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 […]
history
Posted inField Notes
Cermeño’s Shipwreck
The European settlement of what we now know as the city of Trinidad began when two Spanish Navy captains, Bruno de Hecata (commanding Santiago) and Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra (commanding Sonora), landed there on June 9, 1775. Two days later on Trinity Sunday — hence the name — they erected a wooden […]
Posted inField Notes
Bridge of Spies
“[Gary Powers] performed his duty in a very dangerous mission and he performed it well, and I think I know more about that than some of his detractors and critics know ….” — CIA Director Allen Dulles Standing on a hill recently, overlooking the Glienicke Bridge near Potsdam, Germany, several thoughts came to mind. While the […]
Posted inNews
Eureka’s History of Brothels and the Week’s Gigs
This week we’re talking about the first of a two-part history of brothels in Eureka and how the women of the red-light district kept the city in the black. And we’re running down some noteworthy music shows around the county. Hit subscribe for weekly updates on Humboldt stories.
Posted inField Notes
Nefertiti, the Second Monotheist
Her life-sized bust rates a room of its own in the huge museum, sitting on a plinth within a 20-foot-high glass enclosure. Her discoverer, German Egyptologist Ludwig Borchardt, called her “the epitome of tranquility and harmony.” She was found (actually by an Egyptian workman under Borchardt’s supervision) on Dec. 6, 1912, in the ruins of […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
The Flammarion Engraving
“That good anchorite, who boasted of having been as far as the end of the world, said likewise, that he had been obliged to stoop low, on account of the joining of the sky and earth in that distant region.” — Francois de la Mothe Le Vayer, 1662 The lovely engraving of a pilgrim — […]
Posted inNews
Event Sunday to Commemorate 140th Anniversary of Chinese Expulsion
In memory of the 140th anniversary of the government sanctioned expulsion of Chinese residents from Eureka, the Humboldt Asian and Pacific Islanders in Solidarity (HAPI), a DreamMaker Program of the Ink People Center for the Arts, is hosting an informal gathering, altar and walk at the Eureka Chinatown Mural on Sunday. The expulsion, which took […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
A Brief History of Dildos
“Thou … madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them.” — Ezekiel 16:17, KJV Along with notable human achievements such as the invention of the plow and the wheel, we should also celebrate a much older innovation, by tens of thousands of years: the dildo. In 2005, a team of researchers […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Humboldt Bay Timeline
Humboldt Bay (Wigi, to the Wiyot people) is actually a lagoon, the largest protected large body of water between San Francisco and Puget Sound. It’s about 14 miles long and varies in width between a few hundred yards and 5 miles, with an area between 11 (low tide) and 24 (high tide) square miles. What […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Chinese Again in Humboldt, Part Three
Editor’s note: This story, which originally ran in the Ferndale Enterprise, includes racist language in quotations from historical newspaper articles. On Sunday, Sept. 30, 1906, one day after a mixed-race workforce of Chinese and Japanese men and white women arrived at the Starbuck-Tallant Co.’s salmon cannery in Port Kenyon, a mass meeting took place in […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Chinese Again in Humboldt, Part Two
Editor’s note: This story, which originally appeared in the Ferndale Enterprise, contains quotations that include racist language and slurs. On Saturday, Sept. 29, 1906, the steamer Roanoke arrived in Eureka’s harbor from Astoria, Oregon. Among its passengers were members of the management team for the new salmon cannery about to begin operations at Port Kenyon, […]
Posted inNews
Marking a Milestone
When Arcata voters cast their ballots to fill two open seats on the city council in the November election, they probably weren’t thinking about making history — again. Long known for being on the cutting edge of progressive politics — the college town made national headlines back in 1996 after seating the country’s first Green […]