City, Alameda County
© McCormack's Guides
Zip Codes: 94608, 94662
Small but
dynamic. On the Bay near the Bay Bridge. One of the best commutes in the East
Bay. Loaded with shops, restaurants. Many apartments and condos. Favorite town
of young professionals and empty nesters. Population 9,727. www.mccormacks.com
In 2001
and 2002, after years of success upon success, Emeryville took a few hits.
Sybase, the large software firm, relocated to Dublin. When dot-coms flourished,
many called Emeryville home. The world and Emeryville have far fewer dot-coms
now.
On the
other hand, Chiron (bio-tech) expanded, adding labs and offices and a garage
with 1,000 spaces. Pixar, the creators of Shrek and Captain Nemo, also
expanded. The animation studio, run by Steve Jobs of Apple fame, is
headquartered in Emeryville.
Click for regional or detailed map
In 2002, “Bay
Street” opened: stores, restaurants, a movie complex of 16 screens, Barnes
& Noble bookstore. This project includes or will include 65 stores, nine
restaurants, 363 housing units and a luxury hotel. The town already has
several.
The state
tally in 2008 showed 5,988 residential units: 270 single homes, 397 single
attached, 5,284 apartments or condos, 37 mobile homes.
Over the next few years,
the city intends to bring its housing total up to about 6,000 units. Emeryville
has been particularly adept at building apartments and condos over stores.
Other additions: an office tower, 16
stories, west of Interstate 80; two hotels, each 11 stories, an IKEA, a giant
furniture that draws mobs on weekends, a Best Buy and a Home Depot. www.mccormacks.com
Emeryville
has an Amtrak station and a freeway, Interstate 80, that bisects the town.
Emeryville
was born 105 years ago when residents, fed up with the sluggishness of the
county government, voted to incorporate themselves into a city. For income, the new city went in for
heavy industry and later trucking, and fun, notably horse racing, minor league
baseball and gambling.
When Prohibition
came, Emeryville blissfully ignored the law of the land and won the wrath of
Earl Warren, then district attorney of Alameda County (later California
governor and chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court). Warren raided and
fulminated and castigated, all apparently to little avail. World War II came
and went, the race track closed but for decades after Emeryville was known as a
good place for a shot and a beer and a card game.
The forces
of change, however, were at work. The Bay Bridge, built in the 1930s, and the
freeways, built in the 1950s, elevated the value of Emeryville’s location. Came
the day when the city council approved the construction of Watergate, an
apartment-condo complex that brought in the educated middle class. Within a few
years, they voted out the Old Crowd and began to fix up Emeryville.
In the
1980s, high-tech and biotech discovered the town. Emeryville draws many of its
brains from UC-Berkeley. www.mccormacks.com
In the
1980s and 1990s, Emeryville reoriented its retail and amusements to its younger
audience. Restaurants, a Trader Joe's and a Borders bookstore were opened.
Hotels were built, bringing in more restaurants. The new apartment complexes
came with pools, workout rooms and saunas.
The town
has a marina — sailing, fishing, boating and a waterfront trail, popular
with joggers, bikers, strollers and skaters, that extends to Berkeley. Many of
the run-down industrial buildings were converted to other uses or demolished
for housing or commerce.
Among
remnants of the old days: a popular gambling place (cards) called the Oaks.
Emeryville
sits almost opposite the Golden Gate. Many residents and hotel guests have
great views of San Francisco and the Bay. San Francisco is within 10 minutes,
Berkeley and Oakland are next door. All three are loaded with things to do.
Served by
Emery Unified School District, one elementary school, one middle, one high.
Enrollment about 900. School rankings bounce all over but many land in the 30th
to 50th percentile. Bond passed in 1995 to spend $8 million to improve the
schools and buy them computers. In 2003, residents passed a parcel tax to fund
educational needs. See Schools. www.mccormacks.com
Emeryville
has many theft crimes — car thefts and shoplifting — but its
serious crime is not as bad as found in other metropolitan cities. Nonetheless,
be wary. The main housing complexes have hired security guards and installed
devices and procedures to protect their residents.
Emeryville has more officers
per 1,000 residents than many other suburban cities and the small size of the
town, 1.5 square miles, makes for a rapid response.
One
homicide in 2005, two in 2004, zero in 2003, one in 2002, three in 2001, zero
in 2000 and 1999, three in 1998, zero in 1997 and 1996, one in 1995, two in
1994. See Crime.
• Small artists
colony resides in live-work lofts.
•
Emeryville mud flats are a favorite canvas for artists, who combine driftwood
and other materials into sculptures — vintage planes — that
deteriorate in a few years.
• Chiron,
which employs 2,000, was sold in 2006 to Novartis. Pixar was sold to Disney.
The locals hope that neither sale will move the firms out of town. The Pixar
campus is a work onto itself — soccer field, pool, gym, amphitheater. www.mccormacks.com
• City
runs free buses around town and to BART stations. Popular service, over 900,000
passengers a year. Express buses to downtown San Francisco. The Amtrak station
is a stop for the Capitols, commute trains from Sacramento to San Jose (Silicon
Valley).
• Summer
fogs cool the air, winter fogs decrease visibility.
•
Industrial buildings remain but they are steadily being pushed out by sleek and
modern apartment complexes or retail-commercial.
Chamber of
commerce (510) 652-5223.
City web
site: www.ci.emeryville.ca.us
