About this guide
An independent guide to downtown Redwood City: what's happening today, where to eat and drink, and what's worth a walk from the train.
Independent
This site isn't affiliated with the City of Redwood City, the Redwood City Improvement Association, or any business listed. Nobody pays to be listed.
Who runs it
The guide is run by Aaron Nemoyten, a Redwood City local. He started it because the best things happening downtown were scattered across venue websites, Instagram posts, and flyers, and there was no single place to see what's happening today, what's open, and what's worth the walk.
Local first
The main goal of the guide is to highlight downtown businesses and events, and we'll never make any decisions that undermine that goal. Sure, sometimes you're just in the mood for Chipotle or Five Guys specifically, but we want to make sure you know how many delicious local alternatives Redwood City has within just a few short blocks.
Corrections and new listings
Spot something wrong, a new opening, a closure, or a weekly night that's missing? Send a note through the contact form and it'll be checked against the venue's own site and updated.
Why “Entertainment Hub”?
Redwood City promotes its downtown as the entertainment hub of the Peninsula, and Caltrain's own visitor material uses the same words. The idea grew out of the downtown revival in the 2000s. After years of being mocked as "Deadwood City," Redwood City chose entertainment as the engine of its comeback. It rebuilt Courthouse Square as a public plaza, opened a 20-screen cinema over a new garage on Middlefield, revived the 1929 Fox Theatre and its companion club, and launched free summer concerts. Restaurants, bars, and tech offices followed. Within a few blocks of Courthouse Square you can find a historic theater, a music club, a big multiplex, and seasonal outdoor shows, a density few Peninsula downtowns match. The city's 2026 downtown plan keeps Broadway as the "retail and cultural spine" and plans more nightlife on Veterans Boulevard. The city's official slogan is still "Climate Best by Government Test."
10 things about downtown Redwood City
- Redwood City began as a mid-1800s embarcadero on Redwood Creek, where redwood logged in the nearby hills was loaded onto schooners for San Francisco. That trade gave the town its name.
- It has been the San Mateo County seat since the 1850s and in 1867 became the county's first incorporated city.
- The slogan "Climate Best by Government Test" won a 1925 Chamber of Commerce and Real Estate Board contest that drew 79 entries. The original wording was "By Government Test, Our Climate Is Best."
- The "government test" is mostly folklore. Winner Wilbur Doxsee, who also happened to be the Chamber's president, pointed to a reported German weather survey, but he later admitted he made it up. Local amateur weatherman Henry Finkler likely inspired the boast.
- The slogan turned 100 in 2025. Signs carrying it have arched over Broadway in various spots since the 1920s, and today's green arch near the Caltrain station lights up at night.
- The Fox Theatre opened in January 1929 as the New Sequoia Theatre on the site of an old grammar school. The Fox West Coast chain bought it that October. After a partial ceiling collapse in 1950 the auditorium was redone and the theater shifted toward live shows.
- The domed San Mateo County courthouse, now the History Museum, was completed in 1910 after the 1906 earthquake wrecked its predecessor. Its stained-glass rotunda dome is a highlight.
- For years locals called the sleepy downtown "Deadwood City." The turnaround in the 2000s deliberately used entertainment as its catalyst: the 20-screen cinema, a rebuilt Courthouse Square, the restored Fox, and free summer concerts.
- Music on the Square, the free Friday-night summer concert series in Courthouse Square, finished its 20th season in September 2026.
- The Port of Redwood City is the only deep-water port in the South Bay south of San Francisco, and a working industrial harbor sits a short bike ride from downtown.