Danville

City, Contra Costa County

© McCormack's Guides

 

Zip Codes: 94506, 94526

Bedroom town, population 43,574, located at the base of Mt. Diablo, elevation 3,849 feet, in a valley called San Ramon. www.mccormacks.com

 Education by the San Ramon Valley Unified School District. Almost all schools are scoring in top 10 percent in the state, and a few in the top 5 percent. Scores

Crime low. Most residents affluent; a few rich. When riled, the locals neither batter nor bash but sue (usually a developer) and vote in politicians who support their anti-growth views.

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Commute at times irritating but by regional standards endurable. Interstate 680 flows through Danville. BART (commute rail stations) within three to five miles. Many local jobs.

Setting pretty. The mountain. A downtown that saved and restored historic buildings, brought in restaurants, cafes and small stores and created a milieu that makes it seductively easy to open the wallet and dine, sip and shop. On weekends, many residents take to the downtown and over newspapers, chit chat and coffee unwind from their labors. www.mccormacks.com

 Amusements many. Danville borders or is close to large parks, each covering thousands of acres. Library, community center. Museum. One golf course, several more close by. Dog park. City hall sponsors activities for kids, elderly and adults. Teen centers at several schools. Fourth of July parade. Arts festival. Large soccer league; thousands of players. Abandoned railroad track ripped up and converted into a regional trail; popular.

Considered one of the prestige addresses of the East Bay. In love with the single home; they make up 93 percent of all housing units.

But more diverse and complex than this percentage suggests. A town that won’t make sense unless you understand a little about its neighbors, local history and global history (Cold War).

If a crow started at downtown San Francisco and flew straight east for 26 miles, it would find itself looking down at Danville. www.mccormacks.com

 If a human being started at the same spot, aimed his car at Danville and tried to drive as straight as the crow, he would quickly discover the task impossible.

On the other side of the Bay, the land rises into steep hills and mountains — the Diablo Range — that pioneers navigated by building roads over the lower passes and drilling tunnels. Where the land dipped or flattened into valleys, the first residents built their homes and later the railroads laid tracks to serve many of these hamlets.

Of the valleys, the biggest are:

• Diablo on the north, in Contra Costa County. This valley includes Concord, Pleasant Hill and Walnut Creek.

• San Ramon, in the center, also in Contra Costa. Includes Alamo, Danville, San Ramon and Blackhawk. www.mccormacks.com

 • Amador, on the south, Alameda County. Dublin, Pleasanton and Livermore.

These three valleys run north to south almost in a straight line. The San Ramon has a quirk that greatly influenced how it developed.

The San Ramon Valley, about 12 miles long, is bordered on its west by Las Trampas Ridge, which in places rises to over 1,800 feet. This ridge (and later park purchases) killed direct roads to Danville.

To get from San Francisco to Danville (and the San Ramon Valley), you have to cross the Bay Bridge, take Highway 24 northeast to Walnut Creek, then loop around the ridge and pick up Interstate 680. This route skirts the University of California Berkeley, one of the great social and economic forces of the region. www.mccormacks.com

 Alternately, to loop Las Trampas Ridge at its south end, you have to pick up Interstate 580 at the Bay Bridge and take it southeast through Oakland and Castro Valley and over the hills to Dublin-Pleasanton (and Interstate 680).

Following World War II and the construction of national highways, developers moved into Contra Costa County and built thousands of tract homes — part of the great migration that swept through the U.S.

Lafayette, Orinda, Moraga, Walnut Creek, Concord and Pleasant Hill were built along historic roads that led to Sacramento and the Sierras.

When the freeways arrived in the 1950s, they followed the old roads, booming the towns along the routes.Between 1950 and 1970, Concord alone added 78,000 residents. www.mccormacks.com

 The San Ramon Valley, blocked by Las Trampas Ridge, stayed fairly rural; in 1960 Danville counted only 3,585 residents.

By the time developers got going on Danville, suburban planning had become more sophisticated and the world had changed.

At the end of World War II, two super powers emerged: the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Very quickly, for a number of reasons, they came to hate and fear one another — the Cold War.

In the late 1940s, the Soviets shocked the U.S. by developing and testing atomic bombs. The Korean War, which broke out in 1950, worsened relations between the two countries. www.mccormacks.com

 Edward Teller, a brilliant physicist, had long urged the U.S. to develop a more powerful and deadlier bomb, the so-called H Bomb. President Harry Truman agreed.

To expedite the work, the government asked UC Berkeley, one of the leading universities in nuclear weapons, to build a large research facility that would ultimately (with associated firms) employ over 10,000, many of them brainy and well paid.

