On warmer days, old California, and an unexpected piece of Hollywood history.
When I came back from Italy to San Francisco during the summer, I was missing a true and real summer: the hot weather and simply being able to go outside without a jacket all the time, or worse, a puffer jacket. This is what happens every year in San Francisco, as the city is known for its very cool summers, and for me, they are quite insufferable, especially after spending time in beautiful Mediterranean locations back home. Every year it gets a little worse for me, and I try to get out of town as much as I can to find warmer weather somewhere else.
This year, we took a very unexpected trip to Chico, where my partner went to college, and I was definitely not expecting to like it so much. I mean, it is very much a college town, but when we went, which was still around mid-August, it was empty and quiet since most college students had not returned to campus yet. I think that allowed me to really enjoy it.
Again, I am not the biggest fan of college towns, especially after having worked in Residential Life for so long and having lived with college students for years. I like to avoid college towns as much as I can, but I have to admit there was a certain charm about Chico. Maybe it was because it felt so quiet, or maybe because I really love nature and trees, but going there for a quick weekend reminded me of what a true summer feels like. There is definitely a mix between rural and urban life, and it just made the experience of the weekend really lovely.
A lot of Chico’s identity comes from California State University, Chico, which was founded in 1887, originally as a small teachers’ school. I learned that it is actually the second-oldest campus in the California State University system, and I think this is where much of Chico’s reputation as a college town comes from.
Bidwell Park
My favorite part of the entire weekend was walking around Bidwell Park, which I thought was truly stunning. It is known as one of the town’s jewels, and the park itself is huge, with different hiking trails, picnic areas, and even places where you can swim. It is divided into Lower Park and the Middle and Upper Park areas, which become increasingly more natural as you move farther away from the center of Chico.
I loved seeing swimming areas such as Sycamore Pool, a living pool built directly into Big Chico Creek rather than a traditional chlorinated swimming pool. It was one of those places that made Chico feel much more connected to nature than I had expected.
I think one of the things that attracted me most to the park, though, was learning that it had been used as one of the filming locations for scenes in the classic Gone with the Wind in 1939. As someone who has always deeply loved that movie, I found it so interesting to know that portions of it were filmed around areas of Bidwell Park, including near Manzanita Avenue.
Part of the park was also used a year earlier during the filming of The Adventures of Robin Hood, which made me realize that Chico has this small and rather unexpected connection to old Hollywood that I knew absolutely nothing about before visiting.
Downtown Chico
The university is located right in the heart of downtown Chico, which is full of small businesses, restaurants and local shops. There is something extremely slow-paced about downtown. It still feels lively enough, but never particularly busy, at least during the weekend we were there.
I also liked the area because you could walk almost everywhere, with the university right next to the center of town. It really does feel like the social and cultural heart of the city, but in a way that still feels very relaxed.
Rural Charm and the Trees of Chico
Still, one of the things I loved most about Chico was the nature, and especially the trees. I noticed them almost immediately. The streets felt incredibly green and shaded, and there were huge trees everywhere we went. Chico still has a very agricultural character, and I think the combination of that rural landscape with a small downtown was one of the things I enjoyed most about being there.
I later learned that there is actually a really interesting history behind Chico’s trees. Much of it goes back to John Bidwell, who founded the town in 1860 and spent decades planting trees and experimenting with different species on his land. In 1888, he donated part of his land to the State Board of Forestry for an experimental nursery, where different varieties of trees and plants were grown.
That history is still visible today, particularly in Bidwell Park, which is home to an incredible variety of trees. One of its most famous was the Hooker Oak, an enormous valley oak that became a local landmark and was once considered one of the largest of its species. The tree eventually fell in 1977, but its history is still very much connected to the park.
I also found it interesting that Chico’s trees and its agricultural identity are so closely connected. Bidwell experimented not only with different varieties of trees but also with agriculture, and the surrounding region eventually became particularly known for its orchards. Even today, once you leave downtown Chico, that agricultural landscape feels very present.
Chico was never somewhere I had particularly thought about visiting, but I think that was also part of what I liked about the weekend. I had absolutely no expectations of the place, and I ended up really enjoying it.
It was simply a couple of very warm August days, a lot of time outside, beautiful trees, and a place that surprised me. It was definitely much warmer than I expected too, with temperatures that were maybe even a little insufferable at times, but as someone who was escaping the cold San Francisco weather, I couldn’t complain too much.