Rodeo

Unincorporated Town,

Contra Costa County

© McCormack's Guides

 

Zip Code: 94572

Located between Hercules and Crockett in northwest Contra Costa. Half industry, half suburb. Divided by Interstate 80. Good commute. Quiet. Rarely makes the headlines. www.mccormacks.com

Population about 9,000. Pronounced Row DAY O.

Three neighborhoods:

• Old town west of the freeway (I-80). Old housing and near the freeway fairly new housing. Supermarket that gets most of the town’s shopping. Restaurants, shops. Small marina neighborhood.

• Viewpointe subdivision, built in 1970s, east of the freeway. Except for freeway businesses, all housing, the tracts gliding up the hills. Some views of Bay. Viewpointe may do its shopping in Hercules; for some residents it will be closer than downtown Rodeo.

• Just north of the downtown, a small tract of subsidized housing run by the county government. www.mccormacks.com

Click for regional or detailed map

In the late 1800s, a butcher opened a packing and canning plant. Roundups (Rodeos) were held to bring in the sheep and cattle for slaughter.

This business soon ended, leaving Rodeo with its name. Next came oil, a wharf first, then a refinery, for a long time run by Union, but now owned by Conoco Phillips.

The refinery, built along the shore north of the old town, seems to be accepted as part of Rodeo. The oil people chip in for civic projects and recently paid for the construction of a new headquarters for the John Swett Unified School District.

This district also includes Crockett and a small part of Hercules. Students attend Rodeo Hills Elementary in Rodeo (just built) and move up to Carquinez Middle and John Swett High, both in Crockett. A small continuation school, 60 students, rounds out the public facilities. A Catholic elementary school in Rodeo enrolls about 290 students.

Scores bounce all over but the high school is landing in the 50^th percentile. See Schools. www.mccormacks.com

Intimate schools. The district is losing enrollment, which hurts its finances but makes it unlikely its students will be lost in the crowd. Rodeo Hills enrolls 710, Carquinez Middle (grades 6 to 8) 420, John Swett High 555.

In 2008, local voters approved a tax to modernize the high school and its sports facilities.

Rodeo offers a mix of housing, bungalows built in the 1930s, tract homes circa 1950s and 1960s, the modern looking tracts of the 1970s (Viewpointe) and lastly, just west of the freeway, the stucco and tile models of the 1980s and 1990s.

Much of the old town and the county housing were built on flat land but hills are never far away in Rodeo and even the old town has many elevated homes (with views).

Level of care generally high but not fancy. Rodeo was built for the blue and white collar middle class. Residents mow their own lawns and trim their own shrubs. Some neighborhoods will have homeowner associations that maintain common grounds.

 San Pablo-Parker Avenue, the main drag, recently spruced up: lights and shrubs for the median strip.

Median age of residents is 35. The 2000 census placed 27 percent of the town under age 18 but the declining enrollments suggest more empty nesters. www.mccormacks.com

Rodeo, unincorporated, is governed from Martinez by board of supervisors and patrolled by sheriff’s deputies. Local statistics not available but Rodeo almost never makes the headlines for crime.  See Crime.

Boys-Girls Club. Community center. Basketball, arts and crafts. Library. Baseball and swimming are popular in Rodeo. Shoreline park run by East Bay Regional Park District. Department stores and movies at Hilltop Mall in Richmond and at Pinole, a drive of five miles.

Small marina with two ramps for launchings. Fishing and sailing on San Pablo Bay. On the map, Rodeo looks like a boating-water town.  But the Union Pacific train line runs along the shore, impeding access, the Bay is too cold and tidal for swimming, and little in the way of shops and restaurants has been built.

Compared to many Contra Costa cities, Rodeo is a good commute. The town sits on Interstate 80, the main road to Oakland, Berkeley and San Francisco, and borders Highway 4, the freeway to Central Contra Costa and its job centers. The Richmond Parkway, about five miles south of Rodeo, shortcuts over to the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge and Marin County.

Four miles north of Rodeo the Carquinez Strait and its two bridges bottleneck traffic to Solano and Napa counties. On weekday and especially Friday home commutes, the traffic starts to backup right about Rodeo. The town’s commuters often get off the freeway just as it’s getting snarly.

Vallejo, just over the Carquinez Strait, runs ferries to downtown San Francisco. At peak hours from Rodeo, you can do a reverse commute — opposite the heavy traffic — to get to the ferry terminal. www.mccormacks.com

Park ‘n’ ride lot near Interstate 80. Freeway access improved. Not to go overboard on the freeways. On some nights, they will be horrible. If you can car pool, you go much faster on I-80, which has diamond lanes.

• Hercules, Rodeo's neighbor, hopes to build a ferry terminal with service to San Francisco. If this job is done, Rodeo commuters to the City will benefit. Large transit terminal in Hercules. See Hercules

Chamber of commerce: www.rodeoca.org

Community web site: www.rodeoca.org

John Swett School District: www.jsusd.k12.ca.us

March 9, 2010