The City of Belmont's invitation to its centennial walking tour promises a walk "through Belmont's illustrious and sometimes scandalous past," with stories of "speakeasies and gangsters, flower farms and military outposts, rock stars and Olympians." Its route is short. It starts at Twin Pines Senior Center, goes through Twin Pines Park and the downtown neighborhood to the train platform, and comes back past the houses on Waltermire Street.
That loop is the key to Belmont's whole birthday month. The walking tour on October 18, Centennial Fest on October 24 and the Boo Bash on October 28 all meet in the same few blocks. These are the blocks between the 1867 depot and Twin Pines Park, Belmont's oldest neighborhood. A hundred years after incorporation, the city is holding its party where the town began.
The Station That Once Played "Plum Center"
Trains stopped at Belmont from the very beginning of the line. According to a 2018 Belmont Historical Society history booklet, service started in 1864, a depot was added in August 1867, and Southern Pacific ran special trains to the nearby Belmont Park picnic grounds until 1900. In 1978 the Historical Society published a book of residents' memories with "The Hub of the Peninsula" in its title, and the city's tour materials still use that phrase for the platform.
In the 1920s the station got another name for a while. The Paul Gershwin Movie Co. filmed its "Pop Tuttle" comedies in Belmont. The Historical Society says the producers got permission to rename the station "Plum Center" during filming and cast local people as extras. The films usually opened with Pop Tuttle meeting a train, first with a horse and buggy and later with a Model T rebuilt to look like a small bus. Then he drove his "guests" around town to the old Belmont Hotel. The shorts filled gaps in theater programs across the country.
The town was changing around the film crews. A Daily Journal history piece says that in 1925, Belmont Country Club Properties advertised a country-club subdivision as a "little Hillsborough" for San Francisco buyers. Water, phone, telegraph and sanitary-district service had arrived before cityhood, and Belmont incorporated in 1926. The centennial counts from that year.
October 18: The Tour Walks the Original Footprint
The free tour starts Sunday, October 18, at 2:30 p.m. at Twin Pines Senior Center, 20 Twin Pines Lane. Space is limited and you have to register. The guide is volunteer historian Chuck Cotten. He'll stand on the platform, point out landmarks of the oldest neighborhood and tell stories from the last hundred years.
The tour stops at Jolly's Old Fashioned Teas Cream for ice cream and a screening of "Pop Tuttle the Fire Chief," a silent film shot in the neighborhood in 1923. That puts a 1923 Belmont film on screen a short walk from the platform where the Pop Tuttle series staged its train arrivals.
Jolly's is a fitting stop because its building is older than the city. The shop opened in September 2025 at 1110 Old County Road, in a building that has stood since 1910 and once housed an ice cream and candy shop. Co-owners Jason Herrick and Vanessa Greene make tea-based ice cream flavors. Herrick left a 25-year career in software engineering, and the pair ran a food truck for about six years before opening the shop, as the Mercury News reported.
On the way back, the tour passes the historic homes on Waltermire Street. The city calls this the Waltermire Historic District, with homes built from the early 1900s through the 1930s, across from the downtown Safeway. In other words, the street was built over the same years Belmont went from depot stop to incorporated city. Belmont historian Russel Estep wrote that builder George Roussel built or remodeled several early Belmont houses, and that a remodeled former tank house still stands on Waltermire.
The Belmont Historical Society's History Room at 30 Twin Pines Lane stays open until 5 p.m. that afternoon. The Belmont Historical Society site posts its older history volumes online, including the Pop Tuttle account.
October 24: The Parade Ends on the Same Blocks
Centennial Fest on Saturday, October 24, starts farther up the hill and ends downtown. A car parade leaves Chula Vista Drive and Alameda de las Pulgas at 1:30 p.m. It heads north on the Alameda, turns right onto Ralston Avenue, goes east down Ralston, and turns right onto Sixth Avenue. It finishes at a car show on the 1000 block of Sixth Avenue near City Hall. The parade is invitation-only and capped at 50 cars. The city also asked for convertibles and vintage cars to carry dignitaries.
