San Ramon, California

A view of Mount Diablo from San Ramon

San Ramon is adjacent to Danville, California, to the north and Dublin, California, to the south. Unincorporated county lands border San Ramon to the east and west. It is located around 500 feet (150 m) above sea level. Mount Diablo flanks the city to the northeast and is prominently visible from almost all parts of the city. The Las Trampas Regional Wilderness borders San Ramon's extreme northwest, at the northern end of Bollinger Canyon. The smaller Bishop Ranch Regional Preserve straddles San Ramon's western border, located approximately between Interstate 680 and the Alameda County line.

The topography of San Ramon is varied, featuring a mix of the rolling hills of the Diablo Range and the flatter basin of the San Ramon Valley. The city is predominantly urban and residential with many new housing developments, however much of the land around the city's perimeter regions remains undeveloped, and is covered by grasslands and oak tree orchards. During the drier months the grasses are golden, but with the precipitation of winter and spring, the grasses turn green.

San Ramon's weather typifies a Mediterranean climate, seasonal, and moderate. Summers are warm to hot and dry, while winters are mild or cool, wet and rather short. Its weather is similar to the adjacent cities of Danville, Dublin and Pleasanton. Fog can be infrequent but occurs normally in the western reaches of the city, at the eastern mouth of Crow Canyon, through which marine weather patterns funnel in from the San Francisco Bay via Castro Valley. It usually burns off by mid-to-late morning.

Average January temperatures are a maximum of 58 °F (14 °C) and a minimum of 36 °F (2 °C). Average July temperatures are a maximum of 83 °F (28 °C) and a minimum of 56 °F (13 °C). January is normally the wettest month, averaging 5.20 inches (132 mm) of precipitation and followed by March, is the second wettest month averaging 4.15 inches (105 mm) of precipitation . July is usually the driest month, with an average of only 0.06 inches (1.5 mm) of precipitation. Snow is extremely rare except for Mount Diablo, but hail occurs a few times in the winter.

The lands now occupied by the City of San Ramon were formerly inhabited by Seunen people, an Ohlone/Costanoan group who built their homes near creeks. Sometime around 1797 they were taken by Mission San José for use as grazing land. In 1834, they were part of the Rancho San Ramon land grant to José María Amador.[14]

Amador named San Ramón (Spanish for '"Saint Ramon"') not after a real saint but rather after a Native American vaquero who tended mission sheep on the land. Amador added the "San" per Spanish custom.[14]

In 1964, Pacific Air Lines Flight 773 crashed near San Ramon after both pilots were shot by a passenger.[15]

San Ramon is governed by a four-body City Council composed of individuals elected to four-year overlapping terms in coordination with a two-year elected mayor. Police services were provided under contract by the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Department until July 1, 2007, when the city officially took over providing police services.

As of 2020, the elected representatives are Bill Clarkson (Mayor), Sabina Zafar (Vice Mayor), Scott Perkins, Phil O'Loane and David Hudson (Council members).[20]

The city of San Ramon is in Contra Costa County.

In the United States House of Representatives, the city is split between California's 11th congressional district, represented by Democrat Mark DeSaulnier and California's 15th congressional district, represented by Democrat Eric Swalwell.[6]

According to the California Secretary of State, as of February 10, 2019, San Ramon has 41,872 registered voters. Of those, 16,518 (39.4%) are registered Democrats, 8,907 (21.3%) are registered Republicans, and 12,147 (29%) have declined to state a political party.[21]

Bishop Ranch #3

The sign marking the Chevron Corporation headquarters

The headquarters of 24-Hour Fitness

Bishop Ranch, a master-planned office park development, with some retail elements, began major construction in the early 1980s, and provides a healthy tax base for the city. Bishop Ranch is situated on 585 acres once owned by Western Electric, and was farmland before that. Current tenants include the corporate headquarters of Chevron Corporation (formerly ChevronTexaco), as well the West Coast headquarters of AT&T Inc. (which had been the headquarters of Pacific Bell from about 1983, when it relocated from downtown San Francisco, until the merger with SBC Communications that created the current AT&T). United Parcel Service has a regional distribution center in Bishop Ranch. Toyota [23] has a regional office and parts distribution center located there. GE Global Research started its Global Software Center in Bishop Ranch in 2011. Bishop Ranch covers the vast majority of "Central San Ramon", which is the large square formed by Freeway 680 on the west, Crow Canyon Road on the north, Iron Horse trail on the east, and Bollinger Canyon Road on the south (though several complexes are south of Bollinger). In December 2016, the Ligier EZ-10 began use in the first autonomous vehicle passenger shuttle route in North America, looping through Bishop Ranch Office Park, with on-sight operation and maintenance by First Transit.[24]

