Walnut Creek

City, Contra Costa County

© McCormack's Guides

 

Zip Codes: 94595, 94596, 94597, 94598

Geographically, the heart of Contra Costa. Population 66,584. Located in the shadow of Mt. Diablo. Crime low. School scores high. www.mccormacks.com

In recent years has acquired a reputation for being middle-class hip. The city has done a great job of putting together an entertaining downtown.

Among city planners, Walnut Creek is considered an inspiration for doing it right. They make pilgrimages to Walnut Creek and quiz the bureaucrats and politicians.

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 In 2003, Walnut Creek opened a movie complex and a Tiffany's. People were amazed that little ol' Walnut Creek, with many residents frugally bourgeois, could land a bon ton jeweler but the store recognized not just the money of the town but of the region.

Many activities, unusually bountiful in things to do. In the downtown, Nordstrom, Macys, Barnes and Noble bookstore. At least three Starbucks, one Peet's plus other coffee shops. All sorts of restaurants, over 90 in total. Brew pubs. Delis.

Regional Center for the Arts draws about 250,000 people a year. Jazz concerts. On weekend nights, the streets are filled with people shopping and dining. Williams-Sonoma, Restoration Hardware, Pottery Barn, Crate and Barrel, Container Store, Target, Apple. www.mccormacks.com

Traffic in spots sluggish because many streets are two lane. But plenty of parking — about 7,000 spaces, many in public garages.

Banks and stock brokers in downtown and along Ygnacio Valley Road. Also on Yynacio Valley, Shadelands Business Park (many medical offices) and John Muir Medical Center.

On almost any day of the week and many evenings, Walnut Creek, especially near the Broadway Plaza, is bustling with shoppers. The city extracts about $18 million annually in sales taxes, over a third of the city’s total income, and many of these dollars go for sports, amusements, parks and other activities that please the residents.

In the evening, restaurants come to life and bring in more shoppers. On weekends, after mom and dad and gramps have nestled into their pajamas the young take over a half dozen or so bars in the downtown, dancing, drinking, chatting, finding and shedding boy and girl friends, and occasionally arguing and getting into fights. The city warns the bars and works with them to keep the hormonally charged under control and puts extra officers on the streets.

In Contra Costa, Walnut Creek epitomizes the culture and promise of the suburbs. San Francisco will always excel in number of fine restaurants, Broadway shows and high-skill arts, such as grand opera, a world-class symphony and ballet. www.mccormacks.com

But Walnut Creek epitomizes what a well-run suburb can accomplish.

The Regional Center for the Arts, which has three theaters and an art gallery, presents first-class musicals, plays, operas, ballets and symphonies, drawing on local or visiting talent, many of them members of Actors Equity.

The good restaurants are as good as anything found in San Francisco. In fact, they were opened by the successful San Francisco and Marin restaurateurs.

Walnut Creek, built over flat lands and gently hills, sits at the base of Mt. Diablo, at 3,849 feet one of the highest mountains in the Bay Region, and a real presence, serene, comforting, pretty in its bulky way and surrounded by park land.

This is a city pays attention to the elderly, who incidentally make up a large part of the audiences that support the plays, musicals and other events. www.mccormacks.com

Walnut Creek has one of the oldest and largest retirement communities in Northern California, Rossmoor, 8,500 residents, average age 77 (reports city hall). The presence of so many elderly has given Walnut Creek a conservative air but the city is home to many single people and professionals.

Finally, one more cultural plus, East Bay State University runs a branch campus just over east border.

Although incorporated as a city in 1914, Walnut Creek didn’t turn suburban until after World War II. The 1950 census tallied 2,420 residents, many of them pickers and cultivators of walnut trees.

Then came the freeways. By 1960, Walnut Creek’s population had zoomed to 10,000 and within another 10 years to 40,000. The 1980 census counted 53,600 residents and by this time Walnut Creek was running out of space. The 1990 census tallied 60,569 people, the 2000 census 64,296.

Children under age 18 make up 18 percent of the population, low but this number is skewed by Rossmoor. Median age is 45. Walnut trees remain but the great groves are gone. www.mccormacks.com

Developers built a few homes for bosses — giant mansions at the east edge of the city — and many homes for managers, administrators, professionals. The typical home is a 3- or 4-bedroom tract rancher, mixed with many 2-story, 5-bedroom homes. Streets are wide, lawns spacious, homes well-maintained.

Walnut Creek has its atypical neighborhoods. Large pockets are governed by the county. In some places, the housing is plain and the streets lack sidewalks; in others, the homes jump up the scale and the lots are gigantic.

In 2010, within city limits, state tallied 32,572 residences, of which 12,275 were single homes, 4,876 single attached, 15,373 multiples, 48 mobiles. If you included the homes in the unincorporated sections, the population would rise by at least 20,000.

Almost all of the apartments were built in or near the downtown, where Interstate 680 intersects with Highway 24 and where two BART (commute train) stations are located. The apartment dwellers, with their dollars, nourish many of the downtown businesses, one of the big reasons the area has done so well.

