Talk:Davis, California

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[edit] Kim Stanley Robinson

Hey, I put the Kim Stanley Robinson link on the page, and I was wondering if anyone knows where i should put it if it doesn't belong in the top? Phil179 08:28, Dec 6, 2004 (UTC)

I don't know why you're so eager to put a link to Robinson in the article, but if you must, create a new section where it would be appropriate. It's clearly not appropriate to mention it beside facts like "It is located in the Sacramento valley", a highly important fact about Davis, worthy of being in the opening. It's also not appropriate for the current sections. Maybe a new section along the lines of interesting trivia would be a good home for your link. --C S 10:34, Dec 6, 2004 (UTC)

Well I'm eager to put it in here because I think he's famous enough to be listed with the Davis article, and I can't think of anyone else who is famous enough to go on there as a famous Davis resident. If you can think of anyone else to add, then by all means I think they should be added to it. Phil179 15:44, Dec 6, 2004 (UTC)

Maybe a link to Published Authors on the Davis Wiki?


What about John Lescroart? He is an author too. And Robinson should be mentioned, he is probably one of the leading authors of modern sci-fi so he deserves to be mentioned.

[edit] Notable natives

I think I will start a "notable natives" section of the article sometime soon. This will include Kim Stanley Robinson (cf discussion above), some other writers, and people like Paul Moller of Moller Skycar fame/infamy. One problem is determining who is "notable"; after all, Sean Stewart, despite having made it into Wikipeida, is probably not as well-known as many UC Davis professors. Others are welcome to beat me to this edit :-) --C S 22:37, July 9, 2005 (UTC)

I stole your idea. It still needs some work though. --Phoenix Hacker 05:28, July 22, 2005 (UTC)

I can't verify (although I didn't really check that hard) that all the people currently listed as a notable native actually live in Davis. For example, the astronaut Stephen Robinson's bio doesn't list anything about him living in Davis. And if my recollection is correct, astronauts all live in certain neighborhoods near the launch site in Cape Canaveral anyway! --C S 06:24, September 3, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Sights

I added some sights and events to the page. --Phoenix Hacker 10:54, Apr 16, 2005 (UTC)


There are sooooo many other Davis things that should be put on this page:

Dr. Moller and his flying car: Skycar. He lives near Davis and once was a UC Professor.

What about the radio flyer car?
These are both awesome things, and both featured on pages on DavisWiki.org!
DavisWiki rocks my socks!

[edit] Movie Location?

According to another website about Davis, the movie Phenomenon was filmed in Davis. Can anyone confirm this? I haven't found that anywhere else. --Phoenix Hacker 05:03, July 22, 2005 (UTC)

One of several locations according to IMDB -- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117333/locations PxT 18:50, 3 August 2005 (UTC)

From my understanding it was not filmed in Davis, but in Auburn. As far as I know Davis has not been used as a filming location in any major movie.

[edit] Davisites vs. Natives

You may want to reconsider your recent repeated reverts, changing "Notable Davisites" to "Notable Natives" in the Davis, California article. Please refer to the Merriam-Webster dictionary for the definition of "native" in this context [1]. This article is about an American town, so American usage and spelling pertain in this instance, in accordance with Wikipedia policy. The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) has no standing here. --QuicksilverT @ 06:19, 28 November 2005 (UTC)

You mean the definition listed at your link:

