Yes, that's right: Wal-Mart. This is not to say I am endorsing it or encouraging you to go there. Quite the contrary. But... that is the "special Napa location" I got to visit for today. It wasn't "new" to me, other than the fact that they have put in a grocery section and this makes it an even more horrible experience, waiting in line behind people standing there with 7 kids (yes, seven. I come from a big family of five kids, but I find seven pretty excessive) with not one but TWO shopping carts filled with things like 6 boxes of laundry detergent and 8 cartons of orange juice. Seriously?? That's not shopping for a family, that's hunting and gathering for a TRIBE.
I haven't been to Wal-Mart (located at the corner of Soscol and Lincoln, just in case you want to stop by and see what the Gates of Hell look like) in years, partly because I completely do not agree with their policies as a company (union-busting, gender discriminating) but also partly because I fear for my life sometimes. And when I can get over those two, I can't get over the depression that sets in when I walk in and start to be convinced that people probably don't really have souls. And many certainly don't have brains (as I watch a man gleefully wheel a brand new 40" flat panel TV to his beater of a car that looks like it barely runs... ah, priorities)
The only reason I was here is because, for some odd reason, it happens to be the only place in Napa I could manage to find some arts and crafts supplies for my students' projects. I hope to never return again. The only positive I can say is that this really encouraged me to be the best person I can be in life, because being stuck in line at Wal-Mart pretty much seemed like eternal damnation, and it was terrifying. Instead of door greeters, they should post Cerberus at the front entrance.
Showing posts with label local living. Show all posts
Showing posts with label local living. Show all posts
Monday, March 7, 2011
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Red Rock Cafe Back Door Barbecue
Rainstorms set in today, putting me in the mood for a casual, low-key comfort food sort of meal.I've often seen a little cafe sitting along Lincoln Ave at the intersection of Main (between Jefferson and Soscol). Driving home, I pass by it frequently, and my eye is often drawn to it due to the preponderance of neon lights adorning the windows. More intriguing, however, is the fact that it always seems packed in the evenings, every day of the week. Being situated across from a 7-Eleven, "Lolita's Nail Salon", a billiards bar and a coin-op laundromat, this wouldn't normally be my first pick of establishment to randomly venture into. However, looking through the windows always revealed a pretty interesting assortment of people... elderly folks, yuppie-ish families, Harley and Ed Hardy types. But one thing is for certain: it is definitely popular.
So Sarah and I headed there tonight, out of curiosity but with no expectations. It's a tiny little place called "Red Rock Cafe Back Door Barbecue" -- I guess we arrived just early enough (around 6:00), although the place was already half full. Inside is somewhat kitschy, with weird little tchochkes adorning the walls and ceilings. We chose the smallest table, by the front window under a hanging lamp adorned with dangling plastic hot dogs and hamburgers.
The menu looks like it was printed on a computer circa 1990, but boasts a good list of American-style food, mostly centered around barbecue: tri-tip, brisket, chicken, ribs, sandwiches, potato salad, fries, cole slaw, etc. Normally I'd go straight for that, but I was drawn toward their salad offering -- it was a bit more affordable than their BBQ meals, which range from $12 for sandwich to $18 for dinner plate. The salads are $7.95 for a large one, plus $3 if you want it covered with meat. What I really liked was the way you could basically custom-design your salad, with a choice of iceberg or romaine lettuce or spinach (or a combination) plus you choose 7 toppings from a list of pretty much anything you would imagine putting on a salad: veggies, beans, various cheeses, egg, bacon, avocado, walnuts, pecans, sunflower seeds, raisins, all sorts of stuff. I ended up getting avocado, broccoli, hardboiled egg, bacon, pecan pieces, tomatoes, and jack cheese, covered with tri-tip (and plenty of it) and tortilla strips.
At first glance you would think the prices would be cheaper here than they actually are. They are not expensive, but not cheap, either. But then the food is delivered and you understand; the portions are HUGE. The "kids platters" I saw come out had more food on them than most standard-sized plates at other barbecue places like Bounty Hunter nearby in downtown Napa.
