Climate RWC – November 2022

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P u b l i c a t i o n Profile: A Family Automotive Dynasty Spotlight: The Lost Art of Letter Writing History: The Untimely End of Pacific City

ISSUE EIGHTY SEVEN • NOVEMBER • 2022

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR•

So this guy has a job sweeping up after the elephants in the circus. It’s dirty and smelly, and he hates it. His friend asks, “Why don’t you quit?” The guy says, “What—and get out of show business?”

Okay, it’s an old joke. But it does capture the dual reality of the Big Top—glitter and sweat

rolled into one arduous enterprise. In our cover story this month, Dan Brown discovers the same

connection in his thoughtful and often-humorous exploration of the nearly 180-year-old Zoppé Italian Family Circus, currently playing in downtown Redwood City. The show is delightful, and so is Dan’s feature.

Another family that’s attracted notice for more than a century is the Kopfs, who have worked in

the automotive business since 1917. Various members own Boardwalk Auto Mall in Redwood City and other local dealerships. But they’re more than middle-of-the-road car dealers. Four generations

ago, Argentinian native Benjamin Kopf Sr. helped build Ford Motor Company into a dynamo in South America and Asia before being held in Japan during World War II.

Many of the Kopf family’s doings are preserved in letters, including a few between Benjamin Kopf

Sr. and his ultimate boss, Henry Ford. But with email and social media, does honest-to-goodness, sit-down-at-your-desk letter-writing have a future? Our reporter Janet McGovern picks up her pen

and composes a few answers (including which retired state senator may have the worst handwriting among Peninsula politicians).

Something always to write home about is Thanksgiving. It’s coming none too soon, because

the cartoon turkey banners in the stores have started to sag since they first went up in August.

My advice: Skip the turkey and head straight to dessert. Food columnist Susan Jenkins insists

there’s life after pumpkin pie—namely, her ultra-tempting Baked Pumpkin Cheesecake. Try it while it’s still legal.

So far, Jim Clifford hasn’t grumbled that his intriguing history column comes last in the magazine.

Maybe that’s because he realizes it, too, is a bit like dessert—an item everyone looks forward to. This

month, Jim revisits Pacific City, a popular but short-lived 1920s amusement park on Coyote Point that came to an odiferous end. Guess they could have used that guy from the circus.

Scott Dailey, Editor

November 2022 ·

CLIMATE · 3

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TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S •

FEATU RE

The Little Big Top of Zoppé

8

PROFILE

A Family Automotive Dynasty

16

SPOTLIG HT

The Lost Art of Letter Writing

26

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT �����21 FOOD.............................31 HISTORY......................32 ENTERTAINMENT..........34

4 · CLIMATE · November 2022

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INTERVENTION | PREVENTION We offer team building and leadership opportunities to promote helping themselves, their peers, and the community as a whole Contact Us: San Mateo Police Activities League 200 Franklin Parkway San Mateo, CA 94403 Programs: smpal@cityofsanmateo.org T: (650) 522-7725 Fundraising: ltartaglia@cityofsanmateo.org T: (650) 522-7713

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Neighbors helping neighbors - since 1938 November 2022 · CLIMATE ·5

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6 · CLIMATE · November 2022

Gourmet Burgers, Excellent Pizza, Fresh Salad & Sandwiches, Mexican Food, The Impossible Burger & More!

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A NEW DATE!

Saturday, December 10th, 2022 from 10 am - 6 pm

C L I M AT E •

Downtown Redwood City's Hometown Holidays are back!

Come prepared to enjoy a kid's carnival, vendors, food & beverages, Santa photo opportunity and a "Hallmark" parade.

BUT WAIT! The tree lighting will still be held on December 3rd at 6 pm.

Dont miss either event!

November 2022 ·

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F E AT U R E •

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F E AT U R E •

A weird and wonderful life in the circus.

By Dan Brown

It’s a day off for the circus, so Giovanni Zoppé and his partner, Jeanette Prince, perform a juggling act more relatable to the rest of us. There is laundry to be done, kids to be tended to and tea to be made, all from the confines of a home that feels a few sizes too small.

They are here, inside a trailer planted on a Redwood City parking lot, for a month of performances at a stop they deem their favorite of their whole tour.

November 2022 ·

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Such

profuse praise for the local crowd risks inspiring a more cynical bit of theater—acrobatic eye-rolling. But as Giovanni and Jeanette talk, it’s clear how much they mean it. This Zoppé Italian Family Circus began in Venice nearly 180 years ago and has somehow connected almost cosmically with the audiences who fill the tents placed incongruously next door to the Redwood City Library.

This is the Zoppé family’s 14th year of performing in Redwood City, long enough to establish genuine roots. It was the first stop of Giovanni’s son, Benetto, who was born at Sequoia Hospital. And it was the last stop of Giovanni’s father, Alberto, the famed clown whose last show was here before his death in 2009 at age 87.

So, when the performers talk about the Zoppé “family,” they often mean the people in and around Redwood City.

“The audience here is attached to the show. They’ve formed this connection,’’ says Jeanette, who handles marketing.

“And, so, when they come, they come with that energy, because they have been waiting for it. They're excited for it. They remember it. They're connected to it.

“We have obviously positive feedback everywhere we go,” Jeanette continues. “But it's a different kind of connectivity that they have here because of the longevity. It's a different, more personal, intense feel.”

Keeping a Tradition Alive The massive circus tent in downtown Redwood City on this mid-October day is set up largely because a young French street performer met a beautiful equestrian ballerina in Hungary in 1842. Those two lovebirds created an old-world circus heavy on acrobatic feats and horse-riding escapades.

Giovanni is their great-great-grandson, and he keeps the family presenting a show that Napoline and Ermenegilda would

10 · CLIMATE · November 2022

There are no laser lights swirling, no high-tech sizzle. The emphasis is on elegant showmanship, with jugglers and high-wire acts and aerial gymnastics and dancing dogs. Even the props are as old as the circus itself: Balloons, canes, trombones and accordions. recognize as their own. There are no laser lights swirling, no high-tech sizzle.

The emphasis is on elegant showmanship, with jugglers and high-wire acts and aerial gymnastics and dancing dogs. Even the props are as old as the circus itself: Balloons, canes, trombones and accordions.

The stated goal of the Zoppé family members is to do the show the same way their ancestors did the show for the audience’s ancestors.

Asked about the highlight of each night, Jeanette considers the question only long enough to realize there is no right answer.

“The very essence of the show is the highlight: It’s the ability to step back in time, to remove yourself not just from the current world and society, but your current way of thinking,’’ she says. “It’s just to be transported into another world. And that's an experience that’s not quantifiable.

You can't list that as ‘A-B-C-D, come see this and that.’’’

Their dedication to authenticity even extends to setting up the circus grounds.

The circular, peak-roofed tent is the real deal, held down by steel cables and stakes.

But no automated stake drivers are allowed. Performers put up the tent by hand and drive in the stakes with hammers.

What else remains the same now as in 1842?

“As much as possible,’’ Giovanni says.

“We don't use candles, but that’s about it.”

Which leads Jeanette to crack, “Well, only because the fire marshal won’t allow it!”

The Greatest of Ease The tradition remains in place, right down to the love story. Giovanni and Jeanette met in 2016. “Or maybe it was 2017,’’ she says. “Time in the circus is a very strange thing.”

