Page 177 – Sonoma Magazine

Sonoma’s Great Outdoors: 5 Activities to Try This Summer

July 2021

By Sonoma Magazine Staff

An adventurous spirit is taking hold this summer, as we see our landscapes with fresh eyes. Meet five Sonoma locals who explore our wild spaces in bold ways—from fishing the coast in a kayak to foraging for wild foods to mountain biking the craggiest ridgetops.

Kayak Fisher Kyle Monte

Standing on the beach at Fort Ross, all geared up and ready to jump in his kayak, guide Kyle Monte adds one last warning: “If for some reason I’m unconscious and unresponsive and you need to call for help, here’s the button to push,” he says, pointing out a red button on the waterproof radio attached to his life vest that will send a GPS signal to the Coast Guard. What started out as a calm morning along the coast near Jenner, will likely get blown out, he says. That means we might have an hour or two to hook rockfish before the swells rise.

Welcome to the always unpredictable world of ocean kayak fishing on the Sonoma coast. You gotta work to catch your fish with Monte, owner-adventurer of Kayak Fish Sonoma. Riding high on top of the water on rigged-out, hands-free, pedal-powered kayaks, guests lure rockfish, lingcod, salmon, halibut, striped bass, even sturgeon from the rocky depths. Kayak fishing is a more visceral experience than other types of fishing, Monte tells me. The kayak moves with every swell, sea spray splashing your face. “It’s a much more hands-on experience. When the fish bites and pulls, your whole kayak is moving.”

The rocky point near the cove at Fort Ross, a popular launch point. (Kim Carroll)

Whether guiding or fishing on his own, Monte watches the weather like a hawk, constantly checking NOAA updates and surfing apps so there are no surprises. “People forget how quickly the ocean can get out of control,” he says. “So I always go overboard with the safety.”

When the fish bites and pulls, your whole kayak is moving.

About a mile out, above craggy, uneven terrain, the first thing hooked is the bottom. “That’s what I call, ‘catching Cali,’” Monte jokes, before breaking the line and tying on new tackle. It doesn’t take long to land a black rockfish, which we decide to keep. But soon after, just as Monte predicted, the winds whip up and the fish hunker down.

We find calmer waters against a cliff in the same Fort Ross cove where Kashia Pomo people, and later, Russian settlers once found shelter. A seal and her month-old pup eye us from the shore, watching our every move. A few more curious seals pop up in the water around us. “I guess there are no greedy fish today,” Monte says, as we pedal back in, then pick up paddles and ride the breaking waves into shore.

“At least there’s something to throw on the grill tonight,” he says, after cleaning the rockfish and wrapping it for the trip home. After stuffing it with fresh herbs and lemon slices and grilling it whole, it tastes just like the ocean — a briny flavor even more satisfying knowing we had to paddle out and brave the waves to catch it.

— John Beck

The day’s catch, headed for the grill. (Kim Carroll)

Heading Out

Guided trips: With a guide, kayak fishing on the Sonoma coast is a thrilling but accessible adventure. Monte’s business, Kayak Fish Sonoma, can take care of the details, starting at $300 per person including all equipment. “July, August, and September are hot months for salmon, when they’re close enough into shore to catch in kayaks,” Monte says. kayakfishingsonoma.com

Clubs: NorCal Kayak Anglers has an online forum with advice and fishing reports. norcalkayakanglers.com

Gear: Bodega Tackle, Petaluma, 707-559-3239

Mountain Biker Larissa Connors

Larissa Connors is the pro cyclist next door — and the best ambassador you’ll ever meet for getting out on Sonoma’s trails. Connors, who grew up riding in Annadel-Trione State Park and recently returned to Santa Rosa, is one of the country’s most decorated endurance mountain bike athletes, a two-time winner of the grueling Leadville 100 championship. She rides professionally for Voler Factory Racing, but she’s also mom of a toddler daughter, coaches a Santa Rosa youth mountain biking team, and teaches math at Petaluma High.

For Connors, riding Sonoma’s trails is more than just training and exercise. It’s engaging with the company of other riders— and a way to see Sonoma’s nature from a different perspective. “Here everything is just so gorgeous and bursting with life. And every second I’m on my bike, I just feel like it’s so full of joy,” she says. “There’s so much support and community and enthusiasm here around helping people get into this sport. And then you go on the trails—at Annadel or anywhere you go—and everyone’s happy, just celebrating being outside and appreciating it.”

Pro mountain biker Larissa Connors, right, with her mentee, junior national champion rider Vida Lopez de San Roman, who lives in Sebastopol. The two often train together in Trione-Annadel State Park. (Chris Hardy)

Pro mountain biker Larissa Connors. (Chris Hardy)

The bike community in Sonoma is tight-knit; riders cheer each other on and help out, even at elite levels. “I got a flat at Jack London, and I borrowed tools from two different groups of dudes… it’s just so helpful,” she laughs.

There’s so much support and community and enthusiasm here around helping people get into this sport. And then you go on the trails and everyone’s happy, just celebrating being outside.

In Connors’ world, one huge bonus to the bike scene in Sonoma County are the amazing post-ride meals: baked goods, burgers, milkshakes. She recently joked on Instagram that she doesn’t know whether she’s a cyclist with a pastry problem or a pastry lover with a biking problem. “Either way, I think ending up back in Sonoma County is the best thing that ever happened to me. We got an unlimited supply of butter being hugged by flour and miles of gorgeous roads in between!”

It’s all about getting out there, says Connors. “Just go pick a trail and commit…There are so many places in Sonoma County that are super beginner-friendly. And it 100% doesn’t matter if you have to hop off and walk something, because all of us started out that way… all of us walk obstacles at some point.”

— Abigail Peterson

Heading Out

Guided group rides: Santa Rosa’s TrailHouse often hosts group rides (see trailhousesantarosa.com for details), and Bell Joy Ride hosts women-only rides at all levels (on Facebook @ belljoyridesantarosa).

Clubs: The Redwood Empire Mountain Bike Alliance advocates for cyclists and builds trails. mountainbikealliance.org

Connor’s favorite beginner ride:

Windsor: Foothill Regional Park Oakwood to Alta Vista to Three Lakes Trail – 3 miles with a 500-foot climb. This is a very tame ride, says Connors, and a great place for someone brandnew to riding on dirt.

Near Occidental: Willow Creek Road Trail 19 miles out and back with a 1,000-foot climb. This is a gorgeous beginner ride on a wide fire road through redwoods.

Santa Rosa – North Sonoma: Ridge to Sonoma Ridge Trail 13 miles out and back with a 2,000-foot climb. This is a good pick for after you’ve built up some fitness, says Connors. It’s moderately technical with amazing views and options to extend the ride into Jack London State Historic Park.

To help navigate, Connors also recommends two apps: MTBproject (mtbproject.com) and Trailforks (trailforks.com).

