Living in the East Bay
The strength and beauty of the San Francisco East Bay is found in its diversity of life styles, communities and downtowns, businesses, industries and workforce. From an eclectic collection of shops, restaurants and museums to hiking trails, vistas and award-winning wineries, the diverse communities of the East Bay offer a wide range of tastes and interests, nationalities and businesses. The East Bay has become one of the nation's most popular regions to live and work because of its mild climate, scenic vistas and extraordinary quality of life that is unsurpassed by any other metropolitan area. Residents enjoy beautiful weather year-round, a clean environment and safe communities. An excellent public transportation system provides business professionals the flexibility of working close to home or in neighboring communities. Conveniently located BART and rail stations as well as ferry terminals around the Bay allow local businesses to attract a versatile pool of workers from throughout the East Bay as well as San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara and San Joaquin Counties.
Table of Contents
SPORTING EVENTS, DINING AND SHOPPING
VIBRANT CITIES & Government Links
Travel/Winery Links
Arts & Entertainment Links
The cultural and ethnic diversity of California and the Bay Area is reflected through the East Bay's offerings of art, dance, music and song. The State's rich history of people, places, events and eras is on display at the Oakland Museum of California, acclaimed as one of the best regional museums in the country. For a more global perspective, stroll through the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, featuring Asian, pre-twentieth century European and modern art as well as a film and video collection of over 7,000 titles. And if a glimpse at today's emerging artists interests you, be sure to spend an afternoon touring several interesting walk-through galleries in Emeryville's warehouse district or spend two weekends touring through over 400 artists' studios in 13 cities during one of Pro Arts' twice yearly events. Each August you can also find local and national artists and musicians at the Annual Fremont Festival of the Arts that is billed as the largest outdoor festival west of the Mississippi.
From Shakespeare to today's hottest playwrights, a variety of works are performed at the renowned Berkeley Repertory Theater or at a number of other local theaters such as La Val's Subterranean Theater, Altarena Playhouse, Contra Costa Civic Theater, Douglas Morrisson Theatre, Zellerbach Hall and the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts to name just a few. The California Shakespeare Festival offers outdoor performances at the Bruns Amphitheatre in Orinda. Berkeley's Cal Performances, the Oakland East Bay Symphony and the Fremont Symphony have also achieved international acclaim, and offer a complete season of live musical performances. The Dean Lesher Regional Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek, a performing and visual arts center, is the home of the highly acclaimed California Symphony, Center Repertory Company and the Diablo Ballet. Overall, the East Bay features over 20 theaters, playhouses and outdoor amphitheaters.
The club scene ranges from folk and acoustic at places such as Freight and Salvage and Ashkenaz, to a Community Concert series held at various venues throughout the Tri-Valley and eastern Contra Costa, to summer musical performances at Wente Vineyards, to jazz at one of the nation's premier jazz clubs, Yoshi's, in Oakland's Jack London Square. And of course there are also venues for hip hop, blues, salsa and almost any other type of musical genre. In fact, one local newspaper lists more than 80 clubs in the East Bay with over 50 more a few minutes away in San Francisco.
Museum's
Concerts/Music
California Music Awards/Bammies
San Francisco Symphony Orchestra
Movie Information
EDUCATION
Many outside the Bay Area are unaware of the substantial contribution the East Bay makes to one of the world's most powerful research and education clusters in the world. The University of California, Berkeley, is the highest ranked public undergraduate university as well as the highest rated graduate institution in the nation. There have been nineteen Nobel Laureates at Berkeley with six currently on campus. Cal faculty and graduates have started many local companies and other companies have located in the East Bay specifically to increase their chances of attracting highly educated Cal graduates each year. But Cal is not the only East Bay choice in higher education. The East Bay is home to California State University, East Bay and seventeen additional colleges that include: the four Peralta Community Colleges; Ohlone, Chabot, Las Positas, Mills, Holy Names, Patton, and Armstrong colleges; St Mary's, Diablo Valley, Los Medanos, Contra Costa and Heald colleges; JFK University; the California College of the Arts; and Expression College for Digital Arts. They provide courses ranging from liberal arts and the hard sciences, to more specialized courses such as bioinformatics, horticulture, digital animation and international business. In addition, the University of California, Davis is considering expanding their offerings in Livermore beyond the laser technician courses they currently offer.
