Jensen tract homeowners celebrate 50 years Jensen tract homeowners celebrate 50 years (July 30, 2004)

Community thrives as new generations join the old
by Jeb Bing

More than 100 current and former residents of the Jensen tract turned out for a 50th anniversary celebration of the neighborhood's development, including 11 homeowners who bought their houses when they were built, starting in 1954.

Houses in the development, which is across Santa Rita Road from Amador Valley High School, were built by Roy Jensen, a Livermore builder, and marked the first planned community in Pleasanton. Many at Sunday's street party included children and grandchildren of the first homeowners who now also live in the neighborhood.

Jim Wright, a retired state trooper, and his wife Priscilla raised their two children in the three-bedroom home on Jensen Street where they still live. Although not an original homeowner, Wright grew up in Pleasanton, attending the old Pleasanton elementary school and graduating from Amador in 1964 in a senior class that numbered 168 students. After joining the highway patrol, Wright married and the couple bought their home in 1973. He chaired the neighborhood gathering, an event now in its seventh year.

At the party, Dora Mae Nairn talked about life in the Jensen tract, where she and her late husband Don moved into their new three-bedroom, one-bathroom home 50 years ago, where she still lives.

"Don and I raised our four children here," she said. "We had pigs and lambs in our back yard, Santa Rita was a two-lane street, and we used to ride our bikes as a family down Hopyard Road and across old Highway 50, long before it was rebuilt as Interstate 580."

Al Mitchell, who retired 19 years ago after 34 years in administration and law enforcement positions with the Alameda County Sheriff's office, still lives in his three-bedroom, one-bath home, which was a 1,001-square-foot dwelling on a 63x97-foot lot.

"The only thing that changed is that we added a 400-square-foot family room behind the garage," Mitchell said.

"My wife Marilyn, who passed away in 1995, and I had one son when we moved here in 1954, and added two daughters shortly after," Mitchell said. "We never had a problem with the single bathroom or house, which may be small by today's standards, but suited us just fine."

Wright said he and his wife started the annual summertime party to give everyone in the neighborhood a chance to meet newcomers and for those who have since moved out to come back and celebrate their days in the Jensen tract.

"What's exciting about this old neighborhood is that we have second- and third-generation homeowners living here, which keeps us all young and active," he said. "After all, it can't get much better than this with the kids able to walk to Alisal school right here in the neighborhood, and within walking distance of Harvest Park Middle School, and then just across Santa Rita for their four years of high school at Amador. That's real neighborhood living!"

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