Oh yeah, and the meat is definitely good. I can only speak to the tri-tip, but it was cooked perfectly and was very tender and juicy. We also ordered some beer, of which they have about a half dozen varieties on tap -- nothing too fancy, but some nicer varieties than your standard American Budweiser/Coors garbage (I got a Red Tail while she had Alaskan Amber).All in all, not a bad little place -- especially if you are hungry and want plenty of barbecued meat, and don't mind the fact that it is small/cozy and sometimes packed. One word of advice, though: if you don't want to be around a bunch of kids, I'd avoid going on a Saturday. About half of the people in there tonight were boys under the age of 10, and while this place clearly caters to families (they have some toys and games to be borrowed by the kids while they wait), I never see kids eating there when I drive by on the weekdays.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
House Hunting, Part 2: This Old House
Today I decided to take a look at another home that is on the market. This time, I was very excited about not only the location (just 3 blocks walk to the heart of downtown Napa) but also another special feature: the home is a Victorian that was built in 1895.
I love Victorian architecture, and Napa is brimming with these 100-year-old homes. Not all of them are Victorian style, some are craftsman or farmhouse architecture. And, even in the Victorian vein, you may not realize that there are several different styles including the squarish Italianate style and the also-boxy Second Empire style which you might recognize from the house in the movie Psycho (which looks exactly like one that sits on a hill in the valley, across from the Folie a Deux tasting room on 29)
This is not to say that these homes are a dime a dozen. It's still a pretty rare opportunity to find one in my price range (under $400k), and especially one that is right downtown to boot. So I have to go into this with caution and wonder what is up. Walking through the home, it seems great -- stained glass window over the door, vaulted ceilings, bay window overlooking a cool old stone building across the street, a beautiful tiled fireplace, and new paint, inside and out (unfortunately, you have to wonder what that paint is hiding).
It seems like a golden opportunity -- after all, this home was selling for over $600k just a few months ago, then was foreclosed and bank-owned and put on the market for $440k, and now is being listed at $399k. However, the previous seller (who backed out of the sale) got a foundation report which says that the foundation cannot be inspected or fixed without demolishing the finished basement... to the tune of $70,000. More ($145k) is the basement is to be redone back to its finished state. This is a huge bargaining chip, and the reason why I could get the home for $350k... or maybe less. But it's quite scary to think that the home could have a faulty foundation which would cost that much to fix.
Even aside from this, there are special considerations most people don't even realize when they see these beautiful old Victorian homes:
I love Victorian architecture, and Napa is brimming with these 100-year-old homes. Not all of them are Victorian style, some are craftsman or farmhouse architecture. And, even in the Victorian vein, you may not realize that there are several different styles including the squarish Italianate style and the also-boxy Second Empire style which you might recognize from the house in the movie Psycho (which looks exactly like one that sits on a hill in the valley, across from the Folie a Deux tasting room on 29)
This is not to say that these homes are a dime a dozen. It's still a pretty rare opportunity to find one in my price range (under $400k), and especially one that is right downtown to boot. So I have to go into this with caution and wonder what is up. Walking through the home, it seems great -- stained glass window over the door, vaulted ceilings, bay window overlooking a cool old stone building across the street, a beautiful tiled fireplace, and new paint, inside and out (unfortunately, you have to wonder what that paint is hiding).
It seems like a golden opportunity -- after all, this home was selling for over $600k just a few months ago, then was foreclosed and bank-owned and put on the market for $440k, and now is being listed at $399k. However, the previous seller (who backed out of the sale) got a foundation report which says that the foundation cannot be inspected or fixed without demolishing the finished basement... to the tune of $70,000. More ($145k) is the basement is to be redone back to its finished state. This is a huge bargaining chip, and the reason why I could get the home for $350k... or maybe less. But it's quite scary to think that the home could have a faulty foundation which would cost that much to fix.
