Brentwood

City, Contra Costa County

© McCormack's Guides

 

Zip Code: 94513

Bedroom town that only a few years ago was a farm community. Many farms still left on edge of town.

Brentwood started the 1990s with 7,563 residents, hit 2000 with 23,302, an increase of over 200 percent, and by the latest count (2010) has 52,492 inhabitants. www.mccormacks.com

If you are looking for new or fairly new housing, Brentwood is a good place to visit. Between 2000 and 2009, the town erected about 9,500 units, about 96 percent of them single homes.

And it walked smack into the subprime mess. Homes that a few years ago were selling for $500,000 to $600,000 are going in some instances for half that.

Brentwood in many ways is a distressed town. Its tax revenues are down, many of its residents owe far more on their homes than the homes are worth, and this is making them less willing to spend on cars, clothing, recreation, dining out and other money pursuits.

But Brentwood doesn't look distressed. The streets are clean, the properties, even those up for sale, well maintained, the stores (or many of them) still chugging along.

Shopping and recreational choices have increased. Big stores and institutions have moved in, creating hundreds of local jobs. The commute has improved from horrible to merely awful and with more money assured, should gradually get better.

A little history explains a lot. 

For the most part, Contra Costa County developed from west (Richmond) to central (Concord and Walnut Creek) to East (Pittsburg and Antioch). The last two cities boomed somewhat before World War II but mostly as industrial towns. They were on the river and the main rail lines; they could manufacture and ship.

Although Brentwood was also served by rail, it was too far inland to attract manufacturing and too fertile to ignore farming. And that what it became: a farming town with a hidden asset that would later pay great benefits.

Brentwood incorporated itself as a city in 1948. When development came, the city had a municipal structure in place: public works, parks, police, post office, downtown, library, city hall. And it had control of its own planning.

Oakley, its neighboring city, did not incorporate until 1999, well after its suburban boom started. As a result, Oakley never got its downtown launched and is still struggling to make sense out of its various neighborhoods. Drive the two towns and you will see the difference.

Brentwood also had a coherent structure for its schools. Brentwood District runs the kindergarten-to-eight schools, Liberty district runs the high schools. Liberty district also educates the children from Oakley, Byron, Knightsen, Bethel Island and Discovery Bay but two of its three schools are located in Brentwood. 

In the 1960s, Central Contra Costa, built over the Diablo mountain range, was running out of developable land and this was driving up prices. Suburbia started to spill into the East County, which in many places is flat or slightly hilly, ideal for tract housing.

By the 1990s, the region was rocking, tract upon tract, and at this point Brentwood, the end of the line, came into play.

Brentwood prides itself on its old downtown and its farm-town charms but as eight out of every ten housing units were built after 1990, we're talking new, new, new.

With some variety. Not so much with apartments, which the town has pretty much ignored. The state in 2010 tallied  17,715 residential units, of which 15,595 were single homes, 527 single attached, 1,242 apartments and 351 mobiles.

But with upscale homes, some deserving the adjective, opulent.

And with gated neighborhoods for the “active adult” (age 55 plus). There's a big one in the center of town, built around a 27-hole golf course.

In its modern phase, Brentwood went ga-ga for golf. It has two other new courses, Deer Ridge and Shadow Lakes, 18 holes each. All are private but welcome the occasional golfer.

Brentwood did not just take what the housing market offered. It welcomed the middle and affluent and stayed away from the low end — and pushed its farm-town demographics up the scale. 

This shows in the school scores. Many farm towns score well below the 50th percentile. Brentwood schools, still influenced by rural socioeconomics, nonetheless are generally posting rankings above the 50th percentile and in some schools the 70th and 80th percentiles, the top 20 percent in state.

And it shows in its crime stats. Problems yes but not as many as other fast-growing towns. Zero homicides in 2008 and 2007, three in 2006, zero in 2005, four in 2004, two in 2003, zero between 2002 and 1998. Two homicides in 1997, zero in 1996. New police station opened in 2005. See Crime.

