City of San Carlos

The City of San Carlos has detectors in the ground of the parking spaces on Laurel Street. As soon as the time expires (2 hours), a notification system lets their parking enforcement staff know that the time has expired. My complaint is the following, some parking enforcement staff starts issuing tickets right at the expiration time (this was my experience), other staff members have a 15 minute grace period to allow one to get to his/​her car. I got a $ 35 ticket five minutes after the expiration time, as a matter of fact, I walked up at the time the ticket was being written. The Asian young man who was writing the ticket told me that he had already starting writing the ticket and that he could not stop. San Carlos should post notice about the existence of these detectors in order to give proper notice to downtown visitors. I wrote a written protest about this matter but was declined justice by the San Mateo court. The lack of notice and the difference in treatment of different enforcers makes it an unfair system.

Oh San Carlos! The beautiful view at night and the most upscale houses that I have seen!
If I could afford to live here, trust me I would.
I first found out about San Carlos as I was applying for my job (3 years ago) and lucky I was stationed out of San Carlos. It has grown from the 3 years that I have seen it. Nice shopping centers. Beautiful houses and condos! Great schools! And lets not forget the Deers that decide to come out in the day and night :)
I make sure that no matter where my job relocates me to, I’m somewhere close to San Carlos. :)
At night, when you go all the way up San Carlos hills you can see the beautiful view of San Francisco and San Mateo bridge.
A+ for the variety of different schools within the area such as: Edison Montessori school, Sequoia children Center, Central Elementary school, Heather Elementary school… the list goes on and on…
The area is mostly populated by families and older adults. Nice family community.
There are tons of parks around the area such as: Burton Park, Highlands Park, Eaton Park, Crestview Park… The list goes on… Long story short! This city is perfect for families with children :)

Well its the city of Good living, who wouldn’t wanna test that out right?
I am sure its part because its pretty chill.
Casey Anthoney even wanted to come live down here at one time.
Theres alot of great parks an views to see in this little town.
The sun beams so perfectly here.
Theres a pretty cool park here for the mentally challenged and a great food bank here.
YOu definitly gotta check out laurel street if you come down, its like the strip of the town. Things are way expensive here thats definitly a fallback but the people here are really nice. The cats here are great too, very friendly. I’ve also seen my share of raccoons, deer, and skunk here, all animals which I love.
We have some great talent here too, like Mike Pre, that guy is a musical genius.
WE got some real talent here. Theres alot of old people here and old peoples homes.
They seem to die of natural causes an seem like alot of them died happy.
If your here in december you gotta check out eucalyptus street at night.
Its the best I’ve seen of lighted up streets.
My car has only been broken into a couple times here.
One time I actually had jewelry in my car that they didn’t take .
They pretty much just made a huge mess inside my car tearing it up, no big deal.
I think I liked this place more as an adult.
Theres an elm street here but its nothing to be scared about.
Theres a great area in front of city hall with a nice lawn and benches perfect for having a beer and some snacks and just relaxing.
Home to one of my favorite libraries, not too big not too small just perfect an has everything you need.

This is where all my «childhood» memories are. Quotations because I meant my first few yeas in the US.
This city, as the previous reviews mentioned, have a small-​town feel to it. Downtown SC is small but is definitely packed with various establishments, mainly restaurants.
It has a Caltrain station, a small private airport, and other basic facilities one can find in a city. There are no highschools within the city’s limits but Carlmont and Sequoia are very close by. There is also Canada College and Sequoia hospital in the neighboring Redwood City that are very close to the RWC-​SC border.
The city is very safe and is almost free of crooks. We never had any issues of theft or breaking in during our stay here. Even on one instance when our main door was left opened the whole day (because apparently one family member forgot to shut the door completely when they left, and the wind blew it wide open).
I also walked a lot late at night and not once did I encounter a weirdo or a shady person. I always felt safe here, unlike some nearby towns/​cities.
The parks on the hills (ie Brittan park) are also very nice and peaceful and somehow give you this feeling that you are in a real wilderness when in reality, there are homes a few feet away from you.
The only disturbing memory I had here was when the Walgreens in front of where we used to live got robbed and a handful of cops with rifles showed up. It was like Call of Duty. lol. But I’m pretty sure those things happen everywhere else, most of the time, even worse.

