But this is Chico, too

Last month, I went to a presentation sponsored by the Chico Avenues Neighborhood Association. One of the speakers was architect Paul Lieberum, who showed slides of good and bad examples of Chico architecture.

One of the features he liked is the cluster of businesses , which illustrate this blog entry, on the southeast corner of Third Avenue and The Esplanade. It’s an example of how commercial and residential uses can be compatible and enhance the pedestrian-oriented quality of a neighborhood.

It reminds me of the corner of Fifth and Ivy streets in the South Campus neighborhood, where another cluster of businesses is surrounded by a residential neighborhood.

The Longfellow Shopping Center on East First Avenue, built by Hignell & Strange in the 1950s, is a car-oriented example of a cluster of businesses in a residential neighborhood. Even with this suburban twist, it’s a nice alternative to strip commercial development.

The grocery stores scattered throughout many of Chico’s older neighborhoods are another variation on this theme. Examples are Chinca’s Market in Chapmantown, Laurel Street Grocery in the Mulberry neighborhood, Downtown Market on Eighth Street east of downtown, Warner Street Grocery in the avenues and ABC Market in student land on Ninth Street. (The Korner Market in the Barber neighborhood has migrated to the suburbs. It’s now part of La Dolce Piazza at Cohasset Road and Lassen Avenue.)

These smaller-scale commercial configurations help give Chico’s older neighborhoods their fine-grain appearance. This feature tends to be dsicarded whenever suburban-style zoning, with its strict separation of housing from other land uses, sets the tone for development.