I discovered Niles less than a month ago -- a fabulous little gem of a place less than two miles from my house up in the hills of Union City. Last February, I pulled out all the stops to help out my son, daughter-in-law and baby Jeremiah, my grandson. Their housing situation in Sacramento deteriorated fast when Jeremy couldn't find work out there in the valley. I needed to help them come home. Memories of all the times we were just one small step away from being homeless when I was a single mom with four kids stung and filled my heart with fear -- I can't let this little family be homeless -- my son, my grandson and daughter-in-law. Jeremy's a hard worker, but times are tough right now. So I took a loan out against my 401(k) at work and helped them move into a house where we'd all share the rent -- it's the only way to do it here in the San Francisco Bay Area. And I sure as heck don't plan to ever leave in spite of housing! This is home now -- it's where my childhood memories reside, and San Francisco is still my favorite city in the whole world. It's a struggle to live here, but no way could I work and make as much money anywhere else.
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| The view from our backyard, breathtaking! (and watching fireworks from here was amazing too on the 4th of July!) Thanks Jennifer Long, for the beautiful photo. |
Anyway, so we didn't stay in south bay, Silicon Valley, where my job was because we couldn't find a house that we could afford to rent -- only in East San Jose, and not a great part of East San Jose -- and places like that. We moved to a different county and area -- and it seems that I'm just now getting to know what's around here since I work across the bay in Mountain View. I have to cross a bridge and drive through three counties to get to my job now -- it's only 20 miles, yet it seems like a journey every day. Sometimes I don't like the commute and grumble about it, but sometimes as I'm driving across the Dumbarton Bridge, I see beautiful egrets stretching their wide wings flying in groups, and the sun setting on the bay is incredible. And we live in the hills -- I'm looking out the window right now at the most gorgeous view ever.
A few weeks ago someone told me there would be live Beatles music at Hayward Memorial Park down Mission Blvd., so of course I needed to investigate, wearing my Magical Mystery Tour t-shirt, with my 8-string ukulele (and matching yellow submarine guitar strap -- I have three now, Yellow Submarine, Revolver and Hard Day's Night -- need to collect the rest. They work well on ukuleles too!). No Fly List is a local band who play a lot of Beatles music and put their own twist on the songs...I was impressed with them and had a great time. The lead singer told me about Niles and Mike McNevin, a musician songwriter who hangs out there and hosts shows and jams there all the time, so of course I had to check it out. I'd driven past but had never entered the time tunnel until that afternoon...it's actually a district of Fremont, but the people of Niles are proud to call it THEIR town.
Ohhh there's a humming bird right outside my window!!! Lovely!!! Something about the hummingbird hovering in one place like that never ceases to amaze me and surprise me. I remember one night a hummingbird hung out on our porch -- when we lived in one of our apartments in Mountain View.
I have no idea how long we'll live here in this place -- this house is only borrowed, rented. And eventually Jeremy and Jen will want their own home and I don't blame them one single bit. But for now, we will make the best of this place...perhaps the only time I'll ever get to reside in a house instead of an apartment -- but who knows what the future will hold.
So, I discovered Niles and have been back to visit the historic street and buildings many times -- I've been to the theater where the silent movies with Bronco Billy and Charlie Chaplin were shown -- apparently Niles has the distinction of being the place where silent movies were filmed until the entire operation moved down to Hollywood. Locals call Niles, the original Hollywood. An old steam engine train runs through the town too. I stopped in Niles on my way home from Burning Uke Campout last month for a free all day music festival and met fellow ukulele friends. We all ended up jamming at the Vine, a lovely restaurant with a patio in the back called "The Back Porch." There's a fire pit and a stage built from actual wood of an old back porch from the 1800's...then I met Mike McNevin and got on his Facebook list (God, I love Facebook, what did we ever do without it? I can't believe some people still don't want to go there -- I feel as if I can stay in touch with people and find out what's happening in the area - between Facebook and Meetup, my life is indeed complete!!!
There's a performance and jam at the Vine every Wednesday evening, and I've gone a couple of times, stopping in with my ukulele on my way home from work. Mike McNevin also hosts shows at this amazing tiny place he calls the Mudpuddle, which was a barber shop -- this small building is from the 1800s and was once even a pharmacy. Charlie Chaplin hung out right in front of the building and Mike McNevin and any local will tell you all the history. A guy who works at the theater will take you on a tour of the theater and show you the old projectors from 1915 -- he'll also give you a history lesson on the area -- a guy named Red who hangs out in front of one of the antique shops will explain that saloons once lined the streets and that there were underground tunnels -- and Charlie Chaplin and Bronco Billy used them back in the day! I looked at the golden hills and realized this would be a perfect location for all those Westerns that were filmed back in the early 1900s. It takes my breath away.
At the Niles Cafe, which is also a historic landmark, a lovely Vietnamese family will serve you the best coffee you'd ever want to drink -- and reasonably priced food too! You never know which family member will take your order -- it could be the young boy in his early teens or maybe the Grandma -- it's wonderful and murals cover the walls here, more history...
Even the antique shops carry their own charms -- old record players, and just the other night one shop sported their grand opening of Christmas decorations -- I'm usually not for Christmas stuff before Halloween, but this was so amazing it was definitely worth it. The store glittered with magic, dozens and dozens of Christmas trees, each decorated with beautiful decorations that had a theme. One tree was filled with ocean-objects from lighthouses to fish and seahorses and another had a musical theme with small guitars, bongo drums and any instrument you an imagine, and the lights, ohhh the lights...! I felt as if I was walking through a winter wonderland and I didn't have to go to Christmas in the Park in San Jose or San Francisco and fight crowds and parking! There's going to be a festival of lights here in this small town...and the steam engine train all lit up will run through the holiday season and I can hardly wait!
So I showed up at the Mudpuddle for an amazing show with Mike McNevin Severin Browne, and Britta Lee Shain, from southern California -- music in the round, a small intimate group -- everyone swapping songs, mostly acoustic with just a tiny bit of electric guitar.. Janet Lenore, a fellow ukulele player who led a workshop at Burning Campout this year, was there with her boyfriend Jeff -- he plays a uke bass, and my friend Mike, who gave me a ukulele and started me off on the whole uke craze, showed up too with his beautiful, booming low voice -- and he sang and led us in songs after the performances.
I'm lucky to live so close to this magical place of Niles and will stop in today on my way out. On this beautiful Saturday, I'm going to drive to Pacifica near the ocean to the Chit Chat Cafe to attend a Beatles Sing-along -- all of the songs from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club band and then some! Then I'll travel to Oakland for a Ukulele Love In tonight at the Actual Cafe -- and meet some friends, some of which are beginners on the ukulele. I'll bring extra ukes for them -- spreading the love of the ukuleles to one and all.
And tonight, I'll get Day 4 done...story ideas are running through my head...over and out. til we meet again.
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