Needing more land than it had in Berkeley, UC in 1952 jumped the job over the hills into Livermore, creating in effect a high-tech compound in the sticks. Home construction accelerated in Livermore, then a farm town, and stirred developer interest in nearby communities.

Silicon Valley took note and decided to tap this all this scientific and technological talent. www.mccormacks.com

 Also by the 1970s and 1980s, businesses were figuring out that thanks to computers, freeways and other innovations they could run many operations in the suburbs. Many people at these firms were tired of the cities, with their congestion, crime, taxes and time-devouring commutes.

Both the San Ramon and Amador valleys had plenty of empty land next to freeways. By the 1970s, BART (commute rail) had come to life and had opened or would soon open stations at both ends of the San Ramon Valley (Walnut Creek and Dublin-Pleasanton).

About 1980, two large business parks opened: Bishop Ranch in San Ramon and Hacienda in Pleasanton, and were immediately successful. Bishop Ranch landed the entire Chevron headquarters; Hacienda, Peoplesoft (now Oracle) and Safeway headquarters. And hundreds of other firms, and thousands of high-paying jobs and mid-level jobs.

Had little or none of this happened, the San Ramon Valley probably would have developed slowly and more typically suburban, tending upscale. www.mccormacks.com

 But because of all these forces, the San Ramon Valley got a big and sudden push up market. Realty guides invariably describe the region as rich, which, as we shall see, is accurate but misleading.

Housing developers were drooling over prospects in the San Ramon Valley, which at that time was under the political control of the County Board of Supervisors.

Without going into detail, county governments often favor developers over local residents and are not set up to provide many municipal services, for instance, parks and recreation.

Furious arguments broke out between the county and the residents and in 1982 and 1983, after several tracts had been constructed, Danville and San Ramon incorporated themselves as legal cities and took over planning and services.

But the country government remains very much in the picture as a planning-zoning agency and in disjointed way a service provider. Also Danville and San Ramon were not able to absorb every neighborhood in their vicinities. www.mccormacks.com

 The biggest exception was Blackhawk, a gated development of 10,000 residents. For a long while, Blackhawk sat out in the hills by its lonesome then Danville grew right up to its fences. Danville and Blackhawk share a zip code and many reference sources give Blackhawk a Danville address. Blackhawk doesn’t want a Danville address; it wants to be known as Blackhawk.

Here’s a little overview that explains some social dynamics.

• Alamo. A mix of handsome and opulent homes, Alamo is considered rich, which we will define in 2010 as asking $1 million plus for the great majority of its homes. Many of the homes are located around the Roundhill Country Club. New homes are few and often clustered behind gates. Unincorporated. See Alamo.

• Blackhawk. Rich. A few townhouses, many custom homes and estates. Unincorporated. Mostly governs itself through homeowners association. See Blackhawk. www.mccormacks.com

 • Danville. Affluent, not rich, with the exception of a few homes, mostly in the west hills. Many homes sell for $700,000 to $1 million. Run by a city council, with operations overseen by a city manager.

Housing for managers, doctors, dentists, programmers, owners of small and medium-sized businesses, airline pilots, etc. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, the pilot who set down a commercial jet in the Hudson River without killing anyone, lives in Danville. In a low-keyed ceremony, the mayor laid on some praise and gave him the key to the town.

• Diablo. Rich. Old money. Built for the most part before World War II. Small circle of homes around a private golf course. Near Alamo. Unincorporated.

• San Ramon. City council; city manager. Affluent, not rich. Much of its housing looks like Danville housing. Big difference: Danville, even under the county government, avoided apartments; it has fewer than 1,300. San Ramon has about 7,000 apartment units.www.mccormacks.com

  • Dougherty Valley. Large master-planned community. Mostly affluent. Started off in country but annexed to San Ramon. So big that people are talking of it as if it were a separate town. Real status: neighborhood of City of San Ramon.

• County neighborhoods. Located in the hills where Blackhawk, Alamo, Danville and San Ramon come together. Town address: for the most part self-evident. If you are near Alamo, (or Danville or San Ramon) that’s your “town.”

Locally some tracts will be known by the names the developers gave them.

From these descriptions, most of these communities would seem to have special and individual qualities that set them off from one another. And they do. Each has its own personality, down to the neighborhoods. www.mccormacks.com

But all of these places have “outside” lives that take them into the broader world.

For public education, all children attend the schools of the San Ramon Valley Unified School District. The elementary schools are many and enroll by neighborhood. The middle schools, fewer in number, mix the kids to a greater degree; the four high schools, mix them the most.

