The Burlingame Voice

Fall Fest: Trains, Ponies and the Cybertruck

I strolled through the Howard Ave. Fall Festival yesterday.  I hadn't been in years, but when I saw the horse trailer parked near Isobune I decided to check it out.  The hurricane out in the Pacific made for a humid, partly cloudy stroll, but that didn't seem to diminish the crowd.  It felt as busy as Art on the Ave.  The little train was giving kids rides reminiscent of Rudy Horak's Holiday tree-lighting train.  It's nice to see that tradition continue.  The demonstration Cybertruck was also there like at Art on the Ave, and as if it isn't scary enough already, add skeletons.  But the biggest draw by far was the pony rides.  No need to go all the way over to Lemos Farm when the ponies come to B'game.  The line had to have at least 50 kids waiting patiently.  Kudos to the DBID for keeping tradition alive downtown.

2024 H'borough Concours d'Elegance

Sunday was a brilliant, fog-free, wind-free day up the hill at Crystal Springs Golf Course as the Concours d'Elegance took over the 18th fairway for the 68th rendition of the car show.  That makes it "the longest continually running Concours in the world" and a showplace for some amazing cars and Jeeps.  This year's theme car was the Mazda Miata and one locally owned example won best in its class.  The 2024 winners have not been posted to the website yet but check here later.  Burlingame-owned Frank's Texas BBQ provided the eats and drew a long line of patrons as they usually do whenever they do an event.

I also enjoyed watching kids playing in the sand trap--they found it way more fun than I do.

H'Borough remembers Memorial Day with a parade

The annual Hillsborough Memorial Day parade has a reliably small town feel that mixes civic pride with the sentiment of the day.  This year was pretty much just like last year described here.  The vintage cars, police cars (including the Atherton Mustang), fire trucks, vintage Recology truck, etc. were out in force in the sunshine.  We had the full complement of politicians looking a bit sheepish sitting on the backs of convertibles--Mullin, Becker, Papan, and Pine.  The vets in uniform looked much more at ease as they were driven along.

Here is a bit of history of the day from the History Channel

On May 5, 1868, General John A. Logan, leader of an organization for Northern Civil War veterans, called for a nationwide day of remembrance later that month. “The 30th of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land,” he proclaimed.

The date of Decoration Day, as he called it, was chosen because it wasn’t the anniversary of any particular battle.

On the first Decoration Day, General James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, and 5,000 participants decorated the graves of the 20,000 Civil War soldiers buried there.

I highlighted the BHS marching band in last year's post, so here is a shout out to the Bearcat band.

B'game: Now and Then

There was a great turnout yesterday for the quarterly B'game Historical Society meeting.  It was a beautiful Spring-like day which helped.  About 90-100 people were treated to a 145-photo montage carefully arranged in a Now-Then sequence to show how our little burg has changed over the years.  Some "Then" photos went back to c. 1911.  Society president Jen Pfaff went all in to get "Now" photos from the same angle and distance as the historical editions and the effort paid off.

My photo of the meeting below doesn't do the scene justice, but you can just make out the crowd gathered for a parade in 1953 when LIFE magazine came to B'game.  Many of the photos shown yesterday will appear on the Society website (technical issues are being resolved).  In the meantime, here's Jen and the LIFE piece.

Backhaus: Sweet introduction

According to the show of hands local realtor Raziel Ungar asked for at Friday's hosted event at Backhaus, I am one of the last people to clue into our newest bakery.  That's probably because most people are having lunch around the time I am finishing breakfast and from what I hear, Backhaus can be sold out by then.  Raziel is one of the most active realtors in town and loves to bring his clients together for events like movies and pie giveaways.  His latest event brought about 100 people to Backhaus for a talk and tasting with co-owner Anne Moser.

Anne gave us the story of how she and her husband Robert started baking at home, then moved to Kitchentown, onward to the B'game Farmer's Market and the CSM market, then to a space on 3rd Ave in San Mateo and now to a larger, more flexible space here at 261 California Dr.  The space was our first movie theater, George Roy's Photoplay that opened in 1913, according to Russ Cohen's article in this quarter's Burlingame Historical Society newsletter.

After extensive, and I mean really extensive, Q&A that Anne handled with ease, Raziel asked for a show of hands as to who had bought bread and pastries from Backhaus at each step of the journey.  When he finally asked for a show of hands as to who was a first-timer on Friday, I was in the tiny minority that raised their hands.  Raziel is a big supporter of Copenhagen as well and his annual pie event at Thanksgiving is a B'game tradition.  Baking sounds like an arduous task since each day starts at 3am so that the goods are ready for the 7:30 opening.  After tasting the Country Bread at the event, I may have to get up early to snag some.  Here's Raziel and Anne making the pitch.

Local Jazz: Swinging Songs of Disney

Wedged as we are between EssEff and Stanford/Palo Alto, we need to take advantage of any opportunities for local live music that pop up.  The Monday night jazz jam at Max's Opera House has been going strong as has the Wed-Sat schedule at Broadway Grill.  Both venues' live music adds to the ambience for a nice dinner out.

