At the start of the Christmas/Hanukkah season, many residents and business owners place large, illuminated stars, some as big as 10 feet (3.0 m) or more in diameter, on the downhill sides of homes and offices throughout Brisbane.

A remnant of San Francisco Bay, the lagoon was formed by the construction of the U.S. Highway 101 causeway, and became diminished as most of its north and central portions were filled with landfill.

By 1776, Spanish explorers had arrived and the Franciscan missionaries soon followed leaving numerous large land grants in their wake.

Visitacion City, as it was initially known, was platted in 1908[6] adjacent to a new rail line that had been completed in 1907 to the east of the town site.

The Southern Pacific Railroad built the new line to create a faster and more direct route into San Francisco.

The railroad also planned to build extensive terminal facilities just north of the town site.

[7] The Visitacion Valley rail yard and locomotive works were expected to employ over 1,000 workers, but construction was halted soon after it began due to the Panic of 1907.

[6] The railroad resumed construction of the yard and shops during World War I, and the facilities were completed by 1918.

There were 1,934 housing units at an average density of 96.3 per square mile (37.2/km2), of which 1,169 (64.2%) were owner-occupied, and 652 (35.8%) were occupied by renters.

U.S. Route 101 also goes past the city on the eastern side adjacent to San Francisco Bay.

Shuttles connecting to nearby BART, Muni T-Third Street line and Caltrain stations are available to residents and employees in the city.

Some of the larger office tenants in Brisbane are Cutera Inc., Dolby, Tercica, Sing Tao, and Intermune.

Monster Cable Products and bebe stores (traditionally spelled in lowercase) are headquartered in Brisbane on Valley Drive.

This compared to the California average of $393,000 follows a common home price trend in the surrounding areas.

San Bruno Mountain is known for its views of the City, and the native Mission Blue butterfly.

[25] His rescue was filmed for national TV and witnessed by hundreds of onlookers from the upper floors of the Dakin Building.

The rescue was carried out by staff of The Marine Mammal Center and United States Coast Guard.