Pleasanton is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. Located in the Amador Valley, it is a suburb in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 79,871 at the 2020 census. In 2005 and 2007, Pleasanton was ranked the wealthiest middle-sized city in the United States by the Census Bureau. Pleasanton is home to the headquarters of

Safeway Safeway is an American supermarket chain founded by Marion Barton Skaggs in April 1915 in American Falls, Idaho. The chain provides grocery items, food and general merchandise and features a variety of specialty departments, such as bakery, d ...

, Workday, Ellie Mae, Roche Molecular Diagnostics, Blackhawk Network Holdings, and

Veeva Systems Veeva Systems Inc. is an American cloud-computing company focused on pharmaceutical and life sciences industry applications. Headquartered in Pleasanton, California, it was founded in 2007 by Peter Gassner and Matt Wallach. It works with software ...

. Other major employers include Kaiser Permanente,

Oracle An oracle is a person or agency considered to provide wise and insightful counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. As such, it is a form of divination. Description The word '' ...

and Macy's. Although Oakland is the Alameda County seat, a few county offices are located in Pleasanton. The

Alameda County Fairgrounds The Alameda County Fairgrounds is a facility located in Pleasanton, California. It is home to the annual Alameda County Fair, held since 1912, as well as numerous trade shows and community events. Located on its grounds, the Pleasanton Fairground ...

are located in Pleasanton, where the county fair is held during the last week of June and the first week of July.

Pleasanton Ridge Regional Park Pleasanton Ridge Regional Park is a park in the East Bay Regional Park District overlooking Pleasanton, California and the Livermore Valley to the east. The park is scheduled to grow by almost (''sic'') with the acquisition of the Tyler Ranch.'' ...

is located on the west side of town.

History

Alisal

Before the establishment of Pleasanton in the 1850s, an earlier settlement in the location was called Alisal. It was located on the lands of the

Rancho Santa Rita Rancho Santa Rita was a Ranchos of California, Mexican land grant in the Amador Valley and western Livermore Valley, which is in present day Alameda County, California. It was given in 1839 by Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado, Juan Alvarado to Jos ...

near the site of an Indian ranchera, around the

Francisco Solano Alviso Adobe Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name '' Franciscus''. Nicknames In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed " Paco". San Francisco de Asís was known as ''Pater Comunitatis'' (father o ...

, 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 The Alviso Adobe Community Park is a park in the city of Pleasanton, California, United States. It is built around an adobe house constructed in 1854 by Francisco Alviso on the Rancho Santa Rita Mexican Land Grant. The Alviso Adobe is a rare s ...

. Alisal, nicknamed "The Most Desperate Town in the West", was one of the settlements located along ''

La Vereda del Monte La Vereda del Monte (Spanish language, Spanish for "The Mountain Trail") was a backcountry route through remote regions of the Diablo Range, one of the California Coast Ranges. La Vereda del Monte was the upper part of La Vereda Caballo, (Spanish fo ...

'' that was a haunt and refuge of

bandits Banditry is a type of organized crime committed by outlaws typically involving the threat or use of violence. A person who engages in banditry is known as a bandit and primarily commits crimes such as extortion, robbery, and murder, either as an ...

and

desperados Desperado may refer to: * Outlaw, particularly in the American Old West Books * ''Desperadoes'' (comics), a comic book series * ''Desperadoes'' (novel), a 1979 novel by Ron Hansen * Desperado Publishing, an American independent comic book publ ...

in the era following the beginning of the

California Gold Rush The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California fro ...

. Main Street shootouts were not uncommon. Banditos such as Claudio Feliz and

Joaquin Murrieta Joaquin Murrieta Carrillo (sometimes spelled Murieta or Murietta) (1829 – July 25, 1853), also called the Robin Hood of the West or the Robin Hood of El Dorado, was a Mexican-American figure of disputed historicity. The novel '' The Life and ...

would ambush prospectors on their way back from the gold rush fields and then seek refuge in Alisal. In the 1860s

Procopio Procopio (c. 1841 – 1882 to early 1890s), also known as Red-Handed bebito and Red Dick, was one of the best-known bandits in California history. His nickname was reportedly given due either to his red hair or his violent nature and bloodthirst ...

