Unincorporated Towns,
Contra Costa County
© McCormack's Guides
Zip Code: 94528
Blackhawk,
a gated community of custom homes and townhouses and 10,000 residents, is
located on 6,500 acres in the Mt.
Diablo foothills, just east of Danville. www.mccormacks.com
Diablo, a cluster of homes built around a golf course and a country club, is located up the
road from Blackhawk.
In
Contra Costa’s formative years, Diablo was the epitome of understated wealth. It predated its country club cousin, Roundhill in Alamo, and built
among thick and towering oaks, it seemed to suggest the bedrock values of old
money. When Ronald Reagan campaigned in Contra Costa, the local Republicans
staged his speech at the Diablo Country Club. Nancy accompanied him and looked
on with rapt attention as RR lit into those tax-and-spend Democrats.
Diablo
and Alamo set the tone for this area and when Blackhawk Ranch came up for
development, it was expected that the housing would be upmarket.
Click for regional or detailed map
And
it is. Blackhawk has townhouses and modestly upscale homes but it also has many
handsome mansions, some with eight or nine bedrooms. Professional landscaping.
Swimming pools with waterfalls and fountains. Walk-in closets, bathrooms that
could pass for spas, entrance statements (vaulted ceilings ornate stair cases),
dark woods, video rooms, and so on. The delight of interior decorators and home
beautifiers. Some homes show up in the elegant magazines. The hill homes have
views of the countryside.
Diablo
is not gated or big. You can drive the place in 5 minutes. www.mccormacks.com
Blackhawk
is surrounded by gates and it’s guarded. And the guards will question
non-residents and make sure you should be admitted. Crime quite low. Sheriff's
substation for the area. Residents tax themselves extra for sheriff's protection. Patrol cars say Blackhawk. See Crime.
The
2000 census counted 3,381 housing units in Blackhawk, 94 percent of them
owner-occupied. Built out. Homes sold through real estate agents. Homeowners’
association maintains common grounds, levies fees for security and enforces rules, which cover how you present your house. If psychedelic your color, Blackhawk may not be the place for you.
Two
18-hole golf courses, a country club, lighted tennis courts, a 25-acre sports
complex that includes playing fields and a pool, and many homes that have
individual pools. Rolling hills. The trees and shrubs have grown and filled
out. Mt. Diablo in the background. Fossil quarry. Clubs and social activities.
In the evenings, joggers fill the trails. Women’s group sponsors events,
including black-tie dance. Many residents scoot around in golf carts. Peacocks
strut some of the streets, unconcerned about traffic. For the kids, the usual
games of soccer, baseball, etc., usually played on the school grounds.
San
Ramon Valley school district. Children attend four elementaries: Tassajara
Valley, Golden View, Green Valley or Sycamore Valley; then Los Cerros or Diablo
Vista Middle schools, then Monte Vista High or San Ramon Valley High. All are
scoring in 90th percentile.
Blackhawk, being gated, does not have “neighborhood” schools. The schools mentioned are located in Danville, Alamo or San Ramon, within a short drive of Blackhawk.
Bonds passed 1998 and 2002 to build and renovate
schools. In the last four years, using fees levied on developers, the district has opened four schools, including a high school (Dougherty Valley), near Blackhawk. Some of these schools don't show up maps. Check with school district for possible changes in attendance boundaries or procedures to transfer out of neighborhood schools.
See Schools.
The
school district has also passed a parcel tax, rare in California, to maintain
program quality, and renewed it in 2008. www.mccormacks.com
When
Blackhawk came on the scene, there was some huffing and puffing from Lamorinda
(Lafayette, Orinda and Moraga), another top-drawer location in the county.
Lamorinda
draws much of its prestige from the University of California at Berkeley
— arts, culture, walls of ivy education.
Blackhawk
was built by Ken Behring, rags-to-riches and a college dropout. Behring hunted
lions and elephants and at one time owned a professional football team (the
Seattle Seahawks). He also supported charities and built museums but no one
ever called him genteel.
In
its early days, Blackhawk became the address for players on the Raiders,
the Athletics and the Warriors and for entreprenuers and affluent
professionals. Its fans thought it was delightful, its critics brash and showy.
