Burlingame, California
Encyclopedia
Burlingame is a city in San Mateo County
San Mateo County, California
San Mateo County is a county located in the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. It covers most of the San Francisco Peninsula just south of San Francisco, and north of Santa Clara County. San Francisco International Airport is located at the northern end of the county, and...

, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. It is located on the San Francisco Peninsula
San Francisco Peninsula
The San Francisco Peninsula is a peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area that separates the San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean. On its northern tip is the City and County of San Francisco. Its southern base is in Santa Clara County, including the cities of Palo Alto, Los Altos, and Mountain...

 and has a significant shoreline on San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean...

. The city is named after diplomat Anson Burlingame
Anson Burlingame
Anson Burlingame wasan American lawyer, legislator, and diplomat, born in New Berlin, Chenango County, New York. In 1823 his parents took him to Ohio, and about ten years afterwards to Michigan...

. It is renowned for its many surviving examples of Victorian architecture
Victorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...

, its affluence, and its high quality of residential life. Burlingame was settle
Settle
Settle is a small market town and civil parish within the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. It is served by the Settle railway station, which is located near the town centre, and Giggleswick railway station which is a mile away. It is from Leeds Bradford Airport...

d by wealthy San Franciscans
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...

 looking for a better climate for their second homes. Beginning in the 1960s a population increase and its proximity to the San Francisco International Airport
San Francisco International Airport
San Francisco International Airport is a major international airport located south of downtown San Francisco, California, United States, near the cities of Millbrae and San Bruno in unincorporated San Mateo County. It is often referred to as SFO...

 generated airline support services growth. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, Burlingame had a population of 28,806.

History

Burlingame is on the Mexican land grant
Ranchos of California
The Spanish, and later the Méxican government encouraged settlement of territory now known as California by the establishment of large land grants called ranchos, from which the English ranch is derived. Devoted to raising cattle and sheep, the owners of the ranchos attempted to pattern themselves...

 Rancho San Mateo
Rancho San Mateo
Rancho San Mateo was a Mexican land grant in present day San Mateo County, California given in 1846 by Governor Pio Pico to Cayetano Arenas. Rancho San Mateo extended from the foothills to the bay and included Coyote Point, about one-half the present city of San Mateo, all of Burlingame and most...

 given by Governor Pio Pico
Pío Pico
Pío de Jesús Pico was the last Governor of Alta California under Mexican rule.-Origins:...

 to his secretary, Cayetano Arena in 1845. Cayetano soon sold the land to San Francisco based merchant William Davis Merry Howard
William Davis Merry Howard
William Davis Merry Howard was a native of Boston, Massachusetts who came to California in 1839 as a cabin boy on a sailing ship. For several years he worked on ships trading hides and tallow along the Pacific coast. In 1845 he formed the San Francisco merchant business of Mellus & Howard...

. Howard retired to live on the rancho for the remaining eight years of his life. Howard planted many eucalyptus trees on his property.

Howard's early death in 1856 led to the sale of most of the land to William C. Ralston
William Chapman Ralston
William "Billy" Chapman Ralston was a San Francisco, California businessman and financier, and was the founder of the Bank of California.-Biography:...

, a prominent banker. In 1866, Anson Burlingame, the US Minister to China
United States Ambassador to China
The United States Ambassador to China is the chief American diplomat to People's Republic of China . The United States has sent diplomatic representatives to China since 1844, when Caleb Cushing, as Commissioner, negotiated the Treaty of Wanghia. Commissioners represented the United States in...

 visited Ralston, and by the time he left he was the owner of 1043 acres (4 km²) of land. His name “Burlingame” was put onto the parcel map for reference. That visit to the San Francisco Peninsula, was Burlingame’s last. On a visit to Russia in 1870, Burlingame died. With his death the land reverted to Ralston.

Ralston had plans for the area which he called “Ralstonville”, but he died in 1875 without many of his plans being realized. The land then passed to Ralston's business partner Senator William Sharon
William Sharon
William Sharon was a United States Senator from Nevada who profited from the Comstock Lode.-Early life:Sharon was born in Smithfield, Ohio, January 9, 1821, the son of William Sharon and Susan Kirk. He attended Ohio University. After studying law in St. Louis, Missouri, he was admitted to the bar...

