Livermore, California

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The city of Livermore highlighted within Alameda County

Livermore is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. The population was 80,723 as of January 1, 2005.^[1]

Traditionally, Livermore is considered the easternmost city in the San Francisco Bay Area before entrance to the Central Valley.

It was founded by William Mendenhall and named after Robert Livermore, his friend and a local rancher that settled in the area in the 1830s.

1 Geography
2 History and Culture
- 2.1 History
- 2.2 Culture
3 Demographics
4 World's Longest Lasting Lightbulb
5 Industry
- 5.1 Laboratories
- 5.2 Wine
6 Education
7 Transportation
8 Sister Cities
9 Notable People From Livermore
10 References
11 External links

[edit] Geography

Livermore is located at 37°41′8″N, 121°45′51″W (37.685496, -121.764096)^GR1.

It is situated in a valley in between the city of Pleasanton and the Altamont hills and the weather in the city reflects this geography. Dry heat often gets trapped on the valley floor during the summer months and temperature in Livermore and neighboring inland cities are on average higher than those closer to the San Francisco Bay. Livermore's elevation is 480 ft. above sea level.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 62.0 km² (23.9 mi²), all land.

[edit] History and Culture

[edit] History

The Livermore area was home to the Ohlone (or Costanoan) Indians before the arrival of the Spanish in the 18th century; it was incorporated under the Roman Catholic Mission San Jose in 1796. The Livermore Amador Valley was primarily grazing land for Mission San Jose's thousands of cattle and sheep until secularization of California missions from 1834 to 1837 opened great amounts of land throughout California for Mexican land grants. The fourth and second largest of the valley's land grants was the Rancho Las Positas grant, made to rancher Robert Livermore (a naturalized Mexican citizen of English birth) and Jose Noriega in 1839. Livermore was as much interested in viticulture and horticulture as he was in cattle and horses; in 1846 he was the first in this area to plant both a vineyard and an orchard of pears and olives. The first building on the ranch was an adobe on Las Positas Creek, and in 1849 a two-story "Around the Horn" house was added; it was the first wooden building in the valley.

After the discovery of gold in California, Livermore became a popular stopping place for prospectors headed for the Mother Lode, as it was one day's journey by horse or stagecoach from San Jose.

Robert Livermore died in 1858 before the establishment of the town that bears his name. His ranch included much of the present-day city. The city itself was established in 1869 by William Mendenhall, who had met Robert Livermore while marching through the valley with Fremont's California Battalion. Livermore was officially incorporated on April 15, 1876.

[edit] Culture

The Livermore Hindu Temple

Livermore's culture retains some vestiges of the farming and ranching traditions that have existed in the valley since the time of Robert Livermore, but now largely reflects the values of its suburban population. Livermore has a strong blue-collar element, as well as many professionals who work at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and various hi-tech industries within the Bay Area. The city has recently gone much more upscale with the addition of several hundred million dollar homes set amongst the southside's vineyards as well as a multi-million dollar renovation of the downtown area, which includes a new motion picture theater, as well as a performing arts theater, a parking structure, and office buildings. The new construction is expected to be finished in early 2007.

Also, according to the latest U.S. Census information, Livermore is the third wealthiest midsize city in the nation. In 2005, the median household income in Livermore was $96,632, which ranked it the third highest income midsize city (between 65,000 and 249,999 people) just behind number two Newport Beach, CA ($97,428) and Livermore's western neighbor, Pleasanton, CA ($101,022),1

Livermore hosts the Livermore Rodeo (since 1918), the "Worlds Fastest Rodeo," that claims it has more riders per hour than any other. It also has the Livermore-Amador Symphony, Del Valle Fine Arts (a producer of chamber music concerts), and, in the valley at large, the Valley Choral Society, Livermore Valley Opera, and Valley Dance Theatre.

It boasts a new, state-of-the-art library that opened in 2004 and a busy and growing Livermore Airport.

Livermore has a Hindu temple which is often visited by the large Indian population of the bay area.

