Walnut Creek, California: an East Bay town with easy commute to San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley. Lies in a valley overlooked by Mount Diablo.
Walnut Creek has its Bart station. It lies off the intesection of CA-24, which brunches off US-580 in Oakland, off Bay Bridge, and US-680 which goes along east side of San Francisco Bay Area. It takes thirty minutes to get to Embarcadero station in San Francisco by Bart, and about the same time by car. Car commute time depends on the tunnel and the bridge. It takes about twenty five minutes to get from Walnut Creek to Berkeley campus by car.
Climate in Walnut Creek is slightly different from the coast. It is about ten degrees warmer in summer and ten degrees colder in winter then San Francisco. Walnut Creek has easy access to several regional parks, including Mount Diablo, and a net of bike trails. Walnut Creek has population of about seventy thousand.
Rentals in Walnut Creek are somewhat cheaper than in nearby Lafayette, Moraga, and Orinda. It was $2100/month in January 2007 for a three-bedroom house in a residential neighborhood. We decided against it because most of Walnut Creek (or the neighborhoods with renting or buying offers, at least) is flat and uninteresting. We just moved to California from rather flat Michigan, and felt cheated by prospect of leaving on an unrelieved bottom of a valley. House listings were at $700,000 for a similar three-bedroom house.
Schools: public schools in Walnut Creek, California belong to Contra Costa school district. There are several excellent schools, such as Parkmead elementary, as well as Floyd I. Markus elementary -- nearly worst in East Bay. There are several private schools, including Christian private schools of different denomination, one non-denominational Christian private school, Contra Costa Jewish Day school, and a Montessory school.
Medical practices: I had two unexciting encounters with family practice and pediatrician in Walnut Creek, both times suggested by parents of my daughter's classmates. Both were just physicals I needed for different institutions, and I had no way to determine medical expertise of these physicians, but overall impression was depressing. Office people were rude over the phone as well as in person and acted as if they expected me to cheat, offices looked dilapidated, and doctors were late for the appointment time and time-pressed to the point of insult. If there are any better pediatric or general practices in the area, I have yet to discover those. I will update this note. There is an urgent care clinic that accepts Kaiser and California Blue Shield insurances, as well as some other. The John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek is a non-teaching hospital.
Shopping: Broadway Mall in Walnut Creek with all usual department stores, from Barns&Noble and Apple Store to Gap, Banana Republic, Sleep Train and so on. There is World Market, Bombay Company, and so on, on Mount Diablo Boulevard. Three streets off Mount Diablo Boulevard, California, Locust and Main, form Walnut Creek's downtown. Parking is problematic, but distances are walking. There are several thriving thrift shops in downtown and one next to Whole Foods Market. Crepes A Go Go on Main Street is a kind of place to take hungry kids: crepes are OK, filings are great, both sweet and savory, service and coffee are bad, but kids don't care. Three kids with healthy appetite and I had plenty of food for $30, tips and tax included.
Food stores: Safeway, Whole Foods Market, Trader Joe's. Diablo Oriental Food is actually Japanese and on Main, not Mount Diablo.
See also: Lafayette ca, Ann Arbor.