Davis, California

A town in Northern California known for, amoung other things, bicycles, frog tunnels, arresting snorers, and rabbit herding. Home of UC Davis. Its a small town, which has been a haven for Liberals, environmentalists, and those concerned with quality of life. Its residents like to remark that there are more bikes than people, and more miles of bike lanes and bike paths than roads. Or at least it used to be that way. Then again, lots of people think its a boring little town...

A town with a population of around 50,000, located between Sacramento and San Francisco on highway 80. The main focus of the town is UC Davis, although it also is a center for tomato processing and functions as a suburb of sacramento. Although many people believe davis is a boring town, during the school year there are many parties and other events. Only the far southeast area of davis smells like cows. The town is also known for its strange laws and regulations, and for having anal police. Although not as populated as such places as berkeley, many prefer it for its more laid-back sense. Avoid davis in the summer as it is extremely hot

For more info on things to do in davis, see Stuff to Do in Davis.

Here a few things not covered here or in the Stuff to Do in Davis node:

Food and Coffee:

• For cheap eats, try Noodle Express on 3rd. The Szechwan tofu is excellent.
• Guadalajara in the Albertson's shopping center (Covell and Anderson) is a great little tacqueria and probably the best Mexican food in Davis, but it's getting more expensive in it's popularity.
• For a bit more money there are some great Sushi places in Davis...one in the Co-op shopping center (Osaka Sushi, 630 G Street) and one downtown on G street (Fuji, 213 G St) has great Sushi Boats.
• For quite excellent Thai food, try Sophie's Thai Kitchen, 129 E St (it's tucked back away from the street).
• If you're vegan and into the fake-meat thing, there's a Chinese restaurant on 2nd that does this (sorry, it has a very forgettable name).
• Near campus, Ali-Baba's (3rd next to Off-Campus Books) has yummy gyros and across the street and upstairs is a wonderful Indian place with a great lunch buffet.
• Delta of Venus is the coffeeshop where the "cool" people hang out - they have poetry slams and such - but it does have some decent teas and lunch options.
• for dessert, go to Dairy Queen on 5th if you're poor or splurge on Ben and Jerry's in the Yuppy Shopping Center on 1st and E (although Jamba Juice is right there and much healthier)
• And lastly, the Coffeeshop in the MU on campus often has some really good food, many vegetarian options (they even have vegan carrot cake occassionally at the bakery), and they're cheap. and you can get non-evil (fair-trade) coffee at the bakery.

(Independent) Bookstores:

• Used: Bogey's Books is on E street, between second and third, is a great bookstore. They have large sections devoted to natural history, literature, philosophy, and new age/occult books. They also often have discounted photography books in the front. There used to be a statue across the street from Bogeys (next to the Baskin-Robbins courtyard) of a guy in PJs with the butt-flap open and eyeballs on his butt-cheeks. It was great, but they took it down (damn Puritans).
• Used: Sweet Briar Books in the Co-op shopping center (620 G Street) has a good Women-Studies section and an uncluttered, open atmosphere. I've spent many a fresh-from-the-ATM crisp 20 there.
• New: The Avid Reader on 2nd street is fun to browse and staffed with helpful people who will help you if you just must have the new Robert Jordan the second they get it in.

More places to buy things:

• Groceries: For natural and bulk foods, the Food Co-op on 6th and G can't be beat.
• Magic Shop: the closest thing is Aquarius next to Bogey's books on E street, but it's mostly New Age and other froofy stuff.
• Bead Store: (132 E St) it's in the basement of this little shopping area. It's called "A Better Place to Bead". (Better than what you might wonder, as it's the only one)
• Newspaper/Magazine Shop: Newsbeat on 3rd carries a good selection of indy zines and glossies.
• The hardware store is Ace, at 240 G St. Many people buy their furniture there, but there is also a slighly-sketchy consignment shop on L a bit south of 5th that you might check out. And there's always the dumpsters at the more upscale apartment complexes like Greystone (which is where you'll want to live if you want T1 access in your room or just enjoying paying rent through your teeth)
• and, as in college towns all across America, if you want to buy socks or anything mildly useful, you'll have to go to the mall in Woodland. Go north on 113, exit on Gibson and go west, the mall is at the intersection of Gibson and East road (if you're a student or otherwise car-less, you can catch the Yolobus at the MU - 42 clockwise goes to Woodland, counterclockwise comes back. Your student ID should get you on free, but otherwise its just a buck each way)

Aquiring drugs:
The writer of Stuff to Do in Davis didn't have the low-down and I don't have much of one either. Whenever we tried to get any drugs (which was pretty often) we had a dickens of a time tracking any down. We usually had to go to the Bay Area or work our connections (ie I called up my brother in Oakland). One time a guy knocked on my door and tried to sell me Ecstasy (a door-to-door drug salesman - does that seem like a bad idea to anyone else?). But for the most part we were usually hard up for drugs. But we may have just been incredibly inept.
That being said, there is large contingient of hippies that could probably help you get hooked up, at least with pot:

Hippies:
If you're into the hippie/co-op scene there are some fairly nifty ones in Davis. These are the on-campus ones.

• The Domes: also called "Baggin's End", a community of dome-shaped buildings on the west side of campus. They have a website: www.thedomes.org. I think they tend to be on the cliquish eco-nazi end of the spectrum, but many people would probably disagree. During much of the year there's a camp-fire going on at night that's fun to just hang at.
• The "other" co-ops: much more laid back and populated by as many nerds as hippies, these are on campus just on the east side of the Rec-Hall parking lot (south of the Segundo dorms).
• Hippies and hippy-wannabes should also check out the Experimental College, located on campus next to the Craft Center and the Silo. They teach classes on things like T'ai Chi, herbal medicine, massage, Wicca, and Finding Yourself through Basketweaving.
• And of course the Whole Earth Festival happens every year around mid-May. If you're really into it, volunteer as a Chaos Controller, and take the 4-hour nonviolence class where you get to learn how to suggest kindly and compassionately to please put your frickin clothes back on and come down from that tree and put your dog on a leash before the cops come and shut this whole thing down. And then you get to sleep on the Quad during the festival, and that's a party.

A final note: Beware of the midget cop. He's small, he's mean and he carries a big stick.