San Ramon, California, United States

🇺🇸 San Ramon is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States, located within the San Ramon Valley, and 34 miles east of San Francisco. San Ramon is the 4th largest city in Contra Costa County.

San Ramon is home to the headquarters of Chevron Corporation, Cooper Companies, 24 Hour Fitness, the West Coast headquarters of AT&T, GE Digital, as well as the San Ramon Medical Center. Major annual events include the Art and Wind Festival on Memorial Day weekend and the Run for Education in October.

In 2001, San Ramon was designated a Tree City USA.

History 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.

Amador named San Ramón (Spanish for 'Saint Raymond') 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. In 1850, the first permanent American settlers, Leo and Mary Jane Norris, purchased the north-west corner of Amador's Rancho San Ramon, near the intersection of present-day Bollinger Canyon Road and Crow Canyon Road.

The tracks for the San Ramon Branch Line of the Southern Pacific Railroad were laid down and completed in 1891. The line extended from San Ramon to an unincorporated area known as Avon, east of Martinez, where it connected to the Oakland/Stockton Line. On February 7, 1909, Southern Pacific extended the line south to Radum (near Pleasanton). In 1934, passenger service ended. By 1986, Contra Costa County had obtained the railroad right-of-way and the Iron Horse Regional Trail was established along its path.

Geography Mount Diablo flanks the city to the north-east and is prominently visible from almost all parts of the city. The Las Trampas Regional Wilderness borders San Ramon's extreme north-west, 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.

Economy 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 centre in Bishop Ranch. Toyota has a regional office and parts distribution centre 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.

ChevronTexaco's headquarters moved from San Francisco to San Ramon in 2001 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.

Largest employers According to the city's 2012 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the city include: 1 Chevron; 2 AT&T; 3 Bank of the West; 4 Robert Half International; 5 Accenture; 6 Pacific Gas & Electric; 7 San Ramon Regional Medical Center; 8 GE Digital; 9 Primed Management Consulting; 10 IBM.

Downtown In 2014, the city approved the project's design that called for an animated civic space featuring 350,000 square feet (33,000 m²) of quality shops, restaurants and a multi-screen movie theater. The city centre was designed by the award-winning international architectural firm Renzo Piano Building Workshop. The grand opening was on November 8, 2018.

Arts and culture The San Ramon Library and Dougherty Station Library branches of the Contra Costa County Library and Ramona Library are in San Ramon.

Forest Home Farms in San Ramon is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Parks and recreation San Ramon features 58 separate parks and an 18-hole golf course, the San Ramon Golf Club.

Memorial Park Originally, this city park, located on a hill overlooking Bollinger Canyon Road and San Ramon Valley Blvd., was to be named Alta Mesa Park. 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.

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, restrooms 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.

Education San Ramon's public schools are part of the San Ramon Valley Unified School District (SRVUSD), serving approximately 31,000 students. The city has 12 elementary schools and four middle schools. The high schools are California High School and Dougherty Valley High School. Some of the middle schools are Pine Valley Middle School, Gale Ranch, Windemere Ranch, and Iron Horse Middle School. The elementary schools are Walt Disney Elementary, Country Club, Montevideo, Neil Armstrong, Twin Creeks, Bollinger Canyon, Quail Run, Live Oak, Golden View, and Coyote Creek Elementary. An alternative K–12 school is operated by the SRVUSD to support home-schooled students: Venture Independent Study School, along with Del Amigo High School which offers credit recovery courses on a flexible schedule. The district has two additional high schools in Danville, including Monte Vista High School, and San Ramon Valley High School.

California High School was founded in 1973 and ranked 1049th best high school in the United States by Newsweek. Dougherty Valley High School was founded in 2007 and is ranked 42nd within California; it is ranked No. 158 in the national rankings and earned a gold medal.

Education: University • Diablo Valley College – San Ramon branch campus • University of San Francisco – San Ramon regional campus • UC Davis Graduate School of Management – the Bay Area working professional program

Bus and rail Local bus service in the San Ramon Valley is provided primarily by County Connection (Central Contra Costa Transit Authority, or CCCTA). The closest Bay Area Rapid Transit station is West Dublin/Pleasanton station, 6 miles (9.7 km) away from San Ramon.

Transport: Road The major freeway in the area is Interstate 680. No US highways or California state highways run through San Ramon.

Transport: Air San Ramon is located near Buchanan Field Airport and Livermore Municipal Airport, though Buchanan Field only flies to destinations in Greater Los Angeles, and Livermore has no regularly scheduled commercial service. The closest airport with regularly scheduled commercial service to domestic and international destinations is Oakland International Airport, though San Francisco International Airport handles the majority of international traffic to San Ramon and the rest of the Bay Area.