But this is Chico, too

After spending some time in the South Campus neighborhood, we’re back in the middle of town for this walk around the block.

Start at the southeast corner of Salem and W. Second streets. The unassuming white building with the blue awnings you see in front of you is one of downtown’s early preservation success stories. Etta Chiapella, its one-time owner, refused to see it torn down and replaced with a parking lot. She sold it to downtown buisnessmen Joseph Kaveney and Mike Webster on their promise to renovate it.

They completed the project in 1974 and named it Etta Chiapella Square. Today the building, which dates from about 1888, is the home of the Black Crow Grill and Taproom, Peeking Chinese Restaurant, Bidwell Cigar and Golden One Credit Union.

A parking lot that wraps around the building has an intriguing mural depicting trees that mimic the look of the real trees next to it.

Washington Mutual Bank, on the southwest corner of Broadway and W. Second, is one of downtown’s visual blank spaces. It went up at a time when people weren’t that interested in how buildings look. But I like the two display cases the bank has on Broadway that showcase Chico events and organizations. The last time I looked, they featured the Chico Women’s Club’s Celebration of Women and the Pioneer Days Parade.

All of the stores on this side of Broadway between Washington Mutual and Starbucks have been there less than two or three years. Brambley Cottage, which was once in the Garden Walk, is the only one of these stores I frequent. I like to go there to buy gifts for my wife.

Starbucks has been on the northwest corner of Broadway and W. Third St. for as long as I can remember. But that’s because I’ve been in Chico only nine years. Its tenure has nothing on Lee Pharmacy, which occupied this spot, on the ground floor of the International Order of Oddfellow’s building, from 1884 to 1994. Wesley Lee is believed to have started the pharmacy in 1857.

Join me next time and we’ll complete this walk around the block.