Like many districts in the state, San Ramon district is always short of money. Every few years, it asks residents district-wide to pass local taxes, some of them requiring a two-thirds margin, hard to get.

Sometimes voters turn down these appeals, forcing the district to cut programs. Then parents start talking to one another and trying to figure why the effort failed and how could it be restructured to attract more votes. www.mccormacks.com

 In 2003, a parcel tax failed. The following year it passed. In 2008, a parcel tax failed (by 3 percent). In 2009, it passed.

Similarly, sports. San Ramon has its own soccer league. But the second league (Mustang) takes in Danville, Blackhawk, Alamo and a small part of Walnut Creek.

San Ramon Valley High and Monte Vista High, both in Danville, and California High in San Ramon are traditional sports rivals, which means a lot to the kids. The fourth high school, Dougherty Valley, San Ramon, just opened but after a while it will build it own sports and alumni following.

San Ramon has a mid-sized community college campus, fairly new. It attracts students from throughout the valley. www.mccormacks.com

 Roller skating. The region has one rink, in San Ramon. Ice skating, one rink, in Dublin. Movies, one local complex, in Blackhawk Plaza. Others in Dublin and Walnut Creek.

Shopping: Danville, Trader Joe’s and Costco. San Ramon, Whole Foods and Target. Alamo has local supermarkets but does a lot of its food shopping in Walnut Creek (Traders, Whole Foods, etc.)

Upscale shopping. On the south side of the valley, Stoneridge Mall, Pleasanton, (Macys, Nordstrom.) On the north side, Broadway Plaza, Walnut Creek (Macys, Nordstrom and trying to land a Neiman Marcus.)

The arts. Danville has a small theater company but Walnut Creek, through its Lesher Arts Center, has done such a good job that it attracts many patrons from the San Ramon Valley. Chevron, recognizing the interests of the region, funds family productions at Lesher center. www.mccormacks.com

 Livermore has a wine country and wine festivals and music events (Wente) that bring in major acts.

Dining. In the Valley, Danville offers the most choices. But if you want an In-N-Out burger, San Ramon. For haute cuisine, Danville, Walnut Creek and Pleasanton.

Blackhawk, just outside its gates, has a small shopping plaza with a few cuisine restaurants and an upscale supermarket. Just across the street, in Danville, you will find McDonalds and Safeway and every day pizza parlors, coffee shops, delis, beauty salons, drycleaners, etc.

In the same vein: Blackhawk and some nearby streets: opulent housing. But in Danville, right beside Blackhawk, housing tracts, nicely done, large homes and all that, but nonetheless tracts, curbs, gutters, sidewalks, lawns, the affluent suburban look. www.mccormacks.com

 Within a mile or so, in San Ramon, the Windemere development, new apartment complexes.

When Windermere came up for consideration, many local residents protested the layout, the number of units, the housing mix and traffic generated.

Had the project started in Danville or San Ramon, it would have emerged with far fewer units. But it started in unincorporated lands under control of the county government and later annexed to San Ramon.

We are oversimplifying. State and regional housing agencies are hounding all cities to build more low-and middle-income housing. Market forces come into play. The number of people who can afford luxury or affluent homes is much smaller than the number who can afford modest residences. www.mccormacks.com

 The upshot: a region that justifiably is considered prestigious and upscale but there is a more of a mix than this reputation suggests.

If you are shopping for housing, rental or purchase, and you want high scores, low crime and pleasant suburbia and you have a middle-class budget, take a look at the region and don’t get put off by the money reputation of the individual communities. By region, we mean the three valleys or most of them. Keep in mind that you can drive from Walnut Creek to Livermore in fewer than 20 minutes.

Turning to Danville, some of its qualities.

Danville has put together one of the most charming downtowns in the Bay Area. Many cities labor and fret over their downtowns, trying to make them aesthetically appealing and reassuring (continuity with the past) and commercially popular without congesting them with traffic. And they fail or fall far short of their goals. This job is much harder than it sounds. www.mccormacks.com

Danville’s downtown has its problems — traffic backups on some days — but it pleases in many ways. The city put its library next to its community center (both large and well appointed) and moved them slightly off the main drag so they wouldn’t slow traffic. It also built six parking lots on the periphery of the downtown and widened a secondary street to serve as an arterial.

Many of the stores and restaurants are located along Hartz Avenue, and this makes for a pleasant, if short, stroll. The Iron Horse Trail, the old rail route, travels just west of the downtown. People from Alamo, Walnut Creek and San Ramon hike the trail and a fair number divert into Danville for coffee or a snack. Pear trees, brickwork and cobblestones, ornamental lights, old West facades … all work their magic.

Also in the downtown, a large gourmet market (Lunardi’s), a town museum, a bookstore.

