I am not too keen on the dumbarton bridge, it feels finicky, and the cost has gone up significantly…read moresince the decade from being $5 to around $8+ dollars now. I have driven on this bridge quite a lot especially a decade ago when I lived in the east bay and drove to the peninsula for work I don't like that it doesn't have the big poles or big railing; and the cars shake when driving over the bridge due to the wind. It was never my favorite bridge even a decade ago due to the shakiness, it's not good. I have arial photos from early 2020, thankfully the bridge is only 15 mins or so. But I think they could make it feel a bit more secure (I am sure structurally it's okay , the wind is wild though)

The Dumbarton Bridge as we know it today was opened in 1982. The original span was opened in 1927,…read moreand was the first vehicle bridge to cross SF Bay. Today's Dumbarton Bridge is 3 lanes in each direction, and has a pedestrian/bike lane. The span is only 1.6 miles long, and the bridge has no emergency shoulders. Seems longer than 1.6 miles right? I think they don't count the long approaches. I have never used the Dumbarton Bridge during the morning commute, I mostly use it in the evening going eastbound. I never really got stuck in traffic on this bridge. Being a modern span, I think traffic engineers did a good job designing the Menlo Park/Palo Alto approach. You can't please everyone, someone's going to sit in traffic during the commute. Notes: On the westbound approach, you will go pass the KGO-810 AM transmitter. In Menlo Park, at Willow Rd, on the right is Facebook HQs (formerly Sun Microsystems). Sometimes on the Newark side, there's a foul smell from the swampy marshlands. In 2023, the toll for a regular car is $7.00. There's no toll takers. Toll is collected by Fastrak Transponders or they take a photo of your license plate. The bridge links Newark (Eastbay) to East Palo Alto (Peninsula) via CA-84.

Beautiful scenery and very hilly. However, the drivers are hella scary. You can get killed on the…read morePass very easy. I just pray while driving.

First time to see it and it was a view to behold. Traffic was slow (and as I read other yelp…read morereviews, it's a common traffic situation so I get to take a pic or two of it from the car. My feelings might wane in time if I am one of those who see it everyday but from the perspective of a first-time viewer...it is friggin awesome!

Not sure how you rate the tube, but it is the primary form of transportation in and out to Alameda…read more I've never had any problems. They seem to always do late night construction so that's good. It doesn't interrupt the daytime flow.

Help!!! I'm still stuck here. It's been a while. Gas is running low and I really need to use the…read morerestroom. I keep trying to exit and somehow wind up needing to go back through this tunnel. How do I get out? Thanks.

1 of 2 Yelp reviews…read more Quality/Quantity - One of the "newer" cities. One of the nicer master communities (IMO). I remember when you started all those golf course master communities, etc. Things to do and see in San Ramon: If you love nature - Mt Diablo, Diablo Range, San Ramon Valley, Las Trampas Regional Wilderness, Forest Home Farms Historic Park, Bishop Ranch Regional Preserve, Bridges Golf Course, Canyon Lakes Golf Course & Brewery, San Ramon Golf Club, etc. 2014 - City center is still my favorite part of the city. 350k square feet! Beautiful space, plenty of restaurants, a brewery (Fieldworks), etc. Atmosphere - See above. 18.72 square miles, 0.03 of which is water. 2020 census population of 84.6k. Largest employers are - PG&E, Chevron (I believe they are moving, if they have not moved already), Robert Half International, BMO Bank, etc. Service - Good, they cater to a slightly more affluent customer. It also depends on what you do, eat, or drink. Price - Reasonable. Owner Comment - Congrats on your success since 1983.

