Climate RWC – September 2021

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P u b l i c a t i o n Feature: Menlo Park on the Move Spotlight: Teens Building an Airplane Micro Climate: Renaissance Mailman

ISSUE SEVENTY THREE • SEPTEMBER • 2021

Menlo Park’s

Jesse Love On the Road to

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Check out the daily news and read Climate Magazine at: www.climaterwc.com Some of the local businesses where you can pick up a copy: Fox Theatre Fox Forum Stuff on the Square Powerhouse Gym La Tartine restaurant Ralph's Vacuum Nick the Greek Peet's Coffee

Ikes Sandwich Crouching Tiger Tea Spoon The Sandwich Spot Sakura restaurant San Mateo Credit Union Talk of Broadway Patty Shack

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Harry’s Hofbrau County Courthouse 24 Hr Fitness Noah's Bagels Franklin St. Café Bianchini’s Market Dehoff's Key Market Hassett Hardware

Round Table Pizza Popeyes Canyon Inn Sanchez Taqueria San Carlos Airport Hiller Museum Devil's Canyon

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR•

Long-timers who remember the woeful days when Redwood City got dismissed with a “Deadwood City” slur can similarly recall the time when El Camino Real in Menlo Park was a gateway known for its car dealerships. Change, of course, is arriving for that commercial strip and the whole downtown area as well, through a number of major redevelopment projects which are replacing auto row with mixed-use projects. Writer Vlae Kershner, a Menlo Park resident himself, presents the story of this unfolding transformation in this month’s feature aptly called “Menlo Park on the Move.” Like all cities on the Peninsula, Menlo Park is grappling with the need for housing, where it should be located, height limits, densities and all the associated issues—a challenge city leaders and the community will be dealing with. The story is on page 8.

In this month’s issue, writer Don Shoecraft gives us an update on Jesse Love, profiled in 2016 when Jesse was an 11-year-old midget race car champion. He hasn’t outgrown his love of racing. Far from it, and Don’s story catches us up with Jesse and his progress on the road to NASCAR. That story is on page 18. Climate’s Creative Director Jim Kirkland provides a look at local young people who are getting their training wheels in a different transportation mode: Flying. They’re involved with a program at the San Carlos Airport where kids, working with adult mentors, are learning about aviation and even getting to build an airplane. The story on the activities of the local chapter of the Experimental Aircraft Association in support of these kids begins on page 24.

Also in this issue is an update on the spate of recent lawsuits that have hit small businesses— restaurants in particular—under the Americans with Disabilities Act. About 10 Redwood City businesses have joined forces to defend themselves, and we’ll be following this issue. Previously Climate introduced readers to Gail Waldo, aka “the Licorice Lady” of the Redwood City Farmer’s Market. She also collects and creates clocks but, thanks to Covid restrictions, hasn’t had much opportunity to have visitors, so we’re happy to be able to help her share her hobby with our readers. Finally, the MicroClimate column presents the story of a most unusual letter carrier, and of a Palomar Park resident who is living out the spirit of having “a house by the side of the road” and being “a friend to man.”

Enjoy the issue! And we’ll see you in October.

Janet McGovern, Editor

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FEATU RE

Menlo Park Changes

8

PROFILE

ARCA Champion Jesse Love

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Building an Airplane

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CHANGING CLIMATE Not Enough Clocks

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AROUND TOWN ���������14 MICRO CLIMATE.............22 HISTORY......................30

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15th Annual Hannig Cup

“Pirates of the Pandemic”

A Mask ye Mateys!

Safety of our sailors, supporters and volunteers is paramount. Accordingly, Hannig Cup has been postponed until September 17th. Stay tuned for further details by following Hannig Cup on Facebook. With sponsorship from Black Mountain Properties, assistance from Sequoia Yacht Club, numerous charities and many volunteers, Hannig Cup has distributed over $3.5 million to local charities.

Sponsors underwrite all expenses so 100% of funds raised are used for charity.

Stay Safe and Sail safe!

This ad was provided as a courtesy of

September 2021 · CLIMATE ·5 Neighbors helping neighbors - since 1938

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CLIMATE M A G A Z I N E Publisher

S.F. Bay Media Group

Dinner & a Movie & More!

In the heart of the Theatre District, Redwood City.

Editor

Janet McGovern janet@climaterwc.com Creative Director

Jim Kirkland jim@climaterwc.com Contributing Writers

Vlae Kershner Don Shoecraft Jim Kirkland Janet McGovern Jim Clifford Photography

Jim Kirkland Editorial Board

Janet McGovern Jim Kirkland Adam Alberti Advisory Board

Dee Eva Jason Galisatus Connie Guerrero Matt Larsen Dennis Logie Clem Molony Barb Valley CLIMATE magazine is a monthly publication

by S.F. Bay Media Group, a California Corporation.

Entire contents ©2021 by S.F. Bay Media Group. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use in any manner without permission is strictly prohibited. CLIMATE is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts or artwork.

CLIMATE offices are located at 570 El Camino Real, Ste. 150 #331 Redwood City, CA 94063. Printed in the U.S.A.

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For exclusive Spring Offers from Shops On Broadway, visit: www.shopsonbroadway.com 2107 Broadway Street, Redwood City

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By Vlae Kershner

For a long time, downtown Menlo Park was a place where things didn’t happen.

A look through the Menlo Park Historical Association archives crammed into a basement room at the Main Library yields articles about renewal plans dating to the late 1960s. Most of them never got off the ground amid public sentiment to maintain a residential, low-density vibe.

The city didn’t go along with Stanford University’s plan to widen Sand Hill Road to four lanes and extend it to El Camino Real, so unlike neighboring Redwood City and Palo Alto, there’s

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Menlo Park on the Move

Downtown Menlo Park shakes off empty car lot blues

no easy way to get from Highway 101 to Interstate 280. Several proposed parking garages along Santa Cruz Avenue weren’t built. Three hazardous at-grade railroad crossings were never replaced.

But finally, downtown is getting a new look. Three major redevelopment projects are expected to open along El Camino within a year, two of them featuring plazas open to the public.

Shepard Cadillac photo courtesy of the Menlo Park Historical Association

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A rendering of the finished Middle Plaza.

The first glimpse that El Camino could become more than a dreary strip highway came in the 1990s, when Menlo Center was developed around the existing British Bankers Club bar-restaurant at the intersection of Santa Cruz, the heart of downtown.

The Café That Led the Way With outdoor tables on a wide brick plaza, Café Borrone became the first place on El Camino anywhere on the Peninsula where people would sit, drink coffee, read material bought at Kepler’s Books, and visit with friends, urban architect Donlyn Lyndon said at the time.

The impetus for more change came when four car dealerships—Cadillac Buick Pontiac GMC of Menlo Park, Stanford Lincoln Mercury, University Ford, and Anderson Chevrolet—closed between 2005 and 2007, as the auto business migrated to the easier-to-access 101 corridor.

“Menlo Park is in what I call the messy middle,” said City Councilmember Ray Mueller, a former mayor. “Candidly, the difference between El Camino and Santa

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Cruz is on El Camino we had old vacant car lots.”

