El Cerrito (formerly,
Rust and
County Line) is a
cityA city is a relatively large and permanent settlement, particularly a large urban settlement. Although there is no agreement on technical definitions distinguishing a city from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status...
in
Contra Costa CountyContra Costa County is a primarily suburban county in the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2006, the US Census Bureau estimated it had a population of 1,024,319...
,
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
,
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The population was 23,171 at the time of the 2000 census. The city is at an elevation of 69 feet (21 m).
History
El Cerrito was founded by refugees from the
1906 San Francisco earthquakeThe San Francisco earthquake of 1906 was a major earthquake that struck San Francisco, CA and the coast of Northern California at 5:12 A.M. on Wednesday, April 18, 1906. The most widely accepted estimate for the magnitude of the earthquake is a moment magnitude of 7.8; however, other values have...
. They settled in what was then Don
Víctor CastroVíctor Ramón Castro was a landowner in an area of Alta California which later became part of Contra Costa County, California.-Life:...
's
Rancho San PabloRancho San Pablo was a land grant in present day Contra Costa County, California given in 1823 by Governor Luís Antonio Argüello to Francisco María Castro , a former soldier at the San Francisco Presidio and one-time alcalde of the Pueblo of San José. The grant was reconfirmed by Governor José...
, and adjacent to the ranch owned by the family of
Luís María PeraltaLuís María Peralta was a soldier in the Spanish Army, who received one of the largest of the Spanish land grants, Rancho San Antonio, a plot that encompassed most of the East Bay region of California.-Biography:...
, the Rancho San Antonio. The settlers called their refugee camp Rust, which later became a village. In 1917 it was eventually incorporated with 1,500 residents. The village's residents did not care for the name and later changed it to El Cerrito.
A post office opened at Rust in 1909; the name was changed to El Cerrito in 1916. Rust was named after William R. Rust, its first postmaster.
Geography
According to the
United States Census BureauThe United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data. As part of the United States Department of Commerce, the Census Bureau serves as the leading source of quality data about...
, the city has a total area of 3.7 square miles (9.5 km²), all of it land.
El Cerrito is bordered by
AlbanyAlbany is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. The population was 16,447 at the 2000 census.-History:...
and
KensingtonKensington is an unincorporated community and census-designated place located in the East Bay, part of the San Francisco Bay Area, in Contra Costa County, California, United States. The population was 4,936 at the 2000 census.- Law and government :Kensington is an unincorporated area of Contra...
to the south, the Richmond annex to the west,
East Richmond HeightsEast Richmond Heights is an unincorporated community in western Contra Costa County, California, United States. The community is sometimes referred to as Richmond View, especially in the context of real estate advertisements...
to the north, and
Wildcat Canyon Regional ParkWildcat Canyon Regional Park is a East Bay Regional Parks District park located within the city limits of Richmond in Contra Costa County in the San Francisco Bay Area of California...
to the east. Local landmark
Albany HillAlbany Hill is a prominent hill along the east shore of San Francisco Bay in the city of Albany, California.Its indigenous Ohlone name is unknown. It was named Cerrito de San Antonio by the Luís María Peralta family after the name of their ranch, Rancho San Antonio, a Spanish land grant which...
is in Albany, just across the border with El Cerrito. (El Cerrito -- Spanish, "little hill" -- takes its name from Albany Hill.) The Hayward Fault runs through El Cerrito. In addition, El Cerrito is within 150 meters (500 ft) of
BerkeleyBerkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
to the southeast.
El Cerrito is approximately from the
University of CaliforniaThe University of California is a public university system in the state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University system...
Berkeley
campusA campus is traditionally the land on which a college or university and related institutional buildings are situated. Usually a campus includes libraries, lecture halls, residence halls and park-like settings...
and it has two BART (Bay Area
rapid transitA rapid transit, metro, subway, underground, or elevated railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with high capacity and frequency, and which is grade separated from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically either in underground tunnels or elevated above street level...
) stations:
El Cerrito del NorteEl Cerrito del Norte, often shortened to simply del Norte BART, is one of two BART stations in El Cerrito, California, just east of the Cutting Boulevard interchange of Interstate 80. As the name suggests, it serves the northern portion of El Cerrito...
and El Cerrito Plaza.
Places
El Cerrito PlazaEl Cerrito Plaza is a shopping center in El Cerrito, California, a suburb in the San Francisco Bay Area.El Cerrito Plaza is located across the street from the El Cerrito Plaza BART station....
is the largest shopping center in the city; containing grocery stores, several restaurants, a chain bookstore, chain pet store, chain housewares store, and pharmacy in addition to many shops and boutiques. The shopping center is surrounded by other commercial and shopping businesses along San Pablo Avenue and Fairmount Avenue respectively, including fast food and an ACE Hardware store. The Cerrito Theater, which for years was a furniture store, has been restored into a hybrid restaurant/movie theatre. The vintage restored Cerrito Theater signs remain; this theatre has become a big hit in the Bay Area and has been featured in many local newspapers to rave reviews. The Cerrito has recently opened under new management, Rialto Cinemas. The Guitar Center, also located on San Pablo Avenue, is well-known among the Bay Area music scene.