, Narciso Bojorques and others took refuge there.

Pleasanton

Pleasanton is located on the lands of the Rancho Valle de San José and

Mexican land grants. Its name was chosen in the 1860s by John W. Kottinger, an Alameda County

justice of the peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

, after his friend, Union army cavalry Major General Alfred Pleasonton. A typographical error by a recording clerk in Washington, D.C., apparently led to the current spelling. In 1917, Pleasanton was the backdrop for the film ''

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm ''Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm'' is a classic American 1903 children's novel by Kate Douglas Wiggin that tells the story of Rebecca Rowena Randall and her aunts, one stern and one kind, in the fictional village of Riverboro, Maine. Rebecca's joy ...

'', starring Mary Pickford. The town was once home to

Phoebe Apperson Hearst Phoebe Elizabeth Apperson Hearst (December 3, 1842 – April 13, 1919) was an American philanthropist, feminist and suffragist. Hearst was the founder of the University of California Museum of Anthropology, now called the Phoebe A. Hearst Mus ...

, 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.

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 (0.63%) 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 Pleasanton Ridge Regional Park is a park in the East Bay Regional Park District overlooking Pleasanton, California and the Livermore Valley to the east. The park is scheduled to grow by almost (''sic'') with the acquisition of the Tyler Ranch.'' ...

and

Augustin Bernal Park Augustin Bernal Community Park is a park in the hills southwest of Pleasanton, California. The park was donated to the city in 1971 by Walter S. Johnson, and connects to Pleasanton Ridge Pleasanton Ridge Regional Park is a park in the East ...

. Much of Pleasanton is drained by the Arroyo Valle and

Arroyo Mocho Arroyo Mocho is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed March 15, 2011 stream which originates in the far northeastern corner of Santa Clara County and flows northwesterly into ...

watercourses. Pleasanton lies along the route of the historic

First transcontinental railroad North America's first transcontinental railroad (known originally as the "Pacific Railroad" and later as the " Overland Route") was a continuous railroad line constructed between 1863 and 1869 that connected the existing eastern U.S. rail netwo ...

Climate

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 115 °F (46 °C) in 1950. The lowest recorded temperature was 17 °F (−8 °C) in 1990.

Demographics

2020

The

2020 United States Census The United States census of 2020 was the twenty-fourth decennial United States census. Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2020. Other than a pilot study during the 2000 census, this was the first U.S. census to of ...

reported that Pleasanton had a population of 79,871. The population density was . The racial makeup of Pleasanton was 47,058 (67.0%) White, 1,190 (1.7%) African American, 226 (0.3%) Native American, 16,322 (23.2%)

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

, 134 (0.2%) Pacific Islander, 2,002 (2.8%) from other races, and 3,353 (4.8%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 7,264 persons (10.3%). The Census reported that 69,829 people (99.4% of the population) lived in households, 320 (0.5%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 136 (0.2%) were institutionalized. There were 25,245 households, out of which 10,785 (42.7%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 16,206 (64.2%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 2,024 (8.0%) had a female householder with no husband present, 948 (3.8%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 887 (3.5%)

unmarried opposite-sex partnerships POSSLQ ( , plural POSSLQs) is an abbreviation (or acronym) for "Person of Opposite Sex Sharing Living Quarters", a term coined in the late 1970s by the United States Census Bureau as part of an effort to more accurately gauge the prevalence of ...

