Marysville/Yuba City, CA (Central Valley)

stepper77 · #1 Posted **Dec 10, 2010, 9:40 PM**

Not exactly the pride of California, these cities were quite well known to me when I was young as they are about 35 miles west of where I grew up. My step dad commuted to Marysville every day for work and my father also use to participate in dirt bike races in Yuba City.

First, just outside Marysville, a shot of the Sierra Buttes, remnants of a deceased volcano, which, at 2,130 ft, dominate this part of the otherwise flat Sacramento Valley.

Marysville, CA

Named after Mary Murphy, survivor of the Donner Party, who's husband was a founding father, Marysville was established in 1850 and is the seat of Yuba County. The city does not have a good reputation, at least where I grew up, and according to city-data.com has actually lost 5% of population since 2000. Though definitely rough around the edges, I would say that there are a lot of surprising treasures.

Some county courthouses make you smile with architectural wonder...then there's the Yuba County Courthouse...

This apparently is where the gentrification begins because it is the first block where I saw people on the streets who didn't appear to actually be working the streets.

Too bad the top floors of this gorgeous building are only inhabited by creatures of the avian variety

Where those trees are between the two buildings was a really cute cafe with a number of people dining.

Yuba City, the seat of Sutter County, is directly across the Feather River from Marysville, making them essentially one city. Interestingly, while Yuba City's population of over 60,000 is more than five times that of Marysville, the downtown is much more understated.

A bit of farmland country side, skirting the Sierra Buttes, on my way heading west towards Interstate 5

The Sierra Buttes in the background

Before hitting the Interstate, I came to the small town of Colusa, CA, population 5,402, the seat of Colusa County.

The town was pretty much dead and I spent less than 15 minutes there, but, what was very much appreciated on this warm autumn day was the amount of tree cover.

________________________________________________________________
Tour of California
1: Los Angeles, 2: Hollywood, Glendale, Pasadena, Beverly Hills, 3: Riverside, Santa Ana, Long Beach, 4: San Jose, 5: San Diego, 6: Fresno, 7: Stockton, Modesto, 8: Gold Country, 9: Eureka, Arcata, 10: Monterey, Carmel, 11: Santa Cruz, 12: Sacramento Pt One, 13: Sacramento Pt Two, 14: Roseville & Folsom, 15: Concord & Walnut Creek, 16: Tri-Valley, 17: Berkeley, Emeryville, 18: Fremont, 19: Santa Clara, Mountain View, Palo Alto, 20: Redwood City, Foster City, San Mateo, 21: Oakland, 22: Benicia, Vallejo, 23: Napa, St. Helena, 24: Petaluma, Santa Rosa, Sonoma, 25: San Rafael, 26: Larkspur, Mill Valley, 27: Sausalito, Tiburon, 28: Hollister, San Juan Bautista, 29: Long Beach 2008, 30: Venice, 31: Santa Monica, 32: Sacramento Pt 3, 33: Solvang, 34: Alameda, 35: Knights Ferry, 36: California Zephyr, 37: Colfax, 38: Davis, 39: Oakdale, 40: San Francisco Pt 1, San Francisco Pt 2, 41: Chico, Redding, 42: Kings Beach, 43: Merced, 44: Gold Country pt 2, 45: Gold Country pt 3, 46: Sonora, 47: Vacaville, Fairfield, Suisun City, 48: Orange, Fullerton, 49: Anaheim, Irvine, 50: Newport Beach, Laguna Beach,51: San Francisco, Pt 3, 52: Lodi, 53: Martinez, 54: Ft Bragg, Mendocino, 55: San Luis Obispo, 56: Sacramento River Pt 1, 57: Sacramento River Pt 2, 58: Lake Merritt/Oakland

rockyi · #2 Posted **Dec 15, 2010, 4:04 AM**

I've heard about Yuba City and Marysville and how they aren't great places to live but they didn't look as bad as I expected. A little rough but not awful.
Thanks for the tour.

