The Annual Fall Festival at Aviso Adobe Park is back again

Location:  3465 Old Foothill Road

Date:  Saturday, September 23 from 11 – 3 p.m

Pleasanton CA events

Fall here in the Tri Valley wouldn’t be complete without the 4TH Annual Fall Festival at Aviso Adobe Community Park. This is the kick off event for the fall season.

This event is the perfect place to take the family and enjoy the food, games and crafts. Also, a few interesting events like the local 4H live animal display, authentic Californios music and dance by the California Fandango Project and of course, the must see, the Park’s life sized fiberglass milking cow.

A few other fun it’s to occupy the kids like: Ice Cream Churning, Apple Cider pressing, soap carving, horse roping and of course, the adobe brick making project. The Alviso Adobe park wouldn’t be complete without the onsite taco vendors, Yum!!

This should be a fun day for the kids and parents too. Maybe we will see you there.

The fall events to follow here in Pleasanton are:

  • The Halloween Scavenger Hunt
  • The Brew Crawl
  • and The Ghost Walk

www.armariovenemahomes.com

Just Listed!! – One of a Kind Private Country Estate on Almost 10 Acres!

Pleasanton Estate for sale

Escape to the country! This private Sunol estate home on almost 10 acres offers a secluded setting with loads of luxurious, resort style amenities, but just minutes from Historic Downtown Pleasanton and the charming town of Sunol. Originally built in 1979, this one of a kind home boasts 8058+/- square feet of living space among the Main House and Guest House. The home has been expanded and re-designed, incorporating high end finishes and custom details throughout.

Here is the Full Virtual Tour – Enjoy!!

The Main House offers a thoughtful mix of casual gathering spots, formal spaces, and private retreats with plenty of space for everyone. Highlights include professionally designed custom kitchen, great room with custom bar, executive office, theater room, and decadent master bedroom suite. Almost every room allows access to the entertainer’s backyard, offering California living at it’s best with pool and spa, fire-pit, outdoor kitchen, outdoor fireplace, and sports court.

Carver Features

And with almost 10 acres, there’s plenty of room to grow or indulge your passion. Guest House offers flexible options for in-laws or extended family, au pair accommodations, or even rental income. Detached 4 car garage measures 2184+/- square feet. All this and top rated Sunol and Pleasanton schools with proximity to Livermore Valley Wine Country, San Francisco, and Silicon Valley.

CONTACT US for a private tour

www.armariovenemahomes.com

5 Star Service-That’s How We Roll!

Thank you to our wonderful Ruby Hill clients who gave us a 5 star review on Zillow. It was a pleasure working with you and an honor to sell your home.

 

“Liz and Deanna were amazing communicators, professional in every way and understood the practicalities and emotional aspects of listing a home. They had to ” jump in” and manage the staging, landscaping, and punch list management on very short notice. They have a full team that provided access to a variety of quality contractors as well as strong relationships with other brokers and finance professionals. We reached out to former clients for references and their effusive endorsement helped us make a great decision to use Armario Venema Homes for the recent sale of our home!”

Pleasanton Valley will soon be welcoming one of it’s newest neighbors.

Pleasanton Home Sell

We are so excited to have been able to represent our latest clients in finding them the perfect home here in the Tri-Valley. When we toured this beautiful and charming remodeled 5 bedroom, 2 story home in Pleasanton Valley with our clients, it spoke to them and made them at home immediately.

We love connecting our clients with the perfect home to build families and memories for years to come.

Congratulations and welcome to the Tr-Valley!

Contact Us for more information on Pleasanton Valley homes and search for current and available Pleasanton Real Estate HERE.

The Annual Scottish Games in Pleasanton 2017 – This Weekend

The Scottish Games this weekend in Pleasanton California – September 2nd and 3rd

Pleasanton CA Events

Heritage and culture are always a fun celebration. Some cities and towns have small celebrations and others have large ones. There are things like Italian Fest’s, Medieval Fairs, and Mardi gras and then there is San Francisco’s “Scottish Games.”

California has been the home to the Scottish games since 1866. The Caledonian Club of San Francisco hosts this celebration every year. This is 2 day event now rather than the one day event that it began as. The Scottish Games has been going on for over a hundred years.