The city responded to the embarrassing eyesore by preparing an Environmental Impact Report and formulating the El Camino and Downtown Specific Plan, issued in 2012.

The plan established a maximum allowable net new development cap of 680 residential units and 474,000 square feet of non-residential uses, including retail, office and hotel. It was intended to reflect likely development over a 20-to-30-year timeframe.

Developers snapped up almost all the non-residential quota, though in some cases it took years to get shovels in the ground. Here is a look at three key developments nearing completion: Middle Plaza— Stanford University is redeveloping an 8.4-acre parcel at 200500 El Camino Real it has owned almost since its founding, which had been leased by three of the car dealerships.

The project includes three retail and office buildings totaling 145,000 square

feet and three residential buildings with 215 one- and two-bedroom rental units, tiered as three-, four-, and five stories.

“It’s a great project for Menlo Park because it’s on El Camino, close to Caltrain, with good walkability to apartments,” said Steven D. Elliott, managing director of development for Stanford Real Estate.

“We expect this to be a Stanford staff and faculty housing project. Housing is a real priority for us because of the difficulty of recruiting staff and professors.”

A community benefit is a half-acre public plaza across from Middle Avenue that will include shops and a restaurant, Elliott said. A pathway will connect to a Caltrain crossing tunnel to Burgess Park for pedestrians and bicyclists. He expects it to open for residents in the second half of next year.

Springline—A decorative metal arch leads invitingly to a public outdoor plaza.

Presidio Bay Ventures is finishing up a 6.4acre mixed-use development at 1300-1302 El Camino Real and 550 Oak Grove Ave., part of which had been vacant since the Cadillac dealership closed in 2005.

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The impetus for more change came when four car dealerships—Cadillac Buick Pontiac GMC of Menlo Park, Stanford Lincoln Mercury, University Ford, and Anderson Chevrolet—closed between 2005 and 2007, as the auto business migrated to the easier-to-access 101 corridor.

The project will include two 100,000-square foot office buildings and a residential building with 183 units of 1-, 2and 3-bedrooms (including 20 units classified as affordable). Retail is located along the ground floors. There is also a two-level underground parking garage.

“We have signed leases or are in advanced discussions with retail operators for all of the 25,000 square feet,” said K. Cyrus Sanandaji, managing director, Presidio Bay Ventures. “We have also signed a handful of leases and letters of intent throughout the office buildings from the ground to third floors making up approximately 50 percent of the office space.”

The office buildings are expected to be completed this month, with the first tenants moving in shortly afterwards, Pre-leasing for residences is expected to begin in the fourth quarter, with construction completed by January.

Guild Theater—The movie house at 949 El Camino Real was built in 1925 and became famous for midnight showings of “Rocky Picture Horror Show.” Like most of the cinema’s brethren, it declined with the rise of the multiplex and finally closed amid community regrets in 2019.

Local investors and donors came to the rescue. The Guild is being rebuilt as a three-story live entertainment hall for music and live performances, operated by the nonprofit Peninsula Arts Guild.

Concerts are expected to begin at the end of this year or early 2022. Capacity will be roughly 200 people seated, or 500 when configured with standing room instead of chairs. Musical styles envisioned include rock, jazz, blues, singer-songwriter, country, metal and EDM.

A movie screen with surround sound is also being installed. “How many we show will be dependent on how successful they turn out to be,” a spokesperson for the Guild said.

Besides those three, downtown projects include 1540 El Camino, a 48,000-squarefoot office building and 27 apartments at the site of the old Beltramo’s Wines and Spirits; the 61-room Park James Hotel at 1400 El Camino Real; and the three-story Alma Station office building at 1020 Alma St. adjacent to the Caltrain station.

What will all this redevelopment mean for residents? One enthusiast is longtime resident Clem Molony, a retired environmental manager and a Chamber of Commerce director.

“Those two El Camino Real projects (Springline and Middle Plaza) are absolutely home runs,” Molony said. “Two small office projects will pay for hundreds of units of housing, near transit. After those are finished, everybody’s going to be so pleased about the architecture, the fit, the right size. Neighboring cities are going way tall—Redwood City is allowing 10 stories tall.”

Going Higher The downtown Menlo Park height limit is two to three stories, except near the train station where up to four to five stories are allowed.

“The NIMBY, keep residential sentiment that was dominant in the ‘80s and ‘90s in Menlo Park has ended. During those years, developers stayed away in droves because the electorate did not want to modernize the downtown core.

City Councils have become more and more knowledgeable about the wisdom of

building housing and modernizing building codes so that developers will be more interested in investing,” Molony said.

The progressive citizen’s group Menlo Together doesn’t think the plan allows enough housing.

“The allowable density in the Bayside is 100 units per acre; and downtown it is 40. We believe this is backwards,” said Adina Levin, of Menlo Together.

“Menlo Park’s general and specific plans currently call for more and denser housing in the Bayside area east of 101 (near Facebook and the Belle Haven neighborhood) than in the area near downtown, where we have a Caltrain stop and major bus line, great schools, and bike and pedestrian access to services and park,” Levin said.

At least 1,300 new apartment units have been approved or proposed for the Bayside, an area with a heavy minority population.

Drew Combs, the city’s mayor, said “From an equity standpoint, increasing housing, we are very much focusing west of Highway 101.”

Where to Add Housing For downtown, “I don’t see a scenario where there would be lots of community support for raising caps on office space.

Where I could see community support is allowing for more housing. I do see that as something that will likely happen. We haven’t reached the cap for housing units for those specific plans yet. We’re discussing what could we do within current plan to try to hit that cap for housing,” Combs said.

Councilmember Betsy Nash said she finds attitudes are changing. “I’m encouraged that residents are embracing at least September 2021 ·

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• some increased density and see the need for more housing around transit. There is concern with redevelopment and inevitable growth that we don’t displace current residents, and also that we can house our local workers including teachers, city employees, and retail staff.”

Like many California cities, Menlo Park has the state looking over its shoulder. The latest update of the state-mandated Housing Element requires planning 3,000 new residential units between 2023 and 2031, a big swallow for a suburb with a slow-growing population around 35,000.

Mueller said the period when the City Council was divided between pro-growth and residentialist factions has ended.

“That sort of distinction has really been eviscerated by the state. At the end of the day, you have to find a place to zone for 3,000 units and owners of properties have to express desire to legally qualify.”

Possibilities for SRI Some of the housing will come from adjacent to downtown. SRI International is in the early stages of a redevelopment project that will change the 63-acre parcel along Ravenswood Avenue between Middlefield Road and Laurel Street from a closed campus to a mixed-used development.

The project is called Parkline (not to be confused with Springline). Its developer, Lane Partners, held three open houses this summer to get community feedback before the plan is finalized and submitted to the city.

It includes at least 400 housing units at densities ranging from 25 to 60 per acre, with one plan calling for five apartment buildings on Laurel. It also includes the replacement of 1.1 million square feet of existing office space as SRI consolidates into a fraction of the site. There will also be approximately 28 acres of open space, including a trail connecting with Burgess Park and the new rail underpass at Middle Plaza, allowing pedestrians and bicyclists

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to have a dedicated route from El Camino to Middlefield.

