But this is Chico, too

Here’s a “then” and “now” look at a small corner of Chico. The building, on the west side of Nord Avenue north of Big Chico Creek, has been around for 100 years.

Chico is lucky to have so many structures that are at least a century old. But some of them get overlooked. I had no idea this building was that old.

The “then” photo was brought in several months ago by Ted De Bernardi. I wasn’t in, so he placed it on my desk, along with some notes. I decided to wait to run it until the building reached the century mark. The man in the photo is De Bernardi’s grandfather, Warren B. Todd, who is shown working on the building in 1908. De Bernardi writes that his grandfather operated a grocery store at this site until he died in 1933.

The next business was the Hacienda, a Mexican restaurant, which later moved to The Esplanade. It then became a pizza parlor and it’s now a Thai restaurant.

The only reason I recognized the building from De Bernardi’s photo is that when I came to Chico 10 years ago, it was painted a gaudy color. It was hard to miss. Today, it’s a bluish gray and harder to spot.

It won’t be long before Chico has entire neighborhoods that are 100 years old. The avenues, Mansion Park, the Barber neighorhood and the west side all got their start in the first decade of the 20th century. They were pretty much built out by the 1930s.

The area between Bidwell Park, the freeway, Eighth Street and downtown has survived almost intact. Most of the houses there are at least 70 years old. Downtown and the South Campus neighborhood still have a smattering of 19th century buildings.

California’s perennial newness gets old fast. Most of the state’s cities look like perpetual construction sites. Chico’s core provides an antidote to that. I shudder to think what would happen to the quality of life in Chico if its center ceased to hold.