At Bohemia Preserve near Occidental, Coby Liebman and his foraging partner Redbird pause at the preserve's waterfall. (Kent Porter / The Press Democrat) 2021 — At Bohemia Preserve near Occidental, Coby Liebman and his foraging partner Redbird pause at the preserve’s waterfall. (Kent Porter / The Press Democrat)

Wild Foods Chef Coby Leibman

Cicadas are clicking in the dappled shade as a group of wild-food enthusiasts pauses to listen.“There they are,” says naturalist Meghan Walla-Murphy. “They hadn’t made a sound until we stopped.”

Making time to be still and pay attention to the surrounding woodland is just part of what this group — which also includes chef Coby Leibman and two of his mentors, Tektekh Gabaldon and Redbird Willie — holds dear. Each patch of grass, each tree or wildflower, it seems, reveals a different story about the life of the landscape and those who inhabit it.

Take the California bay laurel, for instance. Its leaves are medicinal and act as insect repellent. And its nuts can be gathered from the ground and roasted. Then there’s soaproot, growing on a steep embankment near the foot of the bay laurel. Motioning to its wavy-edged long leaves, Gabaldon, a member of the Onatsatis Nation and a tribal monitor, explains how the plant was used in Native American fishing practices. “We’d rub that and place it in a part of the creek where the water pools and riffles, and it makes the fish comatose.”

Wild foods open up an understanding of how an ecosystem works when everything is in balance, explains Leibman. “Every three to seven years we get these masses of acorns that feed the squirrels and deer, so they then have high birthing rates because they’ve built up their fat, which then feeds the predators. So you get these cycles of the system building itself up.”

Wild foods open up an understanding of how an ecosystem works when everything is in balance.

Salmonberries, thimbleberries, elderberries, gooseberries peak in summer. But there are ways to harvest that create a sustainable system and more abundance for everyone. “When we pick huckleberries, for example, we break off all the end tips, which mimics natural grazers,” Leibman explains, adding, “The ways people wild-farmed for thousands of years—through cultural burning, aerating of soil, digging roots—created an abundance that you can still, in a lot of wild places, see the traces of.”

The traditions of foraging—of searching for pinole seed and curly dock, sour grass and wood sorrel, wild figs and loquats, seaweed and sea urchins—foster what Leibman describes as “a deep tranquility,” a sense of the interconnectedness among all strands of life, from the tiny ant to the mighty oak. “Foraging has given me a deeper understanding of our place within that system, tending to it and building up these communities. There’s sometimes a feeling that we need to be as hands-off as possible, but there’s a lot we can do to support and create life in a place too.”

— Trina Enriquez

Heading Out

Guided trips: A few times a year, Coby Leibman and Meghan Walla-Murphy lead Sonoma foraging trips with conservation group LandPaths. Expeditions teach about foraging etiquette, identifying plants, and cooking with wild foods. 707-5447284, landpaths.org

Guidebooks: Leibman recommends these titles for beginners.

The Bay Area Forager by Mia Andler and Kevin Feinstein
The Sea Forager’s Guide to the Northern California Coast by Kirk Lombard
The Forager’s Harvest by Samuel Thayer

Summer’s wild foods: Clover, wood sorrel, purslane, and dandelion greens Seeds of wild buckwheat, radish, black sage, and curly dock Fennel and mint Dandelion, chicory, and cattail roots Black walnuts and wild hazelnuts Prickly pear cactus fruit and pads Blackberries, elderberries,
manzanita berries, and madrone berries.

Foraged items from Coby Liebman's walk through the Bohemia Preserve. (Kent Porter / The Press Democrat) — Foraged items from Coby Liebman’s walk through the Bohemia Preserve. (Kent Porter / The Press Democrat)

Manazanita berries. (Kent Porter / The Press Democrat)

Plein Air Painter Sergio Lopez

Some take their time strolling through Healdsburg Ridge Open Space Preserve, stopping at Fox Pond to take in the peninsulas of green lily pads bobbing on its surface, or admiring the way the sunlight dapples the path in the oak woodlands. Not painter Sergio Lopez. He strides purposefully up the trail, clad in a T-shirt, jeans, and sun hat, taking several turns and making a beeline through a meadow before stopping on a rise beneath a leafy black oak. Lopez smiles broadly. He’s arrived.

Before him, the trees open up to a panorama of oak-dotted hills, with bluer peaks fading behind them. A patchwork of fields and vineyards unfolds in the foreground, with the clear-blue Russian River snaking alongside. It looks like something out of a painting. And, soon, it will be.

Plein air painter Sergio Lopez uses Tolay Regional Park in Lakeville as a backdrop for one of his paintings. (Kent Porter / The Press Democrat)

Plein air painter Sergio Lopez uses Tolay Regional Park in Lakeville as a backdrop for one of his paintings, Wednesday, May 5, 2021. (Kent Porter / The Press Democrat) 2021 — Plein air painter Sergio Lopez uses Tolay Regional Park in Lakeville as a backdrop for one of his paintings. (Kent Porter / The Press Democrat)

“This spot has a lot of what I like,” Lopez explains, as he adjusts his paint-spattered tripod. “It’s a vista with a lot of layers; every grouping of hills has its own way of being depicted in paint.” He opens his homemade field box, grabs tubes of gouache, and unzips a case of brushes, laid out with surgical precision. “I like the shapes the trees make, and I kind of like the vineyards, too, the geometry of them. Then, of course, the river’s right there. It’s got a little bit of everything.”

Lopez came to this work after a career as a professional illustrator. “Plein air painting has given me a reason to explore the world,” Lopez says. “Not only the whole world, but the world around me here, that I live in and interact with all the time.” Though he’s painted all over the country, Lopez, who was born in Santa Rosa, often gravitates toward home, particularly the west county. “I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of painting the coast. It’s just ever-changing. You could go to the same place every day of the week, and it’ll have a different feeling to it.”

Painting has given me a reason to explore the world. Not only the whole world, but the world around me here, that I live in and interact with all the time.

This sunny afternoon has an easygoing feeling to it. A lone hawk circles below; to the left, three butterflies flutter among the shrubs. On Lopez’s sketchpad, the scene has begun to emerge: first in ghostly outlines, then in blocky shapes. He remains focused on the landscape, playing out a rhythm of his own: wetting his brush, tapping it dry, painting, mixing, painting, mixing, eyes flicking between landscape and painting.

As a breeze rustles the leaves overhead, Lopez squints into the distance, then puts the final touches on the painting: a set of tiny barns at the juncture between a green field and geometric rows of vines. The result is breathtaking, conveying a rainbow of colors bursting from the hills and the drama of the river as it emerges. “Art gets people to look at the world differently,” Lopez says. “A good artist can change your perception of things, get you to look at the subject in a more appreciative way.”

And so he has.

— Megan McCrea

Heading Out

What to use: Lopez says gouache is a good medium for beginners because it’s easy to set up and use, with a quicker learning curve than other types of media. Once you feel confident about working with your materials, he says, “find something you feel like you can tackle in a small, simple way. Find a quiet park or a tree to sketch. You don’t have to go out to the coast and try to paint waves.”

