w w w . P l a c e r T i t l e . c o m

MoragaRelocation Guide

Walnut Creek Branch1331 N. California Blvd., #100

Walnut Creek, CA 94596Phone: 925.946.1616

Fax: 925.939.9206

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The Placer Title Company Story

Placer Title Company was founded by Leo French in 1973. Leo’s vision was to create a work environment that emphasized people. His dream: “To bring together a group of people who really care about each other and about their customers.” Leo believed that if this was accomplished, success would follow. It did. Beginning with only two offices—one in Roseville, California and the other in Auburn, California—Placer Title Company has grown throughout Northern California and beyond.

At Placer Title Company, our people are dedicated to the industry and are committed to giving exceptional service. Our staff’s longevity, combined with the company’s commitment to retaining long-term client relationships, has been the key to our success and is what makes us who we are today. Backed by the strength of Mother Lode Holding Company, we have been able to diversify our business by creating a National Lender Service Division — PTC/National Closing Solutions and a Reverse Mortgage Division — Premier Reverse Closings. Furthermore, we have expanded our title and escrow services by adding North Idaho Title, Montana Title and Escrow and Wyoming Title and Escrow to our family of companies. By expanding our services, we can better serve our clients and offer solutions to all of their title and escrow needs. At Placer Title Company, we care about each other and our clients, and continually demonstrate why we are a proven leader in the title and escrow industry.

Visit us on the web at www.PlacerTitle.com to locate one of our nearly 50 Northern and Central California locations.

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Welcome to Moraga!

The Town of Moraga, a community of approximately 16,000, is situated in a small valley bordered by the Oakland-Berkeley hills. Encompassing an area of nine and one-half miles, the town is 11 miles southeast of Oakland and 18 miles southeast of San Francisco. A semi-rural community, with only four two lane roads leading into town, Moraga is relatively isolated. In 1988, the California Department of Justice rated it the safest city in the Bay Area. The town is also noted for its quiet, family oriented lifestyle and excellent schools.

Two neighborhood shopping centers comprise the business community, which is surrounded by residential areas and open hillsides where cattle graze and horses are pastured. Eighty-four percent of all residences are single family. The hillsides offer some of the most scenic landscape in Contra Costa County. There is no industry. The major employer is St. Mary’s College of California (pictured above). Ninety percent of the town’s residents commute to major business centers of the Bay Area. Public transit connects Moraga with the Lafayette and Orinda BART stations, while freeway travel times to Oakland and Berkeley are approximately 20 minutes and San Francisco is roughly 35 minutes away.

There are 40 acres of parks within the town, with 3 major parks offering a variety of activities and open space, plus a smaller creative playground. A quarterly brochure mailed to all residents contains information on classes ranging from cooking and crafts to physical fitness and special programs for people of all ages. Horseback riding, hiking and bicycling are popular activities on the several miles of public trails maintained by the East Bay Municipal Utilities District. The Moraga Country Club includes an 18 hole golf course and there are private and public swim and tennis facilities.

The Le Fevre Theatre on the campus of St. Mary’s College, and the outdoor summer-time concerts at the Moraga Commons provide a variety of amateur and professional productions. The Hearst Art Gallery at St. Mary’s College rounds out the cultural aspects of Moraga. The Moraga Historical Archives are housed in the Moraga Public Library.

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History of MoragaInformation in this section was compiled from www.moragahistory.org and www.ci.moraga.ca.us

The Town of Moraga is named for Joaquin Moraga, the grandson of Joseph Joaquin Moraga, who was second in command of the Anza expedition to California in 1776. In founding the Presidio and the mission of St. Francis in the same year, his grandson became the founder of the colony that was ultimately known as the city of San Francisco and in 1777 he founded the Pueblo of San Jose and the Mission of Santa Clara.