She had just seen the Zoppé Family Circus, and not for the first time, as an audience member in her hometown of Oklahoma City. After the performance, she ventured down with other fans to chat with the magnetic and emotionally vulnerable clown who served as the heart of the show.

“I think it's funny because it’s the same way that Giovanni meets anybody, which is at the show,’’ Jeanette says. “After the show, the artists come out, and as everybody's exiting, they say goodbye.

“And the people who feel connected, they want to talk to the performers and take pictures. But the one that does that for the longest and with the most intensity is Giovanni. For he is the character most people resonate with. He often lingers to

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F E AT U R E •

The stated goal of the Zoppé family members is to do the show the same way their ancestors did the show for the audience’s ancestors. connect with people. And that's how we met—in one of his lingering sessions.”

Giovanni remembers the moment, too.

He’d spotted Jeanette in the crowd enough times to feel a connection even before they spoke. And when they finally did get to chat, he swears they talked forever.

“Yeah, he always says that!” Jeanette laughs. “‘We were there for hours!’ Like, there's no way I stood there for hours in the September Oklahoma sun!”

Now they live in a trailer that’s 34 feet long and 7-½ feet wide as the couple raises six children and oversees the roughly two dozen performers that roam with them from stop to stop. (For this tour, they added four performers from Kenya.)

How many days a year do they live in this confined space? Giovanni answers by peering over his shoulder and sweeping his left arm wide as if giving a grand tour.

“Our home is always our home,’’ he says.

“Only our backyard changes.”

Born to Be a Clown During the show, Giovanni, who is in his early 50s, plays Nino, the clown who propels the action as a hapless and childlike bumbler. And it is something he was born to do. That should have been obvious from the way he arrived: His mother, Sandra, went into labor while in the parking lot of the WGN television studios in Chicago. It seems Giovanni’s father was still inside appearing on the “Bozo the Clown” show.

Giovanni grew up with only one career path. He dabbled in construction (it lasted about two weeks) and in delivery (one week) but his real profession was so obvious that there was never a need for a LinkedIn page.

As a circus clown, he says the goal each time is to “touch on every emotion during the show.” Nino’s comic and charismatic persona always pulls the narrative thread.

The Daily Beast, in a 2017 rave over Giovanni’s performance, put it this way:

“Even the most unobservant spectator can’t help but realize that in Nino’s performance, you’re witnessing a master class in clowning. … The trick, of course, is to make it new, and somehow that is what Nino does. A peerless performer, he is the epitome of the traditional Auguste clown—the circus term for the troublemaking buffoon with the big nose and a genius for getting into trouble—he is a peerless performer.

“At least one aspect of the magic he weaves is explicable. Whether he is insinuating himself into a juggling routine or flubbing a trapeze act, he clearly has those skills in his toolkit. He’s not only a good juggler and wire walker but good enough to fool you into thinking he’s a klutz.”

On this day, sitting on the couch and occasionally looking antsy, Giovanni explains that he’s not really acting when he’s out there as Nino. No, he’s acting now, November 2022

· CLIMATE · 11

• while dressed in street clothes and providing quotes for a rolling tape recorder.

Giovanni is truly himself only while under a big-top tent, as the master and commander of the lithe bodies who swing perilously from a trapeze as rapt audiences gasp with a mix of awe and merriment from below.

“Nino is me,’’ Giovanni says. “It's not anybody else. I'm not playing a different character out there.

I'm actually playing a character right now.

“So, it's a reverse role, kind of. I'm definitely not playing a different person. I'm playing myself. It’s just that the bad parts may get a little bigger, the good parts bigger. I emphasize parts of me in a different way.”

“Opa! Opa! Opa!” The circus is demanding physically, but there’s a spiritual toll as well. The Zoppé “family” is loosely defined, because the two-dozen performers come from all over the world. (Notably, a globe has a featured window spot in the Zoppé family’s trailer.)

In the anxious minutes before each show, performers gather as one: The jugglers and acrobats and clowns and equestrians and dog trainers assemble into a circle and embrace both silence and one another. They call it the “prayer circle.”

“The prayer circle is not about a religion or about a certain faith or about a certain culture, even,” Giovanni says. “It's whoever wants to say whatever they want to say. All artists in the circle, and we basically look at each other until somebody starts to speak.”

A night earlier, a shy 7-year-old Greek girl in the troupe had taken the lead simply by sticking a foot out toward the center of the circle. All the other artists did the same. Then she put her other foot out.

Again, everyone followed.

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F E AT U R E •

“And she danced a little bit. And she picked her knee up. We all did that,’’ Giovanni says.

After that version of a prayer, everyone said, “Amen.” And for good measure, they shouted, “Opa! Opa! Opa!” (the Greek interjection of excitement and joy).

“The prayer circle is not about a religion or about a certain faith or about a certain culture, even,” Giovanni says. “It's whoever wants to say whatever they want to say. All artists in the circle, and we basically look at each other until somebody starts to speak.”

“It's about a connection between us artists,’’ Giovanni said. “We all try and ‘in tune’ ourselves.”

The audience, too, gets a little pregame hype. Before stepping inside the tent for the one-ring show, the performers orient attendees about what to expect—and what it means.

“One of the reasons we do that is to connect us with our audience,” Giovanni says. “To get our audience to know who we are, that we're actually human beings.

We're not just a character on stage. We're not just somebody making bread for them.

“We are actually like they are. We're the same people. We're not higher, lower, better or worse. We're there with them.

“And I'm trying to get the audience (and the artists) to be in the same rhythm. So when we enter our home, our tent, we're all in the same rhythm. … We can understand them as much as they can understand us.”

The community vibe is so vital to the success of the show that when Giovanni and Jeanette consider new performers, talent is only part of the equation. They evaluate character, too.

Giovanni: “It’s difficult.”

Jeanette: “And you don’t always get it right.”

Giovanni: "No.” Jeanette (laughing): "We find that out real quick.”

The key is to find selfless performers who aim not for the spotlight but for the common good. Complainers don’t fare well.

“As the evaluator of a person's temperament and personality, you’re looking for somebody that believes in this not just as an art form, but as lifestyle,” Jeanette says.

“Because it's not easy. We don't always have water or power or, you know, a toilet.

And the manual labor is hard and long. In any way of life, to get through those really difficult things, you have to care about what you're doing.”

A Circus for Peace Every year, the Zoppé Circus picks a theme. Previous incarnations have included “La Nonna” (the grandmother),

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November 2022

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• dedicated to “the strong women in Zoppé’s history” and featuring an international cast of female performers.

This year, it’s “Libertà,’’ a theme chosen, as the circus’s website says, “in pursuit and celebration of liberty for people in all nations.” Whereas the show itself savors the old-world style circus, the message looks forward to a better future.

Giovanni says the direct translation of Libertà into English is “freedom,’’ but the nuances in Italian are harder to capture.

“In Italy, we use it for many, many different sentences, which includes ‘inclusion,’ which includes ‘family,’ which includes ‘all for one and one for all,’’’ he says. “So the reason we chose that word is partially because of the turmoil that's going on in our world today. And in Ukraine, of course, the terrible things that are happening there and now. There are just so many people, so many families that are suffering.”

The Zoppé Circus originally aimed to have five male performers from Ukraine this year, and Jeanette worked diligently to arrange visas. But international developments presented obvious hurdles.

