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FFall is my favorite season. I love the parti-colored leaves and the softly fading light. I love the cool mornings that give way to warmish afternoons. For far too long (college really was the best 10 years of my life), I was a student. Beyond everything else, fall always brought a sense of new opportunities, of new subjects to explore, and new ways to try to sneak into the Oasis, the nowgone Menlo Park beer-and-burger joint that was notoriously hard to crack.
Fall carries the promise of pumpkins, pies and roasted turkeys accompanied by stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy and green-bean casseroles. (I’m gaining weight already.) It also creates the backdrop for the many delights of seasonal festivals. As I write this on a late-September morning, my 30-yearold son is downing half-liters (or maybe full) of hearty brew at Oktoberfest in Munich. Here on the Peninsula, we're celebrating numerous festive occasions, including the fiftieth Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival and the post-Covid return of the San Carlos Art & Wine Faire, now in its thirtieth year. (Dan Brown’s story about the much-anticipated San Carlos event begins on page 16.)
In addition, the fall reminds us of serious civic responsibilities. It’s election season, and the easiest way to celebrate our continuing experiment with democracy is to exercise the right to vote. This year, the Peninsula’s housing crunch dominates many local ballots. Starting on page 8, political analyst Mark Simon reports on candidates and issues.
All the food, wine and other libations people plan to consume this fall might provide inspiration to hit the gym. Janet McGovern profiles a rising young fitness expert, Jaime McFaden, beginning on page 24. After that, you may feel hungry again. Susan Jenkins, our fabulous new food columnist, has a peach-infused gazpacho (cold Spanish soup) that she swears is both delicious and healthy. What's the season of Halloween without a few good ghost stories? On page 28, history columnist Jim Clifford recounts his favorites from all over the Peninsula. Finally, at the back of this issue, our entertainment calendar has returned to life. Keep it all month to plan date nights and family outings. It’s fall! Get out there and have some fun!
Scott Dailey, Editor
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Paid for by Diane Howard for Redwood City Council 2022 District
Diane has the strong support of Congresswoman Anna Eshoo as well as many members of our Redwood City Community
Illustration by Jim Kirkland
By Mark Simon
If any single Peninsula community is ground zero for the tensions that come with change, it’s Redwood City. The building boom of a decade ago transformed the town into a central gathering place for the region and shook off the mantle of suburbanism that prompted many to think of the Peninsula as a “hotbed of social rest.” But the transformative boom has caused signifi cant alarm among many residents, precisely because it was transformative. They objected that the changes in Redwood City came at the cost of the community’s fundamental character. It was—still is—common to hear some people lament that they miss the Redwood City of 20 or 30 years ago.
Meanwhile,people on either side of Redwood City—in Menlo Park and San Carlos—frequently recoiled at the seem ing explosion of high-rise, high-density commercial and residential development, centered, but not limited to, the city’s downtown core. It often is said in those other communities that “we would never do what Redwood City did.”
While this debate was evolving, a housing crisis unfolded and has proven just as much of a threat to the character of these local communities as any building boom. Similar battle lines were drawn be tween those who wanted to guard against a community’s becoming an enclave solely for the wealthy and those who wanted to preserve the suburban character that drew them here.
But the 2022 local election cycle may be the year when a middle ground has emerged.
With changing demographics, in creasingly unforgiving state mandates and the growth of district elections, this year’s crop of candidates—new and returning— seems prepared to accept that more hous ing must be built, while still asserting that it can be done in a manner that retains the atmosphere many residents find funda mental.
Virtually all the candidates for the Redwood City and San Carlos city councils have adopted that sort of language. Menlo Park, however, remains a battleground. There, Measure V—a citizen-sponsored initiative that some consider draconian— could revive all the old conflicts. Measure V essentially takes away the city council’s land-use authority and requires a vote of the public to rezone single-family proper ties into multi-family lots. The effect could be to preclude higher density in residential construction.
Behind the measure is a sentiment by residents that they have been ignored by a progressive majority on a council that
frequently splits 3-2 in favor of changes that many consider radical. If the initiative passes, it could spur similar attempts in other cities by residents who feel bypassed. If it fails, a new era of expanded housing may be in store for the Peninsula.
The controversy makes it worth remembering that the major changes that created today’s Redwood City encoun tered their own resistance.
“If you look with some historical perspective, we wouldn’t have had the Farm Hill area built out with hous ing,” says former Redwood City Mayor Jim Hartnett. “We wouldn’t have had Redwood Shores built. What does that mean about the changing character of our community? What it means is that change is constant.”
The degree of change lo cal residents will accept is driving many city council races throughout the region. As election campaigns head into their final month, how will voters decide among candidates whose positions differ widely in some cas es and relatively little in others?
Redwood City’s District 2 is currently rep resented by Councilmember Giselle Hale, who is not seeking re-election. The dis trict includes downtown Redwood City and the large developable parcels east of Highway 101.
Candidates: Margaret Becker, retired health professional; member, Redwood City Housing and Human Concerns Committee.
Alison Madden, housing at torney/businesswoman.
Chris Sturken, nonprofit events coordinator; member, Redwood City Planning Com mission.
All three candidates are pro-housing. That befits a dis trict where much building has taken place in the last 10 years, and where more could be on the way. The city’s housing plan, which carries the slogan, “Welcome Home, Redwood City,” has identified potential new homesites there.
Of the three, Madden may be the most outspoken on the issue, asserting that state housing mandates, as ambi tious (or onerous) as they may seem, could be doubled. Reflecting her history living among and representing the quasi-tran sitory houseboat tenants of Redwood City’s Docktown, Madden’s emphasis is on homes for purchase.
“Home ownership must become a rea sonable prospect; as a renter for over two decades and single working mother, I am committed to making progress on this goal,” Madden says. She adds that she will encourage “small, moderate-sized devel opers to build things that are available for affordable home ownership.”
If Becker and Sturken seem less ag gressive, it’s by a matter of degrees.
