Page 139 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL SPRING 2021 REDISCOVERING CALIFORNIA'S CENTRAL COAST

The pirate ship was the first hint that I had
from emblazoning its name in the hills
crossed some invisible line into this counter-cul-
above town), it was a cinematic hotspot
tural Neverland. Just east of the bridge leading
from 1912-1916. Copyright Amy Laugh-
from Union City into Niles, an elaborate wooden
boat was lodged in the branches of a tree, like a
prize hoisted aloft by a kraken after an epic flood.
“Lucky kids,” I mused. “Don’t assume that’s for chil-
dren,” Shareen laughed. “Those ‘kids’ might be 40
years old.”
It was a suitable introduction to a town that
maintains a whiff of fantasy. Low-slung shops, clad
in brick or weathered clapboard, hunkered along
four blocks on palm-fringed Niles Boulevard, while
Victorian bungalows fronted by picket fences oc-
cupied the side streets. It felt like an old-timey
movie set—and, in a sense, it was.
The Hollywood of the North
Between 1912 and 1916, Niles was the head-
quarters for Essanay Studios, one of the first mo-
tion picture companies on the West Coast. Lest
anyone forget, giant white letters spell out “Niles,”
Hollywood-style, in the golden hills bordering the
town.
The Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum in the old
Eddison Theater contains costumes, vintage
posters, black and white photos, antique cameras,
and 9,000 films. Granted, some of the flicks border
on the, shall we say, obscure. (What is Arthritis?
and Four Women Over 80 were never really Oscar
contenders). Others are classics, including The
Great Train Robbery, starring Gilbert “Bronco
Billy” Anderson, one of Essanay Studios’ founders,
and Charlie Chaplin’s The Tramp—one of five films
that the diminutive comedian shot here in Niles.
The town has since adopted Chaplin as a sort of
patron saint, displaying a statue of Chaplin along
the main street.

A statue of Charlie Chaplin, who shot
five films in Niles, keeps watch over Niles
Boulevard. Copyright Amy Laughing-
house
Right: A model of the railway running
through Niles Canyon occupies one room
at the Niles Canyon Railway & Museum.
Copyright Amy Laughinghouse

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