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Old Posted Feb 25, 2008, 10:04 PM
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Bay Area: Tri-Valley

The Tri-Valley is a region in the eastern part of the Bay Area, named for the San Ramon, Amador and Livermore Valleys. This area consists mainly of affluent suburbs and an overflow of high tech companies and corporate headquarters. Many people commute within in the area or as far as SF, Oakland, and San Jose. Unlike the relatively mild climates of San Francisco and Oakland, summers can reach into the 100s in the Tri-Valley and winter nights below freezing.

These pictures were taken from over a year ago to just last week.

Danville (pop 41,175)

The most affluent of all the Tri-Valley, if not the entire East Bay, with neighbor Blackhawk.

































No downtown isn't dead, it was just very cold and most people were inside the numerous bars.





















San Ramon (pop 51,027)

Has only been an incorporated city for about 25 years and is probably one of the fastest growing in the area. Headquarters to Chevron and 24 Hour Fitness to name a few. Mostly just a pretty suburb.

















Dublin (pop 45,000)

My current home. Moving here, from SF, was a necessity to buy something, but, is nothing compared to the city. A typical suburb, but, the city has at least tried to counter it's creeping outward sprawl by infill in many of its old shopping centers and empty fields, including two TODs and a new Bart station.



































To show Dublin does have some history, most of these graves are from the mid to late 1800s.







Death of a shopping center, soon to be torn down for a large community park.

















Part of the new TOD at the Dublin Bart Station









There is a lot of residential construction in Dublin with varying densities and design.



















Dublin Civic Center

















Camp Parks Military Base





















Pleasanton (pop 67,724)

Though Pleasanton does have a historic, rather "pleasant" downtown most of the city itself is pretty dull. Unlike Dublin which is at least attempting to diversify itself, everything in Pleasanton is either single family homes or two to three story apartments or low density office parks. Pretty, but, dull.























Lots of trees is one thing Pleasanton does right.

















Downtown































































A little shaky night photography before I got my tripod.














Livermore (pop 82,845)

Home to the Lawrence Livermore National Lab, this is the last stop before heading over the Altamont Pass into the San Joaquin Valley. Most of Livermore is typical sprawl, but, downtown is very active with many historical buildings and local restaurants.










































________________________________________________________________

Tour of California

1: Los Angeles, 2: Hollywood, Glendale, Pasadena, Beverly Hills, 3: Riverside, Santa Ana, Long Beach, 4: San Jose, 5: San Diego, 6: Fresno, 7: Stockton, Modesto, 8: Gold Country, 9: Eureka, Arcata, 10: Monterey, Carmel, 11: Santa Cruz, 12: Sacramento Pt One, 13: Sacramento Pt Two, 14: Roseville & Folsom, 15: Concord & Walnut Creek

Last edited by stepper77; Feb 26, 2008 at 8:53 PM.
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  #2  
Old Posted Feb 25, 2008, 10:34 PM
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Very nice. I've only really explored Pleasanton and feel the same way about it. Oh, and I didn't see that you mentioned it was HQ for Safeway.
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Old Posted Feb 25, 2008, 10:40 PM
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Really great shots, its been a while for me since spending any real time in this area. As suburbs go, these are good and 'pleasant' ones.

On a side note; do you know when BART is to extend over the altamont into Tracy?
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Old Posted Feb 26, 2008, 12:11 AM
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Originally Posted by ltsmotorsport View Post
Very nice. I've only really explored Pleasanton and feel the same way about it. Oh, and I didn't see that you mentioned it was HQ for Safeway.
Oops you are right and I drive by there all the time when I go to Stoneridge Mall. I believe the red building in my second shot of Pleasanton is the one they're in, or right next to it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by SLO View Post
Really great shots, its been a while for me since spending any real time in this area. As suburbs go, these are good and 'pleasant' ones.

On a side note; do you know when BART is to extend over the altamont into Tracy?
I wish this was happening, but, last I heard the extension to Livermore isn't even on the radar. They are too busy focusing on extending into San Jose and building an unnecessary station in West Dublin/Stoneridge. The ACE train gets San Joaquin commuters to San Jose, but, any of the Modesto, Manteca, Stockton or Tracy commuters going to Oakland or SF still have to drive all the way to Dublin/Pleasanton.
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Old Posted Feb 26, 2008, 4:19 AM
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Nice suburban tours.
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  #6  
Old Posted Feb 26, 2008, 4:26 AM
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Excellent shots. There is a lot of varied architecture between these towns. The lack of brick makes it seem strange and exotic to me.
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  #7  
Old Posted Feb 26, 2008, 5:13 AM
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California is so freaking beautiful, it's not much of a suprise that it has grown by tens of millions of people in the last 50 years and that it is basically the center of technology for the whole world.

