One of the things I particularly love about Redwood City is its history. I knew little about Redwood City’s early days when I first became a resident in 1989, but over time I began picking up bits and pieces. Once I started exploring the city on foot and writing my blog, I realized it wasn’t enough to just write about the current state of a house, building or park — often, I needed to add some depth from the place’s history.
Although physical evidence of much of Redwood City’s history no longer exists, there are still bits and pieces if you know where to look. In a few cases, that evidence is rather obvious. For instance, the two buildings on the west side of Main Street at Broadway — the Hotel Sequoia on the south side and the Bank of San Mateo County building on the north (which isn’t a bank these days) — were built in the early 1900s and still look it. Other self-evident bits of Redwood City history in the immediate vicinity include the Diller-Chamberlain Store — the county’s oldest commercial building — just north of the Bank of San Mateo County building, and the side-by-side Alhambra Theater and IOOF (Independent Order of Odd Fellows) buildings to the south along Main Street.
One of Redwood City’s newer developments — the four-story office building at 855 Main St. — may not look historic, since it mostly isn’t. However, the building’s single-story retail spaces to the left of its main entrance are very much a part of Redwood City’s history. Originally constructed in 1922 to be home to the Clifton Motor Co. — Redwood City’s Chevrolet dealer at the time — the rather simple building was deemed “an excellent example of the distinctive ‘Main Street’ style which developed in the teens and 1920s.”
Accordingly, when a developer proposed the office building we see there today, Redwood City required that the historic building be largely preserved. The new building was designed accordingly, and the historic front facade, along with the building’s rear and one side wall, were carefully preserved while the underground garage was excavated and the new four-story building was constructed around the historic commercial building. Today, one of the historic building’s three retail spaces serves as home to the Baker Next Door, while another is little more than the entrance to the underground garage. The third, center space is currently empty, still waiting for a new tenant.
Not far away, perhaps my favorite historic building in Redwood City is the main branch of the Redwood City Public Library, at 1044 Middlefield Road. As an avid reader, I’m already predisposed to love libraries, but I have particular affection for this one because the building is old — it was built in 1921 — and because it was originally constructed as Fire Station No. 1. To me, the fact that the building was once a fire station seems obvious — the three large arches through which fire engines once raced on their way to a fire, plus the pair of red lanterns that flank those arches, clearly scream “fire station” to me — but I do wonder if the average patron even notices. Regardless, it is a beautiful building in its own right.
Of course, Redwood City is far more than its downtown, and there are historic homes and buildings scattered throughout. One that particularly fascinates me stands at the corner of Chestnut and Spring streets and has been a restaurant of one kind or another for years since it was first built back in 1921. What makes this building special is the fact that it appears to be the last vestige of Redwood City’s airport, which briefly — in the mid- to late 1910s — also hosted “one of the three largest [aircraft manufacturing] plants in the United States” and for a time was one of the leading contenders to become the site of San Francisco’s airport.
The two-story restaurant building that still stands today at 739 Chestnut St. operated as the Aviation Cafe from 1925 to 1969 (although the airport itself only lasted into the late 1930s). Back then it stood across Chestnut Street from the airport’s hangars, which were located where San Mateo County’s Grant Corporation Yard can be found today. Its location would have made it popular with the pilots, students, mechanics and passengers who frequented Redwood City’s airport in those early days.
Redwood City has a particularly fascinating history, given its importance to the local logging industry, its tanneries and its being the seat of San Mateo County. For the curious, start with the San Mateo County History Museum —which covers all of the county — and be sure to peruse the selection of books available in their gift shop. Then, for more specific information, head to the Local History Archive Room upstairs in the downtown library.
Greg Wilson is the creator of Walking Redwood City, a blog inspired by his walks throughout Redwood City and adjacent communities. He can be reached at greg@walkingRedwoodCity.com. Follow Greg on Twitter @walkingRWC.
(1) comment
very interesting. kids should read this in school. is local history taught?
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