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Addendum Historical Resource Inventory and
<br />Evaluation Report & Historical Impacts Analysis
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<br />AECOM
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<br />of the roadway turned the historic route into a commercial corridor, especially through the
<br />Peninsula, where it closely parallels the former Southern Pacific Rail Road tracks.6
<br />The El Camino Real corridor along the Peninsula transformed into an unofficial “auto row” in the
<br />years leading up to World War II, and increased even more in the post-war boom years, which
<br />coincided with increased residential development. The two car dealerships in the project vicinity
<br />were part of this post-war boom. The Acura dealership at 1555 El Camino Real was built in
<br />1953 on the former location of the Beeger Tannery, and Towne Ford at 1601 El Camino Real
<br />was established at this location in the early 1950s on the former site of a lumber company.
<br />Other auto-related businesses were located along El Camino Real and nearby streets, including
<br />gas stations, auto repair shops, parking garages, and car washes. After Highway 101 was
<br />completed in the 1960s, approximately 1 mile north of the project site, El Camino Real
<br />transitioned to a secondary-travel corridor, and many of the auxiliary auto-related businesses
<br />have since closed. In Redwood City near the project site, a number of these businesses have
<br />been razed and replaced with surface parking lots. Others, like the parcels adjacent to the Acura
<br />dealership at 1555 El Camino Real, were cleared and replaced with apartment buildings with
<br />retail at the ground level in the early 2000s.7
<br />4. Description of 1304 El Camino Real
<br />Property Description
<br />The building at 1304 El Camino Real is at the intersection of Jackson Avenue and El Camino
<br />Real, and is approximately 6,500 square feet (Photograph 1). Built on a concrete-slab
<br />foundation, it is a tall one-story, concrete-block building with stucco cladding and a flat roof.
<br />Centrally located on the northeastern side along El Camino Real, it includes a two-car-wide
<br />garage bay opening with a roll-up metal door, flanked by two large fixed-pane picture windows
<br />in metal frames. Decorative flower boxes are located below the windows flanking the opening.
<br />The northwestern side along Jackson Street has two large 2-light glass fixed-metal frame
<br />windows, a centrally located glass and metal commercial swing door with wide awning above,
<br />and two tall overhead garage bay openings with roll-up metal doors. The southeastern and
<br />southwestern sides lack openings. “Precision Tune Auto Car” light-up signage is mounted near
<br />the roofline on El Camino Real and Jackson Avenue. A surface parking lot is off the
<br />southeastern side of the building, but is associated with a separate parcel and business
<br />(Photograph 2) (The Record Man at 1322 El Camino Real). There are large metal shipping
<br />containers in the parking lot along the southeastern side of the building.
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<br />6 California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), A Historical Context and Methodology for Evaluating Trails,
<br />Roads, and Highways in California (Sacramento, CA: Caltrans, 2016), 54, 68, 74-75, 77; City of San Mateo, El
<br />Camino Real Master Plan, Settings and Opportunities, Chapter 2: History, September 2001, available at
<br />https://www.cityofsanmateo.org/1308/El-Camino-Real-Master-Plan (accessed December 2018); Daniel P. Faigin,
<br />“California Highways, Trails and Roads: El Camino Real,” Available at https://www.cahighways.org/elcamino.html.
<br />Accessed December 2018.
<br />7 Grand Boulevard Initiative, “History of El Camino,” Available at https://grandboulevard.net/about/history-of-el-
<br />camino. Accessed December 2018; Sanborn Fire Insurance Company, Redwood City, Cal. (New York, NY: Sanborn
<br />Fire Insurance Company, May 1950), Sheet 12-15, 24-26, 34.
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