OhioGuy · #3 Posted **Dec 15, 2010, 4:16 AM**

Doesn't look too bad actually. Maybe lacking some energy to make them worthwhile destinations, but overall not too bad looking.

xzmattzx · #4 Posted **Dec 15, 2010, 2:14 PM**

I was surprised to see palm trees in Marysville. I always thought that it was up in the hills a little more. I'm guessing that the weather there is kind of like San Francisco?

Marsville seems to have some interesting elements of Gothic on some of its houses and buildings.

How many county seats have you been in in California? How many county courthouses have you photographed? I think you have 3 in this thread alone, and while getting every courthouse in California would take a very long time (unlike my state, which has only 3 counties and the seats are all within 2 hours of each other), you apparently have put a nice dent in a prospective list.

stepper77 · #5 Posted **Dec 16, 2010, 8:33 PM**

I definitely scoffed at the idea of considering a stop here thinking there was nothing of value to look at (which is the impression you get from 99/70), but, Marysville in particular has quite a good, unexpected, historic building stock and the town could really shine if there was money to renovate them.

@ xzmattzx, Marysville is still in the Valley at an elevation of 62 ft though it's only a 30 minute or so drive from where I grew up (@2400 ft). Personally, I've seen palm trees (natural or imported) as far north as Eureka and as far east as the Sierra foothills.

As to county seats/courthouses, I havn't purposefully gone out photographing them, but, out of the 58 counties in California, I've found that I've done photo tours of 34 (including a few I haven't posted yet). I'll have to see which of those have included county courthouses pics. Many of the ones I haven't reached are in regions that are on my list to visit at some point anyway. So, I might achieve it (especially now that you've challenged me to it

).

Kingofthehill · #6 Posted **Dec 16, 2010, 9:14 PM**

Who would have thunk - definitely some gems out that way. I do have to admit: the smaller towns in Northern/Central California blow Southern California's out of the water!

urbanlife · #7 Posted **Dec 17, 2010, 6:00 AM**

Great pictures of two towns I have never heard of before...I will take a guess about the comment that you mentioned with the size of the two different downtowns and how Yuba City is bigger, but has a smaller looking downtown. Based off the architecture in both cities, I would say Marysville had majority of its downtown built before cars were predominant within cites and Yuba City was more built up after cars became more common with people.

Thundertubs · #8 Posted **Dec 18, 2010, 6:41 PM**

I was curious about this pair for some reason. Marysville has some pretty interesting stuff. It's a treat to see smaller California places like this.

xzmattzx · #9 Posted **Dec 18, 2010, 11:25 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by stepper77

As to county seats/courthouses, I havn't purposefully gone out photographing them, but, out of the 58 counties in California, I've found that I've done photo tours of 34 (including a few I haven't posted yet). I'll have to see which of those have included county courthouses pics. Many of the ones I haven't reached are in regions that are on my list to visit at some point anyway. So, I might achieve it (especially now that you've challenged me to it

).

That's impressive. You might as well and try for them all. ver the years, I've evolved into trying to visit as many county seats in the states that I visit, and get pictures of the courthouses. It started to kind of prove that I was in the county seat, but now I see it as a way to see local building culture. In a way, county courthouses are like the county versions of statehouses, and like statehouses, counties go with different designs and architectural styles bsed on culture and the times.

patriotizzy · #10 Posted **Dec 19, 2010, 2:36 AM**

If you guys liked these historic towns, Red Bluff would be nice for you guys as well. It's a little up north more, between Redding and Chico. I lived there until I moved out for college, but the downtown is beautiful. It's a small town, about 15,000. Downtown is very small but most of the buildings are quite historic, as well as the Victorian architecture of most houses. It's not a tourist destination but if you happen to be on the road in that area, it's a nice quick diversion. Maybe when I head back home to visit my parents I'll post up a quick picture tour

stepper77 · #11 Posted **Dec 20, 2010, 7:21 AM**

I love stumbling across a beautifully grand old courthouse (Riverside, Contra Costa, and Yolo County come to mind). And yet others can be so plain and functional. But, you're right, they are usually make for an interesting snapshot of the era and location in which they were built.

Red Bluff is about a three hours drive from where I live and is a place I'd like to check out. Not only because it is a county seat, but, I knew a couple of people from there I met during my first year of college at Chico State. And now your description, it definitely seems worth a visit.