Main Entry: 2native Function: noun 1 : one born or reared in a particular place 2 a : an original or indigenous inhabitant b : something indigenous to a particular locality 3 : a local resident; especially : a person who has always lived in a place as distinguished from a visitor or a temporary resident

somehow contradicts my rationale for my reverts? It doesn't seem so, especially in light of definition 3. I think using the word native here is better because definitions 1 and 3 is more inclusive (than Davisite) and less likely to cause problems in the long run.
BTW, I did check Webster first and noted it agreed with OED. I should have been more precise. I apologize for any confusion. --C S (Talk) 07:19, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
I'm not trying to insult you, but perhaps you are confused over the definitions of "native" as an adjective versus a noun? That's a very important distinction. In any case, the dictionary definitions are certainly compatible with my experience, e.g. "Native of New York" does not mean "born in New York" necessarily...it can indicate "reared" (per definition 1) or a permanent resident (per definition 3). I think if you reconsider, you will agree. --C S (Talk) 07:30, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
Polite proposal from complete outsiders: keep “natives” (which seems to be usual, though it stems from Latin: natus = born). But please do not miss the nice word “Davisites” – maybe you put it in brackets behind or mention it somewhere in the text.
The fine English/German dictionary http://dict.leo.org/ says:
native of = born in
native to = living in
Maybe you make a difference between people born in and people living in Davis?
Anyway: Davis seems a really fine place to be! Congrats! Erkabo 08:08, 28 November 2005 (UTC) (Hi Chan-Ho!)

Wikipedia's own definition of native is instructive. Quoting: Native is an adjective meaning "from birth", as in native language, native speaker. It is also a noun indicating a person who was born in a place or lived there for most of the person's childhood. When used as a noun to refer to a member of an indigenous ethnic group, it sometimes carries pejorative connotations. When linked to a place or nationality the term has ambiguity in English. Native literally denotes "having been born in" the place referred to. It usually implies residence in the area, at least in childhood, and familiarity or identification with the culture. However, native is also often used to mean "belonging to an ethnic group historically inhabiting that region at the time Western writers became acquainted with the region." In this sense it is synonymous with "indigenous", as in "Native American" or "First Nations.

So Native is someone resident from birth or (arguably) lived there for most of the person's childhood -- do any of the 'Natives' qualify? I note that our own definition of Native states that when linked to a place (say, Davis), born in is the choice with the additional implication that some childhood residence in the area... So let's examine our list of eminent Davisites: None were born there -- see the linked biographies --, which is the touchstone of nativeness; and no one has cited ANY SOURCES that indicate that any of them have lived there for most of their childhood -- reading the biographies show that most of them have spent their childhoods elsewhere, in fact. Best to keep to Davisites -- truth is better than a fiction based on semantics that are inconsistent with our own definition of 'Native' or remove all the people who were neither born there or (arguably) lived there for most of their childhoods.

User:Carlossuarez46

Frankly, I think you have an issue with terminology. For one, you did not "revert vandalism" (as you claim in your edit summary) when you reverted my change. Please acquaint yourself with what vandalism is before you get yourself into trouble in the future with such misconceptions. Second, your claim that my choice of terminology is " a fiction based on semantics" is your POV and not a "truth". I regard the standard dictionaries as more authorative than Wikipedia's page on native, which incidentally does not have sources. --C S (Talk) 01:55, 1 December 2005 (UTC)
I should add that I find your use of a disambiguation page to argue your case strange. Wikipedia is not a dictionary and does not pretend to be one, although occasionally some are confused by this. --C S (Talk) 02:08, 1 December 2005 (UTC)


http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/native also says native is born there. -- [unsigned comment by anon 64.166.72.195]

No it doesn't. Or rather, it is only one of the several definitions given. Please at least try and read the previous discussion before repeating errors, e.g. using a definition of native as adjective instead of noun (it is being used as noun in this context). See my response to Quicksilver above. --C S (Talk) 02:08, 6 December 2005 (UTC)

I am a "native of", born in, Davis. Actually Woodland, since Davis didn't have a hospital in the 60's. I was looking over this Wiki section and noticing how unorganized it is (the whole thing). What if there was a section on "Notable UCD Professors" and "Notable Davis Authors" and "Famous People From Davis"...etc... It just seems so disorganized. I do think that whomever cleans it up deserves a big round of applause from all Davisites, as the town is important to many Davisites and therefore how it is presented to the outside public may also be important to some Davisites. I hope that someone is willing to devote some time to reorganizing this section of Wiki California. However, if vandalism is an issue, I can see why someone wouldn't want to take the time. I wonder...Is there any way to stop the vandals here in Wiki?

