Cover Story
Best of Humboldt
Everybody get a glass — it’s time for the Journal’s annual Best Of list. Our readers have once again voted on their favorite people, places, businesses, things to eat, drink and enjoy in our county. That includes everything from where to get the tastiest Bloody Mary to the finest midwife. This is our chance to…
UPDATE: Attempted Murder Suspect Surrenders to Police
UPDATE: Shawn Hof Jr., the 25-year-old wanted since he allegedly shot at a state law enforcement officer last August, turned himself into police yesterday, a day after multiple agencies announced a renewed effort to bring him into custody, complete with a $20,000 reward. See the full press release from the California Fish and Wildlife copied…
Eclipse 2017: Humboldt Sits on a Partial Path of Totality
While we won’t get the full view, Humboldt County residents will still have some pretty good seats for one of the greatest celestial shows on earth when a total solar eclipse takes place Aug. 21. At the height of the event visible here on the North Coast — where the maximum coverage will hit around…
DA Clears EPD in Hospital Death
The Humboldt County District Attorney’s Office has reviewed the circumstances surrounding the April 2, 2016 death of Jeremy Jenkins and found that EPD personnel did not contribute to the cause of his death. Police were called to Spring Street at 1:25 p.m. that day to a report of a man “rolling around on the ground,”…
DOJ Investigator Heading to Town in Public Administrator Probe
A representative from the California Department of Justice is expected to arrive in Eureka this week to take over an investigation into possible wrongdoing involving the management of estates overseen by the county’s Public Administrator’s Office. District Attorney Maggie Fleming says she was notified by phone Aug. 3 of the state’s decision to run the…
UPDATE: PenAir Dropping Humboldt Route, Effective Monday
UPDATE: Just a few days after word came that PenAir was pulling out of Humboldt, the airline announced today that the company has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and is looking to end its Crescent City flights. Humboldt County will be back down to one airline option at the end of the day while…
Mary Beth Wolford, former Eureka councilwoman, dies at 85
Mary Beth Wolford, a longtime educator and former Eureka city councilmember who “retired” to Humboldt County in the late 1990s only to immerse herself in a number of civic endeavors, has died. She was 85. According to her obituary on the Lost Coast Outpost, Wolford died July 29 in Fairfield, where she moved in 2013…
Tell It Like It Is
Blues, the down-and-dirty foundation of most popular music — rhythm and blues, rock ‘n’ roll, rockabilly, country — tells our stories of suffering, sadness and sorrow, and how we rise up out of the mess and start all over. It connects us and sets our troubles free. The grit is real. Lovers of the blues…
Party With the Best of Humboldt
Looking for a swanky downtown party? Treat yourself to the NCJ Best of Humboldt Party Saturday, Aug. 5 from 7-11 p.m. in the renovated Carson Block Building’s third floor ballroom ($20, $10 advance). We’ve got food and drinks, and it’s your chance to meet your Best of Humboldt winners. 21 and up.