For almost all of its existence, Brentwood has been defined by Highway 4. A two-lane road that is being slowly improved, Highway 4 flows through Oakley and into downtown Brentwood, where it doglegs to the right and heads off to Discovery Bay and Stockton.

Old Brentwood, compact and intimate, built itself around Highway 4, which parallels the train tracks. Within a space of seven blocks long and seven wide were all the schools, including the high school, city hall, the library and the main park, which has a gazebo.

When housing started to boom, it moved mostly west from the downtown (toward Mt. Diablo) but for a long time the downtown remained the heart of the city.

In the early 2000s, work advanced on what is called the Highway 4 Bypass, a modern highway, four-lane for the most part, that cuts across Brentwood, about a mile west of the downtown, and speeds the commute to Central Contra Costa, Oakland and San Francisco, where many residents work.

The Bypass also flows through Antioch and especially benefits the south side of that city, which now borders Brentwood. About the same time Brentwood got its suburban boost so did South Antioch.

New homes by the thousands ... inevitably the stores followed. So did large hospitals: John Muir and Kaiser, and Sutter modernized its hospital. 

Brentwood went from mom-and-pop stores to medium supermarkets, to, in recent years, Trader Joe's and a Raley's market that would cover four or five football fields (and includes a pharmacy, bakery, deli, fish market, butcher shop, cafe and a child-care room. If you shop with your spouse and separate, you need a cell phone to find each other.)

This store and its company stores in South Antioch (Home Depot, Wal-Mart, Barnes and Noble Books, T.J Maxx, etc.) made shopping much more convenient for many residents — which is what they need. With the commute so long (for some, often two hours each way), you don't want to waste time hunting down necessities.

With the stores came amusements — large movie complexes in Brentwood and South Antioch — and a much more varied choice of restaurants.

But undeniably Brentwood has lost some — far from all — of its small-town charm and intimacy. It has really two “downtowns” — the old and the one on the Bypass.

When the housing market straightens out, Brentwood hopes to grow to about 80,000. Winds of anti-growth, drawing strength from traffic congestion, are blowing through the community. The final number may come in lower.

A word on the farming. Had Brentwood boomed in the 1950s, many of the farms and open space would have been gobbled up by housing. This was Concord's experience. But in the following decades, suburbia got more sophisticated about planning and more restrictive about development.

To its south, Brentwood had thousands of acres of farm and grazing land, ideal for housing. Most of it was owned by one company. A deal was struck:  480 acres for housing, 4,000 acres to a conservation group, which passed the land to the state for a park.

Brentwood also drew an urban line: housing inside the line, farms outside. A lot of the farming remains. Spring, summer and fall roadside stands go a great business in fruits and vegetables. In a minor way, Brentwood has become food touristy: people from the East Bay drive out to buy farm fresh. Town celebrates annual Cornfest.

 

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New developments, because they come with new schools, are popular with parents. Since the 1990s, Brentwood has been adding schools.

In 2005, Liberty district opened a second high school, called Heritage. The school has science and computer labs and in many classrooms a five-foot wide video screen for, among other things, Power Point presentations.

In 2003, the elementary district passed its third bond since 1990 to build and renovate schools. In 2005, another elementary was opened.

The high school district has passed three construction-renovation bonds. At the middle and high schools, the science and computer labs have been improved. www.mccormacks.com

In 2006, the high school district attempted another bond to buy land for another high school. This time voters said no but the measure failed by only two percent. Another try may be made.

All the schools run an unusual calendar that goes two months off in summer with instruction starting about the first of August, 10-day break in October, 10 days in March, Christmas break, traditional holidays.

Los Medanos Community College has rented a store and turned it into a center that teaches a small number of courses. Having passed a bond, the college hopes to build a campus in town and offer many courses. www.mccormacks.co

Brentwood is close to miles of rivers and waterways: boating, fishing, water skiing, swimming. Mt. Diablo stands tall to the west, a delight to the eye. New tract homes and apartments sit beside orchards and bountiful fields — peaches, pears, nuts, apricots, tomatoes, cherries, eggs, corn, asparagus, almonds, walnuts, pistachios, black-eyed peas.

