The Burlingame Voice

Historic Houses: Heartwarming visits happen

There are a lot of great aspects to owning an historic house--even if Burlingame is notoriously difficult to get the actual designation.  Maybe difficult is too soft a word--how about impossible unless it's the Avenue train station or the Mercy main building.  You do get to feel virtuous that you didn't let some scraper send dozens of tons of wood, shingles, pipe, wire, porcelain, brick and concrete to the dump.  Someone ought to force the tear-it-down-and-build-big YIMBY's to hand carry a few tons of that up to the Skyline landfill.

But faux "climate justice" aside, every once in a while, someone comes knocking on your door with a bit of a sheepish look on their face and says "I hate to bother you but my fill-in-the-ancestor used to live here.  I'm so happy it's still here and that you are home--can I come in?"  Now unless you know who owned your house over the years, this could be disconcerting or worse.  So if you have an old B'game house, get a house history from the Historical Society or go through the old city directories yourself and make a list.

We've done both for our 112 year-old bungalow, so when the doorbell rang this afternoon and the nice, older lady gave her great aunt's name, we knew she was legit.  The great aunt and uncle were the original owners, and we also know that from seeing the last name scrawled on some old wall timbers just as written by some long-forgotten lumber store.  What a treat.  She has some photos that go back to those days and show the house.  I cannot wait to get copies.  I'll update the post when I get them.

P.S. This is not the first time this has happened.  When you have 112 years of history, there are more than a few descendants happy to revisit their youths.

I got this photo of our house circa 1911-12 from the dear lady described above.  This is just a photo snapshot--a better scan will come later.  It's awesome to see how the house has changed so little after all these years.  What has changed is the open space to the left.  That four square bungalow was on El Camino--six or seven lots away-- and was torn down about 22 years ago.  Everybody looks happy to be in Burlingame!

Happy President's Day

Some little moments occur when walking about our town just catch me the right way.  Today is Washington's Birthday or President's Day--take your pick.  After a spell of warm, summer-like weather the seasonal winds and chill returned.  Today had mostly blue skies, light winds and an absolutely lovely string of American flags on Broadway.  It was a reminder of the country and town we live in.  I like it and appreciate that the city B'way BID and the Boy Scouts still do this.

B'game History of Auto Row

Burlingame has been synonymous with car dealerships for as long as anyone can remember.  The marques that have been and continue to be sold here are legendary and the sales taxes the city collects are important contributors to our town's finances.  The total runs about $1.2 million per quarter--the highest of any category.  Even more interesting is the history of how we became known for our Auto Row which you can learn about from an expert this coming Sunday, Feb. 13th at 2pm.  At the Lion's Club hall in Washington Park, the Burlingame Historical Society is presenting its first live meeting in two years.

Society member, classic car enthusiast and long-time Burlingame Auto Row salesman Richard Griffith will present Tales from Auto Row. Using many historic images from the Society’s collection, Richard will discuss why one of the first auto rows in California was in Burlingame and how Auto Row has evolved over the last century. With many decades of experience, Richard has tales to tell! This is a presentation car lovers will not want to miss!

Richard's knowledge of all things car-related stems from his involvement with classic Hudsons, BMWs, Porsches and Audis--the later two marques he sold at Rector for, well, we'll let him tell you how long.  He's a trusted advisor on makes, models, values, and trouble-shooting as well as the go-to historical repository of our important local businesses.  I'm expecting some insights into cars that live in The Candy Store, the local Concours d'Elegance, and all of the cool brands that have come and gone here.

The presentation is free to the general public and, of course, the Society realizes there is a football game starting at 3:30 so they promise to finish by 3pm.  Bring your mask.

Say Goodbye to an Old Friend

I haven't railed about any home demolitions lately since it doesn't seem to do much good.  My little patch of B'game at least requires a home historical evaluation before the claw arrives.  There is a bit of movement in that direction elsewhere in town as noted here.  And there has been at least one successful move (on Oak Grove).

Long-timers in town will recall the ruckus years ago over a nice old house on Carmelita on a big lot that was going to be demo'ed.  There was enough space on one side of the lot to add a new house and that calmed folks down.  Now a resident in the Easton Addition has passed along this photo of its demise.  Say goodbye to an old friend.