[edit] Bicycling

Why isn't there more in the page about bicycling? I am disappointed, because I think that bicycles are one of the things that really makes Davis different from any other University town.TrogdorPolitiks 19:58, 4 January 2006 (UTC)

This is a free encyclopedia anyone can edit. So get editing! :-) --C S (Talk) 20:11, 4 January 2006 (UTC)
Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm just too lazy sometimes... ;-)TrogdorPolitiks 20:23, 13 January 2006 (UTC)

"Others note that the facilities have arguably hindered the popularity of cycling, since Davis was already known as the bicycle capital in the 1960s prior to the creation of any bike paths or bike lanes, and the per capita ratio of Davis bicyclists has not increased, but declined if anything, since the facilities movement started in the late 1960s"

This needs referenced. It's also serious spurious reasoning: cycling has declined virtually throughout the western world since the 1960's as a result of the rise of the automobile, suburbanisation, rising incomes, safety-fears, car-centric planning etc. etc. If Davis has managed to maintain anything like 1960's levels of cycling, it's a major success story. 86.0.203.120 23:45, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Toad Tunnel

There are a set of Salamander tunnels under Junipero Serra near Campus Drive (east) at Stanford. Openwire 21:50, 21 March 2006 (UTC)


Congratulations.

[edit] Flatlander

For those of you who are Davisites (or Davis Natives, if you will), do you think it's worth mentioning The Flatlander under the same section as the Davis Enterprise? Heavy Metal Cellist talkcontribs

I think that it would be a good idea.--The Great Honker 18:54, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Asian Population More Than Ten Times Larger Than the Page Says

The Asian population is much larger than mentioned here. I added up the figures from http://www.city-data.com/city/Davis-California.html

I got 17.5 percent for all the Asian groups, 8 percent for Chinese alone. When I added the 17.5 for Asians with the other figures given I got pretty close to 100 percent.

As this is way off, it should be corrected.

Richard Bruce 17:00, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

I checked the census and the census said 17.5 percent Asian in the year 2000, the year and the source the article gave. So as I had it from the offical source that the article had given I went ahead and changed it.

Richard Bruce 05:14, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

Great work. I wonder how the misleading number was originally entered...vandalism, negligence or whatever. I gave a link as a reference to your edit. --C S (Talk) 07:10, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] What an excellent article!

Hats off to all contributors. Bryan 01:18, 18 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Local/State Tax Burden?

I am considering a move to Davis. This article is fine and dandy, but it actually tells me nothing about what really matters for deciding whether I want to live here or not: The tax burden and the cost of living. I must weigh the job offers I have received versus the local and state taxes and the average costs of typical products in order for me to determine whether it is worth my while to live in Davis or not. Would a local please set up a new section entitled "Tax Burden Facts", or something of that nature? Thank you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 132.236.95.21 (talk • contribs) 4 September 2006

[edit] What is "West Davis"?

The article says that "West Davis" is west of 113. But the old West Davis Elementary and West Davis Intermediate are both east of 113. Davisites I know who lived around those schools---near Villanova, Anderson, and Sycamore---considered themselves to be from West Davis. Is that still true? I recognize that the article is very freeway-heavy in its definitions, but I would nominate Anderson Road as the dividing line. Anyone agree or disagree? Theleek 00:05, 28 October 2006 (UTC)

