Mendocino’s Star Power

Perched on a high bluff overlooking Northern California’s rock-studded coast, this village may be the most beautiful community in all of America.

OK, so it takes chutzpah to bestow this honor single-handedly, and some may see it as traitorous, given that I’ve lived in Washington, D.C., for 36 years, within shouting distance of hundreds of places that easily can be called quaint and charming and pretty. But in travels that have taken me to all 50 states, I’ve yet to come across a town that boosts my spirits and delights my senses quite the way this place does. When I make my Top 10 list of favorite U.S. places, Mendocino always comes out first.

Now that I’ve disclosed my bias, let me explain the why of it and see whether you agree with me.

Once a logging port, reborn in the ‘60s and ‘70s as a hippie haven and now an artist’s colony, Mendocino was blessed at birth with a spectacular natural setting, which it has managed to preserve and even enhance through both luck and hard work. The compact town is enveloped on three sides by 347-acre Mendocino Headlands State Park, a sprawling grass-covered bluff cut by rocky coves. The park’s network of cliff-edge hiking trails begins on Main Street in the very heart of town. In an ongoing show of oceanic prowess, roiling Pacific waves splash incessantly against the jagged shoreline.

On a visit earlier this summer, my wife, Sandy, and I woke up each morning with a panoramic view of headlands and sea, which we enjoyed right from the four-poster bed in the small inn where we stayed.

Sure, you say, but scenic beauty counts for only so much. What does the village look like? For starters, it’s so pretty that it starred for years as the setting for the fictional Cabot Cove, Maine, in Angela Lansbury’s TV series “Murder, She Wrote.” Lansbury played author Jessica Fletcher, who lived in Blair House, an 1888 Victorian mansion that is now one of the town’s 15 bed-and-breakfast inns.

Mendocino was no work of fiction. It was founded in the 19th century by seafarers from the East Coast who built solid Cape Cods and gabled Victorians, and most buildings now have been carefully restored by the artists or art enthusiasts who inhabit them. Hollywood, of course, knows a pretty face and has taken advantage of this town’s charms for decades. Two old favorites, “East of Eden,” the 1955 classic starring James Dean, and the 1966 comedy “The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming,” starring Alan Arkin, were filmed here.

Mendocino, a town of 1,000, distinguishes itself by the absence of sprawl. The park has spared it. And similarly, no tacky strip malls greet you on arrival, no fast food outlets; no supermarkets; not even a motel. Time and again, as I’ve crisscrossed America, I’m dismayed by the roadside clutter. Small wonder Mendocino impresses me so.My main reason for returning repeatedly is to savor the seascapes as I hike the headlands, to revel in the beauty and to soak up enough images to sustain me in the months or years I’m away.

But this town and the surrounding countryside provide plenty of more active diversions. A tourist brochure lists “101 Things to Do on the Mendocino Coast.” A sampling:

Kayak the sea caves of nearby Van Damme State Park. Sample the vintages at the many fine wineries in the Anderson Valley, a few miles inland. Pick up a brochure for a self-guided walking tour of the town’s art galleries and workshops. Bicycle around, as Jessica Fletcher did. (The town terrain is mostly flat, sloping gently to the sea.) Go for a horseback ride on the beach just up the coast in Fort Bragg. Relax with an outdoor hot-tub soak and a 60-minute massage in a funky spa. Try the free samples at Mendocino Jams & Preserves, one of the many intriguing shops on Main Street. Take in a performance of the Mendocino Theatre Company. Buy fresh salmon off the 500-vessel fishing fleet at Fort Bragg and barbecue it on the beach. Or simply stroll around town--you can walk from one end to the other in about 10 minutes--taking in the architectural delights.

Overhanging balconies shade much of Main Street, some of which is lined with old-fashioned raised wood sidewalks. Though not as ornate as San Francisco’s mansions, the Victorian homes here display fancy scrollwork and other embellishments. Atop the Savings Bank of Mendocino County is a weather-vane-like sculpture of Father Time and the Maiden, which a 19th century mill worker reportedly carved from a block of redwood. Residents proudly hail it as one of America’s most extraordinary pieces of folk art.

Like Mendocino itself. There are other, more authentic fishing and logging towns along the Pacific coast, but like the Venice of Italy, Mendocino is an art treasure that feels not quite real and can never be replicated.