. Sharon died in 1885, and Sharon's son-in-law, Francis G. Newlands
Francis G. Newlands
Francis Griffith Newlands was a United States Representative and Senator from Nevada.-Early life:Newlands was born in Natchez, Mississippi, on August 28, 1846...

, became executor of Sharon’s estate. Newlands had grand plans of his own. His vision was to build estates that surrounded a country club, similar to the development he helped create in Chevy Chase, Maryland
Chevy Chase, Maryland
Chevy Chase is the name of both a town and an unincorporated census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland. In addition, a number of villages in the same area of Montgomery County include "Chevy Chase" in their names...

. The Burlingame Country Club was organized in 1893.

After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake
1906 San Francisco earthquake
The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 was a major earthquake that struck San Francisco, California, and the coast of Northern California at 5:12 a.m. on Wednesday, April 18, 1906. The most widely accepted estimate for the magnitude of the earthquake is a moment magnitude of 7.9; however, other...

, many people looking to escape the hardships of a city in ruins flocked south. Hundreds of lots in Burlingame were sold in 1906 and 1907. Just two years after the quake, the town of Burlingame was incorporated June 6, 1908. By 1910, the neighboring town of Easton, on the former Rancho Buri Buri
Rancho Buri Buri
Rancho Buri Buri was a Mexican land grant in present day San Mateo County, California given in 1835 by Governor José Castro to José Antonio Sánchez. The name derives from the Urebure village of the Ramaytush speaking Yelamu tribe of Ohlone people who were settled by the banks of San Bruno Creek...

, was annexed and became part of Burlingame as well.

City of Trees
Burlingame is known as the "City of Trees" due to the number of trees within the city (18,000 public trees). In 1908, the Burlingame board of trustees passed an ordinance "prohibiting cutting, injuring, or destroying trees". Most residential properties have trees owned and protected by the city on their public right of way. In addition the city has many parks and Eucalyptus groves that add to the overall tree numbers. The Eucalyptus groves occur to the west of the city on Interstate 280
Interstate 280 (California)
Interstate 280 is a 57-mile long north–south Interstate Highway in the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It connects San Jose and San Francisco, running along just to the west of the cities of San Francisco Peninsula for most of its route.I-280 from its northern end at King...

 and grow along many city streets, such as the heritage Jules Francard Grove along the Caltrain tracks north of Burlingame Ave, following El Camino Real
El Camino Real (California)
El Camino Real and sometimes associated with Calle Real usually refers to the 600-mile California Mission Trail, connecting the former Alta California's 21 missions , 4 presidios, and several pueblos, stretching from Mission San Diego de Alcalá in San Diego...

, and along other smaller local streets. Washington Park, with Burlingame Avenue at its southern edge, Burlingame High School at its northern edge, and the Caltrain line at its western edge is the oldest park in Burlingame. It was originally part of the millionaire cigar retailer Moses A. Gunst Estate, and some of the existing large trees within the park were part of this estate.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...

, the city has a total area of 6.1 square miles (15.8 km²). 4.4 square miles (11.4 km²) of it is land and 1.7 square miles (4.4 km²) of it (27.25%) is water.

2010

The 2010 United States Census reported that Burlingame had a population of 28,806. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...

 was 4,756.2 people per square mile (1,836.4/km²). The racial makeup of Burlingame was 19,510 (67.7%) White, 360 (1.2%) African American, 74 (0.3%) Native American, 5,841 (20.3%) Asian, 139 (0.5%) Pacific Islander, 1,451 (5.0%) from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...

, and 1,431 (5.0%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3,966 persons (13.8%).

The Census reported that 28,357 people (98.4% of the population) lived in households, 155 (0.5%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 294 (1.0%) were institutionalized.

There were 12,361 households, out of which 3,640 (29.4%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 5,735 (46.4%) were opposite-sex married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...

 living together, 1,039 (8.4%) had a female householder with no husband present, 409 (3.3%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 627 (5.1%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships
POSSLQ
POSSLQ is an abbreviation for "Persons of Opposite Sex Sharing Living Quarters," a term coined in the late 1970s by the United States Census Bureau as part of an effort to more accurately gauge the prevalence of cohabitation in American households....

, and 101 (0.8%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 4,276 households (34.6%) were made up of individuals and 1,201 (9.7%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.29. There were 7,183 families
Family (U.S. Census)
A family or family household is defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes as "a householder and one or more other people related to the householder by birth, marriage, or adoption. They do not include same-sex married couples even if the marriage was performed in a state...