ChevronTexaco's headquarters moved from San Francisco to San Ramon in 2001 [25] but 12 years later, 800 jobs were moved to Houston, a quarter of the San Ramon workforce due to high corporate costs and to consolidate existing units in Houston.[26]

In 2014, the city approved the project's design that called for an animated civic space featuring 350,000 square feet of quality shops, restaurants and a multi-screen movie theater. The city center was designed by the award-winning international architectural firm Renzo Piano Building Workshop. The grand opening was on November 8, 2018 which featured The Lot Luxury Theater, West Elm, Boba Guys, Fieldwork Brewing Company, On the EDGE, Pottery Barn, Starbucks, the piece. Store, and Williams Sonoma. Throughout 2019 more stores, restaurants, and an Equinox gym are slated to open.

San Ramon's public schools are part of the San Ramon Valley Unified School District (SRVUSD), serving approximately 30,300 students. The city has 11 elementary schools and 4 middle schools. The high schools are California and Dougherty Valley High School. An alternative K–12 school is operated by the SRVUSD to support home-schooled students: Venture Independent Study School.

California High School was founded in 1973 and ranked 250th best high school in the United States by Newsweek.[28] Dougherty Valley High School is ranked 42nd within California; it is ranked No. 281 in the national rankings and earned a gold medal.[29]

Memorial Park

Aerial View of Memorial Park, including play area, ball field and BMX track

Originally, this city park, located on a hill overlooking Bollinger Canyon Road and San Ramon Valley Blvd., was to be named Alta Mesa Park.[31] During the construction of the park, the City Council voted to change the name to Memorial Park to honor Tom Burnett, a San Ramon resident, and other victims from Flight 93 killed in the September 11 attacks of 2001. A plaque was installed at the base of a lighted flagpole dedicated to those victims and the surrounding meadow is part of the city's memorial tree program dedicated to local residents who have perished. The park was dedicated on September 11, 2002.[32]

This 16-acre park includes a play area, a BMX course, a picnic area, a bocce ball court, horseshoe courts, a ball field, a dog park, rest rooms and water fountains (including a doggy water fountain). The play area has two big play structures, one for ages 2–5 and another for ages 5–12.[33][34]

David Glass House at Forest Home Farms

Museums and historic sites

• Forest Home Farms, National Register of Historic Places

Parks

Local bus service in the San Ramon Valley is provided primarily by County Connection (Central Contra Costa Transit Authority, or CCCTA). Ride-sharing services such as Uber and Lyft are also accessible within San Ramon.

The major freeway in the area is Interstate 680.

• Mark Appel, professional baseball pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies
• David Bingham, MLS player for San Jose Earthquakes[35][36]
• Tom Burnett, passenger on United Airlines Flight 93
• Colby Buzzell, author, blogger and former United States Army soldier
• Andrew Champion, vocalist for Screw 32, Hopelifter, End Of The World, Shadowboxer, Highwire Days, Dance Hall Crashers and Curse The Cannons
• Justin Eugene Evans, film director, cinematographer, screenwriter, producer, visual effects supervisor, inventor and college instructor
• Austin Hooper, professional football player
• Guy S. Houston, Former mayor of Dublin and member of the California State Assembly
• Marv Hubbard, retired professional American football player
• Scott Ivie, American racecar driver
• James Jones, professional football player
• Khalil Mack, professional football player
• Auston Matthews, NHL player for the Toronto Maple Leafs, first overall pick in the 2016 NHL draft
• Dennis Richmond, former news anchor for KTVU
• Tiffany Roberts, U.S. soccer player
• Tony Stewart, former professional American football player
• Maggie Steffens, gold medal winning water polo player
• John S. Watson, former CEO of Chevron
• Andrew Wiedeman, former professional soccer player [37]
• Barbara Willis, American ceramic artist

• List of cities and towns in California
• List of cities and towns in the San Francisco Bay Area

• Official website
• Chamber of Commerce