Walnut Creek, California

Walnut Creek is in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area and is situated in Contra Costa County. The first inhabitants of Walnut Creek were the Miwok Indians. The Spanish arrived and settled in the area in 1772. Mexico gained control of the area after that country won its independence from Spain in 1821. To encourage settlement in the area, Mexico offered large land grants, including one consisting of 18,000 acres that was given to the Dona Juana Sanchez de Pacheco, the wife of Miguel, who was one of Mexico’s war heroes. She transferred ownership of the land to her two grandsons, Ygnacio, after whom the Ygnacio Valley is named, and Ysidro Sibrian. Not long after, in the mid-1800s, the United States gained control of the area during the Mexican–American War (1846–1848).

Walnut Creek was first named “The Corners,” the place where the two roads from Pacheco and Lafayette intersected. Now this corner is where Mt. Diablo Boulevard and North Main Street intersect. A squatter named William Slusher was one of the first people to settle in the area. In 1849 he built the first roofed building on the banks of Nuts Creek, what is now known as Walnut Creek. Shortly after that time, a man named Milo Hough decided to develop The Corners, and he started by building a hotel named the “Walnut Creek House” in 1855. As the city grew, a post office was finally established in 1862. Around that time the community was renamed “Walnut Creek,” and by 1914 Walnut Creek was incorporated as the eighth city in Contra Costa County. After the arrival of the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1891, the city grew at an accelerated rate.

Walnut Creek became a modern city when the Broadway Shopping Center, the first major shopping center in Contra Costa County, opened in 1951, and the city experienced another growth spurt, growing from 2,460 in 1950 to 9,903 in 1960. By 1973 the city became part of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system when a station was built at Ygnacio Valley Road and Interstate 680. The area north of the newly built BART station became known as the Golden Triangle, as 146 post-World War II houses were built there. Within approximately 10 years, 1 million square feet of new office space had been built in the surrounding area.

In 1990 the Lesher Center for the Arts, which includes three performance spaces and an art gallery, opened in Walnut Creek, and in the mid to late 1990s two community gymnasiums were built to fulfill the city’s need for recreational facilities. In addition, the city and East Bay Regional Park District put together $2.1 million in federal, state, city and park district funds to create a pedestrian and cyclist bridge at Ygnacio Valley Road. The U.S. Census Bureau reported that the city had a total population of 64,173 in 2010. Walnut Creek has been judged one of the best cities in the Bay Area by the San Francisco Chronicle.

At the Brod Law Firm, we take great professional pride in providing outstanding legal representation to individuals and small businesses in and around Walnut Creek. The focus of our practice is on helping individuals and small businesses, not insurance companies or large corporations.

We are Walnut Creek personal injury attorneys, and all cases involving personal injuries, including wrongful death, are handled on a contingency–fee basis. A contingency–fee-based case means that the fees owed to the attorney are contingent upon there being a recovery in the case, and unless there is a recovery on your behalf, no legal fees are owed. We are Walnut Creek business attorneys, and we are always mindful of our clients’ financial interests while providing top legal representation in litigation matters.

Directions to our San Francisco office from Walnut Creek are as follows: Take Interstate 80 west to the Bay Bridge and on to San Francisco and exit at Fremont Street. Merge onto Fremont Street and turn left onto Mission Street. Turn right onto Anthony Street and take the first right onto Jessie Street. The office is at 100 Pine St #1250.