“They're all, they're all fighting-age men,’’ Giovanni says. “So they’re not allowed out.”

So Zoppé turned instead to a group of acrobats from Kenya, a talented quartet that Giovanni’s mother, Sandra, discovered on Facebook before her death. She reached out to the rising artists and told them that someday Giovanni would bring them onto their grand stage. Troupe leader Renson Kaingu, now 27, remembers her telling them, “Come to the U.S. I’ll be your mom.”

Sandra died before she could see that invitation fulfilled, but she would be proud now to see her friend from Africa standing before the audience each night and giving a speech about peace and love.

“I stand there and talk about how we have to embrace each other,” Kaingu says.

“How we have to stay together and how

14 · CLIMATE · November 2022

F E AT U R E •

we have to have love for each other because all of us, we are human beings.”

Love for Redwood City Because of the theatrical silliness of politics, it’s a common trope to mock what goes on in Washington, D.C., as “circus-like.” Americans should be so lucky.

The spirit of cooperation among the performers, the blending of people from all backgrounds and the fierce dedication to supporters would be a welcome respite.

That’s part of the reason the Zoppé Circus loves Redwood City so much. It’s the rare place where Jeanette finds local officials—in the best sense—circus-like.

Jeanette deals with much of the logistics, and says city officials and other community leaders here work with a spirit of cooperation all too uncommon in the rest of the universe.

In other cities, she says, she has to tiptoe through municipal procedures because the political dynamics are so fraught with tension that cozying up to one side might anger someone else.

It leads her to wonder why people can’t get along for the sake of the local

population.

“That's what you have here,” she says.

“Because everybody works together and everybody's community-minded and the community and the city and the events can all flourish for the best.”

She reserves particular praise for Lucas Wilder, assistant director of the city’s department of parks, recreation and community services. But he’s hardly alone. Jeanette says the Zoppés been around long enough to meet with a slew of Redwood City mayors, council members and other city staffers.

“When we talk with them, they are always thinking about what is good for their community, and who they can serve and how they can serve the most amount of people,” Jeanette says. “So it's that mindset that makes us able to work here.

“That’s just very rare in our industry.

It's really remarkable. And it's really unique to this town.”

During the pandemic, the Zoppés say, their organization was the only circus in the world that found a way to keep performing. And it did so here, at the Port of Redwood City, where cars lined up to watch the action drive-in style. The trapeze artists and vaulting horses and other antics appeared on a 23-foot LED screen as the sound flowed though car radios.

The audience for that show had to keep the windows up and park safely apart, but at a time when family entertainment was hard to come by, the Zoppé Circus was like an oasis in the locked-down desert.

“We have people at every show now coming and just telling us how they sat in the backseat of their car and cried,” Giovanni says.

The Show Must Go On After a break in November, the circus will hit the road again in December. Next up is a warm-weather winter with stops in Palm Desert and Arizona.

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“This is the best place we’ve ever visited,” Kaingu says. “Here, the audience and the response is great to compared to other cities we’ve been to. Here, whatever you do, they appreciate it. That’s the great thing.

“If you go wrong, they keep on encouraging you. That is the best thing for any entertainer. It keeps motivating you: I can do more!” C

ting Com nnec mu o C ni rt ART EXHIBITION

ty

A

But you can bet your extra-large cotton candy that the Zoppé Italian Family Circus will be back in Redwood City next year.

It’s as close to a real home as the circus gets.

F E AT U R E •

Seven San Mateo County Artists

Also, check out

ART WORKSHOPS at the CZI Community Space

Tania Cardenas

Halle Donovan

Yunan Ma

Christine Ong-Dijcks

Whitney Parker

Gato Rivera

Karen Valdez

Expressions of

Register to attend FREE artist-led workshops at signup.com/go/DoArt

Joy

Through March 2023 register 24 hours in advance to view the art exhibition during public viewing dates/hours.

AT THE

Community Space

Go to signup.com/go/SeeArt

CZI Community Space | 801 Jefferson Ave., Redwood City, CA | Questions? info@rwcpaf.org

November 2022 ·

CLIMATE · 15

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PROFILE •

A 105-Year-Old Family

DYNASTY

How the Kopfs of Redwood City created an automotive powerhouse.

Benjamin Kopf Sr. (center) poses with the Japanese royal family at the Ford Motor manufacturing plant in Yokohama, Japan.

16 · CLIMATE · November 2022

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PROFILE •

By Jim Kirkland

The Kopf family, owners of Towne Ford, an Acura dealership and Boardwalk Auto Mall in Redwood City, come by their passion for cars honestly.

It all started in 1917, when Benjamin Kopf Sr. joined the staff of Ford Motor Company’s recently opened factory in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Kopf, who was born in the city, eventually established and ran five Ford plants throughout South America. His reputation spread, and company founder Henry Ford himself asked his rising Latin star to build a fresh franchise abroad.

Had either Kopf or Ford possessed a crystal ball, they might have reconsidered the new market: Japan. There, Kopf would achieve great success before finding himself under house arrest during World War II.

L

ike many during the wave of European immigration to the Western Hemisphere, Kopf’s father had come to Buenos Aires from France in the late 1800s. A brewer by trade, he died in 1892, when Benjamin was two years old.

His wife remarried a farmer named Alfredo Johanessen, but young Ben didn’t take to farm life. His brilliant mind harbored dreams of bigger things than feeding chickens and milking cows. Still, what education he received was by way of a tutor. Even that limited book-learning held contrary to his stepfather’s belief that the simple pleasures of hard work in the fields were all one needed in life.

It was far from surprising, then, that Kopf left home at 13, returning to the big city of Buenos Aires. He worked at odd jobs while satiating his desire for knowledge with help from the book collection at the YMCA. Along the way, he discovered a knack for languages, eventually speaking seven: German, Portuguese, Spanish, English, French, Italian and Japanese.

Disciplined and driven, Kopf joined Ford four years after his re-arrival in the city. It didn’t take long before the new hire’s talents were recognized, and he was elevated to assistant manager of the company’s local manufacturing plant. Cars were quickly catching on in Argentina, with Ford pushing out more than 1,000 vehicles a month in a country that didn’t have paved roads. By 1921, Kopf was head of a new Brazilian facility before moving to open another in Uruguay a year later—all while managing Ford dealerships in Brazil, Chile, Bolivia and Peru.

A New Assignment A year later, Kopf was a father of two children, Margarita and Benjamin Jr. With his wife, Margo, the young executive was ready for new challenges. While in Uruguay, he wrote to Ford, “The satisfaction of work well done, and hope of getting bigger and bigger jobs, are constant inspiration to me and a spur to exert more and better efforts.”

Kopf was angling to open a factory in Mexico.

Ford had other ideas.

He had decided his go-getting Argentine was just the man to crack the market in Japan, which had been shut off to Westerners. Undaunted by his then-lack of knowledge about Japanese culture and language, Kopf dutifully gathered up his family and in 1925 sailed for Yokohama, where the new plant would be constructed.

It took years to grasp the Japanese world, but gaining a foothold in the country’s auto market was a different matter. In short order, Kopf had Ford number-one in vehicle sales and oversaw 1,150 employees while setting up dealerships in China, the Philippines and French Indochina. In 1929 alone, Ford sold more than 10,000 units built in Japan.