These colleges and universities are fed by a secondary education system that repeatedly scores above the state average at every grade level. Not surprisingly, East Bay high schools also send a higher percentage of graduates on to higher education than schools in the rest of the state. Besides the considerable research conducted at UC Berkeley, the East Bay is home to three national laboratories engaged in the nation's most advanced, applied, multidisciplinary research: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and Sandia National Laboratories/California (Sandia/CA). LLNL is currently home to two of the world's three fastest computers and over the years these labs have won numerous R&D 100 awards for developing technology with significant benefit to society. Many of these technologies have been licensed and commercialized by US companies for purposes such as improving port security, testing the seismic safety of bridges, constructing more energy efficient buildings, purifying drinking water quickly and cheaply, creating smaller and faster computer chips and powering laptop computers with tiny, long-lasting fuel cells.
The national labs and the University of California also operate programs and facilities with highly sophisticated equipment that, by mutual agreement, can be used for business research. These include: the Advanced Light Source, Combustion Research Facility, National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, Joint Genome Institute, Earthquake Simulator Laboratory, the California Institute for Quantitative Biomedical Research, the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society, and the recently constructed Molecular Foundry. Other facilities, aimed at increasing public interest in science education, are the Lawrence Hall of Science with many interactive displays and the Chabot Space and Science Center, home to 8-inch and 20-inch telescopes, as well as a 36-inch reflector telescope that is the nation's largest public telescope.
PARKS AND RECREATION
Rural landscapes and picturesque countryside's are visible throughout the East Bay as urban areas occupy only 21 percent of the East Bay's acreage. From inviting lakes to gently rolling hills, the East Bay Regional Park District has something for everyone on its 95,000 acres, with 65 regional parklands and 1,100 miles of trails.
Near the University of California campus in Berkeley is Tilden Park, one of the District's three oldest parks. With an 18-hole public golf course, a lake and a beautiful botanical garden, Tilden offers an ideal getaway from its big city neighbors. And just 20 minutes away from downtown Oakland, Lake Chabot Regional Park features a beautiful fishing lake, boat marina, year-round public campground, marksmanship range and miles of trails within its 4,972 acres. Travel just a few miles to the south and you will discover Pleasanton Ridge, an oak-covered parkland overlooking Pleasanton and the Livermore Valley. This Ridge (which accommodates hikers, equestrians and bicyclists), spills into Sunol Regional Wilderness, an area that spans 6,858 acres of oak woodlands and grasslands. It connects with the Ohlone Regional Wilderness, a collection of uplands, woodlands and a 3,817-foot peak.
Deeper within the Livermore Valley lies Del Valle, a park complete with an excellent fishing lake, two swimming beaches, a campground, picnic grounds and boat rentals. Briones Regional Park, a secret wilderness surrounded by the towns of central Contra Costa County, offers hiking and riding trails with vistas for miles in every direction. Las Trampas Wilderness in southern Contra Costa County has 3,600 acres of mostly undeveloped land for hikers and horseback riders. Morgan Territory Preserve and Round Valley also offer majestic views and riding and hiking trails. The San Pablo, Contra Loma and Lafayette Reservoirs all offer water-oriented activities, while Mt. Diablo State Park, located in the heart of Contra Costa County, commands views of northern California extending hundreds of miles (even to Yosemite).
Most of the communities with San Francisco Bay frontage have marinas and waterfront parks; some have State beaches. The City of Alameda's marina has more boat berths than any city in Northern California. Two thousand acres of San Francisco Bay shoreline and the West Coast's largest marsh restoration project can be found in the Hayward Area Recreational District, along with a wide range of parks and activities, including an interpretive center. Also in Hayward, the Garin and Dry Creek Pioneer Regional Parks provide more than 3,000 acres and span deep, wooded canyons, sprawling meadowlands and numerous creeks. Very attractive and popular lakes and accompanying recreational facilities can be found in various parts of the East Bay including the cities of Fremont, Pleasanton, Oakland, Richmond and Antioch. Another unique recreational resource is the San Francisco Bay/San Joaquin River Delta's network of rivers, tributaries, and channels that offer an incredible boating experience along northern Contra Costa County's border. Originally used by miners and settlers during the 1848 Gold Rush, the Delta is still as beautiful and mysterious as ever. You can cruise for days, exploring islands, fishing, swimming or sunning.
