Livermore, California, United States

🇺🇸 Livermore is a city in Alameda County, California, in the United States. Livermore is the most populous city in the Tri-Valley. Livermore is located on the eastern edge of California's San Francisco Bay Area.

Livermore was platted and registered on November 4, 1869, as a railroad town by William Mendenhall and named for Robert Livermore, Mendenhall’s friend and a local rancher who settled in the area in the 1840s. It is the home of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, for which the chemical element livermorium is named (and thus, placing the city's name in the periodic table). It is also the California site of Sandia National Laboratories, which is headquartered in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Its south side is home to local vineyards, and its downtown district is being redeveloped.

The United States Census Bureau defines an urban area of Tri-Valley-area cities, with Livermore as the principal city: the Livermore–Pleasanton–Dublin, CA urban area the 167th largest in the United States.

History The valley and upland areas, where contemporary Livermore is located, was home to Chochenyo speaking peoples. As a group, these people are considered Ohlone Costonoan with distinct cultural affiliation in contrast to and closely bordering the Bay Miwok to the north and the Valley Yokuts to the east. Four tribelets, the Yulien, Ssaoam, Ssouyn, and the Pelnen occupied the valley floor with territory extending into the hills. Semi-permanent villages were located near water drainages at the valley floor within the current urban limits of Livermore with seasonal camps in the surrounding uplands.

1700s A Spanish expedition led by Pedro Fages skirted the western edge of Livermore Valley in 1772. Shortly afterwards, the Spanish Mission of San Jose was founded in 1797 on the slopes of what is modern day Fremont. Mission San Jose viewed the people and land stretching to the east as under their control. Livermore Valley was called the Valley of San Jose by the Friars and actively recruited native peoples of the valley into the mission system. In contrast, the valley was also used as a staging area for raids on Mission San Jose by neighboring tribes in this early period and beyond.: 6 

1800s During the first seven years of the 1800s, five hundred and two individuals were baptized at Mission San Jose from the four tribelets in the Livermore Valley. In this time, Spanish military conducted raids throughout the East Bay using the valley as a natural corridor for movement. Deaths from measles outbreaks were recorded in Mission San Jose in 1806 which forced recruiting beyond the Livermore Valley and into the Altamont range. The Livermore-Amador Valley from 1800 to about 1837 was primarily used as grazing land for the Mission San Jose's growing herds of cattle, sheep and horses. The valley helped San Jose Mission emerge as one of the more wealthy Spanish enclaves. As a result of the secularization of the mission system, in 1839, two large ranchos were created that encompassed the Livermore Valley; Rancho Las Positas and Rancho Valle de San Jose. Many Native groups left the San Jose Mission during this period and reestablished themselves in communities in the East Bay, including the Livermore Valley.

Rancho Las Positas In 1822, Robert Livermore (1799-1858) was a British citizen who had jumped from a British merchant sailing ship stopping in Monterey, California. In 1839, the 48,000-acre (19,000 ha) Rancho Las Positas grant, which includes most of Livermore, was made to ranchers Robert Livermore and Jose Noriega. Most land grants were given with little or no cost to the recipients.

In the early 1840s Livermore moved his family from the Sunol Valley to the Rancho Las Positas grant, as the second non-native family to settle in the Livermore valley area. In 1847, after the Americans took control of California and gold was discovered in 1848, he started making money by selling California longhorn cattle to the thousands of hungry California Gold Rush miners who soon arrived. The non-Indian population skyrocketed, and cattle were suddenly worth much more than the $1.00-$3.00 their hides could bring. Livermore's ranch became a popular "first day" stopping point for prospectors and businessmen leaving San Francisco or San Jose and headed for Sacramento and the Mother Lode gold country. Most horse traffic went by way of Altamont Pass just east of Livermore. Robert Livermore was a very accommodating host and welcomed nearly all that stopped by with lodging and meals.

From 1851 to 1853, the Livermore Ranch post office, operated in Robert Livermore's home. On Jan. 15, 1869, the official U.S. post office in Livermore opened. It was called Nottingham in the mistaken belief that Robert Livermore had been born in Nottingham, England. (He was actually born in Springfield, Essex, England.) On 7 July 1870, the post office's name was changed to Livermore.

In 1858, Robert Livermore died and was buried at Mission San Jose before the establishment of the town that bears his name.