According to a generational history written by grandson Rick, the visionary Kopf believed in modern technology and at one point sought unsuccessfully to introduce commercial aviation to Japan through the Ford tri-motor airplane. Never one to leave money on the table, Kopf was said to have sold the prototype to a Chinese warlord.

November 2022

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PROFILE •

For 15 years, Ford German and Tagalog (the boomed in Japan. Its cars bebasis of standard Filipicame so popular that the royal no). The recruiter’s next family visited the Yokohama request was, ‘Raise your plant. Benjamin Kopf Sr. was right hand.’” on top of his game, the darBen Jr. was attached ling of Ford Motor Company to the Army Intelligence and a respected, influential Corps and sent to the businessman.

Philippines to lead the Then came December 7, division there. Before he 1941. departed, however, came Increasingly alarmed at some unfinished business: the unsettling signs of war, He and Marian eloped.

The Kopf boys, from left to right: Ben III, Jamie, Ben Jr., Rick, Bob Margo and Ben in 1934 had Coming home in 1946, sent Ben Jr. to the U.S. and Ben Jr. found he had to Margarita to Canada to be compete with swarms of educated. Margo followed other returning G.I.s for a in 1940, taking residence in job. He and Marian decid—Ben Kopf Jr. Palo Alto, adjacent to where ed they would fare better the children had reunited at in Mexico City working hoofing it along Palm Drive between down- for Ford under Ben Sr. But after two years Stanford.

Soon after the attack on Pearl Harbor, town Palo Alto and the center of the cam- in Mexico, Marian had had enough and Kopf found himself locked out of his facto- pus. That courtesy extended especially from the couple returned to California to give ry, held under house arrest and searching young men to young women. One morning, birth to their first two sons, Richard (Rick) for a way out of Japan. Even though he was Benjamin Jr. was driving a shiny new 1940 and Robert (Bob) in Menlo Park. an Argentinean citizen, he was a foreigner black Mercury convertible with a red leather It should have come as little surprise who ran an American manufacturing fa- interior—a gift from his parents—when he that Ben Jr. found his next job at a Ford cility that had been seized and converted pulled over and offered a lift to a student dealership. named Marian Malquist. to military production.

The Mercury drop-top that had cap“She fell in love with my car,” said Ben tured Marian’s heart was serviced at Towne Eventually, in 1943, Kopf was released under a prisoner exchange and boarded Jr., with apparent chagrin, on a video his Ford in Redwood City. While waiting for a series of ships that took him to Shang- sons taped, “and the romance started from his car one day, Ben Jr. struck up a converhai, the Philippines, India, South Africa there.” He added with a smile, “If I hadn’t sation with one of the partners, Ame Caand Rio de Janeiro before arriving in New married Marian, I would have probably hors, who oversaw the service department.

York, where Margo met him. After three become a beach bum.”

Cahors asked what he was up to, and Ben Jr. Ben Jr. sought to join up at the out- admitted he was looking for work. Cahors months of recuperation in Palo Alto, Ford sent the restless Benjamin Kopf Sr. to the break of World War II, but as a domicile offered him a position as a salesman. Thus assignment he had originally sought: Mex- of Japan and non-American citizen of Ger- began Benjamin Kopf Jr.’s entry into an auto ico City. There, he became president, trea- man ancestry, he attracted natural scruti- store he would ultimately own. surer and general manager of Ford South ny. As his son, Ben Kopf III, relates, “The Ben Jr. lived by a simple philosophy. “It’s America and Mexico, where he spent the story told to me was that Dad went into the important that you be lucky,” he said, “and rest of his career before returning to the recruiting office and said, ‘I want to volun- to be lucky you have to work hard. And the Peninsula and retiring in Menlo Park teer.’ To which his recruitment officer re- harder you work, the luckier you get.” plied, ‘Let’s see your I.D.’ during the late 1970s.

As time went by, Kopf began buying “The sergeant looked at Dad’s birth cer- out the other partners, coming to full owntificate and passport and said, ‘Are you ership by 1970. Then he began to expand.

The Next Generation At Stanford, it was customary for those with kidding me?’ But then Dad informed the Over the next 20 years, he purchased wheels to give rides to the less-fortunate sergeant that he spoke fluent Japanese, Stanford Lincoln-Mercury in Menlo Park,

“It’s important that you be lucky, and to be lucky you have to work hard; and the harder you work the luckier you get.”

18 · CLIMATE · November 2022

•

along with Towne Ford, Towne Mitsubishi and Hopkins Acura with co-owner Steve Hopkins in Redwood City. For a while, he also held franchises to sell Studebakers and the Ford Edsel, and was even a DeLorean dealer.

Win some, lose some.

Ben Jr.’s eldest son, Rick, says his father “could be tough when fighting the unions.” On the other hand, Rick adds that he “was known to be a gentleman car dealer.” An example: One night, under yellow lights, a customer bought a truck he thought was white. The next morning, he discovered it was pink. Ben Jr. gave him a refund.

And the Next Generation Ben Jr. and Marian had four sons: Rick, Bob, Jamie and Ben III. Only Rick pursued a career outside the automobile business that stuck; he became a lawyer, notably chief counsel for Sprint Communications and then chief counsel for the investment arm of the Bechtel family.

Bob rose through the business to own Stanford Lincoln-Mercury in Menlo Park for 33 years while buying another Lincoln dealership in Fresno. Jamie—son number three—is an aviator at heart, having earned a commercial pilot’s license by his early 20s. But on the Peninsula, especially, the acorn often falls close to the oak.

After college and a stint in the Army as a

PROFILE •

combat engineer, Jamie, too, entered the automobile business.

“I grew up in a car family,” he says.

“But my dad said, ‘You’re not going to work at Towne. Go out and make your own life.”

Jamie worked for numerous other dealerships, learning the business with an eye on establishing his own shop. He found that opportunity in 1980 through Bob Kesek, who owned a Volkswagen store in Redwood City. The timing was good from one perspective; Kesek’s partner wanted to sell his stake. But the country was in a dramatic recession, with interest rates hitting 20 percent that December.

Car sales were sinking fast. Undaunted, Kopf jumped in, believing the economy would turn around.

He was right.

Jamie joined Kesek in a new venture— Boardwalk Group on Convention Way, a street where many envisioned a Redwood City auto row. The young dealership flourished, and the two partners were set to expand in the neighborhood.

Then the cops showed up. The California Highway Patrol took over a large section of the area for its local headquarters, effectively nixing the auto row plan. Still aspiring to grow, Kopf and Kesek began searching for other land. They found it across the freeway, at the site of the former E.H. Bean Trucking and Rigging business on Bair Island Road.

Kesek, a Volkswagen man since the 1950s, wanted to remain one exclusively. But Jamie sought to broaden the firm’s offerings.

“I didn’t want all our eggs in one basket,” he says. “Volkswagen was fine, but I felt the future was in a multi-line.” The dealership added the Lotus, Chevrolet and AMC Jeep brands, among others. (American Motors Corp. produced the Jeep from 1970 to 1987, when Chrysler Corp. bought AMC.) Eventually Jamie would expand on his own, creating an auto mall in Reno, where he combined two Honda dealerships and another Acura franchise.

