a better project way back when and who care deeply about the entire fabric of our downtown. Safeway was the first salvo by Burlingame in terms of imagining a more pedestrian friendly, community oriented and vital downtown. And a shout out to Stanley Lo, who helped control the Post Office site after it was put on the market and then helped sell the site to a group of people who could honor the history and imagine the future, and to Dave Hopkins, a co-conspirator at Sares Regis without whose courage this project might never have materialized.

    Michael Brownrigg

    Burlingame Mayor (2026)

    On the occasion of the opening of the Town Square, April 2, 2026

    As I said, this is just an excerpt, and he thanked many more people before turning the podium over several other speakers. Hopefully this Instagram video will load properly for a taste of the proceedings. The story about moving the Post Office over the downtown culvert and then back is one for the ages and I can’t wait for the restaurant that is the last remaining bit of the project.

    Michael told me last week that he would use last night’s city council meeting to publicly affirm what we have been hearing for a sometime–that he would not seek re-election this time around. He leaves quite a service legacy having been appointed to the Planning Commission in 2001 and joining the city council in 2009. As we have seen with other long-serving commissioners and council members, their institutional knowledge is incredibly valuable in subsequent projects. And they still get button-holed in the grocery aisle long after they are out of office. Congrats, sir.

  • Large grant to bring mature Eucs to ECR

    Many B’gamers are just waking up to the removal of so many of our tall eucalyptus trees on El Camino. It’s shocking. More than 90% of them are getting cut down, but the project calls for many more trees to be replanted. Unfortunately, the replacements will be much younger and smaller. Or so we thought! The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (commonly known as CalFire) also took notice of the much-reduced canopy and has found some grant money to allow Caltrans to upgrade the replacements to be more mature eucs.

    According to CalFire spokesman Justin Thyme, a $3.5 million dollar grant will allow for some 30-to-40-foot tall “juvenile” eucs to be transferred from source properties like Golden Gate Park and the Crystal Springs reservoir watershed to El Camino. In the announcement Thyme noted “In addition to fire protection, CalFire is committed to enhancing landmark groves like the Burlingame eucalyptus grove wherever feasible. This grant will accelerate the return of historic look and feel of the much-loved section of the state highway.” Caltrans noted that the larger replacements would not significantly delay completion of the project now targeted as late 2028 or early 2029.

    This will come as good news to B’gamers mourning the loss of the majestic eucs. Hillsborough might also be a “donor” city as they chop eucs on Chateau Dr. that could be replanted on ECR. Here is one local’s memorial to our fallen friends spotted on a Bernal Ave front yard.

  • Coyote Point: A B’gamer returns

    The Chronicle’s local sightseeing tour guide/reporter, Peter Hartlaub, who grew up in B’game journeyed back to our little burg for a piece on Coyote Point. He has some fun little quips that we can enjoy here or you can click through for the whole article. It sounds like he grew up in Lyon-Hoag.

    Coyote Point’s geography is similar to other Bay Area parks, a 670-acre shoreline promontory with a tree-covered hill, laid out a lot like Oyster Bay Regional Shoreline in San Leandro and the East Bay’s Albany Bulb. But the overall vibes are one of a kind, with the airplanes, massive picnic areas, tide pools, a colorful playground, a hidden zoo, oh, and bursts of audible gunfire.

    It’s also a lesson for me: How the Bay Area things we grew up with that once felt routine, seem wild and mystical when you return with perspective. I was raised in Burlingame six blocks from Coyote Point, and thought this strange and versatile park was the norm. Biking through the entire thing for the first time in decades, I’m struck by how close I once lived to an open space unicorn.

    From (Caltrain) I bike slowly east through a town I barely recognize, retracing most of my old 1980s Chronicle paper route and passing my childhood home — bought by my parents for $35,000 in 1970 — now mostly unrecognizable after a recent modern makeover.

