Danville

City, Contra Costa County

© McCormack's Guides

 

Zip Codes: 94506, 94526

Bedroom town, population 42,629, located in the center of the San Ramon Valley, divided by Interstate 690. Built for the most part over flat land and gentle hills. www.mccormacks.com

The typical Danville home is not a mansion — although mansions can be found — but a tract home, one or two stories, 4-5 bedrooms. Nonetheless, the town is considered upper-middle professional and even prestigious.

School scores very high, crime very low, downtown charming and constantly being spruced up, setting pleasant. Many local high-tech jobs. Nearby communities soar up the scale and rub some gold onto Danville. A fair number of residents are interested in the arts. A fair number ride horses.

Many of the hills have been absorbed into two regional parks. Mt. Diablo, a state park, off limits to development, hovers over Danville and the San Ramon Valley. These parks have miles of trails, ideal for horses and hiking.

Click for regional or detailed map

In the last five or so years, Danville has opened a library-community center, another middle school, a gourmet supermarket (Andronico’s which in 2006 became Lunardi’s), a Trader Joe’s and a town museum in an old train depot.

The state in 2008 counted 15,713 housing units — 12,077 single homes, 2,570 single attached and 1,066 apartments. www.mccormacks.com

Danville began as a farming-ranch town and is one of the few cities in the county to retain many of its historic buildings (restored and remodeled). The city has added to the flavor with old-fashioned lamps, pear trees, and brick and cobblestone paving.

In the 1920s and 1930s, the San Ramon Valley attracted city people who wanted to get away from the noise and bustle of the metropolis. A few built large homes, the others modest but nice homes and gradually the area won a reputation as country affluent.

Danville missed the first wave of suburbia. The town in 1960 counted only 3,500 residents. When suburbia roared in — over the following 20 years Danville added 23,000 residents. It came at a time when California was moving into larger homes with modern designs: recessed lighting, walk-in closets, television-video nooks next to the fireplace, open kitchens. The large lots of the past gave way, in many instances, to small lots that demanded less care from the, usually, two working adults in the house.

The typical Danville home, east of the freeway, ascends to two stories and has four or five bedrooms. The initial homes will favor the ranch design, the later homes the modified Mediterranean so popular now in California — creamy stucco, tile roofs, plenty of light.

The modern tracts are coming in as master planned with homeowner associations and fees to maintain common grounds and perhaps fund a neighborhood rec center with pool. www.mccormacks.com

Danville has one or two gated neighborhoods — annexed from the county — but the city dislikes this approach.

West of I-680, the homes are older, many following 1950s or 1960s designs. But as you ascend the western hills, you'll find some knockout custom homes with great views.

Most of the apartment complexes will be found in the downtown or near the freeway. Home for Jewish Parents on east side, seniors complexes near downtown.

East of San Ramon and Danville, the land is rolling and empty, perfect for housing. For the curious, check development plans at city hall, or drive Bollinger Canyon Road in San Ramon.

If it were up to Danville (and San Ramon) the new homes, townhouses and apartments would be far fewer. The county government, traditionally more pro housing than the cities, politically controls much of the land in this region. Developers get their projects approved by the county, then annex the developments to the cities (which supply police, park maintenance, recreation and other programs). www.mccormacks.com

Nonetheless, Danville now is growing slowly. Between 2000 and 2006, it increased its population by 1,350.

In 2002, the Danville city council toughened ordinance on building homes in hills and on ridges (on lands within its jurisdiction).

In the 1980s, Pac Bell (now AT&T) and Chevron opened large office complexes in San Ramon, the adjoining town, creating thousands of jobs for professionals.

About the same time, Blackhawk, located just outside Danville, came to life. A gated development of about 2,400 homes and condos, it includes some of the finest housing in the Bay Area. Blackhawk shops and dines in Danville. All the children attend schools in the San Ramon Valley Unified School District (along with children from Alamo, Diablo and San Ramon).

The San Ramon Valley is bordered on the south by the Amador Valley, which takes in the cities of Dublin, Pleasanton and Livermore. Livermore is home to the Lawrence Livermore Lab, a high-tech military research center, managed by the University of California-Berkeley. Big brains. www.mccormacks.com

Pleasanton and Dublin have landed many high-tech firms. This influx of professionals and the highly educated created a cultural setting that prizes academics, a big reason for the high scores. Parents really get behind the schools.

In 2002, the San Ramon Valley Unified School District passed another school construction-renovation bond and in 2004, a tax to pay to retain teachers and electives and keep class sizes small. See Schools.

Each school has a foundation that raises money, often enthusiastically. Unwritten rule: if you’re a parent (our grandparent), you kick in. Extra points if you volunteer. (If you want high scores, this is what you have to do — the general belief of many in the San Ramon Valley.)

On state comparisons, just about every school in the region is scoring in the top 10 percent. All or almost all the schools have won state and national awards for academic excellence and for being well managed.

In 1991 and 1998, district voters passed bonds of $40 million and $70 million to build and renovate schools and in 2002 they approved a $260 million bond to build schools and add classrooms, renovate many schools, upgrade their wiring for high tech, equip them with modern science and computer labs and more. The district also secures money from developers to build schools. www.mccormacks.com

Nonetheless, school construction, because it takes time to plan, sometimes lags demand. Call the district for enrollment information, (925) 552-5500.

Commute a breeze for local workers. The freeways have been widened and key interchanges rebuilt. If you work in Walnut Creek or Oakland, you will be slightly discomforted.

If you labor in San Francisco and take BART (stations in Dublin and Walnut Creek), your temper may fray but your sanity should remain intact. If you drive to San Francisco or the original Silicon Valley (San Jose, etc.), you might have to lay in a few buckets of Prozac.