By 1995, with four successful sons, Ben Kopf Jr. was ready to retire. Jamie was building his own auto empire, Rick was lawyering and Bob had his hands full with Stanford Lincoln-Mercury in Menlo Park and other ventures. So, Ben Jr. made an offer to his youngest son, Ben III. “My dad said, ‘I can sell the business or bring a general manager from the outside—which means it will be broke in three years—or do you want it?’” recalls Ben III. The 50-year-old owner of a successful electronics manufacturing company, Ben III had never imagined he would enter the car business. But after consideration, he agreed to buy Towne Ford. The wrinkle was that his family lived in Great Falls, Virginia. Ben III tried commuting for a year, but quickly discovered the dealerNovember 2022

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PROFILE •

ship required far more than part-time on-site management. Packing up the family, Ben III returned home to the Bay Area and never looked back. “I enjoy every day I come in,” he says.

And the Generation After The family business has continued for yet another generation. Neither Rick nor Bob’s children opted for the auto industry. But Jamie’s two sons, Jamie Jr. and Doug, are now the owners and general managers of Boardwalk Auto Mall. Jamie Sr. acts as the director, loosely overseeing operations. Daughter Lindsay heads another Kopf enterprise, a nonprofit that removes trash from Lake Tahoe (see the August issue of Climate).

Ben III has two sons of his own, Ben IV and Taylor. After years overseas in the advertising business, Ben IV joined Towne Ford, acting as the internet guru for the company website before becoming general manager of both Towne and Hopkins Acura.

But five years ago, the entrepreneurial bug bit him, as well. Ben IV opened a brewery on Maui, and now lives at the base of the dormant Haleakala volcano, which dominates much of the island’s eastern side.

Ben III’s other son, Taylor, stayed in transportation but with a different twist. A bicycling enthusiast, he opened and operated two bike shops, one in Mountain View and the other San Mateo, called Cognition Cyclery.

The stores were so successful that cycling-industry giant Specialized bought Taylor out. Now, Taylor is the latest member of the Kopf family working at Towne, learning the business from the ground up.

The auto pedigree may run deep in the Kopfs’ history, but it hardly defines them. Too many other passions have found their way into their internal-combustion engines: Flying, tech, bicycles, beer, law and their beloved Lake Tahoe.

Perhaps Benjamin Kopf Jr. summed it up best when he said, “For anybody to be happy, they need three things: Someone to love, something to do and something to want.”

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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT•

Oh, Yeah! San Carlos Art & Wine Faire Returns An estimated 50,000 visitors crowded the 30th annual San Carlos Art & Wine Faire on October 8 and 9, enjoying warm weather, cold beverages, barbecue and live music that ranged from country to jazz. Patrons from across the Bay Area strolled through the northern end of the city’s shopping district, admiring vendors’ wares amid a convivial atmosphere created in part by more than 200 community volunteers. The event raised more than $75,000 for the Parks and Recreation Foundation of San Carlos.

The strong turnout gratified the organizers from San Carlos City Hall and especially the artists and other vendors, who for two years had gone without community festivals to promote their creations. Asked on Saturday if her first day had been profitable, artist Mary Lawrence of Oakland just laughed. The questioner persisted: “Was that a good laugh?” Lawrence laughed again. “Oh, yeah,” she replied, nodding.

“Oh, yeah.”

Church of the Nativity Commemorates 150th Anniversary Parishioners from the Church of the Nativity in Menlo Park on September 24 celebrated 150 years of spiritual service to the community with a crowded mass followed by a cocktail reception and dinner that included Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, who heads the San Francisco Archdiocese, covering Marin, San Francisco and San Mateo counties.

Church spokesperson Wendy Ames said the mass attracted a bigger turnout than she had seen in the past two-and-ahalf years. Ames added the celebration lasted a full year, with dinners, an auction, a golf tournament, a carnival and other events leading up to the official observance of the church’s 150 years in Menlo Park.

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone

November 2022 ·

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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT•

Devil's Canyon Comes of Age Twenty-one years ago, Chris Garrett acted on his long-held dream of building a brewery. Brought up never to waste anything, Garrett became a master of using recycled equipment and parts, saving the environment from tons of trash and saving his business lots of money along the way.

On October 15, Devil's Canyon celebrated as only the popular San Carlos beerbash venue could. Scores of friends and customers enjoyed barrels of great beer, live music and a Brazilian fire dancer as the brewery marked its ascension to legal drinking age.

“This was a huge accomplishment thanks to a community that has held us together, especially through two years of a pandemic,” says Garrett. "We're looking forward to many more years of innovative brewing and community participation.”

Left to right: Daughter Millie, wife Kristiann and Chris Garrett toast to 21 years of beer bliss.

Photos by Jose Luis Aguirre

George Borg Remembered

Friends, family and many who were indebted to George Borg's incredible heart for those bound by drug addiction celebrated his life at a memorial on October 7 at Red Morton Park. As attendees would attest, Borg was one of a kind. A recovered drug addict and alcoholic, he set aside his auto shop business, mortgaged his house and founded El Centro de Libertad (The Freedom Center). It was there that he devoted his life to help others burdened with addiction. Today, El Centro Libertad is a thriving nonprofit that collaborates with other drug-rehabilitation agencies throughout San Mateo County.

22 · CLIMATE · November 2022

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CLIMATE · 23

•

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT•

Kristin Chenoweth Sings and Signs Three-time Tony Award-winner Kristin Chenoweth thrilled listeners with an array of Broadway classics at the 75th gala of the Peninsula Volunteers, held at the Rosewood Sand Hill Hotel in Menlo Park on October 1. Chenoweth, who co-starred with Idina Menzel in the original Broadway production of “Wicked,” also appeared at The Reading Bug, a children’s bookstore in San Carlos, where 360 fans lined up so she could sign copies of her new children’s book, “What Will I Do with My Love Today?”

Asked why she wrote a children’s book, Chenoweth said, “As a child of adoption, I wanted to write a book about what it was like for me to rescue a dog.” The story tells of a young girl named Kristi Dawn, who discovers ways throughout her day to show generosity to people around her. Chenoweth said she planned to release a song to accompany the book.

History Makers Honor 49ers’ Legendary Secondary The San Mateo County Historical Association on September 29 saluted the Niners’ sensational Super Bowl defensive backfield of Dwight Hicks, Ronnie Lott, Carlton Williamson and Eric Wright, often called “Dwight Hicks and His Hot Licks” for their tough tackling (and based on a similarly named country-music group). Former 49ers running back Bill Ring emceed the event, and longtime Bay Area sportscaster Joe Fonzi reminisced with the quartet about the 49ers’ 1980s dynasty days, when the team captured three NFL titles and earned the nickname, “Team of the Decade.”

24 · CLIMATE · November 2022

•

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT•

Kainos Fashion Show Returns Kainos USA in Redwood City enables adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities to maximize their potential while becoming active, contributing and integrated members of the community. On September 29, Dianne and Brian Morton of Atherton hosted a fundraising fashion show that raised more than $100,000 for the organization.

Decked out in the latest sartorial styles, Kainos’s clients strutted their stuff down the runway while the many guests cheered them on.

November 2022 ·

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•

SPOTLIGHT•

Life is Still Left in Old-Fashioned Letters

LAMY fountain pen courtesy of University Art Center

26 · CLIMATE · November 2022

•

SPOTLIGHT•

Email and social media have made them rare, but ardent fans aren’t ready to write them off.

By Janet McGovern

Every year, retired newspaperman Bill Shilstone tells himself the same thing.

