The Burlingame Voice

Historical Reference: The Corner Smoke Shop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.

 

Rare Historic Success in Bgame

Saving historic buildings in Burlingame is a tough row to hoe.  We have lost so many and saved so few that when one is saved we should rejoice.  And so we shall regarding the Murphy house.  The Daily Journal did a piece on the house a week ago, but I wanted to wait for photos of the actual move until posting about it.

One of Burlingame’s oldest houses is about to get a new home — again.  The Murphy House at 1128 Douglas Ave. is slated next week to be moved about a half a mile away to a location on Oak Grove Avenue as part of a team effort to preserve a piece of the city’s history.

The house is slated to begin being moved Thursday, Sept. 17, to make way for the construction of a five-story apartment complex, which officials approved in 2017. But noting the historic relevance of the site’s current structure, the development team agreed to relocate and preserve it elsewhere....it will mark the second time that the house has been moved. It was first relocated in 1914 from its original location on Burlingame Avenue, when it was displaced to make space for the downtown business district to bloom.

Note the DJ article has the address off by one--it's really across the street at 524 Oak Grove which was an empty lot.  We'll all enjoy seeing the house put back together as it was cut in half for the move.  Here are a couple pics of it crossing the Caltrain tracks last night around 10 pm.  It was a tight fit getting under the tree branch too.  Nice work all around!

Chocolate History in B'game

Monday night a jam-packed Lane Room audience, drawn in by the promise of a chocolate tasting, heard Amy Guittard talk about the history and quality of her family's business.  Amy is a fifth-generation Guittard and current Director of Marketing at the long-time Burlingame business that provides the sweet smells that often waft through our little burg.  Amy started the history lesson with her great-great grandfather Etienne who realized there was opportunity amongst the gold miners for something other than picks, shovels and whiskey.  She then walked the Historical Society membership through the early days in EssEff and the eventual move to B'game in 1955.  As their website notes

Guittard remained on Main Street until selling the property to the city to make room for the Embarcadero Freeway. It was at that time, that Horace A. moved the company to Burlingame, California

The audience got an education in the growing of cocoa around the world and the stringent quality control and product development that is on-going at Guittard.  The public only sees a small portion of the company's output since a lot goes to other consumer brands like See's and to chefs around the world.  I was struck by how similar a rigorous tasting of chocolate is to wine tasting.  Here's Amy with the step-by-step Chocolate 101 lesson

 

Burlingame Voice Blog is 15 Years Old Today!

Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
Fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way.
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way.

Some might say that Russ and I have frittered away more than a few hours on the Burlingame Voice, but it's our time to waste if we like and we find it cathartic.  We also get enough positive feedback from sources known (and unknown) that it feels worthwhile.  Ever since the days of the hard copy Voice hand-delivered to porches across town, he and I (along with various compatriots along the way) have provided an informed, vocal and intensely local opinion about events.  The move to on-line back on July 25, 2003 saved the time of designing and delivering the paper version and offered an opportunity to increase the reach and frequency and reduce costs.  The platform costs $14.99 a month which is much cheaper than a therapist!  You can check out those first few posts here.

The categories shown on the right hand frame have expanded over the years to 46 ways to find what you are interested in at the moment or relive some event or controversy of the past.  Try doing that on NextDoor, the newspapers or the City website!

When all is said and done, the Voice blog is a means for us to not suffer the fate Pink Floyd bemoans in Time

Every year is getting shorter never seem to find the time.
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines

If one is to "scribble lines" they might as well be a full page worth!  Thank you, dear readers and commenters.  Onward to another 15 years!

Wurlitzer Fountain Returns

There is a small ray of hope that not all of Olde Burlingame will be lost in the rush to overdevelop our downtown and residential neighborhoods.  The Winter edition of the B'game Historical Society newsletter verifies early rumors that the Three Dancing Maidens water fountain that has been "out for repair" will actually return and be placed behind Malouf's.  If you aren't a Historical Society member, you should be.  I won't try to repeat the lengthy history of the fountain that Joanne Garrison wrote for the newsletter, but I will repeat the credits she mentioned.  Fred Shifferle of the Wurlitzer Trust and local realtor Greg Terry and Sam and Gloria Malouf were key to getting this bit of Olde B'game back in one piece.  Here is the photo from the newsletter.

Snoopy Says "Merry Christmas, B'game"

You will recall the Christmas classic "A Charlie Brown Christmas" has part of it's roots right here in B'game.  You can read up on some of the history from an Historical Society presentation by Lee Mendelson here.  So Merry Christmas from me, the Voice and Snoopy to you all.

