Castro Valley, California

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Coordinates: 37°42′14″N, 122°4′46″W
Castro Valley, California
Castro Valley Boulevard
Location of Castro Valley within Alameda County, California.
Country	United States
State	California
County	Alameda
Mayor	N/A (Alameda County Board of Supervisors)
Area
- City	38.2 km² (14.8 sq mi)
- Land	37.4 km² (14.4 sq mi)
- Water	0.8 km² (0.3 sq mi)
Population
- City (2000 Census)	57,262
Time zone	PST (UTC-8)
- Summer (DST)	PDT (UTC-7)

Castro Valley is a census-designated place (CDP) in Alameda County, California, United States. As of the 2000 census, it is the fifth most populous unincorporated area in California, and the twenty-third in the United States.

Castro Valley has some of the finest Eichler houses left in the San Francisco Bay Area.

1 History
2 Geography
3 Transportation
4 Demographics
5 Law and government
6 Education
7 Notable natives
8 References
9 External links

[edit] History

Before the arrival of European settlers the area was settled by the Chocheño (also Chochenyo or Chocenyo) subdivision of the Ohlone Native Americans.

With the arrival of Europeans, Castro Valley was part of the land granted to Mission San Jose in 1797. The area Castro Valley now occupies was part of the extensive colony of New Spain in what was the state of Alta California.

Castro Valley is named after Don Guillermo Castro, who was a soldier in the Mexican army and a rancher. Castro Valley was part of the original 28,000 acre land grant given to Castro, called Rancho San Lorenzo. This land grant included Hayward, San Lorenzo, and Castro Valley, including Crow Canyon, Cull Canyon, and Palomares Canyon. Castro had a gambling habit and had to sell off portions of his land to pay gambling debts. The last of his holding was sold in a sheriff's sale in 1864 to Faxon Dean Atherton for $400,000.

Atherton (whom the city of Atherton is named after) in turn began selling off his portion in smaller parcels. Two gentlemen named Cull (the namesake of Cull Canyon) and Luce bought some 2,400 acres and began running a steam-operated saw mill in Redwood Canyon. The Jensen brothers also bought land from Atherton in 1867.

During the 1940s and 1950s, Castro Valley was known for its chicken ranches. Later it developed into a bedroom community, where workers live and commute to their jobs in the surrounding communities.

[edit] Geography

Location of Castro Valley, California

Castro Valley is located at 37°42′14″N, 122°4′46″W (37.703796, -122.079384)^GR1. Lake Chabot lies at the north of Castro Valley. Directly to the west is San Leandro. Hayward is to the south. To the east, the closest cities are San Ramon, Dublin and Pleasanton.

Interstate 580 near Castro Valley.

[edit] Transportation

Interstate 580, which approaches from the east, makes a turn northward at Castro Valley. Interstate 238, which originates in Castro Valley, connects I-580 to Interstate 880. In addition to being served by those two freeways, Castro Valley is served with public transportation by bus system AC Transit, and rapid transit system BART with a station.

Palomares Hills (on the east side of Castro Valley) looking south toward Palomares Canyon.

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 57,292 people, 21,606 households, and 15,016 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 1,533.0/km² (3,971.6/mi²). There were 22,003 housing units at an average density of 588.7/km² (1,525.3/mi²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 70.84% White, 5.14% Black or African American, 0.59% Native American, 13.54% Asian, 0.44% Pacific Islander, 4.11% from other races, and 5.34% from two or more races. 12.19% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 21,606 households out of which 32.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.0% were married couples living together, 11.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.5% were non-families. 23.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.58 and the average family size was 3.05.

In the CDP the population was spread out with 23.7% under the age of 18, 6.8% from 18 to 24, 29.8% from 25 to 44, 25.0% from 45 to 64, and 14.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 94.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.0 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $64,874, and the median income for a family was $73,060. Males had a median income of $51,068 versus $38,907 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $30,454. About 2.7% of families and 4.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.3% of those under age 18 and 4.5% of those age 65 or over.

[edit] Law and government

Being unincorporated, it is governed by the county and does not have any city services. To date, all efforts to incorporate Castro Valley have been voted down by its residents.

[edit] Education

Castro Valley is served by the Castro Valley Unified School District. The district has one main high school, called Castro Valley High School with approximately 2700 students, and an alternative high school with approximately 200. It also has two middle schools and nine elementary schools, as well as an adult school. Overall, the district contains almost 9,000 students.

[edit] Notable natives

Castro Valley is the birthplace of the late Metallica bassist Cliff Burton, actor Daniel Selby, liberal radio host Rachel Maddow, Former major league baseball players Ed Sprague and Kevin Maas, actress Jennifer Roszell, Full Clip composer Scott Goldberg, and Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Jack Del Rio. It is also the hometown of Val Diamond, of Beach Blanket Babylon fame, and visual effects artist Randy Cook, who shared an oscar for the recent Lord of the Rings movies.