I lived there in the middle 1980s.
Most of what the people here have said about it is true, but I'd make a few modifications.
- First, visit the official
Chico, CA website.
- The summer heat is almost always dry, and take it from a Philadelphia boy, 105F with low humidity beats 90F with high humidity hands-down.
- Chico people are plenty hip. Go out of town, and it's strictly Freepsville.
- The cost of living was dirt cheap in 1985. I believe it still is.
- Music. While the music scene comes and goes, a lot of excellent music has come out of Chico in every age. I was lucky enough to be there during the heyday of
28th Day, one of those prototypical 80s "college rock" bands.
- The
Chico News and Review is one of the very best weekly hipster papers in the country. No contest. It regularly outdoes many big-city weeklies.
- The food. You have to go to SF or LA to eat nearly as well.
- Beauty. It is one of the most physically beautiful towns I have ever seen.
- Family appeal without the fundamentalism. It's a great place to settle down and raise up a bunch o' children. OK, there is a significant Jeebusizing population (15-20%?), but most of them are pretty cool, too.
- It's a major Frat town. That's a negative. On the other hand, they were pretty well-behaved when I was there. Two years after I moved back to Philly, there was a Frat Riot during "Pioneer Days" (kind of like Chico State's "Spring Fling").
- Relatively few insects, especially for a rural town.
- It seldom, if ever, snows. For me, that's a big negative. But Chico does get some magnificent fogs. (I know, I should move to Boston, but I have family in Philly).
- Even the right-wingers are environmentalists in Chico.
Indcidentally, the name "Chico" comes from a trademark of the 19th century
China
Company, which imported goods from China and the rest of the Orient, as well as huge numbers of Chinese and Japanese laborers. After a riot and several lynchings in the early 20th century in nearby Oroville, most of the Asians packed up and left the area.
Hope you get the job ... it's a great place to live, and with the drought in the West, it will need to have some wilderness firefighters handy!
--bkl