, and 156 (0.6%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. Of the households, 4,860 (19.3%) were made up of individuals, and 1,853 (7.3%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.77. There were 19,178 families (76.0% of all households); the average family size was 3.20. The population was spread out, with 19,024 people (27.1%) under the age of 18, 4,378 people (6.2%) aged 18 to 24, 17,257 people (24.6%) aged 25 to 44, 21,965 people (31.3%) aged 45 to 64, and 7,661 people (10.9%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40.5 years. For every 100 females, there were 96.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.0 males. There were 26,053 housing units at an average density of , of which 25,245 were occupied, of which 17,891 (70.9%) were owner-occupied, and 7,354 (29.1%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 0.9%; the rental vacancy rate was 4.1%. 51,839 people (73.8% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 17,990 people (25.6%) lived in rental housing units.

Economy

Pleasanton experienced a major economic boom starting in the early 1980s, largely associated with the development of a number of business parks, the largest of which is the

Hacienda Business Park Hacienda Business Park is a 900-acre (364 hectare) mixed-use job center and housing development in Pleasanton, California. History Approved in 1982 and ratified by Pleasanton voters in 1983, the business park covers approximately 20 square blocks ...

. These host a number of campus-like clusters of low-rise and medium-rise office buildings. Pleasanton has been successful in attracting a number of corporate headquarters, such as those of

, Blackhawk Network Holdings, Workday, Simpson Manufacturing, The Cooper Companies and

Shaklee Shaklee Corporation is an American manufacturer and distributor of natural nutrition supplements, beauty products, and household products. The company is based in Pleasanton, California with global operations in Canada, China, Indonesia, Japan, ...

. Despite an increase in office space vacancy rates in 2000–2004, economic development has remained strong through the middle of the decade. Pleasanton was also the headquarters of the former

PeopleSoft, Inc. PeopleSoft, Inc. is a company that provides human resource management systems (HRMS), Financial Management Solutions (FMS), supply chain management (SCM), customer relationship management (CRM), and enterprise performance management (EPM) software ...

(which was acquired by

Oracle Corporation Oracle Corporation is an American multinational computer technology corporation headquartered in Austin, Texas. In 2020, Oracle was the third-largest software company in the world by revenue and market capitalization. The company sells da ...

Documentum Documentum is an enterprise content management platform, now owned by OpenText, as well as the name of the software company that originally developed the technology. EMC acquired Documentum for $1.7 billion in December, 2003. The Documentum pla ...

(which was acquired by EMC Corporation),

Thoratec Thoratec Corporation is a United States-based company that develops, manufactures, and markets proprietary medical devices used for mechanical circulatory support for the treatment of heart-failure patients worldwide. It is a global leader in mech ...

(now part of Abbott),

E-Loan E-Loan, Inc. is a financial services company that offers its users access to partners that may be able to assist them in obtaining loans. E-Loan was a pioneer in the online lending industry in the late 1990s and early 2000s. As of 1999, it was th ...

(which was acquired by Popular), Spreckels Sugar Company (which was acquired by Imperial Holly), Ross Stores (which moved to nearby Dublin in 2014),

Patelco Credit Union Patelco Credit Union is a member owned, not-for-profit credit union that serves Northern California, particularly the San Francisco Bay Area. Founded in 1936, it is one of the oldest and largest credit unions in the country. With more than $9 bi ...

(also moved to Dublin) and the home loan operation of

Providian Providian Financial Corporation was one of the leading credit card issuers in the United States when it was sold to Washington Mutual for approximately US$6.5 billion in October 2005. Providian was headquartered in San Francisco, California, and h ...

(which was acquired by Washington Mutual, itself later acquired by JPMorgan Chase). Oracle occupies two buildings of the former PeopleSoft campus, and is the fourth-largest employer in Pleasanton, behind Workday, Safeway and Kaiser Permanente. In addition, Pleasanton is the site of a large AT&T campus. Other companies with major operations in Pleasanton include Hitachi High Technologies America, Inc., Cisco Systems, QASource, Sage Software (Accpac, etc.), CooperVision,

Clorox The Clorox Company (formerly Clorox Chemical Company) is an American global manufacturer and marketer of consumer and professional products. As of 2020 the Oakland, California based company had approximately 8,800 employees worldwide. Net sales ...