    After recapping the landfill in the 1880s that connected the island to the shoreline and the Pacific City fiasco, he mentions another long-gone landmark that we all miss as he bikes up the hill

    I power up the first hill and sadly find no sign of the Castaway, a tiki-themed fancy restaurant with airport views, where we gathered for graduations and Mother’s Day. (It was bulldozed in 2007.)

    As I’m leaving, I marvel at how much better this went than I feared. So much of my middle-class childhood on the Peninsula — every movie theater, drive-in, record store and favorite sandwich spot — has been swallowed by Silicon Valley. But this park is both preserved and objectively better than when I visited as a kid.

    I bike back through my old neighborhood slowly, wishing I had a few more Chronicles to deliver. Nostalgia is a powerful drug. Especially when it’s a half-century later and a special place still has some magic left.

    Let’s see if we can keep as much of “the magic” as possible. It’s very tough to do, but as some city council woman said more than once, “You’ll miss it when it’s gone”.

  • A bit of the Bit of England

    In another Only-On-The Voice moment, my sleuthing has uncovered rare pieces of Burlingamia that merit being shared with the old timers in town. At the current site of Stella on the Avenew was a local pub called the Bit of England. Very English. Real English ales on tap (I seem to recall it had my favorite, John Courage, and Watney’s). It was far from upscale and that’s what we loved about it.

    It closed about 30 years ago (looking for fact checking help here, old timers. Sir Paul? Mark Lucchesi?) Our buddies Jeff and Barbara Moore were long time B’gamers who eventually decamped for Maui. Jeff had managed to procure the original Bit bar stools and used them with his Tiki Bars in B’game and on Maui. They slipped through his fingers during a move, but he has reacquired them. At his recently completed Tiki bar he and I enjoyed a tipple and a seat on the original Naugahyde Bit of England stools. Anyone with memories of the Bit, please weigh in here. I’ll be chatting with the Historical Society to get a photo or two to add to the Tiki bar.

  • Old Post Office starts filling up

    A piece in the SF Comicle today about the Mission Rock development drawing in a new restaurant (Aurelia, as in the Giants shortstop of old) reminded me of recent news about our own big downtown development at the Old Post Office. Two new tenants have been announced here and here:

    CBRE’s Industrious co-working outfit is growing its Bay Area footprint with an expansion in Burlingame.  The Los Angeles-based co-working unit of the giant brokerage has leased approximately 19,800 square feet of offices on the fourth floor of 220 Park. The $180 million development at 220 Park Road recently transformed a former post office into high-end offices in the heart of Burlingame, the San Francisco Business Times reported. (see below)

    Dostart Development Company and Sares Regis partnered to build 220 Park. Industrious’ lease will take up about two-thirds of the building’s fourth floor, making the co-working company the largest tenant the developers have landed so far. Last year, private equity firm SkyKnight Capital leased about 10,000 square feet at the property. Dostart and Sares Regis could also be solidifying another lease with another firm, sources familiar with negotiations told the Business Times.

    “There’s a lot of coworking in San Francisco and a fair amount in Palo Alto, but nothing in Burlingame,” Peri Demestihas, head of real estate for Industrious, told the Business Times. “It’s a pocket filled with folks who say, ‘I don’t want to go into San Francisco or Palo Alto. I want to live and work here.’” And who wouldn’t?

    The other deal that has been announced is fintech company Upstart Holdings relocating headquarters to downtown Burlingame’s 220 Park. The fintech firm, an artificial intelligence-powered lending marketplace, shrinks from 100,000 to 60,000 square feet as part of the move. Maybe they will use some of the co-working space from Industrious instead of dedicated space. The next question is when will the Bacchus operated restaurant open on the street level. Apparently, some code issues associated with the historic part of the building that was moved and returned has introduced some hiccups, but hungry tenants hopefully will move things along.

  • Bank Robbery Revisited

    A packed house for the quarterly B’game Historical Society meeting heard former Chief Jack Van Etten recount the “take over” bank robbery and murder on the Avenew back in 2002. Jack asked that the meeting be held in memory of Brad Floyd–a long time BPD colleague who passed away on Tuesday. Jack and Brad were part of the investigation team into the robbery of the local Wells Fargo branch that also ended the life of branch manager Alice Martel.