Lost Coast Flat Track Racing
The tracks are flat and that’s a fact — ain’t holding nothin back. Motorcycle racing is alive and well in Humboldt. Catch the handlebar-to-handlebar action at Lost Coast Flat Track Friday, Aug. 4 from noon to 6 p.m. at Rohner Park ($5 -$10), and Pacific Motorsports Humboldt Half Mile Pro/Am Motorcycle Flat Track Race Saturday,…
Cheers to the Zoo at Zootini
Take a walk on the wild side at the 11th annual Zootini Saturday, Aug. 5 from 5-9:45 p.m. at Sequoia Park Zoo ($100). Sip signature cocktails, dine on hors d’oeuvres, dinner and dessert, and dance the night away with party animals like Senator Mike McGuire. All proceeds benefit the animals, educational and conservation programs and…
Music Tonight: Thursday, Aug. 3
It’s been festival season here on the North Coast for a bit now as we’re well over a month into summer, but the jewel in Humboldt County’s festival crown shines in SoHum starting today. The Mateel Community Center is putting on the 33rd Reggae on the River at French’s Camp right before the Humboldt/Mendocino line.…
Fog
Fog languidly cloaks this seaside town spreading over rooftop and door stoop creeping into the cracks of my soul slowly breaking brick apart with an imposing silence I have learned not to hear. Fog has no mercy. It hovers cruelly over this town relentless in summer like the focused stillness of a velvet, black cat…
Best of Retail and Services 2017
Retail Adult Clothing Store Good Relations 223 Second St., Eureka, 441-9570; www.goodrelations.com Second Place: Belle Starr Third Place: Hot Knots Antique Store Daisy Drygoods 959 H St., Arcata; 822-1893; Second Place: Anglin Second Hand Third Place: Annex 39 Antiques Bicycle Shop Revolution Bicycles 1593 G St., Arcata; 822-2562; 2811 F St., Eureka; 443-9861 www.revolutionbicycle.com Second…
The Smell Test
Editor: I have been retired now for 15 years. My hearing isn’t what it used to be and I have to wear glasses when I drive. However, my nose still works and something smells about the current situation with the Public Defender’s Office (“Nothing in Writing,” July 27). When all nine deputy public defenders send…
HumBug: Mythic Moths
Sunday night around 11:30 when I checked the light trap in my back yard, I was amazed to find a moth with a body as large as the first two sections of my finger and narrow wings like a hummingbird. I recognized it immediately as one of the Sphinx moths, although I didn’t recognize the…
Shared Secrets
It makes sense for restaurant cooks to be jealous of their best recipes. I remember years ago teaching myself to make croissants. Nena Creasy, a great cook who lived nearby above the Klamath River, even gave me a big marble slab to roll out the layers of dough with butter and then more butter. I…
A ‘Trumpian’ Rant
Editor: I am extremely disappointed to see the NCJ (“It’s Watson for the Interim,” July 27) and its usually highly competent reporter Linda Stansberry give Steve Watson an unchallenged venue to present a completely non-tested theory: “… that many of the homeless and transient people in Eureka were attracted to the area by the pot…
Tangled Tales of Love
What happens when King Ferdinand of Navarre and his three companions decide to improve themselves by dedicating three years to study and fasting, forswearing women by forbidding any member of the fair sex from coming within a mile of the court? A challenging prospect in the best of circumstances, but when the Princess of France…
Duck!
Editor: Barry Evans’ article (“Westworld vs. Realworld,” July 27) on the “boondoggle” of free will was a pleasant surprise. I was happy to learn that there is someone around who agrees with me. Benjamin Libet’s discovery of the half-second it takes for your brain to build a conscious thought completely undermines the notion of free…
Wicked Bugs: The Meanest, Deadliest, Grossest Bugs on Earth
Many benign and useful insects, spiders and arthropods do exist in the world, but you will not find them in this adaptation of Wicked Bugs: The Louse that Conquered Napoleon’s Army & Other Diabolical Insects for young readers. Local author Amy Stewart is intrigued by the dark side of the bug universe; the dangerous, destructive…
Best of Humboldt 2017
Everybody get a glass — it’s time for the Journal’s annual Best Of list. Our readers have once again voted on their favorite people, places, businesses, things to eat, drink and enjoy in our county. That includes everything from where to get the tastiest Bloody Mary to the finest midwife. This is our chance to…
Festivals and More Festivals
Thursday It’s been festival season here on the North Coast for a bit now as we’re well over a month into summer, but the jewel in Humboldt County’s festival crown shines in SoHum starting today. The Mateel Community Center is putting on the 33rd Reggae on the River at French’s Camp right before the Humboldt/Mendocino…
Where Have the Birds Gone?