Another chance for housing will come at the U.S. Geological Survey campus at 345 Middlefield, which is being moved to lower-rent space at Moffett Field. The federal government is in the process of selling the 17-acre property. Local and congressional leaders want housing on the site.

Beyond that, possibilities for housing include expanding and refurbishing the stock of old apartment buildings near downtown and investigating whether the Sharon Heights Shopping Center could be made available for mixed use, Mueller said.

One factor complicating redevelopment is traffic. Downtown has short blocks and streets that do not line up precisely, notably where Menlo and Ravenswood avenues meet at El Camino in a counterintuitive lane pattern. Caltrain at-grade crossings at Ravenswood, Oak Grove and Glenwood avenues lead to traffic backing up during commute hours.

A Look at Grade Separations Mayor Combs is hoping to restart the grade-separation process. “Menlo Park has debated this issue for a number of years or decades,” he said. “Other communities have gotten their acts together ahead of us and taken advantage of state and federal money.”

Construction on El Camino has caused problems for old-line businesses, such as Menlo Clock Works, which is next door to the Guild Theater and its remodeling. “Like being near any construction site, there’s noise, trucks, disturbance. It hasn’t been too bad except when they have to block a lane to get a truck in or out,” said owner Alex Delly.

He said his loyal customer base built up over 40 years is putting up with the inconvenience to buy watches and get them repaired. “I’m amazed at the clientele that keeps coming to us and supporting us.”

Members of a Facebook group for people who grew up in Menlo Park lament the closures of longtime favorites like the Oasis bar and grill on El Camino and the teenager hangout Foster Freeze on the Springline site.

“I can’t believe all the building going on! Just think how the traffic will be after all those apartments and condos are filled with new residents! It’s already bad enough!” said one commenter.

Change is coming more slowly for the traditional downtown on Santa Cruz Avenue, which consists mostly of older low-slung buildings with surface parking behind the stores on both sides.

The Covid-19 pandemic hit Santa Cruz hard, creating numerous empty storefronts, most notably Ann’s Coffee Shop, a fixture since 1946. The vintage café was closed for months, limped back into operation, and went out of business in April after the building was sold to developers.

“It’s heart-wrenching but also promising in that we’re going to see long-hoped for redevelopment,” Combs said.

The pandemic has triggered a movement to beautify Santa Cruz Avenue and make it more pedestrian-friendly. Parklets have displaced parking spaces and two segments have been closed in one direction. The movement was spearheaded

by Ali El Safy, owner of Bistro Vida, who received an award from the Chamber of Commerce for his efforts.

Many of the buildings are owned by family trusts that have had little incentive to do much with them, Mueller said. “The challenge is to figure out how to work with business owners and property owners and the community to take the lessons learned from redevelopment and create a vibrant services and restaurant-oriented area.” C

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Birds Walk, Runners Fly, Hiller Sets the Pace The a couple of days after the talented parrots of "Happy Birds" entertained kids at the Hiller Aviation Museum on August 11, a crowd of some 700 runners gathered for a 5k, 4k and 2k run, using the San Carlos Airport runway as part of the course.

"Airports of any size are part of a nation wide network of transportation," says Hiller CEO Jeffrey Bass. "They can't open and close at will." So, taking just two hours on a early Sunday morning takes weeks of obtaining premissions, including the FAA. This, the fourth annual run, went off without a hitch.

Summer Music Makes a Return It felt like summer again as the crowds of music lovers gathered at Couthouse Square and on the lawn of Stafford Park to dine, listen and dance to the tunes of Mustache Harbor and Sinister Dexter.

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Sequoia Graduates Gather for Alumni Picnic Alumni from multiple Sequoia High School classes returned to campus Aug. 21 for the Alumni Association’s 14th annual barbecue lunch and campus tour. In addition to enjoying a lunch catered by Bianchini’s, the grads got to see the Sequoia cheerleaders perform their spirited routines. On its 50th anniversary, the class of 1971 was also honored as “golden grads.”

Top: The Class of 1961.

Right: The oldest graduate, Andy Browne '46, with the youngest student, Alana Moyer '24

An Oscar-Nominated Director Appears at Movies on the Square The crowd got to experience a bit of film festival ambiance in downtown Redwood City Aug. 19 during the weekly Movies on the Square night.

Tony Gapastione, a film director and the founder of the local arts nonprofit Bravemaker, introduced the audience to Doug Roland, director of “Feeling Through.” The 18-minute short film about a blind and deaf man was an Oscar nominee last year for best live action short film. Roland said he had the honor not only of being nominated but also to be accompanied to the ceremony by deaf/ blind actor Robert Tarango and the CEO of Helen Keller Services. Roland, 37, said the film is sparking conversations about the deaf/blind community, as well as encouraging inclusive story-telling.

Oscar winner and deaf actress Marlee Matlin was the executive producer.

Right: Director Doug Roland

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With This Many Clocks, Collector Gail Waldo’s Not Counting her clocks, because of the shelter-in-place restrictions that have come with the Covid.

She used to be able to share her enthusiasm with typesetting customers and friends.

“It’s always fun to see people’s faces.”

By Janet McGovern The Covid lockdowns forced Gail Waldo, like millions of other Americans, into a prolonged time-out from doing her usual work and having friends over to visit. But the Belmont resident may be unique in her ability to count those lost hours.

Waldo collects clocks, so many, in fact that she can’t begin to put a number on her timepieces. Eight hundred perhaps? Easily, she responds.

They’re everywhere in her residence: On all the walls, in display cabinets, on desks, and in the bathrooms. When she left off keeping a census in 2012, Waldo had listed 60 clocks on one wall, 206 on another, 17 in the bathrooms, and three on a coffee table. Plus 40 in the kitchen out of which, pre-Covid, she operated a thriving business making old-fashioned cutplug licorice. The kitchen clock count has grown to 54.

“I used to count clocks,” she says, “but I gave up.”

Waldo comes by her love of clocks naturally. Her father, Herbert Miller— aka “Pop”—was a watchmaker who did repairs at the University Avenue jewelry store of Boris Small in Palo Alto. The Miller family had clocks everywhere and Pop wore six wristwatches. In later years, after he and his wife, Wilma, moved to a retirement community, he gave daughter Gail some spare clock parts and only a few clocks.

“Just the want, really the desire to have more clocks,” Waldo, 70, says, “that’s what I got from him.”

How It All Began She essentially started from scratch collecting—and creating—clocks. The hobby began with about a half dozen crystal clocks from thrift stores, which is where

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Waldo collects clocks, so many, in fact that she can’t begin to put a number on her timepieces. Eight hundred perhaps? Easily, she responds. she has discovered many of her treasures in the 25 years-plus that she’s been amassing her collection. She also finds clocks at estate sales and online.

But many of her clocks “found” her.

Friends who knew she collected gave her gifts, including a grandmother clock. Even today, when she concedes that she might have to “swap out” clocks to make space for new ones, she wouldn’t “insult somebody” by turning down an offering. “I’ll take a clock,” she says.