Even aside from this, there are special considerations most people don't even realize when they see these beautiful old Victorian homes:
- lead paint was originally used (not a concern for me, but something to keep in mind if you need to do sanding or stripping or if you have toddlers that chew on things)
- lead plumbing was originally used (however, in most cases this has been removed and replaced by now)
- the houses do shift and settle over time, which could cause uneven floors, ceilings, and walls, as well as stuck doors and cracked windows and tileslath-and-plaster walls means there are likely to be cracks in the walls, and it's harder to hang pictures or to make renovations
- there are historical preservation codes that must be met, in which any fixing or alteration of exterior appearance must go through a permit process first and must match the original appearance
Friday, January 14, 2011
Napa public transportation: The Napa VINE
I figured today might be a good day to tell you about a Napa service I use almost every day: the local VINE bus system. I am so glad I discovered the VINE bus a few years ago. I drive about 25 miles each way to work and back -- basically I live at the south end of the valley in Napa and commute upvalley to Calistoga at the northernmost end. This is a beautiful drive -- I take Silverado Trail, a less congested route that runs parallel to 29 but on the east side of the valley -- and the traffic is rarely a problem and I never get tired of the scenery. However, driving can be tiresome nonetheless, and that's to say nothing of the gas prices hovering around $3.35/gallon around here... in other words, my gas alone was costing about $8/day.
Napa VINE to the rescue. I looked into it, and discovered that, aside from their buses which branch in and out of the downtown area, the Napa bus system also has oneroute -- Route 10 -- which runs basically straight up and down the valley, stopping at every town between the ferry terminal in Vallejo (where you can take a ferry to/from San Francisco) and Calistoga. It also happend to pick up a block from my home and two blocks from where I work. To top is all off, the fare is a nice price. Normally it is $2.10 each way (less if you aren't going as far), which is already half the cost of gas, plus it saves wear and tear on my car. But an even better bet is to get the monthly pass, which provides unlimited trips on any of the bus routes at any time, for $43/month. Score!
Of course, the bus is almost strictly locals -- I see lots of the same characters every day (and, like any bus I've ever ridden on... it has some characters! But unlike most urban bus systems, which can be filled with downright scary people, this one is pretty tame. Very very rarely have I ever see a crazy, a hobo, or thug, which by contrast are pretty commonplace on city buses. Sorry if this sounds harsh or insensitive, but I'm just telling it like it is.)
However, the bus would also be great for tourists on a budget... I bet a lot of people just aren't too aware of it. I mean, it has stops near many of the main accommodations up and down the valley, with its central hub right off of Pearl Street in downtown Napa. And using this bus, you could fairly easily visit practically any winery in off of Highway 29. The beauty of that is that you don't have to worry about whether you are getting a little tipsy or having a designated driver on hand, and it's way cheaper than a wine tour or chauffeured trip.
Napa VINE to the rescue. I looked into it, and discovered that, aside from their buses which branch in and out of the downtown area, the Napa bus system also has oneroute -- Route 10 -- which runs basically straight up and down the valley, stopping at every town between the ferry terminal in Vallejo (where you can take a ferry to/from San Francisco) and Calistoga. It also happend to pick up a block from my home and two blocks from where I work. To top is all off, the fare is a nice price. Normally it is $2.10 each way (less if you aren't going as far), which is already half the cost of gas, plus it saves wear and tear on my car. But an even better bet is to get the monthly pass, which provides unlimited trips on any of the bus routes at any time, for $43/month. Score!
Of course, the bus is almost strictly locals -- I see lots of the same characters every day (and, like any bus I've ever ridden on... it has some characters! But unlike most urban bus systems, which can be filled with downright scary people, this one is pretty tame. Very very rarely have I ever see a crazy, a hobo, or thug, which by contrast are pretty commonplace on city buses. Sorry if this sounds harsh or insensitive, but I'm just telling it like it is.)
However, the bus would also be great for tourists on a budget... I bet a lot of people just aren't too aware of it. I mean, it has stops near many of the main accommodations up and down the valley, with its central hub right off of Pearl Street in downtown Napa. And using this bus, you could fairly easily visit practically any winery in off of Highway 29. The beauty of that is that you don't have to worry about whether you are getting a little tipsy or having a designated driver on hand, and it's way cheaper than a wine tour or chauffeured trip.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
House Hunting in Napa
Okay, so this topic might not be of supreme interest to the casual Napa Valley tourist. Then again, if you come visit and find yourself wondering if you could ever live here, this might be of interest to you.
