Burlingame, CA: mostly crap dipped in gold.

Okay, I admit it, the title of this post is kind of harsh, but it pretty much says it all.

Historically, this city has been a really blue collar town. The thing is, the people who are moving into the neighborhoods now are fairly well educated, white collar families, but there is still lot of blue collar living here. The city has done a great job of revitalizing downtown and there are very nice areas of Burlingame, but to be honest, these areas of Burlingame are more associated with Hillsborough and San Mateo Park then they are with the "real" Burlingame. To give you a great example, back in 1995, you could buy a single family detached home in Burlingame by the railroad tracks for $90,000. That's just crazy, it's almost East Palo Alto pricing.

With the normal Burlingame residents, it's not surprising upscale newcomers such as Nectar has such a hard time turning a profit (and eventually having to close down). Red necks do not know wine, nor do they know any manners. This is why you rarely see them hanging out in the tasting rooms of Napa Valley vineyards.

I have gone to great lengths with my lack of Photoshop skills to map out the various regions of the city of Burlingame. Be forewarned, most of Burlingame is not very well off. You will often run into a lot of interesting characters around the residential areas during the day. Funny enough, you don't see them around much on the weekends and during the evening. Maybe they just don't have jobs or they work night shifts.

Because I work between 10 to 12 hours a day in my job in SF, I actually have never ran into any of said individuals. For the first time in a long while I decided to stay in my neighborhood over the Christmas holidays instead of flying out for the week to Barcelona, Hawaii, etc and boy, did I see them in droves.

Fortunately, I only rent, so what I saw over the holidays is a sign for me to start moving out to a better area.

click below for a larger map:

Couple comments about the map. I would HIGHLY recommend at all costs avoiding what I lovingly called "The Tenderloin". The place is full of low lives who for whatever the reason decide to own pit bulls that they cannot control, and frequently decide to let loose in the neighborhood. Then again, if they had that kind of discipline with their dogs, they probably would be better off because they would have that kind of discipline with themselves. Honestly, if an officer of the law is reading this, parking your patrol car here for a day will greatly help fill your month's quota. The only good that graces this ghetto neighborhood is The Dailey Method, and sadly, their patrons are probably the only people who frequent that neighborhood that has any money.

Let's not forget people treating Carolan Rd like a drag strip, cause some smart ass decided to build a quarter mile, 4-lane strip with no lights right next to the railroad and car dealerships, and right next to a school no less.

For those of you who want to see the map of what I really think, click here. But clicking on the link will waive your right to be offended or bitch about what I wrote.