Point Reyes – Part 1
Tom and I are off to Point Reyes for the weekend to celebrate our anniversary. We have booked into a B&B in Inverness for two nights. The main
Old fishing boat, "Point Reyes".
reason for choosing Point Reyes is to tour the Open Studios of the local artists. Twenty studios will be open over the weekend and we printed a list of them. I also printed a copy of the map but it was far too small to read.
We left at 7. A wet weekend was forecast but that’s OK. In fact it rained pretty heavily during the night and the roads were wet. We don’t mind the rain, except for the fact that Tom doesn’t like to take photos in the rain. Lots of rain is what we need here in California after several years of drought.
It was Black Friday – the day after Thanksgiving – and the official start of the holiday shopping spree. The roads were not too busy but all the car parks surrounding the shopping malls we passed were full. Some shops opened their doors just after midnight. The last place you will ever see Tom and I is fighting the masses to get that one object which we ‘must’ have at a ridiculous price. For us it is the open road, traveling to new places and meeting new and interesting people.
We stopped off in San Anselmo for breakfast at Comforts Cafe – see previous post. When we stopped outside the cafe there was a slight drizzle but the sun was shining.
After breakfast we continued along Sir Francis Drake Blvd, driving through San Geronimo, Forest Knolls and Lagunitas. It was a scenic drive with many trees showing off their autumnal colors. On our way home we plan to take a detour along the San Geronimo Valley Drive.
We pulled into Point Reyes Station at 10. Already there were a lot of cars around and we had to park on a side street. Point Reyes station is a nice place to browse the shops. There are no big stores but lots of funky little artsy craft shops. We went first to Toby’s Feed Barn where the Group Show is for the Open Studios. At the back of the store were exhibits from each of the studios which are open this weekend and here we picked up a brochure. I marked the ones we particularly want to visit. There were 17 crosses so we are going to be busy. The map in the brochure was very good I’m pleased to say.
We had time to kill as none of the studios opened until 11, so we took a wander around town. We passed the restaurant where Tom has booked for tomorrow night – Osteria Stellina. It looks really good.
As I was walking past a shop which had a large map of the the area displayed outside, I heard a woman asking two men what was there to do in the area. Of course I stopped to look at the map because I can’t resist them and the woman went on to say she was from San Jose. One of the men suggested Stinson Beach so I chimed in that Bolinas was also a nice place to visit. The same man replied that the tide was too high there. I then turned to him and asked if he lived in Bolinas and he admitted he did. I explained to the woman that Bolinas folk remove all road signs pointing to Bolinas to discourage people from visiting and that’s why it was worth a visit.
When in Point Reyes Station we always visit Point Reyes Books. Their range of books is fascinating and diverse. We idled away the time there until 11.
The first open studio we visited was Todd Pickering and it was one block over from where we were. Todd specializes in black and white photography so right up Tom’s alley. Todd and his dog met us at the door and welcomed us. He had a lot of very nice prints to look at and buy. Todd also told us he runs courses, either for groups or one to one. In February I am attending a weekend course in Sausalito and suggested to Tom it would be a good idea for him to do a photography course whilst I attended my course. We could always spend a night somewhere between Point Reyes and Sausalito, thereby saving me a trip back to San Jose in the evening or me spending a night on my own in a hotel. Todd was an interesting person to talk to. He also plays a guitar and had a CD of his music for sale.
Next door was Carolyn Mean’s porcelain and stoneware studio. She had bowls and vases on display. There were several ceramic teapots which were very decorative but impractical. There was also a selection of her seconds for sale which were very inexpensive.
As we walked back to the car there was a heavy drizzle. We were pleased to get back into the car as we were not wearing our jackets or carrying the umbrella. They were of course in the car but that was little use to us outside braving the elements.
Point Reyes scene. Taken after one of the studio visits.
We drove through Point Reyes Station and followed Highway 1 for a short distance to Marty Knapp’s studio. I must just add that each studio was easy to find. Not only were we armed with the brochure but each studio was well signposted from the main road. Marty also specializes in black and white photography. We have visited his gallery in Point Reyes Station many times but this is the fisrt time we have visited his studio. It is not very big and there were already half a dozen people inside. We looked at his prints on the walls and leafed through the ones in racks. Some are new and some are old favorites. Marty used a film camera and on display around the studio were some old cameras of his.
A little north of Marty’s studio and off to the left on Cypress was the studio of Sue Gonzalez. Her studio was two single garages knocked into one. She was not there and nobody else was there until a gentleman opened a side door and explained that Sue would not be around for another half and hour but to take a look around. Sue paints in oils. There were several huge canvasses around. We are not really into oil paintings but it was interesting to see how Sue makes the land and hills as a background but at least three quarters of her paintings are devoted to water.
We drove back towards Point Reyes Station. In the half an hour since we left, the place has become rather crowded, so instead of driving through the middle of the town we drove straight on and turned left on B Street and then right at the end back onto Highway 1. Over the bridge we turned right onto Sir Francis Drake Blvd and headed towards Inverness and then turned left on Bear Valley Road. We were heading towards Gene Kogan’s studio on Fox Drive, which is slightly uphill and an unmade road. We were not quite sure which house was his but he hailed us from the door of his house up above us. We parked the car and tramped up the hill. From his balcony there was a nice view down to Tomales Bay.