, Fireside Bank (closed in 2012), Roche,

BMC Software BMC Software, Inc. is an American multinational information technology (IT) services and consulting, and Enterprise Software company based in Houston, Texas. Gartner has positioned BMC as a Leader for the eighth consecutive year in Gartner' ...

, Zoho Corporation, Applied Biosystems, EMC Corporation, Portrait Displays, Inc. and

Broadcom Inc. Broadcom Inc. is an American designer, developer, manufacturer and global supplier of a wide range of semiconductor and infrastructure software products. Broadcom's product offerings serve the data center, networking, software, broadband, wirel ...

In retail operations, Pleasanton has one major regional mall (

Stoneridge Shopping Center Stoneridge Shopping Center is an upscale major shopping mall in Pleasanton, California. The mall is managed and co-owned by Simon Property Group, and is adjacent to Interstate 680. The mall is anchored by JCPenney and two Macy's stores - a wome ...

) and a number of other shopping centers. Besides the anchor tenants Macy's and

JC Penney Penney OpCo LLC, doing business as JCPenney and often abbreviated JCP, is a midscale American department store chain operating 667 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. Departments inside JCPenney stores include Mens, Womens, Boys, Gir ...

at Stoneridge, notable large stores elsewhere in the city include

Home Depot The Home Depot, Inc., is an American multinational corporation, multinational home improvement retail corporation that sells tools, construction products, appliances, and services, including fuel and transportation rentals. Home Depot is the l ...

, Wal-Mart, and Kohl's. In addition to the business parks and retail centers, Pleasanton is known for its lively downtown, which is home to a number of fine-dining, casual, and ethnic restaurants, specialty retailers, and service businesses. A redesign of Main Street in the 1990s emphasized pedestrian traffic and outdoor dining. In 2005, the median household income in Pleasanton was $101,022, the highest income for any city with a population between 65,000 and 249,999 people. Similarly, for 2007, the median household income rose to $113,345, also the highest in the category. According to City-Data.com, the median household income had risen to $121,622 by 2013, compared to a statewide median of $60,190. According to the Bay East Association of Realtors, the median price of a detached single family home was $1,795,000 as of August 2021. According to

Zillow.com Zillow Group, Inc., or simply Zillow, is an American tech real-estate marketplace company that was founded in 2006, and was created by Rich Barton and Lloyd Frink, former Microsoft executives and founders of Microsoft spin-off Expedia; Spencer R ...

, the median home value in Pleasanton was $1,500,415 as of September 2021.

Top employers

According to the city, as of June 2022 the top fifteen employers in Pleasanton are: *Headquartered in Pleasanton

Arts and culture

Events and festivals

Pleasanton maintains regular events for the community. Every Saturday morning a farmers' market sets up on Angela, off Main Street. There are several parades during the year, commemorating Christmas, Memorial Day, and Veterans Day, as well as kicking off the beginning of the Alameda County Fair and soccer season.

First Wednesday

Beginning in the late 1990s, the Pleasanton Downtown Association organized the popular ''First Wednesday'' celebrations from May through September of each year. On the first Wednesday of summer months, Main Street was blocked to traffic and adopted a street fair atmosphere. Each First Wednesday celebration was given a theme and planned with related activities. At this local event, businesses and organizations from downtown and around the Tri-Valley set up booths in the center of the street. A local band performed in the Inklings coffee house parking lot, which was closed off for dancing. The parking lot was also set up as a

beergarden A beer garden (German: ''Biergarten'') is an outdoor area in which beer and food are served, typically at shared tables shaded by trees. Beer gardens originated in Bavaria, of which Munich is the capital city, in the 19th century, and remain co ...

, with beer and wine available for consumption. In 2017, the association announced it was discontinuing the events, and was considering other types of events in future years.

Friday Concerts in the Park

Another Pleasanton Downtown Association tradition is the ''Friday Concerts in the Park'' series. Every Friday from June until September the PDA schedules different local bands to perform in the evenings at the Lions' Wayside Park off of First Street. The events are free of charge and draw a crowd. Additional seating for 'Concerts in the Park' is available at Delucchi Park, at the intersection of First Street and Neal Street.

