EXPLORE DAVIS
Arts, culture & history in Davis
Local history, public art, galleries, cultural places and the stories that shaped Davis.
Balance BeamCedric Wentworth’s steel-and-bronze sculpture, now installed in front of Veterans Memorial Theatre in Community Park.Davis before Davis: Patwin homelandFor thousands of years before the town of Davis existed, this land was and remains part of the traditional homeland of Patwin people.Davis Centennial SealSusan Shelton’s 2021 Davis Centennial Seal at the Dresbach-Hunt-Boyer Mansion.Davis public art mapThe City publishes public-art resources and a pocket map organized by area, with public art listings plus bike paths, parks and art institutions.ElementalA 2018 community work by Danielle Fodor and community covering much of the Senda Nueva neighborhood greenbelt pathway.Elmwood Street MuralA 2019 community street-art project led by Judy Catambay and Joy Klineberg with Davis neighbors.Fiat LuxNicole Beck’s 2024 stainless-steel and dichroic-glass work honoring the life of Karim Abou Najm.Follies2025 student-designed gathering structures celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Davis Farmers Market. Installations include downtown locations near Hunt-Boyer and the Amtrak station.How an old Davis High School became City HallA 1927 school building later served as Davis City Hall after municipal offices moved into the former campus in the early 1980s.How Central Park became Davis’s gathering placeCentral Park dates to 1937, and the neighboring block that once held Davis Elementary eventually became part of the expanded park and farmers-market home.How Davis became the first U.S. city with official bike lanesIn 1967, Davis created official city bicycle lanes, a pioneering move that helped shape the town’s identity and later U.S. bikeway standards.How Davis exploded in size during the 1960sDavis grew from 8,910 people in 1960 to more than 21,000 by 1969 as UC Davis expanded rapidly, transforming roads, neighborhoods and local politics.How Davis got its “only in Davis” reputationIn the 1990s, national coverage of a toad tunnel, unpaved alleys and even a snoring citation amplified Davis’s image as an unusually earnest and eccentric town.How Davis’s first library became the Hattie Weber MuseumDavis’s first dedicated library building opened in 1911; it was moved to its current site in 1988 and reopened as the Hattie Weber Museum.How old the Davis Cemetery isThe Davis Cemetery includes grave markers dating to the 1850s, preserving a record of settlers from before Davisville became a railroad town.How small was the early UC Davis campus?The University Farm started with a handful of buildings and programs, then expanded rapidly into a general UC campus after World War II.How the Davis Farmers Market beganThe modern Davis Farmers Market came together in 1975–76 through farmers, students and local-food advocates and became one of California’s early certified farmers markets.How the University Farm became UC DavisThe Davis campus began as the University Farm, created by state legislation in 1905, with land acquired near Davisville in 1906 and instruction beginning in 1908.How the Whole Earth Festival beganThe Whole Earth Festival grew from a UC Davis art-class “Art Happening” begun in 1969, using art to engage people with activism, wellness and the environment.How West Davis Intermediate became WillettRobert E. Willett Elementary began as West Davis Intermediate, which opened in 1967 for grades 4–6.Jerome and Mary Davis and the ranch behind the city nameJerome and Mary Davis owned a ranch that once covered roughly 12,000 acres; the city’s name derives from that ranch.Save the Frogs / Salva las RanasMary Fuller McChesney’s roughly eight-foot wildlife-conservation sculpture, installed near the open-space trail at San Marino Park.The 1916 fire that helped push Davis toward incorporationA major November 1916 fire was especially damaging because Davis had no fire department; the following year the city incorporated.The 1926 Davis Community Church buildingDavis Community Church’s large Spanish Colonial building on C Street dates to 1926 and is one of downtown’s distinctive historic structures.The building tied to Davis’s first mayorThe Anderson Bank Building was constructed in 1914 by J. B. Anderson, who became Davis’s first mayor after incorporation.The history of the Varsity TheatreThe Varsity opened in 1950 as a modern Streamline Moderne movie palace and later became a designated Davis City Landmark.The old Avenue of the Trees on Russell BoulevardBlack walnut trees planted from the 1870s into 1880 shaded a stretch west of town that later became part of the Lincoln Highway corridor.The old Bank of Yolo building downtownThe Bank of Yolo building dates to 1910; the bank ceased operating there during the Depression era, though depositors were eventually paid.Think Outside the Box — Angela TannehillAngela Tannehill created one of the City’s 2019 Think Outside the Box traffic-control-box artworks at 3rd & B.Think Outside the Box — Brian AlexanderBrian Alexander created one of the City’s 2019 Think Outside the Box traffic-control-box artworks at Covell & Sycamore.Think Outside the Box — Ianna FrisbyIanna Frisby created one of the City’s 2019 Think Outside the Box traffic-control-box artworks at F & 8th.Think Outside the Box — Jennifer McGuireJennifer McGuire created one of the City’s 2019 Think Outside the Box traffic-control-box artworks at Cowell & Lillard.Think Outside the Box — Jessica EastburnJessica Eastburn created one of the City’s 2019 Think Outside the Box traffic-control-box artworks at Russell & Sycamore.Think Outside the Box — Kent SmithKent Smith created one of the City’s 2019 Think Outside the Box traffic-control-box artworks at Covell & Anderson.Think Outside the Box — Kerri WarnerKerri Warner created one of the City’s 2019 Think Outside the Box