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The Pleasanton Weekly, Livermore Vine and DanvilleSanRamon.com are embarking on a cover story series in 2025 examining the downtowns throughout the Tri-Valley. Our project moseys south this week with reporter Christian Trujano’s reflections on rustic downtown Sunol.
For many Tri-Valley commuters, signage showing the entrance for downtown Sunol might be the only thing they ever see of the rural town as many wait in notorious Highway 84 traffic. (Photo by Christian Trujano) 
A group of friends from both Benicia and Escondido, California walk through downtown Sunol on July 24 and explore the area for the first time after hearing it was a “cute little town,” as one put it. (Photo by Christian Trujano) 
Longtime downtown Sunol resident Andrew Turnbull goes over the history of some of the vacant buildings on Main Street. (Photo by Christian Trujano) 
Two Sunol Glen Students who live across the street from the school near downtown Sunol ride through Main Street after getting coffee and drinks from the new coffee truck. (Photo by Christian Trujano) 
Located toward the west end of downtown Sunol is the Cerny Building, which used to house the town’s sole restaurant — Bosco’s Roadhouse. The restaurant and bar closed near the beginning of this year due to issues with past management, according to the owner of the building. (Photo by Christian Trujano) 
Sunol Glen School is considered by many as the focal point of downtown as it has sat near the easternmost end of downtown for a century and has served not only as a kindergarten through eight grade school, but also as a community gathering space. (Photo by Chuck Deckert) 
Dozens of Sunol Glen Students walk with their parents or walk toward their parents who are parked along Main Street after school is out on Aug. 8. 
Hundreds of Sunol residents, school alumni, Sunol Glen families and other community members take part in a parade down Main Street on April 26 that was part of a larger celebration that day to commemorate the school’s centennial anniversary. (Photo by Chuck Deckert) 
The parade, which saw hundreds fill downtown Sunol, featured themed floats as a creative throwback to Sunol’s historical bed races from the past. (Photo by Chuck Deckert) 
Michael Miller, president of the Sunol Business Guild and owner of various properties along Main Street, poses for a photo inside the Sunol Country Store, a convenience store which he owns, on July 24. (Photo by Christian Trujano) 
Sunol’s Casa Bella Event Center is another main attraction for visitors looking for a wedding location or any other general event space. (Photo by Christian Trujano) 
Sunol Glen School students and parents gather in front of JJLand Sunol, a gift store and general convenience store, after school is out on Aug. 8 to get some after school snacks. (Photo by Christian Trujano)
An endless landscape of wilderness, rustic buildings that appear to be frozen in time and only one school with just over 200 students are some of the many quintessential traits that make up the quaint community of Sunol.
While many in the Bay Area might simply recognize the small town as a way to cut through traffic during commute hours, what they may not know is that Sunol has its own hidden downtown steeped in history and rural modernity.
Centered on the small Main Street, the full downtown Sunol spans a half mile between the Niles Canyon Road and Highway 84 on- and off-ramps and the Highway 84 and Pleasanton Sunol Road intersection marked by the Sunol Corners Market and adjacent Sunol Water Temple.
And despite Sunol differing significantly from other downtowns in the Tri-Valley, many of the residents see a certain magic in the area.
“A downtown area is defined by buildings and commerce,” Connie DeGrange, a 45-year resident who coauthored a book on the town’s history, told the Pleasanton Weekly. “(Downtown Sunol) is not what it was and not what it could be, but the town of Sunol is very much as vibrant as ever. It’s almost (dependent) on how you perceive vitality.”
From constructing critical infrastructure such as new sidewalks to finding ways to attracting new businesses, many Sunolians said they are ready to embrace changes that would improve the vitality of the rural community — with the caveat that the essence of their rustic, small town is maintained.
“One of the things that we’re working on is becoming the gateway to Livermore Valley,” Michael Miller, president of the Sunol Business Guild and owner of various properties along Main Street, told the Weekly.
Where the past meets the present
Located in an unincorporated area of Alameda County right off Interstate 680 south of Pleasanton, the town of Sunol spans across roughly 86 miles — making it about the same size as the city of San Francisco.
Unlike San Francisco, most of the land in Sunol is undeveloped open space, so while the geographical area considered Sunol is vast, the population is relatively small at roughly 920 residents.
But according to Andrew Turnbull, a longtime resident who has lived across the street from Sunol Glen School since 1999, the number of people doesn’t matter as much given that Sunol has one of the highest incomes per capita, which makes the quality of life and well-being of its residents particularly important for the county, given how much they pay in taxes. The median household income in Sunol is estimated at $182,250, with the average home being valued at about $1.5 million, according to data from the most recent U.S. census compiled by the Census Reporter website.
