Fremont

Understand

Unlike most sprawling suburbs, Fremont was planned and designed to be the way it is. In the 1950s, fearing that they would be annexed by the growing city of Hayward to the north, eight very small towns decided to unite to avoid annexation. Two towns (Alvarado and Decoto) closest to Hayward quickly incorporated into Union City. The six remaining towns got together and extensively planned how things would be. Space was allocated for industry and for homes. Space for roads large enough to support the massive traffic flows was set aside. One of the small towns (Newark) dropped out of the coalition because it was slated to become an industrial zone. The five remaining towns -- Centerville, Niles, Irvington, Mission San Jose, and Warm Springs, from north to south -- annexed all the surrounding land to form the City of Fremont in 1956.

The oldest of the small towns was Mission San José, named for a Spanish mission founded in 1797. When this Mission was founded it was named "La Mision del Gloriosisimo Patriarch San José" in honor of St. Joseph. It is sometimes incorrectly called the Mission San José de Guadalupe, after "El Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe" founded (1777) 20 miles south near the Guadalupe River, which became the present day city of San Jose.

Fremont has been multicultural since its inception, and is home to dozens of immigrant communities and a broad range of ethnicities. Today's visitor is likely to hear half a dozen languages spoken even during a fleeting trip through the city. It is said that the largest population of Afghanis outside Afghanistan live in Fremont, and it also has a large and growing south Asian community as well, with substantial commerical areas focused on Indian food, clothing, and media. Fremont also has a large Deaf community, due to the California School for the Deaf being located there.

Because of their entangled history and their present sprawl that makes them blend into one another, the three cities—Fremont, Newark, and Union City—are sometimes called the Tri-Cities.

Get in

By plane

• Oakland Airport (OAK) is about 20–40 minutes away by car via I-880 depending on the time of day. Rush hour traffic will almost certainly take 30–40 minutes, but most other times it is a very quick 15-20 minute drive. You can also take BART—the Bay Area's rapid transit system—which runs directly to Fremont.
• San Jose Airport (SJC) is about half an hour away via I-880 or I-680. During commute hours the traffic can be horrific along 880, but 680 is often faster. You can also take a bus directly to the Milpitas BART station, and then go from there to Fremont.
• San Francisco International Airport (SFO) is about 45–60 minutes away via US101 and SR84 (the Dumbarton Bridge; $7 as of 2022), or via 101 to 84 to US92 (the San Mateo–Hayward Bridge; $7 as of 2022) to 880. This is the most difficult airport to get to and is also has more flight delays than other airports in the area. However, it is one of the largest and busiest airports in the world, so there are likely to be more airlines and more flight options going into and out of SFO. Avoid SFO if you can get a flight direct to Oakland or San Jose instead. There is a BART station in SFO which can take you to Fremont in about an hour and a half.

By car

• From Oakland and Berkeley, take I-880 south
• From San Jose, take I-880 or I-680 north
• From San Francisco and Palo Alto, take US-101 to either US-92 or SR-84 (the Dumbarton Bridge; preferred)
• From more eastern parts of the region or the central valley, get to I-680 and head south

By train

By bus

Get around

The geography of city of Fremont and its street system is defined by the bay to the west and the hills to the east. Mission Blvd runs along the hills and most streets more or less perpendicular to it have address numbers increasing as you move away from Mission Blvd. Most streets running more or less parallel to the hills have address numbers in the five digits in Fremont, increasing as you move further south (e.g., 40000 is near Stevenson Blvd and represents roughly the 400th block from Lake Merritt, Oakland). Locals call streets running parallel to I-880 north-south streets, although they are more like northwest-southeast.

Fremont Blvd is the main street running more of less parallel to the hills, cutting straight through the middle of the city of Fremont, making a turn at Irvington. In the middle part of city of Fremont, the major streets are on a grid, with Fremont Blvd and Blacow Rd one mile apart. Perpendicular to them, Central Ave, Mowry Ave, and Stevenson Blvd are also one mile apart, on the bay side of Fremont Blvd.