“There is a misperception that we’re building too fast,” Becker says. “But we’re required [by the state government] to build
Margaret Becker Alison Madden Chris Sturkento some extent, and we have got to get there somehow.”
Becker believes the chal lenge is to find a strategy that meets the state’s directives but also satisfies those who worry that the city’s housing plans represent too much change. The current city council has committed to 6,882 new units by 2031, which is 150 percent of the state’s requirement. The present situation will require “some sort of compromise, and consensus is going to have to be a part of it,” Becker says. “A lot of this has to do with very clear, open communica tion and making sure people feel heard. [But] not everyone gets what they want.”
Sturken’s focus is on making sure the whole city is part of the housing solu tion, “and not just in District 2.” Other neighborhoods can absorb more housing without damaging their local ambi ence, he says. The answer, as Sturken puts it, is “the path of least resistance:" Small, one-room units, known as Accessory Dwelling Units, or ADUs, in backyards.
“There are ways to make addition al homes blend with existing structures … prioritizing or messaging it as homes for families, for teachers, for aging rela tives and reminding residents that it won’t change the look and feel of their neighbor hood,” Sturken says.
“Change is good,” he adds. “With any thing, when it comes to messaging and marketing, people need to hear it seven or more times before it finally sticks. It’s tak ing time for people to adjust after so many years of not increasing density.”
Or of height. Sturken says he is “com fortable” with buildings higher than five
stories—which seem to be the upper limit in some cities— in the transit corridors of El Camino Real and Woodside Road.
The district straddles Wood side Road from Woodside Pla za to El Camino and extends to Redwood City’s southern border.
Candidate: Kaia Eakin, nonprofit executive.
In the pre-district elections era, when candidates ran city wide, Eakin would have been the quintessential “establish ment” candidate with con nections and credentials from decades of civic and nonprofit activism. Probably for the same set of reasons, she is unop posed in this new district.
“The strength of Redwood City,” Eakin says, “has always been its diversity, from our founding days in the 1860s. … It always has been working class and it has always been welcoming and inclusive.” She adds that, historically, 30 percent of the city’s residents have been immigrants.
Eakin says she understands and shares the concerns of those who fear los ing the essential Redwood City, but adds that there are ways to “be smart about where you can build.” El Camino and the Woodside Road corridor seem well-suit ed for high-rise, high-density residential buildings, she says.
Much of the city’s current profile stems from the postwar building boom of the 1950s, when a car-oriented lifestyle was supreme and one-story commercial and residential construction dominated
a landscape notable for its abundant, in expensive land. But today, Eakin notes, open fields available for construction are increasingly the stuff of nostalgia.
“I love milkshakes and ‘Happy Days’ reruns,” Eakin says. “But I think a lot of people realize it’s not the 1950s.”
The district is bounded generally by Whip ple Avenue, Alameda de las Pulgas, Wood side Road and Hudson Street.
Candidates: Diane Howard, city councilmember and nurse. Jerome Madigan , minister and business person.Howard is seeking her seventh term, and is running in a district for the first time. She was elected initially in 1994, served four terms and left the council in 2009. She was again elected citywide in 2013 and re-elected in 2018. She was part of the council that pushed through the rein vention of Redwood City’s downtown area and the construction of high-rise housing in the area.
As the city grapples with commercial and housing growth, Howard says expe rience is crucial. Of her six council col leagues, two are leaving at the end of this year, another will depart in two years, one is a first-year member and a fifth was ap pointed to fill a vacancy last month.
She is, she says, someone “who under stands how things have been done and [is] open to change.” There are “all these little things” about which she believes she can mentor new councilmembers, such as the importance of serving on regional boards and commissions, how a council meeting is conducted and how to work with city staff.
“There is going to be a learning curve, and I want to help us come together and
Kaia Eakin Diane Howard Jerome Madiganmove forward,” she says. “I’m willing to listen and bend a little. … I feel like I’m a really important piece of this city at this point.”
Madigan has served as a pastor at several local congregations, currently at First Baptist Church in San Carlos. He has worked with youth groups throughout the community, and is also a licensed Realtor.
Madigan says he respects Howard and what she has done for the city, “but we’re looking at many years of a budget deficit, [and] we need new and innovative ways to find revenue. I think it’s time for a new voice. The world has changed so much that it’s time for a fresh approach.”
Howard says she already has a record of supporting the housing projects that have been built or are under construction, adding that she remains sensitive to estab lished neighborhoods and residents who want to protect them.
“You almost have to look neighbor hood-by-neighborhood,” she says. “Where can we find space, where can we find room for ADUs? … Some neighborhoods are bungalows, Crafstman, and a pre dominant number are both styles. Is there something that would complement the neighborhood? How can we make a neigh borhood more cohesive?”
She says she supports building in tran sit corridors and constructing high-density housing on remaining major sites, includ ing Sequoia Station and the location of the former Mervyn’s department store, east of El Camino. Still, she says, “I’m not looking to fill every nook and cranny in Redwood City with housing.”
Madigan says he wants to build “thoughtfully, sustainably and with the community in mind. I’m neither pro- or an ti-development. I’m anti-bad development.”
He also believes the city can demand more improvements from builders. “We
need to negotiate great deals with developers. … I don’t feel like we’ve done a great job of that,” he says.
In addition, he says, he “would not put height off the table. … I’m not in a rush to take away height restrictions. But as I look at the long view of the Peninsula, we have to see that up is one of the only directions we can go.”
San Carlos and Menlo Park are at either end of the district elec tion spectrum, and the salient debate of the day over housing.
Menlo Park was one of San Mateo County's first cit ies to enact district elections.
In a sweeping turnabout four years ago, a status-quo majority was cast aside by what many observers consider one of the most progressive majorities on any council in the county.
