Niles, California

Originally published on September 30, 2019.

Following my sojourn in San Luis Obispo, I enjoyed a three day stay in the charming town of Niles, California, a rural suburb on the outskirts of San Francisco in the area of Fremont. I was there specifically to partake of the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum and the Harry Langdon Film Festival. The museum and the event were both content-rich in ways directly related to this blog. But part from that, the town itself merits a little treatment here, for it too had a lot to offer. In addition to the film museum, there’s also a train museum, an entire row of antique shops (many of which carry items related to the silent film industry that throve here in the nineteen-teens), and, just to spice things up a little, several biker bars.

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Niles having been Charlie Chaplin’s home base for a spell, the local curio shop wisely stocks up on related merch.

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If you sau an incantation, these statues of Laurel and Hardy come to life!

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The Train Museum 

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Where would silent comedy be without THIS?:

California wouldn’t be California without a nearby Buddhist temple: 

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As I say, an anchor in the town is the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum. Read my post about that here. The next post will be about the next couple of days in San Francisco.