Aggie Inn

the people's republic

by rickyvilla81

I came to live in the small Central Valley city of Davis in November 05, and have been here just over a year already. The Republic of Davis, they call it - progressive, eco-thinking, quirky, eccentric and not at all like that uncouth place across the Yolo Causeway, Sacramento.

But I'm from London, and so Davis is, for me, a massive culture shock - but not as much as you might think; for one thing, they have London phoneboxes and the old London Routemaster buses here in Davis. I've generally recorded how I've dealt with this life change, from big city UK to small town USA, in more depth on my blog, but I will start adding a few things here. I've taken a few photos, and drawn a lot of pictures.

I tell you what though - it gets bloody hot here in the summer!

"you see, davis"

Davis' most famous institution is the University of California, Davis: the 'Aggies'. It started out as a place where farmers could learn to farm, in the small rural community of 'Davisville', but now UC Davis is one of the more renowned American colleges, particularly in such fields as vetinary medicine and agriculture. UC davis has around thirty thousand students, two thousand of whom are graduate students, and is one of the most popular destinations for international scholars and professors.

You can see it from the highway, most obviously visible by its well-known historic water-tower.

"get down"

But the downtown of Davis is where the heart is; lots of small and extremely proud independent stores and restaurants, locked in an ever more difficult battle with the slowly invading corporate retailers. Downtown Davis has a real community soul, and many events are held throughout the year, reminding people that not everybody in Davis is a UC student.

This is a picture of the recently refurbished Varsity movie theatre, which shows largely art-house and independent movies and documentaries, rather than the popcorn hollywood fare.