Kudos for Great Escapes: Northern California

Sorry for the shameless plug but I'm proud to say that my book, Great Escapes: Northern California, was awarded the silver prize for guidebooks at the 2009 Society of American Travel Writers' Western Chapter Awards this week.
The judge called the book "a study in defining your audience and delivering exactly what you promise: ideas for people who have time only for a day trip or, at most, a weekend, often on the spur of the moment....With remarkable range for its slim 192 pages, it scores a direct hit, deftly covering the most important sights, injecting a bit of history and offering ideas for active pursuits as well as more languid exploration....The author rises to the challenge of paring down worthy sights and activities in this overendowed region and manages to take readers beyond the obvious."
I'm blushing.

The Old and New South Beach

In the 1850s, San Francisco was a wild town where lots of young men were making lots of money very quickly. We can only imagine. There aren't many places left where you wander among buildings of that time but one is South Beach, where some of the city's oldest structures lie alongside some of the newest. On a recent City Guides tour of the area guide Ward Miller took a group of us from the corner of Mission and Spear to a few blocks south of the Bay Bridge anchor. First off was the still-handsome Audiffred Building from 1880, built by a French businessman who struck it rich in San Francisco. Today, it's still elegant, the home of the restaurant Boulevard.
But this area has seen its ups and downs. It was originally not land at all, but part of San Francisco bay. Early San Franciscans bought "water lots" with the prospect that the "lots," where ships from all the world docked, would be filled in -- and they were, making some of the investors very wealthy as the area turnerd into prime port property (their mansions nearby on Rincon Hill were testaments to that; however none remain). The 1906 earthquake and fire changed everything. Rincon Hill was heavily damaged and the area was not rebuilt. For years the streets were lined with flophouses, bars and warehouses. The Port of San Francisco got another hit in the 1960s with the advent of container shipping, which went to the better-equipped Port of Oakland, leaving South Beach/Rincon Hill further in the dumps. All that has changed in the last few years, of course. The tear-down of the Embarcadero Freeway, the building of the Giants ballpark and the construction of thousands of new apartments and condominiums have turned it into a new neighborhood. There still are remnants of its working class past. Red's Java House (above right), a funky and fun old diner perched on a pier, still dishes out chili and hot dogs.
Hills Brothers Coffee, which for decades roasted beans along the waterfront here, is today an office complex but you can walk inside, under the old silo where the beans were stored and see the statue of the company's trademark Arabian mascot (left). As the security guard at the desk and he'll let you see the small display of historic photos inside. Make sure to stop in the Art Deco-style Rincon Hill Post Office to see the murals from the 1930s. Pick up a brochure describing their history at the information desk. A block south, at the corner of Harrison and Spear, is one of the oldest buildings in the city, a warehouse from 1856 now turned into live-work lofts. Heading south under the Bay Bridge, stroll Delancey Street and, near Federal Alley, note the plaque in the pavement marking the shoreline from 1857. At Delancy and Vernon Alley look up at the Oriental Warehouse Company building, one of the original warehouses from 1870, now renovated. From there we were on our own to stroll back along the Embarcadero, which has become one of the city's most delightful walking areas, with the grassy area around Cupid's Arrow sculpture (top left) by Claude Oldenberg and Pier 41, both terrific places to take a rest and watch tugboats, ferries, sailboats and kayakers glide by.