However, it wasn’t always the affluent community it is today.
The area of Sunol was originally inhabited by the Ohlone tribe of Native Americans, before Spanish settlers arrived. According to DeGrange’s book, “A Place Called Sunol”, by the mid-1800s one of the sons of Antonio Maria Sunol and Maria Bernal Sunol — who owned thousands of acres in Sunol — built buildings to support ranching near what is the present-day Sunol Water Temple.
That’s when the “disappointed gold miners settled as farmers”, marking the beginning of the town’s creation, DeGrange said.
But it wasn’t until after the iconic train station was built in Sunol in 1869 that the rural community really began to grow thanks to the easier access to cities like San Jose and families vacationing in the area.
Then, by the turn of the 20th century, Sunol — and in particular the vitality of Main Street — saw a new era of both economic and social vibrancy.
At one point, downtown Sunol consisted of four hotels, three grocery stores, a meat market, a cafe, multiple gas stations, two barber shops and a pair of restaurants. And the town only continued to grow as more people began moving to Sunol following World War II, DeGrange said.
Over the mid-to-late 1900s, downtown Sunol experienced a vibrant period of vitality with hundreds of motorcyclists being drawn to the biker bars and the trains continuing to bring in visitors. The town expanded even more following the construction of Sunol Glen School in 1925.
However, downtown Sunol began changing over the 20th century. Multiple fires, including three separate fires that destroyed seven businesses and a home on Main Street in the late ’80s, changed the downtown’s landscape considerably. The construction of highways such as I-680 also made the use of railroads mostly unnecessary.
That’s why, from the late-1900s up until now, the rural community has seen fewer and fewer visitors, with the exception of the occasional influx of cyclists, avid hikers and tourists who take the Niles Canyon Railway train from Sunol to Fremont (or the other way around).
The historic diesel — and sometimes steam — trains primarily depart from the Sunol station, which sits at the entrance to downtown Sunol.
But downtown Sunol’s vitality can’t be sustained by one sole attraction — despite the draw the train gets every year for its holiday “Train of Lights” rides that illuminate the entire canyon.
Jim O’Laughlin, who has lived for nearly 50 years in the house that his parents first bought in the late-1930s, said the area is more of a stopping point than a town these days.
“In a sense, the downtown is pretty dead,” O’Laughlin lamented.
The exception, however, can be observed on a given school day where, for the span of a couple of hours during the afternoon, Main Street in Sunol is packed with cars parked along the road and people walking down the street to pick up their kids.
But it is fleeting, as those parents either leave immediately or stop by one of the two convenience stores for a snack before heading home. And while the traffic lingers for another hour or so, the rural downtown once again turns quiet.
Small-town charm
Starting from the most eastern point of the downtown strip, one can visit the Sunol Corners market, which sells anything from spicy sausage links to fresh coconuts.
O’Laughlin also said once the county completes its upgrades to the adjacent water temple, he sees that becoming another attraction for tourists and other Tri-Valley residents.
The temple, located on the Alameda Watershed, marks the “confluence of three sources of water flowing into the Sunol Valley of southern Alameda County”, according to the San Francisco Water Power Sewer website. The county has been constructing a new Alameda Creek Watershed Center and restoring the temple grounds since March 2020 — construction is expected to be completed in late 2025, according to a sign posted in front of the temple.
Heading west into the main strip of Main Street, downtown visitors are met with the historic school. For many the campus is a focal point for the downtown’s overall vitality.
Shay Galletti, Sunol Glen’s dual principal and superintendent, told the Weekly that she sees the school as the “heart of our community and a gathering place for residents of all ages”.
“Beyond serving our students, the campus hosts community events, 4-H meetings, Sunol Citizens Advisory Council meetings and Sunol Repertory Theatre productions, making it a hub for connection and tradition,” Galletti said. “Our school’s presence in downtown reflects the close-knit nature of Sunol, where education, the arts, civic engagement and community life come together in one welcoming space.”
But once you pass the school, it might be easy to dismiss anything else after noticing the rest of Main Street is mostly occupied by a handful of homes and empty buildings.
“It’s changed a lot … but on the other hand it really hasn’t changed,” O’Laughlin said in regards to many of the old buildings scattered throughout downtown.
Unlike other Tri-Valley communities that are incorporating residential developments in their downtowns, any major housing projects are virtually out of the question for this particular downtown. Turnbull explained how not only do Sunol residents prefer things mostly as is, but they also stay in their homes for most of their lives and typically pass their homes to family members.
Turnbull said a new family that moved to Sunol last December with their sons were lucky because the previous owner of their home liked the fact their children already attended Sunol Glen.
