San Bruno was first inhabited by the Ohlone Indians in the 1700s, and it was the site of the Ohlone village Urebure. Europeans first explored the area in 1769, when a Spanish expedition led by Gaspar de Portola arrived there. Later, more extensive expeditions led by Captain Bruno Heceta, an explorer of San Francisco Bay's western shore in 1775, resulted in the naming of San Bruno Creek after St. Bruno of Cologne. Much of the area became livestock pastureland after the establishment of the San Francisco de Asis (St. Francis of Assisi) Mission. However, after the decline of the missions in the wake of Mexico's independence from Spain in 1821, the area became part of Rancho Buri Buri, which the Mexican government granted to Jose Antonio Sanchez, the eleventh alcalde, or mayor, of San Francisco. After Sanchez died in 1843, his heirs inherited the land and sold it in parcels that became largely dairy farms.
San Bruno remained primarily a rural town with farmhouses, a stop on the stagecoach route and later a train station and post office through the remainder of the 19th century. On Sept. 4, 1899, Tanforan Racetrack, a thoroughbred horse racing facility, was constructed to serve clientele from nearby San Francisco. The racetrack was named after Toribio Tanforan, who was the grandson-in-law of Rancho Buri Buri grantee Sanchez. Tanforan was notable not only for its horse racing -- several famous racehorses such as Seabiscuit, Citation and Phar Lap competed or were stabled there -- but also as the site for, among other things, the Frank Capra films "Broadway Bill" and "Riding High." And in 1911, aviator Eugene Ely's took off from Tanforan for the first successful shipboard aircraft landing, which was completed when Ely's airplane landed on the armored cruiser USS Pennsylvania anchored in San Francisco Bay. Tanforan was destroyed in a fire on July 31, 1964, and it later became a shopping mall now called The Shops at Tanforan.
Significant growth in San Bruno occurred in the wake of the great San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906, and the city was incorporated in 1914. On May 7, 1924, an airport opened on unincorporated former cow pastureland that had been owned by Darius Ogden Mills, a famous financier and once the richest man in California who had purchased part of the old Rancho Buri Buri. The airport was named Mills Field Municipal Airport after the Mills family until 1931, when it became San Francisco Municipal Airport and later, in 1955, San Francisco International Airport. Many people from San Francisco resettled in San Bruno after the earthquake and fire, and then the city became a magnet for settlement after World War II. During the war, the U.S. Navy established a base on former dairy land, and after the war the base became host of the consolidated Western Division of Naval Facilities that supported the several navy bases in the Bay Area. The Navy closed the base in 1994. The 2010 census showed that San Bruno had a population of 41,114.
the Brod Law Firm takes tremendous pride in representing the interests of all of our clients. Our firm's focus is helping individuals and small businesses in and around San Bruno, not insurance companies or large corporations. Meeting the needs of our clients is the most important goal, and we strive to effectively and efficiently resolve their disputes.
We are San Bruno injury attorneys who work on a contingency fee basis in injury cases, which means unless there is a recovery, no legal fees are owed. We are San Bruno business attorneys who represent our clients effectively, efficiently, and zealously, while addressing the legal and financial interests of our business clients.
Directions to our San Francisco office from San Bruno are as follows: Take U.S. Highway 101 north toward San Francisco. Take the Seventh Street exit, follow that street and then turn right onto Mission Street. Turn left at onto Anthony Street and then take the first right onto Jessie Street. The office is at 100 Pine St #1250.