Places: Secret Mondavi

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The center, near UC Davis’ tall white water tower, faces east, and in the mornings, the sun rises to stare in its glass face and at its sandstone tiles, which also appear on the walls inside the 104,000-square-foot building. The complex has two event halls: the Studio Theatre, which holds up to 250 people and the much bigger Jackson Hall, named for the late university professor W. Turrentine “Turpie” Jackson and his wife, Barbara, who donated $5 million.

Jackson Hall is the main event room, created to accommodate operas, symphonies, films and plays. The theater shifts depending on the venue. Acoustic drapes and banners can come down to control sound. The giant orchestra shell glides forward and backward on “air casters” like a hovercraft. Round silver vents beneath the chairs release heat and air silently into the room.

Kilpatric, who lives in Tracy, has been here since the beginning. He climbs 116 stairs to the attic many times a day, scales ladders and hikes across catwalks to check lights and levers. As he moves around, Kilpatric often shares random details.

For instance, Jackson Hall, for some unknown reason, has enough room for 1,801 seats instead of the projected 1,800. Where’s the extra one? (“Pick any one.”) He recalls how UC Davis objected to cutting down trees for the building’s interior. But they found some “sinker logs” of Douglas-fir trees on the bottom of Canadian mill ponds. He knows every nook and niche of the building — and also what lies beneath it.

The center was built on an old tribal burial ground, and Kilpatric says Native American ghosts lurk after hours.

“You wander the halls late at night and hear some strange noises,” he says. “You can’t have a theater that doesn’t have ghosts. That’s part of the allure.”

Getting There

Subscription: If you plan to see multiple shows, your best bet is to subscribe to a series (five shows in a certain genre such as orchestra, world music, speakers). You receive up to 20 percent off and get first choice on seats. Subscribe online, call the ticket office or request a brochure.

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