With the Bay Area’s many vibrant nightlife, arts, and entertainment scenes, small towns like Danville often get overlooked. However, this quiet, suburban community nestled between Mt. Diablo and Las Trampas open space has some of the best shopping, hiking, dining spots, and car shows around.
“All signs are leaning towards a definite improvement in the local economy,” Danville Area Chamber of Commerce’s President/CEO Zae Perrin said in his public statement to the approximately 600 companies in the chamber. “New businesses are opening and merchants seem to overall have a positive outlook.”
This summer will feature several events and charity drives that have become long-standing traditions in Danville, as well as a new take on the town’s popular annual summer arts festival. There will also be exciting new plays, celebrations of the town’s Irish history, and of course a Saturday farmers market every week from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. And those who know the city well tell us that Danville is always adding to its dining scene, which is known around the state.
“There are new restaurants, bars, and lounges popping up all the time,” said Marcia Harmon, former president of the local chamber of commerce’s Discover Danville Association. “Within a block and a half of my shop, there are at least a half-dozen restaurants that are incredible. Overall, there are over 20 here that are just amazing.”
Some notable restaurants include Harvest, located at 500 Hartz Avenue featuring a mouthwatering menu compiled by Head Chef Tim Humphrey, who makes a point of finding high-quality, local sources for his ingredients.
“At Danville Harvest, I use the same philosophies that I learned cooking with my family on the farm in Florida. Find sustainably raised ingredients, sourced locally to support our culinary community, and cook them with respect utilizing techniques that let these spectacular products shine as the highlight of the dish,” Tim said in a public statement.
There is also Pete’s Brass Rail at 201 Hartz Avenue, an American cuisine restaurant with an extensive beer list, where they let you put your name on a wall of fame if you order enough beers (probably best to make more than one trip if you’re going for that). With respect to wine bars, there’s the Auburn Lounge at 321 Hartz Avenue, which features “the perfect mix of curated drinks and small plates.” “It’s like a little nightclub but it’s got an old speakeasy, vintage vibe going,” Marcia said of the Auburn Lounge.
“It takes more than one visit (to Danville) to see everything,” she continued. “We have something for all tastes and styles.”
Marcia is the owner and operator of Cottage Jewel, est. 1999, which sells antiques, jewelry, art, and other treasures that she’s assorted over the years. Located at 100 Prospect Avenue in the heart of Danville’s downtown, the store itself is a work of art; its layout contains a spirited assortment of various art pieces, furniture, necklaces, earrings, dining wares, and the like, where everything seems to jump at someone at once. Marcia’s passion for her work—which includes jewelry creation and repair—shines through when you talk to her. She describes the store as more than your typical antique store, but a “living museum” that’s “tiny but packed to the gunnels.”
“I’ve got embellishments, novelties, museum-quality rare portraits, old rose-cut diamonds and funky, kitch loot too,” she said. “It’s from mostly between 1850 and 1950, really a century of feminine frills and some ‘mantiques’ too.”
One of the best places for shopping around town is the Danville Livery, located at 412 Sycamore Road, with its main entrance at the intersection of Sycamore and San Ramon Valley Roads. The Livery Shopping Center has a little bit of everything: home and gift shops (e.g. Misto Lino), Games Unlimited (the town’s “ultimate toy store and birthday gift headquarters”), and a number of great places for food or refreshing drinks. Across the street, near the Sycamore Square Shopping Center, Danville also has a great bowling alley (Danville Bowl), featuring 24 lanes, arcade games, and a full bar.
Moreover, for many decades, Danville was known for its annual Fine Arts Faire, a two-day art stroll that brought tens of thousands of folks from all over the Bay Area. The faire is still here, as of last year it has been rebranded as Summerfest, and it is expanding its scope. Marcia credited Zae with leading that transition.
“[Zae] is changing it from a common crafts show to really be town-centric,” Marcia said. “He’s bringing in local music and entertainers and non-profit groups, and high school dance and music groups. And they’re offering discounted booths for local businesses so that patrons can see more of what’s available in Danville every day.”
For a full list of Summerfest events, activities, and food, visit its website at danvillesummerfest.com.
Danville is known for car shows, and some of them have undergone re-brandings as well; Hot Summer Nights, for instance, is now known as Hot Summer Sundays and will be held on July 22 and August 19, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. It will feature not only classic cars, but also wares from local businesses and “good food, music, and family fun,” according to the event’s website.
There is also the Danville Concours d’Elegance, a classic cars charity event aimed at raising money to research Parkinson’s Disease. Since 2004, the event’s organizers have raised more than $5 million, and the cars aren’t too shabby either: last year’s featured car was a 1930 Cadillac V16 Dual Cowl Sport Phaeton from local car collector Steve Marini, a car that costs about as much as a two-story house, if one is lucky enough to find one for sale.
When it comes to hiking and outdoors, the Mt. Diablo State Park seems to overshadow everything, literally and figuratively. But on the other side of Danville, the Las Trampas Regional Wilderness has its fair share of gorgeous views and hiking trails. At the base of the wilderness area is Danville’s National Historic Site, the Tao House, a preserved reminder of the town’s link to one of history’s most accomplished playwrights, Eugene O’Neill.
O’Neill is the father of dozens of well-known plays like The Iceman Cometh, Anna Christie, and The Emperor Jones, who also won a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1936 as well as four Pulitzers for drama. He lived in Danville for seven years, beginning in 1937 when he bought the Bryant Ranch with money won from the Nobel Prize. His home, now known as the Tao House, remains to this day and is currently the home of the Eugene O’Neill Foundation, which seeks to preserve his legacy and is partnering with local groups for a number of highly anticipated events this year.
On August 31, the Tao House will host the 19th Annual Eugene O’Neill Festival, featuring two plays and a concert, as well as a twist: the festival is part of One Festival, Two Countries, with the other part taking place in the town of New Ross, Danville’s new friendship city. If anyone wants to try and catch a flight out there, it kicks off on Oct. 9 at the St. Michael’s Theatre, located roughly 5,085 miles east of Danville.
“It’s neat for the whole community because there is a strong Irish following and everyone loves a good Irish party,” Marcia said. “It gives another layer of excitement to what we’re doing here.”
On July 7 and 8, the Tao House will host Valerie Joyce’s rousing one-woman play, the aptly-titled I Will Speak for Myself, which features the stories of 16 silenced black women from colonial times through Emancipation.
“It is just chilling; it’s so inspiring,” Marcia said.
With that in mind, and to promote the O’Neill events, Marcia said that during the car show on Summerfest’s Sunday, outside of her store will feature theater performances by local high school troupes. She extends an invitation to “come out and dress the period and come see the vintage cars, vintage O’Neill, and have a little reenactment during the art festival.”
For additional information on things to do in Danville, visit the chamber’s website at danvilleareachamber.com, or visit them at 117 E Town and Country Drive; for additional information about the Eugene O’Neill Foundation, visit eugeneoneill.org or visit the house from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday at 205 Railroad Avenue; for additional information on the Hot Summer Sundays car shows visit dhsscs.com; to learn more about Danville d’Elegance, visit danville-delegance.org; and to learn more about Danville’s history, take a walking tour of the city’s historic sites, which you can learn more about by visiting ci.danville.ca.us.
Nate Gartrell grew up in Benicia, studied journalism in college, and has written for a handful of media outlets since age 15. He aspires to visit all 30 Major League Baseball stadiums and to hit the trifecta at the horse track.
