A Day in Paradise

In the wake of the 2018 Camp Fire, the temp­ta­tion can be for out­siders to rewrite Paradise’s per­sona — and that would be a mis­take. Ever-resilient and still every bit the fierce­ly tight-knit com­mu­ni­ty it ever was, Par­adise is a won­der­ful place for vis­i­tors and locals alike as it rebuilds. To hear about its progress is one thing; to vis­it and see it for your­self is not only inspir­ing, but also a chance to see first­hand what Par­adise has always had to offer.

As the Ridge com­mu­ni­ty ris­es, con­sid­er build­ing an itin­er­ary of sights, tastes, and expe­ri­ences for a mem­o­rable trip on the Ridge.

Lyn­n’s Cof­fee & Crepes

At the inter­sec­tion of Sky­way and Clark, Lyn­n’s Cof­fee & Crepes is both a fast casu­al eatery and a tes­ta­ment to the resilien­cy found on the Ridge. In late 2018, there was a ​“Com­ing Soon” sign on the new­ly fin­ished build­ing — which would end up shel­ter­ing dozens of peo­ple dur­ing that year’s Camp Fire.

More than two years lat­er, the café was final­ly able to open, offer­ing fresh­ly made sweet and savory crepes as well as a range of cof­fee and espres­so drinks. It’s loca­tion on the north end of Par­adise makes it a per­fect stop on the way to Par­adise Lake and oth­er high­er ele­va­tion adventures.

Bobbi’s Bou­tique

Bobbi’s Bou­tique is a small-town bou­tique offer­ing styl­ish alter­na­tives to big-box shop­ping. It’s a great stop for brand-name women’s fash­ion, from cloth­ing and jew­el­ry to hand­bags and shoes. Start­ing your day with retail ther­a­py, whether it’s shop­ping for gifts or pick­ing up an indul­gence for your­self, is nev­er a bad idea.

Trea­sures from Par­adise and Attic Treasures

Antiques and knick­knacks are part of the quaint, small-town shop­ping scene on the Ridge. Tchotchkes, dolls, ceram­ic fig­urines, col­lectibles, and the like abound in Trea­sures from Par­adise and Attic Trea­sures, but it’s cer­tain­ly not lim­it­ed to the whim­si­cal. Ornate glass and ceram­ic-ware, carv­ings, crys­tal, and oth­er sculp­tures are all on offer and make great gifts.

Mee­hos

For­mer­ly a sta­ple of the lunch scene in pre-fire Par­adise, Mee­hos—deli­cious Mex­i­can fare includ­ing tra­di­tion­al tacos, bur­ri­tos, and more — had expand­ed its small hut into a large din­ing patio before the Camp Fire claimed it. But as Par­adise rebuilds, the com­mu­ni­ty has been clear about sup­port­ing its old favorites, and Mee­hos is cer­tain­ly among them. ​“We want­ed to put a lit­tle bit of Par­adise back in each of your lives and pro­vide a place for friends and fam­i­ly to gath­er,” they explain in a state­ment on their site. You should take them up on that.

Hill­top Café

Mag­a­lia Amer­i­cana is on the menu at the Hill­top, with a focus on home­style din­ing. As a pil­lar of the Mag­a­lia com­mu­ni­ty, Hill­top Café is a go-to for locals. Hon­est and famil­iar fare is on offer here, like gen­er­ous­ly loaded burg­ers, crin­kle-cut fries, hot sand­wich­es, and more. Under new own­er­ship and rebuilt after sus­tain­ing Camp Fire dam­age, the Hill­top has made it a point to not miss a beat as it serves the Ridge.

Nic’s

This eatery is a ven­ture by Nic­ki Jones, own­er of Bobbi’s Bou­tique, that dou­bles down on her pas­sion for Par­adise and serv­ing the Ridge com­mu­ni­ty. With a wine bar and selec­tion of food includ­ing sand­wich­es and oth­er pre­pared lunch­es, Nic’s is estab­lish­ing itself as an easy stop for an after­noon drink or quick bite. If you’ve built up an appetite at this point dur­ing your vis­it, here’s an oppor­tu­ni­ty to refu­el before some enter­tain­ment to cap off the day.

Bille Park

Once you have sat­is­fied your hunger, it’s only a short dri­ve to Bille Park, which is a love­ly set­ting to rest, relax, or recre­ate after lunch. The park is serene, with both nat­ur­al and man­made fea­tures all around. An idling creek, a charm­ing gaze­bo, a scenic walk­ing path, and a large grass lawn are all part of the park’s appeal. It’s a great place for kids to play, or to bring your cam­era for some ready-to-order nat­ur­al beauty.