 (58.1% of all households); the average family size was 3.02.

The population was spread out with 6,256 people (21.7%) under the age of 18, 1,496 people (5.2%) aged 18 to 24, 8,872 people (30.8%) aged 25 to 44, 8,136 people (28.2%) aged 45 to 64, and 4,046 people (14.0%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40.5 years. For every 100 females there were 90.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.2 males.

There were 13,027 housing units at an average density of 2,150.9 per square mile (830.5/km²), of which 5,821 (47.1%) were owner-occupied, and 6,540 (52.9%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.3%; the rental vacancy rate was 4.5%. 15,345 people (53.3% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 13,012 people (45.2%) lived in rental housing units.

2000

As of the U.S Census of 2009, there were 27,363 people and 25,577 households residing in the city. There were 11,615 housing units with 5,389 owner-occupied homes costing at a median value of $1,000,000+.

There were 12,511 households out of which 24.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.1% were married couples living together, 7.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 44.4% were non-families. 35.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.21 and the average family size was 2.93. The age distribution is: 19.2% under the age of 18, 5.5% from 18 to 24, 36.9% from 25 to 44, 23.2% from 45 to 64, and 15.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 91.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.8 males.

According to a 2009 estimate, the median income for a household was $82,295, and the median income for a family was $103,440. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...

 for the city was $46,573. About 3% of families and 6% of the population were below the poverty line

Neighborhoods

  • Burlingame Gardens
  • Burlingame Gate
  • Burlingame Park
  • Burlingame Terrace
    Burlingame Terrace, Burlingame, California
    Burlingame Terrace is a residential subdivision in Burlingame, California. Current boundaries are Oak Grove Ave, Broadway Ave, El Camino Real, and California Drive.-Development:...

  • Burlingame Village

  • Country Club Manor
  • Downtown
  • Easton Addition
  • Lyon Hoag
  • Oak Grove
  • Ray Park


Politics

In the state legislature
California State Legislature
The California State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of California. It is a bicameral body consisting of the lower house, the California State Assembly, with 80 members, and the upper house, the California State Senate, with 40 members...

 Burlingame is located in the 8th Senate
California State Senate
The California State Senate is the upper house of the California State Legislature. There are 40 state senators. The state legislature meets in the California State Capitol in Sacramento. The Lieutenant Governor is the ex officio President of the Senate and may break a tied vote...

 District, represented by Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 Leland Yee
Leland Yee
Leland Yee is a California State Senator in District 8 which represents the western half of San Francisco and most of San Mateo County. Prior to becoming state senator, Yee was a California State Assemblyman, Supervisor of San Francisco's Sunset District, and was a member and President of the San...

, and in the 19th Assembly
California State Assembly
The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature. There are 80 members in the Assembly, representing an approximately equal number of constituents, with each district having a population of at least 420,000...

 District, represented by Democrat Jerry Hill
Jerry Hill (Politician)
Jerry Hill is a Democratic state assemblyman representing California's 19th assembly district since December 2008. The district includes the cities of San Mateo, Burlingame, Brisbane, Daly City, Foster City, Millbrae, San Bruno, South San Francisco, Half Moon Bay, Pacifica, and Belmont.- Personal...

. Federally, Burlingame is located in California's 12th congressional district
California's 12th congressional district
California's 12th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of California that spans from the southwestern portions of San Francisco in the north down to San Mateo in the south, and from Moss Beach in the west to the edge of San Mateo in the east, where it borders...

, which has a Cook PVI
Cook Partisan Voting Index
The Cook Partisan Voting Index , sometimes referred to as simply the Partisan Voting Index , is a measurement of how strongly an American congressional district or state leans toward one political party compared to the nation as a whole...

 of D +22 and is currently represented by Democrat Jackie Speier
Jackie Speier
Karen Lorraine Jacqueline "Jackie" Speier is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2008. She is a member of the Democratic Party. The district includes the northern two-thirds of San Mateo County and the southwest quarter of San Francisco.She is also a former member of the California State...

 who currently lives in near-by Hillsborough
Hillsborough, California
Hillsborough is an incorporated town in San Mateo County, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. Hillsborough is one of the wealthiest communities in America and has the highest income of places in the United States with populations of at least 10,000...

