Insurance in Brentwood, California

Brentwood began as a farming community in the late 19th century, and still is known throughout the Bay Area for its agricultural products, primarily its cherries, corn and peaches. Due to urban sprawl many of the old farms and orchards have been replaced by suburban developments since 1990. Brentwood is increasingly residential, with the rate of population growth in the triple digits during the 1990s and 69% from 2000 through 2005. During the 1990s, many types of retail stores were built along the Brentwood/Antioch border on Lone Tree Way, on both sides of SR 4 B, about 3.5 miles (5.6 km) from downtown Brentwood. The Streets of Brentwood, an outdoor lifestyle retail center, opened in Brentwood in 2008. The region's upscale shopping and dining is found in Brentwood including REI, Banana Republic, Swarovski, Coldwater Creek, White House Black Market, Hollister Co., JoS. A. Bank Clothiers, Victoria's Secret, DSW, Inc., ULTA Beauty, Trader Joe's, Peet's Coffee & Tea, BJ's Restaurant & Brewery, and Vic Stewart's, a nationally recognized steakhouse, with locations in Walnut Creek, California and Brentwood. The only all-digital Rave Motion Pictures in the San Francisco Bay Area is located in the Streets of Brentwood. Brentwood was originally laid out on land donated from property owned by John Marsh, an East Contra Costa County pioneer who acquired Rancho Los Meganos, the land grant that Brentwood is built upon, in 1837 from Jose Noriega. Brentwood was named after Marsh's ancestral home, the town of Brentwood in the County of Essex, England. The city broke ground for a new civic center in November, 2009. The Mission-style architectural inspiration for City Hall, the main building, was the 1910 Brentwood Hotel. The $60 million project, completed in May of 2012, includes the 58,000-square-foot City Hall and state-of-the-art City Council Chambers, 32,000-square-foot community center, 280-space parking garage and redevelopment of the 2½-acre City Park. The community center also includes arts and crafts rooms as well as studios for dance classes and community exercise programs. The center received a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Silver certification for amenities such as green roofs, bioswales, permeable paving and infiltration planters.City departments began moving into the new facility in October 2011, and the former city hall was demolished during November 2011.