Inside there was another couple. We could hear Gene talking to them but couldn’t see them. Gene came out and told us to look around. On the walls were a variety of photos, both color and black and white. Gene is a fine art photographer and his pictures cover a range of subjects from ancient dhows and sailors in Sri Lanka, ramshackle buildings in Chile, a village elder in Mali to nudes and from rocks and landslides to a photo taken through an infra red lens of an abandoned gold mine in Nevada. He also had some refreshments available of wine – which we did not have – and cheese, to which I did help myself. He was a fascinating man to talk to and he explained his techniques. Once again he uses mainly a film camera including a Hasselblad though he did admit to using digital occasionally. He was a geologist by trade and did a lot of surveys of land slides all over the world. There was one photo I particularly liked of paddy fields in Bali.
In Inverness Park we visited the Daniel Bletterman and Donna Haar studio on Blackberry Lane. They specialize in hand thrown porcelain. This was a very small studio but the display of their work was very impressive. It was mainly bowls and elegant vases. There were a couple of vases we particularly liked, two had a blue pattern and one had a greet pattern. When we got outside Tom asked what I thought of them and I said I rather liked the green vase. He offered to buy it for me so we re-entered the studio but were too late. Somebody else had picked it up and had decided to buy it. Snooze you lose! Maybe we will see something else that appeals to us this weekend.
We drove further up the hill and the road became Drakes Summit and we really started to climb. This is all new territory for us and we were
Interesting color in Nancy Stein's and Eleanore Despina's front yard
enjoying every moment. The next studio was at the top of the hill and off on a spur road. Parking was a little tight and then there was a steep slope to walk down before we eventually arrived at a cute little gate, through a picturesque garden to the house of Nancy Stein and Eleanore Despina. Nancy’s display of pastels and etchings was downstairs. Her main pastel subjects are waves and her etchings are of fruit, birds and animals. Here the refreshments were little cookies and hot apple cider. Upstairs Eleanore had her functional ceramics displayed. We were tempted by a small teapot – a possible Christmas gift for somebody – and some bowls. We are making a list of places we will hopefully revisit tomorrow and this was one of them. We had a few words with Eleonore. Looking out of a window we noticed a stand of trees that had been damaged by fire. She told us of the Bolinas Ridge fire of 1995 when the flames had come within a few feet of the house. She had been evacuated and had driven to the other side of Tomales Bay where she kept a vigil on her property through binoculars. It had been a very scary time for her. From this window there was a commanding view of the bay. What a marvelous place to live and work in.
Our last studio visit today was to the studio of Tom Killion on Laurel Street. He creates Japanese-style woodcut prints of the California landscape and other subjects. His studio was absolutely packed and it was difficult to look at everything. What I did see showed me how intricate and painstaking his art was. On a table were several of his notebooks displaying sketches of his work with pages of notes. The prints on the wall were expensive but taking into account the time spent in producing each one, I consider the prices reasonable though we did not buy any.
It was time to call it a day. It didn’t take us long to drive to Inverness. It was 2.30 and as we can’t check into our B&B until 3, we parked next to the Inverness Store and looked around for somewhere to have a drink. Just across the way was Vladimir’s restaurant. I remembered reading a review of the place recently when we were looking for somewhere to eat tonight and tomorrow night. It serves Czechoslovakian food but I guessed correctly that it had a bar so we ventured inside and were warmly welcomed. At the bar we ordered a couple of beers. Tom had a large one and it was indeed very large, whilst I had a small one with a dash of Sprite. We were asked if we wanted to order any food from the bar menu. Tom fancied some fresh oysters as he hadn’t had any for ages. Oysters are one of the specialties of the area. I ordered some soup to keep him company. My soup was chicken and dumpling with warm rye bread and butter. It all went down very well indeed.
Now to find our B&B. Inverness is not very big and we soon found Inverness Way. In fact Vladimir’s is on the corner of the street . We were looking for number 10. We found 2 and 4 so assumed that 10 was nearby. There was 15 and 19 but no 10. We both scratched our heads and double checked. Still no number 10. There was one of the open studios at number 6 so I went inside to ask. Apparently Inverness Way is divided by a creek and number 10 is one the other side. There was a little footbridge but it was easier to drive our car around.
From the outside the B&B looked very nice and indeed it was inside as well. We were greeted and shown to our room – the Sky Room – with a cute window seat. Here I sat and wrote up my journal while Tom took a brief nap.
At 5 we were on our way to Marshall on the other side of Tomales Bay to have dinner at Nick’s Cove. There is a lot of history to Nick’s Cove. Back in 1931 Nick and Frances Kojich built a seafood restaurant here. Over the years cabins were built and with more and more people owning cars it became a popular holiday destination. In the 1950’s the restaurant burned down and although it was rebuilt, it went into a sad decline. In 1999 Pat Kuleto and two business partners bought the property. It took many years and a lot of wading through red tape before the cabins and restaurant were reconstructed. One of the hold ups was due to the discovery of the California red-legged frog, which is an endangered species, and it required numerous protective actions. In fact Red Legged Frog is on the menu with a price tag of two million dollars. The restaurant opened in 2007.
We sat next to the window on the covered and heated porch overlooking the bay. As it was dark we couldn’t see very much and I spotted no lights on the other side of the bay. During the day it must command a very nice view. We went to town with our dinner with a poached pear, gorgonzola and pancetta starter; coho salmon with grilled cauliflower for Tom’s main course and grilled trout, chard and a tomato relish for me; ending with warm chocolate cake for Tom and vanilla creame brulee for me. Of course we had wine to enhance the meal.
Back at 10 Inverness Way we chatted in the sitting room with Terry Vega, the owner, and three other guests before retiring to our room for an early night.
Related posts:
- Point Reyes Part 3
- Point Reyes – Part 2
- Point Reyes – Tomales Bay
- Pine Cone Diner, Point Reyes Station
- Point Reyes Lighthouse
December 31 2009 09:06 pm | Special Places
