Celebrating the marvels of downtown Chico
I was a junior at Pleasant Valley High when I began to end the school day with an excursion of sorts.
I’d hop on the bus angling towards downtown and spend the afternoon in a café before my mother would pick me up in the early evening. This independence empowered me and was a liberating thing. I’d wander down Main or Broadway, usually picking Café Sienna but sometimes Upper Crust, to plant myself with my books, secure a coffee, and savor the afternoon on my own. Occasionally Perche No! lured me for a gelato, and other times the draw of a Mexican Mocha at Café Max was too powerful to resist.
I was a kind of explorer — there were shops I might discover I had never entered before. Interesting conversations I might overhear during my studying sessions.
Later, as an English and French major at Chico State, I would pop into Upper Crust for a 7:30 a.m. coffee with one of my best friends before our first class of the day. Both obsessed with their chocolate-dipped orange cookies, our entire day could be ruined should one not be secured.
What was thrilling about these excursions is that I was in the heart of things — downtown, in the city of my greatgrandmother, grandparents and parents. My family had a history here — in fact, my grandparents owned a women’s clothing store in the 1970s right around 430 Broadway, “The Posey Fair.” Later, they opened a location in the Almond Orchard, a space I remember well. As a child, I sometimes played a game of hide and seek with my brothers among the racks of clothing and mysterious looking mannequins.
My grandfather was an ice cream fanatic so naturally visits to Shubert’s with him were a year-round staple. Another downtown shop I could happily get lost in: the legendary Zucchini & Vine on Main and 2nd where The Little Red Hen now sits.
My grandmother, Jeanne Posey, hosted a cooking show in the 1960s on KHSL and fueled my own obsession with all things culinary. Over the years, she would teach me a variety of cooking skills, and this would secure me as a firm fan of the kitchen tools and marvels displayed at Zucchini & Vine.
My high school afternoons and Chico State mornings savoring my independence within downtown Chico equipped me for later explorations of other downtowns across the country as well as city centers in other parts of the world. Even after moving to London and then later to the East Coast for a spell, visiting Chico every Christmas and summer always returned me to the magic of Main & Broadway.
One summer afternoon in 2016, on holiday from my school librarian gig in Boston and after meeting a friend for coffee at Naked Lounge, I saw the sign for Zucchini & Vine’s first annual pie contest.
It didn’t matter that I was living in New England at the time — I’d always think of myself as a Chicoan and as a Posey I had no choice but to enter. I had a ball putting together the blackberry and blueberry pie sure to be a summer hit, but a fail with the top crust forced me to change course and add an oatmeal streusel topping at the last minute.
Certain I was destined for defeat, I delivered the pie anyway, deciding I wouldn’t be present when the winners were announced to avoid disappointment. You can imagine my surprise when a voicemail buzzed my phone later that afternoon.
In fact, I had placed third!
Was it the magic of my grandmother’s culinary fame (actually both grandmothers were amazing cooks) that led me to victory? In fact, the judges loved the streusel topping! Though I feared the crust catastrophe had ensured my pie’s doom, the title of 3rd place winner of Zucchini and Vine’s first annual pie contest is a badge I carry proudly to this day.
Stumbling upon the pie contest in 2016 was a delicious revelation and reminded me that even now, years after those high school afternoons, surprises are perched around the corner in downtown Chico. Now I live (gloriously!) within walking distance of downtown and any trek towards that hub swirls with a myriad of memories that gives me countless reasons why I returned and why Chico is exactly where I want to be.