Telescope Hills & Silva Ranch

“Scenic” Telescope Hill was one of the last undeveloped sections of Millbrae. It spent the 1940s giving up parts of its soil to help build a second runway at Mills Field/San Francisco International Airport. Trucks carrying dirt from the infamous “Macco Pit” in Millbrae’s western hills would rumble down Richmond Drive, through the “Silva Tract,” land once owned by Millbrae pioneer Custodio Silva. Eventually, Richmond Drive and the few streets branching from it would house several low-rise apartment buildings, but construction on these wouldn’t begin until the 1960s. Silva’s sons operated a horse riding ranch at the foot of the Silva Tract, on El Camino Real.

Eventually, the Macco Pit closed down, opening the western hills to development. Still, growth in Telescope Hills/Silva Ranch was slow. The neighborhood’s few winding residential streets are lined with homes built between the late 1950s and the 1970s, which gives it an added cache; most Telescope Hills/Silva Ranch homes are larger than that found in neighborhoods in the flatlands.

Speaking of cache, one early, enthusiastic consumer of Telescope Hills/Silva Ranch real estate was QANTAS. The Australian airline (QANTAS stands for Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services, Ltd.) purchased several new Telescope Hill homes for its employees, perhaps so they could stand in their living rooms and watch planes take off and land at distant San Francisco International Airport.