Cruisin' the 'Nade - Paperback

Cruisin' the 'Nade

In the 1960s, Chico, a northern California college town, offered a unique blend of natural beauty, rich history, and vibrant culture - associated with a regular influx of talent, energy, and enthusiasm - while remaining largely free of big city distractions. The small city grew from 15,000 to 20,000 residents over the decade. Temperate weather combined with outstanding coaches produced many star athletes. Students seeking other types of excitement, could cruise the Esplanade (a stately tree-lined boulevard) in their cars; neck with their dates at the Starlite drive-in theater; or simply enjoy the beauty of Bidwell Park, which stretched miles and miles from downtown to the upper reaches of Big Chico Creek Canyon. Chico State College offered students an inviting environment in which to enjoy social life on and off campus while pursuing their studies. Long known as a party school, Playboy magazine ranked it number one in the nation from 1987 through 2002. The city and its college were, however, not completely insulated from the times. In the early '60s, the Air Force built a Titan 1 ballistic missile complex in Chico, believing its site in a rural area would avoid undue attention from the Soviet Union. In the late '60s, an anti-war rally and other unrest occurred on the Chico State campus. Thereafter, for the first time, San Francisco-based bands (reflecting a mixture of Bay Area psychedelics, rock 'n' roll and rebellion) began performing at the school. At decade's end, far from Chico, the famed three-day Woodstock music festival was held on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, attended by more than 460,000 young people. Seventy-two photographs and maps add value to this work.

Michael R. Halldorson and David Bruhn

2026, 6" x 9", paper, 142 pp.

ISBN: 9780788458941

101-H5894