San Bruno (Spanish for “St. Bruno”) is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States, incorporated in 1914. Take a look below for 15 awesome and fun facts about San Bruno, California, United States.
1. The population was 43,908 at the 2020 United States Census.
2. The city is between South San Francisco and Millbrae, adjacent to San Francisco International Airport and Golden Gate National Cemetery, and is approximately 12 miles (19 km) south of downtown San Francisco.
3. The city is between South San Francisco and Millbrae, adjacent to San Francisco International Airport and Golden Gate National Cemetery, and is approximately 12 miles (19 km) south of downtown San Francisco.
4. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 5.5 square miles (14 km2), all of it land. The city spreads from the mostly flat lowlands near San Francisco Bay into the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains, which rise to more than 600 feet (180 m) above sea level in Crestmoor and more than 700 feet (210 m) above sea level in Portola Highlands. San Bruno City Hall sits at an official elevation of 41 feet (12.5 m) above sea level.
5. Portions of Mills Park, Crestmoor, and Rollingwood are very hilly, featuring canyons and ravines. Creeks, many of them now in culverts, flow from springs in the hills toward San Francisco Bay. Just west of Skyline Boulevard and outside of city limits is San Andreas Lake, which got its name from the San Andreas Fault. The lake is one of several reservoirs used by the San Francisco Water Department, providing water to San Francisco and several communities in San Mateo County, including San Bruno west of I-280.
6. San Bruno has a mild Mediterranean climate characterized by mild to warm, dry summers and cool, wet winters. San Bruno has much milder temperatures than most of the state.
7. Owing to its relatively mild temperatures, the city’s climate closely resembles that of an oceanic climate. Other regions of the world with similar temperatures to San Bruno include much of the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, southern Australia, the coastal areas of Norway and much of Scandinavia (where mild climates are often found).
8. Since 1927, the National Weather Service (formerly the U.S. Weather Bureau) has maintained a weather station at the nearby San Francisco International Airport (formerly Mills Field). According to the official records, January is the coldest month with an average high of 55.9 °F (13.3 °C) and an average low of 42.9 °F (6.1 °C).
9. Freezing temperatures occur on an average of only 1.3 days annually. The coldest winter temperature on record was 20 °F (−7 °C) on December 11, 1932, the same day 1.0 inch (2.5 cm) of snow fell.
10. A week-long cold spell in December 1972 caused hard freezes throughout the area, damaging trees and plants and causing some water pipes to break; the temperature dropped as low as 24 °F (−4 °C) at the airport and 20 °F (−7 °C) in Crestmoor, which also reported snow flurries several times that week. There was 1.5 inch of snow at the airport on January 21, 1962, with several inches falling in the hills.
11. The current Mayor of San Bruno is Rico E. Medina who began his term as Mayor on December 12, 2017. He has previously been a Council Member. The previous mayor of San Bruno was Jim Ruane, first elected in 2009 and served until December 2017. The mayor before Jim Ruane was Larry Franzella, first elected November 1999, and who was reelected through November 2009. Bob Marshall, “Mr. San Bruno”, served as mayor from 1980 to 1992. San Bruno is one of the only cities in San Mateo County with an independently elected mayor.
12. In the California State Legislature, San Bruno is in the 13th Senate District, represented by Democrat Josh Becker, and in the 22nd Assembly District, represented by Democrat Kevin Mullin.
13. San Bruno City Park, bordered by Crystal Springs Avenue and El Crystal School, is the major municipal park. It offers shaded walkways and hiking trails, picnic tables, a playground, a small ballpark, a municipal swimming pool, and a recreation center that includes an indoor basketball court once used for training by the San Francisco Warriors basketball team. There are smaller municipal parks in other parts of the city.
14. Junipero Serra County Park, also accessible from Crystal Springs Avenue, is a 100-acre (.405 square kilometer) park owned by San Mateo County and includes numerous hiking trails, as well as picnic shelters, barbecue pits, and picnic tables. The wilderness area was named for Junípero Serra, a Franciscan friar who founded many of the Spanish missions in California during the eighteenth century; Serra regularly passed through what is now San Bruno whenever he visited the mission at San Francisco. The park is administered by the San Mateo County Parks and Recreation Department, which charges a six dollar entry fee for vehicles.
15. San Bruno was the location of the Ohlone village Urebure. It was explored in November 1769 by a Spanish expedition led by Gaspar de Portolà. Later, more extensive explorations by Bruno de Heceta resulted in the naming of San Bruno Creek after St. Bruno of Cologne, the founder of a medieval monastic order. This creek apparently later gave its name to the community.
