Vestiges of Redwood City Airport
For those of you who wrote in with comments and information following the article on Sweeny Ranch / Sanders Airport thank you for your emails.I have been advised by several people that there is still one building of the original Redwood City Airport that remains intact and should be considered a historic building. (And hopefully it is considered a historic building by the Redwood City History Committee.)
The building in question was originally the Aviation Cafe which had been owned and operated by the Andreini family from 1925 to 1969. Ettore and Carolina Andreini had emigrated to the U.S. from Italy in 1921 and established themselves in Redwood City in the middle of what was then one of the busiest and most prestigious flying schools and airports in the state of California.
The Andreini's cleverly chose a site for their restaurant that was located immediately opposite the hangars which stood where Grant Yard is now, on the western end of the airfield. (On the corner of Chestnut and Spring, opposite where the county corporation yard today stands.) It would have been a place where pilots, students and passengers would have immediately gone to for a coffee and bite to eat.
The cafe was sold by the Andreini's in 1969 and in the 70's became the "Hideaway Lounge" offering cocktails and live music, which is how many people still remember it.
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| Vintage Hideaway Lounge matchbook covers. Left, cover logo of cowboy on bucking bronco, reminiscent of the Redwood City Rodeo - [Source: ebay - sold]; Right, an elegant evening matchbook cover with gold embossed lettering, [Source: Frank Kelsey on Flickr]. Retail between $6-10 each! |
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| Click here to locate on Google Maps. |
