Redwood City, California
Encyclopedia : R : RE : RED : Redwood City, California
Redwood City is a suburb located on the San Francisco Peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area of California. Redwood City is the county seat of San Mateo County. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 75,402. It has the only deepwater port on San Francisco Bay south of San Francisco itself.
Redwood City's main street is known as Broadway, although it also has an actual Main Street, which Broadway intersects. On Broadway, at the western and eastern entrances to the city's downtown, there are arches over the roadway emblazoned with the city's name and the slogan, "Climate Best by Government Test."
Geography
Redwood City is located at (37.482887, -122.236006)[Geographic references#1GR1].
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 89.5 km² (34.6 mi²). 50.5 km² (19.5 mi²) of it is land and 39.1 km² (15.1 mi²) of it (43.66%) is water.
Redwood City's sphere of influence includes the districts of Emerald Lake Hills and North Fair Oaks, which however are largely outside the city boundaries and are counted individually for the U.S. census. The neighborhood of Redwood Shores is part of Redwood City, although it is not possible to travel by road from one to the other without passing through the neighboring city of San Carlos. Although Redwood City is mainly upper middle-class, the eastern section of Redwood City highly resembles East Palo Alto in demographic make-up and income level.
El Camino Real (California), a northwest/southeast arterial street and Woodside Road, a north-northeast/south-southwest arterial, run through Redwood City. Locally, the former is regarded as north/south and the latter east/west, as El Camino connects Redwood City to San Francisco and San Jose and Woodside Road runs from San Francisco Bay to the Santa Cruz Mountains. The actual geography is as stated.
Landmarks
- Union Cemetery [State Historical Landmark #816]
Demographics
As of the census[Geographic references#2GR2] of 2000, there were 75,402 people, 28,060 households, and 17,902 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,494.5/km² (3,871.3/mi²). There were 28,921 housing units at an average density of 573.2/km² (1,484.8/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 68.97% White, 2.54% African American, 0.51% Native American, 8.91% Asian, 0.88% Pacific Islander, 13.97% from other races, and 4.22% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 31.24% of the population.There were 28,060 households out of which 31.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.2% were married couples living together, 9.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.2% were non-families. 27.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.62 and the average family size was 3.20.
In the city the population was spread out with 23.2% under the age of 18, 8.4% from 18 to 24, 37.4% from 25 to 44, 20.9% from 45 to 64, and 10.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 101.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 100.4 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $66,748, and the median income for a family was $73,798. Males had a median income of $50,345 versus $41,125 for females. The per capita income for the city was $34,042. About 3.9% of families and 6.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.3% of those under age 18 and 6.3% of those age 65 or over.
Gallery
External galleries
- [Historic Photos of Redwood City] provided by the Local History Collection at the Redwood City Public Library.
- [Creeks] Winter, 2005-2006
- [Scott Peterson Trial Media Circus] Nov, 2004
Trivia
Redwood City's slogan, ["Climate Best By Government Test,"] is based on an obscure climatological survey conducted by the United States and German governments prior to World War I. The area centered on Redwood City tied for the world's best climate with the Canary Islands and North Africa's Mediterranean Coast.The Scott Peterson trial was held in Redwood City.
In 1976, Patty Hearst was held at the San Mateo County jail — the same facility that housed Scott Peterson as it was the most secure facility in the Bay Area at the time. Hearst, the heiress and granddaughter of the legendary newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst, was kidnapped by a radical group, the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), and made national headlines when she joined the group in a series of crimes.[link]
Redwood City is home to a number of high tech companies, including Electronic Arts, the largest video game publisher in the world, Oracle Corporation (based in Redwood Shores), and Ampex Corporation, creator of helical-scan videotaping technology, among many other innovations.
Animated movies made by DreamWorks (i.e Over The Hedge, Madagascar, Shark Tale, Shrek 2, Shrek, etc.) were all made in Redwood City, and their "Northern Campus" which mostly consists of their animation dpeartment is based here.
Geoff Blum, who hit the game-winning home run in Game 3 of the 2005 World Series, is a Redwood City native.
Redwood City's Independence Day Parade sponsored by the [Peninsula Celebration Association], held continuously since 1939, has been billed variously as 'The largest Independence Day Parade in California', 'West of the Mississippi', 'in North America', claims which may or may not be accurate.
Redwood City is sometimes referred to colloquially as "Deadwood City" by San Francisco Bay Area natives, particularly Redwood City residents; it is both a term of (ironic) endearment and derision. As a judgment it was more reflective of the 1960s and 1970s, when the city's downtown was in decline, than the present. In an effort to completely lose this reputation among its citizens, several major projects are underway in the [downtown] area. Such projects include among other things the restoration of the historical courthouse and a new cinema complex, including shops, at the intersection of Middlefield Road and Jefferson Avenue. As of May, 2006, the first of the shops, Cost Plus World Market, has opened.
In 1996, a neighborhood committee was formed to address issues of gunfire in the Friendly Acres neighborhood of Redwood City. The citizens asked city hall to find a solution, and with Dr. Robert Showen, a local researcher, and his work at SRI on acoustical sensors for seismic activity, the ShotSpotter Gunshot Location System was born. Redwood City was instrumental in the development of the Gunshot Location System. As ShotSpotter’s first installation, they were a development partner and beta tester as well as a customer. As a result, the Redwood City Police Department became the first law enforcement agency in the country to reverse random gunfire activity in its community. The system is now used by other cities nation wide and by the military.[link]
Up until the mid 1990's the San Francisco 49er's football team used to hold work out practices at Red Morton Park, located near the Redwood City Veteran's Memorial Center.
External links
- [Local History]
- [Official website]
- [Friends of Redwood City]
- [Centennial Neighborhood Tribe]
- [Local2Me Redwood City neighborhood community discussions]
- [Maps and aerial photos]
- * Street map from [Google Maps] or [Yahoo! Maps]
- * Topographic map from [TopoZone]
- * Aerial image or topographic map from [TerraServer-USA]
- * Satellite image from [Google Maps] or [Windows Live Local]
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