El Cerrito has an array of recreational parks. Most notable are the 80-acre Hillside Natural Area open space, Huber Park (Terrace Drive), Cerrito Vista Park (Moeser Lane and Pomona Avenue), and Arlington Park (Arlington Boulevard), Tassajara Park (Tassajara Avenue and Barrett Avenue), Poinsett Park (Poinsett Avenue), and the Canyon Trail Park and Art Center (Gatto Avenue). The City is also well known for the Ohlone Greenway, a landscaped trail that runs the length of the City along the BART right-of-way and is popular with walkers, runners, and bicyclists.
Nation's Giant HamburgersNation's Giant Hamburgers, or simply Nation's, is a privately-held El Cerrito, California-based fast food diner chain.The chain, founded in 1952, largely operates in the San Francisco Bay Area...
is headquartered along San Pablo Avenue in central El Cerrito.
Demographics
As of the
censusA "census" is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population.In other words every 10 years...next one would be in 2010 The term is used mostly in connection with...
of 2000, there were 23,171 people, 10,208 households, and 5,971 families residing in the city. The
population densityPopulation density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans. It is a key term used in geography....
was 6,356.5 people per square mile (2,451.1/km²). There were 10,462 housing units at an average density of 2,870.1/sq mi (1,106.7/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 57.79%
WhiteRace and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the United States Census Bureau and the Federal Office of Management and Budget , are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, 8.54%
BlackRace and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the United States Census Bureau and the Federal Office of Management and Budget , are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
or
African AmericanRace and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the United States Census Bureau and the Federal Office of Management and Budget , are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, 0.50%
Native AmericanRace and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the United States Census Bureau and the Federal Office of Management and Budget , are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, 24.38%
AsianRace and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the United States Census Bureau and the Federal Office of Management and Budget , are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, 0.25%
Pacific IslanderRace and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the United States Census Bureau and the Federal Office of Management and Budget , are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, 3.06% from
other racesRace and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the United States Census Bureau and the Federal Office of Management and Budget , are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 5.48% from two or more races. 7.93% of the population were
HispanicRace and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the United States Census Bureau and the Federal Office of Management and Budget , are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
or
LatinoRace and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the United States Census Bureau and the Federal Office of Management and Budget , are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
of any race.
There were 10,208 households out of which 20.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.4% were
married couplesMarriage is a social union or legal contract between individuals that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged by a variety of ways, depending on the culture or demographic...
living together, 9.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.5% were non-families. 30.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.25 and the average family size was 2.81.
In the city the population was spread out with 15.9% under the age of 18, 6.7% from 18 to 24, 31.2% from 25 to 44, 25.7% from 45 to 64, and 20.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females there were 89.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.6 males.
The median
incomeIncome is the consumption and savings opportunity gained by an entity within a specified time frame, which is generally expressed in monetary terms. However, for households and individuals, "income is the sum of all the wages, salaries, profits, interests payments, rents and other forms of earnings...
for a household in the city was $57,253, and the median income for a family was $69,397 (these figures had risen to $77,650 and $97,488 respectively as of a 2007 estimate). Males had a median income of $50,316 versus $40,866 for females. The
per capita incomePer capita income means how much each individual receives, in monetary terms, of the yearly income generated in the country. This is what each citizen is to receive if the yearly national income is divided equally among everyone. Per capita income is usually reported in units of currency per year...
for the city was $32,593. About 3.5% of families and 6.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.9% of those under age 18 and 3.9% of those age 65 or over.
At home the percentages of the languages residents speak are English 70.47%, Spanish 6.26%, Chinese 5.96%, Japanese 2.70%, Mandarin 1.80%, Cantonese 1.57%,
PersianPersian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is widely spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and to some extent in Iraq and Bahrain, and has a status of official language in the first three countries under different names...
1.43%, Tagalog 1.30%, Korean 1.08%, French 0.90%, German 0.83%, Formosan 0.73%, Italian 0.66%, Vietnamese 0.57%, Urdu 0.50%, and 3.23% of people spoke some other language which represented less than 0.50% of the population.
Notable people
Founders of the
rock and rollRock and roll is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States after World War II in the late 1940s, from a combination of the rhythms of the blues, from the African American culture, and from America's country music and gospel music scenes...
band
Creedence Clearwater RevivalCreedence Clearwater Revival was an American rock band that gained popularity in the late 1960s and early 1970s with a number of successful singles drawn from various albums....
,
John FogertyJohn Cameron Fogerty is an American rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist, best known for his time with the swamp rock/roots rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival and as a #1 solo recording artist. He was born in Berkeley, California and is the younger brother of Tom Fogerty...
and
Tom FogertyThomas Richard Fogerty was a musician best known as the guitarist in Creedence Clearwater Revival and the elder brother of John Fogerty, the lead singer and guitar player in that band.-Career:Tom Fogerty began playing rock and roll in high school, just as his brother, John Fogerty did...
