Growing up in Marin County, Bill Kimberlin remembers his mother taking him to visit the set of “Blood Alley,” a 1955 Cold War adventure set in China starring John Wayne and Lauren Bacall, back in…
Posts published in “Essays”
As AVA readers have interest in Mendocino County history beyond the Anderson Valley the following is offered. It’s easy to be researching one project and get waylaid by interesting materials that have nothing to do…
Spring has been slow to come to Upstate New York. There have been snow flurries in April, and the yearned-for arrival of green in the landscape has been halting. Like the humans, the leaves seem…
The lesson of COVID-19 is that nature demands respect. If we continue trying to dominate and commodify nature, we will pay dearly. “Rampant deforestation, uncontrolled expansion of agriculture, intensive farming, mining and infrastructure development, as…
Ukiah attorney Al Kubanis has a really cool office. Smack dab across from the county courthouse’s Perkins Street entrance, you can’t miss it from the street; just head for the building with the unapologetic Trump…
In the 1970s, fewer political radicals and more drug-law violators were seeking legal help. Kayo Hallinan moved from 345 Franklin St. —where father Vince and brother Butch had their offices— to another family-owned building, 819…
I love parks. City parks and small town parks. Don’t we all? Somebody smart said every great city has a great public park, or two. Sometimes small towns have a great small park. “Great” is…
Way back in high school I somehow got the wild idea to ride a bicycle down the entire West Coast, from the Canadian to Mexican borders. Well why not? Summer was coming, I was all…
Last time we recounted the killing of a Yuki warrior named Shemia by his fellow Yuki, Mamalcoosh. The piece also discussed how their names were anglicized to “Indian Charley” and “Billy Malmaquist,” respectively. The only…