THE ANDERSON VALLEY Historical Society invites one and all to our annual Membership Meeting in the Rose Room on the grounds of the AV History Museum at the Little Red School House. This free event will take place on Sunday, July 21, starting at 1:00 pm.
The event will feature a lively talk, with photos, about the history of the Albion Branch of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad, presented by AVHS Board Vice President Marvin Schenck, with additional oral history from Schoolhouse Museum docent Bill Seekins.
The rail line once ran northwest from Anderson Valley to Albion on the coast, and there were grander plans to build the route southeast to Healdsburg, to be part of a railway line stretching from San Francisco to Oregon. Though the Albion Branch was never connected to the mainline of the Northwestern Pacific, it was vital economic driver and transportation link for the early prosperity of Anderson Valley.
Marvin will narrate the history of the railroad and its cargoes, complete with images of Wendling, the large sawmill and lumber town that once stood where Highway 128 bends by the Navarro Store. Bill will contribute tales of the Deep End logging spurs, including the story of the runaway train wreck in the hills up Nash Mill Road.
Marvin, the retired curator of the Grace Hudson Museum, has been researching the Albion Branch and the Northwestern Pacific Railroad, and collecting photos, for twenty years. Bill is a longtime AV History Museum supporter and is extremely knowledgeable about the history of our valley.
As always, we’ll welcome memories, comments and questions from the audience. Our Annual Membership Meetings always turn into fun, interactive round-table get-togethers. We’ll have finger food and drinks on hand. All ages welcome. And, as we said above, it’s a free event. See you there! For more information, please call 895-9020.
(Jerry Karp)
A COUPLE named Hunter will open a restaurant in the Farrer Building, central Boonville, in space previously occupied by the Pronsolino ladies’ antique store. The Hunters have operated popular restaurants in Point Arena and Gualala.
MEANWHILE, the Buckhorn is for sale, premises and all. The building, designed by the late Harry Glasscock who also designed the AV Health Center, originally was home to Ken Allen’s and David Norfleet’s pioneer Boonville Brewery, since grown so large it is now located on a much larger site at the junction of Highways 128 and 253. How much for the Buckhorn? Brace yourselves — $1,395,000, which includes a house in back, all the fixtures, an inexhaustible well, commercial septic system, but not the liquor license.
DO WE have a new doctor at the Health Center? Not that the ancient medical mariner Mark Apfel shows any signs of fatigue, but yes, Chloe Guazzone-Rugebregt, manager of the enterprise tells us that Dr. Ramnik Kaur, a female family practitioner, is at the clinic on a “temporary-to-permanent” basis. Dr. Kaur is looking for a rental in The Valley, and if you have anything, please call in the good news to Ms. Guazzone-Rugebregt at 895-3477.
OLD SCHOOL GUY that I am, I’m loathe to address people I barely know by their first names, but on those rare occasions I address the unfailingly delightful Chloe Guazzone-Rugebregt, I resort to ‘Chloe.’ It would take me another life time to correctly pronounce her surname which, the last time I tried, came out something like, Ms. Guacamole-Rutabaga, no insult intended. I wonder how many people get it right first time around?
THE YORKVILLE MARKET is taking sign-ups for their BBQ competition on July 20th. Contact Lisa at the Market for more information or if you are interested. 894-9456. Trophy and Monetary prizes awarded to winners.
BOONVILLE’S favorite spice on sale for locals - $20 for a 3oz vacuum sealed bag (a $30 value) of Piment D'Ville, dried and ground espelette pepper. This red pepper powder can be your go-to seasoning for all sorts of cooking, and it was grown right here in Boonville! Localize your spice rack and get the locals special price by messaging me here or emailing Kendra@bucketranch.com to arrange pickup at the farm in Boonville.
