Another East Coast Rant About the Scary Hippies in Humboldt

The NY Times has a somewhat hysterical “tourist” piece on Humboldt. Apparently the author imbibed. Here’s a couple representative quotes,

The sights of Humboldt County, Calif., can be hard for the rational mind to reconcile. Its hysterical shifts in landscape and weather conspire to make you feel, in the most pleasurable way possible, that you are going out of your head.

A fair proportion of homes visible to highway traffic have additions built of plastic sheeting.

Eager to know a little more about Humboldt’s cannabis culture but somewhat spooked by Garberville’s aura of the underworld….

On the plus side, he loved our trees (of course) and Cecil’s (also, not a surprise.) On the plus plus side,  gorgeous photos accompany the piece (as did the one above.)

The forest’s crisp, misty air made breathing a thrilling novelty. It seemed to inhale itself….The trouble with redwood forests, though, is that they are hard on the human ego. You can’t spend much time among all of that primordial rectilinearity without starting to feel disheveled, crooked and mortal.

One evening, I dined at Cecil’s, the fanciest restaurant in Garberville, whose unusual market will apparently bear a steak topped with crab meat, shrimp and handpicked chanterelles for $72. I didn’t get the steak. I got fried oysters remoulade and some smoked pork spring rolls I’d have eaten my weight in.

I met the author and he seemed a nice fellow but I’d recommend a little less inhaling…though who can blame him when this place is “home to a large community of people whose knack for growing high-quality marijuana has made “Humboldt” a sacred word to dope smokers worldwide.”

________________

Hat tip to Kevin at the Arcata Eye.

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Becky
Guest
Becky
13 years ago

I am FURIOUS!!! Not only do we NOT serve a $72 steak but the NY Times called and fact checked this with me- I went over this point specifically with the lady three or four times- as she curtly said “Yes, yes, yes.” and moved on to other questions. Kym if you met this author I’d like to give him a piece of my mind before I “Go out of my head”. I haven’t read the whole article yet (expect another rant after I do!) but this guy seems like a classic east coast over inflated ass who not only plain makes things up but likes to throw fifty dollar words into his pieces to inflate his own ego. All I can say is “Yuck!”

Staff
Member
13 years ago
Reply to  Becky

I had a similar experience with the fact check. I know I told them the two gun stores was not true. And when she asked about factory town I said that agricultural center was a better description. She did however change the part where he had apparently said that Garberville businesses only take cash. I snickered about that

Too bad about the steak. It sounded delicious. I was going to try and talk Kevin to splurging for our anniversary.;> Now I’ll just “settle” for the Filet Mignon you have which is one of the most delicious pieces of meat I’ve ever had.

Ernie's Place
Guest
13 years ago
Reply to  Staff

Well, I didn’t talk to them. You can’t trust those outsiders. When are you ever going to learn?

Staff
Member
13 years ago
Reply to  Ernie's Place

Hey, I married a newcomer. I’m endlessly optimistic about outside folk;>

Ernie's Place
Guest
13 years ago
Reply to  Staff

I did too. Life can be sweet sometimes.

But, I still don’t trust those outsiders, I think that my wife used one of those tricky irresistible outsider spells on me. See what I mean?

Pharmstheproblem
Guest
Pharmstheproblem
5 years ago
Reply to  Becky

NY times enough said…. fake news…

Lodgepole
Guest
Lodgepole
13 years ago

As if a photo of those tourists drinking coffee depicts Humboldt. They’re probably from the same neighborhood he is.

Lodgepole
Guest
Lodgepole
13 years ago

As if a photo of those tourists drinking coffee depicts Humboldt. They’re probably from the same neighborhood he is.

Becky
Guest
Becky
13 years ago

Here’s a copy of what I posted on this moron’s blog:
I’d like to start by saying thanks for wasting my time on the phone with your fact checker. Clearly either she didn’t care about getting the facts straight or the author was too busy making up his wordy stories about our town. Cecil’s does not, has never (or even ever considered) selling a $72 steak. You might as well have added something truly magical to the description- such as “the Chantrelles were hand picked by forest elves” , this is the reality base I believe your story comes from. One could then conclude that there was not a table of people ordering this steak that doesn’t exist. I told your fact checker 3-4 times that this steak did not exist, I should have know she wasn’t listening to a word I said by her curt tone. I appreciate the review of our restaurant, however you didn’t even include us in your “essentials” list. I would really think the NY Times would be more interested in accurate reporting, this came across as if it were a creative writing assignment. Humboldt County is not only my home, but the home of many intelligent, creative and innovative people, we take great pride in living here. Your depiction of the world we live in leaves me questioning what you consider reality and what you make up to pad your article, or maybe it was just the green crack!

Michael Kohn
Guest
Michael Kohn
13 years ago
Reply to  Becky

Becky this guy summed himself up when he said, and I paraphrase, ” I have become numb to hammerhead sharks and giant tortoises…” His ego wouldn’t even let him enjoy a dayhike through the redwoods.

