Downtown Oroville: The Ultimate Guide

Mont­gomery & Myers

Run­ning from High­way 70 to the Feath­er Riv­er, Mont­gomery Street is the main thor­ough­fare through Down­town Oroville — and also the one where you’ll find the most activ­i­ty, along with its sis­ter street, Myers. At any time of year, the inter­sec­tion at Mont­gomery and Myers is the unof­fi­cial start­ing point for Down­town Oroville adven­tures, with cof­fee, din­ing, and shop­ping just a cross­walk away from the pri­ma­ry park­ing lot. These two streets are also home to many of the most pop­u­lar spots in Down­town (we’ll get to those later).

When it comes to events, Mont­gomery is the route for the annu­al Feath­er Fies­ta Days Parade, while Myers hosts the Show N’ Shine Car Show dur­ing the annu­al Salmon Fes­ti­val. And every Decem­ber, the Oroville Parade of Lights ends its route by march­ing through Myers and Montgomery.

When­ev­er you vis­it, it’s impos­si­ble to vis­it Down­town Oroville with­out find­ing your­self on either Mont­gomery or Myers.

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The River­front

If you’re more inter­est­ed in scenic walks than retail shops, you’ll find that just a block away from Mont­gomery along the Feath­er Riv­er. On Arlin Rhine Memo­r­i­al Dri­ve, you can take in the views at Cen­ten­ni­al Plaza. From there, you can stroll along the Feath­er Riv­er Trail, which you can fol­low for pho­tos in front of the icon­ic green Table Moun­tain Bridge or even cross the bridge to vis­it the Feath­er Riv­er Fish Hatch­ery. If you pre­fer, stay on the south side of the riv­er and cross Table Moun­tain Blvd to head to the Feath­er Riv­er Nature Cen­ter, where you can get a dif­fer­ent view of the bridge or explore the expan­sive Brad Free­man Trail.

There is, of course, plen­ty more to do along the Feath­er Riv­er, which you can explore beyond the Down­town district.

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Arts, Cul­ture & History

Down­town Oroville is also full of unique arts, cul­ture, and his­to­ry expe­ri­ences. Just south of Cen­ten­ni­al Plaza, on Brod­er­ick Street, you’ll find Bolt’s Antique Tool Muse­um and the Oroville Chi­nese Tem­ple, two of the six muse­ums in Down­town Oroville. You can explore them all, along with oth­er cul­tur­al cen­ters in the city, by fol­low­ing the Green­line Tour.

On Mont­gomery, Brush­strokes Art Stu­dio and Gallery is great for brows­ing local­ly made art, or even tak­ing a class to cre­ate your own. Just up the block on Myers, the his­toric Oroville State The­ater show­cas­es live per­for­mances and clas­sic film show­ings — and if you’re lucky, you’ll be able to catch an event where their Wurl­itzer Organ is being played! For more inti­mate shows, head to the Bird­cage Theatre for live the­atri­cal performances. 

Min­ers Alley is an up-and-com­ing cul­tur­al hotspot. A long-stand­ing his­toric resource, due to its loca­tion behind a num­ber of Downtown’s his­toric Gold Rush-era build­ings, Min­ers Alley is cur­rent­ly being revi­tal­ized into a unique event space stretch­ing from Huntoon to Down­er. When it’s com­plete, you’ll be able to enjoy live music, per­for­mance art, art shows, his­to­ry talks, and oth­er revolv­ing enter­tain­ment. For now, you can snap a few self­ies in front of the icon­ic Min­ers Alley arch­ways on Myers Street.

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Din­ing

No day out is com­plete with­out food, and Down­town Oroville has plen­ty of options. 

Those need­ing caf­feine to start their day should check out Mug Shots Cof­fee House or JC Java. For lunch or din­ner, Union serves up not only great food but also live music every week­end, and you can enjoy both on its spa­cious patio. 

Asian-inspired options abound, with Nori Down­town, Phở Noo­dle House, and the long­time favorite Tong Fong Low all with­in a few blocks of each oth­er. The Ital­ian Kitchen, and The Boss Burg­er are also pop­u­lar. And fFor wine enthu­si­asts, enjoy tast­ings at VillaVi­no.

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Shop­ping

There’s no short­age of retail options in Down­town Oroville. For cute clothes, check out Red Fly Cloth­ing, Nelson’s Footwear, or, for the tini­est mem­bers of your fam­i­ly, Tiny­Hinies. You can also find styl­ish options at Gallery Inte­ri­ors, which sells chic home décor. For antiques or refur­bished home décor options, Well Worn and Trea­sures from the Past are full of great pieces. 

If you’re look­ing for unique­ly Oroville gifts, the nation­al­ly known Mary Lake-Thomp­son has an out­let store where you can find her whim­si­cal designs at a great price. For hand­made gifts, Bird Street Ven­dors fea­tures items from near­ly two dozen local mak­ers in one con­ve­nient location. 

We could go on, but why not explore the streets of Down­town Oroville and dis­cov­er the oth­er gems for yourself?

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Events

Of course, as the heart of the city, Down­town Oroville is home to many events through­out the year.

In addi­tion to the afore­men­tioned annu­al Feath­er Fies­ta Days, Salmon Fes­ti­val, and Parade of Lights, and oth­er sea­son­al events, Down­town Oroville is home to month­ly events that cel­e­brate the local shop­ping and history.

Down­town Oroville’s First Fri­day is a month­ly event in which select shops keep their doors open late and invite you to enjoy an evening of shop­ping and fes­tiv­i­ties, with a dif­fer­ent theme each month.

The fol­low­ing day, you can step back in time and dis­cov­er Oroville’s rich (and some­times racy) his­to­ry on the first Sat­ur­day of every month dur­ing the Down­town Oroville His­toric Walk­ing Tour. The free tour has mul­ti­ple tour times on that Sat­ur­day, and the top­ic changes month­ly to cov­er dif­fer­ent aspects of the city, mak­ing it a great way to dis­cov­er more about Oroville.

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