The gathering and games started as more of a family picnic and grown more and more over the years. They have been held in San Francisco, Sausalito, Oakland, Santa Rosa and have finally come to rest in Pleasanton. This particular celebration has lasted through the economic depression, wars, earthquakes, and bridge closures.

In tradition the Scottish games, were known as heavy athletics. These events were held in Scotland, they began as strength training for the Scottish military soldiers. During those events, strong men would heave tree trunks, toss large river rocks, and lead weights. As time went on and progression happened the games became more of a family picnic gathering for the town folk.

Scottish Games in Pleasanton CA 2017

The California Gold Rush attracted many scots’s to San Francisco. Along with them came their heritage and their culture. Seventeen men, worked together to organize and plan the Inaugural Scottish Games, they made them happen a week later on Thanksgiving day in November 1866,

What started as tree trunk heaving, river rock distance tossing and lead weight tossing this has definitely evolved into a more modern set of events. The games have grown from 9 events to over 60 competitive games, with additional venues. The games have also extended from 1 day to 2 days. The original events may appear barbaric and well behind the times, however they were designed for men and proving strength.

Some of the modern day events have gone beyond being a test of strength. Just like with anything as time goes forward, things evolve and change to match the current time period. They have drum major events, dancing championship, pipe band competitions and so much more. There are also archery exhibitions, bird of prey shows, reenactments and more.

The games occur at different venues around the fairgrounds. You can now find the Traditional Entertainment stage, Irish Pavilion, Celtic Heritage Stage, Game Grand stands and more. Each stage offers something different dating from original events to modern day events. The stages have been spread out around the fairgrounds so different events can run concurrently.

With the attraction of almost 50,000 attendees, the Scottish Games are an amazing event produced on all on volunteer participation. The event is an amazing honor of the heritage and culture of the Scottish. If you enjoy traveling the world and experiencing culture then the Scottish games at the Alameda Fairgrounds is a highly recommended experience.

HERE is their website for full information, events and tickets.

Contact Us for more information on the Games here in Pleasanton and maybe we will see you there 🙂

www.ArmarioVenemaHomes.com

The Historic Livermore California Train Depot

Livermore Train Depot

There was much controversy going down in the East Bay Area and more specifically in the Tri Valley, and unsurprisingly it involved a tampering with a bit of history. The historic train depot in Livermore California is 125 years old, and has been used as a place where tickets were sold to cattle ranchers, farmers and traders moving plants, cattle any other such goods by rail.

The 1872-built depot was actually relocated over a five hour period in the middle of the night on a Sunday morning, July 16, 2017. It was moved from the South L Street location – where it stood for a century and a quarter to it’s new “home” at 2500 Railroad Avenue.

The project took months in planning and cost more than $3 million to execute. But the restoration work has only just begun. Historical renovations will continue to take place and it is hoped that much of the charm of this small depot will be maintained in the new facelift.

When the small building was moved, it had to be cut in half, as it was too long to transport as one unit. It was transported all the way down to Railroad Avenue, where the slow-moving motorcade passed through two sets of traffic lights (that had been switched off as part of road closures), a traffic signal that had been temporarily removed, in case the depot came too close, and even underneath some power lines, that the local electricity company had raised just for the move.

Here is a great video of the move:

It had been a massive project, which required some meticulous planning. But despite some objections, locals and historians are thankful that it is still even here. In the past, it has been home to a restaurant, a dance studio and a real estate office, before being closed down in 1973 and earmarked for the bulldozers.

This gave rise to a movement known as the Livermore Heritage Guild, a historic appreciation society that was unhappy with the sheer volume of old heritage buildings being knocked down in Livermore. There were no longer any railroad tracks outside the depot, so it seemed the historic depot was either doomed to destruction or moved to a place where it can continue its legacy.

Thankfully, many from the guild were happy that the 125-year old piece of history kept its life in a new location next to the railroad tracks. We look forward to seeing the changes and restorations set to be made for the important Livermore landmark.

www.armariovenemahomes.com

Our latest Award – Luxury Marketing Council

We are so excited to have been listed in the Luxury Marketing Council of San Francisco and San Francisco Magazine’s “The Leading 100” List of Top Producing Agents  

Our sales of over $105 Million in 2016 qualified us for this accolade  and we are proud to have been acknowledge for this award. Thank you to all our amazing clients and the people who have sent us referrals in 2016 in order to achieve this award.

East Bay Real Estate Awards