Chico's core has great bones. Its basic infrastructure is not only logical but appealing.

The inner city is built on two axes: Big Chico Creek and the pre-freeway version of Highway 99.

Chico State University and Bidwell Park help define the east-west axis. The Esplanade, downtown and Park Avenue give focus to the north-south axis.

The axes are more or less the midpoint of a street grid that extends in all directions and comprises Chico's oldest neighborhoods.

The grid runs as far north as Lindo Channel. To the south it extends past 20th street. Its western boundary next to down is the orchards. In the avenues, the western boundary goes as far as about Warner Avenue.

To the east it extends along Vallombrosa Avenue, where older houses across the street from Bidwell Park go as far as Bryant Avenue. They were built well before the suburban boom that hit this area in the 1950s.

The only part of vintage Chico's urban fabric that feels a little off is the location of the train station. Instead of being in the heart of town, it's almost at the western edge of the core area.

The reason this happened is pretty straightforward. The city was laid out in 1860, but the railroad didn't reach Chico until 1870. In the early years, it must have felt like you were still in the country when you arrived at the train station. The 1871 bird’s eye view drawing of Chico shows the street grid has already reached railroad tracks, but there are manyf empty lots.

Old photos show there was at least one hotel next to the train station, but most of the accommodations for travelers were several blocks to the east.

San Luis Obispo's train station is east of the heart of its downtown, but a wide street full of businesses connects the two locations. The same is true of Santa Rosa, although in modern times a freeway and suburban-style shopping center created barriers between the station and the center of town.

It’s possible that in early 20th century Chico, Fifth Street, with its rows of grand houses, might have served as a kind of concourse between the train station and downtown. Fifth no longer provides a strong visual link.

Chico is fortunate to not only have preserved its train station, but found current uses for it (Amtrak-bus depot, art center and coffeehouse in a train car on the site). But it seems removed from the center of things.

It's also removed from the charming park that lies right across the railroad tracks. It's a great little plot of open space, but it goes mostly unused.

This is a big contrast to City Plaza and Bidwell Park, which always have people in them.

The tracks impose a physical and psychological barrier between the station and this park. It reminds me of so many spots in Chico that are nice little open spaces, but are always empty.

The attractive fountain at the Almond Orchard Shopping Center, next to North Valley Plaza, is another example. It’s in a park-like setting and has benches, but it’s right next to a parking lot. Almond Orchard is a place you drive to, get out of your car, go to a store and then drive away. It’s not a place for strolling. You don’t see people sitting on the benches next to the fountain.