So I've lived in San Ramon for the past three years now, so I think I've got a fair grasp of what…read moreit's like living here. These are just my opinions on what it's been like. I'll start with the Pro's: -It's safe. Really one of the few cities left in the Bay Area where it feels like you can walk around in public and not be scared of being a victim of a crime, or worry that your car will be broken into for zero reason. -It's a clean city. You won't find streets or really any areas that have been taken over by trash or encampments here. -Public services are really good. The libraries are really nice. Lots of parks and sports things to take advantage of (skateparks, tennis courts, soccer fields, etc). Plenty of trails through the hills as well. Post office is really efficient. As for the Con's: -Driving through San Ramon is actually a nightmare for no other reason than the traffic lights and terrible drivers. It's like their city planner decided on pure chaos when they engineered the traffic lights here. They somehow managed to make it so that you will hit every red light possible. You'll have a main road with a 50 mph speed limit, and it'll take you 20 minutes to drive 3 miles, because you'll spend 15 of those minutes stopped at a red light. The problem is that their lights both have zero communication with one another, and the side streets take priority over the main roads. Stopped at a red light at one intersection? Be prepared to stop at a red light 100 yards down the street. What's the point of a 50mph speed limit if you're just stop and go every block (looking at you here Bollinger Canyon Rd). Single car just pulled up from a side road? Boom, instant red light for the main road. The lights linger as red's for so long as well. It's super common to get stopped at a red light, notice that zero cars have moved for the last 15 seconds, think to yourself "why is this even a red light", wait 10 more seconds, and then finally one of the lights will turn green and a direction of traffic will move, but usually not yours. -For some reason San Ramon has these walking trails that cut through main roads of the city, so you'll have a main road with 50+ cars stopped for one pedestrian that has suddenly decided to cross the road. Like, your city is rich enough, just build a bridge for the pedestrians. For example, there's one of these a few blocks away from The Lot. Massive and busy downtown shopping area, and you're going to have a pedestrian trail stopping all traffic for one person walking. It's absolutely dumb, especially when there's both crosswalks for normal pedestrians to use at regular traffic lights just a few yards away, and there's already 3 regular traffic lights just between Alcosta Rd to The Lot. You don't need that extra one just for a trail. -The drivers here are bad. I've lived in the Bay Area nearly every year of my 34, and San Ramon has the worst of any city I've ever been in. A very solid portion of drivers here are afraid of the speed limit, and will drive 10 to 15 mph below it. Others are just actually bad, like lane changes without any care for who's next to them, stopping in the middle of the road, or they're glued to their phones. Here in San Ramon, you will definitely have a Tesla cut you off, brake check you, and drive 10 below the speed limit. In other cities, you'll maybe encounter someone like this on the road somewhat commonly, but here in San Ramon it's about 25% of the drivers. -So expensive. I get it, cause it's a very safe spot in the Bay Area, but housing and rentals should not be this much for what you get. Food and groceries run pricier than the norm too. -If you've got any sort of color to your skin, you're more than likely to run into some sort of racism at some point in this city. It's a very rich city with people who like to act rich, and it leans conservative. So be prepared for the microaggressions. And the Mid's -Restaurants are so middle of the road. Most of the restaurants are just okay, not good and not bad. There's Marugame Udon and a Philz. Hooray? Orient Express and MJ Sushi are some of the more hidden gems in terms of food here. A lot of the restaurants here are designed for people who think Chipotle is ethnic food, so take that for what you will. -Somewhat central Bay Area location is fine. San Jose is half an hour away. Oakland is 45 minutes. The City is about an hour away. Could be better, and could be lots worse. -Weather is fine. Way hotter than the rest of the Bay. But, it's the Bay Area and it's better than 90% of the rest of the country anyways so I can't complain much. In all, it's a decent spot in the Bay Area to live. Haven't minded it too much the last 3 years.

Small bridge on 2nd street. Allows traffic to go over san lorenzo creek…read more Park is below. Very near foothill Safeway. Stairs lead down to access under bridge.

The City of Mountain House, located in San Joaquin County is considered one of the most recently…read moreestablished and newest cities in the state of California. Driving through Mountain House, one of the things that stands out is the modernization of the area. You don't really find vintage businesses or historical sites, which hints that this area must of sprouted from vasts of rural land recently developed perhaps in the last few years. It certainly has great potential and opportunity for growth. The only surprise, which honestly shouldn't be, is the skyrocketing real estate prices on the recently built homes in this area. Other than that, it's a nice place to stop by on your way to Tracy.