traffic-control-box artworks at Russell & Anderson.Think Outside the Box — Lily TherensLily Therens created one of the City’s 2019 Think Outside the Box traffic-control-box artworks at Russell & A.Think Outside the Box — Melissa UroffMelissa Uroff created one of the City’s 2019 Think Outside the Box traffic-control-box artworks at Cowell & Valdora.Think Outside the Box — Phillip HuaPhillip Hua created one of the City’s 2019 Think Outside the Box traffic-control-box artworks at Russell & College Park.Think Outside the Box — Sandy Fong WhetstoneSandy Fong Whetstone created one of the City’s 2019 Think Outside the Box traffic-control-box artworks at Cowell & Drew.Think Outside the Box — Susan SilvesterSusan Silvester created one of the City’s 2019 Think Outside the Box traffic-control-box artworks at Covell & F.Think Outside the Box — Will DurkeeWill Durkee created one of the City’s 2019 Think Outside the Box traffic-control-box artworks at Covell & Pole Line.Was Emerson Junior High designed like a prison?The present Emerson campus is often described locally as prison-like, but DavisToday found no reliable source showing that prison design was the architect’s intention.What downtown Davis looked like in 1968Downtown in 1968 had two movie theaters, multiple car dealerships, local markets, nightclubs, variety stores and a very different mix of businesses than today.What happened to Leatherby’s in Davis?Community archives remember Leatherby’s at 650 G Street as the predecessor to Marvelli’s; the site later became Ken’s Bike & Ski.What happened to West Davis Elementary (WDE)?West Davis Elementary was a K–3 school on Anderson Road paired with West Davis Intermediate; the campus later became César Chávez Elementary.What the Brinley Block is downtownThe Brinley Block at 714–726 Second Street dates to 1926 and preserves a piece of Davis’s late-1920s commercial streetscape.What the UC Davis “Death Star” really isThe “Death Star” is the Social Sciences and Humanities Building, completed in 1994 and designed by architect Antoine Predock.When Davis got a community hospitalDavis Community Hospital opened in 1968 with 49 beds on County Road 99, part of the infrastructure expansion accompanying the city’s rapid growth.When Davis was founded — and when it became a cityDavis traces its town origins to the railroad junction established in 1868, but it did not incorporate as a city until 1917.When the Lincoln Highway ran through DavisThe early transcontinental Lincoln Highway passed through Davis on its route between the Sierra and the Bay Area; markers remain in town.Where Emerson Junior High used to beEmerson Junior High began in the 1960s at Fifth and B streets downtown before moving to its current Calaveras Avenue campus for the 1979–80 school year.Who is credited with naming DavisvilleCity historic materials credit early postmaster William Dresbach with naming the town Davisville after rancher Jerome C. Davis.Who Julie Partansky wasJulie Partansky was a Davis artist and City Council member whose environmental and preservation causes became closely associated with the city’s unconventional 1990s politics.Why College Park looks different from other Davis neighborhoodsCollege Park was laid out in 1924 near the University Farm and used in part to attract faculty to Davis.Why Davis became so focused on controlling growthRapid population and university expansion in the 1960s and 1970s fueled a long-running Davis debate over how much the city should grow and where.Why Davis built a toad tunnelIn the early 1990s, Davis planned a small wildlife tunnel near an Interstate 80 overpass so migrating toads and frogs could reach a drainage pond without crossing traffic.Why Davis fought so hard over downtown retailFrom the late 1960s onward, Davis repeatedly debated peripheral shopping centers and how to keep downtown economically alive.Why Davis was once called DavisvilleThe railroad settlement that grew here in 1868 was known as Davisville, a name tied to rancher Jerome C. Davis and the Davis ranch.Why one of early Davis traffic signals was for Emerson studentsAs late as 1965, a rare Davis traffic signal on B Street north of Russell existed so students at the old downtown Emerson campus could cross safely.Why Picnic Day existsPicnic Day began in 1909 when the University Farm invited the surrounding community to visit its new dairy barn; about 2,000 people came with picnics.Why the City of Davis uses a highwheel bicycleThe highwheel grew from a 1968 centennial-book image into a civic symbol; the City adopted a new bicycle-based logo in 1981.Why the Davis train depot matters to the town’s historyThe railroad created the conditions for Davisville to grow; today’s Mission Revival depot replaced an earlier station in 1913.Why the Death Star is called the Death StarUC Davis officially recognizes the building’s popular “Death Star” nickname, but the nickname is campus culture rather than the architect’s stated design concept.Why the Richards underpass was called the Davis SubwayThe Richards Boulevard underpass was built in 1917 and was historically known as the Davis Subway; it carried an early state highway beneath the railroad.Why there is a log cabin near downtown DavisThe Boy Scout Cabin was built in 1927 by Davis Rotary Club members using telephone-pole logs donated by PG&E.Why UC Davis has the Domes at Baggins EndBaggins End began as an experimental low-cost housing project; construction of 15 two-person fiberglass dome units started in 1972 with student volunteers.Why Unitrans has red double-decker busesUnitrans bought two authentic London double-deck buses in 1968 to attract people to the new transit service; the buses became its enduring symbol.Why Village Homes became famousCompleted in 1975, Village Homes was an unusually ecological neighborhood built around solar orientation, greenbelts, shared spaces and natural drainage.