Just
about all this talk has disappeared. Blackhawk has settled into domesticity; it
rarely makes the headlines. Blackhawk residents do their part in supporting the schools
and the arts. www.mccormacks.com
Just
outside Blackhawk, several streets wind into the hills and into upscale homes
and small tracts, notably Magee Ranch.
Not
all of the housing gallops up the scale. Danville is located right across the
street from Blackhawk and in its neighborhoods Danville zoned, in many
instances, for middle-class comfort. Two-story homes, smooth stucco, tile
roofs, the Mediterranean style popular in modern California, nice but not
overwhelming.
And
rarely gated. Danville does not like gates around its neighborhoods. The county
government, which zones the unincorporated towns like Blackhawk and Alamo, is
sympathetic to gates.
Also
just outside Blackhawk are two shopping centers, Blackhawk Plaza and Tassajara
Crossing.
Blackhawk
Plaza, which includes a movie complex, was supposed to cater to the rich. It has
several cuisine restaurants, a plastic surgeon, salons, clothing shops and art
galleries but it never jelled as shopping destination. At least two department
stores, one a Saks, tried their luck and moved on. But the plaza, which has
fountain and a pool, is a nice place to visit and shop and to work out (gym). Also has a gourmet supermarket.
Tassajara
Crossing is a regular and bustling neighborhood plaza: fast food, supermarkets,
banks, variety of stores.
To a large extent, Blackhawk and the
adjoining communities look to Danville and Walnut Creek for their restaurants and stores. Downtown
Danville is particularly popular on weekends with the latte crowd. For
big-ticket items, Walnut Creek and Pleasanton (Nordstrom, Macys, etc).
Blackhawk
Plaza also has a museum of art, science and culture and the Behring Museum of
vintage cars.
For
other recreation, again look to Danville and Walnut
Creek. The schools provide many of the playing fields and gyms. www.mccormacks.com
All roads lead to Interstate 680. BART
trains at Dublin and Walnut Creek.
Wild
turkeys descend from Mt. Diablo looking for food. Experts advise spraying with
hose, banging pots and pans, floodlights, fences.
For more information on region and how Diablo and Blackhawk fit in, See Danville.
• In recent years, overcoming arguments and lawsuits, developers have won permission to build several master-planned communities near Blackhawk. One of them, Windermere, is still under construction.
Windermere mixes single homes, upscale and modest, with townhouses and apartments. Blackhawk and several other gated neighborhoods remain bastions of opulence but the region is more diverse than perhaps the sales literature suggests. Blackhawk children attend school with children who are not poor — the area has almost zero housing that can be classified low-income — but also not rich.
The new development has brought in more shopping choices and a library and community college branch (both in San Ramon).
More development is coming. One project called for thousands of units and aroused so much opposition that it was withdrawn (but one day will probably return). If interested, ask the Realtor questions or check with Danville or San Ramon city halls.
When development comes, it will find its home mostly in the lands east of Blackhawk.
Blackhawk on its west is bordered by Danville, which is fairly anti-development, and on its north by Mt. Diablo State Park.
If you like to exercise the body, the park is a treasure. Miles of trails, many through rough and scenic terrain. Rock climbing, para gliding, horse back riding. Many horses and stables in this region.
In summer, the fields turn dry and yellow (those who like this look call it golden). In winter, everything turns green and on the coldest days Mt. Diablo at its peak goes white with snow. Pretty.
• School busing restored in 2009. Check with school district for info. www.srvusd.k12.ca.us
• Soccer big in San Ramon Valley, over 5,000 players. These days almost every new school comes with a park and playing fields. Just outside Blackhawk, on the east side, is Mustang Stadium, opened in 2007: two soccer fields, lighted, artificial turf, headquarters for Mustang Soccer League. Developer built the complex, a comment on the dicey politics of building in the region. To win hearts and minds for more housing, developers are paying for schools and parks. Not 100 percent. Cities chip in.
• Annual golf tournament at Blackhawk, Ladies Professional Golf Assn.
Homeowners association: www.blackhawk-hoa.com
Feb. 22, 2010