“I always say I’m never going to do this again,” he says of the holiday letters he drops off at the Palo Alto post office. The trouble is he’s managed to make the droll updates focusing on the doings of his eight grandchildren entertaining enough that he has amassed an array of non-social-media likes and followers.

A quiz. Funny quotes from the grandkids. A family scorecard that toted up weddings, engagements and new arrivals (one each) versus trips to Europe (zero). He’s used them all to elevate his annual communication about everything Shilstone into a distinctly amusing missive.

“People look forward to the letter,” he admits. “So, year after year, I’ve got to come up with some angle.” And as his wife, Judy, reminds him, he can’t disappoint his fans by stopping now.

November 2022

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SPOTLIGHT•

Shilstone isn’t the only one who might be battling writer’s block this time of year.

Across the country, a blizzard of annual cards and letters will go out in coming weeks, many of them addressed to the Big Guy up north. Not just for Santa, but for many people, however, it will be the one time during the year when they receive an individually addressed, stamped letter.

It’s a bit ironic, in fact, when so many struggle to come up with a gift for that person who “has everything” that the lowly letter could be a master stroke of the pen, unrecognized.

Spreading Happiness Only 11 years old, Emilia Priest, the daughter of Sequoia High School Principal Sean Priest, is wise to the value of letters and sends out five to 10 a month. She picked up the practice because “when I read a letter, I feel happy and I want people to feel the same way. I like writing thank-you notes and birthday cards.”

Ideally, a mailed letter produces a response in kind—a letter in return, a note or at least a call. Emilia recently sent letters to Starbucks and the makers of Cheez-Its and Oreos, and was eagerly waiting to hear back. She told Cheez-Its that “I was like their number one fan” and was eating Cheez-Its while she wrote. “I’m really waiting for those companies hopefully to send me back something,” she adds.

Letters of important people can live on in biographies or command huge sums at auction. Letters have inspired scores of song titles (“Love Letters Straight from Your Heart;” “I’m Gonna’ Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter;” Elvis Presley’s hit, “Return to Sender;” and Bob Dylan’s “Dear Landlord,” to name a few). Handed down as family heirlooms, letters can even

28 · CLIMATE · November 2022

maybe digital images to make them compelling theater for the public instead of just interesting memorabilia for the family.

Those letters, of course, rose from a pre-internet age, which lacked the instant efficiency of firing off an email or a text, plus the variety of methods social media offers for easy communication. In the World War II era and for decades to come, long-distance calling was so expensive that people wrote letters instead.

Today, in contrast, who leaves the house without their phone?

attain a kind of immortality. Sometimes the most treasured are also the most private—love letters that allow grown children to eavesdrop on their parents’ blossoming romance.

In the case of one couple, a larger audience might get to hear, as well.

Shilstone’s younger brother, Mark, and his wife, Adrienne Laurent, grew up in Redwood City a few blocks from each other and met in college. Mark went on to a career in theater and taught speech while Adrienne became a television news anchor. Now living in Salinas, the couple has Adrienne’s father’s World War II letters to his mother, and Mark’s father’s letters to his future wife. They are assessing whether to turn them into a theatrical production entitled “Letters from Our Fathers.”

If it were to be produced, Adrienne would read from her dad’s Navy-censored letters about shipboard life. Mark would be the voice of Burton Shilstone, a railroad sales rep who was courting the girl who in 1939 became Suzanne Shilstone. The challenge, Mark says, will be to contextualize the letters with music from the time and

Changing Times Ken Perkins, a member of the Sequoia Stamp Club in Redwood City, draws an analogy between the factors that long ago made letter-writing—and later electronic communication—catch on.

“The advent of the Penny Post in Britain in the early 19th century, which coincided with Britain’s issuing the world’s first postage stamp, resulted in an immediate huge increase in letter-writing,” he says. “The pre-Penny Post rates, which were based on the distance the letter had to travel by mail coach, were terrifically complicated and very expensive. The Penny Post enabled ordinary Britons to write at least the occasional letter to friends and relatives every year.

“It strikes me that the development of email and its relatives, coupled with the ubiquity of smart phones, has caused a similar order-of-magnitude increase in person-to-person communications at the expense of the written version,” the Belmont resident continues. “I can now, for example, communicate with my son, who’s in Finland, in real time via either texting or phone call, at no charge [beyond the basic rate].”

For Jim Giacomazzi, 80, who grew up in the Salinas Valley, snail mail was worth

• the wait. His thrifty mother had lived through the Depression, but just preferred writing and receiving letters to talking on the phone. “We lived in a rural area, so our mail was delivered twice a week,” the Redwood City resident recalls. “Tuesdays and Saturdays were anxiously awaited because those were the days that our Star Route mail was delivered.” (“Star routes,” now known as “highway contract routes,” cover often-remote areas and are serviced by contractors to the postal service.)

When he went to college and then the Peace Corps, Giacomazzi responded to his mother’s weekly letters (although less often), with ones he thought were “rather mundane and uninteresting, but they must have meant a lot to her. While going through her things after she passed away, in a box along with a diary, I found that she had saved every letter that I had written to her.”

Giacomazzi went on to a 30-year teaching career at San Carlos and Sequoia high schools. Like Perkins, he also became a stamp collector. He nevertheless has reluctantly concluded that letter-writing is a lost art. Last year he bought his granddaughters writing paper, envelopes and stamps for their Christmas stockings, “but they still prefer to phone or use email to communicate. It seems that people today cannot spare the time or effort that is required to write letters.”

A Death Greatly Exaggerated Not so, insist Gwen Gasque, owner of the 40-year-old Letter Perfect store in Palo Alto, and her employee, Sylvia Gleason, who has been writing letters since she was 5. Gleason started at the store as a customer and went on staff 14 years ago.

“Oh, letter-writing is thriving. Oh, yes,” she says. Customers buy not only specialty paper but also pens and ink so they can create calligraphy, combining beautiful paper and artistic writing. At the holiday season, Gleason says, the store

SPOTLIGHT•

Jerry Hill

Hill says he “read every letter that came in … and some of the handwriting was not the easiest to read.” He’s not one to mourn the “death” of the old-fashioned letter and considers electronic forms of communication much better at letting elected officials hear from larger numbers of constituents. sells most of its stationery and all its bordered papers. She adds, “We even have kids 10 to 12 who order their own personalized stationery.”

Marilyn Territo of Redwood City is naturally gifted with beautiful handwriting, and she takes letter- and note-writing to a high art. Always on the lookout for pretty, blank cards, she wields one of her three-dozen calligraphy pens to craft a personal note—even when she’s just paying a bill. A store clerk looking at one of her checks once told her she should create a new font for Microsoft.

She often hears from people who want to send a thank-you note for her own virtuosic thank-you notes. The husband of one of her good friends keeps a box with all the cards he has received from Territo.

So does a local attorney, who tells her that when he’s having a down day, he pulls out one of those cards ornamented with flowery writing and “it makes him feel good. … It’s just what I do,” says Territo, whose sister, Paula Uccelli, is also a prodigious card-sender.

“I don’t care if people think it’s cumbersome even for them to get it,” Territo, 77, says. “I want to do it. Usually, I do get a good response from it.”

The arrival of electronic communication was a motivator for her. When texting and email came on the scene, “I was horrified to see that people were writing complete sentences in lowercase. I know a lot of people don’t put periods in their text messages. But I did not want to lose the art of proper writing in the Queen’s English. … I knew if I didn’t write the way I wanted to write that I would lose that.”

