For those of you who enjoy Redwood City’s Fourth of July parades, I have a tip for next year. My wife and I parked over in the vicinity of Sequoia High School, as we often do, and then walked down Broadway, looking for a place from which to watch the parade. This year, we found a truly excellent spot: on Winslow Street, just north of Marshall Street, beneath the bridge connecting the Maguire Correctional Facility to the County Hall of Justice:

We literally got there about two minutes before the parade was to start and discovered a huge section of the sidewalk that was completely unoccupied (on the Hall of Justice side; I took the above picture from our spot). We sat on the curb and enjoyed most of the parade with no one on either side of us. We were completely in the shade the entire time, and we were close enough to the first announcing stand to clearly hear each announcement. And because we were quite close to the start of the parade, we only had to wait for a couple of minutes before the parade came into view. Of all the places we’ve watched the parade from — and we’ve been to a lot of them — this one was the best so far. Assuming that we are in town for next year’s parade, I know where I plan to sit…

I spent most of last week on vacation in Southern California, and drove home on Friday. Thus, there was no post last week. This week I took a long walk — more than 11 miles — in an effort to catch up on the many projects in and around Redwood City. Along the way, I was delighted to discover that three new restaurants (well, two restaurants and one bar) opened up in downtown Redwood City during my absence. I’ll write about those in a future post, when I’ve had a chance to try them out, but if you are in the mood to investigate ahead of me, they are Ghostwood Kitchen, at 911 Main St.; Brochette Dumpling and Grill, at 917 Main St.; and Hidden Tap & Barrel, at 900 Middlefield (next to/connected to Curry Pizza House). I guess I should also mention Ogiku, another newcomer, at 2432 Broadway (in the old Orenchi Ramen space) — but given their pricing (tasting menus are either $220 or $350!) I don’t think I’ll be giving that one a personal review. But if any of you try it, I’d love to hear your thoughts!

I’m always keeping an eye out for interesting house remodel/construction projects, and on this week’s walk I passed one that, after doing some investigating, really surprised me. I often end up walking down Kentfield Avenue, and a couple of years ago I noticed this very run-down house, at 1460 Kentfield Ave.:

I’ve been keeping an eye on it ever since. About nine months ago the house was stripped of its siding, and shortly thereafter the house was torn down completely. Recently, construction began on the then-empty lot:

When I got home, I checked the permits and was surprised to see that instead of the usual monster home, what will soon rise up here is a duplex plus two ADUs: four distinct housing units, all with separate addresses. A year ago, the plan had been to just build a duplex on the property, but perhaps thanks to some of the new state laws that give greater flexibility as to what you can build on a given residential parcel, the developer has decided to maximize the number of units here. I should note that the lot is currently zoned R2, meaning that a duplex was already allowed. And of course some time ago Redwood City made the addition of an ADU to one’s residential parcel a relatively easy thing. But I’m less sure if two ADUs would have been permissible prior to the recent state laws. In any case, the foundation you can see across the back of the property surely is for one or both of those ADUs; the duplex itself, I assume, will be located towards the front of the parcel.

Out on Woodside Road, the eight-unit townhouse development planned for 955 Woodside Rd. is now making rapid strides:

This development will consist of two buildings, each containing four side-by-side townhomes. One building will span the rear of the property, while the other will extend from Woodside Road back towards that other building, putting the two in an L-shaped configuration:

I like this arrangement, and mostly like the project’s location. All except for the fact that just over that green hedge you can see to the left in the latter photograph stands an automated carwash, with all of its attendant noise. Hopefully the units will have extra soundproofing, at least on that side.

Redwood City’s new CVS Pharmacy (at the corner of Woodside and Bay roads) is looking great:

The building itself looks complete, although I cannot tell what, if any, work still needs to be done to the buildings interior. But I can report that the work now seems primarily concentrated on the landscaping around the parking lot, which has to be one of the very last steps before the sign goes up and the contents of the old CVS Pharmacy, just across Woodside Road, are transferred to this new building. I would not be at all surprised to see this new store open up sometime this month.