Having those new kids play along Main Street and ride their bikes through the area is a big deal for Turnbull, as it brings a different sense of energy to the neighborhood.
But a major puzzle piece to improving the vibrancy of the entire downtown continues to be the lack of businesses.
One notable business that recently closed was Bosco’s Roadhouse, a restaurant located toward the most western point of Main Street. Recognizable by its two-story building that looks like it came straight out of a cowboy movie and by being named after Sunol’s only mayor — a dog — the restaurant had long been a destination for Sunolians and Tri-Valley residents at-large.
“The main thing we need is to get the restaurant and saloon running again because that draws a lot of people into town,” Miller said.
According to Miller, who owns the building and also neighboring Sunol Country Store, the restaurant closed due to issues with its previous operator.
One of the most recent business openings in downtown was a coffee truck owned and operated by Scott Sanders, a military veteran who decided he wanted to sell coffee after having done it for so long as a hobby.
Sanders, who moved to Sunol about 10 years ago, initially attempted to open a brick-and-mortar coffee shop in one of the vacant buildings on Main Street, but after facing technical issues with the county, he decided to begin operations in front of the building with his mobile coffee truck last summer. In May, he relocated in front of the former Bosco’s Roadhouse where he now serves coffee Wednesday through Sunday to a steady stream of regular customers.
“It’s been really good,” Sanders said regarding the community’s response to his business. “People come down here and hang out, bring their dogs.”
JJ Land Sunol is another local convenience store on Main Street that opened within the past couple of years that, on a busy afternoon after school, is packed with families and kids looking to get some ice cream or snacks.
Another operation that actually attracts just as much outside visitors as it does local residents is the U.S. Post Office, which Turnbull said is typically filled with dozens of people who go to get their passport photos taken and don’t want to wait in the long lines at other post offices in the East Bay.
The final landmark that really brings in a host of first-time visitors to the area is Sunol’s Casa Bella Event Center. Located right next to the old Bosco’s restaurant, the event center serves as a wedding space — there is a gallery down the street where wedding photos are sometimes taken — as well as a conference space.
Still, O’Laughlin thinks Main Street could use more restaurants, shops and attractions to bring in even more people.
O’Laughlin, Turnbull and DeGrange all said it’s up to the locals of Sunol to not only improve the downtown visually, which could persuade more businesses to move into the town, but to do so without changing the overall historic and unique essence of Main Street.
Which is why local leaders and community members developed the Sunol Downtown Revitalization Plan.
Change on the horizon
Drafted with the consultation of the county and the Sunol Citizen Action Council, which advises the Alameda County Board of Supervisors on any concerns regarding Sunol, the revitalization plan is a document that outlines the groundwork for how the community will bring new life to the downtown.
The plan addresses issues like the lack of sidewalks, public restrooms and signage along the strip of land. As DeGrange put it, the plan is to mostly make downtown Sunol more pedestrian-friendly.
“It has to be a place where people want to be,” DeGrange said. “We want the downtown area to be a place where people are interested in going.”
According to Sunol residents who were surveyed during the creation of the plan, most people favored road improvements to better public safety over things like speed bumps and reduced speed limits.
O’Laughlin said that additional parking throughout Main Street and the downtown area should also be prioritized for times when there might be an influx of visitors.
“If the people come, then I think there would be the possibility that some businesses would see that and that would stimulate some business growth,” O’Laughlin said. “If things were done right, there could be enough support for a couple of restaurants and there could be probably support for some small shops.”
And even though it has been two years since the plan was drafted and the projects to make different road improvements have been approved, Miller said it now comes down to getting the schedule to carry out these improvements and securing the funding from the county.
But work from the plan has started, regardless of its slow pace. Miller said with these improvements, new business owners might be more inclined to lease some of his properties throughout Main Street.
“It’s not like we’re going to put in a mall,” Miller said. “Whatever stores we can get in here that make sense. Really what we need to find is destination businesses. Places that are not dependent on straight foot traffic.”
He also said that the Sunol Business Guild, which has supported the town in ways such as helping fund the town’s community park, is now looking to turn into a chamber of commerce in order to better support current and new businesses.
However, O’Laughlin thinks the efforts to increase the downtown’s vitality should instead be focused on people, and that by opening up the area for nature-focused activities such as salmon watching, other Alameda County residents might be more inclined to check out their small town.
The hope would then be making sure the road improvements, coupled with new businesses that Miller hopes will establish themselves in the future, are enough to pique the interest of those new visitors so that they explore what else downtown Sunol has to offer.
“Maybe someday we can get to that point,” O’Laughlin said.
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