The time capsule ceremony is at 3:30 p.m. in front of Twin Pines Senior & Community Center. After that, the festival fills Twin Pines Park, and the night ends with a drone show at 7:30 p.m. Residents chose the capsule's contents through a survey earlier this year. The city says it will post the full list closer to the event.
Here are the three dates side by side:
| Date | Event | Starts | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sun., Oct. 18 | Historic walking tour | 2:30 p.m. | Twin Pines Senior Center, 20 Twin Pines Lane |
| Sat., Oct. 24 | Centennial Fest | 1:30 p.m. parade; 3:30 p.m. capsule; 7:30 p.m. drones | Alameda and Chula Vista, then Sixth Ave and Twin Pines Park |
| Wed., Oct. 28 | Belmont Boo Bash | 5 or 5:30 p.m. | Twin Pines Park |
Food and drink at the festival are tightly limited because of health permits. Alpha Acid is selling beer and the Park Boosters are selling wine. Alpha Acid says its name comes from the part of hops that makes beer bitter, and that it has developed more than 500 recipes. The food truck list includes Jolly's Old-Fashioned Teas Cream, Kona's Ice, Travelin Tom's Coffee, Jika's Kitchen, Respectable Bird, Sam's Chowder Mobile, Jaylis Cocina and Me So Hungry Too. The city notes the lineup may change. Jolly's is the one name that also appears on the walking tour.
What to know before you go:
- Street closures: Parade-route closures come and go between noon and 3 p.m. Sixth Avenue and the area around Twin Pines Park are closed to traffic for the event.
- Bringing food: Outside food and non-alcoholic drinks are allowed, including takeout from local restaurants. Opened alcohol can't be brought into the park.
- Cost: The festival is free. Food, drinks and centennial merchandise are for sale.
- Volunteering: The city is looking for help with setup, booths and games. Email [email protected].
October 28: One More Evening in the Same Park
Four days after Centennial Fest, Twin Pines Park hosts the annual Belmont Boo Bash on Wednesday, October 28. The free family event includes Trunk or Treat among decorated cars, haunted buildings, live music and food trucks. The two city sources give different start times. The October 2 newsletter says 5:30 to 7 p.m., and the city's event calendar says 5 to 7 p.m. If you're coming right after work, plan for 5 p.m. and check the calendar that week.
That makes three events in eleven days, all centered on one park and the streets around it.
What the Year Already Left Around Town
October is the high point, but the centennial has been leaving traces around town since winter. The Happy Hydrant project is a revival. Belmont's hydrants were first painted in the 1970s for the city's 50th anniversary and the U.S. Bicentennial. The city's January 30 newsletter said the first round of artists had finished their hydrants and a second round of applications was open. That same newsletter asked for an artist to paint the utility box at Ralston Avenue and Sixth Avenue, the corner where the October 24 car show is set up. The Parks and Recreation Commission recommended another hydrant design at its July 22 meeting.
The city also launched the 100 Years of Belmont Memories podcast in January. It features interviews with longtime residents about the past century. The show page lists episodes with Matt, Ed S, Dave I, Emily, Eric D and Terri Cook. It's a good thing to listen to before the October 18 tour. Centennial pins, shirts and hats are sold through the city, and proceeds support centennial programs. The city's centennial page is the place to check for parade maps, the time capsule list once it's posted, and any food truck changes.
Hydrants, a podcast episode, a time capsule buried near the Senior Center: when the drones land on October 24, most of what remains from this year will sit within walking distance of the platform the Pop Tuttle films once called Plum Center.
Suzanne grew up in Burlingame and knows how much a Peninsula town's character lives in places like Waltermire Street and the old depot. If you're spending this month walking downtown Belmont and wondering how its history connects to the homes you pass, Suzanne Garcia is glad to talk it through over a scoop at Jolly's. Let's Connect.
