Sunnyvale, California
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| City of Sunnyvale, California | |||
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| Country | United States | ||
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| State | California | ||
| County | Santa Clara | ||
| Government | |||
| - Mayor | Otto Lee | ||
| Area | |||
| - City | 22.6 sq mi (58.6 km²) | ||
| - Land | 21.5 sq mi (55.8 km²) | ||
| - Water | 0.7 sq mi (1.8 km²) | ||
| Population (2000) | |||
| - City | 131,760 | ||
| - Density | 6,005.4/sq mi (2,318.7/km²) | ||
| Time zone | PST (UTC-8) | ||
| - Summer (DST) | PDT (UTC-7) | ||
| Website: http://www.sunnyvale.ca.gov/ | |||
Sunnyvale ([sʌniveil]) is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. It is one of the major cities that make up the Silicon Valley. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 131,760.
The city is bordered by the San Francisco Bay to the north, Mountain View to the west, Santa Clara and San Jose to the east, and Cupertino to the south. It lies along the historic El Camino Real and Highway 101.
As part of the Silicon Valley, Sunnyvale is headquarters to several high-tech companies such as Juniper Networks, Palm, Inc., AMD, Network Appliance, Spansion, Yahoo!, and Ariba, Inc. Sunnyvale is also home to several aerospace/defense companies; Lockheed Martin has a major facility in Sunnyvale, and Honeywell, Northrop Grumman Mission Systems (located at the Hendy Iron Works Museum), and Spirent Communications also have offices in Sunnyvale. Sunnyvale is also the home to Onizuka Air Force Station (commonly called "the blue cube"), the only active military base in the San Francisco Bay Area. The base, named for the deceased Space Shuttle Challenger astronaut Ellison Onizuka, is the primary artificial satellite control facility of the United States armed forces.
Sunnyvale is one of the few U.S. cities to have a single unified Department of Public Safety, where all personnel are trained as firefighters and police officers, so they can respond to emergencies in either capacity.
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[edit] Geography
Sunnyvale is located at (37.368767, -122.037055)GR1.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 58.6 km² (22.6 mi²). 55.8 km² (21.9 mi²) of it is land and 1.8 km² (0.7 mi²) of it (3.05%) is water. The elevation is 130 feet above sea level.
[edit] History
When the Spanish first arrived in the 1770s at the Santa Clara Valley, it was heavily populated by the Ohlone. In 1777, Mission Santa Clara was built by Ohlone converts to Christianity.
In 1842, Rancho Pastoria de las Borregas was granted to Estrada and Inez Castro. Portions of the land given in this grant later developed into the cities of Mountain View and Sunnyvale. Two years later, in 1844, another land grant was provided to Lupe Yñigo, one of the few Native Americans to hold land grants. His land grant was first called Rancho Posolmi, named in honor of Posolmi village of the Ohlone that once stood in the area. Rancho Posolmi was later known as Rancho Ynigo.
In 1844, Martin Jr. and Mary Murphy left Missouri and traveled by wagon along the California Trail to successfully cross the Sierra Nevada. In 1850, Martin Murphy Jr. bought a piece of Rancho Pastoria de las Borregas for $12,500. Murphy established a wheat farm and Bay View. Murphy had the first frame house, which was shipped from New England, in Santa Clara County built. When he died in 1884, his land was divided among his heirs.
In 1860, The San Francisco and San Jose Railroad agreed to use Murphy Station and was allowed to lay tracks on Bay View. Lawrence Station was later established on the southern edge of Bay View.
In the 1870s, county property tax laws, imports and soil degradation caused wheat farming to become uneconomical in Santa Clara County. Small fruit orchards replaced the large wheat farms. In 1871, James and Eloise Dawson established the first fruit cannery in Santa Clara County. Fruit agriculture and canning soon became a major industry in the county. The invention of the refrigerated rail car further increased the viability of an economy based upon fruit. The fruit orchards become so prevalent that in 1886, the San Jose Board of Trade called Santa Clara County the "Garden of the World".
In the 1880s, Chinese workers made up 48% of the farm labor in Santa Clara County. This percentage reduced over time after the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed. In the following decade, the 1890s, multitudes of immigrants from Italy, the Azores, Portugal, and Japan arrived to work in the orchards.
