Reflecting on a century: Longtime San Carlos residents talk about how the city has changed

Fast-forward to the present, and San Carlos is a bustling Silicon Valley suburb with a quaint downtown, hiking trails and a burgeoning biotech business community rising from its east side. It still keeps the moniker “City of Good Living” but some longtime residents share concerns about it losing its small-town feel.

While 81-year-old Joyce Carlson remains optimistic about her city’s growth with a more diverse population, she has concerns about tech professionals gentrifying her city, which she described as a “blue-collar town.”

“It’s a sad state of affairs, but it’s inevitable,” Carlson said. “We’re going to lose our small town, our village.”

As San Carlos residents honor the city’s 100-year milestone, its oldest residents reflect on the developments for the past century. In their eyes, some changes are agreeable, while some dread the loss of the city’s most defining characteristics.

Changes in job outlook

While often overlooked as part of Silicon Valley, the city has contributed to technological innovation. The Lenkurt Electric Company pioneered some of the earliest contributions to microwave technology and telecommunications. Additionally, the company AMPEX was involved in early audio-video technology developments, such as tape recorders.

These San Carlos-based companies have employed many residents but, today, its proximity to major tech hubs has made it an appealing destination to young professionals commuting toward Silicon Valley.

Carlson is a longtime friend of John Zeh and Ronald Burrows, her classmates at Carlmont High School, where they graduated in 1961.  Now in their 80s, they recall how it was “easy” to find a job and earn money.

Zeh and Burrows grew very close, starting their friendship as neighbors and joining the same friend group in high school. Growing up, they witnessed each other’s progress in reaching different personal and career milestones. As grandfathers, both wince at today’s job mobility and for the careers of their grandchildren.

“You could always find a job — sweep the sidewalk or something like that,” Zeh said. “We had no requirements.”

After high school, Zeh worked as a material handler for Varian Associates, a San Carlos manufacturer that supplies klystrons — vacuum tubes used for radars and satellite communications. Later, he worked as an electrical contractor before he retired. Similarly, before Burrows joined the Navy and later on worked in insurance, his first job was as a gas attendant at Nielsen Automotive, a community gas, oil and car repair shop that closed three years ago.

Loss of character through establishments

Nancy Oliver was one of the founders of the San Carlos Heritage Association, a grassroots organization that advocates for the preservation of the city’s physical and built heritage. The organization led city bus and walking tours on the Spanish and Victorian buildings from the past, but has discontinued this year due to people’s dwindling interest. 

The 85-year-old historian takes pride in the group’s effort to save historical landmarks that would otherwise be demolished to make way for projects such as new residential units. The organization filed lawsuits against the city of San Carlos to protect heritage sites and to ensure development and modifications adhered to historical preservation guidelines and Department of the Interior standards.

The heritage association has experienced some losses in defending buildings; however, among its triumphs was saving the Pacific Hacienda, an apartment complex previously known as the Hacienda Garden Apartments. Despite the demolition of two of its six buildings, their intervention saved the Spanish stucco, which still exists today as a reminder of the town’s ties to the Mexican rancho and Spanish eras. 

“What makes San Carlos unique are those special buildings that are here that still tell this story of San Carlos and how it grew,” Oliver said. “Unlike so many cities that have modernized their downtowns so they look like any other city in the U.S., they don’t have the character of the town itself.”

Apart from heritage sites, the closure of local establishments also altered the city’s allure for the older residents. 

“Circle Star Theater was a big, big theater here that was way out across the tracks,” Jim McClellan, a 101-year-old World War II veteran, said. “It held about 1,200 people and got all the big names to come in.”

Before it closed in 1993, San Carlos’ Circle Star Theater housed world-class performers and A-list celebrities on tour like Frank Sinatra. Others had a once-in-a-lifetime experience of seeing the musician Nat King Cole perform one last time weeks before his death. 

Older San Carlos residents reminisce about how downtown shopping stores in San Carlos once brought in foot traffic before it became a foodie destination. 

Turturici ran a fashion emporium for almost four decades, bringing in high-end clients in need of a wardrobe revamp. His eponymous shop, Ben Turturici’s Clothing Store, operated at 740 Laurel St. from 1964 to 2000 with the help of his wife, Darlene.

His fashion retail store was a top choice among San Mateo County residents, prompting him to open a second store in San Mateo, which only lasted for three years. They imported high-quality suits from Italy, which caught the attention of working-class men who one-upped their game in their respective trades.

Pop culture, particularly fashion trends, however, dampen his business. Revenue slowed when employees adapted to casual Fridays, Ben Turturici said.

“Leisure suits came in, and that really slowed down the sale of men’s suits, ties and shirts,” Ben Turturici said.

Apart from Ben Turturici’s Clothing Store, the older San Carlos also grieved the loss of other establishments dear to their hearts: Five and Dime Woolworth was among the first retail stores their families frequented for new gear. Peggy Lee’s Ice Cream Parlor has a special place for Carlmont High School alumni like Carlson. Meanwhile, Zeh and Burrows long to see their friends out at San Carlos Bowl or watch speeding cars at the race tracks of the Greater San Francisco Speedway. Brides-to-be trusted no one but Miss D’s at 1179 San Carlos Ave. in supplying the perfect dress.

A change in culture

Apart from celebrities, some residents also yearn for local productions and watching homegrown talents. The Chicken’s Ball holds the title of the “longest running parent-teacher association fundraiser” in the United States.

What started as a fundraising stint transformed into a biennial tradition, where teachers and parents perform auditioned skits based on the Barbary Coast motif, with feathers, alluding to the Gold Rush era in San Francisco. For 80 years, Central Middle School faculty and parents unleashed their hidden talents for the benefit of the students.

The last Chicken’s Ball was supposed to be livestreamed in 2020, but the San Carlos School District canceled the performance due to the onset of COVID-19. The production wasn’t followed five years later, and many residents fear that it will be the last act.

“[Chicken’s Ball] brought life to our city,” Dulcie Findley, a former arts consultant to Central Middle School who chaired the local production in 1970 and 1990, said. “People were able to use their natural resources to create and do things for the public, all the while enjoying themselves.”

Findley recalled how the local production was a megahit in the city. According to the 94-year-old educator, they sold tickets to the now-defunct Carlos Theater, and people lined up as early as 5 a.m. to buy tickets. With blockbuster ticket sales, she said they even had to be escorted by police to transfer their earnings to the bank.

McClellan loved San Carlos and volunteered whenever he could. He performed in the Chicken’s Ball in the 1960s and participated in local productions set at the Circle Star Theater. Aside from theatrics, he also volunteered in local regulations, working in customs at San Francisco International Airport and performing clerical duties before the city outsourced its police department to the Sheriff’s Office due to budget cuts.

For 10 years, McClellan analyzed records to identify possible patterns related to crime and also provided clearances for individuals purchasing firearms. He left when the Sheriff’s Office took over.

“At that time, people weren’t happy about it,” McClellan said. “They had local policemen that they knew, and the sheriff’s people were from out of town.”

San Carlos’ long-lived residents hope their guidance will resonate with the current generation and that they would take steps to conserve all the great things instituted in the last century.

“It’s hard not to live in the past,” Findley said. “You have to move ahead, but you cannot forget the beauty and the joy that you had in that moment.”