A longtime graphic artist by profession, Waldo has an eye for putting together odd items—a teapot, a cup, a humidor, a filigree cotton ball container—fitting them with a clock insert, and creating a ticking conversation piece.

But she’s missing out on the pleasure of being able to tell visitors the back story on

Color Coordinated Waldo likes to group clocks, such as by type or color. A dozen cuckoo clocks share the same wall area. Tables are topped with alarm and desk clocks. There are red, yellow and blue clock clusters. Dark-colored clocks fill the living room, among them a redwood burl clock. One bathroom with angel clocks has a Greco-Roman vibe.

Only a few of Waldo’s clocks are antiques or otherwise valuable, including a Waterford crystal clock that was supposedly non-working when she got it at a white elephant sale. The tab needed to be pulled to start it ticking. It’s worth about $150.

She owns an opera clock which dates back to 1875, and treasures a desktop clock which was made specially for the Toledo Chewing Gum Co., begun by the first person to receive a chewing gum patent in the United States, in 1869. Waldo snagged it for $60 at a Salvation Army thrift store. A Seth Thomas clock featuring the Bible’s Rebecca at the well may be her most valuable clock.

Among her whimsical clocks: one made out of a jigsaw puzzle glued to a backing, a Kellogg’s Tony the Tiger clock whose ears and tongue move, a Mona Lisa with clock hands on that enigmatic face, a baseball diamond clock and one that says “It’s Five O’clock Somewhere.” Hanging from a fishing line, a flapping-winged “Time Flies” clock whose hands spin wildly is not a clock at all.

The Telltale Tick Clocks, of course, tick, and Waldo likens the background sound in her apartment to rainfall. A few clocks erupt in chimes

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Gail Waldo with some of her clocks.

on the hour. One elegant clock with moving musician figures plays music box-style melodies including “The Blue Danube” and “The Waltz of the Flowers.” There are relatively few clocks in her bedroom: “Well I have to sleep,” Waldo explains.

Many of the clocks on display are her own creations—she gets most parts from the website Klockit.com and says, “I can make a clock out of anything with a clockshaped hole. Anything. If it’s pretty, I’ll put a clock in it.”

There are so many she couldn’t possibly keep them all in batteries, but Waldo is philosophic. “I don’t care. They’re right twice a day.”

Pre-Covid, she had been earning a tidy income from two businesses. Among her other customers, Waldo Graphics, a graphics and typesetting company she started in 1973, had a big contract with San Mateo County to produce government forms.

Homemade Licorice Three years ago, she also perfected a recipe for cut-plug black licorice, caramelly

rolls cut into little logs like elongated Tootsie Rolls. She started selling them at the Redwood City Farmer’s Market in summer 2018 and was subsequently invited to sell at the Williams Sonoma store in Palo Alto as part of the store’s local artisans’ program. Her Black Lick Rich candy was a big hit.

With Covid, her graphics income plummeted as demand shrunk. Some businesses which had provided her work have closed. “Just one thing on top of the other,” she says. “Dominoes.” Farmer’s markets have reopened, but Waldo isn’t allowed to give away free samples, even though they’re individually wrapped.

“It doesn’t make sense to do it if I have to wear a mask and no free samples,” she says. Licorice was “very profitable. Along with the typesetting, I was doing real well.

Now zip.”

Ken Seydel of Redwood City became friends with Waldo through church and says she amazes him with the breadth of her knowledge, her memory and her creativity. When she turned her licorice reci-

pe into a salable product, he became chief sales rep at the farmer’s market.

“I was the hooker who would promote it and try to stop people and get them to take a sample and try it,” Seydel says. “If they would take a sample and try it, they would usually buy it.” With something as unusual as licorice, “people don’t want to spend $5 for a bag of candy if it’s not good stuff.” Under the county’s cottage food industry rules, Waldo is also not allowed to do mail orders.

Until things loosen up, she’s stuck with more time on her hands than she could possibly want. And all those clocks to watch.

There’s no avoiding what may seem a rude question for this over-the-top clock collector. “I’m eccentric,” Waldo readily agrees. “Why not? I make licorice. Who in the world makes licorice?” C

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PROFILE •

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He’s a Veteran Racecar Driver – at

Menlo Park’s Jesse Love is pursuing his NASCAR dream

By Don Shoecraft

Ponder the scenario: the 16-year-old asks for the keys to the car. What emotions burn in the chest as visions of mechanical chaos reel off in the brain? Menlo Park’s Jess and Elizabeth Love reckoned with similar feelings with son Jesse — when he was five.

They gave him the keys.

Good choice. Jesse Love today is the youngest champion in American Racing Club of America history and, as of mid-August, points leader on the ARCA Menard Series West stock car racing circuit.

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• Toyota has brought him onto the team for training and given him the team’s top car.

As ARCA puts it, Jesse drives “famed No. 16 NAPA Auto Parts-sponsored Toyota, inheriting a ride that has won six West Series championships dating back to 1999.”

He’s on a trajectory to becoming a fullfledged NASCAR driver, part of a system that produced famous champions such as Kyle Busch and Martin Truex. He and his team have no doubt he would, and could, run NASCAR races against the best in the business were he able to do it today, but it’s against the rules.

Drivers must be 18 to run a NASCAR race. Jesse is 16.

A Young Champion He seems perfectly ready to be a champion, not only in skill and talent but in poise, aplomb, presence and presentability. Climate first profiled Jesse Love in 2016 as he and his home-grown, Redwood Citybased team were tearing up the USAC midget racing circuit. At the risk of being repetitive, he was the youngest champion in the history of that circuit, too.

That profile observed that Jesse, then 11, “sounds very grown up for a person his age,” and quoted mother Elizabeth saying that “spending so much time with his dad and so many grownups in his life he’s learned to be a very, very good communicator.”

The more so at 16.

The high school senior is fully aware and can clearly enunciate how to pursue the pinnacle of his chosen profession.

“We’re all in this together,” he said. “The one person I owe this to, with the exception of God, is my dad. “…Now it takes more than just being a driver. You have to be a good spokesperson, you have to be likeable, and you have to drive. I owe that all to my dad and everybody at Toyota who have been managing me. Right now, it’s a hard hill

20 · CLIMATE · September 2021

PROFILE •

Spotlight: The Usherettes Profile: Stanford RWC Business Bootcamp Entertainment: Woodside Cheer Squad’s Super Performance Food: Arya Global Cuisine

ISSUE ELEVEN • MARCH • 2016

HOTWHEELS Jesse Love IV, USAC Racing Champion

Above: Jesse Love graced the cover of Climate when he was a champion midget racer at 11 years old.

"I have the trust of the people that sponsor me, people that manage me and people that trust me to do the right thing every weekend. It’s not a trust thing or a pressure thing, it’s just that we’re a team and I’m going to pull my weight." to climb. It’s harder than climbing danged Mount Everest.

But, “...I have the trust of the people that sponsor me, people that manage me and people that trust me to do the right thing every weekend. It’s not a trust thing or a pressure thing, it’s just that we’re a team and I’m going to pull my weight.

