Crockett

Want to feel like you are living in a Steinbeck novel? Always wanted to pretend to be James Dean in East of Eden? Have an affection for rust and wood planking?

Well Crockett may be just the place for you. For those of you who have never heard of it, Crockett is the town that you pass just before the Carquinez Bridge if you take Highway 80 from the East Bay towards Sacramento. Instead of a cannery however, you have the C&H Sugar refinery which has been in Crockett since 1906. (C&H stands for California and Hawaii.)
The refinery unloads sugar cane that comes straight from Hawaii, refining 700 tons of sugar per year into over 70 types of sugar. (I didn’t even know there were that many types of sugar.)

What is it like living in Crockett?

The town is actually fairly quaint, packed with older Victorians on a hill that slides down towards the refinery—very reminiscent of Cannery Row and Salinas.

One of the best spots in Crockett is up along the ridge on Duperu Drive where you get great views of the waterway. The homes here are newer, but you still get the feeling of originality up here—you don’t have the kind of Contemporary style homes that all look alike.

The median home price in Crockett is $175K, the ceiling seeming to be around $250K. This seems like a steal to me for this community.

These are the kind of prices that you see in some of the most run down areas in the East Bay. But Crockett has a lot more going on than that. Take the schools, for example. Both Carquinez Middle School and John Swett High though not stellar, are solid, maybe slightly above average schools.

As to crime, it is also relatively low with only about 3 dozen incidents of any kind over the last 6 months. (Only a handful were assaults.)

Crockett also has a small but interesting nightlife scene, at least if you are into dive bars—there are two pretty good ones in the “downtown” area: Toots and Club Tac. The first has live music on the weekends and both have the air of authenticity that you would expect in town like this. (It’s the kind of authenticity that makes you feel like you are on a movie set. )

There are also some okay restaurants too: the Dead Fish and Judy’s (a Latin place) that are worth the stop if you happen to be driving through at the right time.

Overall, I think this is a hidden gem: affordable homes, cool night scene and good schools.