Hayward

City, Alameda County

© McCormack's Guides

 

Zip Codes: 94540, 94541, 94542, 94543, 94544, 94545, 94557

East shore bedroom city, suburban with many local businesses, third-most populous in Alameda County, 149,205 residents. Good commute. Educational offerings include a community college and a California State University, both of which wave the flag for academics. www.mccormacks.com

Following World War II, thousands of GIs, having sampled California sunshine on their way to the Pacific, migrated to the West Coast. Hayward and countless other suburbs were built for them. Practical and unpretentious, these towns were oriented around home, school, recreation and proximity to jobs. Home designs favored the three-bedroom, two-bath model.

Many of Hayward's housing units were built between 1950 and 1970, when the city’s population went from 14,272 to 72,700. The great majority of the homes and apartments were constructed on the flat or gently sloping land to the west of Mission and Foothill, two of the main boulevards.

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Hayward ascends gradually from the Bay to the hills and east of Mission Boulevard soars into elevations that command sweeping views of San Francisco Bay. After 1970, Hayward, in its hill neighborhoods and near the university, moved upmarket with 4-6 bedroom homes. For the best of what Hayward offers, take a spin up Skyline Drive.

Hayward also has older, smaller housing around its downtown and in recent years has built large apartment and condo clusters near its downtown BART station. On its southeast side is another BART station that has also seen housing activity but not as much as the downtown. More, however, is on its way.

The downtown housing has brought in a mini mall of restaurants and shops that along with saloons and a nightclub and other restaurants has revived the neighborhood below Foothill Boulevard. Also in this section, new city hall. www.mccormacks.com

On the west side of town, along Winton Avenue, Alameda County has long had a government center that provides many jobs. The county is replacing buildings or renovating them and boosting this area. More housing is going up here and near the Hayward airport.

All this means a good housing mix with prices across the spectrum but tilting toward middle income buying their first homes.

The state in 2008 counted 48,273 housing units, of which 24,223 were single homes, 3,578 single attached 18,171 apartments or condos and 2,301 mobile homes. Between 2000 and 2006, the city constructed about 1,950 units, a nice chunk of the new.

Amtrak has a station just west of the downtown. In recent years, Amtrak has started a commute run called the Capitols from Silicon Valley to Sacramento.

About 17 miles to Bay Bridge on Interstate 880, recently widened. About 10 miles to Peninsula and jobs around San Francisco International Airport via the Hayward-San Mateo Bridge, which in 2002 added a second span (it ties into the first at the San Mateo side.) www.mccormacks.com

Quick shot to Livermore-Pleasanton over Interstate 580, which also heads to the Bay Bridge. About 15 miles to San Jose and Silicon Valley. AC Transit buses. 

In the 1990s, the school district won money from the state to remove asbestos and remodel many of its schools and equip them for high tech. Local voters in 1997 gave the OK to continue a tax that paid for school landscaping, maintenance of playing fields and graffiti removal.

But the district has not passed a construction-renovation bond in almost 40 years and school officials admit that many buildings are dilapidated. School and civic leaders are talking about submitting a school bond to voters in 2008.

In 2007, teachers struck the district asking for higher wages.

Hayward runs several year-round schools, an effort to save money. www.mccormacks.com

The district in 2007 was negotiating with the university, which wants to buy a closed school and use it for faculty housing.

Enrollments are declining — fewer kids and some are kids attending charter and private schools. District in 2007 to close Shepherd Elementary and consolidate Peixoto Elementary with Ruus Elementary. In 2008, Glassbrook, John Muir and Markham will be closed, joined by another school, either Treeview or Bidwell elementaries.

Academic rankings bounce all over the place. See Schools.

Several private schools, including a Catholic High School (Moreau). One charter high school, another scheduled to open in late 2007.

Shopping malls follow freeways. The Southland Mall came to life with the construction of Interstate 880 and weakened Hayward’s old retail strip, Foothill Boulevard, about two miles to the east. www.mccormacks.com

The city and merchants, with mixed results, have been tinkering for decades to rejuvenate Foothill and have come up with antique stores, restaurants and shops. Breakthrough might come in 2008 when a movie house (12 screens) with restaurants and shops is scheduled to open at B Street and Foothill.