I walked over to the other side of the freeway this week, and was delighted to note that not only have solar panels been added to the tops of the modular buildings that make up the county’s Navigation Center, but also that there are a handful of EV chargers in the back parking lot:

Some finishing work is still going on. While I was there, the Center’s half-basketball court was getting painted:

And, I was very pleased to note, there are residents! Not too many, I suspect, but it does appear that all of the former residents of the nearby LifeMoves Maple Street Shelter have now been relocated to this new, much nicer, facility. And it also appears that the work to decontaminate (there was asbestos, I believe) and demolish the old shelter has begun:

I came back via the Highway 101 underpass, and followed Main Street until I reached the 125-unit affordable apartment building at 353 Main St. That building, too, has tenants, although just how many, I’m not sure. But I was thrilled to see that the small segment of the Redwood Creek Trail that runs behind the project has been completed and is now fully open to the public. There is even signage that directs you down the emergency access alleyway that runs between it and the next-door Township Apartments building:

This particular access puts you in the middle of the (admittedly short) trail segment, though. If you want to visit, I would recommend that you go in through the parking lot behind the Carl’s Jr. and Supreme Crab restaurants, near the corner of Veterans Boulevard and Main Street:

Go straight ahead, following the curbing you see above, and pass by the yellow gates (which is strictly to keep non-emergency vehicles out). You’ll be on the “trail” (which is a smooth, wide, concrete path) and following the creek. As you get started, you’ll pass a mile-marker that indicates 1/4 mile:

I’m going to have to ask about this one. It appears that if you start on Main Street, at the far end of the Township building (at 333 Main Street), walk back to that end of the trail, and then follow the trail to this marker, it is indeed about 1/4 mile. But given that I don’t believe there are any markers telling you that the Redwood Creek Trail starts on that side of Township (it does; members of the public can legally walk in to the trail along that side of the building), I need to make sure. In any case, coming in from the direction of the restaurant parking lot, once the trail curves around the building there is a nice sign that introduces some of the birds you might see enjoying the creek:

Keep going, and you’ll pass onto the Township property:

When you get to the far end of Township’s segment of the trail, either turn left and make your way out to Main Street (and then follow the sidewalk back), or simply turn around and follow the trail back. Either way, it’s (so far) a short, but very enjoyable walk. And the nice wide sidewalk and lack of steps means you can bring a stroller, or ride a mobility scooter, or whatever, with no issues. Note that there is a bench along the creek by the parking lot (behind Supreme Crab), and a place to sit behind the Township building, in case you want to rest for a while. Or, you can do as I did and sit on that curb you can see in the above photo… In any case, do check it out! Especially when the tide is high, Redwood Creek can be really nice to look at:

Want more? Be sure to check out the other short section that runs between Bradford and Main streets. From the Carl’s Jr., cross Veterans and then cross Main, then follow Main past the gas station. Between the gas station and the creek turn right onto that trail segment and follow it out to Bradford Street. There, too, you’ll find some nice informational signage, plus a good bench from which you can sit and watch the activity on the creek.

In my book, no walk downtown is complete without a visit to the ELCO Yards project. Three of that project’s parcels are actively being worked these days, with the most progress having been made so far on the large “Parcel E” at Main and Chestnut streets:

The lowest level of the two-level underground garage is in place, and a massive amount of rebar is now being put into place for the floor that will separate the two garage levels. After that intermediate floor has been poured, the level that will sit atop this very large parking garage and form the base of the two office buildings (and a restaurant!) will be constructed.

Just across Main Street from the above, work is underway on the smaller parcel at the corner of Main and Cedar streets that will eventually be home to a new four-story office building. It, too, with have a two-level underground garage; digging for that garage is proceeding, although very slowly:

Finally, things seem fairly quiet on the most visible of the active construction sites: the one on El Camino Real between Cedar and Beech streets:

They may be waiting for the water to fully drain away from behind the walls: note the damp lower side walls, and the puddles along the base of the right side and rear walls. This will be a three-level underground garage, with a four-story mixed-use building on top.

There are a number of other projects now underway in Redwood City — digging for the underground garage at Broadway Plaza is moving right along, for one — but I suspect that this post has gone on long enough. Accordingly, I’ll stop for now. Have a great weekend, everyone, and stay warm — it looks to be unseasonably cool.