Pleasanton, California

City of Pleasanton
City
Pleasanton sign on Main Street
Seal
Motto: The City of Planned Progress
Location of Pleasanton within Alameda County, California.
City of Pleasanton Location in the United States
Coordinates: 37°39′45″N 121°52′29″W / 37.66250°N 121.87472°W / 37.66250; -121.87472Coordinates: 37°39′45″N 121°52′29″W / 37.66250°N 121.87472°W / 37.66250; -121.87472
Country	United States
State	California
County	Alameda
Incorporated	June 18, 1894
Government
• Type	Council–manager
• Mayor	Jerry Thorne
• State Senate	Steve Glazer (D)
• State Assembly	Catharine Baker (R)
• U.S. Congress	Eric Swalwell (D)
Area
• Total	24.266 sq mi (62.847 km2)
• Land	24.113 sq mi (62.452 km2)
• Water	0.153 sq mi (0.395 km2)  0.63%
Elevation	351 ft (107 m)
Population (2010 census)
• Total	70,285
• Estimate (January 1, 2016)	74,982
• Density	2,900/sq mi (1,100/km2)
Time zone	PST (UTC-8)
• Summer (DST)	PDT (UTC-7)
ZIP codes	94566, 94568, 94588
Area code(s)	925
FIPS code	06-57792
GNIS feature IDs	277578, 2411441
Website	www.cityofpleasantonca.gov

Pleasanton is an affluent city in Alameda County, California, incorporated in 1894. It is a suburb in the San Francisco Bay Area located about 25 miles (40 km) east of Oakland, and 6 miles (9.7 km) west of Livermore. The population was 70,285 at the 2010 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, Inc. and Blackhawk Network. Although Oakland is the Alameda County seat, a few county offices and a courthouse are located in Pleasanton. Additionally, the main county jail is in the neighboring city of Dublin. The Alameda County Fairgrounds 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 is located on the west side of town.

Pleasanton is reported being number 4 by USA Today in "America's 50 best cities to live in" in 2014, number 63 in Money's list of "The Best Places to Live" in 2010, and was also named one of "Americans' Top Hometown Spots" in the United States in 2009 by Forbes.

Pleasanton was named the third wealthiest city in terms of earnings in the United States by NerdWallet in 2013.

Before the establishment of Pleasanton, in the 1850s, an earlier settlement, called Alisal was there. It was located on the lands of the Rancho Santa Rita near the site of an Indian ranchera, around the Francisco Solano Alviso Adobe, 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. Alisal, nicknamed "The Most Desperate Town in the West", was one of the settlements located along La Vereda del Monte that was a haunt and refuge of bandits and desperados in the era following the beginning of the California Gold Rush. Main Street shootouts were not uncommon. Banditos such as Claudio Feliz and Joaquin Murrieta would ambush prospectors on their way back from the gold rush fields and then seek refuge in Alisal. In the 1860s Procopio, Narciso Bojorques and others took refuge there.