Councilmembers Cecilia Taylor (District 1) and Drew Combs (District 2) are unop posed, leaving Mayor Betsy Nash the only incumbent with a challenge—from former Councilmember Peter Ohtaki He lost to Nash four years ago in a 25-point landslide. Since then, Ohtaki has twice run un successfully for the state Assembly as a Republican.
He is hoping to catch a presumed wave of dissatisfaction with a Nash-led 3-2 majority that has been criticized for its pol icies on housing growth, as well its reluc tance to fully fund the police department and its attempt to repurpose the city's utility user tax, among other complaints. Ohtaki has embraced Measure V on Menlo
Park’s ballot as an expression of discontent that includes a sense among some that their concerns are not being heard.
In San Carlos, five candi dates are running for three seats. San Carlos still oper ates under a citywide elec tion system, which might seem to favor incumbents Sara McDowell and Adam Rak , each seeking a second term. That leaves three chal lengers—Pranita Venkatesh, John Durkin and Alexander Kent—fighting for the re maining seat.
Venkatesh operates a local daycare center and serves on the city’s Economic Develop ment Advisory Committee. To some, she fits the mold of an establishment insider more closely than the other two candidates.
Durkin works in finance and accounting in retail cor porate offices. He also has been an active volunteer in a host of city traditions, in cluding the recently revived Hometown Days.
Kent declined to be in terviewed for this story, al though he did offer to speak anonymously after the election. Kent ran for the Burlingame City Council in 2013 and was rejected in a bid for the Belmont Planning Commission in 2016.
All four candidates who consented to interviews described similar opinions about housing—more needs to be built, but the community’s character must be preserved—and no one is wandering off the beaten path in the City of Good Living.
Betsy Nash Peter Ohtaki Cecilia Taylor Drew Combs“We must balance quality of life with the need to increase the housing supply and affordability,” Venkatesh says. “Our housing is not sustainable if teachers, po lice officers, retail employees, even biotech workers can’t afford to live in San Carlos.”
Durkin says, “I do wonder how much impact I [would] have on housing as a councilmember. I do question the big houses that are being built” and how they affect traffic congestion and the character of neighborhoods. He says he would sup port partnerships with local nonprofits that identify empty bedrooms as opportu nities for rentals.
Admittedly, these are political campaigns. Candidates try to win over voters, not alienate them. The common course of ac tion is to seek a rhetorical middle ground. Campaigns do have the capacity to gloss over more deep-seated disagreements.
There is a fair distance, for example, between Howard’s desire to avoid filling “every nook and cranny” and Sturken’s as sertion that all of Redwood City, and not just District 2, needs to share the burden. His support of ADUs seems to be precise ly a strategy of filling available nooks and crannies. But beyond that, there appears much agreement, at least at a high lev el, because San Mateo County has been changed profoundly and irreversibly by an intractable economic reality.
A county that once boasted little more than bedrooms and hometown retail stores has become a juggernaut—a center for em ployment at the highest levels as measured by sheer numbers of workers and their av erage incomes. Residents have enjoyed the prosperity that has come with the county’s economic transformation. And many have acquired considerable wealth through the county’s tenfold increase in home values over approximately the last 40 years.
Today, many homeowners and land lords are fearful their property values— sometimes leveraged into other invest ments and often inflated by anti-growth policies that have restricted the supply of housing—will be undermined by an in crease in residential construction. Others rue the potential loss of a suburban life style that grew out of low-density neigh borhoods filled with one-family homes. Still others oppose (and frequently moved away from) “bigness” in general, prefer ring the village-like feel of small houses and the one- and two-story businesses that still predominate in shopping dis tricts such as Laurel Street in San Carlos and Santa Cruz Avenue in Menlo Park.
Nonetheless, for a growing number of leaders along the Peninsula, the question no longer appears to be whether to build or not to build. It’s how, and how much. This November, amid all the rhetorical backand-forth, the real issue on the ballot may already have been acknowledged—the re ality that change is always a constant.
C
Pranita Venkatesh John Durkin Alexander Kent Sara McDowell Adam RakSwing open the glass doors at 1682 El Cami no Real in San Carlos, and an aromatic blend of fresh roses, lilacs and peonies seems to overwhelm the senses. The steady, tranquil sound of dripping water from a fountain complements the abstract art that adorns ev ery wall.
The peaceful spot has been home to Granara’s Flowers since 1946. For the past 44 years, it has been owned and operated by the Maffei family of San Carlos—from 1978 to 1994 by patriarch Primo “ Jim” Maffei and then by his daughter and son, Robin and Tim. By mid-January, the younger Maffeis plan to lock the doors for the last time as they convert to an entirely online presence for cus tomers.
“We have seen a huge shift in the way people shop for flowers,” Tim says. “We used to have a line out the door on holidays, but people don’t walk into flower shops anymore. They order things online and have it delivered. We can provide our clients with the same services we always have with our comprehen sive website. For the last few years, we have seen a huge rise in this area and we are able to service multiple orders at once all across the country.”
For the Maffei family, flowers have long been a passion. As a young boy, Jim worked for Sheridan and Bell, a florist in San Fran cisco, and later for Ah Sam Floral Co. in San Mateo before starting at Granara’s in 1950. On New Year’s Eve of 1978, he purchased the business for $100,000 from his former boss, Romeo Granara.
“My dad had this incredible gift—a vision of beauty and could turn anything into a masterpiece,” Tim says.
That talent extended to Robin and Tim, who grew up in San Car los and began working as kids at the flower shop, creating corsages, managing the counter and making deliveries.
Small-town San Carlos worked well for the Maffeis. Jim’s wife, Rosie, raised eight children, who remain close today. Robin says the family was a large supporter of the San Carlos Chamber of Com merce, St. Charles School, the San Carlos Rotary Club and the chari ties of St. Vincent de Paul, among other local organizations.
Jim and Rosie lived to 90 and 88, respectively. Jim died in 2018, and Rosie followed him nine months later. That start ed family discussions over what to do with the business. As with many older establishments on the Peninsula, the store’s real-estate value had risen significantly over the decades.
