San Lorenzo
Subtle San Lorenzo, California
San Lorenzo, CA, is and always has been a suburban community. Located in Alameda County and within the San Francisco Bay metropolitan area, San Lorenzo is known best for being an excellent, albeit quiet, town to base one’s Bay Area travels from. Whether traveling to the Bay Area for business or pleasure, San Lorenzo is a quiet town that not only offers easy access to the best of the Bay Area, but also enough to keep you busy while in San Lorenzo itself.
San Lorenzo’s biggest attraction is proximity - proximity to San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Silicon Valley, and the Napa Valley and Sonoma wine regions. From the subtle suburb of San Lorenzo, one can easily make his or her way to the Golden Gate glitz of San Francisco, the business of Oakland, or the adventure of San Jose. And in between all of these Bay Area excursions, San Lorenzo can fill in the blanks with dining, shopping and a handful of recreational activities.
Points of Interest
Dining
The village streets are full of quaint restaurants and regular chain names. Along Hesperian Street, try the Carrow’s Restaurant for traditional café styled home cooking. You can also quench your thirst next door at either Jamba Juice or Starbucks Coffee. Other Hesperian favorites include Acapulco Bar and Grill, Aggie’s Burgers, Asia Delight, London Fish & Chips and Saigon Palace Vietnamese Restaurant. At the popular Four Corners crossroads is Baker’s Square Restaurant and when on Upper Bockman, don’t pass by Chef Kwon or Pinoy’s Place.
Shopping
In typical suburban fashion, San Lorenzo’s shopping is tailored toward the large retail brands and scattered throughout the city. For flowers, Castro’s Flowers has all your floral needs covered. Celebration and Gifts has an assortment of novelty and party favors for sale. Four Corners and Hesperian Street are also centers for all things retail.
Entertainment
San Lorenzo has always been at the crossroads of a vast agricultural area. For this reason, even today it is home to numerous farmers’ markets. The most popular occur at Hayward, San Leandro, and Castro Valley. Here you can mingle with locals, taste fresh produce, and stock up on all your wine and flower needs.
Meandering its way through the center of the town is the peaceful San Lorenzo Creek, a waterway that connects the city with such natural wonders as the Castro Valley Hills and even the San Francisco Bay itself. The parks and trails along the creek bed make for an excellent daytime stroll.
San Lorenzo is a historic city dating back to Spanish colonial times. The Hayward Area Historical Society helps preserve many of the area’s historically significant buildings including the History Museum, Library and Bookstore. The visitor’s center is located in the McConaghy Estate, a mansion built in 1886. Another historic site worth visiting is the Lorenzo Theater, a classic downtown theater looking to be renovated.
Did You Know?
- San Lorenzo Unified School District is the oldest school system in California, being founded in 1865.
- San Lorenzo was once the place to get oysters on the West coast, thanks to Moses Wicks bringing them by boat from Long Island via sailing around the cape.
- The total population of the city is roughly 21,900.
- San Lorenzo was one of the nation’s first planned communities and was dominated by rows and rows of similar looking two and three-bedroom houses.
- The local newspaper for San Lorenzo is the San Lorenzo Express.
Getting There and All Around
Being in the thick of the Bay Area Metropolitan area, San Lorenzo is easy to get to and from. Located close to both Oakland International Airport and the San Francisco International Airport, San Lorenzo is only a short trip up the road from both. However, due to San Lorenzo’s easy accessibility by road, driving to and from is an ideal method of transportation - especially when your vehicle is a luxurious limousine from Nationwide Limousine Service.
San Lorenzo is an ideal place to explore, so call NLS at 800-339-8936 to reserve your limo today!