Pleasant Hill, California
Pleasant Hill is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States, in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 33,152 at the 2010 census. It was incorporated in 1961. Pleasant Hill is the home of College Park High School, Diablo Valley College, John F Kennedy University, the Pleasant Hill Library and administration offices for the Contra Costa County Library system, and the Pleasant Hill Recreation & Park District.
History and architecture
The area began to be developed in the 1920s, as former agricultural land was subdivided for housing. Monument Boulevard was named after the Soldiers Memorial Monument to commemorate soldiers of World War I. It was erected on December 11, 1927. The monument depicts one black and three white soldiers. It is tall, constructed of formed concrete, and weighs 150 tons. In 1954 the monument was moved to its current site at Boyd Road and Contra Costa Boulevard to make way for upcoming highway construction.Developed largely in the years following World War II, the area did not have a post office until 1948. The city incorporated in 1961.
On February 21, 1967, Century 21 Theaters opened an 895-seat dome theater between Monument Boulevard and Hookston Road. Visible from the freeway after it was constructed, the futuristic dome-topped cinema became an iconic landmark for the newly incorporated city. The theater was designed by prolific Bay Area architect Vincent G. Raney. It had a distinctive 50-foot-high domed ceiling and oversized curved screen. The theater was initially built to showcase the Cinerama widescreen process developed in the 1950s. The screen was later updated to standard flat-screen. In 1973, four additional single-screen auditoriums were added to the front of the building. Renamed as Century 5 Theatres, it continued to be known familiarly as the Dome.
The city hall of Pleasant Hill, completed in the late 20th century, has won several awards for architectural design.
For most of its history, Pleasant Hill did not have a true downtown or Main Street. In 1991, the city began planning the redevelopment of the area around the intersection of Monument and Contra Costa boulevards. In July 2000, Downtown Pleasant Hill finally opened. The privately owned and operated outdoor shopping center was designed to resemble a typical small Main Street.
Starting in 2003, CinéArts operated the former Century 5 Theatres, screening primarily independent and foreign films. Due to changes in viewing habits, as many people screened movies at home, business continued to decline. The theater's property owner, SyWest Development, closed the Dome on April 21, 2013. On its last night of operation, CinéArts screened Stanley Kubrick's classic .
Sywest gained the approval of the Pleasant Hill City Council for its proposal to tear down the theater and redevelop the property as a two-story, 73,000+ square-foot building to house a Dick's Sporting Goods. Supporters of the theater submitted two separate appeals to overturn the approval of demolition: one by a resident of Pleasant Hill, and one by Save the Pleasant Hill Dome organization. Both appeals were voted down by a majority of the city council; Mayor Michael G. Harris and councilmember Ken Carlson voted in favor of the appeal. SyWest had the Dome demolished on May 8, 2013, precluding any further court action.
On October 15, 2019, a magnitude 4.5 earthquake shook the town.
Geography and climate
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of. Pleasant Hill has a varied landscape with some valleys and rolling hills. In undisturbed wilderness, oak woodlands and mixed woods can be found. It is located in the central East San Francisco Bay.This region has warm and dry summers, with no average monthly temperatures above. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Pleasant Hill has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate, abbreviated "Csb" on climate maps. Winter daytime temperatures tend to be in the fifties and sixties, and summers range in the high seventies to upper eighties, occasionally reaching the low nineties. On very rare occasions, the temperatures can reach the one hundred degree range during extreme heat waves. Freezing in winter is rare, but it does happen. Summer fog is occasional but winter fog is very common.
Economy
Top employers
According to the City's 2013 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, as of 2009 the city's principal employers were:| # | Employer | # of Employees |
| 1 | Mount Diablo Unified School District | 659 |
| 2 | Contra Costa County Fire Protection | 450 |
| 3 | Safeway | 255 |
| 4 | Target | 250 |
| 5 | Yandell Truckaway | 250 |
| 6 | Nightingale of Contra Costa | 200 |
| 7 | John F. Kennedy University | 185 |
| 8 | Contra Costa County Office of Education | 165 |
| 9 | Hospice of the East Bay | 150 |
| 10 | Irvin Deutscher Family YMCA | 150 |
Education
Primary and secondary schools
Public schools
Elementary schools- Fair Oaks Elementary School
- Gregory Gardens Elementary School
- Pleasant Hill Elementary School
- Sequoia Elementary School
- Strandwood Elementary School
- Valhalla Elementary School
High schools
- College Park High School
Private schools
- Christ the King Catholic School
- Pleasant Hill Adventist Academy
Colleges and universities
- Diablo Valley College
- John F. Kennedy University
-
Public libraries
Parks and recreation
Parks in Pleasant Hill are maintained and managed by the . The district is a separate entity from the City of Pleasant Hill.- Brookwood Park
- Chilpancingo Park
- Dinosaur Hill Park
- Las Juntas Open Space
- Paso Nogal Park
- Pinewood Park
- Pleasant Hill Aquatic Park
- Pleasant Hill Education Center Pool
- Pleasant Hill Park
- Pleasant Oaks Park
- Rodgers Ranch Heritage Center
- Rodgers-Smith Park
- Shannon Hills Park
- Sherman Acres Park
- Shadowood Park
- Soldiers Memorial Park
Demographics
The Census reported that 32,689 people lived in households, 151 lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 312 were institutionalized.
There were 13,708 households, out of which 3,892 had children under the age of 18 living in them, 6,329 were opposite-sex married couples living together, 1,359 had a female householder with no husband present, 597 had a male householder with no wife present. There were 789 unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 152 same-sex married couples or partnerships. 3,929 households were made up of individuals, and 1,431 had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.38. There were 8,285 families ; the average family size was 2.96.
The population was spread out, with 6,563 people under the age of 18, 3,180 people aged 18 to 24, 8,901 people aged 25 to 44, 9,902 people aged 45 to 64, and 4,606 people who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40.7 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.0 males.
There were 14,321 housing units at an average density of 2,025.2 per square mile, of which 13,708 were occupied, of which 8,470 were owner-occupied, and 5,238 were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.3 percent; the rental vacancy rate was 5.1 percent. 21,253 people lived in owner-occupied housing units and 11,436 people lived in rental housing units.
Planning and environmental factorsThe Gregory Gardens subdivision developed in 1950 required purchasers of new homes to accept a Covenant that restricted ownership to Caucasians. The Covenant also limited the structures that could be built, animals allowed on premises, and commercial activities.Pleasant Hill used a system of environmental planning at a relatively early stage of its modern growth. Notably the city authorized a study in the 1980s of hillside development, which included detailed mapping of biota, geotechnical hazards, sound levels and other environmental constraints. These studies were used to establish appropriate zoning and development densities for all the principal undeveloped hillside areas within the city. MediaThe city of Pleasant Hill is served by the East Bay Times daily newspaper, published by Bay Area News Group-East Bay. It is also served by the Community Focus newspaper. Community Focus is an independent, monthly newspaper that concentrates on local events and information.The city is also served by Pleasant Hill Patch, a local news website covering community news and events. Patch Media is owned by AOL Inc. Claycord.com is an independent, privately owned blog covering the greater Pleasant Hill metropolitan area. Sister CitiesPleasant Hill, California has two sister cities, as designated by Sister Cities International:
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