Livermore (formerly Livermores, Livermore Ranch, and Nottingham) is a city in Alameda County. The estimated population as of 2011 was 82,039. Livermore is located on the eastern edge of California’s San Francisco Bay Area.

Livermore’s culture retains some vestiges of the farming, wine growing and ranching traditions that have existed in the valley since the time of Robert Livermore, but now largely reflects a suburban population. Early in June since 1918 Livermore has hosted the Livermore Rodeo, called the “World’s Fastest Rodeo,” that claims it has more riders per hour than any other event of its type. There are several wine tasting tours of the many Livermore area wineries that occur periodically throughout the summer.

This culture was documented in the photoessay Suburbia in 1973 by then native photographer Bill Owens, with the photos shown in numerous exhibits. Livermore has a strong blue-collar element, as well as many professionals who work at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and other work sites in the high tech industries within the Bay Area. Recent housing development has included the addition of hundreds of million dollar homes set among the southside’s vineyards as well as a multi-million dollar renovation of the downtown area. The downtown renovations included office buildings, the Livermore Cinemas, the Bankhead Theatre and a multistory parking structure for the new businesses, Railway station, Bankhead Theatre, restaurants, etc.. At the Livermore Civic Center off S. Livermore Ave there is a state-of-the-art library (with a controversial front mosaic by Maria Alquilar) that opened in 2004.

Livermore has a municipal Las Positas Golf Course, Springtown 9 hole Golf Course as well as the 18 hole Poppy Ridge Golf and the 18 hole Wente Vineyards Course near the city. It has a regional municipal airport (LVK) accessible to business jets which serves the whole tri-valley area. The city is home to Bay Area Rosal, a professional indoor soccer team. Each summer Livermore has a farmer’s market which bring farm fresh produce directly to the consumer.

In 2010, proposed projects included extension of BART high-speed rail system to Livermore with an underground downtown station and a regional performing arts center between Livermore Avenue and L Street.

Arts organizations supported by the city include the Livermore-Amador Symphony, Del Valle Fine Arts, producer of classical music events, and in the valley at large, the Valley Concert Chorale, Livermore Valley Opera, the Valley Dance Theatre, a classical ballet company and the Livermore Art Association, many world class artists are represented.

There are over fifty different places to worship in Livermore.

Camp Wonder opened its first summer camp for children with special medical needs in Livermore in 2001.

One of the largest districts in Livermore is Springtown, the northeast area of the city north of Interstate 580. Originally conceived as a retirement community in the early 1960s, Springtown has many of the city’s hotels and a public golf course.

The downtown area or central district has two movie theaters, a community theater, and space for open air concerts. The North Livermore district is north of the Union Pacific Railroad that cuts through downtown. The South Livermore district, which includes a lot of unincorporated land, has over 40 wineries.