Many of the Livermore youth find entertainment at The Vine, the local cinema, Granada Bowl, and shops in the downtown area, such as Panama Bay coffee and Donut Wheel.

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 73,345 people, 26,123 households, and 19,513 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,183.9/km² (3,065.8/mi²). There were 26,610 housing units at an average density of 429.5/km² (1,112.3/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 81.90% White, 1.57% African American, 0.61% Native American, 5.80% Asian, 0.28% Pacific Islander, 5.34% from other races, and 4.51% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 14.37% of the population.

There were 26,123 households out of which 40.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.1% were married couples living together, 9.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.3% were non-families. 18.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 5.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.80 and the average family size was 3.20.

In the city the population was spread out with 28.1% under the age of 18, 7.1% from 18 to 24, 35.1% from 25 to 44, 22.1% from 45 to 64, and 7.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 100.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.4 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $75,322, and the median income for a family was $82,421. Males had a median income of $59,703 versus $38,389 for females. The per capita income for the city was $31,062. About 3.8% of families and 5.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.0% of those under age 18 and 1.5% of those age 65 or over.

In the five years since the census, the population has increased to 87,054. Increases also took place in the number of housing units (30,612), median household income ($96,632), and median family income ($108,175). The median home price was reported to be $662,100. (US Census, American Community Survey 2005)

[edit] World's Longest Lasting Lightbulb

The town is noted for one amazing record, a 105+ year old 4-watt lightbulb housed by the Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department is still burning bright. In truth, its "brightness" may be a matter of debate; It glows dimly, but definitely still functions as a lightbulb. 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 three times for moving to another station. The lightbulb was manufactured by the Shelby Electric Company and was hand blown with a carbon filament.

According to Mrs. Zylpha Bernal Beck (born in 1884), the bulb was donated to the Fire Department by her father, Dennis Bernal in 1901. Mr. Bernal owned the Livermore Power and Water Company and donated the bulb when he sold the company. This story has been supported by several firefighter volunteers of that era.

It originally hung in a garage in downtown Livermore that was used by both the fire and police departments. It was later moved to a newly constructed City Hall that housed both departments. About twenty years later, it was moved to Fire Station #1. It has also been moved between fire stations in 1976 and 1996.

There is a widespread interest in the lightbulb, visitors have come to see it from every state in the Union, and from many foreign countries. The "centennial bulb" has its own webcam keeping a watchful eye on the everpresent dim glow: http://www.centennialbulb.org/cam.htm

Successive fire chiefs have regarded it as their talisman and a good luck charm. Rumour has it that previous chiefs had standing orders that if any firefighter even accidentally broke the light, that person would be fired.

[edit] Industry

Aerial view of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

[edit] Laboratories

Livermore is the home of two national laboratories. The largest employer in Livermore is the Department of Energy's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) which is operated by the University of California. There is also the California site of the Sandia National Laboratories, which is the 3rd largest employer in the city.

[edit] Wine

See main article at Livermore Valley.

[edit] Education

Livermore High School, the Cowboys, was established in 1891 and became the first union high school in the state of California. Granada High School, the Matadors, is the second public high school in Livermore. Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District (LVJUSD) also offers a third high school, Vineyard High, which is a school for independent study where the student meets once a week with one teacher for all his/her subjects.

Livermore is home to Las Positas College, which along with Chabot College, its sister college in Hayward, California, is part of the California Community College system.

[edit] Transportation

Livermore's general aviation needs are served by Livermore Municipal Airport. For Commercial Flights one must go to San Francisco International Airport, Oakland International Airport, or San José International Airport.

Access to Bay Area Rapid Transit is available at the Dublin-Pleasanton Station.

One may also use the WHEELS bus system to get around Livermore and to the neighboring cities of Pleasanton and Dublin, California.

There is a petition drive to bring the BART system to Livermore. The group that started the petition was founded by the former mayor of Dublin, Linda Jeffery Sailors, who was successful in bringing BART to Dublin/Pleasanton.^[2]