Recent Stories
Jess Romero
The grandchild of immigrants from Sonora and Jalisco, Mexico, Jess Romero was born in Alameda, California in 1960, and grew up here in Napa. Romero’s mother, having grown up in Oakland, didn’t like the rural lifestyle in the Napa Valley, so his…
David Reynoso
David Reynoso grew up in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico and moved to Napa from East Los Angeles in 2009. Later that year, he opened Taquería María, named after the Virgin Mary and also his mother Maria. Having grown up in Mexico, he found life as an…
Maria Olvera
Maria Olvera grew up in a traditional family in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico and came to the United States in 1983, after her husband had moved here to work. In 1989, Olvera and her fellow hairstylist Rosa Morales opened up Rosemery’s Haircuts,…
Rosa Morales
Rosa Morales was born in Zitacuaro, Michoacán, in Mexico and first came to the United States in 1973. “The experience I had where I grew up is that in my country, there were not many opportunities for success,” Morales explains. “I always had the…
Francisco Matias
Francisco Matias was born in Tecomán, Colima, Mexico and moved to Napa in 1990, when he was five years old. At that age, he was already developing an affinity for martial arts by watching Bruce Lee movies and other action films. After practicing…
Ernesto Martinez
Ernesto Martinez left his home in Mexico City for the Napa Valley at age 16. After spending a few nights sleeping on park benches, he found work as a dishwasher at Brava Terrace. By 2003, he was working as a sous chef at the Culinary Institute of…
Featured Stories
Napa County Courthouse
The regal Napa County Courthouse Building has a lengthy and storied history. It has been the venue for the trials of film pioneers and corrupt sheriffs and helped to popularize the insanity defense. Most notably, it was the site of California’s…
Fagiani's
The building locally known as Fagiani’s was the site of one of Napa’s grizzliest murders and longest running mysteries. It stood shuttered, lost in time for more than thirty years until reopening in 2012. While the rest of Napa’s Main Street…
Goodman Library
The Goodman Library is one of the oldest continually occupied library buildings in California. Built between 1901 and 1902 through a generous donation of land and money by local bank magnate George E. Goodman, the library offered a permanent…
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Explore Napa
A project by Napa County LibraryExplore Napa is a free mobile app and website from the Napa County Library that allows you to explore the rich history of Napa County. With Explore Napa you can learn the stories of Napa's everday places and look through a window into the past with historical images and documents. This project was made possible through a NorthNet Library System Innovation Grant.
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