Cover Story
Best of Humboldt, 2014
Humboldt has spoken. But, and you may disagree, we are not a group that agrees on everything, so Humboldt may go on speaking. As feisty as we are about our politics, it’s no surprise we clash over who’s cutting the crispiest fries, where you should take your busted car or who’s the finest tattooist to…
A Boost for the Bay Trail?
The Humboldt Bay Trail seems poised to take a great leap forward this month. California Transportation Commission staff is recommending approval of a $3.1 million grant application from the city of Arcata at the commission’s Aug. 20 meeting. “We’re pleased about that,” said Arcata Environmental Services Director Mark Andre. “Very pleased.” If given the final…
Outside Lands 2014: Sexy, Sweet, Solo
Avocados, yogurt, Cypress Grove Lamb Chopper I’d found, at all places, at Grocery Outlet. Half a tomato. A box of organic dried plums, also from the GO. I’d had this grand plan to pack enough food to last all weekend, even roasted some eggplant slices, but one thing and then another and I was already…
Human Remains Found In Humboldt Redwoods State Park
A camper made a grisly discovery on Sunday during her morning walk: a human jawbone. The jawbone was in the middle of a trail on the west side of the Cuneo Creek Horse Camp, an equestrian site in Humboldt Redwoods State Park just off of Bull Creek Road. The camper, who requested anonymity, immediately returned…
Tonight’s Setlist: Two Kinds of Love
You need some goddamn good honky-tonk on a Monday night, yes, you do. Which is why you’re going to suck it up and go out and see Flint, Mich. native Whitey Morgan and the 78’s at Humboldt Brews. Tickets are $10, the outlaw twang starts at 9 p.m. and yes, 21-and-over. Check it: Wait. What?…
UPDATE: Coroner Releases Names of Four Dead in State Route 36 crash
UPDATE FROM CHP: The four occupants that received fatal injuries are 40 year old Daniel Lentz Ole Morris (restrained in the driver seat), 33 year old Alisha Marie Summerfield (seated unrestrained in the right front passenger seat), 13 year old Judith Maxine Martin (seated unrestrained in the rear truck bed), and 20 year old Savanna…
UPDATED: Challenger Looms in Shadows of Eureka Council Race
The City of Eureka has determined that an unnamed would-be challenger to 1st Ward Councilwoman Marian Brady has failed to qualify for the ballot. In a press release, the city cited section 301 of the city charter as the reason the would-be candidate did not qualify. That section reads: “No person shall be eligible for…
Prosecutor: Murder Conviction Thanks to Bravery of Witnesses
The day after a Humboldt County jury convicted 28-year-old Bodhi Tree of double murder, the prosecutor on the case said the result would not have been possible if not for the courage of several citizens. “There were some civilian witnesses that put their individual safety on the line to testify, and without their testimony we…
Tonight’s Setlist: Saturday: Dance for fun, funk for a cause, ‘snot rock’
I saw a movie once in which dancing was outlawed because it was, essentially, a sin. Inspired lust and stuff. But the killjoy adults were no match for teenage desire, especially once bad boy Ren McCormack came to town. Arcata has a lot of rules, but, thankfully, the powers-that-be will allow you to salsa, cha-cha,…
Why Did it Take Two Years for an Embezzlement Sentence to Begin?