I’m the luckiest guy to be in the seat of the car and go win races with it. So, I’ve got to work the hardest of the team and be the best leader I can be, on and off the racetrack, 100 percent of the time.”

Stock Car Racing’s Hub Living away from home is contributing to the adult-level pressures of his job.

Six months ago, he and driver relations representative Dustin Edge moved to Cornelius, N.C. Anyone who hasn’t heard of it clearly is not a stock car racing geek. Cornelius, a suburban area on Lake Norman north of Charlotte, population 25,000, is close to the geographic center of stock car racing, a quintessential American sport born of moonshine runs of the early to mid 1900s where outlaws souped up their daily rides to outrun police. Think “Smokey and the Bandit.”

Twenty racetracks are scattered through North Carolina’s piney woods.

“I can chase my dreams out here,” Jesse said, “where all the race teams are, the NASCAR Hall of Fame is. Tracks are here.

This is the racing hub.”

Racing is so of Cornelius’ essence that eight of the 17 “notable people” the community lists on Wikipedia are racers.

As for living away from home at the age of 16, “it’s obviously young,” he said, “but you want to kind of get the growing pains out of the way, living on your own, learning new things about yourself and maturing. I’d rather do that now than I would when I’m in the truck series or the Infinity series where there’s even more pressure on you.”

In the next two years he will move up three levels, through truck racing, which races Fridays, to the Xfinity series, which races Saturdays, to NASCAR Cup races on Sunday.

Each level differs. Menard Series ACAR cars debuted as previous-generation, carbureted NASCAR racers restricted in maximum RPM. A new standard Ilmor 396 V-8 engine and intake restrictors equalizes the field. Truck racers are similar but with a pickup truck-like body, a different “aerodynamic package;” Xfinity Cup car ignition and RPM limits are higher. Power plants for all are similar, delivering 700 to 750 horsepower, but critical other features, such as aerodynamics, ignition, tires and

•

PROFILE •

Top: Love's ARCA level car with a 396 V-8 engine that reaches 190 mph.

Left: Jesse Love checks the track with his #1 sponsor and fan, dad, Jess Love Sr.

special tweaks, all of them treated as top secret, vary performance.

The Winning Formula With such different machines to drive, how does a driver keep winning?

Two things, as father Jess, himself a former champion midget driver, said five years ago: comfort with speed and a special spatial sense that can’t be taught. “It’s the understanding,” he said, “they can fit a fivefoot car into a five-foot hole.” At the time he was talking about doing that at 60 mph.

Now it’s speeds approaching 190 mph.

“Sometimes I’ll be watching from the stands,” said driver relations manager Edge, “I’m like, ‘there’s no hole, he can’t get through, he’s stuck.’ And I’ll watch him throw his car into a gap that I couldn’t even see.”

Jesse has a particular driving style, with which he is perfectly comfortable.

“I do like the brake pedal. I like the gas pedal. I make a lot of speed. I think the biggest thing with my driving style is I make speed.”

It takes a big team to field an ARCA car and driver. Toyota and NAPA Auto Parts are sponsors. Owner of the 16 car is Bill McAnally Racing of Roseville, which has fielded several champions in the last three decades. Jesse also drove Venturini Motorsports’ 25 car last year.

Jesse has a regulated lifestyle that emphasizes health, fitness, learning, training and practice.

A Racer’s Regimen It sounds like astronaut training or, as his father says, “creating an Olympic athlete.” Up and in the gym at about 8:30 a.m. for an hour’s workout. A trip to the Toyota Performance Center for meetings and time in the “sim,” the front half of a Toyota car in a darkened video room that can simulate with great realism any of the tracks he might run. Teams of engineers monitor the sim to adjust the setup in real time and according to his performance as he is learning the nuances of the track and car.

After five or six hours at the performance center, he’s home, if not attending high school through On Track, an accredited online K-12 school many very young professionals-in-training in many sports use, then plotting the week’s race on paper.

“It’s become normal to me,” he said, “but it is really cool when I go to new racetracks like Dover, Iowa, Gateway, Phoenix.

“When you get to go higher speeds and you go to bigger racetracks everything is coming at you so fast and you’re becoming overwhelmed,” Jesse continued. “But then over time things slow down and it’s more like a short track. It’s a real interest-

ing dynamic. Being a racecar driver is unlike anything else, where you’re so close to that threshold of fear and speed and death and adrenaline and all that stuff. It’s really cool and something I’ve become used to.”

At the end of all that preparation, the racing hubbub, the concentration and the performance, there is a reward. A state of calm and joy. It’s “when you’ve won a race and you have a lap to cool down. You don’t even feel like you’re in the car. You’re so overwhelmed with emotion.

“I won the championship in Phoenix.

Doing a burnout at the track that I grew up on — when I was 11 years old when you interviewed me — I was going from there to watch Alex Bowman, a mentor to me and a good friend. Just watching there as a fan, a little guy, and you come there four years later and win a championship, and you’re going to do a burnout in front of all these fans — that was probably the biggest moment of, like, Zen and calmness that I ever felt in a racecar.”

Feels good to be a winner. C ARCA races are broadcast on NBCSN and live streamed on TrackPass. Details available at www.arcaracing.com

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•

M I C R O C L I M AT E •

A Mailman Puts on the Ritz, and a Techie’s Brainteasers Break the Ice The postman brings letters, packages and junk mail, so customers on Steven Guzman’s route in Redwood City couldn’t have been prepared for what he occasionally delivers: fabulous home-baked cakes and pastry—with a side of violin. In yet another of those abrupt career 180s that have arrived courtesy of the Covid pandemic, Guzman went from the pastry kitchen at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Half Moon Bay to delivering the mail, after he was furloughed in March 2020.

“It’s so, like opposite,” the Redwood City resident says of his job as a letter carrier. “Everything at the hotel is so luxurious.”

But he needed a job, the Postal Service was hiring, and his wife, Miwa, encouraged him to apply. The graduate of New York’s French Culinary Institute with a grand diplome in pastry arts got the job and then trained at the San Francisco Main Post Office. Guzman was assigned Route 124, which winds up above the Farm Hill area of Redwood City to take in Cañada College, Woodhill Estates, Alverno Court and the Farm Hill Vista condominiums. In all, his appointed rounds take him to about 300 addresses. Instead of his chef whites and a toque, he wears postal blue with a widebrimmed hat to prevent sunburn.

The 49-year-old Guzman is an unassuming but seriously gregarious person who has no trouble striking up a conversation. But how does that happen while delivering the mail? Postal customer Katherine Machemer, a Farm Hill Vista resident, says it’s because he “goes above and beyond what most people would do.” When the pandemic hit, Guzman came up all the way up to the third floor of her building to deliver packages. “We really got to know him because of the pandemic,” she says. “We kept ordering more and more things and he was the only person we would see. Ring the

22 · CLIMATE · September 2021

Steven Guzman play violin while local children Kiersten, sister Abigail, brother Zachary, and neighbor Aaron enjoy one of Guzman's extraordinary cakes.

doorbell and he’d deliver it and we thanked him for bringing all our essentials.” One thing led to another through those little interactions and they became friends. In fact, says Carina Jacobs, another neighbor in the condo complex, Guzman has helped create a feeling of community among the lockeddown residents. “We’ve just been very fortunate to have such a wonderful person as part of our almost daily routine,” she says.