Not surprisingly, the combination of lovely scenery, inviting inns, excellent restaurants and a wealth of activities has made this town a popular weekend destination from San Francisco, about a three-hour drive to the south if you take U.S. 101 and California 128. But I recommend taking the four-to five-hour drive along the coast on California 1. I measured the distance to Mendocino from the Golden Gate Bridge at 185 slow but continuously gorgeous miles, nearly every one offering dramatic views of the sea’s array of greens and blues. Sometimes the narrow, two-lane road snakes along the edge of precipitous cliffs, plunging back down beside one of the many beach parks along the way. Twisting in such tight curves that the speed limit frequently drops to 15 mph, the road passes countless rock-filled coves and deep gulches, tunnels through thick groves of eucalyptus and noses through tiny fishing villages--real ones like Tomales near Point Reyes National Seashore.

We booked a sea-view room at John Dougherty House, an eight-room bed-and-breakfast we had admired on an earlier visit. The 1867 structure looks a bit unprepossessing from the street, but it encircles a wonderful English garden planted with 300 varieties of blossoming perennials, shrubs, fruit trees and herbs, a sort of welcoming bouquet to admire and enjoy every time we stepped from our room.

Our cozy, uncluttered Osprey Room was situated for the best views, on the second floor of a cottage at the rear of the garden. Two large windows and a glass door opened on a private balcony that faced the headlands, so I could savor the seascapes.

After checking in, we stopped first at the Ford House, an 1854 sawmill owner’s home that serves as the Mendocino Headlands State Park Visitor Center. A museum details the town’s early history as a “dog-hole” port, “only big enough to allow a dog to go in, turn around and come back out.” Sea captains inched their windjammers into the tight coves ringed by lofty bluffs. Their cargo was logs that had been harvested up to 50 miles inland and floated down the Big River to Mendocino. There the logs were sent sliding down long chutes from the bluffs to the waiting ships. Remnants of these chutes still stand on the cliffs.

In another room, the curious Mendocino Museum of Mourning provides a glimpse of Victorian funeral practices, part of a local effort to preserve Mendocino County’s pioneer Victorian cemeteries. I spied a beaded glass tear catcher, a way to hold for at least a while those tears shed for the departed. But I was in no mood for gloom. Outside, the afternoon sun had cast a blanket of sparkling diamonds on the sea.

Most mornings we hiked for a couple of hours on the headlands. From Main Street, the park stretches across open meadows--covered in summer with tall, dry grass--to the edge of sheer cliffs high above the crashing surf. Miles of unpaved trails skirt the ragged bluff. At several places we watched the waves relentlessly enlarging natural bridges. Here and there, wooden steps lead to the black sand beach of a sheltered cove, where wetsuit-clad snorkelers brave the frigid water. From a distance, vegetation hides the parked cars on Main Street so that you see only the town’s Victorian skyline. (A photo snapped here might pass for a view from the 1880s.) Old wooden water towers are distinctive features of this scene. Once, about 80 provided the town with well water; now only about a dozen still stand--a few converted into lodgings, now that Mendocino gets its water from more modern pumps.

One afternoon we investigated the art scene. A guide lists 22 galleries in or near town. At the Artists Co-Op Gallery on Main Street, the upstairs shop (with a sea view) boasts paintings, sculptures and other works by local artists. Mendocino may be a small town, but painter Kevin Milligan, on duty that day, says about three-quarters of its residents claim to be artists. The radiant light, a special glow that many try to capture, draws artists here, says Milligan, whose specialty is coastal scenes.

A working artist before he arrived three years ago from the San Francisco area, he is enthusiastic about his new home. “It’s isolated,” he says, “but there’s everything here that you need to live--a pharmacy, a good bookstore.”

Well, almost everything. You won’t see dozens of artists dabbing at their easels on the headlands. “You’ll freeze ... 12 months of the year out there,” Milligan says with a grin. And the near-constant winds “turn your canvas into a sail,” he adds. In fact, on that midsummer day the sun beamed brightly, but the temperature never climbed above the upper 60s.

After our tour, we hurried over to Sweetwater Spa for our soak and massage. We had our choice of a private, open-air redwood tub for two or the communal, clothing-optional tub for eight.