By car

Driving is the preferred method for getting around. Fremont streets are usually easy to navigate as difficult intersections were re-engineered for efficiency several decades ago, though some corridors such as Mission Blvd remain moderately congested.

The major freeways through Fremont are the bayside Nimitz (I-880) and the inland I-680. Although the two freeways are only a mile apart in Fremont-Warm Springs, they do not intersect. Motorists will find travel to be very slow during commute hours in the unfavorable direction; especially so on I-880.

Mission Blvd crosses I-680 twice at Exits 16 and 12. Locals sometimes refer to Exit 16 as "North Mission" and Exit 12 as "South Mission." Fremont Blvd crosses I-880 twice at Exit 22 and Exit 13. The locals call Exit 22 "North Fremont" and Exit 13 "South Fremont." So if someone tells you to take the "Fremont Blvd" exit or the "Mission Blvd" exit, make sure you know which one they're talking about. The exit number increases as you move north.

By bike

Bike lanes are present on many major roads in Fremont. Many of Fremont's bike lanes are protected with barrier posts, so they should be very safe. For maximum safety, avoid the large roads that lead to the freeway since they are the most congested, and your bike isn't going to go on the freeway anyway, is it?

The city of Fremont publishes information for bicyclists including a detailed map. Print copies of the map are available at various bicycle shops.

By bus

The AC Transit bus system serves the city of Fremont as well as other cities in the East Bay. Bus routes and schedules are designed for the daily commuter, not the casual traveler. In the middle of the day, buses may run as infrequently as once per hour, with more frequent service on the 99 route, so be sure you have an up-to-date bus schedule and know when your bus is coming. The Fremont BART station serves as a bus terminal for transferring between the various bus routes.

By taxi

Taxis are not common in Fremont, and you will not be able to 'flag one down' while making your way about town. The only taxi stand of note is the one at the Fremont BART Station, where typically several taxis are lined up in a queue. There are many taxi companies that service the area, however you will not find many driving the streets all day. If you need to travel by taxi, plan ahead of time and schedule a taxi with one of the companies serving the area.

Stay safe

Fremont has a very low crime rate, and the crime that does happen is pretty much spread evenly throughout the city. Theft of valuables from cars is the most common crime in Fremont, and the incidence of this is highest at shopping centers like the Hub and Pacific Commons, so make sure that your car is always locked whenever you're not in it.

Go next

Day trips

• Get touristy by going to San Francisco via BART. Ride the cable cars from the Powell Street BART Station to Fisherman's Wharf, thereby accomplishing two of the most touristy things on the West Coast.
• The Oakland Museum of California in Oakland is the best museum about California history. Take BART to the Lake Merritt station in Oakland. Exit the station to 9th Street and walk down Oak Street with the one-way flow of traffic. The entrance to the museum will be on the right side of Oak Street midway between 10th and 12th Streets.
• Ride the Rails to the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento. Take Amtrak's Capitol Corridor train to Sacramento. From the Sacramento station, walk across the parking lot (under the overpasses) west about a block. The museum has one of the largest collections of antique trains in the United States. On summer weekends you can also catch a short steam-train ride. The museum is in Old Sacramento which provides touristy shops and food. Be careful when reading the train schedule: buses are used for some segments at certain hours, so make sure the schedule says you get a train and not a bus.
• See the ocean by going to the Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey. It's about one and a half hours by car. A great place to both see and learn about the local ocean. After the museum, grab a seafood dinner at the Monterey Fisherman's Wharf or Cannery Row. If you have an uncontrollable desire to swim in the freezing Pacific water, the beach in Carmel (just south of Monterey) is the place to try it.
• San Jose has several attractions that are worth visiting that are only a short drive away, including the Winchester Mystery House and the Rosicrucian Museum.

Moving on

• Yosemite or the Sierra Nevada in general.
• Los Angeles
• The Shasta Cascades region is on the way to Portland and Seattle, and includes several volcanic parks.
• Route 50 past the Sierras to Great Basin National Park and Utah's famous collection of national parks..