The Sunrise Place new-home community was developed in 1980 during the final buildout of the San Ramon Golf Club area in San Ramon. Developed by Crocker Homes, approximately 74 homes were built in one of the last undeveloped tracts near Thunderbird Drive, helping complete a golf-course community that had been taking shape since 1961.
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| August 1980 Oakland Tribune advertisement for Crocker Homes’ Sunrise Place in San Ramon, featuring two model homes against a hillside setting and a stylized rising sun. |
Where is Sunrise Place?
Sunrise Place is located in south San Ramon, near the San Ramon Golf Club, and was built around Pebble Place, Scotia Court, and Pebble Court. These streets form the core of the Crocker Homes community developed in 1980.
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| Annotated aerial map of the Sunrise Place community in San Ramon, California. Base imagery from Apple Maps. |
Selling the dream
Crocker Homes presented Sunrise Place as a retreat from the increasingly developed Bay Area, emphasizing its location in the San Ramon Valley as much as the houses themselves. The August 1980 advertisement described the community as being “out beyond the sprawl,” where buyers could have a country setting while remaining part of the growing San Ramon suburban landscape.
The homes were presented as “country homes” with a range of architectural styles, from California to Tudor. Rather than promoting a single architectural identity, Crocker Homes offered prospective buyers a choice of styles and a long list of modern living features intended to complete what the advertisement called a “contented pastoral picture."
The advertising reflects the appeal of San Ramon in 1980: a new suburban community marketed not simply as a collection of houses, but as a place where families could enjoy a country-oriented setting while participating in the region's continuing suburban growth.
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| May 1981 Oakland Tribune advertisement for the Sunrise Place close-out sale, offering four model homes from $144,000. |
The original Sunrise Place models and sales materials
When Crocker Homes introduced Sunrise Place in 1980, prospective buyers encountered the community through its model homes. The four models demonstrated the different designs and floor plans offered to buyers in San Ramon.
The original model homes provide a way to revisit that introduction. The guide below shows where Crocker Homes' models were located, preserves the original sales material where available, and explores the designs the builder offered to prospective buyers when the community was new.
Original model home complex
Sunrise Place's four original model homes were arranged on Pebble Place around a sales complex that welcomed prospective buyers during the neighborhood's opening in 1980.
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| Annotated aerial view of the original Sunrise Place model homes on Pebble Place. Base imagery from Apple Maps. |
Original advertised prices
- Aug. 1980 advertisement: From $120,500 to $151,000
- May 1981 close-out advertisement: Model homes from $144,000
Former model homes
1. Plan 1 - This model offered approximately 1,707 square feet with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.
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| Original Plan 1 model today via Google Street View. |
2. Plan 2 - This model offered approximately 1,988 square feet with 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.
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| Original Plan 2 model today via Google Street View. |
3. Plan 3 - This model offered approximately 2,113 square feet with 3 or 4 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms.
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| Original Plan 3 model today via Google Street View. |
4. Plan 4 - This model offered approximately 2,280 square feet with 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.
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| Original Plan 4 model today via Google Street View. |
Collections
San Ramon — the neighborhoods that built a suburban city
This collection explores the new-home communities, builders, and neighborhoods that shaped San Ramon during its principle years of suburban growth that gradually became the modern city.
The San Ramon Village collection explores the master-planned community that transformed former ranches and orchards into today's Dublin and South San Ramon. Although the name has largely disappeared, the neighborhoods, subdivisions, schools, parks, and shopping centers built as part of the original plan continue to shape the Tri-Valley.
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