This time we opted for privacy, but the shared tub, which I have tried in the past, was an experience that amused me greatly: naked strangers soaking and conversing politely but a bit hesitantly, trying not to reveal their curiosity about one another’s bodies.

But this time, Sandy and I were escorted in robes through yet another bouquet-like garden to the treatment rooms for his-and-her massages. In the quiet, I swear I could hear the waves echoing off the rocks.

Our favorite restaurant is Cafe Beaujolais, to which we return on every visit. Like every restaurant here, it’s small, occupying a Victorian cottage wrapped in a garden. Its menu is contemporary and eclectic, more Californian than French. On this visit I was tempted by the roast pork, which was served with roasted figs and a fresh fig sauce. Sandy ordered the pan-roasted sturgeon, served on a bed of fettuccine with a wild mushroom sauce.

For dessert, we shared a tart lemon charlotte with blueberries, and wished we had ordered two.

On our last morning here, we took a walk on the headlands before breakfast. A heavy fog blanketed the Big River to the south, and wisps of fog played on the bluffs. Sea gulls sang out in a chorus more raucous than melodic, and an offshore buoy echoed its tone. We slipped on sweatshirts as the unbroken wind swept in from the ocean. For a moment, we stopped at a large brass plaque beside the trail. A peace monument honoring Mendocino’s sister city of Miasa, Japan, it is dedicated “to the protection of the environment.”

Few people could disagree that Mendocino has achieved that goal, and fewer would disagree that this place is the prettiest town in America. That doesn’t really take chutzpah, I decided, just common sense.

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Guidebook: A Mendocino Medley

* Getting there: The most convenient airport is Oakland. United, American and Southwest fly nonstop from LAX; restricted round-trip fares begin at $106.

From Oakland, take Interstate 580 north and across to Marin County; pick up U.S. 101 north to Cloverdale, then California 128 north through the Anderson Valley wine country; this should take about three hours. The coastal route from San Francisco on California 1 is slow and winding but spectacular, and takes four to five hours.

* Where to stay: The historic 51-room Mendocino Hotel & Garden Suites is inviting, with rates from $95 to $215 a night, double. 45080 Main St.; telephone (800) 548-0513 or (707) 937-0511, fax (707) 937-0513, Internet https://www.mendocinohotel.com.

On our latest stay, I was pleased with the eight-room John Dougherty House, which has a lovely garden. We stayed in the ocean-view Osprey Room. Rates are $105 to $230, double, with buffet breakfast. 571 Ukiah St.; tel. (800) 486-2104 or (707) 937-5266, https://www.jdhouse.com.

On an earlier visit, we liked the six-room Headlands Inn, Howard and Albion streets; tel. (707) 937-4431, https://www.headlandsinn.com. Doubles $100 to $195, with breakfast in your room.

The 10-room Agate Cove Inn is also a charmer, but it’s slightly less conveniently located on the north edge of town. Rates from $119 to $269 with breakfast. 11201 Lansing St.; tel. (707) 937-0551, fax (707) 937-0550, https://www.agatecove.com.

See Mendocino but stay more cheaply 10 miles north at the 50-room Fort Bragg Motel, 763 North Main St., Fort Bragg, CA 95437; tel. (800) 253-9972 or (707) 964-4787, fax (707) 964-0778; $39 to $110 for two.

* Where to dine: The most romantic restaurant is Cafe Beaujolais, 961 Ukiah St., local tel. 937-5614, which features a contemporary menu. My entree of roast pork with fresh fig sauce was $19.75.

Set in a pine forest two miles south of town on Route 1, Stevenswood Lodge, tel. 937-2810, https://www.stevenswood.com, attracts fine-dining enthusiasts with such entrees as pine nut-crusted salmon on a bed of wilted escarole, my choice at $25.

The Mendocino Cafe at Lansing and Albion streets, tel. 937-2422, serves offbeat sandwiches and California-Asian dishes on a garden terrace. Try the Thai burrito, $7.50.

For burgers ($6.75), it’s the second-story, ocean-view deck of the Bay View Cafe, 45040 Main Street; tel. 937-4197.

* For more information: Fort Bragg-Mendocino Coast Chamber of Commerce, P.O. Box 1141, Fort Bragg, CA 95437; tel. (800) 726-2780, https://www.mendocinocoast.com.