The Bay Bridge is being rebuilt; many delays. Although the freeway to Silicon Valley (I-680) has been widened, at peak hours it frequently crawls. Old Danville with its narrow streets will sometimes do a tap dance on your nerves  and the freeway often misbehaves. One little fender bender and stop goes the traffic.

Zero homicides 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. Danville contracts with the county sheriff for police protection and through the city manager and city council, works with the sheriff's office to design patrols and programs to meet its needs. See Crime. www.mccormacks.com

In 2006, at least one homicide, a woman bludgeoned at her condo. Her 16-year-son, who has a history of mental illness, was arrested.

In 2003, a brother, 10, and a sister, 7, were killed by a hit-and-run driver while they were walking on a Danville sidewalk with their mother. 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.

In the courtroom, the woman went down on her knees and in tears begged for mercy. The judge gave her 30 years.

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. www.mccormacks.com

Danville has a Costco, many small shops and several large supermarkets. For big-ticket items and more choices, residents drive to Walnut Creek (Macys, Nordstrom) or Pleasanton, which has a giant mall. Danville has several fine restaurants but many people shop and frolic in other towns.

Walnut Creek, which has popular saloons, attracts many of the young people.

San Ramon has a roller-skating rink and a Borders book store, Dublin, an ice-skating rink, and an I-Max movie house (large screen), Livermore has wineries. Danville has its own bookstore, Rakestraw. Some residents, especially in the new communities, will find it more convenient to shop in San Ramon.

On the east side of Danville, near Blackhawk, is a large neighborhood mall with supermarkets, fast-food and family restaurants and a mix of shops.

Among cultural offerings: plays staged at a theater that seats 245, Blackhawk Chorus, jazz, chamber orchestra, symphony concerts and art and photo exhibits. www.mccormacks.com

At Christmas, thousands stroll through the downtown with lighted candles and gather at giant oak, rotten and ready to fall but somehow hanging on. For safety, the city has encased it in a steel cage.

Mt. Diablo and Las Trampas regional parks, thousands of acres, border the town. Twelve parks, about half of them coupled with schools. For flower lovers, park with rose garden. The city contracts with the school district to use some facilities in the evening — a gym and a pool. Library and community center. Veterans Hall hosts a popular bridge game and other events. Tennis courts. Library. Teen centers at Los Cerros and Wood middle schools. One golf course in town, several in region. Town museum.

The YMCA is working with other groups to build a larger theater for plays and musicals.

The city rec departments sponsors many classes for kids, parents, the middle-aged and the elderly — baby play, kindermusik, gymnastics, ballet, teen science, fitness, yoga, pilates, Feldenkrais (stress abatement), acting, how to invest, bowling, French, bellydancing, etc.

Many parents work. To give them a break, the city offers evenings out — kids dropped off about 6.p.m. and picked up before 10:30 p.m. www.mccormacks.com

Typical sports for kids, soccer probably the most popular. Sports leagues for adults: soccer, basketball, baseball, bocce.

Also shops and restaurants that add to the pleasant ambiance of the downtown. On weekends, the downtown becomes a most attractive place for those who like to chat over breakfast or coffee or read their newspapers.

Years ago an abandoned rail line was ripped out and converted into a trail that runs the length of the San Ramon Valley and connects to other trails. The Iron Horse Trail is very popular and on almost any day or evening will have hundreds of strollers, runners and skater.

In Danville, the trail skirts the downtown and many people detour for coffee or breakfast or lunch or to stroll the shops in the historic district. Several restaurants offer sidewalk service. The town theater and Veterans Hall are in this section and Lunardi’s, the upscale market, the next block over. There’s a farmers market that runs to December and street and art fairs and car shows and live music.

Put the package together and you have perhaps the most charming downtown in the county. On weekends, the waiters and waitresses seem to run non-stop. www.mccormacks.com

Chamber of commerce (925) 837-4400.

• Many firms work with County Connection (buses) and car pool agencies to get people moving. Interstate 680 has a carpool lane.

• Altamont Express. Silicon Valley train; station in Pleasanton.

• 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.

• New performing arts center at San Ramon Valley High School. www.mccormacks.com

• Annual foot race raises money for the schools. Fun event; many friends and families walk the race and head for the coffee shops.

• San Ramon High School, located at the edge of the downtown, for years has tried to wheedle more parking out of its neighborhood. But residents resisted. In 2006, the high school, noting that its enrollment was rising to 2,700 students from 2,500, won permission to convert an empty lot into 391 parking spaces. The increase is temporary; when a new high school is built in San Ramon, enrollment will drop. The parking lot will probably become permanent; the downtown wants more parking.

• Danville and the school district are putting together a plan to restore school busing, possibly by 2008 or 2009. Most of the funding would come from a half-cent transit tax approved by county voters in 2004. If buses carried the kids, it would take parental traffic off the roads and make commuting easier — that’s the justification. Parents might have to put up some of the money.

• Itsy Bitsy Beethoven. In 1863, the remains of Ludwig van Beethoven were exhumed in Vienna and fragments of his skull were given to Dr. Romeo Seligmann. The pieces were passed down from generation to generation until they arrived in the hands of the present heir, Paul Kaufmann of Danville. He keeps the fragments, which have been authenticated by scientists, in a local bank vault or lends them to a museum at San Jose State University.

• Watch your purse. Some thief or thieves in 2006 were working Danville and San Ramon. They follow women home from the supermarkets and while they unload the groceries in their garages, the thieves grab the purses out of the car. Cops advise taking purse in first. www.mccormacks.co

• The San Ramon Valley occasionally traps some winter fogs that hover about 50 feet above the freeway.

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