Founding of Livermore The first significant settlement in the valley was Laddsville, a small settlement of about 75 that had grown up around the hotel established by Alponso Ladd in 1864 on what is now Junction Avenue. Livermore’s founder, William Mendenhall, was another rancher who had set up in the Livermore valley. In 1869, he set aside 100 acres of his land for a townsite, creating a new town which he named Livermore, after his friend Robert Livermore. He had first met Livermore while marching through the valley with John C. Fremont's California Battalion in 1846 as they were recruited to occupy the surrendering Californio towns captured by the U.S. Navy's Pacific Squadron. He also donated 20 acres of this land to the Western Pacific Railroad, which in September 1869 built rail nearby, placing a stop and a station on the land William Mendenhall had donated. The railroad greatly accelerated Livermore's growth, and the town was officially incorporated by the state as a city on April 1, 1876.

Today, the tracks passing through town are owned by the Union Pacific Railroad, although they are primarily the tracks of the “second" Western Pacific Railroad that was founded in 1903 and absorbed into the UP in 1983. The original railroad tracks went from Alameda Terminal to Sacramento over the nearby Altamont Pass in the east and Niles Canyon on the west.

Early Livermore Private grade schools were operating in Livermore from the 1860s on. The Livermore Collegiate Institute was founded in 1870, and Union High School (later called Livermore High School) graduated its first class of students in 1896. Petroleum was discovered near Livermore and become a valuable asset. Extensive coal deposits were mined near Corral Hollow by the Livermore Coal Company. In September 1871 Laddsville mostly burned down, and the people rebuilt their homes and businesses nearer the railroad in what is now downtown Livermore. Until 1875 the townspeople enjoyed bull fights in a small bullring on many Sundays, and on other occasions a captured grizzly bear might be pitted against a longhorn bull. Apparently, roping a grizzly was thought then to be a great sport. By 1876 the town had grown and a fire company, churches, a bank, and a library were built. Livermore was officially incorporated by the state as a city on April 1, 1876.

During Livermore's early years, it was well known for large hotels that graced the downtown street corners, before new buildings replaced them. One example is the Washington Hotel in the centre of town, has now become a local donut shop called the Donut Wheel. Livermore after the 1880s is also notable for the Wente Vineyards, Concannon Vineyard, Cresta Blanca Winery and many other wineries. Since it has a Mediterranean climate, gravelly soil, warm days and cool nights, it was a good location to grow wine grapes. By 1880 the extensive winter wheat and hay crop lands were being replaced by vineyards. Extensive chromite deposits were found and exploited for a time. In 1885, the Remillard Brick Company was producing an extensive line of bricks and employing over 100 men. A telephone line connected Livermore to Arroyo Valley by 1886, and electric lights were introduced by 1889. By 1890 Livermore had over 20 miles (32 km) of streets. Livermore originally had a Boot Hill called the Old Knoll Cemetery.

1900s During the late 19th century and early 20th century, the Livermore Valley attracted the creation of sanitariums due to the warm climate. From 1894 to 1960, the Livermore Sanitarium was in operation for the treatment of alcoholism and mental disorders; and from 1918 to around 1960, the Arroyo del Valle Sanitarium was in operation in the town for the treatment of tuberculosis.

In 1909, the Livermore Carnegie Library and Park opened after taking advantage of a Carnegie library grant. As the city grew and larger libraries were needed, other libraries were built, and the original site was converted into a historic centre and park.

In 1942, the U.S. government bought 692 acres (280 ha) of ranch land, bounded by Vasco and Greenville roads and East Avenue, and built the Livermore Naval Air Station. The primary mission of the base was to train Navy pilots. This facility operated until it was decommissioned in 1946 after the end of World War II. On 5 January 1951, the Bureau of Yards and Docks, U.S. Navy, formally transferred the former NAS Livermore in its entirety to the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) for use by the University of California's Radiation Laboratory. In 1952, the government established Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), named after physicist Ernest O. Lawrence, as the site of a second laboratory for the study of nuclear energy like the research being done at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The laboratory was run by the University of California. Edward Teller was a co-founder of LLNL and was both its director and associate director for many years. In 1956, the California campus of Sandia National Laboratories opened across East Avenue from LLNL. Both LLNL and Sandia are technically on U.S. government property just outside the city's jurisdiction limits, but with employment at LLNL at about 6,800 and Sandia/California at about 1,150 they are Livermore's largest employers.

Geography The Livermore Valley is located within the Diablo Range, one of several parts of the California Coast Ranges that surround the San Francisco Bay Area. The Livermore Valley has an east–west orientation with mountain passes on the west and east connecting the Bay Area and the Central Valley. The passes are used by railroads and highways to connect the two regions. Livermore Valley is about 15 miles (24 km) long (east to west) and 10 miles (16 km) wide (north to south).

