Eye Doctor

This is another residential type building converted to a medical office. I like the symmetry, appropriately enough, for an eye doctor's establishment. I also like the shadows cast by the bare branches of a sycamore, as the winter sun lowers in the west. Elsewhere, ornamental plum and pear trees are just beginning to open their blooms. Soon, it will be spring again.

It's countdown time at Willits Daily Photo. This blog was started last year on March 13th. There's just a few more days to go.

Construction Progress

Work continues apace on the office construction on the site of Mason Cook's towing and automotive services lot. When the developer started, it was to be a mixed retail frontage, but an engineering firm down the street spotted it, and grabbed up a lease on the whole new and spacious complex. It's good to hear that the firm needs to expand and add staff, and good to see builders employed. Before the recent rains this past week, the roof was already on.

Casino Name Change

The Sherwood Valley Pomo Rancheria has the small Black Bart Casino on its land, which is now undergoing a name change to, simply, Sherwood Valley Casino. As with all American Indian gaming businesses, it provides important income for the local band or tribe, and can employ Pomos and non-Pomos alike.

For those unfamiliar with the name Black Bart, he was a legendary stagecoach robber in the late 1800s in northern California, accomplishing one such hold-up just on the other side of Ridgewood Summit, to the south of Little Lake Valley. That Wells Fargo stage happened to have Hiram Willits as a passenger that day. Charles Bolles, aka Black Bart, was a white man, so "black" didn't have racial significance, rather he adopted the name from a popular fictional character of the time. He eventually served time in San Quentin. I'm not really one for romanticizing criminals of any era, so I personally welcome this casino name change.

The Mortuary

There's one mortuary in town, Anker-Lucier, located on the corner of Commercial and School Streets. The red tile roof with white stucco is rare in this county, and reminds me of the Spanish Colonial Revival style found in more southerly parts of the state. There were a couple of Mexican land grants in Mendocino, but the Spanish era missions came no further north than Sonoma county.

I did not personally know Dave Tiller, but earlier this week he lost his long battle with pancreatic cancer. I do know that he was a police officer who touched many lives here in Willits, and his memorial will be this Saturday. Photos of a barbecue to raise funds for his treatment trips to San Francisco were posted here last June.

Bunny Dumpster

I'm not entirely clear on what all the spray-paint tagging on the one dumpster means, but at least I can read the word "bunny" on the right. Can anyone tell me what it says on the left?

These were just the outer edge of a large collection of commercial sized dumpsters, apparently being stored on the big lot next to the Solid Wastes of Willits transfer station. They turned out to be fun photo subjects, so I may have to post some more from that excursion. The large structures in the background are part of the Willits Redwood Company mill, across Blosser Lane.

Shuster's Truck Lot

The "domino" effect of the shrinking economy will likely put the squeeze on any number of local businesses. The Shuster family has been around here for generations, and their fleet of white trucks are commonly seen on the roads of the region. Let's hope they "keep on truckin'" for a long time to come.

Loose Caboose

The Loose Caboose is a popular sandwich eatery tucked away on Wood Street behind the Book Juggler, with their dining patio leading to the restaurant. As you step through the gate, this fantasy painting greets you with childlike conceptions of castle and rainbow and fairy, along with a "loose" caboose, unaided by a locomotive. The railroad theme is appropriate for a town with so many rail connections, and so many fantasies of seeing them all operate again.

Mariposa Metamorphosis

I wasn't around Willits for the beginnings of Mariposa Market, but I'm told they once were located in the shop spaces behind a wall I posted on this blog last spring. For the past decade, they have done business behind this iconic mural. Now, once again, they have metamorphosed into a new and larger space, right next door to the last one, on the site of the old Skunk Motel. They dedicated themselves to natural and organic foods, health products and clothing way back when only "hippies" were interested in such things. Today, they have more mainstream competition, but seem to be going strong on greater mainstream interest.

METALfx Employee Patio

The outdoor break area is too damp for comfort these days for employees of METALfx. A recent story in the local paper indicates far greater discomfort is looming for them if this manufacturing company decides to leave town. The hope is that they will sufficiently retrench by simply consolidating their two Willits plants into one. If that doesn't pencil out, 150 jobs will go somewhere else.

Meat Marketing

The John Ford Ranch is right here in Little Lake Valley, and makes the beef they raise available locally, with their name right on it (the package on the right). Willits is a good place to be if you value knowing exactly where your food is coming from. The cattle take a detour to Eureka up in Humboldt county, where the nearest licensed slaughterhouse is located. But the food comes back here, and I am reassured that I can talk to the Fords, see the cattle in the pastures, and trust the environment they have been in.

