What it’s really like to live in Dublin (in California, not Ireland)

In August of last year, I said a final goodbye to my house in Fremont, California, where I had spent the last 15 years of my life. To say the very least, I was ambivalent about moving to Dublin, even though it was really only 20 minutes away. My parents did it for financial reasons – housing prices in Fremont were at an all-time high when we sold the house – but to me it was bittersweet. I was about to leave the house I was raised in and start with a completely fresh slate.

Over the past few months since we’ve moved, however, I’ve grown to embrace the change. I live in the newly developed part of Dublin, which was essentially the definition of “middle-of-nowhere” up until ten years ago when developers finally took a serious interest in it. Almost everything here, at least around my neighborhood, is a full 30 years newer than anything in Fremont, which is kind of nice.

Plus, living in Dublin has led to some interesting conversations. Whenever I tell someone from Davis that my family lives there, it usually goes something like:

“Dublin? You mean…Ireland?”

“No…I mean the Bay Area.” Dublin’s not really on the map yet, so people usually don’t realize that we have one in California. They tend to assume that my parents, two modest Asian parents reaching their 60s, simply moved to Ireland (which, admittedly, would have been pretty cool). Fun fact, though – Dublin has clovers on their street signs, perhaps as a way to pay homage to its Irish namesake.

The hills

Dublin is situated amongst the rolling hills of the Bay Area which turn a beautiful green during the springtime. All the rain is definitely worth it.

A view of the hills from my front driveway on a sunny day in Dublin.

The BART

That’s Bay Area Rapid Transit for those of you who don’t know, and it’s the fifth-busiest rail transit system in the United States. Dublin’s connected to the rest of the Bay through the West Dublin/Pleasanton station, and with new stations opening soon in Milpitas and South Fremont, there’s almost nowhere you can’t go in the Bay Area. Luckily for me, the BART station is a five-minute drive from my house.

Shopping

With so much land area to use and build on, developers have chosen prime locations to construct shopping complexes. For example, Target is actually down the street from me, and I can safely say that a three minute drive to Target is any college student’s heaven, especially when the Davis one is practically in another town. San Francisco Premium Outlets, which has everything from Gucci to Forever 21, is also just a stone’s throw from my neighborhood. And finally, the IMAX theater is only one exit down from where I live.

Food

Dublin is a prime example of the Bay Area’s greatest asset – food. If you’re from around here and you love Asian food, you know that the restaurants in Davis just don’t cut it. That’s not to say they’re bad (I’m still going to get my fix at Manna or Mikuni’s), but it’s unquestionable that you’re just not going to get the same quality or variety of choices as you would in the Bay Area.

My parents and I like to frequent The Banana Garden, a Malaysian restaurant in Dublin.

Fortunately, Dublin has a great mix of restaurants. A ten-minute drive will take you to dim sum, boba tea, shaved ice, Malaysian, Singaporean, Korean, Vietnamese, and everything in between. And of course, Dublin has numerous Asian bakeries and supermarkets for all your snacking needs. But beyond that, we also have places serving Greek, Persian, Mexican, traditional American, and more. Plenty of restaurants that focus on serving health-conscious food have started springing up around town too, so we pretty much have something for everyone.

One of my favorite places to go for food is Persimmon Place, a new complex a couple miles from where I live. It’s a sprawling group of eateries situated around an enormous Whole Foods Market, and it includes great choices like Chipotle, Urban Plates, Yalla Mediterranean, Starbucks, and Firehouse Subs (which is great since the one in Davis closed recently). If you’re not hungry, the complex also features Nordstrom Rack, Home Goods, and various fitness and spa centers.

Persimmon Place, one of my favorite food complexes.

We don’t have some stuff, but Dublin is still great

We’re getting there, but we don’t have everything – at least not in the newer area of Dublin where I live. We don’t even have our own DMV (you have to go to the neighboring city), and we just got El Pollo Loco, which I think is a pretty big deal. Safeway and Lucky are across town if you’re willing to make the drive, but otherwise, Whole Foods is really your only supermarket option besides Costco (extremely expensive versus getting 5 loaves of bread in bulk when you know you’re only going to eat 3 slices).

But, the Whole Foods here does make an amazing Thanksgiving dinner that we tried last November. It has everything from ham to biscuits to mashed potatoes, and I highly recommend it to anyone else who’s not down to spend 8+ hours cooking a dead bird.

Our first Turkey Day in Dublin!

Even though I was hesitant about making the move to Dublin, I’m glad I took the time to explore the city a bit and get to know some of its hidden gems. With construction around town still in full swing, the coming years will only bring newer and better locations to eat and shop at, and I definitely look forward to it.