Belmont takes its name, most likely, from the Italian bel monte — beautiful mountain — for the rounded hill beside it, and the hill is the town's character. It incorporated in 1926, has about twenty-eight thousand residents, and sits between San Mateo to the north and San Carlos to the south, with the watershed land behind it to the west and Redwood Shores across the freeway to the east.
Belmont station puts Caltrain in the town itself, and the US-101 interchange at Ralston Avenue is the way in and out; El Camino Real runs through as it does everywhere along here. Above the houses is Water Dog Lake and its open space, which is the reason a lot of people choose Belmont over the flatter towns either side.
Ralston Hall, built in 1864 by the banker William Chapman Ralston around an Italian count's earlier villa, is a California Historical Landmark on the National Register and stands on what was the Notre Dame de Namur University campus. That campus has changed hands: the university closed its undergraduate programs in 2020 and now runs as a graduate school, and it completed the sale of the 96.5-acre site to UC Investments in September 2025, with the university able to stay up to five years while it finds a new home. Water Dog Lake and its open space went with the sale and remain leased to the city.
Photo: Pi.1415926535, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Belmont, in the questions people ask us.
Which high school serves Belmont?
Carlmont High School, in the Sequoia Union High School District. Elementary and middle schools are the Belmont–Redwood Shores School District.
What is happening to the Notre Dame de Namur campus?
The university closed its undergraduate programs in 2020 and now operates as a graduate school. It sold the 96.5-acre Belmont campus to UC Investments in September 2025 and may remain there up to five years. Water Dog Lake and the open space were part of the sale and are still leased to the city.
Is there anything unusual in the local rules?
Belmont's 2009 smoking ordinance is among the strictest anywhere: it bans smoking in city parks, in all businesses, and in multi-story apartments and condominiums. Worth knowing if you are buying into a building.
Are the hillside streets a problem?
They are the reason to be here, but they are real hills — grades, driveways and views all come together. Walk the street before you decide, and look at the drainage.
I have held a California real estate license since 1989, and in that time the Bay Area has changed almost beyond recognition. What has not changed is how a good move happens: through someone who knows the neighbourhoods, knows the people, and can make the right introduction at the right moment. I call myself a real estate consultant as well as an agent because most of the job is advice — when to sell, what to fix, which town suits the way you live — and the connections I have made since 1989 are there to be used for my clients.
A consultant, an agent and a connector.
Marisa Roman Wachhorst
