{"id":7843,"date":"2026-08-27T12:08:38","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T12:08:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7843"},"modified":"2026-08-27T12:08:38","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T12:08:38","slug":"im-a-walnut-creek-native-and-i-dont-hate-calling-it-the-nut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7843","title":{"rendered":"I’m a Walnut Creek native, and I don’t hate calling it ‘The Nut’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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When I was growing up in Walnut Creek, we\u2019d go on drama class outings to see live performances of \u201cArsenic and Old Lace\u201d or \u201cA Chorus Line\u201d at \u201cThe Nuthouse.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Where are 49ers\u2019 big concerns entering preseason finale in Vegas?<\/a><\/p>\n

No, I\u2019m not talking derogatorily about a mental institution, but about the city\u2019s one-time performing arts venue. Up until the 1980s, the Civic Arts Theatre occupied a downtown building repurposed from an old walnut warehouse. Everyone affectionately referred to it as \u201cThe Nuthouse.\u201d<\/p>\n

I bring this up because there\u2019s been much hand-wringing and online debate following local and national reports saying that Walnut Creek residents have started calling their hometown \u201cThe Nut.\u201d<\/p>\n

As someone who was born in this East Bay suburb and lived here most of my life, I can say I never heard this nickname before. But it\u2019s fun to watch other locals find new ways to embrace the city\u2019s \u201cnutty\u201d origins \u2014 as a small town surrounded by walnut orchards. I should also remind people that our mascot for the once-annual Walnut Festival Twilight Parade was King Walnut. During the parade, a guy wore a giant walnut shell head with a smiling face and crown, and he would wave from the back seat of a convertible or pose with pretty female contestants vying for Walnut Festival queen.<\/p>\n

Over the past few weeks, there have been some etymological deep dives into \u201cThe Nut\u201d trending on TikTok and explanations that the term \u201cis a Gen Z thing.\u201d People magazine has taken the discussion national, with a story asserting that the nickname is here to stay.<\/p>\n

Mayor Kevin Wilk said he\u2019s both amazed and amused by all the attention Walnut Creek is getting for its supposed new nickname. \u201cIt\u2019s crazy!\u201d he said, wondering if people want a distraction from \u201cthe barrage of chaos\u201d in the world. He even heard from a friend, who shared that a relative in Ohio was asking: \u201cSo, what\u2019s this about Walnut Creek being called \u2018The Nut\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n

But many longtime residents are not happy about \u201cThe Nut,\u201d either because they find it too cheeky for their tastes \u2014 or even insulting. Others see it as an affront to their own authoritative knowledge of the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m guessing the fans of calling it \u2018The Nut\u2019 might be the same people who call San Francisco \u2018San Fran\u2019 and California \u2018Cali,\u2019\u201d said one person on the Walnut Creek, California \u2013 Time Machine Facebook page. \u201cI moved to Walnut Creek in 1965 and have never called it anything else and honestly don\u2019t know anyone who does.\u201d Similarly, someone else said: \u201cIt is only in the mouths and minds of young people and newbies. None of us who lived here long ago would ever recognize that as acceptable. Juvenile. Almost as bad as Frisco. OMG,\u00a0 don\u2019t get me started!\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Others say they\u2019ve sometimes called Walnut Creek \u201cThe Creek.\u201d At some point, \u201cthe Dub C\u201d also became a thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand disliking it but I find it amusing,\u201d Jeanne Milne said on the Time Machine page. She recalled that her prominent businessman father owned Gene Hagen Buick in downtown and purchased a Morrow\u2019s Nut House candy store, which her mother called \u201cThe Nut House.\u201d \u201cI prefer Walnut Creek,\u201d Milne said.<\/p>\n

The debate gained traction when Joey Trautner, founder of the Walnut Creek Spotlight Instagram page, which has more than 30,000 followers, began selling baseball hats online with \u201cThe Nut\u201d embroidered on the crown.<\/p>\n

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Like me, Trautner was born and raised in Walnut Creek and was initially skeptical of \u201cThe Nut.\u201d Trautner, who has a day job in construction management, investigated because he was looking to create some Walnut Creek-branded hats and other merchandise to promote his media startup, which initially began as a newsletter in 2023 to highlight small businesses. He notes that his family owned the former longtime La Fogata Mexican Bar and Grill on North Main Street.<\/p>\n