, grew up in El Cerrito. The band reunited to play their last concert at an El Cerrito High School reunion at Golden Gate Fields in Albany.
The Bay Area tenure of
MetallicaMetallica is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1981. Founded when drummer Lars Ulrich posted an advertisement in a local newspaper, Metallica's line-up has primarily consisted of Ulrich, rhythm guitarist and vocalist James Hetfield, and lead guitarist Kirk...
started out in El Cerrito.
Drew GoodenAndrew Melvin "Drew" Gooden is an American professional basketball player with the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA. Gooden is a 6'10", 250 lbs...
, who plays forward for the
San Antonio SpursThe San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio, Texas. They play in the National Basketball Association ....
, also went to El Cerrito High School. During his tenure, the basketball team went to, and lost, in the state basketball final.
- Thomas Pridgen
Thomas Armon Pridgen is the current drummer for The Mars Volta.-Biography:Pridgen won the Guitar Center Drum-Off at age 9 and at age 10 was the youngest recipient for a Zildjian endorsement in the nearly 400 year history of the company. Thomas has studied with David Garibaldi, Walfredo Reyes Jr,...
, current drummer for the band The Mars VoltaThe Mars Volta is an American Grammy Award-winning rock band from El Paso, Texas, formed in 2001 and currently based out of Mexico. Founded by guitarist Omar Rodríguez-López and vocalist Cedric Bixler-Zavala, the band incorporates various influences including progressive rock, experimental rock,...
.
- Les Blank
Les Blank is an American documentary filmmaker best known for his portraits of American traditional musicians....
, documentary filmmaker (born 1935)
- Chris Strachwitz
Christian Alexander Maria, Graf Strachwitz von Gross-Zauche und Camminetz , is the founder and president of Arhoolie Records, which he established in 1960...
, founder of Arhoolie records.
- John Fogerty
John Cameron Fogerty is an American rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist, best known for his time with the swamp rock/roots rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival and as a #1 solo recording artist. He was born in Berkeley, California and is the younger brother of Tom Fogerty...
, and Tom FogertyThomas Richard Fogerty was a musician best known as the guitarist in Creedence Clearwater Revival and the elder brother of John Fogerty, the lead singer and guitar player in that band.-Career:Tom Fogerty began playing rock and roll in high school, just as his brother, John Fogerty did...
, musicians from the band Creedence Clearwater RevivalCreedence Clearwater Revival was an American rock band that gained popularity in the late 1960s and early 1970s with a number of successful singles drawn from various albums....
.
- Larissa Kelly
Larissa Kelly is a Jeopardy! contestant who resides in El Cerrito, California. During her regular run on Jeopardy!, she won a total of $222,597 over seven games, with her last appearance airing May 28, 2008...
, all-time female Jeopardy!Jeopardy! is an American quiz show featuring trivia in topics such as history, literature, the arts, pop culture, and science. The show has a unique answer-and-question format in which contestants are presented with clues in the form of answers, and must phrase their responses in question form.The...
champion
- Matt Young
Matthew John Young is a former American Major League baseball player. Young played for a variety of teams over his career, and is best known for his unofficial no-hitter against the Cleveland Indians while a member of the Boston Red Sox....
, former American Major LeagueMajor League Baseball is the highest level of play in North American professional baseball. Specifically, Major League Baseball refers to the organization that operates the National League and the American League, by means of a joint organizational structure that has developed gradually between...
baseballBaseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The goal is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot square, or diamond...
player
- Ernie Broglio
Ernest Gilbert Broglio was a right-handed pitcher in American Major League Baseball from 1959-66. Broglio signed with the independent Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast League after he attended West Contra Costa Junior College. He was acquired by the New York Giants in 1956...
former major league baseball player
- Pumpsie Green
Elijah Jerry Green is a former Major League Baseball backup infielder who played with the Boston Red Sox and New York Mets...
first African American to play for the Boston Red Sox
- Dr. Wil Burns, Editor in Chief, Journal of International Wildlife Law & Policy
- John C. Dvorak
John C. Dvorak is an American columnist and broadcaster in the areas of technology and computing. His writing extends back to the 1980s, when he was a mainstay of a variety of magazines. Dvorak is also the Vice-President of Mevio and well known for his work for Tech TV.-Personal life and...
, technology journalist
Schools in El Cerrito
- Keystone Montessori School
- Montessori Community School
- Castro Elementary School
- Fairmont Elementary School
- Harding Elementary School
- Madera Elementary School
- Portola Junior High School
- Prospect Sierra School
- St. Jerome Catholic School
- St. John The Baptist
- Tehiyah Day School
Tehiyah Day School is a non-denominational Kindergarten through 8th Grade Jewish day school in El Cerrito, California.-History:Tehiyah was founded in 1979 by a small group of parents who were interested in providing a pluralistic Jewish education for their children. The school has since grown from...
- Windrush School
- El Cerrito High School
El Cerrito High School is a public school in the West Contra Costa Unified School District. It is located at 540 Ashbury Avenue, El Cerrito, California 94530-Overview:The main school building was built in the late 1930s as a WPA project...
External links