We can also get American Bison meat, raised near the Ukiah Valley just 25 miles south of us, from the J Bar S Ranch (the packages on the left). Nearly driven to extinction in the 19th century, they've made a comeback as a marketable food source. I've never tried the meat, but it is said to be low in fat, so appeals to calorie-conscious diners.

Churchill Slept Here

According to the Willits News, Winston Churchill stayed at the Van Hotel on September 13, 1929 with some other associates on their way from Canada to San Francisco. Are we strategically placed? Or just a celebrity magnet?

VanHotelDetail Jigsaw Puzzle

Younger Than Springtime, Are You...

One of our local bloggers, Ron Bloomquist of Walking Fort Bragg, is now in Washington state caring for his mother-in-law. With seamless grace, he continues to blog his new surroundings as well as his personal adventures along the path of life. A recent post showed his discovery of the beauty salon his mother-in-law patronizes, with him watching like a kid in a foreign land.

These hair dryers, seen through the glass door at Valerie's, remind me of tagging along as a kid with my mother in the 60s, when carefully placed scalp-fulls of rollers and clips roasted under the tiny jets of air. Then, when unrolled and combed and brushed and fluffed and sprayed, a halo of controlled chaos crowned the well groomed customer. In today's fashions, these machines are mostly used to apply heat to chemical applications of color or "permanent waves". My thanks to Ron for reviving the memories, and my best wishes to him and his entire family.

Jazz in the Afternoon

A local jazz trio offered cool sounds on an easy afternoon at coffehouse Mendonesia last weekend (the piano is out of frame). We may be small, but we've got it all. Some time, I'll try to capture the open mic poetry readings done here each month.

Double Arrows

The loading dock for hay and other feed from J.D. Redhouse is also the exit passage for their parking lot, so for just a moment or two, we all get to feel like farmers.

Fantasy Land

Coincidentally combining elements from the previous two posts, the westernmost end of the J.D. Redhouse building mural casts the Mendocino coast into a planet of fantasy, with a moon in a pink sky as the viewer looks north. The camouflage tarp reveals the contrast between fantasy forest green paint and more realistic hues. I'm not a fan of the color "teal", but I actually like this mural. I suspect the black trailer is there if needed for deliveries of hay bales to area farms.

FantasyMuralCamoTr Jigsaw Puzzle

Chad's Obsession

A British visitor once declared that Chad's Fish and Chips were the most authentic he had tasted anywhere in the US. What is not British is the singular enthusiasm Chad has for the Oakland Raiders, an American football team. The photo of the back wall, above, shows only a fraction of the team paraphernalia on display at Chad's. A former Raider has even stopped in a few times. As you can see, if they are playing in a game, you can be sure it will be on the widescreen TV for the dining area, as well as on another in the kitchen. His devotion spans decades, to a time when they were one of the leading teams in the nation, and when their on and off-field reputation was notoriously wild. I'm not a follower of the sport, but even I can figure out they weren't doing too well against New England the day I snapped this. Times have changed, but loyal Chad has not.

Noyo Neon Detail

Thanksgiving and Christmas are big business at movie houses. With households full of gathered relatives, the food gets eaten, the games get played, then somebody gets designated to drive the younger ones to see a show. Film distributors schedule openings of selected films just for this occasion, to take advantage of ready-made packed houses. Three screens accommodate varied tastes at the Noyo cinema right here in Willits.

Christmas Shopping

This will be the weekend I try to get it all done. It really is nice to have a truly "general" store in town like J.D. Redhouse, that's locally owned (not a "chain", yet), and stocked with good quality inventory. You can drive away from here with everything from a bale of hay, a pony bridle, and birdseed, to a bath mat, boots, and a bra (or berry smoothie). But what to get Mom?

Local Drugs

I finally realized why the local Rexall affiliated pharmacy doesn't light this neon sign, even in the early hour of darkness of winter: much of the tubing is missing!

Other local drugs, of the outdoor sort, have been harvested for the season. Thanks to my favorite Humboldt county blogsister, Redheaded Blackbelt, I'm now aware that there was something of a regional harvest festival, with awards for the best produce, right here in Mendocino county very recently. Click here to learn about "sun bud" and related trends in green thinking.

More Comfort Food

After all the running around of Thanksgiving week, I needed to get some laundry done. Which put me in Evergreen Shopping Center, which put me just a wander away from the Super Taco restaurant while my clothes dried. After so much turkey and potatoes and gravy, it was nice to sit down to a pretty dish of another kind of comfort food: tamales.

There are lots of circles in this picture, but it is not yet theme day... just a hint to absent-minded City Daily Photo Bloggers to be ready to go tomorrow!