“He’s just a very generous, kind-hearted person—and he’s funny too.”

Baking is just one of the talents of this renaissance letter carrier. Growing up in Long Beach, Guzman showed an interest in the violin at about the age of 10, took lessons, and by the time he was in high school, he was the orchestra concertmaster, capable of performing a Mozart concerto. Locally, he’s played with the Redwood Symphony and the Palo Alto Philharmonic, but Guzman currently only plays violin for Peninsula Covenant Church services. And of course for his postal customers. He’s become such a part of the Farm Hill Vista

community that he gets invited for weekend social gatherings. When he hears that a child is having a birthday, he plays “Happy Birthday”—or a little bluegrass for the grown-ups. “People really enjoy it,” he says.

Guzman recognizes that a postman has a schedule to keep, so he’s done most of his pastry deliveries on his day off. At first when he showed up with one of his deluxe creations, the reaction was, “How can a postman make something like this? … To me, it was just a regular cake but to them it was real fancy.” As he and his customers got to be friends, he filled them in on his eight-year background as a Ritz pastry chef. He’s even taken time on his days off to teach some cooking classes. Guzman, who makes all the goodies in his apartment kitchen, enjoys giving his creations away.

“I don’t think really about the cost of it. I just think how they enjoy it and how I can improve my skill even though I’m away from my pastry life.”

Adela Novotna, another Farm Hill Vista resident, was surprised last Christ-

• mas when Guzman gave her 8-year-old daughter Misha a "Lego nutcracker,” the same toy he’d also enjoyed putting together as a kid. Unbeknownst to her mother, Misha had asked him for a Christmas present (roller blades). “I had to explain to my daughter that he’s a mailman, not a Santa Claus,” Novotna says and adds, “He just brings so much joy … He’s unique.”

How does a guy from Canada who lives on a steep, winding road with no parking get to meet his Palomar Park neighbors?

Sebastien Dery, who works in the tech world in the field of artificial intelligence, came up with a foot-traffic-stopping solution: He placed a chalkboard in the front courtyard, where he posts messages daily designed to get people to stop, think and maybe even smile. And a bonus if they’re on foot: Perhaps have a chat with the author of the chalkboard icebreakers.

A posting could be a factoid Dery picked up on the web: “The first Christmas tree was made out of dyed goose feathers,” for example. Or the message-du-jour may be topical: "Abebe Bikila from Ethiopia won the 1960 Olympic marathon without shoes.”

It could be an amusing tidbit about a term that arose in 2020: “Blursday. Term to describe the current day when you’re not sure what day it actually is!”

The 33-year-old Montreal native has a background in biomedical/medical engineering and neuroscience and has a graduate degree from McGill University, where he was a research assistant. He came to Redwood City five years ago and has worked for two start-ups, the second of which was acquired by his current employer, Apple.

A lot of his work in artificial intelligence is about improving people’s experience using “search,” and he’s come to realize that starting with something fun that piques a user’s interest is a good way to get them curious enough to start asking questions.

That thought process somewhat circuitous-

M I C R O C L I M AT E •

ly led Dery to start his chalkboard postings.

They’re also on Instagram.

“I started this just as a way to share little tidbits,” he explains, “send people on like avenues of curiosity. ‘I learned this today. Now it’s for you.’ And it’s kind of my way of connecting with a new community, my little tidbit in community-building.”

The house on Palomar Drive which Dery and partner Kelly Kelso share is at the entrance to the wooded unincorporated neighborhood, and everybody has to pass by, whether hiking or driving. The chalkboard has definitely been a way to meet the neighbors. “I think it’s a point of curiosity. I’m sitting here working and people passing by, they stop and they read and then they have a smile and keep walking.

That just makes my day.” For Canada Day (July 1), Dery posted a message inviting neighbors to a backyard party. “And people stopped!” he says. “I met two Canadians in Palomar that I didn’t know.”

A few years ago, Dery decided to take up sculpting, which has become a hobby he’s passionate about. He does most of the dusty sculpting work at a studio in San Francisco, but he likes to do the fine polishing with sandpaper at home. “That takes time and it’s time that I can spend outside and talk to neighbors,” he says. “I can be in the studio—but it’s a lot more fun.” C

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September 2021 ·

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•

SPOTLIGHT•

Student Pilots Get a Big Lift

Club at San Carlos Airport lets kids learn about aviation by building a plane

By Jim Kirkland

One year ago Garrett Fetisoff was a 19-year-old computer science major at Chico State University, when he discovered his schedule for the next semester had large gaps. Not one to waste time, he decided this freed him to pursue a longtime interest: flying.

Due diligence led Fetisoff to the Chico airport where he discovered two things: First, flying lessons are very expensive and second, there is a global organization called the Experimental Aircraft Association with chapters across the United States that offers a scholarship for teens seeking a pilot’s license.

The San Carlos native also learned that his home airport was base to EAA Chapter 20. That’s where Fetisoff found the best way to secure a scholarship to become a pilot.

Build an airplane.

24 · CLIMATE · September 2021

•

SPOTLIGHT•

Oliver Coolridge and Dave Buse pilot the RV-12 built with the help of teenagers.

The chase plane is piloted by Greg Blanck and Dave Kramer.

T

he Experimental Aircraft Association was founded in 1953 and is dedicated to the advancement of recreational aviation—especially youth aviation—and encourages the development of future pilots. The organization currently boasts more than 200,000 members in 100 countries. The San Carlos Chapter 20 was established in 1956, one of the earliest.

A Top Program in San Carlos “The most exciting thing about Chapter 20 is we are one of the best nationally when it comes to youth programs,” says

Elizabeth Dougherty, youth programs coordinator. “We realize these kids are excited and motivated, we’re always looking for ways to nurture them.”

To give local kids a taste for flying, the EAA has a branch called “Young Eagles” which offers monthly free flights to youths from ages 8 through 17. But Dougherty and the Chapter 20 board realized more was needed to fully educate local youth about aviation.

So four years ago Dougherty began to bring in guest speakers like Jack Pelton, current national CEO of EAA; and Alan Eustace, the world record holder for high-

est altitude freefall jump. Along with that, she orchestrated field trips to San Jose Airport and the United Airlines maintenance facility, as well as arranged for kids to participate as special event ground crew at San Carlos Airport.

“We give them a chance to work with pilots and people in all aspects of aviation,” says Dougherty. “But we’re always seeking ways to take the experience even further.”

To Build an Airplane Two years before Dougherty was cooking up field trips, Oliver Coolridge, a retired airline pilot and then-president of EAA 20, September 2021 ·

CLIMATE · 25

• began to put into motion a longtime desire to build an airplane, with the intention of involving students. Bouncing the idea off a number of his pilot buddies, Coolridge got others to commit to making his idea happen. The next question was what to build.

