Since the late 1970s, one 63-year-old resident and businesswoman has shined her own light on how different the east end of the county has grown and embraced history.
“My family moved to California, Contra Costa County, in 1976,” said Kathy Barlow. “I went to high school in San Ramon and lived in that area for some time. It was two years after Chuck and I got married, we moved to Antioch, in 1991.”
A textile arts teacher and owner of Kathy Barlow Designs, Barlow said she remembers how no one from San Francisco knew of San Ramon, let alone Antioch, where she lives.
“I remember they were trying to develop a business park, Bluerock, which is now mostly a shopping center,” Barlow said. “It was going to be a full-on business park with good jobs for people who might (have) been commuting elsewhere.” Unfortunately, she added, the project was voted down in the early 2000s.
“On the good side, when they expanded Highway 4 [in 2016], they finally added BART out here [in 2018],” Barlow said. “Both of those things really helped.”
-- Jayden Mckenzie