She recognizes, with a laugh, that “There’s a whole younger generation that probably can’t read my handwriting. I mean, let’s face it. They can’t read it.”

Problem Penmanship By contrast, former State Senator Jerry Hill’s handwriting was never something to write home about.

“I’ve always been somewhat embarrassed by my handwriting,” he says, and that included his signature, which he didn’t think looked very professional.

But after 30 years signing “Jerry Hill” to thousands and thousands of letters and documents, “My ‘Jerry Hill’ has a flair to it today that it didn’t have.” The signature, though, “is the only thing that got better.”

A former San Mateo mayor and a county supervisor, Hill says he “read every letter that came in … and some of the November 2022

· CLIMATE · 29

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handwriting was not the easiest to read.”

He’s not one to mourn the “death” of the old-fashioned letter and considers electronic forms of communication much better at letting elected officials hear from larger numbers of constituents.

“I don’t see that we have lost anything other than we have lost the reflective nature of someone sitting down and writing a letter,” he says. “I believe it can be a more thoughtful process than doing a quick email.”

For historians, the switch to electronic communication has complicated their task.

A letter is tangible—as opposed to a tweet or an Instagram that vanishes like a dandelion puff. A letter is also a valued primary source that documents what someone said, and is not filtered, commented on

30 · CLIMATE · November 2022

SPOTLIGHT•

or subject to massive re-tweeting, notes Mitch Postel, president of the San Mateo County Historical Association.

And there’s often not much wheat among the digital chaff.

“We know that there are emails and tweets and that kind of stuff that do have consequences and do stand out,” he says. “I think the challenge for historians is that, maybe in the old days, you’d look at 100 letters and you’d be able to pick out 10 [that had significance]. … But with emails you can go through a couple thousand emails and not find anything of consequence … because of communication that is so voluminous now.”

Coming off a week’s vacation, Postel was plowing through his inbox. “And they even tell you what to say.

You come to the end of an email, and they give you suggestions how to answer it: ‘Okay!’ ‘That’s fabulous!’ … The response is there. All you have to do is hit the thing—‘Absolutely!’—and then you’re finished with it.” By contrast, in the letters of old, long periods of time went by before people saw each other, so they labored over their comprehensive updates.

Good Therapy Several people interviewed for this story remarked on the emotional power of letters they’d received. Redwood City Vice Mayor Diana Reddy says getting a note in the mail from a resident is “very personal and it represents the time that someone took to write that message and put a stamp on it and put it in the mail. It’s like a small gift.”

On the advice of a mentor when he started his teaching career, Sequoia High School’s Sean Priest started a file of letters from students, families and colleagues.

“And am I glad I did,” he says. “It’s sort of a ‘break-glass-in-case of emergency’ resource when I need a shot of affirmation.

Revisiting people’s kind words has lifted many a dark cloud over the years.”

Menlo Park resident Jane Molony had been a letter-writer for many years, but her motivation intensified after she and her husband lost their first child through a miscarriage. “Several people,” she says, “took the time to write a note and each note kind of made it better. … That got me going on [sending] not only letters but getwell and sympathy cards.” When friends are having a rough spell, she puts them “on card therapy.”

Molony loves going to the mailbox to see if there’s anything handwritten. “I call it ‘my good mail’—something besides the requests for money or junk mail or whatever.” The Molonys send a “spring letter,” when life isn’t as hectic as at the year-end holidays. Molony says the couple always gets positive feedback.

Perhaps with technological changes, it may be all over for the old-fashioned letter. But not for everyone. “It may be passé,” says Molony, “but it’s always nice and it’s always appreciated. …

It still matters.” C

•

FOOD by Susan Jenkins•

Teenaged Rebel With a Cause Every Thanksgiving, my family traveled to my grandparents’ small farm in Sonoma County. Even as a child, I found it ironic that my grandfather, a preacher in a strict sect that forbade drinking and dancing, lived surrounded by wineries.

But that didn’t mean my grandparents objected to fun. After the huge Thanksgiving meal—at my grandfather’s command, the blessing commenced precisely at noon—my 21 cousins and I noisily raced through the four-acre spread, playing tag, hide-and-seek and red-light, green-light.

Then, at around four o’clock, came the pies: Pumpkin, naturally, but also apple, mincemeat, pecan, blueberry and lemon meringue. The pies weren’t just served; they were formally proffered in our official pie parade, which included marching and singing to accompaniment on my grandmother’s old upright piano.

In my teens, I decided to try something new and rebellious (at least for the daughter and granddaughter of Nazarene ministers). I named it Pumpkin Cheesecake. It was richly spiced with aromatic ginger and nutmeg, garnished with chopped pecans and topped with whipped cream and homemade caramel sauce.

Pie time arrived, and I nervously extracted a slice for my mother. She lifted a forkful to her mouth. I waited. She chewed.

Then she nodded and smiled. And I still bake Pumpkin Cheesecake every year.

Baked Pumpkin Cheesecake Crust: 1 cup graham cracker crumbs 1 tablespoon sugar 1/4 cup melted butter

Topping: 2 cups sour cream 2 tablespoons sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Filling: 16 oz. cream cheese (typically 2 packages) 3/4 cup sugar 2 large eggs at room temperature, lightly beaten 1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin 1-1/4 teaspoons ground ginger 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg (as an alternative, I use grated whole nutmeg) 1/4 teaspoon salt

Salted Caramel Sauce: 1 cup sugar 1 cup heavy whipping cream 3 tablespoons butter, cubed 1-1/2 teaspoons salt 1 teaspoon almond extract

1. For the crust, combine graham cracker crumbs and sugar in a small bowl. Stir in melted butter. Press into the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan. Place in refrigerator to chill.

2. For the filling, beat cream cheese and sugar until the mixture is smooth. Add eggs, beating on low heat just until everything is blended. Stir in pumpkin, spices and salt.

3. Pour filling into crust. Place springform pan onto a baking sheet or roasting pan.

Pour water onto the sheet or into the pan to create a bath. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 50 minutes.

4. For the topping, combine sour cream, sugar and vanilla until they’re smooth. After the initial baking, spread the topping over the filling and return the dessert to the oven for 5 more minutes at 350 degrees. Cool the cheesecake on a rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around the edge of the cheesecake to loosen it, then cool it at room temperature for another hour. Refrigerate overnight.

5. Remove ring from pan. Drizzle the cheesecake with salted caramel sauce and add a dollop of whipped cream.

Salted Caramel Sauce Spread the sugar in a large, heavy saucepan. Cook without stirring over medium-low heat until the sugar begins to melt. Gently drag the melted sugar to the center of the pan so that the sugar melts evenly.

Cook without stirring for 5 to 10 minutes, until the melted sugar turns a medium-dark amber color. Immediately remove the sugar from the heat, then slowly stir in cream, butter, almond extract and salt.

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Unexpected History at Refurbished Coyote Point Coyote Point is one of my favorite spots to stroll. Everywhere, there are stories to be told. Now, with the recent upgrading of the area’s promenade, there’s even more reason to visit the 670-acre county recreation area off Highway 101 on the border of San Mateo and Burlingame.

More than 10,000 tons of sand have been added to the eastern section of the wide walkway, raising the beachfront about 12 feet. In addition, new restrooms have been built, along with sea walls that protect against high tides.

