Redwood City and the “Best Climate in the World” Label

“Climate Best By Government Test”

This little ditty of a saying is easily viewable from the Caltrain on a large Redwood City sign. I have to admit, it haunted me for almost a month. What the hell does it mean? What is a government test? Who determines what makes the best climate? And, it’s a phrase that keeps bouncing around in my head, kind of like one of those 70s songs that just hangs around forever.

This is a small piece of California history with perhaps broader implications. Just before World War 1, the US and Germany travelled the world collecting meteorological data in hopes of finding the best climates in the world.

When the results were compiled and published, the people of Redwood City were delighted to discover that their own little non-descript town was one of the top three after the African Mediterranean and the Canary Islands.

This is the part that kept rattling around in my brain: all three seem like odd candidates for the best climate in the world… And, the two countries involved in the best-climate-searching seem like an odd match — given the period in history (read: the Venezuela Crisis and a German plot to occupy Mexico).

I’m sure there was a bit of propaganda going on here… or some other motive. The weather has long been used in war and the mid-1900s were the beginnings of research into environmental warfare… described by some as the “military’s pandora’s box.”

When I started writing this post, I never intended to dig deep into the town slogan — because it’s these little things that make a town unique. Instead, I wanted to focus on how easy it was to download the history of Redwood City. If you go to bn.com or Google Books, you’ll see that the town library has uploaded many of their historical and oral transcripts, which can be downloaded (or sideloaded) to your eBook reader for free. These provide a wealth of information about the town, its past, and its historical buildings.

I’ll admit, it was kind of fun photographing buildings in Redwood City and then finding information and stories about them in Redwood City, California by Nicholas A. Veronico, Betty S. Veronico, Reg Mcgovern, Janet Mcgovern.