If you were to think about all the businesses that have ever existed, you'd never be finished. The same is true for Davis. However, there are a few well-known institutions that are still remembered fondly by longtime Davisites. Feel free to add any that you remember to this page. Old telephone books and the City of Davis Planning Commission agenda/minutes archives are good research sources. The Comings and Goings blog is a useful source for news about departed and new businesses.

Make sure to add the departed business tag to the businesses' wiki pages in addition to listing them here.

For those that like to think more positively, we also track the Arriving Businesses.

Closed in 2020

Closed in 2019

Closed in 2015

Closed in 2014

Closed in 2013

Departing Businesses

Departed Businesses

Art Galleries and Stores

Automotive

Beauty Salons

Bookstores

Clothing Stores

Computers

  • Altair Network & Computer Solutions
  • The Computer Guy Suspended activity in Davis indefinitely.
  • Computer Products Unlimited Was at 713 2nd St.
  • Cross Platform Repair
  • D Z Solutions
  • Fix for Less
  • Help Computer Services was replaced by Cybershield
  • Heron Technologies— became * Davis Computer
  • In the Zone Cyber Cafe
  • Mother.com An ISP (Internet Service Provider)
  • Oak Tree Computers (1991-1998?) Computer sales and service, run by a well-meaning high school teacher in his spare time. Located in the Oak Tree Plaza. First place GrahamFreeman ever worked, when he was 12 or 13. He hereby apologizes to his then-customers, on whose 8088's, 286's, 386's, and (later) 486's he learned about computers.
  • PC Dimensions (1996-1999) Started and staffed by former Oak Tree employees. Located at 229 F Street for most of its life. Built and sold the highest-quality Pentium-I and Pentium-II PCs a Davis business ever put together. Factors contributing to PC Dimensions' non-profitability: Inexperienced management; hands-off hobby ownership; low margins; stiff competition: Dell improved its product and service quality (reducing demand for PC Dimensions' custom PCs), OfficeMax opened in South Davis (competing for high-margin printer cartridges and computer cables), and Incredible Universe-turn-Frys used newspaper adverts and loss leaders to lure unsuspecting locals into purchasing overpriced garbage. So, after briefly running a service-only operation out of owner Bob Schultze's then-vacant medical office building at 765 W Covell Blvd, its few remaining assets were liquidated and its customers and warranty obligations transferred to an IT consulting company run by its former largest customer. A teen-aged GrahamFreeman first encountered salary, all-nighters, the joys of assistant-management, and his first post-high-school girlfriend while working at PC Dimensions.
  • PC Game Arena was a cyber cafe of sorts for LAN and online gaming.
  • Seismic Computer Management
  • Tekify
  • The Mac Paramedic — became White Wave Digital

Gas Stations

Grocery

Hotels/Motels

Medical and Dental

Music Stores

Newspapers

Restaurants, Bars, Clubs

Taxi Services

Video Stores

Other Services

Other Shopping

Pages tagged “departed business”

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Comments, questions, research

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I propose that right after the business name we list the "born - died" dates, like tombstones have. —SteveDavison

Wasn't there an "ecology bookstore" downtown, on 3rd? 4th? and D? E? What was it's name, etc?

I think you're referring to Transition Books which was situated at 317 D Street.

  • Are you talking about the store that was Above Soga's or whatever was there before? I think that was called Pheasant Run or something and sold a lot of nature books plus other outdoorsy/nature type things, sorta a local proto-Nature Store. Is that the right one? - RogerClark
    • It sounds like you are talking about The Naturalist - they moved over by the The Avid Reader. - CathyWoolery
      • Yeah, I had noticed it wasn't where it was, I guess I just didn't look for it after that. I don't know if that is what they were asking about though. - RogerClark

*The two older bookstores I remember in Davis were Orpheus and agAccess. -DonShor

I've heard several rumors about a vintage (read: used) guitar shop somewhere in Davis years ago. I don't even have a name - just rumors. True/False? - BigDave

  • Yes, it existed. It was located where the knick knack store is next to London Fish'n Chips in the late 90s. A friend of mine thinks it might have been called King's Guitars, but I don't have any more info than that.
  • It was called King's Guitars. I believe they sold amps and cables as well. —KevinWan

