Merced Today: Fleeting Impressions
A photo essay on Merced, California
Story and Photos by David A. Laws
From its beginning as a stage stop and trading post 110 miles southeast of San Francisco, the city of Merced grew into a regional hub of agriculture and transportation for the San Joaquin Valley by the late 19th century. While ag products — almonds, cotton, and dairy — remain important, the drivers of growth and development in recent years have been housing overflow from the coast and the opening of the University of California, Merced, in 2005.
The wealth of the early years shows in extravagant downtown buildings, from the Italianate Merced County Courthouse and the grand Tioga Hotel, to the exotic details of the Merced Theater’s soaring tower. While many formerly prosperous agricultural downtown centers are dying and empty today, Merced’s, boosted by the influx of new ideas and money, is an exception.
The Tioga is now an upscale apartment building with a waiting list. The El Capitan Hotel hosts travelers from around the world visiting U. C. Merced. And the Rainbird restaurant offers a “four-course chef-inspired dinner with wine pairings.”
The following photos were taken on a fleeting visit in early 2023.
The Yin and Yang of El Capitan
Named after the granite monolith that towers over Yosemite Valley, the El Capitan Hotel has welcomed celebrities, dignitaries, travelers, and a president (General Ulysses S. Grant) on their way to the national park. Since its renovation and rebirth as a boutique hotel in 2021, it continues to serve as an upscale Gateway to Yosemite. At the time of my visit, the hotel operated under the Hyatt JVD brand. It is now managed by the Austin, TX-based hotel group New Waterloo.
Twin Towers
In the 1920s “golden age” of movies, cinema owners lured patrons into grand palaces of architectural exuberance that matched the fantasy worlds portrayed on the silver screen. The Merced Theater’s 1931 mix of Art Deco and Spanish Colonial Revival styles captured the dominant decorative fads of the time. The Mainplace Merced Cinema, a 13-screen multiplex theater that opened in 2001, matched the tower motif of its neighbor in glass instead of stone.
Elegant Reuse With Palms
The elegant, three-story Merced County Courthouse, built in an 1875 Italianate style, is now a museum that tells the history of Merced County and the settlers of the Great Central Valley. The 1928 Tioga Hotel, home to the city’s first neon sign and still the tallest building in town, hosted prominent guests, including Eleanor Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, and Mary Pickford. The Tioga is now an upscale apartment building.
Seeing Double: Arboreal Shadows and Reflections
Early morning shadows downtown and evening reflections in Lake Yosemite, a man-made irrigation reservoir and popular boating venue with a tower said to be haunted by a “Lady of the Lake,” cast the sharply etched silhouettes of winter.
Not What They Seem
A 68-foot-tall granite obelisk, that can be seen for miles across this flat country, looks like the commemoration of a Civil War battle site. In fact, it’s a tombstone for rich rancher George Hicks Fancher who died in 1900. The fine specimen of Sequoia Telephonicus that towers above U.C Merced ensures clear mobile phone reception across the campus
Haute Cuisine meets Street Cuisine
The amuse-bouche at the Rainbird restaurant is a delight to the palate and the eye. At just $1 each, the bean and cheese breakfast burritos at local favorite Marie’s Mexican Kitchen are a delight to the wallet.
Getting There
Merced is a three-hour, stress-free ride from Oakland via Amtrak. Travelers arrive at this depot that was rebuilt in 2000 in the mixed Arts and Crafts and Spanish Revival style of the original 1917 Santa Fe Railroad station. From here, the YARTS bus will take you on to Yosemite, also with no driving hassle, for just $46.
Wall Coverings
In addition to River of Mercy, a monumental mural by John Pugh (2003) telling the story of the Merced River in the lobby, these huge abstract murals decorate the side and rear walls of the Mainplace Cinema at 403 Main.
Local Attractions
The landscaped grounds of the Hilmar Cheese Company: the largest single-site cheese manufacturer in the world, the Castle Air Museum, dedicated to the history of military aviation, and the expansive Merced National Wildlife Refuge, offer a variety of diversions within a short drive of Merced.
[Rev 6.16.23]
