Row Canyon

This is basically a big shopping area for San Ramon. It is where Crow Canyon meets Highway 680. Back when In-N-Out Burger was not that common in northern California, this was one of the earliest ones to make it up into the Bay Area. Among my So Cal transplant friends this was a big deal and they used to come out of their ways out here to get themselves some “animal” fries.

Mostly this is a pretty straight forward strip mall style area on all sides of the freeway. You get a number of chain restaurants all around this junction, including TGIF’s, Zachary’s Pizza, Chili’s, Carl’s Jr., and a Nation’s Hamburgers—just to name a few. There are also a number of restaurants that seem like they could be part of chain, but that I’m not sure that they are: Max’s Diner, Uncle Yu’s Szechuan, Mr. Pickle’s Sandwich Shop, etc.

Overall this is the kind suburban commercial hub that packs in tons of stores that you can find in 100’s of cities around the West.

There are also some hotels here, supermarkets, repair shops, gas stations—basically all the practical stuff that keeps upper middle-class suburbia humming.

As far as the office park that surrounds the shopping area, it has a number of law offices and dentists (my dentist was here). Diablo Valley College used to have an extension out here, but I think they have moved their facilities to Dougherty Station now.

Oh yeah, there is also a big movie theater, a sports bar (The Outpost) and even a dance club, The ShBoom Club, which apparently is known as the club where divorced people in their 40’s go to feel young again. (Can’t figure out if that tragic or not but I guess I will find out in about 10 years.)

Because of all the stores and offices around here this is one of those areas that just gets a ton of traffic and the accompanying traffic noise along with it.