Fast Facts
- Castro Valley, California
- Long/Lat: 37.41 N/ 122.05 W
- Population: ~66,000
- Size: 17 sq mi
- Avg temp in April: 66 F / 18.9 C
- Median income: $145,000
- Ethnicity: 33% White/33% Asian/20% Latino
- Main industries: Healthcare (big hospital) / Bedroom community
If we’re going to learn about small countries in our A to Z Challenge which starts tomorrow, April 1st, then we need some context. I know we need to know Where, but we need a little bit more. There’s no value in learning names, dates and places by themselves, no Who, When, or Where without learning Why and What? Geography is useful in comparison. I thought that one logical way to provide that context was to start with my home town. Then, I can tell you how many Castro Valleys there are in … well, you’ll see.
Castro Valley is a small enclave nestled in the East Bay Hills of Northern California, not the coastal range, but the second range of rounded, golden hills. It’s halfway between Berkeley and Fremont, partway between the Bay and the Tri-Valley region, about equidistant from San Francisco and from San Jose. We’re that little town people pass on their way to somewhere else. However, it’s the 4th largest unincorporated town in California and in the Top 30 across the U.S. We don’t want to be incorporated. We’ve voted on it twice; we don’t want a mayor or a police force, thanks, very much, just a really good library.
This sleepy little town has had a few murders–the body in the coffee shop dumpster, the unsolved Jenny Lin Case, the murder for hire. I guess it’s got kind of a Midsomer Murders vibe. It’s also had more exciting controversies, such as the one over the infamous ugly “canoe” sign. They took it down about the year we moved in, tried to put it back, we said no The letters to the Castro Valley Forum were incensed!
We can claim three celebrities: Cliff Burton, drummer for Metallica; Juan-Toscano Anderson, a Warriors player who was also runner-up in the 2022 NBA Slam Dunk; and Rachel Maddow. We are a very diverse group.
When I moved in, I was warned that we had one of the highest numbers of churches per capita, and that it was super conservative. But here’s the thing–they’re all different denominations of churches. And we’ve had a lot of people move in starting with, well, when I moved in. We’ve had LGBT rallies and MAGA rallies. We have a little bit of everything, and that’s California for you. Plus, the best weather. Our annual temperature range is from 58 to 72 F, and we have a nice breeze that slides through the hills, cool in the summer and blows out the tulle fog in the winter. Shhh. Don’t tell everybody, or they’ll want to move here.
The original indigenous people were the Ohlone, who peacefully fished and gathered all over this side of the Bay. When the Spanish came (sorry Ohlones), they divvied up this area of windy green and gold pastures as Rancho San Lorenzo. It was purchased by the Castro family, wealthy Spanish aristocrats in the 1800s, and grandson Don Guillermo Castro expanded their holdings by marrying the daughter of landowner Luis Peralta. They laid claim to several thousand acres that sport a dozen towns sprawling across these hills down the eastern side of the South San Francisco Bay. Ultimately, gambling debts forced Don Castro to sell off the land to people named Hayward and Llewelling, surnames plastered now on nearby towns and major thoroughfares.
About that library? In 2008, our tiny little haven of refuge for readers with its 22 meager parking spaces had outlived its welcome. It took a lot of combined cooperation from country, state, and Congress to raise funds (because … not incorporated), but the new building was beautiful. The innovative librarians decided to inaugurate the event with a book pass. They lined us up along the 1.5 miles of boulevard–in Halloween costumes no less, since it was in late October–and we handed a hundred books down this long line. Most of the holdings had already been shipped in boxes, but this was the way to throw down. We don’t need incorporation; we just need books.
Beginning Wednesday, I’ll look at 26 other tiny enclaves around the world, and I’ll note their facts in terms of Castro Valleys. Stay tuned!
