on the cover / By Heidi Walters

Who’s Your City?

Is it Eureka? Is it Arcata? Barflies, musicians, artists and sky bums mull the question

(Aug. 7, 2008)  Last week, we took it upon ourselves to once and for all solve the forever-niggling question: Arcata or Eureka, which is the superior specimen? The two cities have been duking it out since the 1850s when they were mere get-rich-quick settlements looking to profit off the gold rush in the mountains. And historian Jerry Rohde likes to particularly note that Arcata (called Union, initially) was nothing like today’s Arcata — in fact, the group that settled on the Arcata side of the bay included six unsavory men who’d killed a bunch of Indians down in the Sonoma area, and a couple of them killed more Indians once they got to Humboldt. Also, the Union group tried to take over Eureka, but the Eureka group resisted. So there goes the moral edge, historically speaking, for Arcata.

Union/Arcata excelled as a miners’ supplier, at first, says Rohde, while Eureka found its niche in toppling redwoods into rivers and floating them down to the bay to a half dozen mills. Arcata eventually built its own mills, for Douglas fir. And, Arcata held the county seat — until Eureka wrested it away. Arcata got the university. Eureka had more buildable land for residences. Arcata grew farmers. Eureka spawned a fishing fleet. Arcata became progressive — freakishly so, if you ask some people. Eureka retained a mainstream steadfastness — tweakishly so, if you ask some people. Eureka spiffed up Old Town. Arcata “incubated” entrepreneurial endeavors, as long-time Arcatan Alex Stillman puts it. Eureka built a nuclear power plant. Arcata became a nuclear weapons free zone. Arcata built a sewage-cleansing marsh. Eureka built a mall. Arcata’s small, cozy, chainstore-scarce and walkable. Eureka’s got what you need and has big-city appeal. Arcata’s got the Crabs. Eureka’s got Redwood Acres. Eureka smells like rancid fish guts in some places, poopy wood pulp in others. Arcata smells like shit — pardon, fertilizer — in the spring. And on blahbiddy on.

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But who’s better?

Well, some people like statistics, so we’ve worked up a few for you. Others prefer a subjective approach. But that’s trickier. It can require, let us say, equal parts reflection and drink — both found in abundance in each city’s heart.

The Alibi, on the Arcata Plaza, 4 p.m., Thursday. Among the rank of bars on this side of the square, this is the one hipsters gravitate to.

Inside, Deric Mendes, a familiar local musician, is tending bar. He says it’s a tough question, who’s better. He was born in Fortuna and moved to McKinleyville when he was 11. Since then, he’s lived in Eureka and Arcata. “There’s a good sense of community in both places,” he says. “I like Arcata’s neighborhoods better — it feels safer here.”

One time, Mendes says, when he lived on 14th and E in Eureka, someone banged on his door at 4 a.m. “So we go out there, open the door, and this guy has a stab wound to his head. I said, ‘Do you want me to call the police?’ And the guy took off running down the street holding a hand to his head. We also had a woman come to our door once and say, ‘They’ve released the poison gases, we’re all going to die.’ We gave her a glass of water. She went away, and shortly after that we saw her talking to a telephone pole. There was another guy who lived in the park — we called him Snoopy, because he was always laying on top of the little wooden house in the play area.”

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