Redwood City, California, United States

🇺🇸 Redwood City is a city on the San Francisco Peninsula in Northern California's Bay Area, approximately 27 miles (43 km) south of San Francisco, and 24 miles (39 km) north-west of San Jose. Redwood City's history spans its earliest inhabitation by the Ohlone people to being a port for lumber and other goods. The county seat of San Mateo County in the heart of Silicon Valley, Redwood City is home to several global technology companies including Oracle, Electronic Arts, Evernote, Box, and Informatica. The Port of Redwood City is the only deepwater port on San Francisco Bay south of San Francisco.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 34.7 square miles (90 km²), of which 19.4 square miles (50 km²) is land and 15.2 square miles (39 km²) (44.34%) is water. A major watercourse draining much of Redwood City is Redwood Creek, to which several significant river deltas connect, the largest of which is Westpoint Slough.

History The earliest known inhabitants of the area which was to become Redwood City were the Ohlone who were present when the Spanish claimed the land and established missions.

Redwood City incorporated in 1867, being the first city in San Mateo County to do so; it has remained the county seat since the county's formation in 1856. The land had been part of the Rancho de las Pulgas granted to the Argüello family in 1835 by the Mexican government. Their control was challenged after the Mexican–American War when California became part of the United States. The family lawyer, Simon M. Mezes, in 1854 defended the claim somewhat successfully and was allowed to buy the part of the estate that is now Redwood City. Mezes sold some of the land to people already squatting on it along the banks of Redwood Creek and named the settlement "Mezesville". Though the city did not keep that name, Mezes Park still exists on land that Mezes had given for open space.

In 1907, Eikichi and Sadakusi Enomoto, Japanese immigrant brothers, grew what may perhaps have been the first commercially grown chrysanthemums in the United States in Redwood City. In 1926, the chamber of commerce proclaimed the city the "Chrysanthemum Center of the World" though the internment of Japanese Americans in 1941 and other factors would contribute to the end of flower growing as a major industry in the city.

Geography Redwood City stretches from the San Francisco Bay towards the Santa Cruz Mountains between San Carlos to the north-west and Atherton to the south-east with Woodside to the southwest. It is divided by Highway 101 and further inland El Camino Real on the northwest–southeast axis and Woodside Road on the north-northeast/south-southwest axis. Locally, the former two are regarded as north–south and the latter east/west, as 101 and El Camino connects Redwood City to San Francisco and San Jose and Woodside Road runs from San Francisco Bay to the Santa Cruz Mountains.

Neighborhoods include Bair Island to the north-east of Highway 101. The northern planned community of Redwood Shores, also to the north-east of Highway 101, 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, or through Belmont via San Mateo County. Stretching along Highway 101 to the south-east of Woodside Road is Friendly Acres, further inland and still to the south-east of Woodside Road are Redwood Village and then Redwood Oaks. Most neighborhoods are to the north-west of Woodside Road and south-west of Highway 101. Centennial, Downtown, and Stambaugh Heller are adjacent to 101. Next inland are Edgewood, Mt. Carmel, Central and Palm then Canyon, Eagle Hill, Roosevelt, and Woodside Plaza. Furthest inland is Farm Hills (or Farm Hill).

Neighborhoods associated with Redwood City but not part of the incorporated city include Emerald Lake Hills and Kensington Square inland and to the north and North Fair Oaks to the southeast. Palomar Park, just north of Emerald Hills and east of San Carlos' Crestview area, is another Redwood City neighborhood that is formally part of unincorporated San Mateo County. Although Redwood City has a large middle class, the south-eastern section of Redwood City strongly resembles working-class North Fair Oaks in both demographic makeup and income level.

