Oakland, Berkeley, Walnut Creek, Lafayette, Concord’s plaza, Alameda’s Park and Webster, Pleasanton, Livermore, Martinez, and Danville are the downtowns worth the word. You can eat, do an errand, and walk home.
Station areas like Contra Costa Centre are downtown-adjacent: you can live without a car more easily, and you borrow someone else’s main street. That is a valid downtown life. It is just a newer kind.
Towns
Inner East Bay
Oakland
The bridge lands here, and so does dinner.
OpenBerkeley & the north hills
Berkeley
Campus, canyons, and a food culture that predates the trend.
OpenCentral Contra Costa
Walnut Creek
The East Bay downtown people drive to on purpose.
OpenLamorinda
Lafayette
A downtown you can actually finish walking, plus a reservoir.
OpenCentral Contra Costa
Concord
Todos Santos Plaza, a big city footprint, and summer concerts.
OpenTri-Valley
Pleasanton
A historic downtown and a job base in the same city.
OpenTri-Valley
Livermore
Wine country, a science town, and a downtown coming into its own.
OpenSan Ramon Valley
Danville
A downtown main street with the mountain behind it.
OpenInner East Bay
Alameda
An island of Victorians, beaches, and a main street that still works.
Open