But this is Chico, too

I got together with a friend Friday at the new Has Beans Creekside coffeehouse and bakery on Humboldt Avenue, right across the street from where the Boucher Street bridge crosses Little Chico Creek. This is the business’ second Chico location and the fifth in Northern California. There are Has Beans in Eureka, Mount Shasta and Weed.

It’s in a tiny building with two tables, but there are more places to sit outside, including a patio. We picked a table in front, next to the sidewalk.

Most of the outdoor sections of Chico coffeehouses face either a busy street or a parking lot. A view of cars — moving or stationery — isn’t very appetizing. But this part of Humboldt is relatively quiet and the creek and bridge are a nice backdrop. I like the idea of a coffeehouse in a residential neighborhood.
Has Bean’s opening is a sign that things are continuing to look up for this wedge of vintage Chico, located between the freeway, Eighth Street, Eastwood Park and Little Chico Creek.

On the east edge of the wedge, the Market Café anchors a retail complex that has gradually filled up with tenants. Square Deal Mattress, located on the same edge, is a neighborhood institution. On the west edge, Mim’s Bakery is a stable presence.

Throughout the neighborhood, old houses are being fixed up and a couple of high-density housing developments have gone up on formerly vacant lots. The appeal of the area is reinforced by its great location — proximity to downtown and Bidwell Park — and its tall spreading trees that create an almost continuous shady canopy. The neighborhood even boasts a historically significant landmark — the twice-relocated church on Linden Street between Eighth and Ninth. It dates from 1867
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This is one of Chico’s few semi-affordable areas . It will become even more affordable once the formerly hot real estate market has had a couple of years to cool off.

If the city continues to pursue its policy of buying up property along Little Chico Creek as it becomes available and tearing down the houses on it, Chico will one day have another greenway — a modest version of the one that already exists along Big Chico Creek — spanning the width of the city.
As the city moves away from its former practice of turning its back on this potential gem of an urban pedestrian corridor, I see a day when more places like Has Beans are within walking distance of Little Chico Creek. San Luis Obispo and Ashland are examples of cities that have made good use of having creeks running through them.