The Newest Places Near Hillsborough This Fall Were Built for Mail and Drinking Water

The dining room at 222 Park Road in Burlingame still has its terrazzo floor, Art Deco marble wainscoting, brass trim and crown molding. All of it dates from a building constructed in the late 1930s that opened as a post office in 1941. Up on Skyline Boulevard, a gate opens at 6 a.m. onto a trail through a corner of watershed that had been closed to the public for over a century.

The trail opened in late August and the restaurant on October 1, which makes them the two newest places on the edges of Hillsborough heading into this fall. Each is public property built for one job and opened to the public years later for another, and the original job still sets the terms. Historic preservation guidelines shaped the restaurant. Protecting a water supply shapes the trail. If you know those terms before you go, a fall evening or a Saturday morning in either place gets easier.

A post office moved 100 feet and set on stilts

The Old Post Office opened on Thursday, October 1, 2026, according to Eater SF. It belongs to Bacchus Management Group, the company behind the Village Pub in Woodside and Selby's in Atherton.

The building had a strange few years before that. While Burlingame built its new Town Square, the post office was moved about 100 feet and put on stilts. That is where Bacchus head Tim Stannard first saw it, in January 2023, as the San Mateo Daily Journal reported. He told the paper he had spent most of 20 years looking for a space in Burlingame without finding one that worked for him.

"I had to climb up a ladder and climb through a window, and got into the building," Stannard told the Daily Journal. "It's just a stunning architectural building. It was built in the late '30s, opened in 1941, and it was perfectly preserved."

He signed a lease soon after and worked with the city and its preservation architecture firm under the strict guidelines that come with a historic building, according to the Daily Journal. That process is why the marble and terrazzo are still there. Executive chef Jonathan Granada told the paper that he plans his dishes and their presentation with "a 1940s building or old-school techniques" in mind.

The dish that best shows that approach is the duck. It takes 10 days from start to finish. The bird is aged for 10 days, dipped in a maltose solution and roasted in a custom duck oven inspired by Granada's trip to Taiwan. The breast is then carved at the table.

Two ways in, at very different prices

The restaurant runs as two rooms with separate price points. That matters if you are deciding between a quick weeknight stop and a planned occasion. The Daily Journal reported the hours and prices:

• Dinner: nightly from 5 to 10 p.m., a fixed menu at $120 a plate.
• The Postmaster's Bar: open during dinner hours. The cheeseburger costs $27, and its egg white and yolk are cooked separately.
• Lunch: Monday through Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., a fixed menu at $55. It began in mid-October.
• Brunch: weekends, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., a fixed menu at $70. It has been running since the third weekend of October.

Eater's opening coverage includes an OpenTable link for reservations.

The building's neighbor is the reason it moved in the first place. Burlingame Town Square sits between Park Road and Lorton Avenue and opened to the public on April 2, 2026. According to the Daily Journal, it has seating, trees, a fountain and a public restroom. The downtown business association also lists Amado and Sleep 360 as new openings nearby, with Trad Bone Broth and Almondette on the way.

Six miles of watershed, opened by permit

The second opening began as protected land. The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission opened the Skyline Watershed Ridge Trail to the public on Monday, August 24, 2026. It is a six-mile out-and-back route on SFPUC property that runs south from Highway 92, parallel to Skyline Boulevard. The land is part of the 23,000-acre Peninsula Watershed, which feeds the Hetch Hetchy Regional Water System.

When the trail opened, the SFPUC said in its announcement that it had to balance recreation against the land's original purpose. General Manager Dennis Herrera described the goal as "striking the right balance between public access, environmental stewardship, and protecting the water supply that 2.7 million Bay Area residents and thousands of businesses rely on every day."

The segment is now part of the Bay Area Ridge Trail. The regional route is planned to run 550 miles along the ridgelines around the bay, and this addition brings the finished portion to 413 miles. The SFPUC's other trail on watershed land is the 10-mile Fifield-Cahill Ridge Trail, north of Highway 92.

The access rules, in order

Most Peninsula trails let you park and walk in. This one has more conditions. In the order you will run into them:

1. Get the permit first. Entry requires a free annual permit. You apply through the SFPUC's online application, which means creating an account and enrolling. Your confirmation email or a screenshot of it works as proof.
2. Know your group size. Each permit holder can bring up to six guests.
3. Leave the dog at home. Dogs are not allowed, even on a leash. E-bikes, other motorized bikes and scooters are also prohibited. Hikers, runners, cyclists and equestrians are all welcome.
4. Find the right gate. The trailhead is on Highway 35, also called Skyline Boulevard, just south of Highway 92 and Skylawn Memorial Park.
5. Watch the clock. The gate and parking lot are open daily from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Plan to be off the trail before that closing time.

The SFPUC says it contacts permit holders directly about closures and planned maintenance. As the weather turns, check your email before you drive up.

Why the parking lot is the real limit

Permits are not the bottleneck. The Bay Area Ridge Trail Council says the permit does not limit the number of visitors and exists to help the SFPUC understand trail use. The lot is. It has 22 standard spaces, five trailer spaces and two ADA spaces, all free and first-come, first-served.

Compare that with the crowds. On September 28, 2026, ABC7 reported that more than 20,000 people had visited the trail in its first month, citing rangers. The station said the lot filled quickly on weekends, which led to roadside parking and unsafe crossings of the road. No changes had been announced as of that report. The six-mile route overlooks Crystal Springs Reservoir, so the view is the draw. The 6 a.m. gate opening is the easiest time to get a space.

The same water system affects the older trail along the reservoir this week. San Mateo County Parks says the northern San Andreas segment of the Crystal Springs Regional Trail is closed through Monday, November 2, while the SFPUC repairs a broken water line. The closure runs from the north gate off San Bruno Avenue to the electric gate half a mile south. In practice, the next few days of walking near the reservoir depend on pipe repairs more than on the weather.

The rest of the season, by date

As the weeks go on, the calendar moves from the ridge back down to town plazas and an outdoor rink.

Downtown Burlingame and the city's Parks and Recreation department are putting on Winterfest, with the train ride and hot chocolate following the traditional tree lighting. The event listing does not say where the tree lighting will be, so check the page closer to December 4 before you head over.

At Warren Real Estate LLC, we follow what opens on the Peninsula the same way we follow its homes, with attention to the rules that come with each place. If you would like a quiet conversation about how this season's new places near Hillsborough fit into your own plans, request a confidential consultation anytime.