Joaquin Moraga, who also served in the Royal Spanish Army with his father Garbriel Moraga, resigned from the military in 1819. He and his cousin Juan Bernal, who continued to serve in the army under the flag of Mexico, received a 13,316 acre land grant from the Mexican government in 1835.

The original land grant, known as Rancho Laguna de los Palos Colorados (Ranch of the lake of the redwoods), included parts of Orinda and Lafayette, and the communities of Canyon, Redwood, Rheem and Moraga. Joaquin Moraga, already a widower for 11 years, built an adobe on a hill overlooking the Moraga Valley in 1841. The adobe home still stands on a knoll in Orinda, above Miramonte High School, with a popular tree lined driveway curving up to the house from Donna Maria Way. It was designated a California historical landmark in 1954, and a national historical place in 1972. According to the Plaque, the home is the oldest existing building in Contra Costa County.

The original Adobe was built with three room (salon-dancing room), bedroom and attic (then considered a room), a long verandah and an outside kitchen. In 1847, when Joaquin’s son, Jose De Jesus, and family moved in with his father, the adobe was expanded to accommodate a large, growing family. Joaquin added a lean-to consisting of a dining room flanked by girls’ and boys’ bedrooms. In keeping with Northern California custom, there was neither a fireplace nor a kitchen in the adobe.

Moraga Adobe circa 1938

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History of Moraga (continued)

The Moraga Ranch was a cattle ranch. Hides and tallow were sold to New England buyers who offered merchandise in exchange. Life at the adobe was successful and comfortable. It included Indian servants who lived in lean-tos against either side of the adobe. There were many fandangos (festive dinner-dance parties), barbecues and all-night dancing in the adobe’s salon, which was the only room in the house with a wooden floor (built with local redwood from Canyon).

When California became a state in 1850, all of the Spanish and Mexican land grants had to be confirmed by the federal government. This was especially difficult for the Moragas, as they spoke no English and were illiterate. The trial to prove validity of their Mexican deeds was especially expensive for the Ranchero of Contra Costa County, for he and his witnesses had to travel to San Francisco during the trial, which lasted several years. Court costs and lawyer’s fees added to his indebtedness, which he paid for, not with money, of which he had very little, but with land. In Moraga

and Bernal’s case, this was in excess of 20 percent of their holding. With the decline of gold mining, many prospective settlers became squatters on the Rancho. Their hope was that Moraga’s title was invalid and they would find themselves the homesteaders on new public land. Actually, Moraga’s deed was proved valid and the squatters paid for the land.

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History of Moraga (continued)

In 1886, however, a dishonest attorney from Oakland named Horace Walpole Carpentier used his legal knowledge to obtain ownership of the Rancho, including the Moragas’ farm surrounding the adobe. The naïve Moragas’ lost their Rancho after all.

After 1912, the bulk of the Rancho was purchased by James Irvine, who started the Moraga Company, which he farmed and subdivided. It was during this period that the Moraga Company Headquarters was established next to what is today the Moraga Shopping Center. The Moraga Company planted many acres of pears and walnut trees, grazed cattle on the hillsides, and turned the former leasing ranchers into sharecropping farmers. In the harvest and fruit picking season, there were as many as 150 workers at the Moraga Company ranch. The Moraga Company also sold land to developers and subdivided some of the land itself. They established the town site of Moraga in 1913 and tried unsuccessfully to sell land there.

This period brought the Oakland & Antioch Railroad to town with service from Oakland to Chico through Moraga. Later this line would become the Sacramento Northern Railroad, which served many early residents of the Moraga Valley. With a depot and two spur tracks in Moraga, the town became the major shipping center of the Rancho. School children rode free on school days, first to Willow Springs Elementary School, then to Diablo High School in Concord.

The Moraga Company built a two story hotel in Moraga to promote the sale of land on the Rancho. It later became a mercantile store with a gasoline station and a lending library, and eventually a bar. Much of the early real estate development for the Moraga Company was in what is today Orinda. Moraga extended to and included the Crossroads.

