Developers eye once-sleepy downtown Napa

Napa, California

IN the 1980s, when John Truchard was a teenager, the most happening watering hole in downtown Napa was the McDonald's on Jefferson Street. "It was a ghost town," said Mr Truchard, the owner of a wine room, JaM Cellars. "There were no good restaurants, nothing good to do."

Napa, with a population of about 80,000, is Napa Valley's largest city and the county seat. Until recently, even as Napa Valley became an international wine destination, tourists tended to bypass the city in favour of venturing "up valley" for wine tasting, luxury lodging and upscale restaurants. Places like St Helena, Yountville and Calistoga attracted tourists while Napa, an hour north of San Francisco, tended to be a pit stop for gas. It didn't help that there was also flooding in the downtown streets after torrential rains.