Classes: Lopez, who exhibits his work at Christopher Queen Galleries in Duncans Mills, teaches an 8-week online course for beginning gouache painters. $130, sergiolopezfineart.com.

Groups: The Sonoma Plein Air Foundation sponsors a plein air painting festival in September. sonomapleinair.com.

Tiffani Canevari, a trainer and climbing coach, is part of a growing field of female athletes reaching new limits in the sport. (Jerry Dodrill)

Boulderer Tiffani Canevari

“Bouldering is like a puzzle,” says Tiffani Canevari. But unlike the puzzles we’ve reacquainted ourselves with this past year, Canevari must find the next piece while dangling from a rock, in some cases holding on with just one hand. “You are piecing together strength, hand position, body position, and mental fortitude, and just a small deviation in any of these can be the difference between falling and completing the route,” she says.

There are no ropes or harnesses in bouldering. It’s a type of free climbing done on rock formations just a few feet off the ground—but that doesn’t mean it’s not difficult. Bouldering allows athletes to pack harder moves into shorter climbs — difficult moves they wouldn’t be able to sustain if they were scaling a more towering feature. Canevari, a physical trainer and coach at the Santa Rosa climbing gym Vertex, is constantly working to hone her skills. She spent about five years working on one bouldering route near Salt Point State Park. “That feeling of accomplishment is worth every failure along the way,” she says without hesitation.

Boulderer Tiffani Canavari. (Jerry Dodrill)

On a breezy afternoon, she stares for a moment, standing in front of the Sunset Boulders near Goat Rock Beach. With the sound of the ocean crashing in the distance, she contemplates the challenge ahead. Her chalk-covered fingers and feet work in a skilled and coordinated harmony to find their way from one crevice in the rock to the next. Canevari moves like a crab, methodically reaching and swinging her body in her quest to make it to the top. Safety is important: A spotter stands at the ready, and below her, the ground is covered with a collection of colorful crash pads to help protect her from injury if she falls.

“It’s a very humbling sport,” says Canevari. “When it comes down to it, it’s just you and the boulder and no amount of wishing and wanting will get you up it. You just have to perform.”

In Sonoma County, bouldering spots are scattered, mainly along the coast. “It gets you out in nature,” says Canevari. “There are places I’ve traveled to and remote wilderness locations I’ve hiked to that I never would have experienced it if wasn’t for bouldering.”

— Dana Rebmann

Heading Out

Beginner classes: Canevari recommends starting in a gym to build strength. Vertex in Santa Rosa offers beginner climbing and safety classes. 707573-1608, climbvertex.com Session Climbing, owned by local climber Kevin Jorgeson, known for his free climb of Yosemite’s Dawn Wall, is opening soon. sessionclimbing.com.

Clubs: Santa Rosa’s Rock, Ice and Mountain Club (on Facebook @ RockIceMountainClub) meets monthly to talk climbing and plan trips.

Where to go: Popular destinations include Sugarloaf Ridge State Park and Sonoma Coast State Beach. Climbers trade crowdsourced tips and route information on mountainproject.com. Canevari recommends the book Bay Area Bouldering by Chris Summit for detailed info on local climbs.

Peek Inside Spectacular Wine Country Homes in New Design Book

July 2021

By Karen Kizer

Bay Area writer Chase Reynolds Ewald knows when a design topic is ready for its own coffee-table book. Ewald recently teamed up with Heather Sandy Hebert, a fellow writer who has worked at architectural firms throughout the Bay Area, to craft “At Home in the Wine Country: Architecture & Design in the California Vineyards,” a new book that showcases spectacular homes in Sonoma and Napa counties.

From contemporary farmhouse-style properties to ultra-modern residences, the homes featured in “At Home in Wine Country” pay homage to the prized setting they inhabit as they blend into the surrounding natural landscape by means of a “restrained approach to architecture,” according to Ewald.

This approach to architecture can be seen in the seamless connection between indoor and outdoor spaces throughout these properties: expansive, unadorned windows frame outdoor views while subdued color palettes give focus to surrounding vineyards and rolling hills. Hebert predicts this focus on connecting indoor and outdoor living spaces will continue in the world of design and architecture as homeowners try to create year-round outdoor areas for social gatherings in the wake of the pandemic.

To make homes blend with the surrounding area, the architects behind the book’s properties have paid close attention to the topography and colors of the landscape. If a property is to be located on a hillside, for example, they will build into the contours of the hills, says Ewald. And the color palettes will emulate the colors of the natural landscape or contrast — in black and white — in a way that showcases the nature rather than the house. A Black Box home in Napa, for example, might seem at first glance a radical exercise in modern design but Hebert points out that the architect’s intent was to make the building “disappear” into the afternoon shadows cast by the trees.

“At Home in Wine Country” features both exterior and interior shots of stunning homes as well as design details such as creative countertop stylings using pottery, textiles and natural elements, and garden landscaping that is beautiful, drought-tolerant and fire safe. While the book offers plenty of information and advice to prospective home builders, it’s perhaps primarily a celebration of architecture as an art form. Readers will no doubt pick out their dream homes and favorite design details among the properties featured in the book. Ewald, who grew up in Vermont, prefers a modern farmhouse “warmed up” with rustic elements while Hebert adores the “Nana windows,” a folding wall of windows that opens up toward the outdoors. Click through the above gallery to take a peek at some of the properties featured in the book and pick your own favorite.

“At Home in the Wine Country: Architecture & Design in the California Vineyards” is available August 24, 2021 and can be purchased online.

New Healdsburg Shop Offers Design Ideas for the Nursery

July 2021

By Karen Kizer

In late April, Erika Dawkins, owner of Bon Ton Studio in Healdsburg, announced that she and her husband are expecting two babies. One is their second child, due in August. The second is a sister store to her successful housewares and clothing shop.

In June, Dawkins opened the doors to Bon Ton Baby on the Healdsburg Plaza. The new store offers sweet finds for littles ones: blankets, organizing baskets, clothing essentials and a selection of toys.

In her new store, Dawkins continues her winning design concept from Bon Ton Studio. She has combined neutral tones with touches of color to create a soothing aesthetic that also works well for decorating a nursery, while Moroccan baskets, leather poufs and dried flower arrangements have been paired with colorful cactus silk pillows in teal or rosy pink, or Turkish towels in shades ranging from yellow to poppy.

Dawkins prepared for the opening of Bon Ton Baby while decorating her children’s room at home, the one that will be shared by her 3-year-old daughter and newborn baby. She took some time out of her busy schedule to share some tips about her process for designing and choosing items for both her store and her home.

Choose a color palette

“I always say with a lot of things, ‘Let’s try and keep things simple,’” says Dawkins. When decorating a room, she starts with a palette of quiet neutrals — beiges, whites and browns are the base — and then adds color with restraint. To add a few interesting elements, Dawkins lets herself “have fun with textiles and prints.” In her daughter’s room, for example, pops of terra cotta (in pictures and books) add warmth to an otherwise neutral color palette.

