As one of the major cities that make up California'shigh-tech area known asSilicon Valley, Sunnyvale is the birthplace of thevideo game industry, former location ofAtari headquarters. Many technology companies are headquartered in Sunnyvale and many more operate there, including several aerospace/defense companies.
Sunnyvale was also the home toOnizuka Air Force Station, often referred to as "the Blue Cube" because of the color and shape of its windowless main building. The facility, previously known as Sunnyvale Air Force Station, was named for the deceasedSpace Shuttle Challenger astronautEllison Onizuka. It served as anartificial satellite control facility of theU.S. military until August 2010 and has since been decommissioned and demolished.
Sunnyvale is one of the few municipalities in California to have a single unifiedDepartment of Public Safety, where all personnel are trained asfirefighters,police officers, andEMTs, so that they can respond to an emergency in any of the three roles.
Lupe Yñigo was grantedRancho Posolmi in 1844, covering the northern part of Sunnyvale andMountain View.Libby Water Tower, a heritage landmark in Sunnyvale[10]
In 1843,Rancho Pastoria de las Borregas was granted to Francisco Estrada and his wife Inez Castro.[11] Portions of the land given in this grant later developed into the cities ofMountain View and Sunnyvale.[12] Two years later, in 1844, another land grant was provided to Lupe Yñigo, one of the fewNative Americans to hold land grants.[13][14] His land grant was first calledRancho Posolmi, named in honor of a village of theOhlone that once stood in the area.[11]
Martin Murphy Jr. came to California with his father as part of theStephens–Townsend–Murphy Party in 1844. In 1850, Martin Murphy Jr. bought a piece of Rancho Pastoria de las Borregas for $12,500. Murphy established a wheat farm and ranch named Bay View. Murphy had the first wood-frame house inSanta Clara County; it was shipped fromNew England. The house was demolished in 1961 but was reconstructed in 2008 as theSunnyvale Heritage Park Museum. When he died in 1884, his land was divided among his heirs.[15][16]
In the 1870s, small fruit orchards replaced many large wheat farms, because wheat farming turned uneconomical due to county and property tax laws, imports andsoil degradation.[19] In 1871, Dr. James M. Dawson and his wife Eloise (née Jones) established the first commercial fruit cannery in the county.[19][20][21][22] Fruit agriculture for canning soon became a major industry in the county. The invention of the refrigerated rail car further increased the viability of an economy based upon fruit. The fruit orchards became so prevalent that in 1886, the San Jose Board of Trade calledSanta Clara County the "Garden of the World".
In the 1880s, Chinese workers made up roughly one third of the farm labor in Santa Clara County.[23] This percentage reduced over time after theChinese Exclusion Act was passed. In the following decade, the 1890s, many immigrants fromItaly, theAzores,Portugal, andJapan arrived to work in the orchards.[citation needed]
In 1897, Walter Everett Crossman bought 200 acres (810,000 m2) and began selling real estate. He advertised the area as "Beautiful Murphy" and later, in the 1900s, as "the City of Destiny". Also in 1897, Encinal School opened as the first school in Murphy. Previously, children in the town had to travel to Mountain View for school. The area also became known as Encinal.[citation needed]
In 1901, the residents of Murphy were informed they could not use the names Encinal or Murphy for their post office. Sunnyvale was given its current name on March 24, 1901. It was named Sunnyvale as it is located in a sunny region adjacent to areas with significantly more fog.[24]
Sunnyvale continued to grow and in 1904,dried fruit production began. Two years later,Libby, McNeill & Libby, aChicago meat-packing company, decided to open its first fruit-packing factory in Sunnyvale. Today, a water tower painted to resemble the first Libby's fruit cocktail can label identifies the former site of the factory.
Also in 1906, theJoshua Hendy Iron Works relocated from San Francisco to Sunnyvale after the company's building was destroyed by fire after the 1906 earthquake. The ironworks was the first non-agricultural industry in the town. The company later switched from producing mining equipment to other products such as marinesteam engines.
Joshua Hendy Iron Works Museum
In 1912, the residents of Sunnyvale voted to incorporate, and Sunnyvale became an official city.[25]
Fremont High School first opened in 1923.[26] The year 2023 marked the school's 100 year anniversary.
In 1924,Edwina Benner was elected to her first term as mayor of Sunnyvale. She was the second female mayor in the history of the state ofCalifornia.
During World War II, the war economy began a change from the fruit industry to the high-tech industry in Santa Clara County. The Joshua Hendy Iron Works built marine steam engines, naval guns and rocket launchers to aid in the war effort. As the defense industry grew, a shortage of workers in the farm industry was created. Immigrants fromMexico came to Sunnyvale to fill this void of workers.
Following the war, the fruit orchards andsweetcorn farms were cleared to build homes, factories and offices.
