I recently bought a pamphlet titled "Burlingame 50 years Golden Anniversary" on eBay. It's "a short journey into history; 1908 to 1958". The opening page after the obligatory mayoral Proclamation from Mayor Andrew C. Byrd was written by Dr. Frank Stanger and provides an interesting perspective on those times and ours.
Burlingame as a young city, like a self-conscious debutante, had subtle ways of impressing people with her special charms and her own importance. There was a legend abroad to that effect that Burlingame, by comparison with other cities, was something special. Or was it more than a legend? Be it fancy or fact, the idea had wide acceptance, and the people of Burlingame, quite convinced that theirs was no ordinary town, were doing nothing to deny it.
I wonder if we still have that perspective of being special? Sometimes I doubt it as I see people and agencies trying to homogenize us to be like every other city. Stanger goes on to talk about him being 18 and interviewing for a teaching position in town. He gets the job offer then writes
As I started my return journey with a promise of a contract, I found myself also trying to remember some of the statistics that had been casually dropped into my ears-- "x" percentage of the population received incomes above "y" dollars a year, "z" proportion were home owners, etc., etc. A second more tangible impression was received when I came house-hunting and found that rents in Burlingame were ten dollars a month higher than in the East Bay. And this news was imparted without apology--rather I though there was a little bragging involved.
Res ipsa loquitur
Ahh, you could have said a few bucks and checked-out the one I donated to BHS!
Posted by: JW | July 11, 2016 at 10:38 AM
The late charges I would incur would be more than I paid for it
Posted by: Joe | July 11, 2016 at 08:37 PM
I was kind of hoping that the last election of Beach and Colson would reinforce this person's perspective since neither of them are tied to developers or rent controllers. But I don't hear either of them speaking up on either threat. Someone has to counter Nagelism in Burlingame
Posted by: Local motion | July 12, 2016 at 08:18 PM
Here is one of my least favorite parts of Measure R verbiage. Right at the beginning it says "The People of Burlingame find and declare:"
(c) Burlingame is one of the most expensive communities in which to live in the San Francisco Bay Area, with median home values over $1.8 million according to Zillow research. According to several measures such as Zillow and Trulia, the median rental prices for market rate rentals in the City surpass $4,500 per month.
I think Stanger would be pleased to learn the situation from 1926 when he arrived has remained stable.
Posted by: Joe | September 19, 2016 at 05:23 PM
Joe, I wasn't sure where to post this SM Daily Journal piece about Burlingame's own EARTHBEAM, but being only just a tad short of running a business for 50 years seemed good enough-- thanks Austin, for a great article on a very special store, run by special people. Broadway will really feel empty with this loss, methinks. I hope that the nice market down the block will be able to fill the niche, somehow. Thanks, David, Anne and company for all the good times--we've all really appreciated your presence and devotion to "clean eating!"
http://www.smdailyjournal.com/articles/lnews/2017-02-23/lights-out-for-earthbeam-natural-foods-store-to-close-after-four-decades-in-burlingame/1776425176337.html
Posted by: Jennifer | February 23, 2017 at 08:50 AM
I was very sad to hear the Earthbeam will be closing last night. I don't think Broadway will ever be the same without the store and the the Hinckles.
Posted by: Cathy Baylock | February 23, 2017 at 11:09 AM