Golfers can play a different course every day of the month in the East Bay and many of those courses such as The Course at Wente Vineyards, Poppy Ridge and The Bridges Golf Club are of championship quality. The East Bay's 45 golf courses, 29 of which are public, provide year-round, mostly short-sleeve golfing with a blend of natural beauty, easy to challenging terrain and outstanding amenities. In 2006, the Livermore Valley Winegrowers Foundation hosted the PGA 2006 Nationwide Tour. The $600,000 tournament was held at The Course at Wente Vineyards, a Greg Norman-design course that plays to a par-72 and stretches 6,949 yards. Set in and around the Wente Vineyards estate, the course weaves through vineyards, rolling hills of natural grasslands and scenic valleys.
Amusement Parks/Attractions
Lawrence Hall of Science (Berkeley)
SPORTING EVENTS, DINING AND SHOPPING
The East Bay is the only place in California with three professional sport franchises: football, baseball and basketball! Season and individual game tickets are available for the Oakland A's, Golden State Warriors, and the Oakland Raiders. All games are played at the McAfee Coliseum and Oakland Arena, which are easily accessible by BART.
Before or after the big game, the East Bay offers a wide range of cuisine from an assortment of cafes and restaurants. From Oakland's Jack London Square, Old Oakland and College Avenue/Rockridge to Berkeley's ‘gourmet ghetto' or Pleasanton's historic downtown, East Bay eateries reflect the Bay Area's cultural and ethnic diversity. The East Bay's Chez Pannise Restaurant is the birthplace of “California Cuisine”, but you can also find some of the best barbeque, Peking duck, Maryland crab cakes, dolmas, spanikopita, pho, curry, jambalaya, sushi or eggplant parmigiana - to suit the most discriminating gourmet.
The East Bay supports a bustling retail environment, including retail malls, power centers and great shopping districts where upscale boutiques often feature local designers and sell original pottery, furniture, jewelry and clothing. For more day-to-day shopping, retail centers in the East Bay are providing multiplex cinemas and quality restaurants along with convenient groupings of large, exciting retailers such as IKEA, Nordstrom, Macy's, JC Pennys, Frys Electronics, Best Buy, Home Depot and Lowes. It's no surprise East Bay retail sales exceed San Francisco's.
There are also numerous farmers' markets that make their appearance weekly, featuring specialty produce and food. Several of the largest ones operate throughout the year. And of course there are a number of very popular flea markets, drawing bargain hunters and collectors from around the Bay Area, that are also open throughout the year.
Restaurants
Transportation
The East Bay also features one of the nation's best transportation networks for moving goods and people around the Bay Area and beyond. International harbor and airport facilities, transcontinental rail service, and the major intersection of north-south and east-west interstate routes play significant roles in the economic vitality of the area.
The fourth busiest container port in the nation, the Port of Oakland, handles 99% of all the containerized cargo that passes through Northern California ports. The Port has approximately 1,210 acres of marine terminals, an intermodal rail facility, a maritime support area served by 36 container cranes (including 31 post-Panamax types) and 20 deepwater berths with a total of 21,784 linear feet of berthing space.
Since 1962, the Port has spent more than $1.4 billion on infrastructure improvements. This includes over $700 million for the development of two new maritime terminals, a new intermodal rail facility, deepening channels and berths from -42' to -50', and to create a new public park and wildlife habitat. Located at the terminus of three transcontinental railroads and four interstate highways, the Port of Oakland is a key West Coast intermodal connection and the hub of Northern California's distribution system. In 2005 the Port handled the equivalent of 2,273,990 twenty-foot containers (TEU Containers).
The Port of Richmond, another of the five deep-water ports in the San Francisco Bay, is a diversified cargo handler. It complements the Port of Oakland by specializing in petroleum and liquid cargos (chemicals, petrochemicals and vegetable oils), dry bulk commodities (coal, bauxite, gypsum and cement) and automobiles.
The Oakland Metropolitan International Airport, located nine miles from downtown Oakland, is capable of servicing up to 2,500 passenger arrivals and departures per hour from eight domestic airlines. In 2005 it served a total of 14,417,575 passengers. A separate international arrivals building has customs inspection and baggage claim facilities that can handle 500 passengers per hour from the four international airlines. Thirteen commercial airlines provide more than 1,300 non-stop direct or connecting flights weekly to destinations in the United States, Canada, Europe and Mexico. A $600 million development plan is being implemented to accommodate anticipated growth in passenger and cargo volume into the next century.
