Livermore's happening downtown: Wine country chic and small-town charm

On a late Friday afternoon in March, Julia Huckins has brought her 4-year-old son Malcolm into downtown Livermore to treat him to some Meadowlark Dairy soft-serve ice cream, meet up with other moms and let their kids run around in a nearby park.

For the lifelong Livermore resident, downtown has become that kind of destination - a place to find good food and fun things to do during the day or after dark. It's a very different downtown than when the 29-year-old Huckins was growing up here - back then, First Street was lined with empty storefronts and the main place to hang out was Wienerschnitzel.

"Livermore has everything now," Huckins said. "You've got the beautiful vineyards, you've got the scenery and then, of course, the downtown. It's hard to find a place with a good downtown that's busy and has enough to do. But it's not so, you know, big city. It's still a hidden gem."

But judging from all the people crowding into downtown on that unseasonably warm March afternoon, Livermore isn't so hidden anymore. There were scores of people, including teens from nearby Livermore High, sitting outside the recently opened Meadowlark Dairy, trying to finish their ice cream before it melted. Nearby, a little girl splashed in the fountain beneath the landmark flagpole overlooking South Livermore Avenue. Along First Street, fashionable young couples and wealthy empty nesters strolled by sidewalk pergolas. Some popped into upscale boutiques, while others enjoyed al fresco dinners or TGIF libations in chic breweries, wine bars and cocktail lounges, all housed within stylishly refurbished vintage buildings.

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In the whimsically elegant Fat Pigeon bar, two friends celebrated a belated birthday with a craft-cocktail version of high tea, surrounded by "Wizard of Oz"-inspired decor. Renee Dale of Galt said Livermore has become one of the busier and most fun downtowns she's visited lately, while Leesa Piper Teves of Dublin gushed about the choice of restaurants and her delight in meeting Oscar-winning actor Billy Bob Thornton in 2023 when he and his rock band The Boxmasters performed at the Bankhead Theater.

Livermore's evolution into a happening place began more than 20 years ago, when city planners and the community began to focus on investing in downtown, supporting local businesses and trying some interesting urban-design strategies to improve the look and feel of the city.

Like the denizens of many mid-sized Bay Area suburbs, Livermore residents wanted to have a lively, attractive and walkable downtown. They also wanted it to reflect their community's unique history and culture. The town of 85,000 is surrounded by a historic wine country and home to the 108-year-old Livermore Rodeo and two national laboratories, Lawrence Livermore and Sandia, which opened in the 1950s. Over the century, the population has included farmers, ranchers, cowboys, young families and Ph.D.s and nuclear scientists.

"You know, we sort of dreamed that maybe it would be a destination, but we thought we're mostly doing this for Livermore residents - businesses and folks that are here," said Brandon Cardwell, a Livermore native who serves as the city's innovation and economic development director. "But we were successful (enough) with the design and place-making that we have become a broader destination for people in the Bay Area."

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Livermore's new downtown still has a "small-town" feel, but with big-city amenities that appeal to its increasingly educated, affluent and international population, said longtime resident Greg Acton. There's plenty of arts and culture, anchored by its regional performing arts venue, the Bankhead Theater, and the two movie theaters at either end of downtown.

There's also a plethora of restaurants of increasing quality and Michelin-level aspirations, which Eduardo Posada, the chef and owner of the popular Posada Restaurant, says has inspired him to raise his game. Livermore's nightlife has also taken off, with bars hosting live rock, jazz and blues music, karaoke and comedy nights. There's also line-dancing and mechanical-bull-riding at the new Stampede Bar and Grill.

These places exist alongside unique mom-and-pop businesses that have been around for decades: Fantasy Books and Games comic book store, the beloved Donut Wheel bakery and Baughman's Western Outfitters, the city's go-to place to buy cowboy hats, boots and other apparel since 1881. Further down First Street is the Vine Cinema - a landmark movie theater which first opened in 1956, and has survived the pandemic and the rise of streaming through cineaste-centric special events and "the love of the community," said longtime owner Kenny Way.

To revitalize Livermore's downtown, the city first had to overcome a serious quirk of its geography. The city was established in the late 1860s in a fertile valley alongside the Western Pacific Railroad tracks, which was all well and good because that allowed it to become a small commercial hub and shipping and processing center for local farmers, ranchers and winemakers.

But by the end of the 20th century, State Route 84 was running through downtown, with the sole purpose of conveying commuters back and forth between the Livermore Valley and Fremont and San Jose. First Street was essentially a four-lane highway, which meant that downtown had become a place to pass through, rather than a destination.

For city planners and residents, the first order of business in the early 2000s was to shift the highway traffic to the west and transform First Street into a pedestrian-friendly, two-lane street with wide enough sidewalks to accommodate outdoor dining and landscaped spaces where people can gather.

The city also began to approve a number of major projects to make the downtown more inviting, such as new plazas and a parking garage. It also said yes to rehabbing historic buildings and a plan to expand Blacksmith Square to include new retail and restaurants overlooking Stockman Park, according to Assistant City Manager Paul Spence.

Livermore also has encouraged people to move back into downtown by approving new townhouse and multi-family developments such as the Legacy Apartments, which recently welcomed a Slice House pizza restaurant to its retail-focused ground floor. More people living downtown means more people out and about, coming home from work or going out to eat and shop nearby.

The downtown makeover picked up momentum with the construction of the Livermore Valley Center, a retail-office-restaurant project that is anchored by the Livermore Cinema and Bankhead Theater. The venues opened in 2006 and 2007, respectively, and have proven that it pays for cities to put arts and culture at the heart of community development.

The Bankhead hosts more than 220 events a year, including local performing arts groups and headline music and comedy stars like LeAnn Rimes, Ruthie Foster, Marc Maron and Jason Alexander. The large plaza out front has become the site for regular food, wine, family and cultural events, such as a ComicCon and a "Palate: Art of Cuisine" culinary competition in June, as well as ArtWalk, the Taste of Africa and Pride Fest in October.

"There's a ton of Ph.D.s that live in Livermore, and they really like their art," said Chris Carter, the executive director of Livermore Valley Arts, the nonprofit that manages the Bankhead Theater and the Bothwell Arts Center.

Carter said the Bankhead attracts up to 90,000 people a year, whose spending at local restaurants and other businesses supports jobs and contributes about $2 million a year to the local economy. Since the Bankhead and Livermore Cinema opened, a number of popular restaurants - including Zachary's Pizza, Sauced BBQ and Spirits and Locanda Wine Bar have transformed a once-desolate block into a buzzing culinary destination.

Tom Lawrie, who has opened Sons of Liberty Alehouse and the Honey Comb Lounge, remembers passing through Livermore 25 years ago - and it was not a good experience. "I had never been to Livermore, and I had a flat tire," said Lawrie. "I drove around on a Sunday afternoon, trying to find someplace, but everything was closed."

Fast forward to a few years ago, after he and his wife Teresa opened their first Sons of Liberty in downtown San Leandro in 2016. Some San Leandro police officers who commute from Livermore, gave him some good advice, telling them they could "kill it" if they opened a second location on First Street.

"It's gone well," Lawrie said. "Livermore loves what we've done so far. They love supporting local businesses, for sure."

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