In 1950, the volunteer fire department and the paid police department were combined into the department of public safety.[27]
In 1956, the aircraft manufacturerLockheed moved its headquarters to Sunnyvale.[28]
Since then, numerous high-tech companies have established offices and headquarters in Sunnyvale, includingAdvanced Micro Devices andYahoo.
The first prototype ofAtari's coin-operatedPong, the first successful video game, was installed in Sunnyvale in August 1972, in a bar named Andy Capp's Tavern,[29][30] now Rooster T. Feathers.[31] Atari's headquarters were located at 1196 Borregas Avenue in north Sunnyvale.
By 2002, the few remaining orchards had been replaced with homes and shops. However, there are still city-owned orchards, such as the Heritage Orchard next to the Sunnyvale Community Center.
In 1979, an indoor mall calledSunnyvale Town Center opened in what used to be a traditional downtown shopping district. After years of successful operation, the mallstarted to decline in the 1990s. After numerous changes in plans and ownership, the mall was demolished in 2007.
Sunnyvale celebrated its one-hundredth anniversary on August 25, 2012.
According to the Bay Area Census, there was a total population of 130,885 people in households and 875 people in group quarters in 2000.[32] In 2023, the city has a population of 145,302 residents; however, the city's population is declining at a rate of −6.77% since the 2020 census, which claimed that Sunnyvale had a population of 155,860 residents.[33]
In November 2009, previously closed portions of the main streets in downtown Sunnyvale were reopened as part of the ongoing downtown redevelopment of theSunnyvale Town Center mall, marking the first time in over three decades that those street blocks have been open to vehicle and pedestrian traffic. Part of the project involved building new apartment buildings, however during theGreat Recession the property was repossessed byWells Fargo in 2009; the developer countersued, leaving the project in legal limbo through 2015.[34]
The two office buildings are now fully occupied byUber. Mixed-use developments have been built at the former Town and Country location near the Plaza del Sol just north of Murphy Avenue. By mid 2015, new multistory apartment complexes had opened, including a number of ground-floor businesses, and the lawsuit against Wells Fargo was resolved in the bank's favor. The development was sold to Sares Regis in late 2016.[35] Redwood Square reopened as a park in 2017.[36] Many apartments are occupied, and more are being completed in 2020. AWhole Foods Market andAMC Theatres multiplex opened in October 2020.[37]
Google announced major development plans in the Moffett Park area in 2017 adjacent toMoffett Field,[39] with these offices ultimately opening in 2022.[40] In addition, Amazon and Meta began leasing buildings in Sunnyvale in 2017[41] and 2021,[42] respectively.
According to theUnited States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 22.7 sq mi (58.8 km2), of which, 22.0 sq mi (56.9 km2) is land and 0.69 sq mi (1.8 km2) (3.09%) is water. Its elevation is 130 feet above sea level.
Like most of the San Francisco Bay Area, Sunnyvale has aMediterranean climate (KöppenCsb), with cool, moist winters and warm, very dry summers. Average daytime summer temperatures are in the high 70s, and during the winter, average daytime high temperatures rarely stay below 50 °F (10 °C). Snowfall is rare, but on January 21, 1962, and February 5, 1976, measurable snowfall occurred in Sunnyvale and most of theSan Francisco Bay Area. Sunnyvale was briefly hit by tornadoes in 1951 and 1998, but otherwise they are extremely rare.[44][45][46][47]
There were 59,567 households,[54] out of which 16,133 (27%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 31,557 (53.0%) weremarried opposite-sex couples living together, 4,069 (6.8%) had a female householder with no husband present, 2,908 (4.9%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 3,382 (5.7%)unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 657 (1.1%)same-sex married couples or partnerships. 14,970 households (25.1%) were made up of individuals, and 5.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.54. There were 38,750families (65.0% of all households); the average family size was 3.09.
The population was spread out, with 32,453 people (20.8%) under the age of 18, 9,641 people (6.2%) aged 18 to 24, 57,977 people (37.2%) aged 25 to 44, 34,330 people (22.0%) aged 45 to 64, and 20,683 people (13.2%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35.2 years. For every 100 females, there were 109.3 males.
There were 63,065 housing units, of which 45.8% were owner-occupied, and 54.2% were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.1%; the rental vacancy rate was 5.3%. 72,485 people (46.5% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 80,220 people (51.5%) lived in rental housing units.
Sunnyvale, California – racial and ethnic composition Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.