if you like high prices, high taxes, sometimes high HOA charges, paying for schools to be built on…read moreevery single freaking corner, 5 dirty, smelly gas stations within less than 2 miles of each other no real industry, no business park (like TRIMARK promised), acres, and acres of apartments that choke the beautiful country horizon; which weren't a part of the original plan, and now high crimes & theft in our neighborhoods, by all means move to MH. I'm not surprised about the increase in thefts because when you build a 24 hour expensive Safeway w/a gas station there's bound to be crime just around the corner. My trigger is when the mountain house service department at the time decided to tow my brand new truck and trailer. MH was not a city until it became effective in July 2024. My trigger took place a month before that when I was towed from an area across the street from the park. There are no parking signs & no tow away signs. It's open to the public & people park there day and night walking their dogs running doing whatever they do but on this date when I was towed, I was told that the reason it was towed was because the street was owned by a HOA. The county sheriff condoned the whole incident via TELEPHONE between MH officials & the county sheriffs department. The county sheriffs department then backtracked when I confronted them and said they had nothing to do with it because it was a HOA thing. Well I was confused, because I've been here since 2006 & I hadn't realized that the public street sidewalk and grass area by the creek and park were owned by a HOA. I must've been confused about where my tax money was going and the number of public servants that run around mountain house and the park area in particular cleaning and working on it. And to boot the tow company took a picture of my vehicle and my trailer & not one sticker & not one citation was visible on either vehicle . Yet when I picked up my vehicle from the tow yard it was lit up like a Christmas tree with green stickers on every side, white citations on every side of the vehicle and the trailer. But the picture that they took looked like a trophy picture. I'd only had my vehicle there for 4 days. I was getting ready for a trip so I was cleaning and storing things in it. So, when they took the vehicles they actually took all my items with it; every expensive thing that I use when I travel. I've never been so violated in my life!!!! As I explained to the Sheriffs , that if the HOA indeed owned this street & adjacent sidewalks and it's private property then where are the sign postings. People shouldn't be confused about whether their vehicle has been stolen or even where it's been stored. There are laws about this . Again, the county sheriffs department washed their hands of it said we know nothing about that, "WE didn't do it". The wonderful thing about living in a neighborhood is that you want to feel safe and secure. When the policies and procedures start to turn on me, I feel immense distrust in the public servants of this community . The "lets make it up as we go, cover for one another, & make lots if money even if rules need to bend" policies and procedures just don't work for me. We simply don't share the same values . It's kind of like having cancer. I just don't appreciate being manipulated by predatory like businesses and lied to by public officials that get paid because I pay my taxes. I don't think I deserve this as I pay a lot of taxes to stay here. So, I've decided to lease my place & move elsewhere because having life, liberty, and happiness in my neighborhood means more to me than anything else!

The eyecatching and brightly painted watermelon is a nice rock to marvel as you drive along otis…read moredrive to get into Alameda. There's also a paved road right next to it you can meander near it as well for a closer look.

Review #700 The…read moreWatermelon Rock, or what I always called the Doolittle Watermelon, has been here for a long time. It's one of those things that, if you were a regular driver on Doolittle Drive (Highway 61) headed to Alameda, this thing always caught your eye, and consciously or unconsciously, you began to look for it. Well, now they have widened the road, and there's also a paved pedestrian path that allows you to run, walk, or bike past it. But, with the barrier that protects the path from vehicles, you can't see it when you're driving by anymore. Whoever painted this did a good job, but they also painted other fruit on rocks, but when they redid the road, only the watermelon rock survived and made the cut. I guess, technically, it's located in the Martin Luther King Regional Shoreline, which is 2 parks. This is some real original local flavor that's been here a long time!!

Do you remember Port Chicago? Port Chicago is an important part of US history and it's in the Bay…read moreArea. From the Port Chicago website " Largest Homeland Disaster during World War II. On the evening of July 17, 1944, residents in the San Francisco east bay area were jolted awake by a massive explosion that cracked windows and lit up the night sky. At Port Chicago Naval Magazine, 320 men were instantly killed when the munitions ships they were loading with ammunition for the Pacific theatre troops mysteriously blew up." Why should we remember Port Chicago? It's important to remember it helped the US win WW2. Men served our country Remembering the young sailors -they helped the desegregation of the Navy and help lead to the civil rights movement of the 1950s & 60s. Historic root of racial justice We visited Port Chicago on Sat 7/21/07 when they were doing the 63rd Anniversary of the Port Chicago Explosion that happened Jun 17, 1944. You need to make reservations to come here by calling: 925-838-0249 and there is a meeting spot where buses take you into Port Chicago. The bus took us to the Special Event. We got to hear from Martha Lee, Superintendent of the NPS, John Berger, Chaplain, US Navy (Ret.) gave Invocation & Benediction. Kathy Hoffman from Congressman George Miller's office talked, Dr. Robert Allen reflected on the port Chicago Tragedy, there were memories & stories from members of the audience, Friends of Port Chicago Rev. Diana McDaniel talked. Then we took the bus again to the commemorative site where a bagpiper played and a wreath was thrown into the water. Some plaques to read, part of a ship was left, and naval artillery shells were seen. Everyone should visit at least once if in the Bay Area.

Today I attended the yearly commemoration of the Port Chicago tragedy, organized at the National…read moreMemorial by the National Park Service. The memorial itself is a simple but solemn affair -- a small open area featuring granite tablets etched with the names of the victims, a few static displays of debris and ordnance, and an American flag snapping in the crisp shore breeze. It has to be one of the smallest National Parks in the country, but the austere nature of the Memorial invites contemplation of the bleak time in our nation's history that brought about such a catastrophe as the Port Chicago Explosion and the so-called Mutiny that followed. The effect on this event and its aftermath on the fledgling Civil Rights Movement cannot be discounted. Minus one star only because the Memorial is on an active military base, and visiting it requires arranging access ahead of time through the National Park Service. This impediment, I fear, greatly reduces the visitor traffic, and may thus threaten funding to maintain and even expand the Memorial.