On summer evenings, Mt. Diablo catches the sun in a way that makes the mountain almost glow. Throughout the year, the fogs that pour through the Golden Gate often shoot over to Mt. Diablo and hover at the peak. In winter, snow at the peak.

Incidentally, the fogs occasionally soften the summer heat. As Las Trampas Ridge moves south, its elevation lowers, permitting cool air, especially in the mornings, to flow in.

Danville is well run and well maintained. Arguments yes, scandals no.

The city contracts with the sheriff’s department for protection. The sheriff supplies the deputies and decks them out in uniforms and cars that say Danville. www.mccormacks.com

Zero homicides in 2008, one each in 2007 and 2006, zero in 2005, 2004, two in 2003, one in 2002, zero between 1994 and 2001. The counts for the previous years are one, zero, zero, two, zero, zero, one. Crime

Downtown Danville and Interstate 680 were constructed in the shadow of Las Trampas Ridge. In and about the downtown, the oldest housing, generally large, one-story ranchers built in the 1950s, can be found.

About a dozen streets claw their way up Las Trampas Ridge. Great views from these streets and some of the most opulent homes in Danville.

Most of Danville was built east of Interstate 680 on gentle hills heading toward Mt. Diablo. As you move east, the housing generally gets newer. Old Danville favored the low rancher; new Danville, the mixed Mediterranean, two-story, tiled roof. www.mccormacks.com

 Much of the housing came in as “master planned,” in large or small tracts. If you go through a Realtor, she will present you a list of neighborhoods, each with its own “personality.”

Neighborhood X was built between 2000 and 2003. It has single homes ranging from 2,500 to 3,000 sq. feet. The children attend, say, Quail Run Elementary, Diablo Vista Middle and Monte Vista High.

Neighborhood Y. Semi-custom homes, one and two-story. Open floor plans. Clubhouse, pool. And so on.

The state in 2010 counted in Danville 15,852 housing units: 12,094 single homes, 2,597 single attached and 1,161 apartments. www.mccormacks.com

 Many of the tracts will have homeowner associations and maintenance fees and covenants and restrictions. If you want to avoid these associations, look for housing in older neighborhoods, near the downtown.

Many of the apartments were built just south of the downtown, along San Ramon Valley Boulevard: two-story buildings, well maintained, internal parking, mature trees and shrubs.

Miscellaneous:

• BART. Many residents take BART to San Francisco. Freeway congestion, especially at the Bay Bridge, make BART the faster choice. Stations at Walnut Creek, Lafayette and Dublin. All have large parking lots.

• Buses. County Connection. Buses … for the plebes, right? But for some people, not a bad idea. Why drive solo and get caught in congestion when you can be chauffeured? Interstate 680 at peak hours often clogs. Buses zip along in the “diamond” lanes. Also zipping along, car poolers. For bus info, www.cccta.org. www.mccormacks.com

 For info on joining a car pool, dial locally 5-1-1. See commute

• The school district in 2009 brought back busing. For fees and info, see www.srvusd.k12.ca.us

• The county government welcomes gated projects. Danville rejects them, believing they weaken community bonds. But the town has at least one gated neighborhood (that started out in the county jurisdiction then was absorbed by Danville).

• Eugene O’Neill wrote some of his finest plays — “Long Day’s Journey into Night,” “The Iceman Cometh” — while looking down from a west Danville home, now a national monument. Annual O’Neill festival, four days, draws theater professionals and professors and O’Neill fans from around the world.

• In 2003, a brother, 10, and a sister, 7, while walking with their mother on a Danville sidewalk, were killed by a hit-and-run driver. The driver, a woman in her 40s, had four convictions for drunk driving and at her trial was convicted of driving under the influence and of second-degree murder. The woman went down on her knees and in tears begged for mercy. The judge gave her 30 years. www.mccormacks.com

 The bereaved couple, in their 40s, childless, tried in-vitro fertilization. The wife became pregnant but lost twin boys in their fifth month. Another try was made. In 2006, the wife delivered a girl, 9 pounds, 8 ounces, 21.5 inches, healthy. Friends threw a big shower.

• Danville is thinking about ending its arrangement with the sheriff and starting its own police department or affiliating with another city. Sheriff’s deputies apparently earn good pensions. If Danville stays with the sheriff, it will have to pay these pensions.

• Unincorporated neighborhoods near Danville are protected by the sheriff’s department and to an unknown extent by private security. Some unincorporated neighborhoods in the valley tax themselves a little higher to pay for more sheriff patrols and services.