“We decided on the Van’s Aircraft RV-12 two-seater which is a basic trainer,” says Coolridge, “Van’s has a reputation for quality parts and understandable construction plans. The main hurdle was paying for it.”

The price tag for a finished plane ran $125,000 and it was comprised of six kits – tail, wing, fuselage, engine, avionics and finish. Coolridge answered the budget problem by inviting seven other pilots to invest $10,000 apiece to get things rolling.

After four years of meticulous assembly, with Coolridge managing a number of dedicated volunteers and a half-dozen teens, including Ray Aviation scholars Jack Meadows, 19, and Jayden Chow, 17; EAA 20 had a new airplane. The plane completed its maiden flight in September 2020.

Due to liability insurance issues, EAA chapters are not allowed to own aircraft.

So a group of EAA20 members formed the Flying 12 Club, which, as the name implies, has 12 members. Flying 12 purchased the plane and, through the Hartman Family Foundation made one Ray scholar a member—in effect, a scholarship to help obtain a pilot’s license. This individual becomes a Flying 12 member, with flying privileges in the RV-12. However, upon achieving his or her license the freshly minted pilot must leave the club to make room for another Ray scholar.

Paying It Forward Carter Blair wanted to work on the RV12 project but was too young at the time (students must be at least 15), and by the time Blair was old enough the plane was completed. With Jayden Chow and a group of other kids who were old enough, they proposed building another RV-12. That

26 · CLIMATE · September 2021

SPOTLIGHT• volunteers, which they did to the tune of 30 plus kids. The student leaders had a message they liked to give: “You don’t have to be rich to be in aviation.”

The board approved conditionally.

The Young Aviators could begin on the first section—the tail kit—if they could raise the $4,000 price. Work has begun but fundraising for the remaining kits looms large. First lesson: There’s more to building an airplane than building an airplane.

EAA Youth Program Director Elizabeth Dougherty and son Carter Blair.

“The community around the RV-12 is fantastic. It’s the center of activity that attracts the novice to the experienced, providing endless opportunities to make friends and grow aviation knowledge.” required going before the EAA20 board for approval and backing. The students wanted to convince the board that, this time, the entire project should be worked on and managed by students — with adult mentors — which, they figured might be a big sell.

On the contrary, the board insisted on it. Such a youth-led effort fit perfectly within the EAA 20 mission. Samson Phan, current Chapter 20 president and Flying 12 Club member said, “We are purposefully using this student-led structure to help students develop leadership and business skills. We are also teaching the student leaders how to mentor other students, especially the younger members.”

Moreover, the student leadership had to be responsible for recruiting others as

Influence for the Future Experience gained along the way can influence a student’s future plans.

Elizabeth Antoine-Hands, 19, worked on the first build and, as a result is now studying airplane maintenance at West Valley College. “The experience of building the RV-12 inspired my fascination with design, construction and maintenance of aircraft and started me on my present career path,” says Antoine-Hands, a San Jose resident. Currently she is acting as project manager along with fellow student and Ray scholar, Mo Licha, 17.

Thomas Carlson, an experienced pilot, is the adult lead mentor. He has already built an RV-12 with his 81-year-old father. “The community around the RV-12 is fantastic,” says Carlson. “It’s the center of activity that attracts the novice to the experienced, providing endless opportunities to make friends and grow aviation knowledge.”

The program involves quite a diversity of kids. Out of the 30 or so student volunteers, a third of them are girls, along with kids from all ethnicities and social backgrounds.

“Students are learning real world skills working together, getting hands-on experience in the field of aviation, engineering, and aeronautical science. We’re representing our culture of leaders and aviation enthusiasts creating opportunities for those who didn’t previously have an opportunity to do so,” says Fetisoff.

•

SPOTLIGHT•

The second RV-12 leadership team left to right: Brandon Cheung, Jayden Chow, Carter Blair, Elizabeth Antoine-Hands, Thomas Carlson, Garrett Fetisoff, Mo Lichaa, Nolan Sheridan, Cabot Sheley.

Right: Mentor Thomas Carlson instructs Malaika Sriram and Nick Gomez.

He is now part of the eight-student leadership team responsible for managing 30plus young volunteers. Now 20, Fetisoff recently received a National EAA College Scholarship and has transferred to San Francisco State University to be closer to the RV-12 build.

The Ray Scholarship The EAA Aviation Scholarship Fund is a program supported by the Ray Foundation and administered through the chapter network. This highly competitive and coveted scholarship provides $10,000 to cover flight-training expenses, which can go a long way when taking advantage of the Flying 12 Club’s RV-12. Typically, a student could be staring down a $35,000 bill to achieve a pilot’s license.

James C. and Joan L. Ray established the foundation. James Ray’s dedication to aviation began shortly after the Dec. 7, 1941,

attack on Pearl Harbor, when he enlisted in the Army Air Corps. He was involved in the D-Day invasion as a command B-17 pilot with the 8th Air Force. Post war, he served in the Air National Guard and was very involved in general aviation following his service years.

Jayden Chow, a Ray Aviation Scholar and president of the student leadership team said, “A condition of the scholarship is that you have to earn your private pilot’s license within a year. I started with a local flight school in August, was able to train a lot in the RV-12, soloed in December and took my check ride in May. Thanks to the generosity of a lot of people I was pretty much able to accomplish it all within the $10,000 Ray Scholarship.”

“Kids who are super interested in aviation are easy to recognize,” says Dougherty, who specializes in spotting airplane

loving teens. “About a third of our kids want to be commercial pilots, a third aviation engineers, a third want to fly in the military and the rest are exploring.”

The generosity of many makes the EAA Chapter 20 youth program a success, with time and talent being an essential donation. Others offer financial support.

San Mateo County donates space — a half hanger for the RV-12 assembly.

Says Dougherty: “Through EAA20 we create opportunities in leadership, accounting, fundraising, presentations and so much more. We nurture community, ingenuity, imaginations. It goes beyond building an airplane. We’re well past your typical STEM model.” C For more information and to donate, visit eaa20.org.

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•

B U I S N E S S C L I M AT E •

Buisinesses Mount Joint Defense to ADA Lawsuits

By Janet McGovern About 10 Redwood City businesses which are among hundreds in the state that have been hit this year with Americans with Disabilities Act lawsuits have joined forces to defend themselves in court and try to get the cases dismissed.

Mostly restaurant owners, they were sued a few months ago by Brian Whitaker, a quadriplegic who uses a wheelchair for mobility. He claimed they failed to provide outdoor dining surfaces with sufficient knee and toe clearance for his wheelchair.

Camelia Coupal, who owns the Coupa Café on Marshall Street, was sued in May. “We are a group right now of 10 restaurants and all of us have been sued by the same guy 10 days apart,” she says. “Everybody got the same claim, copy-paste the same complaint.”

Fera Hashemi and her husband own Arya Steakhouse. They didn’t know they’d been sued until she was contacted by attorneys offering defense services. Hashemi reached out to Regina Van Brunt, executive director of the Downtown Business Group, and discovered that “the whole block, my entire block has received this lawsuit.”