Keep things cohesive

At Bon Ton Baby, neutral colors and woven baskets set the scene. The look is then enlivened by soft colors: heather greens, lilacs, blush tones, terra cottas. Dawkins stays away from the gendered colors blue and pink and her shop is gender neutral; there are no boys and girls shelves. In order to stay within her chosen color palette, Dawkins sometimes have to forgo certain items and pieces for her store or her home. For example, she had a beautiful red dress for sale at Bon Ton Studio but it didn’t fit with the look of the store. The dress was eventually sold, but it served as a reminder of how some pieces, albeit pretty, just won’t work with a cohesive look.

Communicate who lives in the room

“It’s a baby at first, but then they’re a toddler,” says Dawkins about decorating a nursery. She likes to place shelves with books and stuffed toys at a child’s eye level so that growing children can reach them. She also likes to decorate and organize a room with storage in mind. “I’m a big believer in everything having a home,” says Dawkins. She uses storage baskets, like the pot belly baskets she carries in both her stores, to keep rooms organized. The baskets can be folded to create lower profile storage pieces.

Consider your own comfort, too

Since parents spend a lot of time in their small children’s rooms, Dawkins recommends adding items to these rooms that make them more comfortable for adults. A Moroccan pouf, for example, offers a comfortable low-to-the-ground seat, where parents can sit at the child’s eye level. As far as aesthetics go, Dawkins recommends making the child’s “space work with the rest of the house” and not going “overboard with themes.”

Collect furniture and decor from different sources

Dawkins likes to mix high-end items with budget buys and a little bit of vintage. “You just have to weave everything together and layer,” she advises. For her nursery at home, she purchased and placed the big items first — a birchwood crib, a white dresser (from IKEA) and a linen rocker. She then purchased shelves in blond woods from Target and many of the remaining items — baskets, poufs and linens — came from her own store. The room also features art from a local maker and pretty dried flowers by Design Em. “It doesn’t need to match,” says Dawkins about the decoration and suggests opting for mismatched but well-coordinated pieces of furniture and decor.

Explore the Fast-Growing Foodie Scene in Occidental

July 2021

By Heather Irwin

Clockwise from center, The Boho Bowl, gluten-free summer squash tartlets, Mochi donuts, Earl Grey polenta olive oil cakes, at The Altamont General Store in Occidental. (Beth Schlanker/Sonoma Magazine)

There are two ways to get to the tiny town of Occidental — the locals’ way and the tourists’ way, says Jenay Hofftin, a restaurateur whose family has lived in the quiet, often-overlooked west county hamlet for generations.

Tourists go through Sebastopol, toward Bodega Highway, turning off at Freestone (usually grabbing a giant cinnamon roll at Wild Flour Bread on the way). It’s a fine route, she says, but lacks the subtleties and directness of Occidental Road.

“Occidental. It’s in the name of the road,” she sighs, wondering why anyone would go any other way.

So, I wind westward on Occidental Road from Santa Rosa through the Laguna Wetlands, past blueberry stands and the quilt of grasses and still pools by the riparian preserve.

Further along, the road narrows and overgrown foliage closes in on itself, creating shady tunnels. Farms give way to stretches of open land, with arterial roads branching off into the hills. Vineyards are scarce, and the redwoods begin to cast longer shadows as the elevation rises. Then, without warning, a small steeple appears, and the town of Occidental unfolds below.

The Union Hotel in Occidental, Calif., on Thursday, May 13, 2021. (Beth Schlanker/Sonoma Magazine) — The Union Hotel in Occidental. (Beth Schlanker/Sonoma Magazine)

A new generation

Founded in the 1857, Occidental is one of a handful of Sonoma County outposts that remains mostly untouched by time, influencers, or wine magnates. If you’ve heard of the place, it’s probably for the red and white checkered tablecloth Italian restaurants like Negri’s Italian Dinners or the Union Hotel, places that built their reputations on nonna-style menus and old-school hospitality.

For generations (and generations and generations), these historic restaurants catered to Bay Area families heading to the cabins and watering holes of Camp Meeker, first by train and later by car.

In their mid-century heyday, these restaurants would serve as many as 500 people each night. Not exactly Michelin-star, gastro-molecular kind of stuff, but loved enough to stand the test of time.

Now, a new generation of restaurateurs are taking the reins of Occidental’s historic kitchens and bars, bringing fresh ideas to the 175-year-old town. But in a place where almost everyone is related by blood, marriage, or grudges, it’s not as easy as just changing a menu or hanging a new sign. A lot rests on honoring tradition and family ties, says Hofftin.

“We want to keep the old bones, but for the wellness and growth of this town, we need to get people here.

Owning restaurants is always a labor of love, but in this little town, it’s also about serious dedication.”

(From front) The original Eggs Benedict, the Howard's Egg Sandwich, the Howard's Club sandwich, freshly squeezed orange juice and a cappuccino at the Howard Station Cafe in Occidental, Calif., on Thursday, May 13, 2021. (Beth Schlanker/Sonoma Magazine) — (From front) The original Eggs Benedict, the Howard’s Egg Sandwich, the Howard’s Club sandwich, freshly squeezed orange juice and a cappuccino at the Howard Station Cafe in Occidental. (Beth Schlanker/Sonoma Magazine)

The Belgian waffle with strawberries and cream, the original Eggs Benedict, freshly squeezed orange juice and a cappuccino at the Howard Station Cafe in Occidental, Calif., on Thursday, May 13, 2021. (Beth Schlanker/Sonoma Magazine) — The Belgian waffle with strawberries and cream, the original Eggs Benedict, freshly squeezed orange juice and a cappuccino at the Howard Station Cafe in Occidental. (Beth Schlanker/Sonoma Magazine)

Sonoma meets Brooklyn

Leaning on the long wooden counter of the Altamont General Store, the newly minted cafe and mercantile she owns with her wife, Andzia, Jenay Hofftin is spending most of her Saturday answering the phone. The café’s Brooklyn-meets-Sonoma menu is getting some serious buzz after a rough first year in lockdown.

In the to-go case today, she tells repeated callers, are chia-seed puddings with forbidden rice, passionfruit puree, and cacao nibs. Coastal Hills farm egg salad. Couscous. Chicken salad with pickled beets, asparagus, pumpkin seeds, and preserved Meyer lemon vinaigrette. At 3 p.m., rotisserie chickens will go into the oven, ready for dinner pickup.

Andzia cuts Brussels sprouts with the kitchen crew as Jenay continues to buzz around the busy café, blonde curls barely contained by her headscarf. Not long ago, this was a derelict space that sat empty for more than a decade. Back in the day, Jenay says with a sly grin, she and her cousins would sneak inside for some teenage shenanigans. “Back then, it was still set up with a bar. We’d go in and party. But when Grandpa drove by with his lights on, we’d all have to hide until he was gone,” she says.