Discrepancy to solve some day: The Gypsy Crow replaced La Bou, yet their addresses are different. Also, EVERY online map says 260 Russell shouldn't be at B St., yet I verified they are ALL WRONG. —SteveDavison

2006-02-24 16:28:09   Does anyone remember the A&W Root Beer that was in Davis years ago? I used to stop there for lunch on my trips from the East Bay to Sac. I think it was located about where In-and-Out is now. —GrumpyoldGeek

  • Yep, A&W was where In-n-Out is now— It closed sometime in the late 1970's/early 1980's and was abandoned for quite some time before In-n-Out took over, demolished the old stand, and rebuilt the property. —CentralDavisite

2006-05-16 17:26:40   Wasn't there a Moroccan restaurant where Sophia's now is? Anyone remember the name? —JimEvans

  • 2007-01-07 03:35:03   Well Sophia's immediate predecessor was Vietnamese food, but perhaps there was a Moroccan place prior to that. —JaimeRaba
  • 2007-01-07 18:15:04   The front part of Sophia's use to be a Vietnamese restaurant (Tammy's), but originally when Sophia's moved to that shopping area it was just in the back where a Moroccan restaurant use to be (I think). —JimEvans
  • 2007-01-11 12:15:13   There was indeed a Moroccan restaurant before Sophia's Thai Kitchen. Sophia herself got her start running the kitchen component of what was then The Paragon (now Froggy's). A little over a year later (1995), she and her husband took over the space that the Sophia's restaurant portion now occupies. The name of the Moroccan place was Marrakesh. For a while, there was a sign hanging in the kitchen from the old restaurant. From what I'm told, the Thai Room is a remnant of the old Moroccan place. Prior to its opening, the bar portion of Sophia's was Saigon Cafe, and before that Tammy's Cafe—both Vietnamese restaurants. Before that it was a deli/sandwich shop called Orange Court Cafe. The wooden-doored cold storage lockers on the north wall of the bar where the bartenders change kegs and retrieve extra beer are the original lockers from the deli. The couch in the bar that rests under string lights is where the stove used to be, and you can see there is now a small skylight where the exhaust system used to lead to the roof. In fact, the entire area where there is low seating (behind the fishtank) was a closed off kitchen. —KevinWan

2007-03-24 15:47:16   Wasn't there a XXX drive-in where the corn fields are East of Davis near the causeway? I remember seeing it as a kid when we drove through the area. Westland I believe was the name, or something close to that. —DavidGrundler

  • Pretty certain it was Westlane. —EdHenn
  • Yes, it was Westlane. It burned down in the late 80's and was eventually replaced by the soccer stadium... I think the bordering fence is the last remaining item from the theater. For a while, it was used as the worst-kept-secret place for High School drinking parties... the cops would usually show up right as the kids did. I also remember a military helicopter crew getting busted for hovering in front of the screen in the late 70's.—OldDavis73
  • The XXX theater is a soccer stadium now. Would that be ironic, or no? —Davidlm

2007-06-01 14:42:57   There used to be an ice creamery over in the G Street Shopping Center—it wasn't Colleen's, was it? Or was that more downtown-ish? —KevinChin

  • That location had Marvelli's / Leatherbys (documented above), but I think it was a Vic's even before that. I remember the name Colleen's but not at that location. —EdHenn
  • Colleen's was just west of the downtown Togo's (and across from Professor's Pizza), I believe. —JimEvans
  • Yes, it was originally Vic's! I want to say it was closed down entirely before Leatherby's moved in in the mid-80's. —OldDavis73

2007-06-27 20:31:13   Anybody remember a very small bookstore in a house on the west side of D street between 3rd and 4th, like a long time ago? My wife and I walked by there tonight and thought of it, but couldn't remember the name. —EdHenn —agAccess? —DonShor

Does anyone remember the breakfast place in Albertson's plaza perhaps where Guadalajara is now or perhaps where McDonalds is? It was open in the early 90s and seemed like a family business. —JimEvans