Van Brunt says about 15 businesses were sued. Some owners are embarrassed or don’t want litigation hanging over them and have decided to settle. But most others jointly hired attorney Martin Orlick, who is representing about 60 businesses from San Francisco to Mountain View dealing with similar lawsuits.

“Any restaurant that deals with lawsuits, you end up settling just because litigating costs so much,” Coupal says. “In this case, we feel it’s just morally wrong, something going wrong here.”

Orlick says the same three plaintiffs— Whitaker, Scott Johnson and Orlando Garcia—have filed multiple suits during the last three or four months. Their law firm is San Diego-based Potter Handy LLC, which

28 · CLIMATE · September 2021

ed to enforce violations. That task was left to disabled people—and their attorneys—which critics say has allowed serial litigants to go after businesses for minor violations and collect thousands of dollars.

“I’m not saying people shouldn’t accommodate,” Hashemi says. “I’m just saying if the accommodation is made why do they get to make money out of it?”

Fera Hashemi

specializes in ADA litigation through its Center for Disability Access.

Outdoor Dining Spaces There’s been an “aggressive push,” Orlick adds, by Potter Handy to sue restaurants primarily for the parklets and other outdoor seating arrangements that have helped them survive through Covid.

“All of my clients are struggling mightily after Covid and they’re fearful that the Delta strain doesn’t become the next shutdown,” Orlick says. He has filed motions in federal court to dismiss the lawsuits.

Even if summary judgment is granted, plaintiffs in such cases can still pursue damage claims in state court. They can seek attorneys’ fees and can invoke a California law imposing $4,000 penalties per ADA violation.

Coupal says she does have ADA-compliant tables outdoors. She has reviewed camera footage and found no wheelchairs coming to her café before the suit was filed. Likewise, Hashemi doesn’t know when Whitaker visited Arya, which is only open for dinner but says each dining area has a wheelchair-accessible table. Hashemi had had a Certified Access Specialist inspection done two years ago to make sure Arya was compliant.

When the disabilities act was passed in 1990, a federal agency wasn’t designat-

Legal Review In San Francisco, District Attorney Chesa Boudin in July announced an investigation of “potentially fraudulent suits” under the ADA targeting Chinatown merchants. Though a DA can’t get involved in private civil suits, San Mateo County Deputy District Attorney Joel McComb has been asked to review “whether the plaintiffs are violating the law” and if the DA would have jurisdiction if that were true. McComb, who deals in consumer protection, couldn’t say how long the investigation will take but “I can tell you it is a priority.”

A Potter Handy attorney could not be reached for comment, but a San Francisco Chronicle story about the Chinatown cases quoted attorney Dennis Price as saying that “every single suit filed by our firm is based on investigated and confirmed violations of state and federal law.” Businesses which fail to comply with the law “discriminate against not just our clients but the disabled community generally.”

Continuing, Price is quoted as saying it was a “shame to see DA Boudin, who was elected as progressive, turn his back on civil rights enforcement and engage in this one-sided sensationalism.”

Redwood City Mayor Diane Howard thinks owners should be given an opportunity to fix a problem before being penalized. “I do know that there is a problem with the law the way it is written, and it does need to get fixed. I’m hoping it will.”

C

•

O VA T I O N •

Together, we design places that inspire people.

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•

H I S T O•R YC LbI M y A J iTmE • Clifford•

When San Mateo County Was Home to “Lights, Camera, Action!”

It’s a sheer coincidence that the bust of Soledad de Ortega Arguello, whose Spanish land grant is now home to thousands of Peninsula residents, bears a striking resemblance to Mrs. Doubtfire, the character played by Robin Williams in the 1993 movie of the same name. The stern-faced bust of “Mrs. Arguello,” which is on a pedestal on Broadway, near the Redwood City Caltrain crossing, is not very far from San Mateo County’s old courthouse, the location of a key scene in the film, where Williams—as the dad in the film—lost custody of his children. The dad takes on the persona of Mrs. Doubtfire, the children’s nanny, because he misses them and wants to remain in their lives.

Redwood City is no stranger to movie settings, according to filminamerica.com, a web resource on movie and television locations. Another Williams film, “Bicentennial Man,” included scenes at Oracle Corp. in Redwood Shores, as well as a scene at a home in Woodside. Redwood City is where Maude of “Harold and Maude” swiped a potted tree in front of the San Mateo County Government Center. The 1971 movie was filmed in locales all over the county. Among the venues was a now defunct auto wrecking yard adjacent to the San Carlos Airport.

The Peninsula is a popular location for movies. Half Moon Bay is a favored setting. The coastal city’s credits include “Swiss Army Man,” a 2016 movie starring Daniel Radcliffe of “Harry Potter” fame. At the time of that filming, Brena Bailey of the San Mateo-Silicon Valley Film Commission, was quoted as saying the Peninsula has a “tremendous diversity of breathtaking bay and coastal views. Best of all,

30 · CLIMATE · September 2021

vember” in 2001, which had a scene filmed in Daly City, and “The Right Stuff,” made in 1983, which featured a scene at an inn in Millbrae.

One classic scene is the car chase in 1968’s “Bullitt” starring Steve McQueen.

The real stars are the Mustang and Charger racing on the Guadalupe Canyon Parkway, roaring through Daly City and Brisbane, and ending with the Charger crashing into a gas station where it bursts in flames. There’s also a shootout at San Francisco International Airport, which, despite its name, is in San Mateo County.

the area is easily accessible. San Francisco International Airport is in our backyard.”

Half Moon Bay was the locale for “House of Sand and Fog,” which was filmed in 2003, a big year for Half Moon Bay movies.

“American Wedding” and “The Law and Mr. Lee” were also products of the coast in that year.

Heavenly Filoli The filminamerica website lists 23 San Mateo County cities as locations for films.

Woodside’s FIloli estate has seen its share of screen time, including “Heaven Can Wait” and “Joy Luck Club.” The estate off Canada Road was also the setting for the television hit “Dynasty.”

The film commission also brings in crews which do television commercials.

It’s the movies, however, that have longer shelf life. The recent movie menu includes “Chasing Mavericks,” “The Master,” “The Internship,” and “Jobs.” Earlier offerings with Peninsula locales boast “Sweet No-

The Top Locale The movie which featured the most San Mateo County settings? The envelope, please. The winner is “Harold and Maude,” which starred Ruth Gordan as Maude, a very senior citizen. One source lists at least a dozen San Mateo County cities as sites in that film. The locales range from the Southern Pacific railroad yard in Brisbane to a shot on Highway 1 near Pescadero. There are also scenes of Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma and the Dumbarton Bridge.

My favorite Peninsula scene is in the 1941 black-and-white film classic “The Maltese Falcon,” starring Humphrey Bogart as San Francisco private eye Sam Spade.

Spade asks a cabbie if he has enough gas to “get to Burlingame.” When he arrives he finds he was given “a bum steer.” The Burlingame scene, a grocery store, was probably a Hollywood set. But you just got to love the lingo.

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