Business and civic leaders would like to build more apartments and condos in the downtown and bring in 20,000 people. The mantra they invariably chant is “smart growth” — put the new comers next to the train stations and freeways ramps. www.mccormacks.com

Many residents accept this — up to a point, then their no-grow, slow-grow, anti-traffic feelings kick in and several times they have voted in anti-building measures. The city’s unofficial policy is to push growth steadily but slowly and hope that the natives don’t revolt and pass another anti-growth measure.

In many ways, the city and the developers built intelligently: offices, stores and apartments near the transit points.

But traffic congestion is a problem. The freeways and BART run along the west border of the city, the homes mostly spread out to the east, which means residents have to travel crosstown to get any place. Arterials are few and burdened by traffic from other cities, particularly Concord and Pittsburg.

The freeways have been widened and improved. BART and buses take many off the roads. But if you move to the east side, you might find the traffic irritating.

If you have job in Central Contra Costa or in Berkeley-Oakland, your commute often will be fairly easy. Driving to San Francisco is asking for trouble; at peak hours the Bay Bridge frequently backs up for miles. Try BART. www.mccormacks.com

Two public pools, 15 open-space areas or parks, two golf courses, two libraries, garden center, model railroad center, animal shelter-museum, teen center, historic ranch, trails, Mt. Diablo. Little League, swimming, exercise and civic clubs, many classes and activities. New skate park.

With a strong tax base, the city can spend on amenities. Civic Arts Education in 1998 purchased a $2 million building in Shadelands business park. When completed the building will include a library, a cafe, a gallery, classrooms, locker, showers, exercise rooms, etc. The classrooms have been opened. San Francisco’s a half-hour drive, Berkeley, 15 minutes, or take BART.

Two big medical centers, John Muir and Kaiser. Many doctor offices. Near Rossmoor, convalescent hospitals and physicians specializing in elder care.

Animal lovers: the Animal Rescue Foundation has a facility in Shadelands Business Park to shelter 40 dogs and 80 cats, offers therapy to discourage violence towards animals. Center will work to bond the elderly and the furry.

One homicide in 2008, two in 2007, zero in 2006. One homicide each in 2005 and 2004, zero between 2003 and 2000. For previous years, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 3, 0, 2, 1, 0. Walnut Creek has its own police department. New police department-city hall opened in 2002. See Crime. www.mccormacks.com

Three school districts educate the students, Mt. Diablo Unified, kindergarten through 12, the largest. See Schools.

Walnut Creek Elementary District, four elementaries, one middle school, advances its students to Las Lomas High School, which is part of the Acalanes Unified School District. This district also educates teens from Lafayette, Orinda and Moraga.

The elementary district and Las Lomas High score in the 90s, the top 10 percent in the state.

Mt. Diablo district covers about a half dozen communites and has more diverse demographics. All the schools located in Walnut Creek are scoring in the 90s but some students may be assigned to schools out of town.

All districts have passed several construction-renovation bonds. The Walnut Creek elementary district and Acalanes district have passed taxes to retain teachers and electives and keep class sizes small and libraries open. Every school in elementary and Acalanes district and many in the Mt. Diablo district has been honored by the state. www.mccormacks.com

Mt. Diablo teachers complain they are underpaid and many agree. But substantial relief is unlikely. In 2008, voters rejected a tax that would have raised teacher salaries.

Several large private schools in or near the downtown.

• Ice skating in downtown during the winter.

• Free wi-fi in the downtown.

• Occasionally, to the surprise of some, a business does fail in the downtown. In 2006, Andronico’s, an upscale grocer, pulled the plug, replaced by Cheesecake Factory that seems to be doing unusually well. There is another upscale grocer, on the west side of town, Lunardi’s. www.mccormacks.com

• Walnut Creek has been trying for years to replace its downtown library. Many arguments over size and design. Construction started 2008. Scheduled to be completed in Summer 2010. Should be nice addition to city and to downtown; located next to popular park. Close to restaurants and shops.

• Recently built: more apartments and office buildings around the BART stations.  Also  new:  luxury  condos, price over  $1 million.

• Trader Joe's in the downtown, near a  Whole Foods  Market.  Another Trader Joe's  just over city limits on the east side.

• Newcomers club, ladies group. Coffee, bridge, excursions, activities, meet people. (925) 465-4961. www.walnutcreeknewcomersclub.org

• Dedicated in 2004, veterans' memorial plaza. Walnut Creek and Lafayette, the adjoining town, went partners on a new veterans center, located in Lafayette. Lovely building. www.mccormacks.com
    • Wild turkeys. Beloved by some, detested by many because they poop all over the place. Rossmoor finally had enough and hired a hunter to shoot them down to smaller numbers —  quietly, so as not to disturb the residents. A .22 rifle with a silencer did the job.

• Although the young patronize downtown bars and restaurants, many dance their hearts away in San Francisco and Berkeley-Oakland, which have a higher number of clubs and especially with San Francisco, a rowdier tradition.

Chamber of commerce: www.walnut-creek.com

City web site: www.ci.walnut-creek.ca.us

Mt. Diablo School District: www.mdusd.12.ca.us

Walnut Creek Elementary District: www.walnutcreeksd.org

Acalanes (high school) district: www.acalanes.k12.ca.us

March 9, 2010