    The gang in question had been robbing gas stations, convenience stores and restaurants all over the Bay Area when they decided to take things up a notch. Jack noted that most bank robberies involve quietly passing a note to a teller and perhaps showing a gun. This one was different. Two robbers entered via the back door, fired a shot at the ceiling and then another through the office door as Alice Martel tried to close it and call the police. She died at the scene leaving two young sons and her husband.

    With a haul of $4,000, the robbers exited via the front door, turned left on the Avenue and were picked up by the “wheel man” on Chapin Ave. They were photographed by the bank camera which added data to the trail of evidence from the prior robberies. Eventually the killer, Seti Scanlan, turned himself in up in Oregon as he tried to leave the country but was dissuaded by his family in Samoa. Scanlan confessed and got life without parole but died in prison under suspicious circumstances. The packed house had dozens of questions for Jack as many people were reminded of the whole sad affair of 23 years ago. Here’s the bank photo.

  • Happy Columbus Day 2025

    The second Tuesday in October is and always will be Columbus Day. Courtesy of the Order Sons and Daughters of Italy, we learn:

    Each October, we gather as a community to celebrate Italian-American Heritage Month — a time to reflect on our proud history and honor the legacy of those who came before us. At the heart of this celebration stands a figure of profound historical importance: Christopher Columbus.

    Columbus was more than an explorer; he was a visionary of the Renaissance era. His daring voyage in 1492 opened the door to the first permanent European presence in the New World — a moment that profoundly reshaped global history and laid the foundation for the world we know today.

    It’s worth remembering that the Pledge of Allegiance, recited daily by students across America, was written in 1892 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ journey — a testament to how deeply his legacy is woven into the American fabric.

    There will always be some small haters who think that by changing or removing symbols of the past, they can change the future. Think the Father Serra statue up at the I-280 rest stop as reported by the Merc:

    Extending a cultural fight that started years ago, Caltrans has quietly demolished a statue of 18th-century missionary and Catholic saint Junipero Serra that had overlooked Interstate 280 in Hillsborough — a move that pleased Native critics who had questioned Serra’s legacy, even as it enraged some in the church.

    The composition of the artwork — built half a century ago, using rebar sprayed with a powdered form of concrete — meant that it could not easily be moved to another site, officials said, so it was demolished instead. Crawford did not respond to a question about which criteria the statue did not meet.

    “Which criteria?” and “Why no public notice or discussion?”. Crickets. But Columbus and Serra will live on in history while the small haters will be forgotten as they should be.

  • The Voice Blog at 22: The more things change…..

    July 26th is the Burlingame Voice blog's birthday and today it is 22.  The hardcopy editions back in the day started several years before–we're not quite sure how much earlier since we didn't put a date on each edition, but the on-line presence has a clear birth date.  Reflecting on the categories and their content, I'm struck by how much changes and yet how many people's points of view and concerns stay the same.  164 posts about high-cost rail?  Still a boondoggle that needs to die.  Overdevelopment in the neighborhoods?  The shift from worrying about McMansions to worrying about huge multi-unit complexes on R-1 lots is a difference without a distinction, just the magnitude.  Keeping our infrastructure, streets and public safety best in class?  The same as it was 22 years ago.  Maintaining our treescape and streetscapes?  Check and continue to question the cheesy little plastic street bollards and visual pollution proliferating around town like rodents. 

    With another year in the books, the 23rd year will bring more change, but the same perspective–that of regular residents who care about our little city and don't want its quality of life to degrade.  The pressures are enormous especially from Sacramento and Redwood City (i.e. the state and county).  If you don't stay informed and stay willing to speak up, you get what you get and have little reason to complain.  If you are vigilant at least you will have the "I told you so" relief.