Local Gem: PEZ Museum

The San Francisco Chronicle made a rare foray down to lil ole B'game to visit our friend Gary Doss and his PEZ Museum and wrote up a lovely review of the local gem

“I’m good, thanks,” said Doss, when asked by a museum visitor if he would like a raspberry-flavored Pez candy to chew over while he pondered exactly what he had gotten himself into 24 years ago when he opened the Burlingame Museum of Pez Memorabilia at 214 California Drive, a few blocks from the Caltrain station.

Inside the museum are 1,100 dispensers — at least one of every model made by the Austrian candy company since it began cranking them out in 1950.  The museum is one of those places that, if it cost more than $3 to go in, nobody would. A magazine named it one of America’s top 50 roadside attractions, along with the beer-can house of Texas, the shoe tree of Nevada and similar places that most parents have made a habit of driving past on road trips without stopping.

Fortunately, three bucks buys not only an admission ticket but a personal guided tour from Doss, a former computer salesman and metal worker who got hooked on Pez a quarter century ago at an antique show. He tossed the computers from the Burlingame storefront to make room for the Pez dispensers and has never looked back, even when — as on Thursday morning — only three people showed up.

Way to go, Gary.  As the giant new building rises across the street, let's hope over sized, glass-faced beasts don't consume everything quirky and quaint in town. 

Historic on Drake

Every once in awhile things do work out well for those of us who care about recognizing and preserving B'game's history, especially its historic homes.  Finally, after a lot of effort by the homeowners, B'game has it first National Historic Registered residence.  The Daily Journal has this piece along with some nice interior photos that were not in the print edition, noting

The only person architect William Whifler intended to impress when he designed the unique and stylish home tucked away at the end of a quiet Burlingame street was his mother.  But through the tireless efforts of his son Graeme Whifler, the family’s property on Drake Avenue received widespread recognition after recently being added to the National Register of Historic Places.

William Whifler, who designed homes across the Peninsula between 1950 and 1970, was honored by the federal agency for his creative approach to the mid-century modern home template featuring expansive windows and ranging, open interiors.  Despite his reluctance to seek attention, William Whifler’s work established a long legacy in his native community, as he designed Burlingame City Hall and co-founded the College of San Mateo’s department of architecture.

Many kudos to Graeme who noted that "his father deserved accolades similar to colleagues of his era such as developer Joseph Eichler, despite never seeking out such attention while working."  My wife, Cathy Baylock, recalls speaking to Graeme's sister about how to go about getting started back in about 2013 while Cathy was advocating for historic preservation as a city councilwoman.

This so gratifying to see and a great addition to Kohl Mansion's status.  I have now added a photo taken from the sidewalk.  My guess is the plaque is the Historic Landmark marker, but didn't want to just walk in to look.  Very serene setting at the end of the street.

 

Collector Extraordinaire

The Chronicle ran a piece about a major art acquisition by UC Berkeley of 450 pieces of art by Arthur Szyk.  I was just reading it for my interest in art and stumbled across this

The acquisition by what is formally called the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life comes thanks to a $10.1 million donation by Taube Philanthropies, making it the largest single monetary gift to acquire art in the long history of UC Berkeley.

The holding to be known as the Taube Family Arthur Szyk Collection was purchased from collector Rabbi Irvin Ungar of Burlingame. It consists of 450 paintings, drawings and sketches from all stages of Szyk’s career, including the Holocaust and the establishment of the State of Israel. Most of the work has never before been publicly displayed.

Of course, here at the Voice you want the back story on the local angle so I spoke to Rabbi Ungar's son who is a good friend of mine.  His dad has assembled this collection over the last 20 years.  He gave the groomsmen in his wedding party Szyk pieces as presents in 1975 and that kicked off the collecting bug.  Szyk was the second most popular artist in the country post-WWII after Norman Rockwell.  Here is his Wikipedia entry where you will see some great examples of his work and read this

The immense popularity Szyk enjoyed in the United States and Europe in his lifetime gradually flagged after his death. From the 1960s to the end of the 1980s, the artist's works were seldom exhibited in American museums. This changed in 1991 when the non-profit organization The Arthur Szyk Society was established in Orange County, California. The founder of the Society, George Gooche, rediscovered Szyk's works and staged the exhibition "Arthur Szyk – Illuminator" in Los Angeles. In 1997, the seat of the Society was transferred to Burlingame, California, and a new Board of Trustees was elected, headed by rabbi, curator and antiquarian Irvin Ungar. The Society's work resulted in staging many exhibitions of Szyk's works in American cities in the 1990s and 2000s. The Society also maintains a large educational website.

I enjoy a collector with real passion and Rabbi Ungar certainly qualifies!