Hayward is headquarters for Mervyns Stores and has a large airport, warehouses and light industry near Interstate 880. These businesses create local jobs, the ideal commute.

Nine homicides each in 2005 and 2004, eight in 2003, nine in 2002, 10 in 2001, nine in 2000, eleven in 1999. Counts for previous years are five, seven, twelve, twelve, twelve, eight, five, ten, four, six, eight, three, five. The hill sections have far fewer incidents of crime than the flatlands and some flatland sections are safer than others. See Crime.

Officer shot in 2006; will recover. Suspect, pulled over on Interstate 880, came out of his car shooting, said police. Cops fired back; suspect dead. He was wanted on a warrant for weapons violation.

Many activities, most of them provided by the Hayward Area Recreation District. Boys and Girls Club. Plays and events at the colleges, baseball, basketball, soccer, tennis, arts and crafts. Summer sports camps at Chabot College. Bowling alley. Big indoor swimming pool. Skatepark. Neighborhood and regional parks. Shoreline preserve. Lake Chabot. Japanese Gardens. Roller-skating rink. Libraries. Movies. Annual zucchini festival. Nine-hole golf course. Town playhouse in 2007 will stage “The Odd Couple.” www.mccormacks.com

Many classes at Chabot Community College and the state university are open to public. You don’t need to be pursuing a degree to enroll in these classes or activities.

The East Bay Regional Park District, an independent agency with its own board and tax base, owns and manages giant parks in the Hayward-Castro Valley hills and along the shore. These parks are crisscrossed with trails and several have facilities — golf course, boating — that are popular.

Many of Hayward’s hills are undeveloped — the land is owned by the park district.

Hayward and its park agencies have cobbled together narrow strips and formed at least four long linear parks, great for hiking and jogging.

Chamber of commerce (510) 537-2424.

• Hayward recently built a 100-acre high-tech business park, 578 homes and a 25-acre sports park with lights for night games, baseball, soccer, softball. The project is located near the Bay. www.mccormacks.com

• City council in 2007 amended policies to make it easier for landlords to convert apartments into condos.

• City had approved plans to build in 2007 about 2,200 homes and apartments, including country-club subdivision in the hills, but market cooling may slow the pace.

• Mini mall going up near the airport; includes Target opened in 2006. Home Depot closeby.

• City is named after William Hayward, who failed at gold mining but after purchasing land from the Castro family succeeded with a store and a hotel that proved so popular that it drew other businesses and prompted people to call hamlet you know what.

• Despite declining enrollment and the inability of the school district to win a bond, one school was recently opened and another is scheduled to open in 2008. These schools, paid in large part by developers, serve growing neighborhoods. The second school was delayed because one contractor dropped a zero from its bid. Amazing what a simple zero can do — difference of about $22 million. www.mccormacks.com

• Major freeway jobs to begin in 2007: Interstate 238, a short stretch connecting I-580 to I-800, is to be widened — hallelujah! An infuriating bottleneck. New interchange for I-880 and Highway 92, which leads to the San Mateo Bridge. City is working on plans to overhaul Mission Boulevard.

• Under consideration in 2007 a power plant on the bay.

• Little restaurant cluster going up near Southland Mall and county administrative center: Marie Callender’s, Elephant Bar, Panera Bread, Applebee’s.

• Hayward library in 2006 added computers and opened a technology center.

• Built in 1969, Centennial Hall, 11 stories, on Foothill Boulevard, was used as a civic center until 1991 when it was vacated because experts said it might collapse in a big earthquake. Since then many efforts have been made to demolish the building, on the cheap. As of 2007, still empty and still standing. www.mccormacks.com

• Running under the East Bay is a famous and active earthquake fault named Hayward, which sits atop it. If curious, read the beginning of the phone book to find out what to do when the inevitable occurs.

• Day laborers gather along Tennyson Road on the southside looking for work. City in 2006 voted to build a hiring center to get them of the street.

• No thanks! City is turning down applications for tattoo parlors. Two in town. Enough, says Hayward.

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