Great pics. I really enjoyed it!

I like this picture a lot, because it has my dream car, on the left, a Mercedes CLS and directly behind it is the exact car I drivenow: An Oldsmobile 88!!


Another note, San Ramon must be a VERY wealthy area; I sell real estate along with my mother, and 2 years ago we sold a house for $400,000 to a guy who lives in San Ramon. And his reason for having said house was "So I don't have to stay in the Holiday Inn when I come to visit relatives in Pittsburgh."

Which is amazing, because out here, $400,000 is a humongous brand new, mansion of a house!
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  #8  
Old Posted Feb 26, 2008, 6:23 AM
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San Ramon is very wealthy, but, $400,000 would barely buy a townhouse or a condo. Most single family houses probably start at $600-$700K plus. In fact when I moved to Dublin three years ago, I paid $390K for my townhouse (950 sq ft plus garage) and we're asking $500K to sell it now. Perhaps I should be moving to Pittsburg instead of Walnut Creek.

And to flar, brick is practically an unknown material in California :o(
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Old Posted Feb 26, 2008, 7:15 AM
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Stepper77, you have no idea how perfect the timing of these threads is. The wife and I are going out there next weekend, staying in Hayward, and I wanted to give her a feel for the rest of the Bay Area, since she's only been to San Fran and a little of Oakland, but nothing in depth. I am amazed at how pretty the area is even in the winter time, wow!! Thanks for the lovely photosets, keep them coming.
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Old Posted Feb 26, 2008, 7:48 AM
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^^^The dirty little secret is that it's all a lot PRETTIER in the winter because that's when all the grass on the hills, which is brown in summer and fall, turns green and lush. In the Bay Area, the rainy season starts around November 1 and it can rain 2 or 3 times a week until early May (some years it stops in March, some years May)--that's when the grass turns green and grows and also when I head to Tucson because I find all the rain kind of depressing. But from May through October, it typically doesn't rain at all in San Francisco although the Tri-Valleys can have an occasional (pretty rare, really) thunderstorm in summer.

Anyway, these photos are very interesting to me because I have to admit that I've never seen any of this area that you can't see from I-580. I used to work in Concord, so I've seen most of the stuff in your previous thread on Contra Costa, but the Tri-Valleys has always been just an area I had to pass through on my drive to Arizona.

PS: I think the wealthiest suburbs in the Bay Area are probably enclaves like Belvedere, Atherton, Hillsborough, Ross and some others, not anywhere in the East Bay. Even Blackhawk is an enclave for the nouveau riche--professional sports figures and such. The old East Bay money, at least by reputation, lives in Piedmont and maybe you might want to do a photo spread on that someday.
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Old Posted Feb 26, 2008, 8:04 AM
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Great shots!
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  #12  
Old Posted Feb 26, 2008, 8:57 AM
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Although I've pass through many of these areas before, I haven't really ever explored, so its sort of like the first time seeing (especially the downtown areas) them. Nice tour, thanks for sharing. Also just to echo the other comments about winter time here. Its truly is the most beautiful time of the year in California as most of the state is very green as opposed many parts of the US when most vegetation is dead looking.

Oh BTW your hometown Dublin sure does reminds me of southern California Santa Clarita Valley (Valencia). The area around Six Flags Magic Mountain.
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Old Posted Feb 26, 2008, 7:59 PM
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Originally Posted by BTinSF View Post
^^^The dirty little secret is that it's all a lot PRETTIER in the winter because that's when all the grass on the hills, which is brown in summer and fall, turns green and lush. In the Bay Area, the rainy season starts around November 1 and it can rain 2 or 3 times a week until early May (some years it stops in March, some years May)--that's when the grass turns green and grows and also when I head to Tucson because I find all the rain kind of depressing. But from May through October, it typically doesn't rain at all in San Francisco although the Tri-Valleys can have an occasional (pretty rare, really) thunderstorm in summer.

