This week we’re looking back at the Top 10 Stories of 2025, from the rivers to the racetrack. And we’ll run down candidates for our annual list of Top 10 Dick Moves. Hit subscribe for weekly updates on Humboldt stories.
Jennifer Fumiko Cahill
Jennifer Fumiko Cahill is the managing editor of the North Coast Journal. She won the Association of Alternative Newsmedia’s 2020 Best Food Writing Award and the 2019 California News Publisher's Association award for Best Writing.
Posted inArts + Scene
Top 10 Dick Moves of 2025
It’s been a year of yikes, folks. Humboldt had far more bad looks and petty deeds in 2025 than a brief list can contain, but these are the selfish choices and low blows that really sprang out at us. 10. Painting hanging figures in Eureka. The graffiti that showed up on downtown buildings (and over […]
Posted inNews
A Photo Finish to 2025 and Hallmark Holiday Humor
This week we’re looking back at the year as captured by Mark Larson’s photos. And we’re having a laugh over reimagined holiday romance movies in the Hallmark tradition. Hit subscribe for weekly updates on Humboldt stories.
Posted inNews
Through Mark Larson’s Lens
The end of the year always feels like a mad scramble here at the Journal. It’s one reason we’re grateful to have Mark Larson’s annual archive to share with readers and to fathom the timeline of the past 365 days for ourselves. As a photographer (and a human), his eye is drawn to boisterous community […]
Posted inEat + Drink
What’s Good: Birria Brunch
The siren call of Taco Loco’s (955 Main St., Fortuna) cushy, thick, handmade tortillas is nearly impossible to resist but sometimes lashing yourself to the mast and sailing on to a couple new items on the menu pays off. Not that there’s a wrong time for chilaquiles, as excellent for breakfast as they are for […]
Posted inSeriously?
Hallmark Christmas-Romantasy Movie Pitches
Good morning. I’ll get right to it: The numbers are bad. We are losing our target audience of straight, white women in droves. Initially, we responded by dipping our toes into inclusivity: a couple of Ikea gays here, a light brown Santa there. But our crushing grip on the market from the first whiff of […]
Posted inNews
Abalone, Titans and Taters
This week, we’re looking at the 10-year closure of the North Coast’s recreational abalone fishery and how we got here. We’ll also introduce you to one of the army of volunteers that make visiting the redwoods possible. Finally, you should throw a potato party and we’ll tell you why. Hit subscribe for weekly updates on […]
Posted inMy Humboldt Life
The View from Mario’s Marina Bar
Amy Ogle is enjoying a Shelter Cove December. “It feels like we finally got our summer,” she says, noting the warm temperatures, sunshine and calm waters along the coastline. “We always get kind of a good shoulder season because the weather is beautiful.” She’s in the right place to enjoy it, too, on the patio […]
Posted inOn the Table
Throw a Potato Party
A couple months ago, I received a mysterious summons with strict instructions for secrecy. “There is no Potato Club,” it read. I will not divulge the identities of the guests or the hostess here. We were invited for an evening of starchy revelry among women, a potluck to which we’d each bring a topping for […]
Posted inSeriously?
Rejected Names for Pantone’s Color of the Year Cloud Dancer
As we do every year, we at Pantone spent the last months sorting through a storm of swatches — literally every color perceivable by the human eye — to name the color of the year, the hue that captures the aesthetic zeitgeist. The 2026 Color of the Year is Cloud Dancer, “A whisper of tranquility […]
Posted inNCJ Preview
Flash Fiction, Bohn’s Investigation and Body Cams
The annual North Coast Journal Flash Fiction Contest winner and finalists are here! We’ve also got a story on the second investigation into a county supervisor’s behavior, this time regarding Rex Bohn. And finally, we’re looking at recently released body camera footage of sheriff’s deputies fatally shooting a suspect in July, and questions about why […]
Posted inScreens
Wake Up Dead Man Keeps Faith
WAKE UP DEAD MAN: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY. Writer-director Rian Johnson’s Knives Out (2019) is marvelous on a number of levels, harkening back to the ensemble Agatha Christie adaptations of the 1970s and, like the work of the queen of whodunnits, its cheerful skewering of the rich and powerful. In it, we meet gentleman detective […]