this is a nice, quaint city that i enjoy visiting to shop and eat. i like how it is roughly the halfway point between san francisco and san jose, right smack in the middle of the peninsula.
the main downtown strip on laurel st boasts many fine restaurants and unique shops. some of my favourites include: vanilla moon (café/​bakery), harmony frozen yogourt (froyo and ice cream), and the laurel street antiques and collectibles shoppe (vintage household items).
it’s generally very quiet and peaceful in this city.

Quiet city. Laural is nice, but small. Shuts down around 10pm. I live on the hill and (literally) see more deer than neighbors.
Unfortunately, has a crazily paternalistic, asinine, city code restricting what you can do in your own house. Definitely research this aspect before you buy, especially if you like working with your hands!

Truly living up to its modo, San Carlos is definitely the city of good living. We almost bought a condo here last year, but missed out because of time and bought in Foster City. Anyhow, San Carlos really has a lot to offer, boasting many restaurants of every cuisine, ice cream shops, coffee shops, a lot of Italian restaurants (one could call it Little Italy,) and other shops and services for everyone. El Camino Ral, for that matter, is no different with auto shops for every make, model, and problem, Auto Pride Car Wash, restaurants, and shops and services for everyone and everything. There are numerous parks with expansive green space, picnick areas, barbecues, a recreation center, pools, and so forth. The schools are great. The people are very friendly like Shannon said, always saying hi; think of it as going to Cheer’s but with no bar or alcohol, just people walking around hahahahaha. Like all peninsula cities, particularly mid peninsula cities, you are only halfway between San Francisco and San Jose. This city, with a lot of middle to upper class people and families, especially young families, is a great example of big things coming in small packages.

San Carlos, what a town.
You definitely have the small town feel, but at the same time, SC is so hardcore and packed with awesome that it feels like so much more. I grew up here and I had a model childhood, I just wish I could have realized how special this place was before I moved in 2004. Looking back I see how incredible this city is.
So, look here, San Carlos has its own airport, a train station with a real depot, a US Route, an Interstate, a boatload of history, and it’s situated right in the middle of the Bay Area. San Jose to the south, San Francisco to the north, Oakland to the east. It’s got parks, it’s got a downtown, it’s got schools, it’s got Sequoia hospital, which is technically a few feet away into Redwood City, but its SC’s default hospital.
And the food! A great variety of independent places such as the Sky Kitchen, Vic’s, the Depot, Sneakers and a barrage of others. The atmosphere of this town is very positive. You walk down the street and say hello to complete strangers simply because you both know that San Carlos reeks of awesomeness, and as a result, you do too.
San Carlos truly is the City of Good Living!

When I make my move, I always research where it is, what it is and the mood it makes me feel. When I moved here 4 years ago, I thought I did just that. But, how little I knew what a perfect place I really chose.
I only saw that it was near a cycling area, a running area that is picture perfect, the weather rocks. Short ride to The City on a beautiful highway 280.
Short ride to the south to San Jose.
What I didn’t know and just found out was San Carlos motto «The City of Good Living».
It’s all true. The weather, the people, the easy friendly attitude of a small town, the numerous trails close to my house, the family of deers roaming our hills, the fog that only reach me one morning in four years. The post card views when I run or bike in my town. The numerous pools and tennis courts.
San Carlos rocks.

«You want to go where everybody knows your name.»
To me, San Carlos is like Cheers. A stroll down Laurel street can usually turn into one «Hello» after another. Once proclaimed as the «Mayberry of the Peninsula”– San Carlos definitely has that small town feel.
I love my town. Many have said that if San Carlos had an ambassador, I would be it. The love I feel for this city is pretty much unexplainable. It has a history of „firsts“ for me… and I’m sure for many others as well.
Here, our neighborhoods/​streets are split into jewels, and trees, and the history of families remembered through street names and buildings.
In my opinion, SC lives up to it’s motto…“The City of Good Living»