Editor: Thank you, Amy Gustin, for continuing to speak out for wildlife (“Our Shrinking Habitat,” July 6). Is anyone listening? My property is mostly forested. Until a few years ago, the woods were crisscrossed with deer paths. Brush in the clearings was nibbled down and my pet roses had to be fenced. Squirrels rustled the…
Best of Cannabis 2017
420 Physician Diane Dickinson MD 1448 G St., Arcata; 826-1165; www.northcoast-medical.com Second Place: MC2 Medical Cannabis Consulting & Evaluations Third Place: Dr. Ken I. Miller, MD Budtender Savannah Snow, The Humboldt County Collective 1670 Myrtle Ave., Eureka; 442-2420; Second Place: Michelle Rose, HPRC Third Place: Fiona Harris, The Humboldt County Collective Cannabis Collective The Humboldt…
Trailer vs. Movie
Reviews ATOMIC BLONDE. So we return to the conundrum of The Good Trailer. On one hand, good trailers can surprise us like beautiful gifts. Because so many movies register as just above unwatchable these days, a lively little glimpse of something promising can be just the thing to get us through the long, dark night…
Bonus! 2017
Bathroom The Speakeasy 411 Opera Alley, Eureka; 444-2244; Second Place: Leon’s Car Care Center Third Place: Cafe Phoenix EMT/Paramedic Brandon Amis Second Place: Paco Willard Third Place: Penny Eckert Fire Fighter Matt McFarland Second Place: Crash Waddell Third Place: Mike Landry Locally Made Product Cypress Grove Chèvre 1330 Q St., Arcata, 825-1100; www.cypressgrovechevre.com Second Place:…
Correction
The Journal’s July 17 blog post about the proposal to move a welcome center into the Clarke Museum (“Clarke Museum May Make Room for Welcome Center”) inaccurately stated that the museum’s current Apothecary exhibit might become a bar. In fact, the exhibit may be moved to make room for a tasting room and café. The…
Speedy Taco (2017 Staff Pick)
Let us all now toast Speedy Taco, whose name is accurate and whose chile verde burritos are the perfect size and composition for sneaking into an afternoon matinee. First introduced to me when it would park outside of Broadway Cinema, I followed it down the street to its current incarnation at the parking lot of…
Arts Alive!
Presented by Eureka Main Street. Opening receptions for artists, exhibits and performances are held the first Saturday of each month. For more information, call 442-9054 or go to www.eurekamainstreet.org ADORNI CENTER 1011 Waterfront Drive. Demario Williams, pencil illustrations; Barbara Saul, pastels; and Paul Rickard, oils. A TASTE OF BIM 613 Third St. Susan Strope, artwork.…
Sequoia Park (2017 Staff Pick)
Raise a SpongeBob paper cup for the sunny weekends spent festooning picnic tables at Sequoia Park, for those arriving early to snag a grill or the prized gazebo. May the slides that spill from the redwood tree’s base be cool; may the woodchips under the swings be dry. And may the ice cream truck always…
The Faraway Nearby
Old Town Eureka twanged with the shock of the new last week when street artist Dan Kitchener unveiled an enormous new mural in its midst, the first to grace the city in several years. “Electric-City” is executed entirely in freehand spray paint on the east side of the Buhne Building at the corner of G…
S.T.I.L. (2017 Staff Pick)
I’ll admit it, I snickered a bit when reading that S.T.I.L. managed to take home this year’s crowns for Best Head Shop, Best Vape Shop and Best Hobby Shop. Don’t get me wrong — I’m sure they have all the vape pens, blunt wraps and “functional glass art” needed to lock down the first two…
Trinidad Art Nights
Upper Trinidad SIMMONS’ GALLERY 380 Janis Court (Trinidad Coastal Land Trust). “Paintings of the Trinidad Land Trust Properties,” Paul Rickard, watercolors. Music by Tim Breed. TRINIDAD MUSEUM 400 Janis Court (next to library). “Scenic Drive Then and Now,” photography. Quillwork in Native American Baskets. TRINIDAD TRADING COMPANY 460 Main St. Anna Oneglia, artwork. WIND N…
Pierson’s Building Center (2017 Staff Pick)
Here’s to Pierson’s Building Center, whose staff have made my experience as a first-time homeowner a relatively easy ride. Sure, there’s still a tarp on my roof and pickets falling off my front fence, but every time I walk through the front door of Pierson’s and smell the free coffee, I’m inspired to do projects…
The Bridgeville Beat
Humboldt County Sheriff’s deputy Ben Filippini is 24 years old and just three years out of College of the Redwood’s Police Academy. Beneath the back of his short blond hair, his neck is sunburned a dark red where a tactical helmet and mask did not cover his skin at a recent outdoor training session. He’s…
American Cancer Society Discovery Shop (2017 Staff Pick)
My beloved studded clutch bag, the throw pillow in my office with the hand painted face of a sad whippet, my daughter’s first motorcycle jacket — I owe them all to you, Discovery Shop. Here’s to your trippy window displays, the kitschy souvenir madness of your “global events” and the joy of rifling through other…
A Snowball’s Chance in D.C.