Downtown In an attempt to revitalize Redwood City's downtown, city officials decided to consider development. In February 1999, the San Mateo County History Museum opened inside the old San Mateo County Courthouse in downtown Redwood City. The courthouse had been built in 1910 and in the late '30s an addition was built in front of the original structure, obscuring the view. As part of the revitalization, this addition was torn down and replaced with a large courtyard flanked by water fountains on either side, leading to the main steps of the courthouse. The courthouse's glass dome is lit at night and changes colors every 11 seconds.

In August 2006, a 20-screen theater and various shops opened in a prime downtown location. The theater complex boasts restaurant and retail space at street level and a two-level underground parking structure.

Games • The 3rd person Action Adventure Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics is based in Redwood City.

Media companies • Ampex Corporation, a pioneer and major developer of the audio recording, video recording, and data storage industries, headquartered management, engineering, and manufacturing in Redwood City for decades. • Several DreamWorks animated films (e.g., Antz (1998), Shrek (2001), Shrek 2 (2004), and Madagascar (2005)) were made by PDI/DreamWorks (the Northern California branch of DreamWorks Animation), which moved to Redwood City from nearby Palo Alto (Park Drive) in October 2002. • Video game publisher Electronic Arts is based in the Redwood Shores neighborhood of Redwood City. • Formerly the home to the headquarters of the video game hardware/software developer Sega of America. • ABS-CBN International, a subsidiary of the Filipino media conglomerate ABS-CBN Corporation is based in 150 Shoreline Drive.

Economy Ampex, Avangate, BigBand Networks, BroadVision, Crystal Dynamics, DPR Construction, Electronic Arts, GoFundMe, Informatica, iPass Inc., Jivox, Openwave, Oracle, Shutterfly, Support.com, Evernote, Equinix, i2c Inc, YuMe, and iCracked are based in Redwood City.

Additionally, All Nippon Airways operates an office in Suite 350 at 555 Twin Dolphin Drive in Redwood City. Until 1999 Sega operated its United States headquarters in Redwood City; during that year the headquarters moved to San Francisco. The 3DO Company, when it existed, had its headquarters in Redwood City. In addition to large tech companies, there is also a vibrant small business community in the town.

Cargill salt ponds Cargill has operated salt ponds in Redwood City, and has proposed development of the ponds, resulting in demands for restoration of some of the land. The plans are currently stalled.

Economy: Top employers As of 2020, the top employers in the city were: 1 Oracle Corporation; 2 County of San Mateo; 3 Stanford Hospital and Clinics; 4 Box Inc.; 5 Auris Surgical Robotics; 6 Impossible Foods, Inc.; 7 Google; 8 Guardant Health; 9 The Permanente Medical Group; 10 Equinix.

Education Redwood City has one state community college, Cañada College.

It has elementary and middle schools operated by both the Redwood City School District and the Belmont – Redwood Shores School District. At the high school level it is part of the Sequoia Union High School District and high schools in Redwood City that are part of this district are the comprehensive Sequoia High School, the charter schools Summit Preparatory Charter High School and Everest Public High School, and the continuation school Redwood High School. Many students from Redwood City attend another Sequoia Union school, Woodside High School, in the neighboring town of Woodside. The community of Redwood Shores is served by the Belmont - Redwood Shores School District and Carlmont High School.

The Redwood City Public Library, a member of the Peninsula Library System, has a Downtown Library and two neighborhood branch locations: Redwood Shores and Schaberg. The city's first library opened in 1865 and in 1900 the city passed a special tax to support a free public library. In 1904, Andrew Carnegie gave $10,000 for a new library; he gave another $6,000 to rebuild it after it was destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. In 1959, the Schaberg Branch Library opened, funded by a bequest in the will of Hannah Schaberg, widow of former County Clerk Herman W. Schaberg. The Redwood Shores Branch Library was completed and opened to the public in 2008.

Transport U.S. Route 101 passes through Redwood City as it goes along the Peninsula. Other major thoroughfares include El Camino Real, Route 82; Woodside Rd, Route 84, and I-280, which passes west of the city. Redwood City has a stop on Caltrain, and local bus service is provided by SamTrans.