Published June 26, 2025
In 1968, William Lyon Homes began home sales in San Ramon with a distinctly California vision of suburban living: bright kitchens, expandable floor plans, compact efficiency, and just enough style to make tract housing feel futuristic.
While we tend to think of tract housing names as the ultimate name of a neighborhood, that wasn't the case with William Lyon Homes. The company instead offered lines of homes in areas it owned, just as Sunset Homes did in Livermore. While this practice was applied elsewhere in the Bay Area, the first housing tract offered was a series of homes called California Classics —a collection of affordable homes built during San Ramon’s rapid suburban expansion. Yet, it left homeowners without a clear identity of the tract it was built in (some realtors call it "Westchester" for the street that runs through it).
California Classics didn’t remain the only line of homes in a single tract for long. As market conditions changed, William Lyon Homes introduced the home series into the nearby Danridge tract, where a second line of larger homes was introduced just after California Classics, and marketed to a different segment. As time passed, a third home series was introduced in the California Classics and Danridge tracts, and it was called the American Classics. In which case, all the tracts owned by William Lyon Homes were weaved together with common architectural features, but widely different homes sizes.
What had begun as a single tract concept had evolved into a layered housing system—reflecting how quickly suburban design, pricing, and expectations were shifting.
At the center of it all was a simple idea: flexible suburban living for modern California families.
California Classics homes and architectural style
When William Lyon Homes introduced California Classics in 1968, prospective buyers encountered the housing tract through its model homes. The models showcased the different designs, floor plans, and lifestyles the builder was offering to buyers in San Ramon.
The California Classics home designs
The original model homes provide a useful cross-section of California Classic's architecture. William Lyon Homes selected six models for the 1968 opening on Randolph Place, with at least ten designs available for purchase. Although buyers could choose among different elevations and options, these models document the versions William Lyon Homes chose to put on display.
The first model home (unknown name)
This design offered approximately 1,453 square feet with 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.
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| Present-day view of the home that served as a William Lyon Homes' 1968 model in California Classics. Imagery from Google Street View. |
The Plan 1
This design offered approximately 888 square feet with 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom.
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| Present-day view of the home that served as William Lyon Homes' 1968 Plan 1 model in California Classics. Imagery from Google Street View. |
The Plan 3
This design offered approximately 1,153 square feet with up to 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.
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| Present-day view of the home that served as William Lyon Homes' 1968 Plan 3 model in California Classics. Imagery from Google Street View. |
The Plan 2
This design offered approximately 1,407 square feet with up to 4 bedrooms and up to 3 bathrooms. Featured a convertible second-floor space that buyers could finish as additional bedrooms or leave unfinished. This was the most popular design, later renamed the Plan 42, Bonus Room House, and Look Ahead House.
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| Present-day view of the home that served as William Lyon Homes' 1968 Plan 2 model in California Classics. Imagery from Google Street View. |
The Plan 4
This design offered approximately 1,383 square feet with 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.
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| Present-day view of the home that served as William Lyon Homes' 1968 Plan 4 model in California Classics. Imagery from Google Street View. |
The sixth model home (unknown name)
This design offered approximately 1,448 square feet with 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. Introduced after the sales complex opened.
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| Present-day view of the home that served as a William Lyon Homes' 1968 model in California Classics. Imagery from Google Street View. |
Marketing California Classics
William Lyon marketed California Classics as modern suburban living without unnecessary excess. The homes ranged from compact starter models to larger family layouts, but nearly all emphasized efficiency, flexibility, and light-filled interiors.
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| November 1968 Oakland Tribune ad—William Lyon announcing its position in the California new home market while introducing California Classics in San Ramon. |
A selling point was the “Terrace Kitchen,” wrapped with wall-to-wall gold anodized aluminum windows. Ads treated it almost like a technological breakthrough — a bright, open kitchen designed to make suburban family life feel modern and sophisticated.
Many homes also featured expandable second-story spaces. Buyers could purchase unfinished bonus rooms initially, then complete them later as bedrooms, hobby rooms, or game rooms as budgets and families grew.
California Classics quickly became one of William Lyon’s most recognizable Tri-Valley developments.
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| April 1969 Contra Costa Times newspaper clipping—Terrace Kitchens, wrapped in glass and filled with light, won over buyers regardless of their compact size. |
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| December 1970 Contra Costa Times newspaper clipping—in the bonus room of the Look Ahead House, chalking her cue in a flowing ’70s dress—pool table, Pepsi-Cola glow, and a night made for style and games. |
American Classics arrive
By 1971, the housing market had shifted. Rising prices and tighter budgets pushed builders toward smaller, more affordable homes, and William Lyon responded with a new series called American Classics.
Unlike the original California Classics homes, these designs emphasized compact floor plans and aggressive pricing. Some were among the least expensive new homes in the East Bay at the time.
Rather than building the line in a new tract, William Lyon inserted the American Classics homes throughout the growing California Classics and Danridge tracts, gradually blending the developments together.
The sales office operated in a welcome center on San Ramon Valley Boulevard near Alcosta.
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| September 1971 Oakland Tribune ad—when homes sold for under $21K, the real upset wasn’t the buyers—it was the neighbors. |
American Classics homes and architectural style
The location of the American Classics model homes is unknown, if they existed at all, but it may have been on Kittery Avenue.
The American Classics home designs
1. The Plan 5
This design offered approximately 905 square feet with 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom.
2. The Plan 6
This design offered approximately 938 square feet with 3 bedrooms and 1.5 bathrooms.
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| August 1971 Oakland Tribune newspaper clipping—Plan 6 — 938 square feet of carefully arranged optimism, possibly in San Ramon... or maybe just a photo from somewhere else. |
3. The Plan 7
This design offered approximately 1,595 square feet with 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.
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| July 1971 Contra Costa Times newspaper clipping – William Lyon's American Classics Plan 7 was the East Bay’s cheapest 4-bedroom home in 1971. |
Legacy of California Classics
California Classics captured a moment when suburban builders were experimenting with how much flexibility they could pack into tract housing.
Expandable bonus rooms, glass-wrapped kitchens, compact floorplans, and affordable pricing all reflected the realities of late-1960s California growth. Buyers wanted modern homes, but they also needed practicality.
As the market shifted in the early 1970s, William Lyon adapted by introducing the smaller American Classics series and expanding beyond the original tract boundaries. The result was a patchwork of home styles that still defines the area today.
And while the names “California Classics” and “American Classics” have mostly faded from memory, the homes themselves remain easy to spot — especially the Terrace Kitchens and expandable second stories that once promised a more flexible version of suburban living.
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