U.S. Sen. Cory Booker introduced a bill Aug. 1 that would legalize marijuana federally. “Our country’s drug laws are badly broken and need to be fixed,” the New Jersey Democrat said in a statement. “They don’t make our communities any safer — instead they divert critical resources from fighting violent crimes, tear families apart, unfairly…
Clam Beach Vista Point (2017 Staff Pick)
Well, this is a bit awkward, seeing as the Clam Beach Vista Point isn’t really a parking lot — hence the “vista point” in its name. Maybe I’m a being a bit of a stick in the sandy mud here, but I’m of the opinion that to qualify as a parking lot it must be…
Serving up Smiles (2017 Staff Pick)
For many children in Arcata and McKinleyville, the first harbinger of spring isn’t a shift in the weather or fresh flower blooms unfolding on shrubs just waking up from a winter slumber. Instead, the heralding of a change comes in the form of a robin-egg blue ice cream truck with flames melding from yellow to…
Best of Food and Drink 2017
Food Bakery Brio Breadworks 1309 11th St., Arcata; 822-0791; www.briobaking.com Second Place: Ramone’s Bakery & Cafe Third Place: Old Town Coffee & Chocolates BBQ Sammy’s BBQ & Catering 1709 Fifth St., Eureka; 443-4227; www.sammysbbqcatering.com Second Place: Humboldt Smokehouse Third Place: Southside Mike’s Bar-B-Que Breakfast Big Blue Cafe 846 G St., Arcata; 826-7578; Second Place: The…
Geraldine Goldberg Can Do Anything (2017 Staff Pick)
Geraldine Goldberg arrived in Humboldt County on the back of a motorcycle in 1981, soaked to the skin after traveling down from Portland in the midst of a February rainstorm. She fell in love with the place immediately. “I was ready for an adventure,” she says. She found one. Goldberg and her partner moved into…
Best of Arts and Entertainment 2017
Art Gallery Morris Graves Museum of Art 636 F St., Eureka; 442-0278; www.humboldtarts.org Second Place: HSU Third Street Gallery Third Place: Piante Band Object Heavy www.objectheavy.com; Second Place: Dr. Squid Third Place: Scuber Mountain Beer Festival Hops in Humboldt Rohner Park, Fortuna; www.hopsinhumboldt.com Second Place: Brew at the Zoo Third Place: Homebrew Fest Bike Trail…
Twist!
If this week’s national news cycle hasn’t given you enough sudden plot turns, fear not. Well, fear a little — the Eureka Theater is showing a month’s worth of Alfred Hitchcock films sponsored by the North Coast Journal. Start the suspense on Friday, Aug. 4 at 7:30 p.m. with Notorious ($5). Ingrid Bergman and Cary…