    I happened to see this gorgeous Burlingame bungalow that is all spiffed up for sale this week and it reminded me of all the early fights that go on to this day.  It reminded me of why we started 22 years ago and why we persevere.  Some lucky new owner will join the community and share our concerns.  Blog on!

    Classic bungalow

  • Two views of the Fourth of July

    As we celebrate the 249th Fourth of July and ponder the Semiquincentennial next year, more commentators are looking back to the origins of the day.  The WSJ had a column whose perspective was sobering:

    Despite having done films on the Civil War and Vietnam, Ken Burns told me he was taken aback by the Revolution’s brutality. One of every three deaths was by bayonet. Warriors were often teenagers and the violence deeply personal, as when a young Vermont loyalist killed his best friend in hand-to-hand combat at the Battle of Bennington in 1777. Per capita there were more deaths in the Revolution than during the Civil War. Yet out of the carnage emerged the world’s first continent-spanning democracy.

    Americans who want to dig deeper need not wait for November. There are many new books on the Revolutionary War that are well worth the read. The best are from Pulitzer-Prize winning military historian Rick Atkinson, who crafted a trilogy on the war for America.

    He provides amazing detail and masterful staging. You’re in the action, seeing the violence that bitterly divided neighbors and families and understanding how close-run the war was. The vivid details, the intimacy, the sense of immediacy are a result of studious research. Like Mr. Burns, Mr. Atkinson mined the vast corpus of memoirs, letters, diaries and dispatches of the surprisingly literate combatants.

    Being a Massachusetts native from the city 50 miles south of Bennington that has traditionally hosted a massive Fourth parade that dates back to 1801 and is often featured on national TV, I've enjoyed many firemens musters, marching bands, car shows and cook-outs on the day.  My Fourth of July birthday girl wife gets tired of my reminiscing about going to the local farm and getting a Baker's Dozen ears of corn for a buck in the '60s.  I was thrilled that our newly remodeled Safeway ran a special that beat the old price!  7 cent corn flew off the shelves yesterday.  I hope you got some.  Have a happy and pensive Fourth.

    Safeway 7c corn

  • Local real estate: High water marks set

    Hot on the heels of the highest-priced B'game house to ever sell, the Bing Crosby estate has finally sold.  Alex Buljan is having a good year–selling both properties:

    It took less than a day to sell an 8,200-square-foot Burlingame home for a record $17 million, at $3.5 million above the asking price.  Jennifer Colvin and Eric Klein sold their century-old home with a modern addition at 133 Pepper Avenue, the San Francisco Business Times reported. The buyer was undisclosed.  “We were on the market for less than 24 hours,” Compass’ Alex Buljan, who held the listing, told the newspaper.  The sale far surpassed Burlingame’s previous highest sale in February last year at 121 Pepper Avenue, two doors down the street, for just shy of $9 million.  They took a historically designated 1924 Tudor home and mated it with a modern addition, on a half acre.

    The Comicle piece on the Crosby estate notes:

    A historic Hillsborough estate once owned by Bing Crosby has sold for $25 million, more than a third below its original asking price but still one of the most expensive residential sales in the town’s history.

    The property at 1200 Jackling Drive, a 14,000-square-foot French chateau-style mansion on 5 acres, was listed in January for $40 million following the death of Crosby’s widow, Kathryn Grant, in 2024. The deal closed Thursday, according to Compass agents Alex and Pierre Buljan, who represented the buyer.  “This property is one of Hillsborough’s legacy estates with an extremely storied background and impeccable vintage craftsmanship,” Alex Buljan said in a statement. “The buyer is a Hillsborough local with an appreciation for classic properties, adamant about maintaining the character and history into the next generation.”

    That intent is a relief since H'borough has been looking around at big pieces of land in town to find ways to meet the ridiculous housing requirements from Sacramento.  Five acres would cause some developers to drool especially with all the new free-for-all rules if you can jam a bit of subsidized housing in there.  The bet is when H'borough finally has to come up with more units, they will be as close to ECR–and B'game–as possible.  And this won't be the end of 8-digit houses in B'game even without multiple acres of land to work with.

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