Cups, Couches, Colonials... and the CHP

For the past few years, I have been contemplating writing a book on the South Campus Neighborhood in Chico.  (I thought up the snappy title of Cups, Couches and Colonials which no publishing company would ever sign off on)  This neighborhood is the study area for my thesis project and is made up of a roughly 5 by 5 block area and is Chico's first residential neighborhood.  It is also nearly entirely made up of Chico State students today.  One of the things that you'll notice in this neighborhood is thousands of little red cups and couches on just about every front porch.  See these old houses rarely have air conditioning (due to their age and lack of attention from absentee landlords who own them solely as a means of profitting off the migrational patterns of CSUC students) so the houses get hot, really hot, and sitting on the front porch is practically a citywide pastime.  Parents give their kids their old crappy couches and before you know it, they are adorning the front porches of the 100+ year old home in which their kid lives.  The neighborhood is always buzzing with wildlife, frequently quenching their thirst with kegs of Natty Ice and Keystone.  (The rich Sierra Nevada drinkers are on the other side of campus)  So little red cups and couches are the moving parts of this historic neighborhood.

I spent the afternoon in the library (yes, that's what Chico State grad students do with their Saturday afternoons) and I laughed when I returned to my car at 4:30pm and saw little red cups still acting as pink flamingos strewn across the yard of a house directly across from campus.  So this evening, I returned.  This time with my camera in hand to get a few snapshots of all these red cups in action.  True to form, the house I just mentioned had not bothered to clean up from the night before, just continued playing beer pong and adding to the collection.

So here are a few shots of Chico on a Saturday night in early fall before the semester has really started to kick in.

The house mentioned above, a greek revival build sometime around 1878.

A Dutch Colonial Revival built around 1903.

The Crosette house (right across the street from the Dutch Colonial above).  Chico's own house of seven gables built sometime around 1871.

I've never understood the excitement over beer pong but it seems to be a common thread.  And this little gem was built sometime in the 1910's.

And finally (it was getting dark):

This happy little bungalow built in the 1920's.

But what I didn't snap any shots of were the California CHPs blanketing the neighborhood.  Side note:  I didn't take pictures of the cops because I just read an article last week about a guy going to jail for videotaping an arrest.  Seriously, like flies on shit.  There were at least 6 of them within the small little 5x5 block neighborhood.  There was one Chico PD.  They were pulling people over right and left and I even saw one of them writing up a kid who wasn't even in a car, just walking down the sidewalk.  WTF?  When did the South Campus neighborhood become a war zone that had more "security forces" than the same square yards in Iraq?  I was even intimidated to drive around down there taking pictures.  With that many cops in such a small space, there can't be any patrolling the highways.  I could probably get on 99 or 32 and go 110 and there wouldn't be anyone to stop me.  But more importantly, what the hell are the kids doing wrong?  Nothing.  The neighborhood was alive with it's typical enchanting merriment.  Kids having a good time, blasting music, playing beer pong and shootin the shit.  The same thing that has been going on in that neighborhood since the 60s.  No fights, no (legally) disorderly conduct, no drunk drivers, nothing.  Ridiculous that the State and the City have resorted to harrassing legal adults who haven't learned yet about their rights.  Think about 7 patrol cars in your neighborhood, pulling everyone over and harrassing people on the street.  It's insane.  My psycho neighbor calls the cops all the time on the BMX kids across the street and they are always "too busy" to come out.  Um, yeah, because they are "too busy" hasseling the college kids.

So, as you might have guessed, my original idea for this installment went from my love affair with old houses and the youngens who inhabit them to the overbearing presence of law enforcement.  When I got home, I called up the Chico branch of the CHP... no answer, we'll be back on Tuesday during business hours.  So, I called the non-emergency line of the Chico PD to get a little clarification.  So apparently, according to the lady at the Chico PD, CHP have jurisdiction everywhere, not just on California Highways.  Hmm, gonna have to look into that one a bit cuz I'm pretty sure that's why their name is California Highway Patrol, not South Campus Neighborhood Patrol.  Secondly, "due to it being Labor Day weekend, the CHP is assisting Chico PD by adding additional units."  I've heard that crap so many times in this town it's beyond nauseating.  Back off.  They're kids.  They're having fun.  If someone calls, be there.  Otherwise, go eat some donuts.