2007-08-24 02:42:22   also on that same note, i'd like to see this page more "timeline"-y, with most recent closures at the top and oldest at the bottom. . .maybe separated by years instead of business category? —KellyCorcoran

2008-04-25 13:52:26   There used to be a place on olive drive called "Bikes and Brews" it was a pub and bike repair shop, I think it was there in 1999 in the location that is now a martial arts studio and was a PC game store before that. I never went here but I always wanted to. It souded like a very nice thing for Davis. Does anyone remember? —DagonJones

Was that related to Real Bicycles? —NickSchmalenberger

2008-08-14 16:20:01   Did there use to be a Larry Blake's in Davis? And if so what or is it still a place of business today? —perleystone

Yes, roughly across from where the log cabin is downtown. —DonShor

Where Seasons is now. Used to be much funkier building, but it was a great upstairs deck looking over the tracks.

  • 2011-08-05 09:22:11   OK, so my folks tell me that Larry Blake's was upstairs, Larry Blake's Cellar was downstairs (logical), located at the spot where the theaters/parking garage (originally Holiday Cinema, now Regal) was built @ 1st and F St. —OldDavis73
  • "2011"   The Rathskeller was downstairs of Blake's — where the underground parking behind the hotel is. It was dark and college-like; with booths, graffiti, beer, and pizza. Upstairs was where you went on a date, downstairs where you hung out with friends. —LoisRichter

2008-09-09 01:34:55   Bogey's Books deserves a tombstone in the Departed Business cemetery. I'd move it myself but I'm not sure how. —SteveGreen

Yep, it does. Added! — WesHardaker

2010-07-30 14:11:00   State Market. Independent grocery. Was the last downtown supermarket (2nd and D). Moved to the current RiteAid site on Russell when they tore it down to build that bank thing. Gone since, what?, 199-something.

—MonegalReilly

  • I believe the downtown location closed in the early 80's, I want to say '82 or '83. It had old wooden floors and wooden shopping carts. —OldDavis73
  • State Market had three stores once. Store #1 was gone before I got here in 1968 (maybe on G at 6th St?); store #2 was where the Bank of Dixon Building is now; and store #3 was at the RiteAid site on Russell & Anderson. After the family closed all of their stores, they re-opened another in University Mall — where the WorldMart is now. But that one didn't last too many years. —LoisRichter

2011-07-13 17:50:06   I don't see AJ bumps on there, era mid 70's. Also there was an Italian restaurant on olive drive called Gizeppies, I remember eating there in the late 60's, early 70's and I remember that it was pretty damn good. —Theangrydiner

"Giuseppe's" I think - great pizza! PaulKillam

2011-07-13 18:30:37   Does anyone remember the gun smith? A little bit west of H St. and 8th. —Theangrydiner

2011-07-13 18:40:54   There was a bar/night club on south highway 113 when it was only 2 lanes to woodland to Davis and it was called the Cat Patch at night they had a girl in a bikini who would dance in a glass looking booth on the roof of the building, it was lit up, you could see it from the freeway, we would always know when to look when my dad would say "Don't look" Wish i had more info —Theangrydiner

Davis porn in the 1970s: the Cat Patch, the drive-in theater south of town, and of course George's Cherry Tree on the edge of Dixon.... —DonShor

2011-08-04 16:44:34   How about a section for Banks? I remember the bank at 4th and E (now Chase) was previously a Washington Mutual. I'll probably miss a few in between, but some time before that it was a Sacramento Savings bank... and way back in the 70's, it was actually a toy store(!) They had huge model trains inside (bigger scale than Discoveries). Awesome. —OldDavis73

2011-11-04 18:15:34   There was a restaurant in the mall near Anderson Davis Shell - Angela's Italian Kitchen - mid-Seventies, I'd say. Love, love, loved that place. They used to cut the pizzas into square pieces... —PaulKillam

2011-11-30 00:09:34   What was the name of the 1970s bookstore on Second between F & G? Epicenter? The guys who ran it had a good selection of poets, radicals, and local authors. —LoisRichter