I always thought the divider was the railroad tracks that seperate the kids who go to Holmes from the kids who go to Emerson. Not sure how Harper affected things though. I used to live in what was definitely East Davis and haven't spent much time in West Davis though, so I don't think I can say for sure. I do seem to think of Anderson as West Davis though. Ungovernable ForceGot something to say? 06:30, 28 October 2006 (UTC)
It depends on how many "Davises" there are. If there's just a West and East, then I think you're right---the railroad tracks (roughly, F St.), or the Holmes-Emerson line, is a pretty good marker. But if "North Davis" comes into the picture, then there's the question of what divides West Davis from North Davis. When I grew up in West Davis (the part east of 113 ;-) ), I thought North Davis meant north of Covell---there wasn't much up there at the time---but now that I'm arguing that West Davis has to be defined to include an area east of 113 because that's where WDE was, I guess I have to acknowledge that North Davis Elementary was south of Covell. Theleek 18:50, 30 October 2006 (UTC)
I would say that West Davis is certainly west of 113. Those elementary schools were built before much of today's West Davis was built. The names of those schools are changed now, which makes them almost completely irrelevant in determining what is West Davis. In any case, I don't think West Davis should be completely removed from the front page, like it is right now. Hollerama 28 November 2006
I don't think the deletion of West Davis (and other neighborhoods, and the rest of the article after that) was intentional. It looks like the article never recovered from a spate of vandalism from Nov. 17-21. I'm doing some reverting and editing to restore the article to its previous state. At the same time, I'm revamping the Neighborhoods section, which is (a) a total mess, and (b) not accurate (I can't imagine anyone living just north of I-80 saying they live in "North Davis"). Hope this is satisfactory to people. Theleek 16:31, 28 November 2006 (UTC)
I live very close to Chavez (formerly West Davis Elementary), and I consider myself to be a central Davisite. I'm pretty sure most other people around here do the same. It's important to remember that the schools were built before much of the more recent housing developments (notice how neither of the "West Davis" schools kept their names).--The Great Honker 18:54, 18 December 2006 (UTC)
I just have to mention the concrete egg that used to be on the hilltop behind the tennis court. As a former student of West Davis Elementary, now Chavez Elementary, we used to play in a giant concrete egg that was painted with bright colors and had a concrete slide inside of it during recess. On weekends, we used to bring a piece of wax paper to the park and use it to slide down the slide inside the concrete egg faster. Those were the days!

[edit] John Oster

Ok, so someone put him in the "Notable Davisites" section which I just removed. He isn't really notable for mention on wikipedia--Davis wiki sure, but not here. He's a great teacher and a cool guy but neither he nor his band meet notability standards as far as I can tell. I was even looking online a week or two ago for info on him because I was considering adding him myself. But there just isn't enough info out there. Ungovernable ForceGot something to say? 21:46, 4 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Railroads

I am thinking of deleting the section now called "railroads." Previously, it included such un-encyclopedic information as the actual schedules for certain trains. I removed that, but basically what's left is a statement that Davis has a train station, which strikes me as unworthy. But if anyone wants to comment, I'm all ears. Thanks. Theleek 23:05, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

      • Sorry to disagree, but the fact that Davis has a train station is worthy, considering the fact that Davis itself was built around the railroad, and those who don't live there can't say what Theleek said. There you go. User:StephenHjellum13 19:04, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

Comment: Theleek was referring, in November 2006 (see timestamp), to a now non-existent section which was merged into the current transportation section. All relevant information on Davis railroads and history is currently included in a suitable manner in the article, partly due to Theleek's improvements to the article. --C S (Talk) 19:48, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Louis Warren and Alan Taylor

Should Louis Warren be added to Notable Natives? He has a book published, Buffalo Bill's America, that just won the Beveridge Award, a Western Writers of America Spur Award, a Great Plains Distinguished Book Prize, and a Caughey Western History Association Prize.--The Great Honker 18:58, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

Also, how about Alan Taylor (read about him at the hyperlink)?. --The Great Honker 23:02, 22 December 2006 (UTC)

I've added Alan Taylor, he's certainly notable enough as compared to the others listed. I also alphabetized the list. I think Louis Warren also should be notable enough, though he currently doesn't have a page of his own. If someone who has the inclination to do so wants to find enough information to create one, I would think that would be a good addition. —Krellis 03:47, 23 December 2006 (UTC)