The Aperol Spritz cocktail at Negri's in Occidental, Calif., on Thursday, May 13, 2021. (Beth Schlanker/Sonoma Magazine) — The Aperol Spritz cocktail at Negri’s in Occidental. (Beth Schlanker/Sonoma Magazine)

Grandpa was Joe Negri Jr., the patriarch of the Negri family and owner of Negri’s Italian Dinners and the namesake bar, Joe’s, which happens to be directly across the street from the Altamont. Joe Jr.’s parents opened the restaurant in 1943 and Joe’s wife, Evelyn, continues to run the restaurant with the family. Jenay’s mother, Terry, runs the Howard Station Cafe down the street, and Jenay’s cousins run Joe’s Bar with Evelyn.

“My family has deep roots here,” says Hofftin, who escaped small town life for college in New York and spent years on her own. But like her parents and their parents, she too felt the pull of family obligations, and came home to settle down and raise a family. “You move (other places) to have more than this,” she says looking at the all-too-familiar street outside. “But there isn’t more. There are redwoods here, the coast — it’s just such a good life here.”

Ingredients that matter

The good life is also in the foodie products found here — wild mushrooms, artisan meats, sourdough bread. The Friday farmers market, for example, is a who’s-who of west county folk meeting up for their weekly haul, with booths for local producers not easily found elsewhere, like Raymond’s Bakery, Singing Frogs Farm produce, Sporgy mushrooms, and Takenoko Farms meats.

At the edge of town sits Panizzera Meat Co., which provided the restaurants of Occidental with locally processed meat for three generations. But when the last Panizzera retired in 2014, butchery apprentices Ryan Taylor and Josh Cerda took over the then-struggling business. In just a few years, they’ve turned it into a sustainable, modern butchery with close ties to the past.

Every restaurant in town uses Panizzera meat in at least one dish. Taylor and Cerda sell lamb, beef, pork, and chicken along with 23 types of sausage, including one made from a recipe dating to the beginning of the 20th century. “The true identity of Occidental is in its Italian roots,” Taylor says. “We’re still an old school Italian butcher shop and we’re deeply entrenched in this community.”

“Like a movie set”

Back at the Altamont General Store, Jenay Hofftin and I turn, mid-conversation, to watch a woman slowly ride a huge horse through the crowded downtown Occidental parking lot.

“Uh, is that normal?” I ask.

“Not normal, but not that surprising. It’s still the Wild West out here. You get all sorts of characters. There used to be a rooster that walked through town. Our town ‘mayor’ was a lost prophet named Ranger Rick,” Jenay says.

Communal settlers, weed growers, counter-culturalists, and the fiercely independent have long been drawn to this little valley between coast and inland, and, like the Italian settlers, are important threads in the unique fabric of Occidental. Says Hofftin: “It’s like our own weird little movie set here in west county, and I wouldn’t change a thing about it.”

(From right) Omega smoothie, Goodness Green juice blend, and the Shooting Star smoothie at the Howard Station Cafe in Occidental, Calif., on Thursday, May 13, 2021. (Beth Schlanker/Sonoma Magazine) — From right, Omega smoothie, Goodness Green juice blend, and the Shooting Star smoothie at the Howard Station Cafe. (Beth Schlanker/Sonoma Magazine)

Aaron Jansen plays the guitar and sings outside the Howard Station Cafe in Occidental, Calif., on Thursday, May 13, 2021. (Beth Schlanker/Sonoma Magazine) — Impromptu concerts are part of the town’s charm. Local musician Aaron Jansen’s roadside tunes. (Beth Schlanker/Sonoma Magazine)

Eating the Day Away in Occidental

A Sporty Breakfast — Howard Station Cafe: Whether you’re headed for a long day at the coast or you’re staying nearby to explore town, fill up with super-hearty banana walnut pancakes, a wild salmon Benedict, or biscuits and gravy at Howard Station Cafe. Cyclists who arrive in town for the start of the legendary Coleman Valley Road ride like to power up with oatmeal and fresh juices, including the Red Ferrari with apple, carrot, beet, and lemon. 3611 Bohemian Highway, howardstationcafe.com

For the Grill — Panizzera Meat Co: Stock up on dry-aged steaks, ground beef, sausages, and lamb to cook up back at home. It’s all locally raised, and the business has been in the community for more than 100 years. 3905 Main St., panizzerrameatco.com

Alfresco Family Lunches — Union Hotel: The oldest restaurant in town has a large covered outdoor patio as well as a new fire pit. Family-friendly food like spaghetti and meatballs, tortellini, pizzas, and big beefy burgers with a mountain of fries are excellent. The 19th-century saloon is a great spot to take a time-out for sports anda cold beer while the rest of the group explores nearby shops and galleries. 3731 Main St., unionhoteloccidental.com

A Night Out — Hazel Restaurant: In an intimate candlelit space, you’ll find upscale but approachable Cal-Mediterranean dishes, including next-level Neapolitan-style pizzas with caramelized onions, truffle oil, Calabrian chili, and local cheeses. Entrées include braised pot roast, chicken pot pie, wild salmon, and glazed meatloaf. Don’t miss Michele’s fresh pies and desserts. 3782 Bohemian Highway, restauranthazel.com

Happy Hour — Joe’s Bar: Don’t miss cocktails with fresh-squeezed juices at Joe’s Bar with some sliders or a bowl of Nonni’s ravioli for a lateafternoon pick-me-up. We love the summery Lavender 75 with Benham’s gin, lavender, lemon, prosecco, and lavender bitters. Inside Negri’s, 3700 Bohemian Highway, negrisrestaurant.com

Picnics to Go — The Altamont General Store: We love the idea of a warm smoked pork bowl inspired by the Hawaiian Islands for a cool day at the coast. Grab a hot dog for the kids, a hearty Hawt Cobb salad to share and Straus soft-serve ice cream with plum shrub drizzle (for the daring) or caramel sauce (for the traditionalists). There’s also locally-made beet walnut bread from Bird Song, a cottage baker in Camp Meeker; fresh rotisserie chicken in the afternoons; and a fascinating selection of smallbatch wines, many from women winemakers. 3703 Main St., altamontgeneralstore.com

The forbidden rice pudding at The Altamont General Store in Occidental, Calif., on Thursday, May 13, 2021. (Beth Schlanker/Sonoma Magazine) — The forbidden rice pudding at The Altamont General Store. (Beth Schlanker/Sonoma Magazine)

The Altamont General Store’s Forbidden Rice & Chia Seed Pudding

Jenay and Andzia Hofftin serve this sweet rice pudding for breakfast or brunch at their Occidental café. The base is forbidden rice, a wild black rice that turns purple in color when cooked and is packed with healthy anthocyanins — it’s available locally at Oliver’s Markets, Big John’s Market, and Sonoma Market. Assembled, the dish will keep in the fridge for two days; the rice and chia pudding will keep separately for five days. Serves 4-6.