Nearly four years after charges were filed — and two years after being sentenced to 180 days in jail for a nearly half-million-dollar embezzlement — Jeffrey Harry Lang began serving his sentence this week. Technically, Lang, who pleaded guilty to one count of felony embezzlement in January 2012, served one day in jail immediately following…
Summer of Woof
Have you been spending the summer sniffing around the same old places and running with your usual pack? Get out and see some other dogs. Take your people to Halvorsen Park for Woofstock on Saturday, Aug. 9 at 10 a.m. ($12). Make puppy eyes and get them to spring for the Mutt Strut parade at…
Tonight’s Setlist: Your friends and neighbors
Humboldt Brews celebrates Local Band Night with surf rockers The Mother Vines, whose sound, at least on the track “Wild Free Country,” inspired agreeable head-nodding by the people who happened to be sitting around my living room while I wrote this. Also Dead Drift, a band without a Facebook or Google profile — apparently they’re…
Updated: Shooting in Arcata This Morning
UPDATE: The Humboldt State University website says there is no emergency on campus and operations are normal (see below). Arcata police are investigating a shooting at the corner of 15th and H streets that occurred shortly before 9 a.m. this morning. Officers taped off several blocks surrounding the intersection as detectives worked to process the…
Best Myth
Runner Up: Everyone Smokes Weed Of course it’s Bigfoot. Humboldt County’s home to the greatest of all bigfoot relics: the Patterson-Gimlin film (well, it’s a matter of dispute whether the exact site, near Bluff Creek out of Weitchpec, is in Del Norte County, but come on). It’s home to two of Bigfoot’s most prominent and…
Houses of Cards
The fantasy worlds of modern fiction are cruel places, made up of vying factions, of loyalties forged, bent and destroyed, of cutthroat competition and nailbiting peril. The voyeurs that would inhabit those imagined worlds sometimes find themselves in similar situations in their real lives: scratching for survival, swearing (or deigning) allegiance, sharpening their skills ……
Best Thing to Bitch About
Runner Up: The Homeless Really, Humboldt? What, no bitching about cancer patients and the lower-middle class? I’m afraid voting for tweakers and the homeless as Humboldt County’s best things to bitch about evidences an empathy deficit of staggering proportions. I realize we’re in the throes of a drought and the usually-bitched-about gray skies have been…
Dance the Night Away
Crabs are over. The students are returning. The end of summer draws nigh. In the meantime, we still have sunshine at the river and a bit of nightlife to soothe your soul. Thursday: All doom, no gloom Do you like heavy metal? War Möth (love the umlaut, fellows), featuring locals Wolf Navarro, Sean Ennis, Dan…
Best Bloody Mary
Runner Up: AA Bar and Grill Ah, the Bloody Mary. One doesn’t have to be looking for hair of the dog, but the cushioned bartop and dim lighting of the Alibi will aid recovery from the worst debauchery. It’s an anytime drink, honestly. You crave the salt on a sweaty summer day. You crave the…
Hum Plate Roundup
Book club always descends into eating and drinking anyway, so let’s skip to the last page and eat. Here are the Cliff’s Notes to our recent romances, mysteries and adventures. Tandoori Do-over Chatter on the wire sent us to Tandoori Bites, the Indian place across from McDonald’s formerly known as the Indian place across from…
Lasting Impressions
Printmaking can be a nasty business. Traditional etching uses nitric acid to dissolve an image out of a metal plate. Inks are laden with solvents, and everything is cleaned up with turpentine or acetone. For nearly 500 years, artists have braved toxic chemical cocktails to create etchings, but the results are worth it. Metal plates…
Second Friday Arts! Arcata
Arts! Arcata is Arcata Main Street’s monthly celebration of visual and performing arts, held at 30 participating locations in Arcata. Visit www.artsarcata.com for even more information about the event or call (707) 822-4500. ARCATA ARTISANS 883 H St. Mimi LaPlant, paintings; Diane Sonderegger, ceramic sculpture. ARCATA CITY HALL 736 F St. Artwork by the Ink…
Best Doughnut
Runner Up: Happy Donuts I’m not ashamed to say it was one of the best birthday gifts ever. I was turning 30-something, and my wonderful wife sidestepped all the societal pressures pushing her toward cream cheese frosting, layered cakes and highfalutin ganache. Instead, I got a doughnut tower, with three beautiful columns reaching for the…
Vote For Prohibition, Or … Just Stay Home
Hey, you: Do you trust full-grown adults to decide for themselves whether to inhale the smoke produced by setting fire to a leafy plant? You do? Well, if you call the Golden State home and you vote, come November, you’re in for a bummer: The one issue the candidates for governor of both major parties…
Best Hot Dog
Runner Up: Humboldt Hot Dogs OK, you can’t argue with the value. At $1.50 with a soft drink, the hefty hot dog or Polish at Costco (girth is important, too) is the deal to end all processed meat deals. And it’s pretty good — a salty, juicy dog with the zippy tang of nitrates. But…
Growth, Change
I’ve been shedding job titles since 2003. The first one was hard to give up — the title of editor. Later, we hired a sales manager and transferred those duties. When I turned 62, five years ago, I started to work part time, mostly supervising department managers two days a week. Our company and staff…