Watercourses draining the city of Livermore include Arroyo Mocho, Arroyo Valle, Arroyo Seco and Arroyo Las Positas. The principal aquifer underlying the city is the Mocho Subbasin. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 25.2 square miles (65 km²), over 99% of it land. Several local seismic areas of activity lie near the city, including the Greenville Fault, Tesla Fault and the Livermore Fault.

The soil is primarily gravel with excellent drainage. The gravel is used in several gravel extraction sites outside the city. The gravelly soil and Mediterranean climate increases the flavor concentration in the grapes planted in the soil.

Laboratories The Livermore area is the home of two US Department of Energy National Laboratories. The laboratories are known worldwide, and attract significant attention both for their scientific research and for their major roles in developing the United States nuclear arsenal.

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is the largest employer in Livermore. LLNL's defining responsibility is to "ensure the safety, security and reliability of the nation’s nuclear deterrent", but it also does a wide variety of other research, including co-discovering livermorium.

Livermore is also the California site of Sandia National Laboratories, the second largest employer in Livermore. It also describes itself as being focused on "national security". It is managed and operated by a subsidiary of Honeywell International.

i-GATE In 2010, the two National Laboratories, along with other stakeholders, including the University of California, Berkeley, UC Davis, and regional cities, partnered to create the i-GATE (Innovation for Green Advanced Transportation Excellence) National Energy Systems Technology (NEST) Incubator, part of the Central Valley. The 15,000-square-foot (1,400 m²) i-GATE NEST campus was created to stimulate large-scale, high-tech business development drawn by the two labs. Initial focus of the campus was solar energy, fuel cells, biofuels, LED lighting, and other related technologies. i-GATE shares its facilities with the hackerspace Robot Garden, which provides public access on weekends.

Wine One of California's oldest wine regions, the Livermore Valley American Viticultural Area (AVA) played a pivotal role in shaping California's wine industry. In the 1840s, California pioneers looking for outstanding vineyard sites began planting grapes in the region. Robert Livermore planted the first commercial vines in the 1840s. After California joined the union as the 31st state in 1850, pioneer winemakers C. H. Wente, a first-generation immigrant from Germany (founder of Wente Vineyards), James Concannon, a first generation Irishman (founder of Concannon Vineyard), and Charles Wetmore, a Portland, Maine-born pioneer of California (founder of Cresta Blanca Winery), recognised the area's winegrowing potential and bought land, planted grapes and founded their wineries in the 1880s.

Charles Wetmore went to France in 1878 when he was appointed a delegate for the California Viticultural Association to the Paris Exposition. Wetmore was able in 1882 to obtain Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc, and Muscat de Bordelais cuttings from one of the most prestigious vineyards in France, Chateau Yquem. These superior clones helped revitalize the California wine industry. In 1889 Wetmore won the grand prize for his first pressing (1884) in the 1889 Paris Exposition. Wetmore shared these cuttings with other growers, including C. H. Wente, who used the Chateau Yquem grape cuttings to eventually produce their Chateau Wente wine.

Gillig Corporation, a large manufacturer of buses, moved its factory to Livermore in May 2017 and, at the time of the move, the company estimated its employment at the new facility to be 800 initially and 850 after the filling of then-open positions.

Livermore's largest employers, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratory are United States Department of Energy National Laboratories, located inside the city limits since 2011, and are included in the above table.

Architectural Glass and Aluminum moved its headquarters to Livermore in 2013, with 80 employees. They expanded and changed to 100% employee ownership in 2015.

Economy: Top employers According to the City's 2022 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, the top employers in Livermore are: 1 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory; 2 Sandia National Laboratories; 3 Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District; 4 Lam Research; 5 Form Factor; 6 Kaiser Permanente; 7 Gillig Corporation; 8 US Foodservice; 9 Topcon Positioning Systems; 10 Las Positas College.

Arts and culture Livermore's culture retains some vestiges of the farming, winegrowing and ranching traditions that have existed in the valley since the time of Robert Livermore, but now largely reflects a suburban population. Since 1918, Livermore has each June hosted the Livermore Rodeo, called the "World's Fastest Rodeo", that claims it has more riders per hour than any other event of its type. There are several wine-tasting tours of the many Livermore area wineries that occur periodically throughout the summer. This culture was documented in the photoessay Suburbia in 1973 by then-native photographer Bill Owens, with the photos shown in numerous exhibits.