For rice pudding:

1 ½ cups black forbidden rice, soaked overnight 1 ½ cups full-fat coconut milk 1 ½ cups rice milk ½ cup sugar ¼ cup cornstarch

For chia pudding:

¼ cup chia seeds ¾ cup full-fat coconut milk 1 cup coconut water

For passionfruit syrup:

½ cup passionfruit puree or juice ⅔ cup simple syrup ¼ cup toasted cacao nibs ¼ cup toasted coconut flakes Soak the forbidden rice for at least 6 hours or overnight in 4 ½ cups of water. After soaking, drain the rice and place in a saucepan with 3 cups of water. Bring to a simmer (not a boil), and simmer for 10 minutes. After simmering, drain any excess cooking water and return rice to the saucepan. Add coconut milk, rice milk, and sugar. Bring to a simmer. Sift in cornstarch and stir frequently for 8-10 minutes, then remove from heat and set aside.

Whisk together chia seeds, coconut milk, and coconut water to make the chia pudding. Then whisk together passionfruit puree and simple syrup to make an easy sauce.

The rice pudding can be served hot or cold. To serve, top a generous scoop of rice pudding with chia pudding, drizzle with passionfruit syrup, and garnish with toasted cacao nibs and coconut.

Old Possum Brewery in Santa Rosa Gets New Chef and Delicious Menu

July 2021

By Heather Irwin

Ahi tuna tostadas at Barrio Cocina at Old Possum Brewing in Santa Rosa. (Heather Irwin/Sonoma Magazine)

Chef Carlos Rosas, the owner of gourmet taqueria Barrio in Sebastopol, has taken the kitchen reins at Old Possum Brewery in Santa Rosa. But expect more than tacos here.

“This is what I truly want to be doing,” said Rosas, sitting at a table after serving up dish after dish of heartbreakingly good fare that gives him a chance to exercise his abundant culinary skills.

Starting with a simple Baby Beets salad ($11), Rosas’ talent is clear. Jewel-colored roasted beets swim in a bath of creamy Greek yogurt and goat cheese with tart Cara Cara oranges. It’s a clever take on the usual beet salad. We also love the Dos Ahi Tuna Tostadas ($13) with a generous serving of raw ahi mixed with nutty, smoky chipotle aioli and microgreens.

Dirty rice with Carnitas and grilled cheese in a verde sauce at Old Possum Brewing/Barrio in Santa Rosa. (Heather Irwin / Sonoma Magazine)

Don’t miss the Red Snapper “black” ceviche ($13) with earthy black chile, lemon and sweet potato puree; Dirty Rice ($12) topped with moist barbecue carnitas; or Fish and Chips ($12) with malt vinegar aioli. You pretty much can’t go wrong on the entire menu. Pair with Old Possum Rosita Lager.

I’m not ashamed to say that my copious “oohs” and “ahhhhs” over the food were noticed by people at neighboring tables who looked a bit embarrassed for me. Not exactly in the “When Harry Met Sally” way, but not too far off. The food is wonderful.

Old Possum Brewing is in an industrial district in Santa Rosa, but it’s fairly easy to find at 357 Sutton Place. Look for the large outdoor patio that’s perfect for sunny days. Open from 11:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday (until 4 p.m. Sunday).

More dining news

Moving On: Forestville’s Twist Eatery has been sold after nine years, according to owners Toni and Jeff Young. The couple’s last day was July 10, and they’re planning to take a break and then possibly “pop up somewhere next year,” according to Toni.

“We can’t thank you enough for your support and kindness over the last 9 years. Some of you found us early on; others have joined us over the last few years. Either way, thank you, thank you for coming along for our wild ride,” she added. No word yet on the new owners, but stay tuned.

Has Instagram Ruined Local Farming?

July 2021

By John Beck

Portrait of beautiful female gardener carrying crate with freshly harvested vegetables in farm. Young female farmer working in field.

Old MacDonald never had an Instagram account. But he had a farm. And on that farm, he had a pig and some cows and some ducks and so on. But he probably never had to post daily updates letting everyone know how his animals were doing. Or find the best light or background before taking a photo of his horse. Or pretend like everything was perfect on that farm, when maybe some days, it was really just one big, dirty, sweaty, backbreaking mess.

“I’ve been stung by bees. I’ve had sunburns. I’ve twisted my ankle in a row — but no one wants to know about that stuff. They just want to see the pretty buckets of flowers,” says Sarah Deragon, who runs Radical Family Farms in Sebastopol with her partner Leslie Wiser. A series of early Instagram posts about harvesting pea shoots, also known as the Chinese delicacy dòu miáo, helped launch the farm and connect the couple with a niche Bay Area customer base hungry for Asian heritage vegetables.

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On one hand, social media can be a valuable tool for farmers looking to connect directly with consumers. But it also blurs reality. Scroll through enough heavily filtered, stylized shots on Instagram and you’ll see the idealized picture-perfect postcard of the Sonoma County farm.

“It’s often very choreographed,” says farmer Will Holloway, who recently rebranded his Blue Leg Farms as Longer Table Farm with his fiancée Gina Strathman, a florist. He’s noticed that “if you look at what does best on social media, when you look at our analytics, it’s always the stuff that has a person’s face in it.”

But beyond the face, it’s what the person is actually doing that matters, especially if they strike a familiar pose. Glam harvesting is one of the most common social media farming clichés. “There’s always the bundle of flowers or carrots with the over-the-shoulder look, with the bundle under the arm. That’s an absolute classic,” says Holloway. “It’s one we often make fun of.”

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A post shared by Gina Strathman (@longertablefarm.flowers)

At Radical Family Farms, Deragon and Wiser try to find a balance between aspirational and educational. “I feel like that’s part of the romance of the farm — and I think we’re aware of selling that part of the dream — but I feel like it has to be a mix. It can’t all be perfect vegetables and people in floral dresses harvesting. It’s also hot and dirty work. The people I like to follow are more genuine in sharing successes and failures. But there are still those people who farm in this idealized way that people who are actually farming know is total bullshit,” says Deragon.

It’s not enough to just feed mouths anymore. Many of today’s successful farmers are constantly on display. That means that they have to do things their green-thumb predecessors never did, like looking into a camera and talking directly to clientele to cultivate Facebook and Instagram followers who aren’t satisfied with a simple CSA box subscription.

“It’s like you have to always put your best face forward or you always have to be performing,” says Melissa Lely, who runs Bee-Well Farms in Glen Ellen with her husband, Austin. She says she’s definitely felt “the pressure to present the glamorous farm and not the dirty, grungy farmer.”

She and Austin met at Chico State, where they both majored in special events and tourism. After graduation, they stumbled on farming when a family friend offered up his property. It’s probably why Melissa identifies so much with some of the struggles experienced by the newbie farmers featured in the 2018 documentary “The Biggest Little Farm.” During the pandemic, Bee-Well pivoted away from farmer’s market sales and began selling directly to a nearby farm and restaurant, something that requires less social media presence, which “to be honest, is a relief,” Lely says.