.

Economy

In the 1920s Burlingame became a location for automobile retailers. In 1958 Burlingame annexed the area including Burlingame Plaza and Mills Peninsula Hospital. Due to the proximity to San Francisco International Airport and a population increase beginning in the 1960s, various airline support service businesses opened in Burlingame. As of 2002 most of the businesses in the Rollins Road industrial area serve the airline industry due to the proximity to San Francisco International Airport; the Rollins Road area also has car service businesses.

Mills Peninsula Health Services, the largest employer in Burlingame, employs around 2,500 people. LSG/Sky Chefs, Inc., the eighth-largest employer in terms of Burlingame operations, has around 281 people employed there. Guittard Chocolate Company
Guittard Chocolate Company
The Guittard Chocolate Company is an American-based chocolate maker which produces couverture chocolate using original formulas and traditional French methods...

 is headquartered in Burlingame; as the city's 10th largest employer it has around 210 employees. Virgin America
Virgin America
Virgin America, Inc. is a United States-based low-cost airline that began service on August 8, 2007. The airline's stated aim is to provide low-fare, high-quality service for "long-haul point-to-point service between major metropolitan cities on the Eastern and West Coast seaboards." San Francisco...

's headquarters are located in Suite 450 at Bay Park Plaza II in Burlingame; as the 13th largest employer Virgin America has around 200 employees at its headquarters.

The online discount brokerage Zecco.com
Zecco.com
Zecco.com is an online investing company with operations in San Francisco, California and Pasadena, California. Investors on Zecco.com have access to Zecco Trading, its stock, option, mutual fund and bond trading platform. Investors also have access to Zecco Forex, which provides spot foreign...

 operates one of two California offices in Burlingame. The United States division of Natsume, a video game company, is headquartered in Burlingame. China Airlines
China Airlines
China Airlines is both the flag carrier and the largest airline of Republic of China . Although not directly state-owned, the airline is owned by China Airlines Group, which is owned by the China Aviation Development Foundation...

 operates the San Francisco Branch Office (Chinese: 舊金山分公司 Jiùjīnshān Fēngōngsī') in Burlingame. The Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative
Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative
The Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative was an American company led by founder and owner Victor Conte, a former bass player for the soul band Tower of Power. In 2003, journalists Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada investigated the company's role in a drug sports scandal later referred to as the...

 (BALCO), the company made famous by the baseball steroid scandal, was headquartered in Burlingame. In previous eras All Nippon Airways
All Nippon Airways
, also known as or ANA, is one of the largest airlines in Japan. It is headquartered at the Shiodome City Center in the Shiodome area in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It operates services to 49 destinations in Japan and 35 international routes and employed over 14,000 employees as of May 2009...

 located its San Francisco Office in Burlingame.

Top employers

According to the City's 2009 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the city are:
# Employer # of Employees
1 Enclos 521
2 Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport 467
3 ECC 460
4 Critchfield Mechanical 371
5 SF Airport Marriott
Marriott International
Marriott International, Inc. is a worldwide operator and franchisor of a broad portfolio of hotels and related lodging facilities. Founded by J. Willard Marriott, the company is now led by son J.W. Marriott, Jr...

350
6 LSG Sky Chefs
LSG Sky Chefs
LSG Sky Chefs is the brand name of LSG Lufthansa Service Holding AG, which is the world's largest provider of airline catering and in-flight services. It is a subsidiary of Deutsche Lufthansa AG. A part of the company was formerly owned by AMR Corporation, parent company of American Airlines...

281
7 Virgin America 257
8 Goldberg & Solovy 244
9 Flying Food Group 236
10 Lahlouh 218

Preschools

There are nineteen preschools in Burlingame. They are A Child's Way, Palcare, Stepping Stone, Peninsula Temple Sholom, Papillion Preschool, Burlingame Montessori, St. Paul's Co-Op Nursery School, Learning Links, Morning Glory Montessori, Sunshine Family Child Care, United Methodist Co-Op Nursery School: Toddler Room, Kiddie Lab, First Presbyterian School, and Tout About Toys.