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History of Moraga (continued)

Most of the early Crossroads businesses included the word Moraga in their name. Among the Developments at the Crossroads were Moraga Oaks and Moraga Estates. Fifteen tracts with the Moraga name were built in what today is Orinda.

In 1927, the Moraga Company offered 100 acres free to both St. Mary’s College and the College of Holy Names. It was felt a college would bring people and culture to a very barren area, and help the Moraga Company sell homes. Only St. Mary’s College accepted the offer and bought an additional 300 acres.

On 1953 most of the land was bought by Utah Construction Company. By 1955 many subdivisions and homes were started. Utah later sold the remaining land to Russell Bruzzone, a Lafayette developer who developed much of the property. Most of the homes, roads and business in present-day Moraga have been built since 1960.

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St. Mary’s College

Saint Mary’s College of California serves as a gathering place as well as a cultural center for Moraga. Now in its seventh decade in Moraga, the college’s serene beauty is a magnet. In addition to educating young people in the liberal arts, business and science, Saint Mary’s offers adult classes, sporting and cultural events, religious services and recreation for all ages.

Undergraduate are offered by day, but late afternoons, evenings and weekends you can expect to see adult learners coming to class for MBA, paralegal and education classes. Frequent lectures by prominent educators, authors and theologians are free and open to the public. The college welcomes students of all ages who wish to take a course or two, as well as those seeking a degree.

Walkers, joggers, bikers hikers and tennis players can be seen any day making use of the beautiful 400 acre campus. Service clubs such as Rotary, Kiwanis and Soroptimist meet weekly for meetings. Art enthusiasts enjoy a wide range of exhibits in the Hearst Art Gallery. Visitors flock to music, dance and theater events; concerts are frequently held in the College Chapel, which has remarkable acoustics. The Chapel is also the site of daily Masses and weekly Episcopal services. Groups can also reserve the Popluar Grove for picnics, LeFevre Theater for performances, and classrooms for educational gatherings.

Home football and basketball games and annual events attracts large crowds. Summer highlights include the College County Wine Festival, which raises money for scholarships for county residents, and the Saint Mary’s Coucours d’elegance, which benefits John Muir Medical Center. The spacious lawns, shade trees and flowery courtyards of Saint Mary’s offer a beautiful setting for these gatherings.

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Important Phone Numbers

FOR ALL EMERGENCIES 911

Police (Business Line) (925) 376-2515Fire Department (Business Line) (925) 258-4599

Chamber of Commerce (925) 376-0150Post Office

Main (925) 376-2457

Moraga Station (925) 376-6326

St. Mary’s Station (925) 376-0739Library (925) 376-6852Town Offices (925) 376-2590Planning Department (925) 376-5200Public Works Department (925) 376-2521Parks & Recreation Department (925) 376-2520

SERVICES

AT&T (800) 310-2355E.B.M.U.D. (866) 403-2683Garbage

Republic Waste (925) 685-4711Pacific Gas & Electric (800) 743-5000Comcast Cable (800) 945-2288

TRANSPORTATION County Connection (Bus) (925) 676-7500BART (Rapid Transit) (925) 676-2278Department of Motor Vehicles (800) 777-0133