“After Dad passed, we had to make a decision about sell ing the building,” Robin says. “Our siblings were happy to give us five extra years here, but we were presented with an offer to sell the building and could not pass it up.”
No doubt, saying goodbye to the flower shop that Tim and Robin have called their second home will be their most emo tional arrangement yet. But continuing to expand the business through the Internet should bring a rewarding challenge. And customers who call or use Granara’s website (granarasflowers. com) can pick up flowers at the as-yet unpublicized location of the store’s workshop.
“We already work with our clients with web and phone communication and deliveries,” Robin says. “So it won’t be a big change for us.”
In the balmy days of a lingering summer, few dishes match gazpacho for flavorful and hydrating nourishment. This peachy version of the familiar Spanish cold soup enhances the spicy and tomato-y allure of traditional gazpacho with a uniquely sweet and fruity essence. It’s particularly refreshing on a warm evening. Perhaps best of all, it takes only around 15 minutes to put together.
Tasting it always sends me back to Barcelona, the capital of northeastern Spain’s semi-autonomous region of Catalonia. Although gazpacho originated in Andalusia, in the south of Spain, it's available on seemingly every menu throughout the Mediterranean city famed for its architecture, culture and cuisine.
Now is the season for peaches and sun-gold grape tomatoes, principal components of Peachy Gazpacho. Adding cucumber, lime and cham pagne vinegar rounds out the flavors. Just throw the raw ingredients into the blender. Strain and chill the mixture, then serve garnished with a few fresh toppings. Eating this just feels good— summery, healthy and satisfying.
2 pints sun-gold grape tomatoes
1 pint red cherry tomatoes
1 cup cubed, ripe, peeled peaches
1 cup sliced, peeled English cucumber
1/2 cup roughly chopped orange bell pepper
1/4 cup chopped yellow onion
1 clove garlic, peeled
2 teaspoons Kosher salt (plus more to taste)
1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
Cayenne pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons champagne vinegar
1 lime, juiced
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup cold, fresh water
1. Combine all ingredients in a blender until they’re smooth.
2. Strain the liquid (use a fine-mesh strainer).
3. Chill the soup for at least two hours.
4. Garnish the finished dish with crumbled feta cheese, additional diced fresh peaches, thinly sliced fresh basil and a shake of cayenne pepper.
demic, the two most frequent questions I That might not wind up too far off pre-pan
demic levels, when unofficial counts peaked at more than 50,000 attendees.
Considering the circumstances for 2022, organizers anticipate an almost poi gnant mood. The return of the popular fall-weather oasis is another step toward normalcy, both for the patrons and for the artists. As writer Thomas Merton said, “Art enables us to find ourselves and lose our
“It's been a rough couple of years for a lot of people,’’ says Vice Mayor Adam Rak.
Vincent van Gogh once said, “There is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.’’ That seems the best way of explaining the vibe around San Carlos as people prepare for the return of the
“To sort of feel like we're getting there, and that we'll be able to do these things again, is just a real positive.’’
Perhaps as a nod to the times, organiz ers are putting at extra emphasis on the “& Wine” part of the equation. The number of booths offering wine and beer will be expanded from the four the festival had in 2019 to perhaps as many as six for 2022. For those who more enjoy browsing through paintings, prints and pottery, remember: There’s an “art” in “party.” For the younger crowd, the event will also offer an expand ed Family Fun Zone.
This will be the thirtieth art and wine fes tival in San Carlos. It will also be first coor dinated by City Hall, after the previous 29 incarnations operated under the purview of the San Carlos Chamber of Commerce.
During the pandemic, the chamber merged with Redwood City-based Cham ber San Mateo County, and the city picked up several events that had been under the umbrella of the San Carlos business orga nization. They include Hometown Days (a multi-day city celebration every May) and the Farmers’ Market (Sundays on Laurel Street), which have served as trial runs as the city has prepared for the massive un dertaking of the Art & Wine Faire.
The city council approved two new full-time positions, as well as additional part-time staff hours in the city’s Com munity Events organization, to manage the Art & Wine Faire and the many oth er citywide occasions coordinated by the Parks & Recreation Department. Buoyed by smooth re-launches of outdoor public events such as the Goblin Walk at Hallow een and Holiday Lights in December, the staff feels prepared for the big one. And they won’t have to do it alone.
“I have pretty consistently talked about how San Carlos is a community of helpers, and people are always willing to
step up and volunteer their time,’’ McDow ell says. “With all of our different service clubs that we have, people give back in so many different ways and I think that that makes our community really special and I'm so grateful to people.”
Artists have missed the event as much as their patrons. Many creative professionals suffered a major blow to their livelihoods when street fairs such as this one vanished during the pandemic. The same goes for bands—musicians are artists, too—which barely worked for three years and are ea ger to jump back into action.
“On one hand, [the pandemic] allowed the artists—from what they share with me—to regroup and express themselves through their own art,’’ says Executive Di rector Mary Carbullido of Redwood Citybased Art in Action, which offers visual arts for elementary-school students. “The downside is that it's been so difficult for
them because their intention is that they want to share their art with their commu nity. ... They're very proud, these San Car los artists, to say, ‘I live and create in San Carlos.’ So, to be able to bring this event back is going to give them their own lift, give them light.”
In this case, the definition of “artist” is fantastically broad. The selection com mittee keeps an eye out for variety, so photographers, sculptors, jewelers, florists, glass-fusion specialists and others gather here for something that can feel like a Cre ativity Olympics. Consider that fiber art ists alone could apply to three subcatego ries (decorative, functional and wearable).
Carbullido says the teachers at Art in Action encourage students and their fami lies to attend the festival as a source of in spiration and wonder.
“They want children to see the beau tiful art, to enjoy the art and talk to the artist,” says Carbullido, the former direc tor of gallery experiences and museum
During the pandemic, the San Carlos Chamber of Commerce merged with Chamber San Mateo County, and the city picked up several events that had been under the umbrella of the San Carlos business organization.
operations for the Tech Interactive in San Jose (formerly the Tech Museum of Inno vation). “That's what we've seen year over year. And so I'm super-excited to have that come back.”