Par­adise Lake

The reser­voir here is a major drink­ing water sup­ply, but the recre­ation­al val­ue of Par­adise Lake can’t be over­looked. A mod­er­ate­ly paced hik­er could mean­der around the lake in an hour or less, but there’s no need to rush here. Sev­er­al pic­nic bench­es are scat­tered around the trail, mak­ing an ide­al oppor­tu­ni­ty to bring a Ther­mos of cof­fee or a pic­nic, and there are two launch ramps for kayak­ers and anglers alike to embark. Clean, clear and crisp, the lake offers oppor­tu­ni­ties for wildlife spot­ting, too. Bird­ers will be at home here, but it’s not uncom­mon to spot deer and a fam­i­ly of otters has been seen fre­quent­ly around the area, too.

Gold Nugget Museum

With its roots as a min­ing out­post, the area’s Gold Rush ties are impos­si­ble to ignore and are in fact quite cel­e­brat­ed in Par­adise, which holds an annu­al parade and pageant hon­or­ing the min­ing days; a vis­it wouldn’t be com­plete with­out see­ing the Gold Nugget Muse­um. Cur­rent­ly being rebuilt in its for­mer loca­tion, the muse­um now offers its ser­vices at the Depot Muse­um. Its aim is to pro­vide hands-on learn­ing and under­stand­ing of life in the late 1800s, and it does this with a robust col­lec­tion of local arti­facts and com­mu­ni­ty edu­ca­tion pro­grams. It’s run by vol­un­teers, so con­sid­er pick­ing up some­thing from the gift shop if you like what you see!

Noble Orchards

Par­adise has an apple-friend­ly his­to­ry, even famous­ly cel­e­brat­ing John­ny Apple­seed with a fes­ti­val each fall. You’ll see it first­hand at Noble Orchards, a 35-acre prop­er­ty that saw its first apple orchard estab­lished in 1921. The Camp Fire rav­aged the Nobles’ facil­i­ties and equip­ment, but the orchards remain intact — in fact, the trees con­tin­ue to bur­geon with so much fruit that they’re at risk of dam­age from the weight. Dur­ing the sea­son, enjoy a morn­ing pick­ing apples right from the tree. It’s a great time to think about mak­ing a pie and some cider. Make sure to check Noble Orchard’s Face­book for cur­rent u‑pick and farm stand hours as well as what’s in season.

Par­adise Per­form­ing Arts Center

Close out your vis­it to the Ridge with anoth­er night of enter­tain­ment at the Par­adise Per­form­ing Arts Cen­ter (PPAC), which hosts con­certs, bal­let, the­ater, pre­sen­ta­tions, sym­pho­ny per­for­mances, art shows and more. Call 530−872−8454 or vis­it par​adis​eper​formin​garts​.com for tickets.

The­atre on the Ridge

The­atre on the Ridge, or ​“TOTR” around these parts, has been a Par­adise insti­tu­tion since 1975, evolv­ing from a children’s recre­ation pro­gram into the main source of thes­pi­an activ­i­ty it is today. Host to both plays and musi­cals, the the­atre is the old­est Cal­i­for­nia non-prof­it in the North State. Vis­it TOTR​.org or call 530−877−5760 for more infor­ma­tion on the cur­rent slate of shows.

Authen­tic Thai Cui­sine of Paradise

Please come hun­gry, because every­thing is worth try­ing. Authen­tic Thai Cui­sine of Par­adise is deli­cious, authen­tic Thai food on the Ridge, serv­ing up all the tra­di­tion­al noo­dle, cur­ry, and rice dish­es you’d hope to see. As it is every­where, the Pad Thai is their most pop­u­lar dish, and more finicky eaters will be hap­py with more famil­iar items from the appe­tiz­er menu, like satay (chick­en or beef skew­ers), egg rolls or spring rolls.

Butte Creek Water­shed Lookout

On the way out of the pines, it’s tough to miss the ver­dant vista that is the Butte Creek Water­shed Look­out, and you def­i­nite­ly should take a few moments to take it all in. On the west­ward way out of town, you have easy access to Look­out Point, which fea­tures a fence adorned with hun­dreds of hang­ing key and com­bi­na­tion ​“locks of love,” once reserved for love­birds spend­ing a star­ry night over­look­ing the canyon but since hav­ing tak­en on a dif­fer­ent mean­ing. The water­shed itself is an eco­log­i­cal sight to behold, no mat­ter the sea­son, but in the fall, rip­ples of orange, red and yel­low foliage paint the canyon in autumn colors.

Par­adise is a his­toric place, but it’s not his­to­ry — it is still home to a liv­ing com­mu­ni­ty and well worth a vis­it. Its res­i­dents con­tin­ue to work to make it all its name implies.