In 1897, Walter Everett Crossman bought 200 acres (809,000 m²) and began selling real estate. He advertised the area as Beautiful Murphy. Later, in the 1900s, real estate developer Walter Crossman described it as "the City of Destiny".
Also in 1897, Encina school opened as the first school in Murphy. Previously, children in the town had to travel to Mountain View for school.
In 1901, the residents of Murphy were informed they could not use the names Encinal or Murphy for their post office. They decided to use the name Sunnyvale for the name of their town.
Sunnyvale continued to grow and in 1904, dried fruit production began. In 1906, Joshua Hendy Ironworks relocated from San Francisco to Sunnyvale after the company's building was destroyed by fire after the 1906 earthquake. The ironworks was the first non-agricultural industry in the town. Joshua Hendy Ironworks switched from producing mining equipment to other products such as marine steam engines. In this same year, Libby, McNeill & Libby, a Chicago meat-packing company, decided to open its first fruit packing factory in Sunnyvale. Today, a water tower painted to resemble the first Libby's fruit cocktail can label identifies the former site of the factory.
In 1912, the residents of Sunnyvale voted to incorporate, and Sunnyvale finally became an official city.
Fremont High School first opened in 1925. Prior to that it served as a military base; planes flying to/from Moffett field commonly stopped here for fuel top-offs. Fremont High School still has the old-style military buildings including a Quonset hut which is now the wrestling building.
In 1930, Congress decided to place the West Coast dirigible base in Sunnyvale. This naval airstation was later renamed Moffett Federal Airfield.
In 1939, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA, the forerunner of NASA) began research at Ames Laboratory.
During World War II, the war economy began a change from the fruit industry to the high-tech industry in Santa Clara County. Joshua Hendy Ironworks built marine steam engines, naval guns and rocket launchers to aid in the war effort. As the defense industry grew, a shortage of workers in the farm industry was created. Immigrants from Mexico came to Sunnyvale to fill this void of workers.
Following the war, the fruit orchards and sweetcorn farms were cleared to build homes, factories and offices. In 1956, the aircraft manufacturer Lockheed moved its headquarters to Sunnyvale. In 1969, AMD was founded and based in Sunnyvale.
In 2003 most of the few remaining orchards owned by C.J. Olson were demolished for a shopping center including a Borders, Starbucks Coffee, and an EB Games. The last bit of commercial orchard in Sunnyvale, located next to Las Palmas park, is scheduled to be replaced with homes and shops.
In 2005, work began on demolition of the Sunnyvale Town Center Mall. The enclosed mall, built in the 1970s, was slated to be replaced by a mixed-use shopping and residential development somewhat akin to Santana Row in San Jose and expected to define "downtown" for Sunnyvale. The project stalled in 2006, however. In 2007, the City Council approved the transfer of the project and the property to a new developer, with work expected to resume later in the year. The two anchor stores (Macy's and Target) at either end of the old mall are still open for business. In addition, there is an adjacent one-block-long traditional downtown area on S. Murphy Avenue (between Evelyn and Washington) with restaurants and stores.
[edit] Demographics
As of the censusGR2 of 2000, there were 131,760 people, 52,539 households, and 32,679 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,318.7/km² (6,006.5/mi²). There are 53,753 housing units at an average density of 946.0 persons/km² (2,450.4 persons/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 53.27% White, 2.22% African American, 0.46% Native American, 32.27% Asian, 0.32% Pacific Islander, 7.19% from other races, and 4.25% from two or more races. 15.48% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There were 52,539 households out of which 27.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.0% were married couples living together, 8.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.8% were non-families. 27.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.49 and the average family size was 3.06.
In the city the population was spread out with 20.4% under the age of 18, 7.7% from 18 to 24, 41.3% from 25 to 44, 19.9% from 45 to 64, and 10.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 105.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 106.5 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $74,409, and the median income for a family was $81,634. Males had a median income of $65,165 versus $43,051 for females. The per capita income for the city was $36,524. About 3.7% of families and 5.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.5% of those under age 18 and 5.2% of those age 65 or over.
[edit] Crime
Sunnyvale is primarily known for being one of the top safest cities.