And then, there will be wine—and beer. That, too, will have a local flavor. Of the 11 wineries serving red, white and sparkling wines, four have San Carlos roots: Flying Suitcase Wines, Russian Ridge Winery, Woodside Vineyards and Domenico Winery.
Volunteers will also be pouring beers from five breweries, including Devil’s Canyon Brewing Company, which crafts its hops just a hop, skip and a jump away on Washington Avenue near downtown San Carlos.
“It’s really fun to showcase our local businesses,’’ McDowell says. “These are businesses that are run by people who live here and are deeply invested in our com munity and give back to our community in so many different ways.”
Pablo Picasso once said, “Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.” Andy Warhol echoed that senti ment years later by saying, “Art is what you can get away with.”
Sorry, Pablo and Andy. This event requires coloring within the lines. Still, there’s lots of space, and many colors are encouraged. With that, here are a few important policies and updates for this year’s festival:
• Organizers expect no pandemic-relat ed health-and-safety restrictions.
• Please leave wine glasses and wood en tokens from previous festivals at home. Beverages will be served only in 2022 glasses, which may be purchased with pre-paid green tokens available at the fes tival. (Beer and wine sales will be operat ed by the Parks & Recreation Foundation
of San Carlos, which will benefit from the proceeds.)
• No pets are allowed. If pets complain, just show them this article.
• The city is promoting cashless pay ments, and all vendors will be equipped to accept them.
• Because parking in downtown San Carlos is at a premium during the Faire, the city encourages attendees to use pub lic transportation such as SamTrans or Caltrain or to ride bicycles to the event. A free shuttle will offer pickup and drop-off service from the Palo Alto Medical Foun dation parking garage to the event.
• As a small aftershock of the pandem ic, the layout will be slightly different this year. Previously, just one restaurant (Town) had an outdoor “parklet” for dining. Now, many do. As a result, festival organizers have needed to reconfigure the vending areas to leave room for emergency vehi cles. Favorite vendors may be in different locations than in the past.
• The event will take place on both sides of San Carlos Avenue between El Camino Real and Elm Street, and on Laurel Street from San Carlos Avenue to Arroyo Avenue.
• For social-media influencers, tag self ies with #scartandwine.
“Our Downtown Has Transformed” Unofficially, city officials strongly recom mend that attendees have a blast. The long absence has made the planning for this year’s event bittersweet, and supporters want to make it worth the wait.
“I think that our downtown has really transformed during the pandemic,’’ Mc Dowell says. “And I think that it's really becoming a draw for people to visit from all over the Peninsula. And so I'm expect ing a good turnout this year.”
To quote one last artist, Leonardo da Vinci: “The painter has the universe in his mind and hands.” But sometimes in art, or in life, one needs less than the whole uni verse. Sometimes, a tight-knit neighbor hood will suffice.
“It's important to re-establish that sense of community, number one,’’ Car bullido says. “It’s also very important to just enjoy food and wine together. Many of the wineries are family-run wineries in the area. So, that's also very important to support them after such a tumultuous three years, right?”
Lick it. Stick it. Post it. Stamps have been integral to American life for 150 years, ever since the forerunner of the U.S. Postal Service introduced the little square seals that move America’s mail. On September 17, the Sequoia Stamp Club celebrated 75 years of assembling rare, unusual, histor ic and collectible stamps. The group has been meeting in Redwood City every two weeks since its inception in 1947, with two years of Covid the only break. To add to the festive feel, organizers dressed in pe riod costumes from the 1940s. Event or ganizer Kristin Patterson says her own stamp collection, which fills 40 binders each two inches thick, typifies those of most members.
Attended by many who served in Vietnam, the Redwood City Veterans Memorial Se nior Center’s sixth annual car show and barbecue on Saturday, August 27, raised funds for the Fisher House Foundation of Palo Alto. The foundation operates homes located near veterans’ hospitals throughout the U.S. that help family members remain close to service people during rehab and other medical treatment.
Event organizer Bruce Utecht com pared the Fisher Foundation’s facilities to the widely known Ronald McDonald hous es for families of hospitalized children.
The event is the brainchild of Rose Ann “Snookie” DelBen of Redwood City. “My dad was in World War II and the Ko rean War,” DelBen says. “I just think our veterans need to be acknowledged and supported.”
Even a rainy Sunday couldn’t dampen Fi estas Patrias, a patriotic holiday that cele brates independence from Spain for Mex ico and other Latin American countries.
On September 18, Courthouse Square in Redwood City provided the site for festiv ities that included a traditional flag cere mony conducted by the Consul General of Mexico, Remedios Gomez Arnau, as well as music, dancing, food and crafts.
Mexican Consul General Remedios Gomez Arnau
Time to mix a metaphor and add a dash of clichés: The Picnic en Blanc fundraiser of the Redwood City Parks and Arts Foundation is like pulling a rabbit out of a hat while not let ting the cat out of the bag.
As always, this year’s tenth annual party, with a panoramic view from Cañada College in the Redwood City hills, involved complex logistics made even more delicate by the usual need for secrecy. Part of the fun each year is that the hundreds of guests learn of the loca tion only 48 hours in advance.
Picnic en Blanc (“Picnic in White”) takes its name and concept from the increasingly popu lar Dîner en Blanc (“Dinner in White”) events, which originated in Paris in 1988. At the first Dîner en Blanc, the host asked friends to meet at a secret outdoor location and wear white so they could recognize one another. Dîner en Blanc parties are now reported to take place in more than 90 cities worldwide.
