Times change

These days, although the town looks relatively unchanged at first glance, the bookstores, hobby shop, drugstore and even the 7-Eleven are gone, replaced by real estate offices, banks and high-end restaurants. Even the town’s grocery store is gone; where once we could walk to the market, we now have to drive more than 2 miles just to get a carton of milk or a dozen eggs.

Times change, and with them, cities and towns. I’ve been blogging about Redwood City and its many changes since 2013, and although that year was something of an inflection point for Redwood City, I’ve lived here for more than 30 years and can attest to the fact that it was changing well before I began writing. For instance, when we first moved into our Redwood City house, E-Z Davies Chevrolet was still located at the corner of El Camino Real and Jefferson Avenue. In 1993, we watched with interest as that dealership was replaced by the Sequoia Station shopping center.

Changes are inevitable, it seems, but whether the changes are good or bad depends upon one’s perspective. For instance, my little beach town is no longer an idyllic place for a youngster, but is now a pretty nice place for adults. In a way, that town grew up right alongside me. I no longer spend much time in toy and candy shops, but love patronizing the restaurants that have replaced them.

Redwood City, on the other hand, seems more of a mixed bag. I’m pleased with the effort Redwood City is making to allow more people to live here, and I’m not particularly bothered by the large multifamily apartment buildings lining El Camino Real and some of our downtown streets — as long as they have retail along their ground floors. I love the number and variety of Redwood City’s restaurants today; back when I moved my family to Redwood City there were few restaurants that appealed to us. But the retail picture has changed for the worse, to where I no longer do much shopping, at least downtown. Folks who’ve lived in Redwood City for far longer than I suggest downtown Redwood City’s retail slide started with the creation of Mervyn’s Plaza (Mervyn’s occupied the space where Kohl’s is today), which opened in 1979. That certainly sounds plausible, although I really should spend some serious time in the Local History Room of the downtown library to see if I can give that idea some credence.

I mentioned earlier that 2013 was an inflection point for Redwood City. That was two years after the plan singularly responsible for shifting Redwood City’s transformation into high gear — the Downtown Precise Plan — was adopted, and the year Crossing 900 (the “Box buildings”), which were enabled by that plan, broke ground. Since then the pace of change in Redwood City seems to have far outstripped most other California cities and towns, including the little beach town of my youth. And those changes continue. Just the other day the city made public preliminary plans for a 409-unit apartment building (plus a day care center and a small amount of retail), a project that would replace the Veterans Square retail center on Veterans Boulevard at Maple Street. If approved, this would just be the latest in a long line of large commercial and residential projects that have been built since the adoption of the Downtown Precise Plan.

For many years, Redwood City was mostly a residential community, with plenty of housing, a variety of retailers and a handful of large employers. Since then, it has transformed into a proper city, with many (relatively) high-rise commercial and residential buildings. The city has become more of a place where people work, live and entertain themselves, and much less of a place to shop. Hopefully, that last will change once again, giving Redwood City something for everyone.

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.