Blackhawk, Diablo

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 small hamlet built around a golf course and a country club, is located up the road from Blackhawk.

In Contra Costa’s formative years, Diablo was probably the epitome of understated opulence. 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 upscale.

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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 tour the place in 10 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. 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, pays for security.

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, which are outside Blackhawk.

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. Bonds passed 1998 and 2002 to build and renovate schools. See Schools.

The school district has also passed a parcel tax, rare in California, to maintain program quality. 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. The big news in 2006 was a fire that gutted a house (no one injured.) 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 wealthy. 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. www.mccormacks.com

In 2006 another makeover was announced: new tenants to include a gourmet market.

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 for its 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 the outside towns, particularly 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. See Danville.