THE WAY WE LIVE NOW: For rent, located just 1/2 mile south and a little east of the Botanical Gardens, this rental is up a dirt road giving lots of privacy, just a few minutes from Fort Bragg and about a 12 minute drive to Mendocino. There's wood stove heat + efficient supplemental electric heaters, gas stove, beautiful garden as well as a small pond. It's partially furnished. Pets are negotiable. Stackable Washer/Dryer. Looking for long-term responsible and conscientious tenants with work & personal references/good credit. Rent — 2000/month + utilities Please CALL for more info. 510-323-5257 Will be interviewing prospective tenants July 6th & 7th.
BURTON SEGALL! “Hello all. I moved from Boonville in 2010, and I am now a Licensed Acupuncturist and would like to return to the area. I am open to living in other parts of the county that are within a reasonable drive to Boont if it's for a good living situation. Please message me if you have such a place or can steer me toward one, or if you'd like to know more about acupuncture. https://www.facebook.com/burton.segall”
QUIZ THURSDAY. Tomorrow, July 11th, the Big Boonville Quiz will be held at Lauren’s Restaurant in downtown Boonville. Last week I celebrated Britain’s honorable withdrawal from hostilities in the American War of Terror and Treachery of the 1770s. Cheers, Steve Sparks, The Quiz Master
NEED HELP WITH MARKET APPLE PRESS. Apple season is fast approaching and the Foodshed apple press needs people to help transport it to market and oversee its use on Friday evenings at the Boonville Farmers’ Market. If you can help in this capacity one or more times this season, please call Cindy at 895-2949 or email wildeacre@gmail.com.
A WOMAN WHO'D been plowing through the ava’s website was concerned: "I am considering moving up there for a job opportunity and am a bit concerned I might wind up in a backwards, Deliverance kinda place. The way I figured I'd learn more was to read local opinions about divisive issues. I saw this blurb and wondered whether the writer understood that some girls are born with penises and some boys with vaginas, or whether the writer mistakenly believed transgender kids need conversion therapy. I figured it out, though. I read through too fast earlier. Is there a complete lack of understanding up there when it comes to transgender kids or is that just one writer's opinion?"
IT WAS this writer’s opinion that neurotic adults shouldn’t talk their 7-year-olds into gender confusion, but as this community’s welcome wagon I took pains to allay the apprehensive dear's worst fears that she might be moving to an incorrect kinda place. We’ve got it all, I said, including one winery and two restaurants per capita, NPR, CostCo and jelly donuts just over the hill, and whatever gender you identify with. Think of it as Frisco in the redwoods.
ANOTHER NEWSPAPER gone, this one the venerable Youngstown Vindicator, the newspaper that brought down any number of crooked elected officials including the biggest crook of all, Trafficant, who's still whining that the paper maligned him. Established in 1869, the paper limped along in the counter-deluge of FaceTubeTwit but simply ran out of people who still read newspapers. The AVA? Not quite dead, but we peaked back around 1990 before the internet kicked in and the national attention span was further distracted. Widely despised in its primary circulation area by all the right people, it’s exactly that bracing hostility that daily reminds us it’s still worth doing.
SUNNY'S DONUTS on deep South State Street was quiet the morning of July 4th. "Where you have your party today," Maria, the always merry counter lady asks, and unlike most clerks she waits for an answer like she's interested, which she seems to be. I reply with the deflating minimum. "At my house." Then she says, "If I forget your name you get a free one, Mike. And you get a free one on your birthday, too." I ask her to guess my age. Maria takes a real look, ponders the wreckage she sees before her, and offers, "63?" "Close enough," I lie, “but my name is Bruce.” Maria says, “It's free today, Bruce, because you remembered my name, but I forgot yours." I pay up. “But you got my age right, Maria, so it's a tie."
FARTHER SOUTH, hundreds of cars and big, shiny, tank-size pick-up trucks lined 101 between Squaw Rock, aka Frog Woman Rock, and Cloverdale, as shoals of picnickers made their way to the banks of the Russian River, one of the most glorious people's parks in California.
AT SANTA ROSA, northbound traffic is bumper-to-bumper, and stays that way all the way to Novato, just like a work day commute. Where could all these people be going on a holiday or are there just so many people a bunch are always on the road?
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