Far less congested than San Francisco International Airport, and much more reliable and accessible, Oakland Metropolitan International Airport is increasingly the people's choice in the Bay Area for air travel. The recession and the impact of 9/11 resulted in a significant reduction in air travel, but Oakland is the only Bay Area airport to exceed its 2000 passenger traffic levels.
As for cargo shipments, Oakland's airport is the 14th largest cargo operation in the United States and serves as a West Coast distribution center for Federal Express, United Parcel Service, Airborne Express, Amerflight and Emery Worldwide.
Rail is a major component of the region's goods movement infrastructure. The Union Pacific Railroad operates rail terminal facilities in Oakland and the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway serves the East Bay from the Port of Oakland's joint Intermodal terminal. Rail is also key to commuting. Amtrak provides passenger service through multiple East Bay stations to Southern California, Sacramento and other destinations.
The Bay Area Rapid Transit System (BART), a heavy rail commuter transit system connecting the Counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco and San Mateo, is centrally connected in the East Bay. A third rail service, the “Altamont Commuter Express” (otherwise known as the ACE train) carries commuters from San Joaquin County to San Jose, with stops in Livermore and southern Alameda County. There are 13 other major transit providers serving the East Bay, and the website (www.511.org) can help you make connections.
Six principal highways and seven bridges connect the East Bay to the San Francisco Peninsula, Marin, Sacramento and the rest of the country, and six San Francisco Bay ferry systems provide a great experience for visitors and an attractive, cost effective commute alternative. The Alameda/Oakland Ferry and the Alameda Harbor Bay Ferry connect the East Bay to San Francisco during week days and offer cruises on weekends.
VIBRANT CITIES & Government Links
With over 2,384,000 residents (35% of the Bay Area's population) and over one-third of the Bay Area's jobs, the East Bay has been the fastest growing region in the San Francisco Bay Area since the mid-1980s. It will continue to lead for the next decade and beyond because of its key location and land available for new residential, commercial and industrial uses. But it is the diversity of the East Bay cities' economic base, ethnicity, climate, lifestyles, housing and business location opportunities that provide the region's exceptional strength. Alameda County has been identified as the most ethnically diverse region in the nation. This diversity also enhances the cultural environments of cuisine, music, entertainment, apparel, design and traditions.
The East Bay's communities each offer a unique diversity in life styles, from urban centers to rural communities, from historical, picturesque downtowns to large, campus-style office parks. And the climate is also diverse, ranging from Mediterranean along the San Francisco Bay to warmer climes inland. Housing prices and opportunities also vary considerably: You can live on an island in a Victorian house or California bungalow; in live-work space in urban areas; in the East Bay hills with unrivaled views of the San Francisco Bay; in ranch style homes in the country; in less expensive houses and apartments close to employment centers; or in new, executive homes in upscale developments. The East Bay has a diverse economy as well, with sub-regions specializing in biotechnology, research and development, computer hardware and/or computer software production, telecommunications, food processing, contract manufacturing, optic fiber, plastics, packaging, industrial machinery, metal working – and the list goes on.
Diverse industry clusters thrive in the East Bay, and many of them utilize the ethnic diversity of the workforce to help them communicate with international clients and customers and expand into new international markets. The vibrant, diverse communities of the East Bay offer it all. In the broadest perspective, the East Bay's proximity and integration with San Francisco, the Silicon Valley and Sacramento as well as the East Bay's unique mix of industry, education, research, finance, venture capital, quality of life and public-private collaboration have contributed significantly to the East Bay's success. These same elements support the Association of Bay Area Government's regional projections of dynamic East Bay growth over the next few decades.
VITICULTURE
Livermore wineries, such as Wente Vineyards, also contribute to the East Bay's diverse business opportunities. Producing since the onset of the gold rush in 1849, the Livermore Valley's Golden Wine Region gained international recognition when Livermore Valley captured America's first international gold medal for wine in 1889 at the Paris Exposition—putting California on the world wine map. The region now has over 5,000 acres of vineyards and 72 wineries. Wineries vary in size from limited release, 100-case labors of love to 400,000-case industry heavyweights, and grapes range from familiar Merlot and Chardonnay to Italian, Rhone and Spanish varieties. The award winning wines of the Livermore Valley can be found around the globe.
Livermore Valley wines feature distinctive flavors and textures. While some of these wines can be found nationally, others are exclusively available for purchase at the individual wineries.