A capacity crowd at Chez Nous Café in Redwood City cheered 16-year-old jazz pianist Alex Ma keev on September 17 while he took charge of the bandstand as part of the popular Scott Dai ley Trio. Makeev, a Belmont resident and junior at Carlmont High School, wowed the audience with imaginative solos on jazz standards including “Take the ‘A’ Train,” “On Green Dolphin Street” and “Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars.” A former stu dent of Dailey’s, Makeev shared accolades with Gavin Westland of San Carlos, another Dailey protégé who last month began music studies at the University of Washington. Dailey quipped that rising young musicians such as Makeev and Westland had moved him to trade jazz pi ano for the clarinet. Singer Bernadette Soubirou exchanged wisecracks with Dailey while bassist Gary Rosen attempted to maintain an air of artis tic professionalism.
Scott Dailey
Gary Rosen
Alex Makeev
Bay Area Lebanese-Americans cel ebrated their heritage in Redwood City’s Courthouse Square while raising funds to send back to their home country. A dozen years ago, the annual event began with 140 locals. But on Saturday, August 27, several thousand arrived from all over the region for a day of Leba nese-centered entertainment, food and drink.
The crowd enjoyed dishes such as barbecued kafta kebab, tabbouleh, falafel and homemade sweets, along with Lebanese wines. Entertainment chair Abra ham Sahyoun estimated his wife would serve 700 to 800 pounds of Kabuli salad by day’s end. It’s safe to say no one went home hungry.
Leave it to the libertines at the Redwood City Library Foundation (RCLF) to devise a unique way to ridicule recent calls for banning books: Hold a pub-crawl fundraiser where patrons could enjoy discounted drinks while review ing supposedly objectionable materials.
On September 21, participants strolled through downtown Redwood City and vis ited the Alhambra Irish House, Angelicas, Gourmet Haus Staudt and other dispensers of pleasing libations. Each location featured a banned book, with an RCLF board member on hand to answer questions about why the work presumably posed a threat to decency or democracy.
The event, whose organizers invoked comparisons between censorship and Prohibi tion, coincided with Banned Books Week, an annual occasion promoted by the American Library Association and other groups to pro test intolerance aimed at ideas.
By Janet McGovern
To a pounding beat and jump-cut visuals, fitness celebrity Jillian Michaels promised a physical transformation through her “Kill er Body” workout series. Behind her, a team of ripped trainers in midriff-baring sports bras and leggings executed the arm and leg lifts, planks and other moves capable of producing a Muscle Beach-worthy appearance.
“We’re talking about a sick, insane, incredible, amazing upper body,” Michaels’ video trailer touted. “Biceps of steel. A shredded upper back. You are going to look and feel amazing in that tank top, that bikini, that spaghetti-strap dress.”
The promo for “Killer Arms & Back” closed on some actual killer arms and back with a local angle, belonging to a former Miss Redwood City who went from something of an understudy in the fitness industry to a credentialed instructor with her own following. Today, after years as a master fitness trainer and health coach, Jaime McFaden defines herself as a “self-care specialist.”
Hers is a mellow message about the small steps even a couch potato can take on the road to a healthier and more satisfying life.
“I am very passionate about raising awareness of selfcare in everything I do,” says McFaden, who launched her “W.A.V.E. by J” system and website a little more than a year ago. “My goal is to inspire at least one person per day to take one step towards changing their life for the better. I am on a mission to share my story and help show others that if I can do it, so can you.”
It began at home, which is where her biggest cheer leader can be found.
“I don’t know how this girl does it,” says her mother, Sue Anagnostou, who used to go on location to babysit
McFaden’s infant daughter during filming for corporate fitness videos. “She was just non-stop. I hope my daughter gets a break because it’s not an easy job and I always tell her that. It’s not a traditional job. She really cares and wants to make a difference in people’s lives.”
Born in Redwood City into a family steeped in Greek culture, McFaden, 36, was baptized at the Greek Or thodox Church of the Holy Cross in Bel mont. As a preteen, she says, she struggled with depression, insomnia, nightmares and suicidal thoughts. Still, she managed to break through, and won the Junior Miss California and Miss Redwood City titles. She attended Woodside and two other high schools so she could graduate a year early.
A family crisis—and a turning point in her life—came crashing down when her fa ther, real-estate developer James McFaden, died of a massive stroke when Jaime was just 18. The dad she loved had had prob lems with addiction and mental-health struggles, she says, describing him as out wardly charming but difficult to live with. After he died, McFaden decided “very consciously for the rest of my life, I am go ing to dedicate myself to learn about health and wellness, to face my own demons, to help support others on their journey and kind of retrain not just my brain but also rewire my own family dynamic and the family traumas that had been passed down from generation to generation.”
But the pathway from that epiphany to her calling in health and wellness me andered. A San Jose State University grad uate in theater and film, she moved to Los Angeles to try the entertainment business. She received a full ration of rejection, but had enough confidence to chalk it up to not being where she should have been. Mc Faden came home, studied and became an
McFaden gets a lift from then-boss Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Atlantic.
Virgin Atlantic started air ser vice to San Francisco, and McFaden was hired as a flight attendant, a job she could do and teach fitness classes when she wasn’t flying.
exercise trainer, working at Mobius Fitness and the Bay Club in Redwood City.
She and her brother, George McFaden, worked out together at the family’s home gym. A former trainer at Powerhouse Gym in Redwood City, George says his kid sis ter would bring a friend and take classes. “We’ve had a healthy bond with fitness for many years now,” he adds.
At the same time, Virgin Atlantic had started airline service to San Francisco. McFaden got a position as a flight atten dant, a job she could do and teach fitness classes when she wasn’t flying. She also got to know Virgin founder Richard Bran son and worked alongside him for pro motional events throughout the U.S.
Still in her early 20s, McFaden decided if she were going to be in the fitness indus try, she needed to work with Michaels, whom she terms “the best of the best.” McFaden flew to a Los Angeles event
where Michaels was launching a high-intensity, interval-style workout called “Bodyshred.” McFaden schmoozed her way backstage to meet her, and was blown away when she was invit ed on stage to participate in the grueling workout.