Fairgrounds

The

is a facility located in Pleasanton. It is home to the annual Alameda County Fair, held since 1912, as well as numerous trade shows and community events including but not limited to the Scottish Games which occur annually on Labor Day weekend. Located on its grounds, the Pleasanton Fairgrounds Racetrack was built in 1858, making it the oldest

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...

track in the United States. There is a 3,000 seat amphitheater, as well as a nine-hole golf course located within the track's infield. The Alameda County Central Railroad Society has maintained a

model train Railway modelling (UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland) or model railroading (US and Canada) is a hobby in which rail transport systems are modelled at a reduced scale. The scale models include locomotives, rolling stock, streetcars, t ...

exhibit at the fairgrounds since 1959.

Firehouse Arts Center

The Firehouse Arts Center, opened in 2010, is a center of culture and art for Pleasanton. It features a 221-seat theater, the Harrington art gallery, and classrooms for art and drama.

Hacienda del Pozo de Verona

Hacienda del Pozo de Verona (The House of the Wellhead of Verona) was destroyed in a fire in 1969. The house was built by architect

A. C. Schweinfurth A. C. Schweinfurth (1864–1900), born Albert Cicero Schweinfurth, was an American architect. He is associated with the First Bay Tradition. The son of a German woodcarver who had immigrated to the United States a decade before his son Albert wa ...

for Phoebe Hearst in 1898.

Government

Local

Pleasanton operates under a council–manager form of municipal government. The council consists of four elected at-large representatives and one directly elected mayor. The councilors are each elected to a four-year term, while the mayor serves a two-year term. Council and mayoral elections are non-partisan. Starting in 2022, Council elections are divided into 4 different municipal districts. The vice mayor is appointed each calendar year by the mayor. The mayor and council members are limited to a maximum term of eight years. The city council consists of: Karla Brown (mayor), Valerie Arkin, Jack Balch, Kathy Narum, and Julie Testa. The city manager is Gerry Beaudin.

State and Federal

In the

state legislature A state legislature is a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of each of the fifty state governments of the United Sta ...

Pleasanton is in , and . Federally, Pleasanton is in . Pleasanton has 44,099 registered voters with 17,021 (39.2%) registered as Democrats, 11,338 (25.7%) registered as Republicans, and 13,867 (31.4%) Decline to State voters.

Education

In the majority of Pleasanton, the public schools are part of the

Pleasanton Unified School District The Pleasanton Unified School District (PUSD) is a public primary and secondary education school district located in Pleasanton, California, United States, a suburban town east of San Francisco. It consists of nine elementary schools, three midd ...

. Pleasanton USD formed in 1988 when the school districts of Pleasanton and Dublin unified along city lines. A very small portion of Pleasanton is in the

Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District (LVJUSD) is a public school district located in Livermore, California, United States. It is located in Alameda County. Since May 2010, the Superintendent has been Kelly Bowers. In addition to Liver ...

. Pleasanton's two

comprehensive high school Comprehensive high schools are the most popular form of state school, public Secondary school, high schools around the world, designed to provide a well-rounded education to its students, as opposed to the practice in some places in which examinati ...

s, Amador Valley and

Foothill Foothills or piedmont are geographically defined as gradual increases in elevation at the base of a mountain range, higher hill range or an upland area. They are a transition zone between plains and low relief hills and the adjacent topograp ...

, are ranked by ''

Niche Niche may refer to: Science *Developmental niche, a concept for understanding the cultural context of child development *Ecological niche, a term describing the relational position of an organism's species *Niche differentiation, in ecology, the ...

'' among the top 200 public high schools in the nation. Pleasanton also has a Continuation high school,

Village High School Village High School (commonly called Village) is a public continuation high school located in Pleasanton, California, United States, a community in the San Francisco East Bay area. Village is a part of the Pleasanton Unified School District, whic ...

