There is so much going on in Redwood City right now, some of which is taking place behind closed doors. Fortunately, I got a peek behind two or three of those doors, and this week I’m sharing those peeks with you. But first, a bit of sad news: it seems that Cafe La Tartine, on Theatre Way, has closed (their last day was last Monday, May 6) after 16 years in business. On the plus side, signs on the restaurant indicate that something new is coming soon — and when I went by on Wednesday work of some sort was going on inside. The cafe’s liquor license is in the process of being transferred to a new owner, although the license application only lists the new license owner’s name, not the name of the new business. But the fact that the license is being retained means that this will continue to be a restaurant of some sort, one that will continue to sell beer and/or wine. So I guess we’ll have to wait and see what’s coming next…

On Theatre Way, very close to where Cafe La Tartine was located, the work to install the sliding bollards that will control entry to the street (keeping most vehicles out, but allowing emergency vehicles, trash trucks, and service vehicles to enter) is pretty much complete:

(In the above photo, the bollards are in the “open” position.) I went by today (Friday) and saw that an electrician was doing some wiring, possibly to connect up the keypad or card sensor or whatever that will allow vehicles to gain entry.

Very near to this bollard system is the old Arya Steak House restaurant space, which is being transformed into Limón, a Peruvian restaurant. That work is normally taking place behind closed doors, but I managed to go by when the doors were open:

Similarly, over on Broadway, I went by the upcoming restaurant that is replacing the old Dragon Theater — Brundavan Indian Cuisine — and managed to get a clearer glimpse into that restaurant as well:

Brundavan looks even farther along than the Limón space; itlooks as if it could open its doors almost any day now. Keep your eyes open…

Behind these two (schedule-wise), but making progress nevertheless, my wife and I dropped by The Baker Next Door’s popup shop on Main Street for our seemingly weekly purchase of a loaf of bread (plus one or two other goodies!) and I took the opportunity to take an updated photo of the progress being made on what will be their permanent location at 851 Main St.:

Elsewhere in downtown, I was pleased to note that work has finally begun for real on the Taube Family Carriage House and Automobile Gallery, which will stand just behind the historic county courthouse (that serves as the San Mateo County History Museum), along Marshall Street:

The old parking lot that used to be located just behind the museum has now been torn out, and presumably work on the new building’s foundations will get underway soon.

The parking lot behind the historic courthouse isn’t the only Redwood City parking lot to be torn up this week. Just last week I reported that a “coming soon” sign had been posted to the site of the Woodside Road McDonald’s restaurant that burned back in late 2022, and I speculated about when work might get underway. Well, it seems I need speculate no longer: on Wednesday I and saw that a backhoe was beginning to tear up the old building’s foundation:

Because I happened to be in the area today for another reason, I walked over to the site and noted that as of today, Friday, May 10, not only has the foundation been entirely torn up, but so, it seems, has the parking lot:

I’m going to keep a closer eye on this project; it may move along quite quickly indeed.

Some time ago, some homeless folks decided to set up some tents and construct a rather conspicuous shelter for themselves in Little River Park, the city-maintained little parklet squeezed between James Street and the nearby creek, by Sequoia Station:

Those folks seem to have moved on, though, and the city has cleaned up the site once again:

I for one am glad; in the past I’ve had occasion to sit on one of the two benches in this little park, but once the encampment was set up I no longer felt welcome. It’s nice to know that we can use the park once again. And hopefully the folks who had been living here until recently have found a more permanent place to call home. Of course, just about the time this small encampment went away, I noticed that the tent in front of the downtown public library has reappeared (I assume that it is the same person as before). Helping these folks really is a tricky problem, it seems…

Over on Walnut Street, next to the triangular parklet bounded by Marshall, Spring, and Walnut streets, I watched this week as a pipeline company ran a drill beneath the street:

Given the location of the project — Redwood City’s recycled water lines cross under Highway 101 right at Walnut Street, and run beneath Walnut at least as far as Marshall Street — I surmised that this project is to extend those pipelines further. After returning home and checking the project’s permit, I confirmed my guess: this is being done to extend the recycled water lines out to El Camino Real and the ELCO Yards project. It’ll be interesting to see what route the pipeline takes: it can stay beneath Walnut Street as far as Stambaugh Street (directly behind Savers), but from there it’ll either have to run beneath private property or, more likely, jog over and run beneath another street, such as Maple Street (where a portion of the pipeline may already lie; a couple of months ago work was being done along Maple Street in that area, and I never did figure out what was going on there). In any case, once the recycled water lines reach El Camino Real, they could relatively easily cross beneath that street and make their way into some of Redwood City’s residential neighborhoods, thereby servicing projects such as the recently completed townhouse project at 211 Vera Ave. (which was plumbed for recycled water, but surely isn’t yet hooked up to it) and the Hopkins Avenue Traffic Calming Project, which added landscaped center islands down the middle of Hopkins Avenue, islands that are ready to accept recycled water when it is available.

Lastly, I wasn’t sure if the show would go on after Saturday’s rain (my backyard rain gauge recorded exactly one inch!) but the rain cleared in time, and so I headed out to the Port of Redwood City to watch the port’s drone show. It was really cool, if not quite what I had built up in my imagination. Last Saturday was March 4th — Star Wars Day — and so the show had a mixed theme of Star Wars and, because it was the port, maritime creatures. It was really fun, and apparently the second time the port has put on this kind of show. So keep an eye out for it next year, and consider going: the free show was more than worth the price of admission!

Because the 150 drones were scheduled to take off just after 8:30, I, along with my wife and a friend, headed over about 7:30. The event had been going on for some time — officially it began at 6 p.m., and a Johnny Cash tribute band cranked up around 6:30 — and thus I wasn’t sure how much trouble I’d have finding parking. Fortunately, the port had opened a large overflow lot just adjacent to the public portion of the port, and thus there was plenty of parking, even at that relatively late hour. I was pleased to see that the event was quite busy: there were multiple hundreds of people there enjoying the music and the trucks selling food and drink. If anything, the port underestimated the crowds: the lines for the food trucks and the three (only three!) porta-potties were quite long. But people seemed to be having a good time, and there was plenty of room. We lucked upon an open bench, and thus were able to sit until the show in the sky began. Once it did, I elected to stand for the length of the show, which turned out to be less than 12 minutes long.

If you weren’t there, you missed a fun show. But know that the port’s Rock the Dock free concert series began last month and runs right up until Thanksgiving (every Saturday, with concerts starting at either 3:30 p.m., 4:30 p.m., or 2:30 p.m., depending upon the time of year). So although the drones won’t be there, if you enjoy live music, do check out the concert schedule, and then grab a lawn chair or blanket, and some food and drink (or just plan to patronize the food trucks), and head on down to the Port of Redwood City to enjoy the fun. This Saturday’s band is “Smokin’ Slice of Mojo” — they’re an R&B, Rock and Motown band — and their performance runs from 3:30 – 6 p.m.