Joaquina Imelda Quintanilla’s granddaughter peers just over the ledge of the red Mi Rinconcito Pupuseria Salvadoreño truck. It’s an echo of how Quintanilla grew up in El Salvador, tagging along after school to the restaurant kitchen where her Aunt Lilian worked. By 12, she was able to help her aunt prep and cook a little, […]
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 inNews
Granny Rage on Women’s Day
The crowd at the Humboldt County Courthouse was thin at the noon start of the International Women’s Day Women’s March protest on March 8. The line of a dozen people grew to 35 by 12:30 p.m., and topped out around 90 by 1:30 p.m. Some speculated scant publicity or the lag of Daylight Saving led […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Black Joy and Culture at the Black Heritage Ball
In a black headwrap, tambourine in hand, Paula Jones addressed the audience of 145 gathered around tables in the Wharfinger Building Saturday night for the Black Heritage Ball. Heritage, she said, “means the inheritance of who we are and the value of our culture,” a culture, she noted, that has permeated American life “since we […]
Posted inSeriously?
Asking for an Administration
Thank you for taking the time to complete this brief survey. The questions that follow are purely hypothetical and part of a study you absolutely don’t need to worry about for a think tank focusing on outside-the-box solutions to our political divide. And by “the box,” we mean accountability. Please read the scenarios below — […]
Posted inNCJ Preview
Return of Two Bars, Fries and Embezzlement
This week we’re talking about the Siren’s Song Tavern making a home in the old Jim Dunn’s Cosmopolitan. We’re also looking at the sentencing at the end of and embezzling scandal. And finally, where to go for fancy fries. Hit subscribe for weekly updates on Humboldt stories
Posted inNews
The Siren’s Song Returns at Jim Dunn’s
In October of 2025, Liz Sibley stood in the shell of Jim Dunn’s Cosmopolitan at 301 Second St., the wood plank floor newly oiled and light from the street slanting in on a half-built stage. The bar’s brass footrail lay at its base, yet to be re-attached. At the center of the triptych of mirrors […]
Posted inEat + Drink
What’s Good? Luxury Fries
Fries, so often a throwaway side, at least in their preparation, deserve attention and appreciation. The potato from the Americas, julienned and immersed in a riot of bubbling fat in France or Belgium — I am not taking the side of one colonizer over another — is in itself an indulgence and, when served truly […]
Posted inNews
Winners of the 2026 NCJ Pet Photo Contest
We all have that one friend … but sometimes they’re a pet. This year’s crop of NCJ Pet Photo Contest winners is less about pose than personality. There’s character in every wrinkle on every hound and bulldog, mischief in every whisker caught mid-twitch. Scanning the entries is always a lovely distraction and we’re grateful you […]
Posted inRestaurants
A Feast of Crab at Trinidad Bay Eatery
Is there any greater luxury than a delicate mouthful of sweet Humboldt Dungeness crab that’s been picked for you? Or finding a finger of leg meat intact or the trembling point of a claw on your fork? What about on your fries? The Crabby Fries at Trinidad Bay Eatery and Gallery began as a fun […]
Posted inNews
Needles and Ink
A stroll through the Sapphire Palace ballroom, where the annual Inked Hearts Tattoo Expo has set up for more than 30 artists to display their work, as well as ink and pierce clients over three days, is a primer in body art aesthetics. At one booth a grayscale tiger roars from a meaty quadricep, while […]
Posted inEat + Drink
Where’s the Catch?
Not all of us are ready to catch our own crab like a sport-fishing kayaker, a seasoned commercial fisher or a wily otter. But at last, after stormy weeks and a spate of delays, the sun shines on the docks and, after some price negotiation, Humboldt crabbers are hauling their catches to market. Many of […]
Posted inNews
Arcata Rises Up for Fire Victims
For three days, music flowed from two stages at Humboldt Brews onto the sidewalk, into the street and beyond the corner of H and 10th streets. There, the rubble and charred remains of seven businesses and eight apartments destroyed in a Jan. 2 fire provided stark contrast and a reminder of the losses — though […]