Pleasanton

History

The Amador-Livermore Valley, where Pleasanton is located, was home to tribes in the Ohlone language group, mainly speaking Chochenyo. As of the 1770s seven tribes were present in the valley: the Causen, Pelnen, Seunen, Ssaoan, Ssouyen, Taunan, and Yulien. Native people from the valley began to join Mission Santa Clara, founded in 1777, in small numbers by the 1790s. near the site of a Native American ranchera, around the Francisco Solano Alviso Adobe called El Alisal (The Sycamores), one of the earliest houses built in the valley in 1844. It is still standing and serves as the centerpiece of the Alviso Adobe Community Park. Alisal, nicknamed "The Most Desperate Town in the West", was one of the settlements located along La Vereda del Monte that was a haunt and refuge of bandits and desperados in the era following the beginning of the California Gold Rush. Main Street shootouts were not uncommon. Banditos such as Claudio Feliz and Joaquin Murrieta ambushed prospectors on their way back from the gold rush fields and then sought refuge in Alisal. In the 1860s Procopio, Narciso Bojorques and others took refuge there. Alisal Elementary School reflects the city's original name. The Rancho Valle de San José grant had been given to Agustín and Juan Pablo Bernal and their brothers-in-law Antonio Suñol and Antonio Maria Pico. In 1917, Pleasanton was the backdrop for the film Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, starring Mary Pickford. The town was once home to Phoebe Apperson Hearst, who lived in a 50-room mansion on a estate, now the site of Castlewood Country Club. Radum Plant was a sand and gravel plant opened in 1931 by Henry J. Kaiser Co., at Radum train station, one mile east of Pleasanton. After World War II, Pleasanton changed from being primarily focused on farming and…

Geography

Pleasanton is adjacent to Hayward, Livermore, and Dublin. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and (0.61%) is water. On the east side of town on Stanley Blvd. near the Livermore border is Shadow Cliffs Regional Park, a lake that permits swimming, fishing, and boating. On the west side is the Pleasanton Ridge with two parks, Pleasanton Ridge and Augustin Bernal Park. Much of Pleasanton is drained by the Arroyo Valle and Arroyo Mocho watercourses. Pleasanton lies along the route of the historic First transcontinental railroad. Pleasanton features a Mediterranean climate, featuring hot, dry summers and mild to cool winters with occasional rainfall (Köppen climate classification Csa). The highest recorded temperature was in 1950. The lowest recorded temperature was in 1990. | source 2 = Weather Atlas | date = August 2010 | source = | collapsed = y }}

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• California/Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay

  Aphelocoma californica (Vigors, 1839) · Aves
  25,314
• House Finch

  Haemorhous mexicanus (P.L.Statius Müller, 1776) · Aves
  24,260
• Anna's Hummingbird

  Calypte anna (R.Lesson, 1829) · Aves
  23,796
• Black Phoebe

  Sayornis nigricans (Swainson, 1827) · Aves
  22,133
• Turkey Vulture

  Cathartes aura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  21,155
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  20,043
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  19,297
• California Towhee

  Melozone crissalis (Vigors, 1839) · Aves
  18,496