About 31 parks, including an expanded sports complex with 10 playing fields, museum, swimming pool, library, baseball, basketball, football, soccer. Spring to Life Festival. Community theater stages plays at Liberty High School, which has a modern performing arts center. Bowling alley. Skate park. Youth center. Also near the town is a cave with ancient paintings sacred to the Indians. Restricted access. www.mccormacks.com

Good town for playmates. The 2000 census placed 35 percent of all residents under age 18, very high. For homecoming, football team and high-school students parade through downtown, an event that attracts thousands.

• The new tracts are coming in as master planned with homeowner associations that pay for the upkeep of common grounds. These tracts usually feature small parks or playing fields and a variety of home designs, some with small porches.  

• Old town, utility lines over head and in view. New subdivisions, utility lines buried.www.mccormacks.com

• Hot in summer, cool in winter. But the heat is dry, rarely humid, the cool is rarely freezing — a Delta pattern. Winter fog. See Weather

• Vasco Road, also being improved, runs south and at Livermore connects to Interstate 580. For some Brentwood residents, Vasco saves a lot of time.

• BART stations at Pittsburg and at Dublin-Pleasanton (near Livermore). Park and take the train to Oakland and San Francisco. Tri Delta buses to Antioch and Pittsburg and to BART stations. See Commute.

• Big drawback to Brentwood: the commute. If you are thinking of buying in Brentwood, drive the commute and see if you can take it.

• South of Brentwood a large reservoir, called Los Vaqueros, opened in 1998. Stocked regularly with trout. Good place to take the kids.

 

• In 2005, the city struck a deal with Comcast to provide modern cable service to town. Package includes free service (through fees paid by residents) to schools. Also three channels for use by town and to show local basketball, football, soccer, etc. www.mccormacks.com

• In the works, a new city hall with a plaza, a community center and a library.

• Brentwood is stringing together trails to jog and walk around the town.

• Some farmers and residents are planting grapes and bottling their own vintages. Small vineyards are popping up around the county and there’s talk of making Contra Costa, in a small way, a wine region. The soil and weather apparently are well suited for wines.

• Check out the train noise. Line is still active.

• Dr. John Marsh was the first Yankee to settle in Contra Costa. He built a stone mansion, somewhat Gothic, on the outskirts of Brentwood. Marsh was hard working, adventuresome and influential because he wrote many letters to people back East describing California and encouraging them to come West. www.mccormacks.com

In 1856, Marsh was stabbed to death in Martinez by two men. A plaque marks the spot. Several histories describe the men as bandits or robbers but Marsh may have owed them money and this might have caused an argument. The incident also suggests a more complicated story.

The Spanish did not arrive in Northern California until 1769 and few in numbers did not settle in Contra Costa until well into the 1800s. When they moved inland, they pushed the Indian tribes off their ancestral grounds, setting off battles that lasted for decades. The Indians worked the rancheros and they stole cattle and they raided the rancheros. It was a time of great change, shifting allegiances and  violence.

Marsh, the pioneer and bandit (Indian) fighter, symbolizes the era. For a long time he was considered a hero and many still hold him in esteem. But he is inevitably associated with the destruction of the Indians — and this story is still playing out.

After years of effort, historical groups have won funding to restore the Marsh mansion as a state park.

In 2006, a builder preparing the 480 acres for homes discovered the skeletons of 500 Indians and jewelry, pottery and other artifacts. Brentwood about 7,000 years ago used to be an Indian village and it may have been one when the Spanish arrived.

The remains were removed but state archaeologists, sensitive to the importance of the site, turned down a request to build a road through the donated land.

When the mansion is restored, the state intends to tell the story of the Indians.

City web site: www.ci.brentwood.ca.us

Brentwood Elementary District: www.brentwood.k12.ca.us

Liberty High School District: www.luhsdistrict.k12.ca.us

Chamber of commerce www.brentwoodchamber.com

Feb. 22, 2010