On Wednesday, I was delighted to be able to attend the soft opening of The Yard coffeehouse, at 1018 Main St. in Redwood City (next door to the main library parking lot at the corner of Main and Middlefield). The folks behind this new venture are still working hard to transform the yellow house (the historic John Offerman house, that for a time was home to The Main Gallery) into the business’s indoor venue, but currently they have their outdoor space all set up and are serving coffee, tea, lemonade, and a variety of other drinks from the “Carriage House,” a small yellow shed located across the yard from the Offerman House:

The menu that listed what was on offer that day was already pretty extensive, but I hear that they may have already added an item or two since then.

[click the image for a version you can zoom in on]

Although the Offerman House is not yet open to the public, the coffee roaster — The Yard is roasting their own beans — inside it is up and running, and from what my wife told me (she’s the coffee drinker in our family), The Yard is making some really great coffee. Me, I enjoyed a hot chocolate, and it was great. You can bet I’ll be back: The Yard is ideally located for me to take a break and enjoy an iced tea or Arnold Palmer on those days when I’m out walking around downtown Redwood City. They have some lovely shaded tables, plus some benches and a porch swing, so there are plenty of places to sit and enjoy Redwood City’s “Climate Best” weather.

The Yard is currently open seven days a week, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Do keep an eye on them: as of their soft opening they weren’t yet serving any food, but I believe that they will be doing so soon — perhaps when the main house is opened to the public. Also, keep an eye on the house towards the rear of the property, where Alana’s used to do business: I understand that it may be used to host exhibitions or other special events.

Just over a month ago, the first building permits were issued for the project to redevelop the long-empty Century Park 12 theater property (on the east side of Highway 101, among the automobile dealerships). Eventually, the project will replace the theater building and large surface parking lot with 480 apartments and a large “Villa Sport” sports club. So far, though, the only permits that have been issued are one to demolish the parking lot (but not the theater building itself; that is covered by a separate demolition permit that is still under consideration by the city) plus one to do some grading and drainage work and to stockpile some soil on the property. Just last week, it seems, work got underway to tear up the asphalt and demolish the light poles and concrete planters that were scattered around the parking lot, signaling that the developer is going ahead with this project:

I took the above picture from E. Bayshore Road. As you can probably see, most of the work that day was taking place towards the rear of the property. Accordingly, I followed E. Bayshore to the north, and near where Whipple Avenue comes in I took the paved bicycle/pedestrian trail that runs alongside the rear of the theater property, in an attempt to get a better view. While I did get a closer view of the action, for now I have to admit that it isn’t all that exciting:

Once the permit to tear down the theaters comes through, the action will be a bit more fun to watch, and I’ll try to get over there and get some pictures. Of course, things should really start happening once the permits are issued to actually build the apartments and the sport club, so I’ll be watching for those as well.

Related to the Century 12 Theaters site project, for some time now the parking lot had been used by local automobile dealers as a place to store inventory. With the project now getting underway, though, the sea of vehicles that formerly occupied the space has been moved. At least some of them are now on the property at the corner of Seaport Boulevard and Blomquist Street: essentially, where Lyngso Garden Materials used to be before they moved to San Carlos:

These particular vehicles are Ford trucks and vans that are for sale through Towne Ford’s Fleet and Commercial Vehicles operation. Other vehicles are, for now at least, parked at the corner of Blomquist and Maple streets, on the parcel where until recently Redwood City hosted a safe parking lot for RVs.

Having walked along the path that runs behind the theater property, I found myself over by the former Peninsula Marina, which is now a private marina for folks living in the One Marina complex. Which is a waste, incidentally: there is capacity for somewhere between 25 and 40 boats, but when I was there this week I saw but a single boat parked in that marina. And, the one pier that is there today occupies but a fraction of the available space: back in 2001, when Peninsula Marina was still independent, it had in the neighborhood of 500 slips, some 400 of which were occupied by boats on which people were living. But that wasn’t where I was heading: I walked through One Marina and out to the little park they have beyond the end of Turnbuckle Drive, where I could get a good view of the former Docktown Marina. While there might still be one person living at the former Docktown, it seems safe to say that Docktown is truly no more. When I was there this week, this was all that was left of that once-thriving floating home community:

Note that the one floating home you can see in the above picture has not been lived in for some time, and is boarded up (I believe it is the property of Redwood City, and is slated for destruction, or, if the city can find someone to buy it, for sale). Other than that, I counted just four other boats, only one of which — the one to the far right — might still have an occupant. Other than the five I saw, along the length of Redwood Creek from this point out to Highway 101, there are no boats of any kind, and only a handful of empty slips:

Back on the west side of the freeway, I was interested to note that the retail space at the corner of Arguello Street and Broadway where JuiceBox used to be located (and, before that, Kristi Marie’s) is now Campbell, a men’s barber shop:

According to their website, Campbell is a “premium barber experience.” According to their front door, they offer “traditional barber services by appointment or by chance” (the latter meaning walk-ins, I presume). All in all, this new venture sounds like something I might actually try; so many of the barber shops that have sprung up around town lately seem geared to a younger, hipper crowd.

Out on El Camino Real, at the corner of El Camino and Winklebleck Street, the upcoming restaurant Maizz (which I have speculated about, but know nothing for certain) seems finally to be on the cusp of opening. On Tuesday some electricians were working inside, but more importantly all of the paper that used to cover the windows has been removed, which I take as a sign that they’ll be open for business soon:

I can’t wait for them to open, if only so that I can move this project to the “completed” column in my spreadsheet (the last tenant, Signarama, vacated this space in very late 2016, so I’ve been monitoring this building for something like seven and a half years). Of course, I’m also looking forward to their opening so that I can satisfy my curiosity as to just what they’ll be serving (Mexican or South American cuisine of some sort, surely) and learn if it’s the kind of place that I’ll be patronizing.

Next Thursday is the Fourth of July, and Redwood City, as usual, is the place to be! Our parade — which has been running since 1939 — starts at 10 a.m. But the downtown festival will be running all day — from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. — with its arts and crafts booths, its food and beverage vendors, the chalk artists on Courthouse Square and in “Chalk Alley,” and various other activities. Plus, there’s the pancake breakfast that takes place at the Marshall Street fire station: that runs from 8 – 11 a.m., and benefits the Redwood City Firefighter’s Association. Finally, the big show — the city’s “fireworks extravaganza” — will kick off at 9:30 p.m. in the Port of Redwood City. You can go to the port to get the best view (get there early; parking fills up), but of course the show will be pretty visible from a number of different spots around the mid-Peninsula. For details about all of these events, head to the Peninsula Celebration Association’s webpage, at www.parade.org.

Finally, stay cool: next week is supposed to be a warm one, and I’ve already received a heat alert. The National Weather Service currently forecasts that Tuesday through Friday will all peak above 90 degrees, with Wednesday hitting a high of 97. Fortunately, our overnight our temps should drop down into the low 60’s, so at least we should all be able to rely on Mother Nature to cool our homes at night in preparation for the next day.