In the 1950s to the 1970s, Sunnyvale hadchrysanthemum farms.[58][59] Takanoshin Domoto, by 1885 was growing chrysanthemums and carnations at their small nursery in Oakland.[60]Bay Area Chrysanthemum Growers Association (BACGA) was established in 1956.[61][62][63][64] The 1991Andean Trade Preference Act "war on drugs" made Colombian, Peruvian, Bolivian and Ecuadorian flowers tariff-free.[60] Half Moon Bay and Redwood City were also chrysanthemum business locations.[65][66]
The City of Sunnyvale uses thecouncil–manager form of government,[68] with a city council consisting of seven members elected to fill individual seats. Starting in November 2020, the mayor is directly elected to a four-year term in a city-wide election. The six council members are elected to four year terms from six districts in even-year elections. The vice-mayor is selected from the six city council members by the mayor and city council, serving a one-year term.[69][2] The city council hires acity manager to run the day-to-day operations of the city government.[68]
Sunnyvale is the largest city in the United States that uses a consolidateddepartment of public safety, with sworn officers who are fully cross-trained to performpolice,firefighting, andemergency medical services. Officer assignments are rotated annually, with some specialist assignments lasting up to five years. Sunnyvale has had a consolidated DPS since 1950.[70]
French American School of Silicon Valley (FASSV,French:École franco-américaine de la Silicon Valley) is a private elementary school in Sunnyvale, which opened in 1992.[77] It is recognized as a French international school by theAEFE.[78]
Library services for the city are provided by theSunnyvale Public Library, located at the Sunnyvale Civic Center.
The southern half of Sunnyvale is predominantly residential, while most of the portion of Sunnyvale north of Highway 237 is zoned for industrial use.[81]
Within this southern half are several neighborhoods that account for a large number ofEichler homes throughout residential Sunnyvale. More specifically, there are 16 housing tracts containing over 1100 Eichler homes.[82]
The far eastern section of El Camino Real in Sunnyvale has a significant concentration of businesses owned byIndian immigrants.[83]
There are 476 acres of parks in the Sunnyvale area.[84] These include Las Palmas Park, Ortega Park, Seven Seas Park, Fair Oaks Park, Washington Park near downtown, two public golf courses, and Baylands Park,[85] site of the annualLinux Picnic.
Charles Street Gardens,[86] Sunnyvale's oldest and largest community garden, is located adjacent to Sunnyvale's Public Library. In 2017 the Santa Clara Unified School District took over operation of Full Circle Farm Sunnyvale, which leased the land from the district, and plan to focus the farm on education.[87]
For commercial passenger air travel, Sunnyvale is served by three nearby international airports:
Norman Y. MinetaSan Jose International Airport (SJC), 9.5 miles from downtown Sunnyvale by car. It is also accessible by Caltrain, VTA light rail, and VTA bus. Caltrain and light rail stations require a transfer to a free shuttle bus to get to the airport terminal.
Sunnyvale has consistently ranked as one of the safest ten cities (for cities of similar size) in the United States according to the FBI's crime reports. From 1966 to at least 2004, Sunnyvale never placed below fifth in safety rankings among U.S. cities in its population class.[89] In 2005, Sunnyvale ranked as the 18th-safest city overall in the U.S., according to the Morgan Quitno Awards.[90] In 2009, Sunnyvale was ranked 7th in U.S. by Forbes Magazine in an analysis of America's safest cities.[91][92] In 2018, Sunnyvale was named the safest city by SmartAsset.com for the third year in a row.[93]
According to Sunnyvale's Department of Public Safety, confirmed gang members make up less than one percent of the population, although 95% of the crime is gang on gang violence.[94] Sunnyvale's Gang Task-force agency as well as the FBI note three main gangs that exist in Sunnyvale, thrice allying to eitherSureño orNorteño families, one existing since the 1960s.[95][96]
On February 16, 1988, Richard Farley shot 11 people, killing seven of them, at his former employerESL Incorporated in north Sunnyvale, across Borregas Avenue fromAtari. The 1993 made-for-television filmI Can Make You Love Me starringBrooke Shields andRichard Thomas was based on the event.
A long-standing legend of Sunnyvale is of a ghost that haunts the town'sToys 'R' Us store (nowREI). A purported psychic,Sylvia Browne, claimed to have made contact with the ghost on the 1980 TV showThat's Incredible! and named him Johnny Johnson. This story was also explored in a 1991 episode ofHaunted Lives: True Ghost Stories. Browne stated that he had been a Swedish preacher who worked as a farm hand in the orchard where the toy store now stands and that he bled to death from an accidental, self-inflicted axe injury to his leg.[97][98][99][100]
Until 1970, Sunnyvale had asister city relationship withChillán,Chile. In 2013, the city entered into a three-year Friendly Exchange Relations Agreement withIizuka,Japan; in July 2016, the city council voted to change this to a sister city relationship.[126]
^Admin (September 5, 2019)."The History of Sunnyvale, California".Best Property Management Company San Jose I Intempus Realty, Inc.Archived from the original on December 5, 2023. RetrievedNovember 27, 2023.
^Takahashi, Melina (February 22, 1998)."Interviewee: Masayo (Yasui) Arii".REgenerations Oral History Project: Rebuilding Japanese American Families, Communities, and Civil Rights in the Resettlement Era : San Jose Region: Volume IV.Online Archive of California. RetrievedDecember 9, 2024.
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