Sacramento Saturdays

One Saturday evening each month the sidewalks in Sacramento's Midtown are teeming with people, New York-style, and restaurants, cafes and art galleries are abuzz with the kind of vibe you don't usually associate with the sleepy state capitol.
This is the area -- between 18th and 26th Streets a few blocks north of the capitol -- where the 2nd Saturday ArtWalk takes place on, yes, the second Saturday of each month. Businesses, including a couple of dozen art galleries, stay open until at least 9 p.m. and offer wine-and-cheese receptions while showcasing their collections of sculpture, painting and other types of art. Street musicians and bands perform outside, people mingle and wander the usually quiet neighborhood and, all in all, it's quite a happening.
The ArtWalk capped a full day in Sacramento where I traveled with a group of travel writers recently. We toured a couple of new hotels, including Le Rivage, a luxury property on the Sacramento River (and home of the local outpost of Scott's Seafood) two miles from downtown, and the snazzy The Citizen, (at right) which Joie De Vivre Hospitality opened in November. The San Francisco- based company, known for its unique and themed hotels in the Bay Area, completely remodeled a handsome 82-year old office tower downtown. The 198-room boutique hotel, with its elegant Art Deco lobby and restaurant, adds a touch of chic to Sacramento's chain-based hotel scene.
I was also able to check out a new exhibit of beautiful Indian baskets from 20 different California tribes at the California Museum (on display until March 14, 2010). It's amazing to see the intricate work such as that done by the Achumawi tribe of Shasta County whose baskets (below), made in 1900, were woven from pine roots, willow shoots, grass and other fibers.
A few blocks south in Old Sacramento I stopped in to revisit everyone's favorite railroad museum, the California State Railroad Museum. Even if you're not a rail buff, you'll understand why people get obsessive about trains when you hop on the steam locomotives, read about the engineering feat of laying track through the Sierras and see the golden "Lost Spike" up close.
Before setting out on the ArtWalk, we had a lovely dinner at Mulvaney's B&L where chef Patrick Mulvaney emphasizes local ingredients and American comfort food served under the tall ceilings of a restored 1893 firehouse. There seems to be more reason than ever to check out Sacramento.

Spring in the Pinnacles

April and May are the prime months to visit Pinnacles National Monument, the craggy remains of an ancient volcano that rise out of the Gabilan Mountains in central California, south of the town of Hollister. Last weekend, with the poppies and other wildflowers blooming and the hills a lush green, it was no surprise that the park's campground was at capacity. The weather was in the high 60s, perfect for the two main activities here: hiking and rock climbing. Even with parking lots full, you could still find plenty of solitude along the trails and in quiet moments gazing at the stars in the clear night sky.
Pinnacles is renowned among rock climbers, who love its dramatic outcroppings and sheer walls. The visitor center stocks climbers' guides describing routes. But most people come here to walk the trails and explore the caves and tunnels, many carved from the rock by the Civilian Conservation Corp. during a massive public works project in the 1930s.
A group of friends and I hiked the easy 2.2-mile Moses Spring-Rim Trail Loop, where the only challenge was crouching as we negotiated a few tight spots (with flashlights) in the caves. We came across a small bat taking an afternoon nap (photo at right), apparently part of a colony of Townsend's big-eared bats, which stay in the cave year round, according to park literature.

In recent years, the Pinnacles has become known for a much grander winged creature: the California condor. The park is one of only a few release sites in the U.S. and Mexico of this endangered species, which is the largest of North American land birds. A captive breeding program in the 1980s and 1990s has been successful and it's now common to see condors flying and swooping over the high peaks. Their wingspans can reach 10 feet. Two telescopes are available outside the visitor center to help with close up viewing and rangers are often close by to help with identification (they can easily be mistaken for vultures and ravens).
If you go, however, bring your own binoculars to carry along the trails. And, get to the Pinnacles before mid June when the wildflowers fade and the weather really heats up.

A Tale of Two Bakeries

When I was up in Sebastopol and Forestville recently I came across two bakeries, each wonderful in their own way.
Early in the morning, just before I walked up to Florence Avenue to see Patrick Amiot's art (see previous post), I tracked down Patisserie Angelica, a bakery that I had heard about for some time. I wandered around lost a bit because it's a little difficult to find. When you get to the Whole Foods in downtown Sebastopol look east and you'll see a nondescript A-Frame building (the address is 6821 Laguna Park Way). That's Patisserie Angelica.
Step inside and you're in a different world -- a Parisian type of world. The display case of cakes and pastries is a jewel box of treats. I love almond croissants and the one I had was the real deal: buttery, flaky and still warm from the oven. I savored it with a caffe latte. Not surprisingly, the pastry chef, Condra Easley, trained in Paris and it shows.
A few hours later, I headed up the winding old Cazadero Highway out of Monte Rio on the Russian River.
The goal was Raymond's, a totally different type of bakery than Patisserie Angelica. People drive from miles around for Raymond's breads, pizza and focaccia served in a cozy, neighborly atmosphere in a spot in a curve of the road, nestled under tall redwood trees. The old logging town of Cazadero is a mile away. I loved the rustic-style mushroom-onion-olive focaccia, pillowy and baked crisp, and friends in Forestville raved about the Italian ciabatta loaf I brought them that evening. Raymond's would be an ideal place for picnic supplies when you're on your way to Jenner or other spots on the north Sonoma coast but call ahead because their hours are limited. It's only open three days a week: Fridays, Saturday and Sundays. On Fridays, Raymond's stays open until 9 p.m. but on weekends it closes at 3 p.m. and some breads or pizzas sell out earlier than that so call ahead to make sure they have what you're after (I took the photo above at left at 1 p.m. on a Saturday and some of the shelves were already bare).

