But this is Chico, too

I don’t count myself among those snooty Chicoans who sneer at Oroville.

Just recently I overheard a Chicoan criticize an experience by referring to it as “Orovillian.”

I’ve defended Oroville in print, and now I’m going to do it again in the blogosphere.

There are cities in the Sacramento Valley that I don’t like. You won’t hear me say one word about them. Then there are cities I can find good things to say about: Gridley, Biggs, Tehama, Yuba City and Marysville.

Oroville is in a different class. It’s among the places in the Valley I truly like, such as Woodland, Winters, Colusa and Davis.

I took a walk in Oroville recently and turned my flaneur’s critical eye upon it.

I continue to like what I see.

Montgomery Street, with its shady trees and handsome century-old houses, is Oroville’s equivalent of The Esplanade, a grand gateway to its downtown. The neighborhood on either side of Montgomery has the same quality as Chico’s charming, livable older neighborhoods. Some of the properties are a little rough around the edges, but the good far outnumber the bad.

Downtown Oroville has a number of vacant storefronts, but so does Chico. All downtowns are struggling to stay vital in the age of big box suburbia. But there are great places in downtown Oroville to browse and spend money. In my wanderings the day I was there, I bought a used book and a vintage postcard for myself and a kewpie doll for my mother for her birthday. I had a tasty sandwich at a restaurant. And I savored the architecture. Downtown Oroville has a handsome collection of public and commercial buildings, including the Masonic building and hotel that illustrate this entry.

One of the things I don’t like about Oroville is Oro Dam Boulevard, a dreary commercial thoroughfare that, fortunately, steers clear of downtown. But Chico has far more such ugly stretches — the upper reaches of The Esplanade, Cohasset Road, Mangrove Boulevard, Walnut Street, Nord Avenue and parts of East Avenue.

I think the main reason Oroville is maligned is because it’s right next to South Oroville, where drug use is prevalent and the crime rate is high. But I don’t hold Oroville responsible for that. Actually, I don’t even hold “society” responsible. Even the most just and egalitarian society is going to have a hard time eliminating the woes that plague these kinds of communities.

My one encounter with South Oroville was upbeat. I did a story about a faith-based community development program that was having success at physically and spiritually rehabilitating the neighborhood. By giving its clients rules to follow, a family to belong to and goals to achieve, the program seemed to be bringing hope to South Oroville.

Oroville has lots of upbeat people. About three years ago, when I wrote nice things about the city in my E-R column “But this is Chico,” Orovillians Alberta Tracy and Kyra Gottsman came forward to act as ambassadors. They introduced me to dozens of people, all of them bullish about the possibilities of the city of gold.

I share their optimism.