Anyway, these photos are very interesting to me because I have to admit that I've never seen any of this area that you can't see from I-580. I used to work in Concord, so I've seen most of the stuff in your previous thread on Contra Costa, but the Tri-Valleys has always been just an area I had to pass through on my drive to Arizona.

PS: I think the wealthiest suburbs in the Bay Area are probably enclaves like Belvedere, Atherton, Hillsborough, Ross and some others, not anywhere in the East Bay. Even Blackhawk is an enclave for the nouveau riche--professional sports figures and such. The old East Bay money, at least by reputation, lives in Piedmont and maybe you might want to do a photo spread on that someday.
When we moved to Texas I was amazed to have the area around DFW green in late spring and very often all summer because of the relative humidity and the thunderstorms, but then it all goes brown in late November until April or so. That brown you mentioned there, we refer to as the golden hills of California.....

Last edited by SLO; Feb 26, 2008 at 8:53 PM.
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Old Posted Feb 26, 2008, 8:37 PM
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Stepper77, you have no idea how perfect the timing of these threads is. The wife and I are going out there next weekend, staying in Hayward, and I wanted to give her a feel for the rest of the Bay Area, since she's only been to San Fran and a little of Oakland, but nothing in depth. I am amazed at how pretty the area is even in the winter time, wow!! Thanks for the lovely photosets, keep them coming.
Hayward?? I was born there. There isn't much there. It is a typical working-class suburb. There are nicer areas in its hills. A LOT of Latinos live in Hayward.
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Old Posted Feb 26, 2008, 8:52 PM
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When we moved to Texas I was amazed to have the area around DFW green in late spring and very often all summer because of the relative humidity and the thunderstorms, but then it all goes brown in late November until April or so. That brown you mentioned there, we refer to as the golden hills of California.....
Too true! I went to Washington DC for my eighth grade trip and it was the first time I'd been out of the California (except for Nevada). We had a layover in Pittsburgh and I was amazed, as I was looking out the window as we landed, how there was so much green everywhere!! In the middle of summer!!! It was so strange to me.

The pictures I took of Dublin from the hills are from 2006 when we had a really wet Spring. The hills were such a rich, green color that year I felt like I was in Ireland

Then summer comes, the tap shuts off, and everything dies! Here are some pictures I took on the Altamont Pass above Livermore in late summer:





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Old Posted Feb 26, 2008, 11:24 PM
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Great shots, stepper, as usual.
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Old Posted Feb 27, 2008, 4:36 AM
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Too true! I went to Washington DC for my eighth grade trip and it was the first time I'd been out of the California (except for Nevada). We had a layover in Pittsburgh and I was amazed, as I was looking out the window as we landed, how there was so much green everywhere!! In the middle of summer!!! It was so strange to me.
Well I'll say that my experience is the opposite. I grew up in the east, specifically in the suburbs of Washington DC (Silver Spring) until I left for college. I've gotten used to the "golden" hills, but I still prefer green and miss it in summer.
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Old Posted Feb 27, 2008, 4:45 AM
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^ i heard from someone that the golden grass (that would be dead grass) is actually an alien species (that would be non-native)

originally (probably b4 most humans had seen it), california had green grass - at least thats what i heard - yes i have no proof


beautiful photos stepper77, thanks for the tour!
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Old Posted Feb 27, 2008, 4:15 PM
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stepper

Same for me, until late teen years I had no idea California was a pretty arid state, except for pocketed areas. My wife actually loves the summer golden hills of California.

BT - I do like the green in summer, many who dont know Texas would be shocked, that its actually green for most of summer. But then you pay for it in winter when everything goes dormant (except in south Texas).

Northbay
Im not so sure about the green grass in summer in Cali, the thing is, California has extremely low humidity and virtually no rain from May thru September.
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Old Posted Feb 27, 2008, 5:45 PM
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Very nice shots. Those bring up a lot of good memories. Pleasanton is exactly how I remember it. Business park on the outside, right off the highway. And a nice looking downtown. I have seen on Discovery channel or National Geographic channel that Pleasanton has a highly sophisticated traffic control system that prevents people from speeding.

I have relatives who lived in San Ramon, in a highly secured neighbourhood. Looks a bit weird for us Dutch. We don't have these kinds of neighbourhoods with walls around yet (except for some prisons... ). They moved to Danville. So I have to visit that town too this summer.
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