“Oh, I was dying,” McFaden recalls, “and also I had never felt more alive.” Shortly after an au dition, she was offered a job with Michaels’ company—and received Branson’s blessing to go for it. Since then, the Capitola resident has appeared in countless exercise and wellness videos and events with her mentor and friend. She continued to con duct training sessions at Redwood City clubs and was voted “best trainer” in this maga zine’s 2018 “Climate Best Awards.”
McFaden also worked under con tract with other companies to produce fitness content, including Grokker and Aaptiv’s health-and-well-being plat forms. Her Aaptiv classes always started with a “word of the workout,” an idea she got from teaching children how to dance. (McFaden’s daughter, Sofia, is now 5 years old. McFaden says she has “peacefully” put behind her the relation ship with her former fiancé.)
Pre-Covid, she’d had a job for five years working for New York-based Aap tiv. She says it was dream employment with benefits—and she could work re motely. She had had to give up all her former contracts to work for the company exclusively. Then, just before Christmas in 2020, she says the entire content team learned they were going to be out of work.
Until then, McFaden had always had a steady job with benefits as a safety net while she also did fitness training. She decided it was time to stop working for others and create fitness content as a solo entrepreneur. She began teach
ing a daily 30-minute class via social media, and later added a podcast and speaking gigs. She reconnected with former contractors and clients, and says thankfully that many were “waiting for me.” She averages twice-weekly trips to Redwood City to work with clients.
At the urging of a longtime friend, McFaden also wrote a book about her personal story and philosophy about true health and wellness, which she considers more than being buff. “WAVES of Self-Care: It Takes a Village” was released in May and launched the author on a book tour, which has included talks, podcasts and inter views along the California coast. Michaels wrote the book’s foreword.
McFaden says most people who know her or have seen her videos thought of her as a “fit girl” with healthy habits but “no body knew the struggles because I didn’t ever really share them.” Under the viva cious surface was a woman who had freed herself from “a life of unworthiness and people-pleasing” by learning about and practicing self-care techniques.
Reaction, via messages and emails from readers impressed by her honesty, has been gratifying. Though she’d nev er had a weight problem, McFaden says she used to devour bacon and ice cream and loathed sweat and exercise. “I had no strength or stability,” she confides. “I was the person that maybe looked good in my clothes but I definitely did not feel good.”
She asserts that taking time for selfcare is not selfish. “Self-care is a buzzword everybody throws around about bubble baths and massages, and all that stuff is wonderful and great,” says McFaden, warming to her favorite subject. “The re ality is it’s about taking responsibility for your life, about accepting and embracing the waves that crash around you and also knowing that you can ride the waves and
really enjoy the journey and not just the end goal.” Mothers, who have been condi tioned to think of everyone else first, are an especial focus.
“WAVE” stands for well-being, aware ness, vision and energy, and McFaden en courages clients to focus on “six pillars” of wellness—physical, mental, emotional, social, spiritual and financial. Among the methods in her self-care regimen are jour nal-writing, physical and social activity, practicing gratitude and taking breaks to focus on breathing. She’s also a big be liever in something she learned from her mother: Creating “vision boards” with pic tures to help people manifest their goals.
Through her work, McFaden wants to create what she calls a “tool belt” of tips and methods, as well as a referral network of experts for topics beyond her expertise, such as mental health and finance. She showers thanks on those in her “village”
who helped her along the way, including her family.
So back to that number-one fan.
“She recently had me doing a breathing class and I said, ‘What the heck is this?’” her mother says. “And we laid on the ground at the beach and I’m telling you, it was the most fabulous thing. I thought it was the stupidest thing I was going to do at first. And then I said, ‘When are we doing another one?’” Next came “sunset yoga,” with 100 people on the beach.
Anagnostou concedes that her daugh ter’s admonitions didn’t always resonate, until her own father died five years ago. At nearly 69, the real-estate property manag er recognizes that she, too, is getting old er and warns that “the consequences are coming if we don’t change.”
Growing up in a traditional Greek family, her daughter “watched where ev erything’s been around food,” Anagnostou continues. “Everybody’s overweight and everybody starts to get diabetes and starts to get ailments. She wants younger people to learn that “if it’s in your genetics, you’re going to get it unless you do something.”
As for her own self-care, McFaden says she’s gone from someone who was in the gym two hours a day doing her own workout plus teaching to “a much more relaxed way of exercise.” Beyond that, she says there’s currently too much confusion about fads and diets. She adds that drink ing water and eating colorful, non-pro cessed foods are excellent building blocks in a healthy diet.
Anagnostou repeats her daughter’s advice: “Veg it up. Veg it up. If you have enough vegetables and water, you’ll be fine.”
Though she’d never had a weight problem, McFaden says she used to devour bacon and ice cream and loathed sweat and exercise.
“I had no strength or stability."McFaden with mother Sue and daughter Sofia.
Halloween’s near, and it’s a good time for a roll call of Peninsula ghost stories. A few are widely known; others, not so much. The hint of a haunting puts the Fox The atre in Redwood City in league with the Kohl Mansion in Burlingame, the Moss Beach Distillery near Half Moon Bay and a Redwood City convent demolished de cades ago.
Ernie Schmidt, the general manager of the Fox, says contractors working on the theater reported seeing “a young woman wearing a long dress walk up our corner staircase and then disappear.” The sight ings took place about the same time an urn containing a woman’s ashes was discov ered in an attic at the Fox, then owned by investor and impresario Eric Lochtefeld. In an interview in 2011, Lochtefeld said the ashes “dated back decades.”
He sought the public’s help in locating relatives of the deceased. The ashes were eventually returned to the woman’s family and there have been no reported sightings since. The woman was not connected to the Fox, according to Schmidt, who would not release her name, saying she was not a public figure. “That I can tell you with certainty,” he says.