 

RIP: Rosalie O'Mahony (1930-2021)

Word of Rosalie O'Mahony's passing last Saturday filtered out to the insiders this week and made it to the Daily Journal front page yesterday.  In the DJ piece Rosalie was remembered as:

More than two decades after beginning her teaching career in the county, O’Mahony set her eyes on city policy, running for a seat on the Burlingame City Council. She won her race in 1989 and went on to serve as mayor five times before exiting the council in 2009.  Those who knew and worked with O’Mahony said she was always a fair and thoughtful policymaker who stood firmly by her decisions.

Current Burlingame Mayor Ann Keighran called O’Mahony the “queen of infrastructure,” and a “trailblazer.”  “She’s one of the few politicians that really made her decisions based on her principles rather than political expediency,” Keighran said. “She would rather fix sewers and balance finances than make any headlines.”

As I pondered her legacy over the last week, a few memories came to mind.  As Mayor Keighran noted, Rosalie paid close attention to the fixed assets of the city which I strongly supported.  She appreciated that the infrastructure was one of the core missions of the city and understood it deeply.  The quote, in her accent, was something like "You need to understand how much of the city is underground."  Her focus on the finances could sometimes cause me to disagree with her such as when she favored merging our police department with nearby cities' to save money.  That idea missed some of the nuance of local control and good local presence.  There were other areas as well and the history makes for interesting reading here.

The most vivid memory was the night of the Council vote on the original Safeway design.  Newcomers to town won't remember the long saga but they can always trip down 74 steps of memory lane in the Safeway category here.  It was a long meeting and each councilmember had invested plenty of time and energy understanding the plans.  Prior comments seemed to indicate 2 for and 2 against; it was anybody's guess how Rosalie would vote.  In the end, she voted against the poorly designed, big box, solid-blank-wall-on-Primrose proposal and Safeway went back to the drawing board with the exceptionally fine results that reflect well on the downtown to this day.

Lastly, there was always something comforting about seeing Rosalie's pale yellow Camaro toodling around town.  I'm guessing it was a '68 or '69 and it hinted of the Rosalie book being a bit different than the cover.  RIP.

A funeral mass, honoring the life of O’Mahony, will be held at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 28, at St. Catherine’s Church. Rather than flowers, her loved ones ask that those interested in giving make donations to the St. Vincent DePaul Society or a charity of choice.

Here she is in 2006 at the annual Christmas tree lighting and parade.

B'game Jazz Mecca

The full moon bracketed by Saturn and Jupiter was not the only awesome sight in B'game last night.  One of the coolest dudes in B'game did it again last night.  Andrew Speight had his House of Bop swinging in a tribute concert to Cannonball Adderley and Nancy Wilson who recorded a seminal LP together back in 1961.  Andrew is "chief cook and bottle washer" at his events--he's promoting them, setting up the sound and video for streaming on his Facebook page, delivering in-depth backgrounds on the songs and artists and.....and playing the alto sax like a pro.  He let everyone know that the LP being featured was the first female vocalist fronting a small combo that made it to vinyl.  Just awesome to see and there were a couple of B'game restaurant owners in the small audience last night which might lead to some public gigs.  One can only hope.

As Andrew noted last night, a great way to build a great jazz combo is to start with the drummer.  It's the loudest instrument and if the drummer doesn't like you he can drown you out!  We were graced with a true legend on drums last night.  As Roy McCurdy's web page notes

McCurdy worked with the Mangione Brothers group (Chuck and Gap Mangione) in the early 60’s and later joined the Art Farmer Jazztet and then went with Sonny Rollins. Following Sonny Rollins he became a full time member of the Cannonball Adderley Quintet from the mid-60’s, traveling internationally with the group, including a particularly successful tour of South America in 1972.

Who better to set the beat for two hours of Cannonball's music?  With David Wong as the other half of the rhythm section and  Terrell Stafford blowing hard on trumpet, and Matthew Clark on the piano all that was needed was the vocalist who could deliver the Nancy Wilson feel.  Tiffany Austin was on it and added the fine feel and tone that was needed.  Here's McCurdy and Stafford.