Livermore has a strong blue-collar element, as well as many professionals who work at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and other work sites in the high tech industries within the Bay Area. Recent housing development has included the addition of hundreds of million-dollar homes set among the southside's vineyards, as well as a multimillion-dollar renovation of the downtown area. Renovations included office buildings, the Livermore Cinemas, the Bankhead Theatre, and a multistory parking structure. The Livermore Civic Center includes a state-of-the-art library that opened in 2004, with a front mosaic by Maria Alquilar.

One of the largest districts in Livermore is Springtown, the north-east area of the city north of Interstate 580. Originally conceived as a retirement community in the early 1960s, Springtown has slowly transformed into a community of young families and commuters from the greater Bay Area. The North Livermore district is north of the Union Pacific Railroad that cuts through downtown. The South Livermore district, including areas of unincorporated land, has over 40 wineries.

The first Camp Wonder, a summer camp for children with special medical needs, was opened in Livermore in 2001. In 2019, a local LGBT organization, Livermore Pride, was founded. On its leadership team is Brittni Kiick, the city’s vice mayor and first openly LGBTQ+ councilmember. Livermore was one of 10 cities to be awarded an All-America City Award during the annual National Civic League ceremony for 2021. The theme of the 2021 awards was "Building Equitable and Resilient Communities".

World's longest-lasting light bulb The city is noted for one world record. A 120+ year old 4-watt light bulb, called the Centennial Light, housed in the Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department main station, is still burning. Originally installed by Augustus Donner Wilson, the bulb has been maintained through successive generations until his great-great granddaughter Alissa Wilson. It glows dimly, but still functions as a light bulb. The Guinness Book of World Records, Ripley's Believe It or Not!, and General Electric have concluded that the bulb has been burning continuously since 1901 with the exception of power failures and the three times it was disconnected for moves to new stations. The light bulb was manufactured by the Shelby Electric Company and was hand blown with a carbon filament.

Parks and recreation The Livermore Area Recreation and Park District (LARPD) is a special independent park district that was created by the vote of the public in 1947 and runs the parks and other facilities in the city of Livermore and most of the unincorporated areas of eastern Alameda County. LARPD has its own, five-person board of directors that is elected by the citizens to staggered four-year terms.

As of 2013, LARPD operates 42 facilities over 1,842 acres (745 ha), with 1,432 acres (580 ha) open space. It runs an extensive selection of classes on a wide variety of subjects. The 2012-2013 operating budget of LARPD was $16,393,564 plus a capital budget of $3,870,971. LARPD serves an area that encompasses about 115,000 people.

The extensive gravel deposits around Livermore have led to extensive gravel extraction that is still ongoing. Shadow Cliffs Park along Stanley Boulevard west of Livermore is a popular 266-acre (108 ha) park that includes an 80-acre (32 ha) lake in an old Kaiser Industries gravel pit and is used extensively today for swimming, boating, and fishing.

Government Livermore is run by a council–manager government with a four-member City Council, a Mayor, and a City Manager chosen by the city council. The City Manager is “hired” by the City Council, and can, in principle, be fired by them. Twice a month, the City Council hears citizen input and relays this information to the City Manager, who actually runs the city from day to day.

The city council members are elected every 4 years, with one council member being elected to represent one of the 4 districts. The mayor is elected at large every 2 years, and the city manager is chosen by the city council every 5 years.

The mayor of Livermore is John Marchand, who was elected in 2022 and previously served as mayor from 2011 to 2020. The four councilmembers are Evan Branning, (District 1), Ben Barrientos (District 2), Brittni Kiick (the district 3), and Bob Carling (District 4). The vice mayor is a member of the council, Brittni Klick. The City Manager is Marianna Marysheva, and the City Attorney is Jason Alcala.

In the California State Legislature, Livermore is in the 7th Senate District, represented by Democrat Steve Glazer, and in the 16th Assembly District, represented by Democrat Rebecca Bauer-Kahan.

In the United States House of Representatives, Livermore is in California's 14th congressional district, represented by Democrat Eric Swalwell

Unions and bargaining units representing the 451 Livermore City include the Livermore Management Group, the Association of Livermore Employees (ALE), the Police Management, the Police Officers Association, and the Livermore-Pleasanton Firefighters (IAFF).