Thanks to the wonderful timing of my life* combined with the luck of being born into one of the most expensive regions in America (suburban Washington, DC), I have never had the luxury of owning my own home. Having lived in a variety of ridiculously-expensive areas (Montgomery County, Maryland, San Francisco, California, and now Napa), my salary -- no matter how good it seemed -- never afforded me enough money to pay for the overpriced real estate in those areas. Back in 2005, after I had spent years of renting (not because I wanted to, but out of necessity), my father suggested I should look into buying a home. I said "Look, I don't get how these home prices can just keep going up. They have risen 100% in 5 years. It's absurd. Have salaries risen 100% in that time? No. Something's fishy, and I'm not going to buy into this overinflated market." So, I maintained some humility and patience and decided to rent and save money in the meantime.
Now I am finally in a position where I have paid off my college loans (which took TEN YEARS, by the way -- a burden most Baby Boomers never had to deal with) and credit cards and every other debt, and I am employed and somewhat financially stable. Combine that with the current situation of home prices dropping like a rock (but believe it or not, they are still overpriced) and pretty low interest rates, and I figure the time has come to buy a home.
The real estate situation in Napa is interesting. Properties here range from about $200,000 to $28 million, all within a couple dozen miles of each other. In Napa Valley. there are certain hotspots that are particularly desirable -- namely, St. Helena and Yountville (a tourist mecca with some serious destinations like Domaine Chandon and The French Laundry as well as other good restaurants including Thomas Keller's Bouchon and Ad Hoc, Richard Reddington's "Redd", and Bottega by local celebrity chef Michael Chiarello, owner of Chiarelli winery, host of the Food Network show "Easy Entertaining", and founder of "NapaStyle" magazine).
The town of Napa itself, despite being so well-known because of its name, is actually more plebian -- it's where the workers live (if they can even afford it. Many commute up from American Canyon or Vallejo or even across the Bay to the south). So Napa is bigger, has actual chain stores (pretty much nowhere else in Napa Valley does), and has the typical suburban sprawl to an extent. Then again, there is also the downtown area which I covered in a previous post, with the Napa Opera House, upscale living condos, and high-end celebrity-chef restaurants.
So there is quite a range here.
The range I'm looking at is the $300-$350k range. That's really the only range that is truly affordable to me (working in conjunction with my girlfriend of 8 years, Sarah... so we'd combine our incomes) while still maintaining a decent quality of life, safety, comfort, etc. The way I see it is... I currently live in a reasonable apartment with about 1000 sq. ft., nice grounds, swimming pool and hot tub and exercise room, a patio and garden, covered parking, and all in a safe neighborhood, with everything I need literally within a mile or two -- post office, doctor, eye doctor, dentist, hospital, groceries, you name it. So if I pay $1300/month for that (apartment rents here range from about $1000-$1500/mo for a two-bedroom apartment, but if you're looking into it, I'd highly recommend avoiding the ones at around $1000... they tend to be a bit sketchy and simply aren't worth the amount you save), I don't know why anybody would want to give that up and pay more money per month for a significantly lower quality of life... just to say you own a home.
If you look at real estate listings here, it's a pretty sobering representation of reality: almost half of the listings are bank-owned foreclosures, and a great many of ones aren't foreclosed still end up being short sales by people that are about to face foreclosure. Of the 20-30 homes I have looked at (using Redfin, which has proved to be a very useful and easy-to-use service), only ONE has been for sale by the actual occupants and is not a short sale. Every other listing has been a short sale or foreclosure. And my real estate agent filled me in on the other unspoken fact that the banks actually own a lot more vacant homes that aren't even currently listed on the market -- they are just sitting there empty until the banks decide to trickle them out, limiting the number on the market at any given time.
*I was born in 1978 -- too late to enter the workforce when you could find an American job to work at for your whole life, also just a little bit too late to graduate before the Internet economy went bust. Which affected me a lot, with my computer science degree. I hate to break it to the unenlightened, but we folks who are in our early 30s or younger have had to face a world in which there is no job security, in which you can do "everything right" and graduate top of your class, get into a top notch university, study your butt off and graduate cum laude... and still not even be able to get your foot in the door. A lot of people 50+ years old are screaming "age discrimination" these days, but the fact of the matter is that the younger generations are much worse off, and there's not even any laws to protect against age discrimination toward the young.