Local non-profit Jazz at the Ballroom is another option for pop-up jazz.  The organization has done events at the B'game library, at private homes and the Hillsborough Raquet Club which is a nice venue for medium sized affairs.  This Saturday, January 27th, Jazz at the Ballroom brings Professor Cunningham and his Old School band to the club for "Swinging Songs of Disney".  The band is billed as

This award-winning New York based band performs the most swinging and grooving repertoire deeply steeped in the New Orleans tradition; from early jazz to early R&B— the likes of Sidney Bechet, Fats Waller, even Fats Domino. It is one of the most sought-after Hot Jazz Bands on the international festival and Lindy Hop dance scene.  The group is fronted by in-demand vocalist/reedman Adrian Cunningham, an Australian native based in NYC, and one of his home country's finest jazz exports. The ensemble consists of some of the most energetic and accomplished musicians on the New York circuit and has been a regular hit in the NYC underground party and swing dance scene.

So, they are stretching out a bit into Disney songs like ""Everybody Wants To Be a Cat" to "I Wanna Be Like You" and "Under the Sea.".  Uncle Walt would be pleased.  You can see the details and reserve tickets here.  I saw the JATB last event at the Hillsborough Raquet Club--it was easy to get to and park, cash bar and up close and personal seating.

Fleet Week fun in the sun

The weather in Ess Eff yesterday was nothing short of spectacular for the beginning of Fleet Week.  Getting there and especially getting back were the usual pain in the car seat, but the show was excellent.  We had a window seat at Fog Harbor restaurant until right before the Blue Angels started and were joined by a friend who is a former Air Force and American Airlines pilot that once tried out for the Thunderbirds--talk about getting the inside scoop!

The F-35 made an appearance as did Fat Albert (the C-130) that flew under the Golden Gate bridge--we thought that rules had made that thing of the past, but it sure looked like he did it anyway.  The United Airlines flybys of a 737 and a 787 doing circles around the bay were cool and my buddy who was an instructor pilot for both aircraft added all sorts of details.  The Blue Angels are the usual highlight, and this year was no exception especially when one of them went into hover-mode and just hung and spun in place for more than a minute just above the sail boats.  Here is the 787 and the Angels courtesy of the Chronicle.

 

 

Bgame on the Ave: Tight squeeze

The 2023 rendition of Burlingame on the Avenue appeared to be quite a success.  I went for part of both days and it was crowded--especially around the main stage.  It wasn't crowded there because of all the people, but rather because of the decision to turn the stage 90 degrees from its usual orientation.  Plenty of people noted that left only about 10-12 yards of space between the front of the stage and the construction fence for the Post Office project.  It only fit a couple of chairs, one umbrella and the cross traffic to the food trucks cut right through the dance floor.  Several musicians noted how cramped it all felt playing to the crane.

Both days were hot and seemed humid for B'game.  Perhaps some of the Hurricane Hilary moisture found its way here.  The "Bayshore Stage" on Primrose next to the Gourmet Food Alley would have been a much better location for the Main Stage---it had shade from the buildings, more room for seating and dancing and less cross-traffic.  Let's hope the Post Office project is far enough along next year that the "community space" can handle the main stage.

Here's the closers, Smokin' Slice of Mojo, bringing it home on Sunday evening.

Stylistic Gems of El Camino Real

Jennifer Pfaff, the president of the Burlingame Historical Society, has penned the front-page article for this quarter's society newsletter titled "Overlooked Gems of El Camino Real".  It's a real gem of a piece, too.  You all should be members and get your own hardcopy mailed to you, but for those who have not yet joined I am going to pluck out just the architectural styles mentioned as "gems".  As part of the ECR project, Caltrans engaged a team of architectural historians from AECOM.  That's the source of this list:

• Bungalow Style single -- family homes found all over B'game but not nearly as many as we originally had.
• 1920 Mission Revival commercial automotive architecture - the C & D auto shop tucked away on the south end of ECR (see below).
• European Eclectic Revival - apartment building with arched windows and Flemish parapet end walls.
• Stucco Box apartment buildings - the technical term for our post-WWII flat-roofed structures.
• Podium Style - like The Viking building by Danish architect Mogens Mogensen.
• International Style - like our 8-story Burlingame Towers
• New Formalism Style - like Arcamino West on Arc Way.

This is quite a list for a three-mile stretch of historic road. It seems AECOM might have missed the Art Deco Adeline Market on the list.  Wouldn't it be nice if some of these had some historical protection?

The next Historical Society walking tour is August 6th when the Willborough neighborhood gets the spotlight turned on it.  Learn about the 22 Tudor style homes by joining tour guide Joanne Garrison at 1pm where Palm Dr. meets Willborough Rd.  Here's our Mission Revival shop

Music in the Park draws a crowd

Anyone who thinks B'game isn't hungry for more musical entertainment would have to change their mind if they were at last night's first Music in the Park event of 2023.  By my estimate the crowd approached 2,000 people.  If someone did a more extensive count and came up with 2,500, I would not argue.  The weather was perfect pre-heat wave.  And the move back to the backside of the new Rec center was most welcome.

The band, Fleetwood Macrame, pays tribute to one of the most popular bands of all time and stuck to the later, more popular songs.  They did slip in one early Peter Green blues era tune near the end.  There were tons of kids and dogs, a food truck and a Mr. Softee truck.  I'm not sure where everyone parked and in spite of all the kerfuffle over how many more bike lanes we need, I was the only bicyclist I saw all evening, but somehow it worked out.

There are three more concerts on July 14, 21 and August 11th with details here.  Check out the new Fleetwood Mac fans.