General Plan Update: ** Imagine Livermore 2045** In September 2021, the City of Livermore began its General Plan update process. Also known as Imagine Livermore 2045, this is a multi-year update to the General Plan that includes public outreach and a General Plan Advisory Committee appointed by City Council.

Education The public schools in Livermore are part of the Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District (LVJUSD). The district has 11 elementary (K-5 and K-8) schools, three middle schools (grades 6-8), two comprehensive high schools, and three alternative high schools.

LVJUSD’s Board of Education has five members, who are elected to alternating four year terms by the voters of the community. Each December, the board reorganizes itself by selecting a board president and clerk of the board.

The Hertz Foundation for scholarships is based in Livermore.

Charter schools shutdown There were two charter schools in Livermore, one K-8 and one high school, both operated by the Tri-Valley Learning Corporation, a local 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization formed by the parents and teachers who founded the two charter schools. • Livermore Valley Charter School (LVCS): a K-8 public school • Livermore Valley Charter Preparatory (LVCP): a high school, opened in fall of 2010

Both schools were effectively shut down by the beginning of the 2018 school year amidst accusations of embezzlement, exchange student fraud, and the loss of their UC accreditation. The displaced students were absorbed by the new Lawernce Elementary school and Las Positas Community College Middle College.

Media Radio station KKIQ is licensed in Livermore and broadcasts in the Tri-Valley area.

The Independent is a local newspaper founded in September 1963. It is located in the Bank of Italy Building.

Transport Interstate 580 is Livermore's primary east–west freeway. I-580 passes the outskirts of Livermore before it heads east through the Altamont Pass to the Central Valley and Interstate 5. I-580 and I-5 are the main route of San Francisco Bay Area to Los Angeles truck shipping traffic. Interstate 680 lies about 10 miles (16 km) west of Livermore. Highway 84 heads south-west from I-580 to Fremont. Vasco Road, an unnumbered highway that is maintained by Alameda and Contra Costa counties, connects Livermore to Brentwood and the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta area.

Livermore Municipal Airport (LVK) is located 3 miles (5 km) north-west of Livermore and is a division of the Public Works Department; it is owned and operated by the City of Livermore. It is the main airport in the Tri-Valley area. Approximately 600 aircraft are based on Livermore Airport, which has over 150,000 annual aircraft landings and take-offs each year. The airport serves private, business, and corporate tenants and customers and covers about 650 acres (260 ha). The main lighted runway is 5,250 feet (1,600 m) long. The main terminal building covers 2,400 square feet (220 m²). The airfield is accessible 24 hours a day and is attended by city employees during the hours listed under "Airport Services". The staffed air traffic control tower is operated by Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) employees daily from 7:00 A.M. until 9:00 P.M. There is an open airshow which is held annually on the first Saturday of October from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM showing vintage World War II aircraft and other displays.

The WHEELS bus system operates in Livermore, Pleasanton, Dublin, and the surrounding unincorporated areas of Alameda County. It has connections to Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) stations in Dublin and Pleasanton.

Livermore has two stations for the Altamont Corridor Express (ACE), a commuter train which runs from Stockton to the San Jose area. One station is at Vasco Road, and the other is in downtown Livermore at its Transit Center. The Transit Center has a free multistory parking garage and connections to the WHEELS bus system.

There was a petition drive to bring the Bay Area Rapid Transit system to Livermore led by a group founded by Linda Jeffery Sailors, the former mayor of Dublin who was successful in extending BART to Dublin/Pleasanton (the closest station to Livermore at that time). In May 2018, the BART board of directors voted against extending BART to Livermore. As a result, the Tri-Valley-San Joaquin Valley Regional Rail Authority was formed to establish a rail connection between the existing BART system and the Altamont Corridor Express. The service, known as Valley Link, intends to build new rail stations at Isabel Avenue and Greenville Road for service.

Police The Livermore Police Department (LPD) was established in 1876, at that time the only law enforcement agency in the San Francisco Bay Area besides the San Francisco Police Department. The LPD has 135 members including 90 sworn officers and 45 non-sworn full-time personnel who operate on a $25 million budget each year.

Fire department The Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department provides fire and advanced life support services to the cities of Livermore and Pleasanton. It serves an estimated population of 150,000 (78,000 in Livermore, and 71,000 in Pleasanton) over 44 square miles (114 km²) (23 square miles (60 km²) in Livermore, and 21 square miles (54 km²) in Pleasanton) with an operating budget of $28 million. In 2008 the LPFD responded to approximately 11,000 calls for service. The International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) Local 1974 represents its 112 members.