Coyote Point is known for big dreams.

The biggest aimed to make the bayside site the “Coney Island of the West.” But it wasn’t long before the dream became a financial nightmare. A history marker in the beach area tells the tale of the 1920s amusement park venture dubbed Pacific City, which featured “The Comet,” a roller coaster whose promoters claimed was the “fastest, highest and longest.” (They didn’t say where; it might have been just greater Burlingame.)

There also was a 468-foot pier that pointed like a finger into the bay. The structure berthed vessels that cruised to San Francisco and other major cities. Adjacent to the pier and fronting the 3,200-foot boardwalk was a spacious dance floor that was host to some of the best bands of the Roaring ’20s.

According to the Burlingame Historical Society, the grand opening of the amusement park was a four-day affair that started on July 1, 1922, drawing 17,000 opening-day fans who each paid a dime to pass through the gates. Crowds increased by the thousands and the numbers hit their peak just three days later on July 4, 1922, when 100,000 people entered Pacific City.

By November, cumulative attendance

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reached a million at a time when the Bay Area’s population was just slightly higher.

Then something hit the fan. Burlingame’s city officials hadn’t anticipated the park’s huge popularity and rapid growth.

Also, in the previous decade, the city’s population had swelled from 1,566 residents to 4,000. The city had neglected to provide adequate sewage disposal, allowing raw sewage to flow into the bay. At the end of the 1923 season, the lights went out at a fairly foul-smelling Pacific City.

Long before the amusement park debuted, Coyote Point was a popular location for recreation, especially picnicking and swimming. Nearly 100 years later— with clean water again—it still is.

Merchant Marine Training School In addition to Pacific City, Coyote Point’s history includes a World War II merchant marine training academy, as well as the forerunner of the College of San Mateo.

The U.S. Merchant Marine Cadet Basic School trained officers for the ships that carried weapons and other supplies needed to win the world conflict. The U.S. Maritime Commission hastily built 11 structures among the point’s eucalyptus trees.

Most things were done quickly because the merchant mariners were being killed at an alarming rate and needed to be replaced.

Even the course time was cut back.

The academy site was dedicated on August 29, 1942. By November 1944, it was training 528 midshipmen. According to the U.S. Merchant Marine website, the school consisted of 14 barracks, along with classrooms, a gym and a machine shop, as well as a swimming pool and a tower where the cadets jumped feet first, a drill that taught them how to break debris from a sinking ship. In addition, the pool was used to teach the trainees how to survive blazing oil fires, which many might soon experience.

College Days The College of San Mateo had several locations during its history, which started in 1922 in a high school. Following the end of World War II, the college found a home at Coyote Point, a move that took advantage of the buildings emptied by the closure of the merchant marine academy. (For example, the academy chapel became the college library.)

Classes started in 1947 under a welcoming sign emblazoned with the words, “Maritime Commission Academy,” which stood until 1952 when it was replaced with one that read, “San Mateo Junior College,” a name that lasted for two years until the school became the College of San Mateo.

The end of the Coyote Point campus came on September 6, 1963, when a Marine color guard lowered the flag in a farewell ceremony. The present CSM campus, in the hills of San Mateo, offers a jaw-dropping view of the bay and was dedicated on December 8, 1963, with an enrollment of 5,000 students (8,163 today). C

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C L I M AT E •

Together, we design places that inspire people.

855 MAIN STREET

November 2022

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E N T E R TA I N M E N T •

NOVEMBER

Beer Friday Craft Beer - Live Music- Food Every Friday

18 Poetry Slam Devil's Canyon Turns 21!

935 Washington St., San Carlos For more info go to: devilscanyon.com

4 Warren Miller's Daymaker 18 SB19 WYAT Tour San Francisco 2221 Broadway, Redwood City For more info go to: foxrwc.com

4 COOL WATER CANYON MIDNIGHT ROUNDS

5 MIKO MARKS + EFFIE ZILCH 9 RAVENSWOOD EDUCATION FOUNDATION - BENEFIT NIGHT 10 SLEEP WHEN YOU'RE DEAD 11 MADS TOLLING & THE MADS MEN

2 The Club Fox Blues Jam ROCKIN’ JOHNNY BURGIN 4 BAY AREA ELLER HAVAYA! NORTH STAR ACADEMY

4-6 Peter Pan

McKinley Auditorium, Redwood City For more info go to: nsapeterpan.com SAN MATEO COUNTY HISTORY MUSEUM

1-27 New Exhibit: College of San Mateo:

100 Years of Making Dreams Come Through

5 AN EVENING WITH TORTILLA SOUP 8 TERRAPIN FLYER 9 The Club Fox Blues Jam EC SCOTT RETURNS!

10 JONATHAN SCALES FOURCHESTRA 11 DGIIN – THE FRENCH GYPSY MELTDOWN

JULIAN JAMES

19-21 SOCIAL DISTORTION URETHANE

23 TERRAPIN FAMILY BAND FT ERIC KRASNO WITH SPECIAL GUEST PETER ROWAN

For more info go to: guildtheatre.com

16 The Club Fox Blues Jam THE VOLKER STRIFLER BAND

23 The Club Fox Blues Jam FEATPRINTS All-star Tribute to Little Feat

26 THE HEADLINERS 30 The Club Fox Blues Jam MARINA CROUSE & GARTH WEBBER

34 · CLIMATE · November 2022

THE COFFIS BROTHERS

18-19 SOCIAL DISTORTION

PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS

19 TAINTED LOVE

831 Main St., Redwood City For more info go to: alhambra-irish-house.com

17 AARON LEE TASJAN

12 PETTY THEFT – SF TRIBUTE TO TOM

18 BRITISH INVASION THE COLLECTIVE & THE MINKS

Pub Trivia NIght Every Thursday @ 7:30pm

12 LEE ROCKER OF THE STRAY CATS

2209 Broadway, Redwood City For more info go to: clubfoxrwc.com

First Wednesdays: Burlesque Second and Fourth Wednesdays: Standup Comedy Every Thursday: Board Game Night Every Saturday night: LIVE MUSIC Special events 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

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C L I M AT E •

2185 Cobblehill Place, San Mateo 4 Bedrooms | 3.5 Bathrooms | 3,390 Sq. Ft. Living Space | 17,990 Sq. Ft. Lot Offered at $3,998,000 This new custom built executive home boasts incredible views from nearly every room setting the stage for gracious living and entertaining. Thoughtfully designed and quality built on a cul-de-sac that backs up to acres of open space! The grand entry leads to a beautifully appointed formal living room and inviting dining area. The gourmet kitchen features a walk-in pantry, large center island with breakfast bar that opens to the inviting covered porch enhanced by incredible views! Elegant family room with vaulted ceiling, large picture windows and fireplace. Perfectly placed laundry room/ mudroom located off the attached oversized 2-car garage. Tucked off the entrance is a gracious and private guest suite and a conveniently placed half bathroom. Downstairs is the grand master suite with spa-like bathroom and large walk-in closet. Two additional bedrooms share a full hall bathroom. Conveniently located near restaurants, shopping and major streamlined commute routes.

John Shroyer REALTOR ® | 2021 Top Producer

650.787.2121 john@johnshroyer.com

johnshroyer.com Lic. #00613370

Each office is independently owned and operated.

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