Why didn’t they build the steps ALL the down to the river? That’s what I asked myself after renting the five bedroom cabin which was built alongside the Russian River. That was in June… two years later in January I learned first hand the reason why. On the 17th the river hit 39.5 feet, the …
The ad mentioned a cabin for rent in Summer Home Park. Not yet familiar with the Russian River area, my first impression was a trailer park filled with giant silver beer cans… and apparently at least one cabin. How wrong – Summer Home Park, founded in 1908, stretches along the Russian River and includes a …
The Ass-to-Ass Run Back then the Brass Ass translated to fun. Actually, it was the Brass Asses, a pair of pizza places located in Cotati (near what is now Oliver’s Market) and Santa Rosa (in the Montgomery Village shopping center) way back in the ’70s and early ’80s. Some are still praying for a Brass …
The Russian River resort town of Monte Rio is the only place I know of where seeing a Pink Elephant doesn’t necessarily mean you’re drunk. Of course, considering that the Pink Elephant is one of the North Bay’s preeminent dive bars, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re sober, either. Monte Rio is a depressed Northern California …
1979: Say What? Local law enforcement officials turn over to the FBI a printed note found next to the body of Roy William Dale, who died of an apparent suicide in a 1974 Chevy Camaro parked at a Fort Ross Road turnout. The cryptic note implicates Dale in the 1963 assassination of President Kennedy, stating …
The photo is of the pool at the Russian River Resort, 1954. I think a lot has changed since then, although there is still a pool, the guests today are predominately gay and lesbian. Unaware of any of this and in need of a room for the night, the triple R looked as good a …
Expanding twenty-four and a half miles between Sonoma and Marin Counties, Running Fence was completed on September 10, 1976. The fence was an 18 feet high cable covered with over 2 million square feet of white nylon fabric which illuminated in the sunlight and seemed to absorb and reflect the sunsets. As an art student …
The Washoe House proclaims to be “the oldest roadhouse in the state.†This could possibly be disputed, but by whom? The place has been around since 1859, so by now it’s at least earned the right not to be argued with. I came across the place just after moving up north to Petaluma to …
With no intention of “life in a dorm” on the Sonoma State campus. A room-4-rent advertisement led to an exciting introduction to Sonoma county. The room was in a house at the border where old Petaluma meets country, up Sunnyslope Road, just off D Street. Eggs for sale a couple doors down, but two blocks …