What's your favorite thing about Hanford?

Born and raised here.

Here's some positives to living in Hanford:

  • It's centrally located, meaning you can make a day trip out of skiing/boarding/hiking or surfing/enjoying the beach.
  • It's a short drive to Sequoias/Kings Canyon or Yosemite, full of beautiful hikes and scenery.
  • LA and the Bay Area are ~3 hour drive.
  • Due to the large Hispanic population, there's a lot of great Mexican food in the area.
  • Rent here is relatively cheap (by CA standards) compared to bigger cities/metro areas.
  • It's a fairly diverse community.
  • Traffic is never really bad; there's just the trains going through town that you gotta deal with.
  • There's an Amtrak station, and also plans to make Hanford a central stop for the high-speed rail.
  • There's big Ag, and a lot of local produce/dairy.
  • There's a good amount of open field and hills nearby for riding dirtbikes/ATV's.
  • There's some pretty amazing sunsets from time to time.
  • There's a decent amount of jobs in the area.
  • It's pretty safe.
  • There's some great people here.

Places to go in the city of Hanford:

  • Civic Auditorium Plaza: Old historic Civic auditorium building. Thursday's farmers markets are centered around here in the fall which has great local produce/flavor and live bands and a beer garden. There's historic buildings next door such as the Bastille, with big palm trees in the front, and Hanford's Fox theatre. It is also adjacent to Superior Dairy and Kings County Public Library. On most days, it's a nice quiet place to walk around in downtown Hanford.

  • Fatte Albert's: Great pizza, interesting art, but best of all... the BEST happy hour in the valley ($6.75 for a 64oz. pitcher of Ballast Point Sculpin from 2-6PM on weekdays (UNHEARD OF ELSEWHERE), and there's a few other decent brews on tap). Live Sports always on at the bar, and there's Kings Pub Quiz Trivia on Wednesdays at 6:30, and there's live shows some weekends.

  • Superior Dairy: Fantastic locally-famous Ice Cream (and there's good sandwiches), est. since 1929.

  • Kings County Bowl (KC Bowl): Newly renovated bowling, with over 10 lanes, and a bar/cafe. Rates are still pretty cheap in comparison to other bowling places. You can also rent out space here for events/gatherings.

  • Hidden Valley Park: There's a pond with ducks that many people enjoy feeding. It's pretty peaceful here. Volleyball net. There's plenty of trees/shade, a dog park, and children's playground with a water/wet playground for the kids to cool off in as well.

  • Freedom Park: There's another dog park here and children's playground. The playground here is a little bit bigger/better than Hidden Valley's. There's a sidewalk perimeter that many people like to walk/jog around. There's a frisbee golf course, and a pretty big grass field for pick up games of soccer/whatever sport. There are no big trees here, so it's pretty open, and there's not as much shade.

  • Longfield Center: There's an indoor basketball gym, weight room, and ping pong and pool tables. Last time I came here (which admittedly has been some years) everything in the facility is free to use. It's also across the street from Coe Park. Although, it's not in the best part of town.. it's not really that dangerous.

  • LT Sue Co. Tea Room and Emporium:

The L.T. Sue Co. Tea Room & Emporium is "The First and Oldest" tea company, located at number 1 China Alley in Hanford, California's China Alley Historic District.

In 2011, China Alley was listed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation as "One of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places." Proprietors Arianne Wing and Steve Banister were inspired by the designation, and in March 2012 opened the L.T. Sue Tea Room and Emporium as a means to help revitalize China Alley. They adopted their name from Dr. L.T. Sue, the first of many herbalists located in China Alley

The L.T. Sue Co. features a variety of over 100 different loose leaf green teas, white teas, black teas, and specialty herbal and tea blends including our award winning "San Joaquin Valley Tea.” Be assured that we source only the finest quality teas from around the world and our tea blends are freshly made on site in China Alley. Relax, and enjoy a tea in our tea room, or take our loose leaf tea home for you to enjoy later.

  • Remate/Monday Sale/Flea Market: Every monday morning til about 2PM, there's lots of different knick-knacks. From knives, to plants, stereos, household essentials and furnishings, bootleg DVD's, rabbits, birds (DO NOT EVER BUY PETS HERE), secondhand clothes, churros, shaved ice, and Mexican and Asian food trucks. It's one big (mostly Mexican) garage sale.

  • Laton Park @ Kings River: This one's just north of Hanford (~10 min drive from city center). This is a big rec area/park where people BBQ and relax (in the summer only), and cool off in the Kings River. It's pretty dog-friendly here. Many people enjoy floating (and drinking/relaxing) in the river starting from Highway 43 to the park. It's usually about a 3-4 hour float.

That's everything that is coming to mind at the moment. Although I know there aren't very many active users on this sub, if anyone else wants to add on to this list, feel free too.

/r/Hanford Thread