Thanks to the wonderful timing of my life* combined with the luck of being born into one of the most expensive regions in America (suburban Washington, DC), I have never had the luxury of owning my own home. Having lived in a variety of ridiculously-expensive areas (Montgomery County, Maryland, San Francisco, California, and now Napa), my salary -- no matter how good it seemed -- never afforded me enough money to pay for the overpriced real estate in those areas. Back in 2005, after I had spent years of renting (not because I wanted to, but out of necessity), my father suggested I should look into buying a home. I said "Look, I don't get how these home prices can just keep going up. They have risen 100% in 5 years. It's absurd. Have salaries risen 100% in that time? No. Something's fishy, and I'm not going to buy into this overinflated market." So, I maintained some humility and patience and decided to rent and save money in the meantime.
Now I am finally in a position where I have paid off my college loans (which took TEN YEARS, by the way -- a burden most Baby Boomers never had to deal with) and credit cards and every other debt, and I am employed and somewhat financially stable. Combine that with the current situation of home prices dropping like a rock (but believe it or not, they are still overpriced) and pretty low interest rates, and I figure the time has come to buy a home.
The real estate situation in Napa is interesting. Properties here range from about $200,000 to $28 million, all within a couple dozen miles of each other. In Napa Valley. there are certain hotspots that are particularly desirable -- namely, St. Helena and Yountville (a tourist mecca with some serious destinations like Domaine Chandon and The French Laundry as well as other good restaurants including Thomas Keller's Bouchon and Ad Hoc, Richard Reddington's "Redd", and Bottega by local celebrity chef Michael Chiarello, owner of Chiarelli winery, host of the Food Network show "Easy Entertaining", and founder of "NapaStyle" magazine).
The town of Napa itself, despite being so well-known because of its name, is actually more plebian -- it's where the workers live (if they can even afford it. Many commute up from American Canyon or Vallejo or even across the Bay to the south). So Napa is bigger, has actual chain stores (pretty much nowhere else in Napa Valley does), and has the typical suburban sprawl to an extent. Then again, there is also the downtown area which I covered in a previous post, with the Napa Opera House, upscale living condos, and high-end celebrity-chef restaurants.
So there is quite a range here.
The range I'm looking at is the $300-$350k range. That's really the only range that is truly affordable to me (working in conjunction with my girlfriend of 8 years, Sarah... so we'd combine our incomes) while still maintaining a decent quality of life, safety, comfort, etc. The way I see it is... I currently live in a reasonable apartment with about 1000 sq. ft., nice grounds, swimming pool and hot tub and exercise room, a patio and garden, covered parking, and all in a safe neighborhood, with everything I need literally within a mile or two -- post office, doctor, eye doctor, dentist, hospital, groceries, you name it. So if I pay $1300/month for that (apartment rents here range from about $1000-$1500/mo for a two-bedroom apartment, but if you're looking into it, I'd highly recommend avoiding the ones at around $1000... they tend to be a bit sketchy and simply aren't worth the amount you save), I don't know why anybody would want to give that up and pay more money per month for a significantly lower quality of life... just to say you own a home.
If you look at real estate listings here, it's a pretty sobering representation of reality: almost half of the listings are bank-owned foreclosures, and a great many of ones aren't foreclosed still end up being short sales by people that are about to face foreclosure. Of the 20-30 homes I have looked at (using Redfin, which has proved to be a very useful and easy-to-use service), only ONE has been for sale by the actual occupants and is not a short sale. Every other listing has been a short sale or foreclosure. And my real estate agent filled me in on the other unspoken fact that the banks actually own a lot more vacant homes that aren't even currently listed on the market -- they are just sitting there empty until the banks decide to trickle them out, limiting the number on the market at any given time.
*I was born in 1978 -- too late to enter the workforce when you could find an American job to work at for your whole life, also just a little bit too late to graduate before the Internet economy went bust. Which affected me a lot, with my computer science degree. I hate to break it to the unenlightened, but we folks who are in our early 30s or younger have had to face a world in which there is no job security, in which you can do "everything right" and graduate top of your class, get into a top notch university, study your butt off and graduate cum laude... and still not even be able to get your foot in the door. A lot of people 50+ years old are screaming "age discrimination" these days, but the fact of the matter is that the younger generations are much worse off, and there's not even any laws to protect against age discrimination toward the young.
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