Pleasant Hill

We were excited when we first signed up for our YMCA family membership and teen center access. We signed up for a number of classes early on in hopes our child would enjoy it as much as we did as kids. My child has since gotten disillusioned by the teen center for a number of reasons. The high staff turnover, dropped classes/activities, and unpredictable daily routines upset our child.

As parents, we are surprised by the lack of a dedicated teen hang out room and age appropriate programs. This YMCA could take a page from Palmer schools summer program, Valley Views game room, and DVCs college for kids. There should be life training classes, a comfortable hang out room, and plenty of field trips and enrichment activities. What they have is a borrowed conference room, a snack, and maybe an afternoon exercise. We now understand why so many preteens skip the teen center and just hang out around the gym on any available chair, nook or corner.

The kids might feel more welcome on the Diablo Valley junior college campus across the field. Where there is a huge library/computer center/private study rooms, cafs and restaurant, a variety of enrichment classes and exercise options for youths. This local Y is not the YMCA we remember as youths in Berkeley. Those were the days where YMCA kids were embraced, mentored and trained. This location doesnt seem to realize they have missed an opportunity to embrace the community.

This is a very long boulevard that parallels the 680 in a north south direction. It is very ugly, busy and noisy in most spots but has lots and lots of stores, making it a necassary evil when it comes to living in the valley east of the 680. It is not pleasant to drive on so you should only get off at your appropriate exit. But if you're looking for clothes or for hardware or just about anything else you will probably find it here.

In Pleasant Hill this is the location of the Sun Valley Mall. A pretty run of the mill 1980's style mall with all the usual amenities you would expect--chain restaurants, a Sears, a JCPenny etc. Nothing particulalary interesting about being here but it is definitely functional. You can buy clothes, eat do all the sorts of typical suburban things that you can anywhere else in the US suburbans.