  

It's-It Goes East

The Chronicle picked up a story about our very own ITS-IT ice cream confection starting to be sold on the East Coast.  Here's their take with the key correction

It’s-It, the San Francisco Burlingame ice cream treat little known outside the Bay Area, is invading the East Coast for the first time.  “A taste of the West Coast is making ITS way to the East Coast,” It’s-It Ice Cream announced in a post on its Facebook page earlier this month. The company likes to spell the name of its most-popular product in all capital letters, as if screaming for ice cream.

Since It’s-Its are just starting their assault on the East Coast, it’s unclear how many enthusiasts will be won over. But judging from the reception on Facebook, former Bay Area residents are clamoring for a frozen taste of the region. Dozens of people — from Alabama, Iowa , North and South Carolina and other states — posted requests to sell It’s-Its in their vicinities.

It’s-Its have been around since 1928, when George Whitney scooped some vanilla ice cream between two freshly baked oatmeal cookies, squished them together and dipped the ice cream sandwich in dark chocolate, It’s-It says on its website.  It’s-Its have developed an enthusiastic group of followers that not only buys the sandwiches in bulk (at factory stores now closed by the coronavirus) but buys merchandise including hoodies, caps, T-shirts and onesies and turns the labels into crafty light-switch plates.

I stopped by the Factory Store on Burlway Rd. just north of the Hyatt and directly abutting 101 to snap this photo.  Note the sandwich on the rooftop (upper right).

"The Problem With Spending Time in Burlingame is....

....you just don't want to go anywhere else."

So says Nate Pfaff who has created the best video tribute to life in our little burg you are likely to ever see.  Find it here on YouTube.  Exceptional work!

Historical Reference: The Corner Smoke Shop

There are days when I really miss certain B'game establishments.  La Pinata.  Route 66.  The record store on Hatch Ln.  Yianni's--but we have a new Greek restaurant moving in where the Nachoria was!!  Of course, the Bit of England.  Towle's.  The Burlingame Drive-in--don't we need that now instead of a big office building that might never get occupied?  Like 220 California--a dead weight on our downtown.

Today I am really missing the Smoke Shop on the Avenew.  I miss Fred telling me what the real name of the place was, but I just have to stick with the Smoke Shop.  I know the remaining partners run the cigar shop, and I thank them for that, but you could walk into the Smoke Shop and buy newspapers from around the world.  You want the three main London papers?  They had 'em.  Safeway has the pink FT somedays, but not the others.  You want the Singapore Straits Times, they had it.  Yesterday I wanted the New York Post, but did not know where to buy it.  If the twits at Twitter and the fakes at Facebook don't want me to read something, well, that just makes me want to read it even more.  Good luck with the censorship.  It hasn't worked since Ben Franklin bought his first printing press and it won't work now.

The Changing Face of B'game

Today's Daily Post front page headline is "Neighborhoods under pressure".  It discusses the impending doom facing single-family housing in the state if Scott Weiner and others in Sacramento get their way with our neighborhoods.  It's almost too depressing to ponder.  But one of the things we do here at the Voice is capture B'game history as it is being made.  Here it won't drift off into forgotten oblivion like many social media sites.

The two classic B'game "cottages" at the corner of California and Oak Grove have been in the news over the years as the long-time tenants got support from national personality Tony Robbins in an effort to stay put.  They're both gone and yet the little bungalows from a time gone by are still here--for awhile.  Right next door is where the action is since another big development has been approved as a "live/work" space.  The Daily Journal initially had the site listed incorrectly as the site of the two cottages, but has corrected the piece and noted the correction here.

The Burlingame Planning Commission unanimously approved Monday, Sept. 28, plans to build 25 units in a live-work development at 601 California Drive.  For the development on California Drive, officials praised the five-story building intended to grant people a place to live and work under the same roof — a departure from the previous discussion, in which officials were unimpressed.  Live/work developments are designed to offer tenants a place to both run a business and make their home in the same unit. Burlingame officials have promoted the development of such projects since updating the general plan to encourage creative land use.

When you look at the proposal, it's not obvious why this is a "live/work" development.  It's got a conference room and a gym, but other than that it just looks like a stack of multi-bedroom units.  You might think there would be ground floor professional space, art gallery space or even room for yet another nail salon, but nope.  That's probably OK since it is a street ripe for higher density.  We will just have to wait and see what happens to the two little houses that have stood on that corner for so long.  Here they are; so they aren't forgotten.