[edit] Transportation
Sunnyvale is served by the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (both light rail and buses) and the Caltrain commuter rail. The CA-85, US-101, CA-237, and I-280 freeways run through the city. A segment of California State Route 82 runs through the center of the city, following the path of historic El Camino Real. Sunnyvale has also been listed by the League of American Bicyclists as a Bicycle Friendly Community at the bronze level, having multiple on-street and off-street bike lanes, bicycle-activated traffic signals, and bicycle accommodations on both VTA and Caltrain. The Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee advises the city council on the continued development of the bicycle plan for the city.
For commercial passenger air travel, Sunnyvale is well served by three nearby international airports. The closest, Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC) is only a 9.5mi drive from downtown Sunnyvale, or 13min by car. It is also accessible by Caltrain, VTA light rail and VTA bus (with both the Caltrain and Light Rail stations requiring transfer to a free shuttle bus to get to the airport terminal). The next closest is San Francisco International Airport (SFO), which is 27.7mi or 30min by car. SFO is also transit accessible by taking Caltrain and switching to Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) at the Milbrae station. The farthest airport still within the Bay Area is Metropolitan Oakland International Airport (OAK), which is 37.5mi or 41min by car. Access to Oakland airport by public transit is possible but would involve multiple transfers. All above drive time estimates were calculated using Google Maps.
[edit] Facts and trivia
- Sunnyvale is a subject of interest for Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel fans, as "Sunnydale" is the name of the show's fictional town. One of the show's authors even created a faux website that gave Sunnydale the same ZIP Code as Sunnyvale.
- The rest home featured in The Twilight Zone episode "Kick the Can" (and the remake in the second segment of Twilight Zone: The Movie) was named "Sunnyvale Rest Home."
- A long standing legend of Sunnyvale is of a ghost that haunts the town's Toys 'R' Us store.
- Teri Hatcher (actress on Desperate Housewives and Lois and Clark TV show) was born and raised in Sunnyvale. She attended Sunnyvale Middle School and Fremont High School.
- Brian Boitano (Olympic figure skater) is from Sunnyvale.
- Sunnyvale is ranked as the 18th safest city in the US, according to the Morgan Quitno Awards.
- On May 4, 1998, Sunnyvale was hit by a freak F2 tornado, causing significant property damage. In addition to being one of few tornadoes to touch down in the San Francisco Bay Area -- much less in a populated area -- it was atypical in that it exhibited anticyclonic rotation.
- Eve, a character from the movie Life-Size is said to have come from a Sunnyvale, though it is in the center of the country.
- The first PONG machine was installed in Sunnyvale, in a bar named Andy Capps. The bar is now a comedy club called Rooster T. Feathers.
- In the 1980s movie WarGames, the game company Protovision is located in Sunnyvale, as well as NORAD's space division.
- 2006 Nobel Laureate in medicine Dr. Andrew Fire grew up in Sunnyvale, where he attended Fremont High School, Mango Junior High School (now Sunnyvale Middle School), and Hollenbeck Elementary School (now Challenger Private School).
- In the movie, Butterfly Effect, "Sunnyvale" is the name of the Mental Institution which Ashton Kutcher attends.
- Trailer Park Boys is a popular Canadian mockumentary television series focusing on the misadventures of ex-convicts living in fictional Sunnyvale Trailer Park.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Sunnyvale travel guide from Wikitravel
- City of Sunnyvale
- The Sunnyvale Collection - a timeline of local area history
- The King's Academy
- El Camino Hospital Health Library & Resource Center
- Maps and aerial photos
- Street map from Google Maps, or Yahoo! Maps, or Windows Live Local
- Satellite image from Google Maps, Windows Live Local, WikiMapia
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
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Santa Clara County, California County Seat: San Jose |
|---|---|
| Incorporated places |
Campbell • Cupertino • Gilroy • Los Altos • Los Altos Hills • Los Gatos • Milpitas • Monte Sereno • Morgan Hill • Mountain View • Palo Alto • San Jose • Santa Clara • Saratoga • Sunnyvale |
| CDPs |
Alum Rock • Buena Vista • Burbank • East Foothills • Fruitdale • Lexington Hills • Loyola • San Martin • Seven Trees • Stanford • Sunol-Midtown |
| Other unincorporated communities |
Bell Station • Casa Loma • Chemeketa Park • Holy City • Loma Chiquita • Redwood Estates • Rucker • San Antonio • Sargent • Sveadal |
