Comstock's magazine 1119 - November 2019 | Page 55

ployers are the construction and dem-
olition companies whose crews rumble
up and down the hill into town, in an
endless line of dump trucks and trailers.
But on a corner of Skyway, just
down the street from a parcel of burned
storefronts — and beyond that, anoth-
er and another — is the town’s newest
business venture. Outside, it’s a rath-
er nondescript beige building. A piece
of the roof burned during the fire, but
the small commercial complex escaped
relatively undamaged — a testament to
the capricious nature of the Camp Fire.
Inside, it’s homey, and the walls
are lined with pictures of Paradise as
it was in days long gone by, and a small
but industrious staff of locals shine
glass sandwich cases until they gleam.
“It was important to me,” says Nic’s
Restaurant owner Nicki Jones, gestur-
ing at the photos on the walls. “I want
people to feel at home. I want people to
feel normal. That was my goal.”
Jones, who also owns Bobbi’s Bou-
tique next door, is something of a local
hero. There’s fewer than 4,000 residents
in town — though that number is slowly
growing, as residential building takes
priority in much of the burn scar — but
she is taking a gamble and leading the
vanguard of business owners returning
to Paradise.
But it’s not without risk: On the day
of Nic’s grand opening in late September,
staff was making plans in case a PG&E
planned power shutoff affected the town.
Jones waved away her staff’s concerns.
Paradise wasn’t on the warning list yet,
she reminded them breezily, “and it won’t
happen until this evening after we close.”
For Jones, returning to Paradise
was never in question. “From the time I
moved here 20 years ago, I’ve loved this
town. I felt at home,” she says. “I’m about
the community, and I love this town.”
Nic’s, she hopes, will be a place for
the community to leave their dusty
work boots and troubles at the door.
“I’m here because I want to be an in-
spiration to other people in business,”
she says. “I respect everybody else’s de-
cision, but I’m taking a calculated risk
because there’s a need for this.”
And playing the guessing game of
when and how Paradise will recover
simply isn’t in her vocabulary. “I don’t
want to talk about it,” Jones says. “I
want to do it.” n
Robin Epley is a full-time reporter
and part-time editor based in Chico,
and an alumna of Chico State Univer-
sity. She previously worked as Com-
stock’s associate editor and is a native
of Sacramento.
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Merce Cunningham Centennial
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November 2019 | comstocksmag.com
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