A Neighborhood Gallery of Sorts

A few years ago, Patrick Amiot, a French-Canadian who lives in Sebastopol with his wife, Brigitte, and two daughters, came across an old rowboat at a flea market, bought it and transformed it into a sculpture: a giddy fisherman holding his catch.Amiot displayed it out on his front lawn and found it soon drew a lot of people who couldn't help but smile when they saw the whimsical sulpture on Florence Avenue. It was the start of an outdoor art gallery in Sebastopol, which has undergone a relatively recent transition from agricultural town to a leftist mecca, a kind of Berkeley for Sonoma County. Today, many of Amiot's neighbors on Florence -- and friends all over Sebastopol -- have placed Amiot's sculptures, made from objects he's found on scavenger hunts, in their front yards.
Some of the residents selected the pieces and bought them, but others are simply displaying them (if there's one that you fancy, you can ask the artist about making a purchase or having one custom designed). You can't help but grin as you stroll through the pretty neighborhood of old Victorians just a few blocks from downtown. In one yard, there's a skeleton riding a motorcyle. A few steps away there's a farmer with a chicken on his tractor and, across the street, blondes in a red convertible. Amiot's house (top) is the funkiest, with a scattering of sculptures and an old fire alarm box with free guides to his works in front.
To get to Florence from downtown, begin at the corner of Main and Bodega and head west on Bodega, turn right on Florence and walk the few blocks. One of the houses is the George A. Strout House (at 253 Florence), a 1903 Queen Anne Victorian on the National Registry of Historic Places. Continue on Florence until Healdsburg Avenue turn left to make a loop back downtown.

Trendspotting in Northern California

An image came to mind after attending this week's Northern California Visitor Industry Outlook Conference: the thousands of people lined up along San Francisco's Crissy Field on a beautiful day several months ago to watch the arrival of the Queen Mary, the largest ship ever to sail under the Golden Gate Bridge. It was an exciting day and an amazing sight -- the massive ship seemed to barely squeeze under the span. Those kinds of experiences -- fun, close to home and free -- may be what people will be looking for this year and possibly for a couple of years to come. The industry experts and economists at the forum painted a gloomy picture of the U.S. economy and its impact on travel. Consumers are "spending less and staying closer to home," said Dan Mishell, research director for the California Travel and Tourism Commission. A recent CTTC survey found that 19% of consumers planned to take fewer trips this year and 23% would stay with friends and family instead of paying for lodging. The upshot for travelers who have a bit of discretionary income is that they will find good deals: hotels all over California are lowering prices to lure guests. In San Francisco, hotel prices are dropping and the convention and visitors bureau is starting a special campaign to attract locals to the city's special events, such as the King Tut exhibit opening June 27 at the DeYoung. For better or for worse, that term coined last year -- "staycation" -- looks like it's here to stay.

A Bit of Bhutan in San Francisco

It's one of those places that people who've been say IS truly magical -- the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan. It's on my wish list but, for now, an exhibit here in San Francisco will have to do. The Dragon's Gift: The Sacred Arts of Bhutan, opens Saturday, Feb. 21 at the Asian Art Museum. I got a sneak preview at a press event of the spectacular objects that cover three galleries on the museum's first floor. Last year was the first time Bhutanese art has ever been exhibited outside of Bhutan: the show went first to Honolulu and then to New York. "It's a wonderful platform for Bhutan," said a beaming Penden Wangchuck (shown above), Bhutan's minister of cultural affairs, on Wednesday. "It's an opportunity to showcase a small country wedged in the Himalayas between two giants, India and China." He said all the objects are sacred to the Bhutanese, who practice a type of Buddhism (Vajrayana) that arrived in the country -- one of the few in Asia never colonized -- in the 8th century. The exhibit pieces are used in daily religious practices, such as a ritual to wash away bad karma. Sculptures of dieties are covered with gold, turquoise and coral. Just outside the galleries, Bhutanese monks chant and perform rituals at an altar several times a day during the duration of the exhibit. The museum store, as usual, is selling some terrific stuff, including new items from Bhutan. I came away vowing to return soon to see the art at a calmer pace -- and to get some of that bad karma cleansed.