Best Festival
Runner Up: Oyster Fest Was it the fence? Are you still mad? Because Oyster Fest used to own this category. Then again, Kinetic is one tough, splashy competitor, blending humor, art, engineering, feats of physical fitness, rubbernecking and a good deal of welding in one weekend of daredevil parading. And teams do spend months and…
West Nile
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Best Liquor Store
Runner Up: Arcata Liquors So many bottles of booze — single-malt scotches, tequilas, vodkas, Humboldt-made spirits and more — you walk out choice-drunk (but with sober plans to slowly sip your exclusive, single-barrel bourbon tasted, picked and bottled by owner John Baddeley). So many cigars, glowing in their leaf skins inside the walk-in humidor, you…
The Mapmaker’s Dilemma
If you’re over 50, chances are the obligatory world maps hanging in your classrooms were based on the Mercator projection. You probably remember it: Greenland, which is 14 times smaller than Africa, appears to be the same size as the continent. And Europe looks twice as large as South America, instead of half the size,…
Best Place to Buy a Used Car
Runner Up: Bob’s Fine Cars Some wait for providence to place a good, broken-in steed in their path — for sale on the sidewalk, friend of a friend’s. But most of you head over to Craigslist to discover that 1982 Oldsmobile Regency Brougham or that 1999 Custom Dodge Ram. What’s cool about Craigslist is that you can…
Guardians Gets it Right
Reviews GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY. I’ve admired writer/director James Gunn for years, even if I’m not an outright fan of everything he’s done. He cut his teeth at Troma Studios, way back when, and accidentally catching its Toxic Avenger movies on TV as a child both shaped and scarred me in ways I’ll likely never…
August Gardening To-Do List
Welcome to August! At the moment, you’re probably still naively excited about every zucchini you harvest, but by the end of the month, don’t be surprised if friends start playing ding-dong-dash. You know you’ve been the victim of this little game when you answer the doorbell only to see a large basket of zucchini and…
Risky Business
Editor: Regarding getting help to pay off a mortgage with renting out a property day by day, most people do not realize that the fine print does not allow that to happen (“My House is Your Hotel,” July 17). When one has a mortgage with a governmental agency, it precludes the option to derive income…
Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation 2014
Artist: Duane Flatmo (298 of 677 votes) Tattoo Artist: Henry Kruger (172 of 449 votes) Festival: Kinetic Sculpture Race (418 of 823 votes) Karaoke: Blue Lake Casino (269 of 472 votes) Band: Dr. Squid (205 of 620 votes) Musician: Burly Dent (189 of 467 votes) Club DJ: Pressure Anya (297 of 527 votes) Live Music…
Ganging Up
Editor: Forgetting the merits of the questions about the county supervisors, Sylvia de Rooy’s claim to ownership of the term “Gang of Four” was well answered by your tagline/title above her letter: “Took the Words out of My Mao” (July 24). For those who are too young to remember (or perhaps too old), the Gang…
Bonus Round
Place to People Watch: Arcata Plaza (316 of 744 votes) Place to Take a First Date: Moonstone Beach (483 of 648 votes) Locally Made Product: Cypress Grove Chevre (315 of 761 votes) Place to Blow Some Money: Plaza (327 of 589 votes) Vista That Never Gets Old: Trinidad (496 of 702 votes) Thing to Bitch…
Thoroughly Postmodern Millie
From the opening tableau of a 1920s Manhattan street scene that fills the Van Duzer Theatre stage, the Humboldt Light Opera Company production of Thoroughly Modern Millie has the look, the pace and the pizzazz of Broadway. It has all the elements of a big classic musical: vibrant costumes (by Caroline Allander, Madeline Myers and…
Food and Drink 2014
Bar to Take a Date: The Speakeasy (349 of 805 votes) Dive Bar: The Shanty (443 of 877 votes) Sports Bar: The Logger Bar (309 of 830 votes) Bartender: Steve, at Steve and Dave’s (294 of 705 votes) Happy Hour: Rita’s (432 of 811 votes) Bloody Mary: The Alibi (348 of 710 votes) Martini: The…
High Times
The New York Times sounded like the voice of reason last week with a detailed and convincing six-part editorial series calling for the federal government to legalize marijuana. Repealing the 1970 ban, the Grey Lady’s editors argued, is a states’ rights issue and would ease the unjust application of marijuana enforcement. Science is on the…
Services and Stuff 2014
Antique Store: Daisy’s Dry Goods (203 of 418 votes) Secondhand Store: Angels of Hope (225 of 601 votes) Pawn Shop: Humboldt Bay Trade & Pawn (251 of 426 votes) Head Shop: Humboldt Glassblower (211 of 404 votes) Liquor Store: Myrtlewood Liquors and John’s Fine Cigars (417 of 635 votes) Vintage/Used Clothing Store: Little Shop of…
Un-entered Forest
Last week, forest activists partially peeled back a barricade, which has been blocking Humboldt Redwood Co.’s main road into its 8,000-acre Mattole watershed timber holdings since early July, to let a group of foresters, environmentalists and some of their own through to examine an area the company wants to log. And then, after the field…
No, You’re the Best
The Best of Humboldt 2014 issue in your hands is as good an excuse as any to have a little soiree. On Thursday, Aug. 7 at 6 p.m., join the Journal staff at the Eureka Theater for cocktail hour and a screening of Best in Show ($5). It’s a peek at the behind-the-scenes mayhem with…
