New-home towns that steal the show
The decision to leave the core Bay Area for a new life in a brand-new home in a community where everything is new and fresh comes with a natural question: “What kind of things can we do when we want to go out?”
After all, some local residents can take for granted the seemingly endless array of things to do. While our offerings include live music and stage performances, professional sports venues, outdoor dining and entertainment to local and national theater and dance companies performing major productions, many of the same — and more — are offered beyond the Bay Area.
People who have made the life change to move into newly built homes outside the core cities know that these communities’ offerings are best-kept secrets; that there’s more than enough to offer; and that in some cases, smaller scale makes for bigger fun.
There’s much more to Napa than wine
It would be shortsighted to think that people who move to Napa from the heart of the Bay Area are only choosing it for viticulture and the winemaking industry.
To begin with, the city of Napa itself is home to world-class live concerts, local theater groups and much more.
“Downtown Napa is the entertainment center of Napa Valley Wine Country,” says Craig Smith, executive director of the Downtown Napa Association, noting downtown’s walkability to excellent venues and parks.
“From comedy shows at the Uptown Theatre Napa to live blues at Blue Note Napa, plus large-scale events like BottleRock Napa Valley and the Oxbow RiverStage summer concert series,
we have a robust calendar of events.”
Smith adds that free events such as Porchfest and Napa City Nights, in addition to live music at various hotels and wine tasting rooms, offer intimate settings that bring the community together.
“After the last couple of years, visitors and locals alike couldn’t be more thrilled to experience the return of so many beloved events here in Downtown Napa.”
In partnership with Blue Note Entertainment Group, Another Planet Entertainment and the city of Napa, the Oxbow RiverStage presents an outdoor, festival-style venue in downtown Napa. The outdoor concerts — known for drawing big names — take place in a picturesque setting with grassy fields, paved walkways and stunning views.
And the best part, for those who live nearby, is the ability to attend as many shows as possible without having to reserve a room for the night or drive back to another part of the Bay Area.
Just 5 miles from Oxbow Commons is one of the city’s latest newhome communities, Trio by Discovery Homes, which is in the early stages of selling its 27 homes.
“It’s a small neighborhood tucked into an already established Napa community near parks, schools and easy access to Highway 29,” says Kristen Barrington, marketing assistant for Discovery Homes.
She says that homes at Trio range in size from 1,566 to 3,314 square feet with six floor plans, some featuring attached ADUs, including two single-story plans.
“Trio is for everyone from first-time homebuyers to people looking to upgrade or to downsize,” Barrington says.
It’s likely that a mix of generations will fill the new-home community, all of whom can take part in local and nearby arts and entertainment they may not be expecting to find.
They can find the JaM Cellars Ballroom at the Margrit Mondavi Theatre in downtown Napa. The state-of-theart performance space, with capacity for more than 650 people, is on the second floor of the historic Napa Valley Opera House building and offers standing-room and seated concerts, theatrical shows, and cultural events. Genres include pop, country, rock, indie, alternative rock and more.
The same building is also home to the Blue Note Napa on the first floor. The cabaretstyle venue seats 190 and this year features major headliners such as KT Tunstall, Arturo Sandoval, All-4-One, plus acoustic and jazz in an intimate setting with dinner and cocktail service.
The west side of the city of Napa and Napa County, where Discovery’s Trio is currently under construction, is also only 15 miles from downtown Sonoma, which is home to the
historic Sebastiani Theatre. There, a schedule of indie films, classic documentaries and live stage performances fills the space year-round.
Also in Napa’s West End district, the Uptown Theatre — a restored Art Deco masterpiece from 1937 — showcases popular acts in music and comedy. The last row of seats is only 98 feet from the stage, bringing world-class sound and sightlines of big names in blues, jazz, folk, rock, country, and comedy.
Tracy takes center stage
This growing city on the fringe of the Bay Area is creating an intriguing blend of lifestyle and new homes.
Kristin Kardous, district manager of the Tracy City Center Association, was born in
Hayward but raised in Tracy and has remained here for all that the lifestyle offers.
“One thing we hear a lot of is that people think Tracy is a sleepy town,” she says with a subvocal laugh. “But I say, ‘What do you mean?’
“It might have been a sleepy town about 15 years ago; all we did was go to school, walk to the mall or stay home,” she says. “But downtown has been greatly revitalized. People are moving here and taking part in everything that brings the city to life.”
She notes that the nonprofit Tracy City Center Association collaborates with the city of Tracy to organize block parties, wine strolls, pub crawls, holiday parades, kids and family events, all with live music that might feature Latin, R&B, country, 1980s and local artists.
“There might be 1,500 to 2,000 people
downtown on a given Friday night,” she says.
Chris Long is president of the Surland Companies, LLC, the master developer of Ellis in Tracy.
The master-planned walkable community features new homes from Landsea Homes and Woodside Homes, and will showcase parks connected by a multipurpose path plus a planned Village Center for neighborhood-serving businesses and eateries. The city of Tracy has also approved a plan for a future aquatic center within Ellis that will serve the Tracy community.
“Tracy has much of what the Bay Area has to offer and with room to breathe,” Long says. “People move here to participate. There’s the historic and vibrant downtown, plenty of dining options and