Brisbane is a small city, at the northeastern slope of San Bruno Mountain in northern San Mateo County between San Francisco and its airport. It grew up in the depression as a place where people could build their own homes on cheap lots with little or no building code enforcement. Located along the busy US-101 corridor, Brisbane is unknown to most local residents since it is surrounded on three sides by undeveloped hills and the fourth side by a lagoon. When US-101 was diverted to a freeway along the bay shore in the 1950’s, the area was bypassed and relieved from pressure to develop its land until the peninsula became clogged with people and businesses late in the last century.
With only 4,000 residents, Brisbane retains a small town village feel, centered around a typical main street. Brisbane is known as the "City of Stars" because residents display large beautiful lighted stars on their homes at Christmas time and many leave their stars up year around. Possessor of a comfortable marine climate without the summer fog of San Francisco, Brisbane's average daytime temperatures range from about 54 degrees in winter to 74 degrees in summer with 17 inches of annual rainfall occurring predominantly between December and March.
A history of Brisbane can be found at: http://www.ci.brisbane.ca.us/html/about/history.asp