The presumed newcomer at the Fox is less renowned than the “Blue Lady” re portedly spotted at the Moss Beach Dis tillery, a popular tavern and restaurant 10 miles north of Half Moon Bay. The coastal ghost has been featured on the television shows “Unsolved Mysteries” and “Ghost Hunters.”
The establishment’s website says the Blue Lady’s legend goes back to the Roar ing Twenties. The centerpiece was an adul terous affair between “the beautiful lady
in blue” and “a handsome yet dangerous man.” The two were attacked “while walk ing along the beach below the restaurant.” The man survived but the woman was killed. The webpage claims, “It is here at the Distillery you will find her searching for her lover.”
Then again, maybe not. But if you doubt a restaurant’s publicity, how about a story featuring several nuns?
The Kohl Mansion, home to Mercy High School in Burlingame, hosts one of the Peninsula’s most enduring legends— that of the ghost of Freddie Kohl, who was born in 1863 and died by suicide in 1921. The Sisters of Mercy bought the redbrick, 63-room Tudor edifice in 1924 and used it as a convent until 1931, when it became the school.
The sisters had trouble from the start. In 1925 the Ku Klux Klan, with hoods on, besieged the convent by shouting, honk ing car horns and, according to various reports, burning a cross on a hill. It was about this time that a few novice nuns started to report a mysterious presence, including loud, disembodied footsteps. In 1927, the nuns conducted a ritual blessing that seemed to rid the convent of its un welcome visitor.
Burlingame isn’t the only Peninsula city with a ghost story involving a man sion converted into a convent. Redwood
City has a similar, yet lesser-known, tale. In 1921 (yes, 1921, the year of Kohl’s sui cide), the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur took over the former mansion of lumber baron Charles Hanson. It was a huge struc ture at the corner of Brewster Avenue and Arguello Street, and has since been torn down and replaced by an office building.
Sister Ann Maureen King swore the place was haunted. In a paper that survives within the order’s archives, she wrote that at least six sisters, including herself, were all in different parts of the mansion in 1932 when each “was called but found herself unable to move. Someone seemed to be blocking her way.”
Her report continued: “The call was a loud ‘sister, sister.’ No one was there. The paralysis lasted but a few minutes. Nat urally, we were all frightened. The nuns said a few prayers and went about their work, but the haunting went on.”
Over time, the strange appeals persist ed. “Sometimes it was a prolonged sighing ‘sister,’” wrote Sister Ann Maureen. “One night we were in bed and the call came along with three knocks, the drapes over the large mirror fell to the floor, but, again, no one was seen,” she said in recounting the most dramatic of what she termed the “incidents.” In the last such event, each nun was summoned by her full name.
The youngest nun at the convent at the time of the occurrences, Sister Ann Mau reen died in 2009 at age 97 after a 50-year teaching career. Despite the disturbing experience, she described her life as “a long blessed journey.” She once said she believed that whatever or whoever was involved “needed our help.”
Perhaps Freddie Kohl got his convents confused.
HISTORY by Jim Clifford...contractors working on the theater reported seeing “a young woman wearing a long dress walk up our corner staircase and then disappear.”
Together, we design places that inspire people.
Craft Beer - Live Music- Food Every Friday
15 TWENTY FUN
Devil's Canyon Turns 21!
21 Classpop Cooking Class
28 Halloween Bash
935 Washington St., San Carlos
For more info go to: devilscanyon.com
Every Night @ 9pm - 1am
2420 Broadway., Redwood City
For more info go to: thesandwichspotrwc.com
14 South Border & NeoColurs Tour
2221 Broadway, Redwood City
For more info go to: foxrwc.com
3 The Wallflowers
6 Matt Nathanson with special guest: Donovan Woods
7 Bud E. Luv's Birthday Bash
8 Comedy Night with Austin Carr & Friends
9 "What's Your 2040?" Climate Movie and Community Conversation
15 Joe Pug
1 Latin Rock Inc. Presents CARNAVAL! and AZUL LATINO
5 The Club Fox Blues Jam MIGHTY MIKE SCHERMER
6 Drew Harrison
IN THE SPIRIT OF LENNON w/Tommy Consentino on piano
An Intimate Acoustic Celebration of the Life & Music of John Lennon
7 Non Velvet
9 Led Kaapana and Fran Guidry
11 Carvin Jones "King of Strings"
12 The Club Fox Blues Jam Aki Kumar
Pub Trivia NIght
Every Thursday @ 7:30pm
831 Main St., Redwood City
For more info go to: alhambra-irish-house.com
14-23 Steve Martin & Edie Brickell's BRIGHT STAR
For more info go to: woodsidetheatre.com
13 Pete Aiello “Come Together”
Featuring: Max Gutierrez & His Fabulous Musician Friends
14 ILLEAGLES – The Premiere Tribute to the Music of the Eagles
15 Bearly Dead
19 The Club Fox Blues Jam Jinx Jones
21 Resonant Frequencies
26 The Club Fox Blues Jam Halloween Bash with Daniel Castro
28 Foreverland
29 When Doves Cry
The Prince Tribute Halloween Show w/Costume Contest!
2209 Broadway, Redwood City
For more info go to: clubfoxrwc.com
21 Rocky Horror Picture Show
Ft. Bawdy Caste
17 Pink Talking Fish
18 An All Star Lineup of The Boogie
28 The Daniel Castro Band
29 Mother Hips
For more info go to: guildtheatre.com
First Wednesdays: Burlesque
Second and Fourth Wednesdays: Standup Comedy
Every Thursday: Board Game Night
Every Saturday night: LIVE MUSIC
Fri 28/Sat 29/Sun 30: “Halloween at The Hub” with live music every night.
2650 Broadway, Redwood City
For more info go to: TheHubRWC.com
Redwood City Downtown Business Group
Introduces Candidates Running for RWC City Council
October 11 at 839 Main Street, RWC
District 2 • District 5 • District 6 Candidates will have 10 minutes to introduce themselves with time left for questions and answers!
Refreshments will be served!
