Grass Valley

Rt. 49 runs north and south along the west slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California, at about 3000 feet elevation. Further east are serious mountains. To the west are foothills descending to California’s huge Central Valley. It was along this route where gold was discovered in 1848, triggering the Gold Rush and the “49ers flocking into the state in search of their fortunes. (A distant cousin, John Craney, left coal mining in Pennsylvania to try gold mining in California as late as 1898 … to no avail.)

I’ve wanted to see this country for a long time, and my chance came when Debi stumbled upon two concerts in Grass Valley on the same weekend in 2016.   Grass Valley is a quaint mining town on Rt. 49, well preserved with an historic downtown district composed of 19th century and early 20th century buildings and an affluent population attracted to the vibrant arts scene, the pristine environment and the retiree-friendly cost of living.

We checked into a comfortable all suites place (and bumped into Robert Cohen, a friend from Prague) and his family. Small world!   It was great to spend some time with Robert and meet his lovely wife, Nicolle, and his kids Noah and Toby (and baby Abby).

The town has a great performing arts center on the main street — a 300 seat place with great acoustics, reasonable prices and comfortable seats.  The Friday night concert was with Hapa, an impressive “Hawaiian / Pacific fusion” band that has some incredible self-written music, viruoso performances and a really engaging stage presence.