. As of 2021, the district also contained three middle schools, nine elementary schools, one preschool, and an adult education program.

Media

The ''

Pleasanton Weekly The ''Pleasanton Weekly'' is a weekly newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variet ...

'' is a local newspaper.

Tri-Valley Community Television Tri-Valley Community Television (TV30) is a nonprofit public-access television, educational-access television and government-access television (GATV) (PEG) television channel serving the Tri-Valley area, east of San Francisco, California. The ci ...

operates their sole station in Pleasanton.

Transportation

Roads

Pleasanton is situated at the crossroads of two major

Interstate Highways The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States. Th ...

, I-580 and

I-680 Interstate 680 may refer to: *Interstate 680 (California), a connecting freeway between I-80 and I-280 in the San Francisco Bay Area, California *Interstate 680 (Nebraska–Iowa), a bypass in Omaha, Nebraska *Interstate 680 (Ohio), a loop through Y ...

, which mirror the historic cross-routes of Native American tribes who used the precursor paths as major trading routes. This fact was first discovered with the excavations for Hacienda Business Park, revealing significant tribal artifacts and human skeletal remains.

Public transit

The city is served by two stations on the

Bay Area Rapid Transit Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is a rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area in California. BART serves 50 stations along six routes on of rapid transit lines, including a spur line in eastern Contra Costa County which uses ...

(BART) heavy rail system's Dublin/Pleasanton–Daly City line, which runs along the northern boundary of the city: * Dublin/Pleasanton (BART station), the eastern terminus. * West Dublin/Pleasanton, located just west of the I-680 interchange by the Stoneridge Mall. The Altamont Corridor Express rail service stops near Pleasanton's downtown at

Pleasanton Station Pleasanton station is a train station in Pleasanton, California served by Altamont Corridor Express (ACE) trains. It is located northwest of downtown Pleasanton adjacent to the Alameda County Fairgrounds. The station has a single side platform on ...

. The Wheels (LAVTA) bus transit system is the primary provider of bus service in Pleasanton (with numerous routes in the city), and connects Pleasanton to Livermore and Dublin, along with the above three stations. Express routes from

and Dublin/Pleasanton (BART station) to San Ramon and Walnut Creek are provided by

County Connection The County Connection (officially, the Central Contra Costa Transit Authority, CCCTA) is a Concord-based public transit agency operating fixed-route bus and ADA paratransit (County Connection LINK) service in and around central Contra Costa County ...

Airports

Pleasanton's closest airport is

Livermore Municipal Airport Livermore Municipal Airport is three miles west of Livermore, California, in Alameda County, California. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2017–2021 categorized it as a regional reliev ...

, which is primarily used for general aviation and charter flights; there is no regularly-scheduled commercial service. The closest commercial airports are San Jose International Airport, which is reachable by the Altamont Corridor Express, and Oakland International Airport, which can be reached directly through BART. The vast majority of international flights serving the region operate from

San Francisco International Airport San Francisco International Airport is an international airport in an unincorporated area of San Mateo County, south of Downtown San Francisco. It has flights to points throughout North America and is a major gateway to Europe, the Middle E ...

, also accessible via BART.

Notable people

People from Pleasanton include: * Scott Adams, cartoonist, creator of '' Dilbert'' *

Brandon Crawford Brandon Michael Crawford (born January 21, 1987) is an American professional baseball shortstop for the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball (MLB). Crawford played college baseball for the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). H ...

, professional baseball player for the San Francisco Giants * Paula Creamer,

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

* T. J. Friedl, professional baseball player * David Garibaldi, professional drummer with Tower of Power, 2012 Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame Inductee, author of numerous drum instructional books, CDs and DVDs * Edwin Hawkins, gospel musician, pianist, choir master, composer and arranger * Phoebe Hearst, philanthropist, feminist and suffragist, mother of William Randolph Hearst *

Walter S. Johnson Walter S. Johnson (1884–1978) was a notable businessman and philanthropist in San Francisco, California. He was one of the founders of the American Forest Products Corporation, a Fortune 500 company in the 1950s and 1960s, and of Friden, Inc., ...

