Belmont's Hundredth Year Fits Between Twin Pines Park and the Caltrain Platform

Belmont turned 100 on Thursday, Oct. 29, the anniversary of its formal incorporation on Oct. 29, 1926. Its centennial year mostly played out in one compact area: Twin Pines Park, the blocks of the old downtown, and the railroad line that once made Belmont the "Hub of the Peninsula." The guided history tour on Oct. 18 covered that ground. So did the Centennial Fest on Oct. 24. Nearly every City holiday event between now and Dec. 17 lands back in the same place.

The tour was a one-time event. Every stop on its route is still standing, and the next two months of the calendar keep bringing people back to it.

A 1910 storefront that was already in a movie

Start with the stop most people remember. Jolly's Old-Fashioned Teas Cream sits at 1110 Old County Road, a short walk from the Belmont Caltrain station, in a wood building put up in 1910. In 1910 the same spot held the Chanticleer Ice Cream and Candy Shop, run by Mrs. Barrett and her daughter Winifred. Jolly's calls the building one of the last surviving pieces of Belmont's original main street. The shop announced it was open in September 2025. That means ice cream had been back at this address for just over a year when the city turned 100.

The building has a screen credit too. It shows up in the background of the silent film "Pop Tuttle the Fire Chief," part of a series that used "Plum Center" as the movie name for Belmont because the town sits halfway between San Francisco and San Jose. The City and the San Mateo Daily Journal date the filming to 1923. Jolly's says 1922, and the Silent Era film database lists a November 1922 release. On Oct. 18, the tour stopped here for ice cream and a screening of the film.

The route, stop by stop

The City's listing for the tour lays out the loop. It starts in the park, goes through the old downtown to the train, and returns along a residential street. Here it is in order, with what each stop holds this fall:

1. Twin Pines Senior Center, 20 Twin Pines Lane. The tour started here. The centennial time capsule ceremony took place out front during the Fest, and the capsule's contents were chosen by residents through a City survey earlier in the year.
2. The Belmont History Room, behind the Manor House in Twin Pines Park. The Belmont Historical Society keeps most of its photographs, articles and oral histories here, and visitors can browse them during open hours.
3. Twin Pines Park and Belmont Creek. The City lists its Belmont Creek Restoration Project here as complete in 2026, built with the City of San Carlos, the County of San Mateo and the California Department of Water Resources. The site will be monitored and maintained for five years.
4. The Caltrain platform. From here, on Oct. 18, volunteer historian Chuck Cotten pointed out landmarks of Belmont's oldest neighborhood and told stories about speakeasies, flower farms, military outposts, rock stars and Olympians.
5. Jolly's, 1110 Old County Road. The ice cream stop, with free parking in the lot next door.
6. Waltermire Street. The loop heads back to Twin Pines Park past the historic homes on this street.

The railroad stop on this list is the reason the walk exists at all. According to the San Mateo Daily Journal's account of the tour, Belmont began in the 1850s as a rest stop for horse-drawn stagecoaches. The San Francisco and San Jose Railroad arrived in 1863 on the line Caltrain uses now, and that put the town on the map as the hub between the two cities. The same article traces later eras: chrysanthemum growing in the 1920s by Japanese American families who shipped millions of flowers across the country and abroad, Prohibition-era speakeasies, and visits by the Grateful Dead in the 1960s.

New signs make the route easier to follow. On Oct. 8, the City said it would start installing the first phase of its wayfinding signs over the following three weeks, pointing to the Twin Pines Civic Center, parks, the library and the community center. The City posted an interactive map that shows where the signs are going.

The History Room opens one Sunday in November

You'll find most of the route's history behind the Manor House, but only on certain days. The Belmont Historical Society lists fall and winter hours of 1 to 4 p.m. on selected Sundays. The next one is Sunday, Nov. 8, and after that the room is closed until Sunday, Jan. 10, 2027. This year the Society also became an affiliate of the City's Parks, Recreation and Culture Department. It sells two books by local residents, "Belmont" by McCarthy and "Heritage of the Wooded Hills" by Dewing.

The Nov. 8 opening falls on the same day as the Belmont Farmers' Market. The market runs year-round on Sundays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 1201 El Camino Real, according to the Pacific Coast Farmers' Market Association. The market closes at 1 p.m., the same hour the History Room opens.

If you can't make it that Sunday, the City's Historical Tour page has "Then & Now" photos from the Society's collection. It also has short audio clips of Belmont historian Karl Mittelstadt on the Emmett General Store, the American House Hotel and O'Neill's Landing. The City's 100 Years of Belmont Memories podcast features conversations with long-time residents.

The public interest is clear from the October tour. Tour organizer and Councilmember Gina Latimerlo told the Daily Journal that so many people signed up that guides had to split them into three groups. As she put it to the paper:

"People were so excited to find out how Belmont grew up."

The holiday calendar comes back to the same ground

The centennial ended up in Twin Pines Park because that's where Belmont already holds its public events. The Fest closed out in the park with live music, food trucks and a 7:30 p.m. drone show. Park Boosters poured Alpha Acid beer, and the trucks on the program included Jolly's, Jika's Kitchen, Respectable Bird, Sam's Chowder Mobile, Jaylis Cocina, Bay Area Softly and Me So Hungry Too. The Rotary Club of Belmont & Redwood Shores donated toward the time capsule memorial.

The City's 2026 holiday events page and its Oct. 16 bulletin fill out the rest of the year. Most of the dates are at Twin Pines.

San Mateo Consolidated Fire co-hosts the Firehouse evening. Sensory Santa families are welcome to stay when the main event starts at 5:30. On Dec. 8, the City Council will present the 20th annual Beautiful Belmont Awards and the Community Service Award. The City's centennial plan also lists a Centennial Recap for November and December, with no date set yet.

If you've lived here a while, you may have walked past the 1910 building on Old County Road for years without knowing it had been on film, or that the History Room opens on just a few Sundays each season. The next one is Nov. 8 from 1 to 4 p.m. From the Manor House, the platform and Jolly's are a short walk away.

Belmont's history is one of the reasons I'm so glad to work in this part of the Peninsula. If you're curious about the older blocks around Twin Pines Park and the original main street, or the stories behind the houses on Waltermire Street, I'd love to hear what you've found on the walk. Julie Baumann is always happy to trade notes with neighbors. Let's Connect.