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For farmers already burdened with a heavy workload, social media can feel like the last straw. “It can be a slap in the face, because farmers have so much on their plate already, just growing food, much less running a business, with payroll and insurance, and then social media on top of it — it can be a full-time job,” Holloway says.

At Flatbed Farm in Glen Ellen, owner Sofie Dolan sets a calendar alert every Friday to prompt her to post something about Saturday’s farmstand. But it doesn’t always happen. “Is it super-important to post every week? No. I don’t feel obligated,” says Dolan, who lives part time in San Francisco, where she and her husband are partners in the restaurant 25 Lusk. “But I try to do it with integrity and intention when I do it, not so much just for the sake of doing it. Because I do feel like you can definitely tell photos that are thrown out there because you feel obligated, versus photos thrown out there that are saying, ‘Let me show you what’s blooming right now’ or ‘Can anybody tell me what this is?’”

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Then there are the longtime farmers who got into the business to work the land and not a desk and can get away with totally ignoring social media. When farmer Paul Wirtz and his wife, Candi, created a Facebook page for Paul’s Produce nearly a decade ago, “the typical reactions were, ‘Oh wow, I didn’t realize you guys had such big tractors’ or ‘Oh my god, look at how long the rows are.’ But I don’t know if it ever really amounted to anything,” says Wirtz, who has been farming in Sonoma Valley for more than 30 years.

As for reality versus fantasy on the farm — if perfectly polished vegetables and straw hats with turquoise cowboy boots are at one end of the spectrum, and shoveling manure is at the other, maybe chronicling more of the grit of daily life on the farm should be left to documentary filmmakers.

“That’s not something that we’ve jumped into yet, showing people what it takes and how hard it is,” Deragon says. “But does anyone really care? Do they care how hard it is or do they just want the end result?”

7 Family-Owned International Markets to Visit in Sonoma County

July 2021

By Abigail Peterson

Ji Ma, left, Chao Dai, and their son, Philip Ma, own Asia Mart in Santa Rosa. (Christopher Chung/ The Press Democrat)

Sonoma’s family-owned international markets connect expats and immigrants to the cuisines of their homelands. The foods they carry are authentic and delicious — and absolutely worth seeking out.

El Brinquito Market

On weekend afternoons, the sight of steam rising from the grill in front of El Brinquito Market in Boyes Hot Springs is a beacon to drivers along this busy corridor of Sonoma Highway just west of downtown. For locals, the spicy grilled chicken, beans, and fresh tortillas are hard to resist.

Inside the colorful corner shop is a small grocery and a large meat counter. Marinated fresh pork and beef are prepared by artisan butcher Herlindo Torres, who has worked here for 17 years. Chips, Mexican pastries, dried chiles and spices, and pantry staples (tortillas, masa, a jumbo 32-ounce bottle of Tapatio) are mainstays, and on weekends, the store has fresh tamales, carnitas, and homemade flan — that is, if you’re lucky enough to get there before they’re sold out.

The Iñiguez family have owned the market for 20 years. Checkout clerk Esmeralda Sandoval, who also works as a custodian at nearby Sassarini Elementary, says it’s a family affair on weekends around the grill. “There will be seven or eight of the grandkids, everybody working together. You see the little kids getting the plates and wrapping up food for the customers— everybody’s included in it, and that’s really nice.”

17380 Sonoma Highway, Boyes Hot Springs, 707-996-4912.

Colorful fresh pastries at El Brinquito Market in Boyes Hot Springs. (Christopher Chung/ The Press Democrat) — Fresh pastries at El Brinquito Market in Boyes Hot Springs. (Christopher Chung / The Press Democrat)

A picture of the Virgin of Guadalupe hangs on a back wall of the El Brinquito Market in Boyes Hot Springs. (Christopher Chung/ The Press Democrat) — A picture of the Virgin of Guadalupe hangs on a back wall of the El Brinquito Market in Boyes Hot Springs. (Christopher Chung / The Press Democrat)

Asia Mart

When Analy and El Molino High School culinary students test recipes featuring Asian ingredients, they know just where to go: the Asia Mart emporium in northwest Santa Rosa. The market has been around nearly 30 years and is run by Philip Ma, who grew up helping out alongside his mother and grandmother. Ma, who worked at luxury hotels in San Francisco before returning to Santa Rosa to take over the family business, says customer service sets the store apart. “People want to cook something new, but sometimes they don’t know where to look. And they think there might be a language barrier.”

Imported snacks (basil chips from Thailand, shrimp chips from Japan) and hard-to-find cult sweets (green tea KitKats and almond Pocky) are popular, but the store also carries cooking sauces, pantry items (a dozen types of coconut milk, pickled mango and tamarind leaves, jackfruit in syrup), rice and buckwheat noodles, and frozen meat and fish. Fresh produce — long beans, mustard greens, Shanghai bok choy, and Jamaican yams — are sourced on twice-weekly trips to the San Francisco produce market. And the shop also carries bulk rice, housewares, herbal medicines, and tea.

“Definitely, the store brings people together,” says Ma. “We’re lucky to live in a diverse community.”

2481 Guerneville Road, Santa Rosa. 707-542-3513, asiamartsr.com.

European Food Store

“Every day is like travel for me, and it’s really nice to be able to explore the world through food— especially because that’s the best option we have right now,” says manager Jill Schulze of European Food Store in Santa Rosa. The bright, friendly grocery is owned by Olga Rozhkova, who arrived in Santa Rosa from Russia with her husband over 20 years ago. In Moscow, Rozhkova was a clothing designer, but after her son was born, Rozhkova realized there was no place nearby to find the foods she missed from home, and she decided to open a small store.

The shop sells prepared foods and ingredients imported from across Europe — Russian foods like caviar, pickled mushrooms and eggplant, kvass (a lightly fermented rye drink) and pelmeni (dumplings) — but also dozens of different sausages and pâtés, pasta and spaetzle, and fresh farmhouse cheeses. There are plenty of sweets too: traditional pine-cone jam from Georgia, spicy black licorice from Finland, sunflower halva from the Ukraine, and Swiss and German chocolates. And folks pop in all day long for hot piroshki (beef- or mushroom-filled pastries) and loaves of fresh-from-the-oven German rye.

It’s the connection to customers that matters most to Rozhkova, who is rebuilding after losing her family home in the Tubbs fire. “So many customers lost homes, too.

So it’s special when we can help them find something that makes them feel whole.”