Primary and secondary schools

Public schools
San Mateo Union High School District
San Mateo Union High School District
The San Mateo Union High School District is a high school district headquartered in San Mateo, California.-Schools:The district consists of seven public high schools, one alternative high school , and one adult School in San Bruno, Millbrae, Burlingame, and San Mateo. The oldest school in the...

 operates local high schools. Burlingame High School
Burlingame High School
Burlingame High School is a public high school in Burlingame, California. It is part of the San Mateo Union High School District .-History:...

 is the city's sole public high school. Burlingame Intermediate School is Burlingame's sole public middle school. There are five public elementary schools serving Burlingame. They are Franklin Elementary, Lincoln Elementary, McKinley Elementary, Roosevelt Elementary, and Washington Elementary. According to the 2009 Base Academic Performance Index (API) Scores from the California Department of Education, the Burlingame School District ranks among the best in the state, with 4 out of their 5 public elementary schools (Roosevelt Elementary, Washington Elementary, Franklin Elementary, and Lincoln Elementary) scoring well between 880-925, and with ratings of 9 or 10.
There are several private schools located in Burlingame including Our Lady of Angels, St.Catherine of Siena.

Private School
Mercy High School is the only private catholic all- girls high school in Burlingame. It was founded in 1931 by the Sisters of Mercy. The School itself is located in the prestigious Kohl Mansion which is a Historic Landmark. Also Our Lady of Angels School is located in Burlingame

Public libraries

Burlingame Library is located in Burlingame. It was established by city ordinance October 11, 1909. Following the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989 the City approved a bond issue to reconstruct the library. The architecture has won awards and was featured in Library Journal as well as earning a cover story in American Libraries. There is a secondary location on Easton Drive, which is substantially smaller than the main branch. Both are operated by the Peninsula Library System
Peninsula Library System
The Peninsula Library System is the public library organization serving San Mateo County, California, United States, which forms the bulk of the region within the San Francisco Bay Area known as "The Peninsula"...

, the library authority for the county.

Points of interest

  • Burlingame was the location of the Center for Libertarian Studies
    Center for Libertarian Studies
    The Center for Libertarian Studies was a libertarian and anarcho-capitalist oriented educational organization founded in 1976 by Murray Rothbard and Burton Blumert, which grew out of the Libertarian Scholars Conferences...

  • Burlingame is home to the Burlingame Museum of Pez
    PEZ
    Pez is the brand name of an Austrian confectionery and the mechanical pocket dispensers for the same...

     Memorabilia
  • The ship General Frank M. Coxe
    General Frank M. Coxe (ship)
    The General Frank M. Coxe is a steam ferry which was built for the United States Army to provide transportation services among several military facilities which ring California's San Francisco Bay....

     is preserved as The Sherman, a floating restaurant, just south of San Francisco International Airport
  • Burlingame Avenue and Broadway Avenue, two streets running parallel to each other about one mile apart, are two of the city's main retail districts.


Burlingame Avenue has developed into a popular hang out for Burlingame High School students on minimum days and also on the weekends, where they enjoy eating lunch at some of the popular restaurants, including La Corneta, Crepevine, and Urban Bistro, which just recently opened off Burlingame Avenue. Therapy is the most popular clothing store among BHS students, and you can always count on finding teens sipping a Starbucks drink as they walk down the Ave or munching on a petite treat from the delicious new bakery Teacake.

In popular culture

  • Scenes from the film Dangerous Minds
    Dangerous Minds
    Dangerous Minds is an American drama film based on the autobiography My Posse Don't Do Homework by former U.S. Marine LouAnne Johnson, who took up a teaching position at Carlmont High School in Belmont, California, where most of her students were African-American and Hispanic teenagers from East...

     were filmed on the campus of Burlingame High School in the spring of 1994.
  • Scenes from the music video "Crusin' Down The Avenue" were filmed in Burlingame
  • Burlingame is home to the historic Kohl Mansion, where the movie Flubber
    Flubber
    Flubber is a 1997 comedy film and is a remake of The Absent-Minded Professor . The film was produced by Walt Disney Pictures starring Robin Williams...

     was filmed
  • In James Patterson
    James Patterson
    James B. Patterson is an American author of thriller novels, largely known for his series about American psychologist Alex Cross...

    's Women's Murder Club series, medical examiner Claire Washburn lives in Burlingame.

Miscellany

  • Burlingame enacted one of the first comprehensive Noise Elements of the General Plan in the nation.

External links



City Council members
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