When you start a blog about a street, you end up spending a lot of quality time in Google Maps. I have literally covered every mile of El Camino Real with my mouse, paging up and down the state. It’s a form of virtual tourism, a poor man’s hot air balloon ride giving me a bird’s eye view of my favorite road, one I can’t easily get any other way. I was doing just that a while back, mousing up the Peninsula towards San Francisco, when I spotted something that gave me pause: a heart-shaped neighborhood in San Bruno. It’s no accident. The cross street piercing the top like an arrow is called Cupid Row.
The neighboorhood is subtly laid out with a pleasing graphical design. The heart itself is made of two streets, Carlton Ave and Terrace Ave, joined in a perfectly symmetrical valentine, dimpled at the top and pointy at the bottom. Cupid Row intersects it through its axis, continued by Texas Pl on the other side. It’s encased in the larger loop of Florida Ave and Georgia Ave, and the whole thing is cleverly mirrored by Taylor and Chapman avenues. The heart itself is not duplicated though. Kensington Ave and Garden Ave approximate it but lack the dimple. They form more of a shield shape with Mastick Ave, which opens up many possibilities for poetic interpretation. All this is just a block off El Camino Real opposite the termination of Crystal Springs Rd.
San Bruno is proud of its romantic little secret. I found this article from circa Valentine’s Day, 2004 giving its history.
As it turns out the neighborhood was laid out on land formerly occupied by Uncle Tom’s Cabin, the longtime El Camino landmark rest stop on the Butterfield Stagecoach route. It’s not clear to me if the streets were created 100 years ago, or post World War II. The latter makes more sense. Perhaps the “Heart Area” was designed to attract newlywed returning G.I.s.
According to the article the Cupid Row tract inspired a motto for the city, “The City with Heart,” which implies a little dig at their Industrial neighbor to the north. El Camino has much to offer loving couples celebrating Valentine’s Day todayfine dining, flowers, candy, gifts, even secluded getaways. But San Bruno has really taken the holiday to heart, as they’ve taken it to the streets.
This post is dedicated to my own true love. Happy Valentine’s Day, Paulette!