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Preschools

The Child Day Schools 372 Park Street • Moraga, CA 94556

(925) 376-5110

Creative Playhouse, Inc.1350 Moraga Way • Moraga, CA 94556

(925) 377-8314

Bright Beginnings Christian Preschool1689 School Street • Moraga, CA 94556

(925) 376-2600

Growing Tree Preschool1695 Canyon Road • Moraga, CA 94556

(925) 376-8280

Mulberry Tree Preschool1455 Saint Marys Road • Moraga, CA 94556

(925) 376-1751

The Nurtury Preschool10 Moraga Valley Lane • Moraga, CA 94556

(925) 376-4800 x248

Saklan Valley School1678 School Street • Moraga, CA 94556

(925) 376-7900

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Public Schools

The Moraga School District1540 School StreetMoraga, CA 94556

(925) 376-5943

Camino Pablo Elementary1111 Camino PabloMoraga, CA 94556

(925) 376-4435www.moraga.k12.ca.us/CP

Donald L. Rheem Elementary90 Laird Drive

Moraga, CA 94556(925) 376-4441

http://rh.moraga.k12.ca.us

Los Perales Elementary22 Wakefield Drive Moraga, CA 94556

(925) 631-0105http://lp.moraga.k12.ca.us

Joaquin Moraga Intermediate1010 Camino PabloMoraga, CA 94556

(925) 376-7206http://jm.moraga.k12.ca.us

Acalanes Union High School District1212 Pleasant Hill Road

Lafayette, CA 94549(925) 280-3900

Campolindo High School300 Moraga Road Moraga, CA 94556

(925) 280-3950 www.acalanes.k12.ca.us/campolindo/

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Parks & Trails

Hacienda De Las Flores

A renovated former estate, the Hacienda de Las Flores is a fully developed, 10 acre park and community center. The beautiful grounds, including a nature trail and a botanical garden, are open daily for public enjoyment. The early California style buildings hold recreational classes, and are available for rentals for private parties, weddings, receptions and business meetings. The Hacienda was designated as a California historical landmark in 1985.

Moraga Commons

A 20 acre park located in the center of town, the Moraga Commons feature open grass areas, a family and group picnic areas, a tot-lot and separate playground for older children, a Volleyball court, 18 hole disc golf course horseshoe pits and a natural bowl amphitheater with bandshell. Rolling hills offer a beautiful vista. The park also contains a marsh, creek, pond, and several specimen trees, including the community holiday tree.

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Rancho Laguna

Set among rolling hills at the southerly edge of town, this 8.5 acre park includes barbecue picnic areas, informal play fields, a tot-lot, two small play structures and adult exercise stations. There are certain hours for off-leash dogs. It is available for overnight group camping by reservation only.

Los Perales

The Los Perlas tot-lot, Climbing Country, is a unique half acre creative playground located at the Los Perales school site.

Lafayette-Moraga Trail/Parcourse

In conjunction with the East Bay Regional Park District, the trail is operated along a 7.2 Mile corridor connecting with the regional trail system. There is a parcourse along the St. Mary’s Road section of the trail.

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$150,000 mortgage

1 point =$1,150

DiningAsia Palace1460 Moraga RoadMoraga, CA 94556(925) 376-0809

Chef Chao Restaurant343 Rheem BoulevardMoraga, CA 94556(925) 376-1740

China Moon Restaurant380 Park StreetMoraga, CA 94556(925) 376-1828

Golden Pacae581 Moraga RoadMoraga, CA 94556(925) 631-0284

Graze Food Bar376 Park StMoraga, CA 94556(925) 388-0351

Home/made Kitchen Cafe & Bakery337 Rheem Blvd.Moraga, CA 94556(925) 388-0841

Penne Pizza & Pasta1375 Moraga Way Suite DMoraga, CA 94556(925) 376-4040

Lamorinda Pizza382 Park StreetMoraga, CA 94556(925) 376-0808

Michael’s Ristorante Italiano1375 Moraga WayMoraga, CA 94556(925) 376-4300

Mucho Wraps1375 Moraga Way Suite BMoraga, CA 94556(925) 377-1203

New Delhi Restaurant484 Center St.Moraga, CA 94556(925) 376-3839

Pennini’s Ristorante Italiano1375 Moraga WayMoraga, CA 94556(925) 376-1515Ranch House1012 School StreetMoraga, CA 94556(925) 376-5127Ristorante Amoroma360 Park StreetMoraga, CA 94556(925) 377-7662

Royal Siam512 Center StreetMoraga, CA 94556(925) 377-0420

Terzetto Cuisine Café1419 Moraga WayMoraga, CA 94556(925) 376-3832