• New developments - Windemere - going up in San Ramon, near Danville, are bringing in new schools. Many parents like new schools because they come with the latest technology. For information on transfers, enrolling and what school your child will attend, www.srvusd.k12.ca.us. www.mccormacks.com

• More developments coming in east hills and more arguments. For info, start with Danville city hall: www. ci.danville.ca.us

• Recreation. We have hit the highlights. For more info, see Danville rec calendar. www.ci.danville.ca.us

A good deal of San Ramon and Danville was built under the county government, which paid almost no attention to parks. Since then, both cities have scrambled to come with playing fields. Recently opened: a two-field soccer complex, lighted, near Blackhawk. Most of the other fields will be found at the schools. Cities work with the schools on some projects and help with funding.

Some neighborhoods come with their own parks and small pools, run by the homeowners associations. www.mccormacks.com

 • Mt. Diablo State Park. Miles of trails. Popular with equestrians, hiker and nature lovers. Horse activities galore.

• Spring, summer, fall farmers market in the downtown. If you want to sell or buy a car without going through a dealer, an informal market has sprung up on weekends in front of San Ramon Valley High.

• Under-the-radar rivalry between San Ramon Valley and Lamorinda (Lafayette, Orinda, Moraga) over which turns out the smarter students. On the math SAT, Danville’s two high schools, San Ramon and Monte Vista, score in the 580s and 590s and in some years exceed 600. Lamorinda’s three high schools invariably score over 600, a feat accomplished by only about 35 schools in the state. See SAT scores

Lamorinda is located just over the hills from the University of California, Berkeley, and is home to many academics. Academics, when parents, often do an excellent job on passing on values. www.mccormacks.com

The San Ramon Valley has its academics and people who work in high-tech and the sciences. But it has, probably, more of a business mix than Lamorinda.

These comparisons are influenced by clustering. If you can gather into one spot or town people with intense academic values, school scores will soar. Many of the highest-scoring schools in the state are located in “university” towns.

Other factors, the size of the high school; large schools tend to be more diverse. And screening.

The highest-scoring school in the state, located in Los Angeles County, enrolls about 1,000 students, and employs an admissions test. To get in, a student has to score very high. www.mccormacks.com

 San Ramon Valley High enrolls 2,100 and Monte Vista High 2,400 and accept all students. For more on this, see What Scores Mean

• Another difference between San Ramon Valley and Lamorinda: The latter was developed in many places when suburban planning was in its diapers. And perversely, this adds to the charm of Lamorinda. Curbs and sidewalks few, winding, narrow roads, trees and shrubs down to the road. Lamorinda looks more “country” than most of Danville and the San Ramon Valley. But there is argument for sidewalks and wide bike lanes and “master” planning that shunts traffic to arterials and minimizes it on residential streets. In the San Ramon Valley, an evening stroll starts at your doorstep. In Lamorinda, often you have to drive to a path.

• Edward Teller, the scientist who built the Lawrence Livermore Lab. Fascinating guy. Accomplished pianist. Born in Budapest, immigrated to U.S. in 1930s. Key figure in research for the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs. Very strong in his opinions. He died in 2003 at the age of 95. In the scientific and academic community, criticized and praised. Lab has gone through several changes: still does high-tech weapons research but now also works at reducing stockpile of nuclear bombs,  protecting against terrorists and making fusion a source of commercial energy.

• Danville town symbol, which shows up on street signs, police cars and government buildings: the silhouette of an oak tree. At the edge of the downtown stands a tall and full oak, old, majestic and beloved. And, unfortunately, just about dead. Several years ago, city hall concluded the tree had to be axed before it fell on someone. Big hullubaloo! Oak still stands, its trunk bordered by a steel frame that supposedly will catch the tree in its final swoon. We’ll see! www.mccormacks.com

• Opened several years ago: Jewish retirement home, apartments. Reflection of aging demographics and the realities of the housing market. Only so much demand for single homes.

• Hot Summer Nights: classic cars and live music, town party. Also in summer (and fall), farmers market. 

• Iron Horse Trail runs about 13 miles and connects to trails through Concord and Pleasant Hill. 

• Under construction in 2010 at San
Ramon Valley High School: a career-tech center and a replacement gym. While excavating for the gym, workers found the remains of about 60 Native Americans. After archeologists studied the site, the skeletons were removed for burial elsewhere.

• Danville started 2010 with a large and popular YMCA with many activities. Unfortunately, it is be closed — a victim of the recession.

• See: San Ramon, Blackhawk, Alamo

* School district: www.srvusd.k12.ca.us

* Danville city hall: www.ci.danville.ca.us

* San Ramon City hall. www.ci.sanramon.ca.us

April 5, 2010