San Francisco's East Bay- Pinole, California

The East Bay Satellite Map

We resided in the small city of Pinole from 1974 to 1990. This is the town where all our children finished high school. Our oldest and youngest children obtained their Bachelor degrees at University of California in Berkeley. The other two obtained their Bachelor degrees at UC Davis and Sacramento State University. All of them went to Graduate or Law School after finishing their Bachelor Degrees. My oldest son went to Law School at UC Davis. My oldest daughter went to St Mary College for her Para Legal studies in Moraga. My youngest son took his Masters Degree at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. My youngest daughter took her Masters degree at The University of Southern California in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. I was employed first by Stauffer Chemical Company for 12 years and later by Chevron Chemical Company for 4 years in Richmond, California as an Analytical Chemist Research in the field of pesticides residues method development.
My Picture was Used by Stauffer Chemical for Press Relation Activities Locally and Nationally

Our Pinole years were wonderful and memorable since Macrine and I were fully involved with our local church charitable activities, University of the Philippines Alumni Association activities as well as with the activities of the Filipino-American community in the area.
Pinole and Surrounding Area
The East Bay is a part of the San Francisco Bay Area in California. Originally referring only to cities along the east side of the San Francisco and San Pablo bays, the conception of the East Bay has grown with the expansion of the Bay Area to include all of Alameda and Contra Costa counties. The East Bay contains an extremely wide range of people and communities, ranging from the older and poorer cities on the bay, through the wealthy suburbs along the I-680 corridor, all the way to the freshly built developments in the far east of the region. The region is linked primarily by highways, with the BART rail system also connecting the East Bay with San Francisco. Here's a video of Bart ride from East Bay to SFO under the TUBE.


History and Development

Although initial settlement interest focused on San Francisco due to its location controlling the Golden Gate strait and sea access to the bay, the coastal East Bay came to prominence in the middle of the nineteenth century as the part of the Bay Area most accessible by land from the east. The Transcontinental Railroad was completed in 1868 with its western terminus at the newly constructed Oakland Long Wharf, and the new city of Oakland rapidly developed into a significant seaport. Today the Port of Oakland is the Bay Area's largest port and the fifth largest container shipping port in the United States. In 1868, the University of California was formed from the private College of California and a new campus was built in what would become Berkeley. The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake saw a large number of refugees flee to the relatively undamaged East Bay, and the region continued to grow rapidly. As the East Bay grew, the push to connect it with a more permanent link than the transbay ferry service resulted in the completion of the San Francisco - Oakland Bay Bridge in 1936.

The Bay Area saw further massive growth in the decades following World War II, with the population doubling between 1940 and 1960, and doubling again by 2000. The 1937 completion of the Caldecott Tunnel through the Berkeley Hills fueled growth further east, where there was still abundant land. Cities in the Diablo Valley, including Concord and Walnut Creek, saw their populations increase tenfold or more between 1950 and 1970. The addition of the BART commuter rail system in 1972 further encouraged development in increasingly far-flung regions of the East Bay. Today, the valleys east of the Berkeley hills are covered in largely affluent suburbs, where enclaves such as Alamo, Orinda, and Danville all have median household incomes over $100,000. Significant expansion continues in the far east reaches of the East Bay, where new developments such as the 2007 Dougherty Valley community are common.

The East Bay remains a somewhat vaguely defined region. The coastal cities, including Oakland, Berkeley, Fremont and Richmond, maintain an identity very separate from the inland areas and can be referred to as the "inner East Bay". In general, these cities tend to be poorer and more urban. The crime-plagued cities of Oakland and Richmond accounted for over half the violent crime and almost two-thirds of the region's murders in 2008, despite having only one-fifth of its population. In contrast, the so-called "outer East Bay," consisting of a stretch of inland valley from Livermore and Dublin north to Concord and Martinez is on average wealthier, newer, and more suburban than the coastal areas. As development continues on the fringes of the East Bay, new areas are added to the definition of the East Bay, and of the Bay Area in general. In 1996, BART was extended from its terminus in Concord to a new station in Pittsburg, symbolically incorporating the newly expanded Delta communities of Pittsburg and Antioch into the Bay Area. A similar trend exists beyond the borders of Alameda County, as an increasingly large commuter population in Tracy begins to add its influence to the ever-expanding Bay Area.

Culture

The East Bay is the birthplace of many popular musical acts such as Creedence Clearwater Revival, Santana, Y&T, Operation Ivy, Digital Underground, Rancid, Green Day, Primus, NOFX, Tower of Power, The Pointer Sisters, The Dead Kennedys, MC Hammer, Tupac Shakur, Spice 1, Too Short, Tony! Toni! Toné!, en Vogue, Pete Escovedo, Keyshia Cole, and Mac Dre.

Touring popular singers and bands are seen in locations such as the Oakland Coliseum Arena and nearby Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland's Paramount Theater, Fox Theatre, the Greek Theater (U. C. Berkeley campus), and the Concord Pavilion (whose official name will vary with the sale of naming rights, currently known as the Sleep Train Pavilion)

Symphonies, operas, and ballets include: Oakland East Bay Symphony, Oakland Ballet, Berkeley Opera, which typically stages only three productions in a season, and in a relatively small venue, but is attractive because of its innovative and accessible productions, sometimes using complete modern English libretto translations, or showing lesser known works by major composers. Another small opera company operates in Livermore. High quality small orchestras such as the California Symphony can be found in the larger suburban centers. Other more urban venues for music such as La Peña (Hispanic/Chicano music), Ashkenaz (World Music & Dance), and Freight and Salvage (folk music) provide specific cultural orientations not found in major venues and so continue to thrive, with many of these venues operated as cooperatives rather than as for-profit private endeavours.

Hertz Hall on the UC Berkeley campus frequently hosts world famous musicians and groups and the venue includes a spectacular organ suitable for classical and jazz performances.

The Oakland Museum of California offers quality permanent and touring exhibitions in a modern setting, with emphasis on artworks, photography, and artifacts related to California and its history, while the smaller Bedford Gallery hosts a number of exhibitions each year, usually exhibits related to themes of popular culture such as motorcycles or hot rods or keen social and political observations as expressed through sculpture, pottery, quilting, weaving, or photography. The Bedford Gallery is located in Walnut Creek's Lesher Center For the Arts, which is the usual venue for the California Symphony and the Diablo Light Opera among others.

The Chabot Space and Science Center is a modern science hall with interactive exhibits and both a planetarium and an IMAX dome theater. Tilden Regional Park is one of the oldest parks in the district with over 2,000 acres (8.1 km2) of wilderness. Highlights of Tilden Park features include an antique merry-go-round, Lake Anza, and the botanic garden. The East Bay is also home to the restaurant that established California cuisine, Chez Panisse.

Note: This is No.7 (Part 1) of a series of articles on places that we have resided or visited in US from 1960 to the present.