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While the father of two saw TikTok influencers \u2014 \u201cGen Z people, specifically\u201d \u2014 refer to Walnut Creek as \u201cThe Nut,\u201d he assumed they didn\u2019t come from Walnut Creek. So he turned to an expert \u2014 his wife, Danielle \u2014 to find out what teens and recent graduates were saying. Danielle teaches English at their alma mater, Northgate High School. In an interview, Trautner said, \u201cShe looked at me, and she goes, \u2018Yeah, a lot of people call it \u201cThe Nut\u201d now.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Trautner got further confirmation from a trio of younger cousins who have also attended Northgate. In a group text, the eldest of the three, who graduated a couple years ago, said, \u201cDude, that\u2019s what we call it now. Nobody calls it \u2018WC\u2019 or \u2018The Creek.’\u201d Trautners\u2019 other two cousins, including one who still goes to Northgate, chimed in, saying, \u201cYeah, it\u2019s \u2018The Nut.\u2019 We all call it \u2018The Nut.\u2019 You know, \u2018We\u2019re from \u201cThe Nut.\u201d\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

With that, Trautner put in an initial order for a small batch of \u201cThe Nut\u201d hats to sell online. They quickly sold out, and he personally delivered some to buyers, all of whom lived in Walnut Creek.<\/p>\n

In a follow-up post, he surveyed his followers to see if they wanted hats that said \u201cThe Nut\u201d or \u201cThe Creek.\u201d Five-to-one, respondents wanted \u201cThe Nut,\u201d he said. Ahead of his first-time appearance in a booth at the Locust Street Festival on Aug. 5, he garnered nearly 15,000 views for an Instagram post that showed a video of \u201cThe Nut\u201d hat being made. For the festival, he had ordered 100 hats to sell. \u201cI counted them the night before, and I came home with zero hats,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

After his festival outing, Trautner thanked followers for buying his hats and other merch and announced plans to sell more at Walnut Creek\u2019s Oktoberfest on Sept. 25 and 26. He also laughed at some recent pushback he received on \u201cThe Morning Roast\u201d show on the Game sports station, 95.7 KGMZ-FM.<\/p>\n

A caller addressed \u201cThe Nut\u201d debate by citing his own Walnut Creek bona fides and declared that \u201cThe Dub C\u201d is the preferred nickname. This guy theorized that the debate had something to do with the cross-town rivalry between the city\u2019s two high schools. A Las Lomas High graduate, the caller noted that Trautner is from Northgate. \u201cThat explains it all,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

While Mayor Wilk said the nickname debate is crazy, he\u2019s happy if it gets people thinking of Walnut Creek \u201cas a fun place to be.\u201d He said, \u201cIf maybe they live five or 10 miles away and they go, \u2018What\u2019s this going on about \u201cThe Nut\u201d?\u2019 And then they\u2019ll come and check it out.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s Trautner\u2019s purpose, too. And he deserves kudos for doing what he can to promote his business and celebrate Walnut Creek, while creating a sense of community around this nickname debate. He\u2019s also not wedded to \u201cThe Nut.\u201d He\u2019s just giving his followers something they want. He said on Instagram: \u201cThe Nut. The Creek. Dub C. Whatever you call it. Keep repping Walnut Creek.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Yayoi Kusama, who splashed polka dots across the art world, dies at 97 in Tokyo<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whether you call it ‘The Nut’ or something else, my hometown has long found quirky ways to embrace a heritage built on a furrowed nut.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7842,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-things-to-do"],"yoast_head":"\nI’m a Walnut Creek native, and I don’t hate calling it ‘The Nut’ - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7843\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"I’m a Walnut Creek native, and I don’t hate calling it ‘The Nut’ - Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Whether you call it 'The Nut' or something else, my hometown has long found quirky ways to embrace a heritage built on a furrowed nut.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7843\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-27T12:08:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=7843#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=7843\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b\"},\"headline\":\"I’m a Walnut Creek native, and I don’t hate calling it ‘The Nut’\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-27T12:08:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=7843\"},\"wordCount\":1219,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=7843#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/447dc455d6acff50fa378805bfd90a2e-scaled.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Things To Do\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=7843#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=7843\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=7843\",\"name\":\"I’m a Walnut Creek native, and I don’t hate calling it ‘The Nut’ - 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