2790 Santa Rosa Avenue, Santa Rosa. 707-527-0319, europeanfoodsonoma.com.

Popular frozen sausages available at European Food Store in Santa Rosa. (Christopher Chung/ The Press Democrat) — Popular frozen sausages available at European Food Store in Santa Rosa. (Christopher Chung / The Press Democrat)

More international groceries

Apna Bazaar, 7500 Commerce Blvd., Cotati, 707-665-0333

Aroon Thai Market, 2770 Cleveland Ave., Santa Rosa, 707-576-0256

Lola’s Market, locations in Santa Rosa, Petaluma, Healdsburg lolasmarkets.com

Mekong Seafood Market, 206 Sebastopol Road Santa Rosa, 707-544-6201

Exclusive First Peek at The Matheson Healdsburg

July 2021

By Sonoma Magazine Staff

One of the most anticipated openings of the year is The Matheson, Dustin Valette’s new multi-story restaurant and lounge. Slated for an August opening, the three-level building includes the Matheson restaurant on the ground level, a mezzanine overlooking the restaurant for private events and the rooftop lounge, Roof 106.

Expect very different experiences throughout the space. The ground floor restaurant will serve up refined, modern wine country cuisine along with inspired sushi as well as a full bar, a wine list with more than 400 bottles, and a state-of-the-art wine wall with 88 wines on tap, showcasing a broad range of local producers and beyond. Valette will head the kitchen, along with chef de cuisine Matt Brimer and pastry chef Skyler Spitz. The sushi bar will also feature dishes conceptualized by sushi master Ken Tominaga, executed by sushi chef Daisuke Soma.

Upstairs, Roof 106 will be a more casual indoor-outdoor setting with craft cocktails, small plates and seasonal flatbreads from the custom, 3,800-pound wood-fired Mugnaini oven.

The wheat flour for the flatbread dough is sourced from a biodynamic, organic farm and vineyard owned by winemaker, visionary farmer and baking legend Lou Preston. The dough includes a yeast from the historic “Williams Selyem strain” from Burt Williams, a famed pinot noir pioneer and personal friend of Valette. The menu was developed in partnership with Roof 106 chef de cuisine Brian Best.

Stay tuned for lots more info as the opening gets closer, but meanwhile, get a little drooly with some stellar pix of the food to come…

Outdoor Movie Nights Return to Downtown Santa Rosa

July 2021

By Kaila Bohler

Catching an outdoor movie beneath the stars is a favorite summer pastime in Sonoma County. After a long pandemic year, great films are finally returning to the big screen. In downtown Santa Rosa, the Metro Chamber and Sonoma Clean Power will present “Movies on the Square” every Wednesday in July, featuring a lineup of family-friendly classics.

Kicking off the event series tonight is “The Princess Bride,” a fairy-tale adventure for all ages. Movies are free to attend and before each movie starts, visitors will be able to enjoy fun activities tailored to each film. A live fencing demonstration will warm up the crowd before “The Princess Bride.” On July 14, there will be an inflatable baseball game before a screening of the 1993 comedy “The Sandlot.” Then, on July 21, an 80s cover band will set the mood before “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and, on July 28, giant inflatables will make moviegoers feel very small before viewing “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids!”

The Movies on the Square event series is part of Santa Rosa’s Open and Out initiative, which aims to welcome visitors back to the downtown area. Other events include live music every Thursday through Sunday from 5 to 8 p.m., various art installations, makers markets, a bartending competition on July 29 and other fun events to come.

“We’ve gotten a great response from the community,” said Cadance Hinkle Allinson, Executive Director of the Santa Rosa Downtown District, about the initiative. “We are happy to be providing a nice fun place for people to come together again.”

Moviegoers can bring their own lawn chair and blankets to Courthouse Square. Takeout food can be ordered from one of the many surrounding restaurants and the event’s main sponsor, Sonoma Clean Power, will be handing out free popcorn to moviegoers. Bayside Church will also be selling popcorn, lemonade and other refreshments.

Movies on the Square is a free event series. Parking is also free after 5 p.m. in all city garages. Music will kick off the event around 5:30 p.m., followed by the pre-movie activities at 6:30 p.m. The film begins at sunset.

Take a Look Inside Napa’s New Milliken Creek Inn

July 2021

By Dana Rebmann

If walls could talk, Napa’s Milliken Creek Inn would have fascinating stories to tell.

Tucked along a bank of the Napa River, the main house of the inn served as a stagecoach stop in the 1850s, welcoming weary travelers during the California Gold Rush. Then, at the turn of the century, horticulturist Ira McKenzie took up residence at the property and planted Japanese maples, live oaks, magnolias and other trees that still remain on the three-acre grounds. This summer, Milliken Creek Inn is adding yet another chapter to its rich history as it unveils a sophisticated redesign that makes the modern traveler feel as though they’ve struck gold.

The new lobby, furnished with sofas and armchairs and adorned with green plants and blooming orchids, feels more like a friend’s home than the entrance of an inn or hotel. The front desk — a small counter — is tucked away behind a set of French doors, and guests can enjoy some complimentary fruit cordial upon arrival. Shady paths, flanked by redwoods, bamboo, Japanese maples and magnolia trees, then lead the way to the guest rooms. The verdant surroundings inspired the inn’s redesign, and the exteriors’ neutral, earthy hues combine with natural light to create a peaceful environment in which to sit back and relax in an Adirondack chair by a bubbling fountain or a fire pit.

Napa's Milliken Creek Inn. (Courtesy of Milliken Creek Inn) — Napa’s Milliken Creek Inn. (Courtesy of Milliken Creek Inn)

Cedar guestroom at Milliken Creek Inn. (Courtesy of Milliken Creek Inn)

The eleven guest rooms at Milliken Creek Inn have been updated with modern decor and soothing color schemes, and each room has its own configuration; many have river views, decks or patios, soaking tubs and fireplaces. Four rooms now come with their own fire pit, which ignites with the turn of a dial. S’mores kits are available in each room, next to the Nespresso machine. After a day of wine tasting, guests can sink into comfortable beds, watch a movie on Apple TV, and read a magazine or order in-room dining on an iPad.

There is no restaurant on the property but guests receive a breakfast spread every morning, which can be enjoyed at one of the inn’s secluded outdoor spaces or in the room. Breakfast options include a mushroom, spinach and feta frittata; breakfast sandwiches with eggs, bacon and cheese on an English muffin or croissant; a Belgian waffle; steel cut oatmeal; and yogurt with house-made granola. Freshly squeezed orange juice, coffee and tea is also included.

Before the pandemic, the inn hosted a nightly wine and cheese reception with a local vintner. Now, guests receive a cheese plate and fresh-baked cookies that can be enjoyed with a glass of wine on the property. The pandemic also has changed the check-in process. Before arrival, guests receive an email that walks them through the process: keycards will be waiting as they arrive at the property, but guests can also access their rooms by using their own cellphones. Guests can now communicate with staff through text messages and, once it’s time to check out, this can also be done via text.

Click through the above gallery for a peek at the redesigned Milliken Creek Inn, part of the Four Sisters Inns collection.

1815 Silverado Trail, Napa,707-255-1197, millikencreekinn.com. Rates start at $495.