Stockton, Modesto, CA

[stepper77]

Stockton and Modesto are the fourth and fifth largest cities in California's Central Valley. I've only ever seen one other photo thread on here before. Modesto, in particular, I am quite familiar with as my mother was born and raised in the surrounding small towns and her side of the family still lives in the city. Both Stockton and Modesto are somewhat similar in that that are primarily regional urban centers for a historically agricultural community and are seats of government for their respective counties. Nowadays, however, their proximity to the Bay Area has resulted in them becoming the eastern edge of Bay Area sprawl.



Modesto

The city of Modesto, itself, has a population of about 206,000 and is the "urban" center surrounded by a collection of other smaller towns (Ripon, Salida, Ceres, Turlock, etc). But, despite my cousin's frequent protests when I was younger that it is a "big city" (as opposed to the small foothill town I grew up in), Modesto feels more like a large suburb than a "big" city. It does have a functional, if unassuming, downtown as well as its own junior college, but, Modesto is mostly made up of tree lined residential neighborhoods crisscrossed with long avenues of strip mall commercial development. I just focused my photos on downtown.

Let's get the dreariest shot over with first



On to better things...



















The streets are pretty quiet but it was early on a Sunday morning







County and city administration building







Modesto's only skyscraper that isn't a grain mill or a water tower





And that's all the time we have for Modesto...yes, I know that was bad!


Stockton



The city of Stockton is much bigger than Modesto in both population (289,789) and functionality (even if a lot of the recent growth is due to its proximity to the Bay Area). Stockton has its own port along the San Joaquin river, is a regional hub of agricultural production, has a private university (University of the Pacific), and has a proper downtown with lots of great possibilities. The city also has a reputation of having a lot of crime and, if this is any indication, clearly needs a new redevelopment director if it ever expects to capitalize on its potential. These were taken last spring.







It's biggest asset, the waterfront.































Every good city plants lots of trees



































I was surprised at the amount of historical character Stockton has.





































San Joaquin "transit hub"









Things start to fall apart once you leave the immediate downtown area



So, let's go back...











And now for a Stockton 360...





















----------------------------The END---------------------------------

Tour of California

Part One - Los Angeles
Part Two - Beverly Hills, Glendale, Pasadena, Hollywood
Part Three - Riverside, Santa Ana, Long Beach
Part Four - San Jose
Part Five - San Diego
Part Six - Fresno

[ltsmotorsport]

Very nice! Stockton has so much potential if they can just get some new housing outside of downtown instead of new suburbs.

[TWAK]

great photo thread of stockton. I go there about every 2 or 3 weeks during the winter months to watch the Thunder play at that BAD ASS new arena they got. There are a ton of empty lots along the riverfront, soo perfect for development.

[peanut gallery]

Great stuff, stepper77. Stockton has some great pieces in place.

[plinko]

I really like both cities. Modesto is a decent mid-sized city and Stockton just has a truckload of potential. The waterfront makes all the difference.

[ColDayMan]

Stockton looks a hell of a a lot better than what I remember!

[LAsam]

Best Central Valley Thread Ever! I'll check out these places... eventually...

[SLO]

....definitely the best, you actually took some time to do it well, we've all seen the grit no need to see anymore of that

Stockton has some great old neighborhoods as well, especially around U of Pacific, and some interesting pocket neighborhoods on the river, w/access to the delta

[logicskier]

the photo with the geese made me sad...

[Vidiot]

mid-sized northern California/ Central Valley cities always look remarkably like Mid-Western cities of similar size to me... I like.

[Austinlee]

The last photo of downtown Stockton is really good.

[ChrisLA]

Yes many of the central valley cities, and even the people (of course not the new transplants from the bay area and southern cali) remind me a lot of the mid-west. Its so different from the coastal cities and its culture, but it is something I do like, and for me its a nice getaway and yet you not far from home.

[kcexpress69]

I think both cities aren't in that bad of shape. I've seen worse. I think more development will come in due time. There seems to be some development especially along the waterfront and that's definitely something.

[Ex-Ithacan]

Must have missed this thread the first time around. Both cities have some attractive (and potentially attractive) buildings. Love the older structures. That parking lot article is alarming though. While there's the possibilities of opportunities for both downtown, the density and overall appearance doesn't give the impression of cities over 200,000 people. The downtowns look smaller, which I'm sure is thanks to sprawl. Anyway, good to see them repped here, and thanks for the tours.

[Cambridgite]

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=137025

This is just disgusting. It's like Cambridge gone into hyper mode.

[Evo5Boise]

Great pictures. I am surprised to see so many palm trees that far inland. I'm jealous! lol

[soleri]

Is Stockton the city that wants to tear down some old downtown hotels for parking lots? Bad idea!

I get the sense that redevelopment schemes are important in both cities here (as they are almost everywhere in America). Somehow, they seem out of scale and a bit oppressive looking. The old building stock here is really good. The trick will be to hold on to it long enough so when cities eventually recentralize, they'll be some classics left to restore. I doubt we'll ever build like that again, so those pre-war buildings will become increasingly precious over time.

[SLO]

^^^Yes. This is a problem for all American cities, local preservationists & architects really need to lead the charge for preserving these structures.
This building has proposed loft makeover; last I heard it was shelved temporarily until the real estate market in California rebounds.
http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/9...kton070sa8.jpg

[LSyd]

^ they want to tear that down for a parking lot? that's a crime!!!

nice tour. modesto looks like it has a really nice older building stock. viewed together, they remind me of Columbia, SC.

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[denveraztec]

Wonderful photos!