2013-01-22 14:55:02   I humbly would like to add the two businesses I owned, from 1980 to 1983. The first was Drop of a Hat, in Orange Court in front of the Sandwich Company. Started on a whim and a prayer right after college, we sold (a very few) hats and accessories. Our crowning moment was selling a hat to Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead when he was in town. We converted over to Games Plus, with about 13 video arcade games and a small collection of roleplaying supplies. We were the first free standing arcade in Davis, but could not compete with The Library and Atlantis, and went out after our lease was up in 1983. —RobRodgers

2014-07-04 10:53:01   Hi! I'm looking for a small Japanese Restaurant that closed, probably about 15 years ago... was my favorite restaurant to go to when I was a kid when we lived there in the 1990's. I remember it was in walking distance from the Regal 6 movie theater. Not visible from the street, had to walk through a small courtyard to get there. Really small inside, everything made fresh. Had the BEST Japanese meatballs over rice (4 meatballs seasoned, over white rice, topped with a sweet sauce and garnished with green onions), and I haven't been able to find anything like it since. Great homemade salad dressing too... kind of like the mainstream "asian/oriental dressing" seen now in grocery stores/Wendy's, but back then they were the only ones that made it, so fresh and delicious— ahead of the times :) This food did something to my brain, bc I miss and crave it from time to time! After looking at this website, I think it may have been Kamon Japanese Restaurant @ 129 E St, where Davis Noodle City is now. I'm visiting Davis this fall (from VA) and was hoping to see if anyone knows if they closed, moved, changed their name. Love those Japanese meatballs over rice!!!

Sad to see Osaka Sushi closed too, that was my other favorite restaurant as a kid. Yummy sesame chicken, fun sushi boats... and their Farmer's Market foodcart that served teriyaki chicken on a stick was the best!!!

Thank you for your help!!!

P.S. Great website, I know its accurate bc Professors Pizza (my family's old pizza parlor) even made the list. Incredible! —ChrissyMeyers

The small courtyard is probably Orange Court, I don't think it was Mansion square. When you visit you should be able to remember exactly where it was you seem to have a pretty good guess so far. Daubert

  • Chrissy, you are definitely talking about Kamon. It closed about 10 to 12 years ago. I miss it too. —ScottMeehleib

2014-07-14 11:42:16   Barney's Records actually shut down around 1992 or 1993 or so. I remember buying the Metallica black album there that came out in 1991. So, it was not the mid-80's as you have listed. —KenGreen

2015-04-25 14:43:29   How is it that you did not list Eucalyptus Records? I started working for them (owned by the Lambert family, based out of Fairfield-Suisun) in 1976 at the 2nd Street location across from Orpheus Books - which was not the first location, but I never knew exactly where the first one was. Until 1976 I always shopped at Zapple (Lower Freeborn). Around 1977-78 we moved the store - in one night - into the location next to Baskin-Robbins (later became Crepe Bistro) in E St Plaza. Around 1978 or so, Barney Cohen opened his store, which I remember to have been first near Discoveries before moving to where Illusions is now. Also, you do not list Epicenter - a small-press poetry bookstore from about 1977-1979, located about where Optical Phases is now, and owned by John Gilson. Also, wasn't MacArthur Park another nightclub incarnation (besides, Mousey's, Miss Em's, Colombian...) for the Tower/Dimple records location ? Also, I am missing seeing a reference to the other theater, roughly where Watermelon is, but next to Discoveries? I believe it had the same owner as The Varsity. —highbeam

2016-08-14 16:58:05   What was the name of the old icecream store that use to be in the downtown mall? It's a bar now but would like to know. —eepaboo

  • I have no idea what bar you are referring to.  More info, please?

2016-08-15 11:52:30   There was an icecream place called Denise's in the location currently occupied by JP Licks. It was there at least around 1998-2002 when my girlfriend at the time was attending Tufts. It seems to be missing from the list. —aarons

  • This is a Wiki for Davis, California.  The reason that Denise's Ice Cream and JP Licks are not on this list is that those are/were both located in Boston, Massachusetts.
2023-08-14 10:49 "Cathy's Corner" sandwich service window/takeout on Third Street by alley between A and B streets where there now is a coffee /beer house with apts above. Circa 1975-82. Known for her to-die-for Pepper Steak sandwiches and fair prices. Jayt

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