, businessman and philanthropist *

Randal J. Kirk Randal J. Kirk (born March 1, 1954) is an American businessman and investor in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. Kirk was the chairman and chief executive officer of Intrexon (NYSE: XON), a biotechnology company, until 2020. Kirk started as a l ...

, businessman *

Joel Kribel Joel Kribel (born January 27, 1977) is a former American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour, Web.com Tour, PGA Tour Canada, and Gateway Tour. Amateur career Kribel was born in Pleasanton, California. As a junior golfer, Kribel was a m ...

* John Madden, football coach and sportscaster * Sean Mannion, former quarterback for the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The Rams play ...

Abby Martin Abigail Suzanne Martin (born September 6, 1984) is an American journalist, TV presenter, and activist. She helped found the citizen journalism website ''Media Roots'' and serves on the board of directors for the Media Freedom Foundation which ...

, journalist and host of ''

Breaking the Set Abigail Suzanne Martin (born September 6, 1984) is an American journalist, TV presenter, and activist. She helped found the citizen journalism website ''Media Roots'' and serves on the board of directors for the Media Freedom Foundation whic ...

'' *

Keith Millard Keith Joseph Millard (born March 18, 1962) is an American former professional football player who played as a defensive tackle for nine seasons for the Minnesota Vikings, the Green Bay Packers, the Seattle Seahawks and the Philadelphia Eagles f ...

, former NFL

defensive tackle A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that will typically line up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the offensive guards, however he may also line up opposite one of the tackles. Defensive tackles are typically the la ...

* Jerry McNerney,

US Congressman The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

William E. Moerner William Esco Moerner (born June 24, 1953) is an American physical chemist and chemical physicist with current work in the biophysics and imaging of single molecules. He is credited with achieving the first optical detection and spectroscopy of a ...

, 2014 Nobel Prize laureate in chemistry * Jim Perry, game show host, specifically for game shows '' Card Sharks'' and ''

Sale of the Century ''Sale of the Century'' (stylized as ''$ale of the Century'') is an American television game show that originally debuted on September 29, 1969, on NBC daytime. It was one of three NBC game shows to premiere on that date, the other two being th ...

'' * Scott Perry, professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player * Stephen Piscotty, professional baseball player for the

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...

Dennis Richmond Dennis Richmond (born May 26, 1943) is an American retired news anchor who spent 40 years with Oakland, California-based KTVU.KTVU * Ryan Roxie, Singer/songwriter and guitarist for Alice Cooper,

Casablanca Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...

and Slash's Snakepit. *

Tamriko Siprashvili Tamriko Siprashvili (born January 2, 1963) is a Georgian pianist. She was born in Tbilisi the capital city of the Republic of Georgia. Training She began her piano studies at the age of three. At age five, she entered the Special Music Schoo ...

, prize-winning international concert pianist, recording artist, instructor * Ellen Tauscher, former Congresswoman for

California's 10th congressional district California's 10th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of California. Currently, the 10th district encompasses parts of the eastern San Francisco Bay Area. It is currently represented by Democrat Mark DeSaulnier ...

Donna Theodore Donna Glory Theodore (born July 25, 1941) is an American actress and singer who first came to attention as a headliner at many famous nightclubs during the 1960s including the Copacabana, The Fountainebleau Hotel, the Fairmont Hotel, and the El ...

, singer and actress * Gabrielle Union, film and television actress * David Yost, '' Mighty Morphin Power Rangers'' actor.

Sister cities

* Blairgowrie and Rattray, Scotland, UK * Fergus, Ontario, Canada * Tulancingo, Mexico

References

External links

* {{authority control 1894 establishments in California Cities in Alameda County, California Cities in the San Francisco Bay Area Incorporated cities and towns in California Amador Valley Populated places established in 1894