Becky
Guest
Becky
13 years ago

Here’s a copy of what I posted on this moron’s blog:
I’d like to start by saying thanks for wasting my time on the phone with your fact checker. Clearly either she didn’t care about getting the facts straight or the author was too busy making up his wordy stories about our town. Cecil’s does not, has never (or even ever considered) selling a $72 steak. You might as well have added something truly magical to the description- such as “the Chantrelles were hand picked by forest elves” , this is the reality base I believe your story comes from. One could then conclude that there was not a table of people ordering this steak that doesn’t exist. I told your fact checker 3-4 times that this steak did not exist, I should have know she wasn’t listening to a word I said by her curt tone. I appreciate the review of our restaurant, however you didn’t even include us in your “essentials” list. I would really think the NY Times would be more interested in accurate reporting, this came across as if it were a creative writing assignment. Humboldt County is not only my home, but the home of many intelligent, creative and innovative people, we take great pride in living here. Your depiction of the world we live in leaves me questioning what you consider reality and what you make up to pad your article, or maybe it was just the green crack!

Michael Kohn
Guest
Michael Kohn
13 years ago
Reply to  Becky

Becky this guy summed himself up when he said, and I paraphrase, ” I have become numb to hammerhead sharks and giant tortoises…” His ego wouldn’t even let him enjoy a dayhike through the redwoods.

JLN
Guest
JLN
13 years ago

He also lists the Miranda Gardens Resort in the “Humboldt Redwoods State Park”.

JLN
Guest
JLN
13 years ago

He also lists the Miranda Gardens Resort in the “Humboldt Redwoods State Park”.

olmanriver
Guest
olmanriver
13 years ago

psssst… the foggsodden icthyophages up north are listening to our comments… Burns me up.

Anyone remember how many gun stores there were in Garberville before the Back to the Landers? Ernie?

Harry
Guest
Harry
13 years ago
Reply to  olmanriver

Browns Sporting Goods still has guns for sale 🙂

Ernie's Place
Guest
13 years ago
Reply to  olmanriver

OMaR,
There was two gun stores, back before words like “were” was a word. Fred’s Store and the Tackle Shop. There are two gun stores now also, Gary Futrel at “The Cuttings” and Browns Sporting Goods. I highly recommend both places for those that want to keep their spread clear from varmints.

While I’m on the subject, Cecil’s has the cleanest, neatest and most organized walk-in cooler in town. That comes from somebody that has been in ALL of them. There is one possible exception, and that would be “Flavors”, but that’s really not fair, I only built it a week ago…

Staff
Member
13 years ago
Reply to  Ernie's Place

I didn’t know Gary had a gun shop too? No wonder my husband likes to get his hair cut there!

Ernie's Place
Guest
13 years ago
Reply to  Staff

Well, if you’d get off Kemp Mountain more often you’d know these things.

Staff
Member
13 years ago
Reply to  Ernie's Place

I hide out here to avoid the spooky underworld feel of Garberville. That radio shack there is a source of some scary energy.

Ben Schill
Guest
Ben Schill
13 years ago
Reply to  Staff

Especially if Ernie is there and we yak away while my wife fumes in the car.

olmanriver
Guest
olmanriver
13 years ago

psssst… the foggsodden icthyophages up north are listening to our comments… Burns me up.

Anyone remember how many gun stores there were in Garberville before the Back to the Landers? Ernie?

Harry
Guest
Harry
13 years ago
Reply to  olmanriver

Browns Sporting Goods still has guns for sale 🙂

Ernie's Place
Guest
13 years ago
Reply to  olmanriver

OMaR,
There was two gun stores, back before words like “were” was a word. Fred’s Store and the Tackle Shop. There are two gun stores now also, Gary Futrel at “The Cuttings” and Browns Sporting Goods. I highly recommend both places for those that want to keep their spread clear from varmints.

While I’m on the subject, Cecil’s has the cleanest, neatest and most organized walk-in cooler in town. That comes from somebody that has been in ALL of them. There is one possible exception, and that would be “Flavors”, but that’s really not fair, I only built it a week ago…

Staff
Member
13 years ago
Reply to  Ernie's Place

I didn’t know Gary had a gun shop too? No wonder my husband likes to get his hair cut there!

Ernie's Place
Guest
13 years ago
Reply to  Staff

Well, if you’d get off Kemp Mountain more often you’d know these things.

Staff
Member
13 years ago
Reply to  Ernie's Place

I hide out here to avoid the spooky underworld feel of Garberville. That radio shack there is a source of some scary energy.

Ben Schill
Guest
Ben Schill
13 years ago
Reply to  Staff

Especially if Ernie is there and we yak away while my wife fumes in the car.

skippy
Guest
skippy
13 years ago

Enjoyed the article in all its whimsy and the few token warts. Not a bad assessment. The NCJ carried it and kindly linked this site to theirs; wishing Mr. Tower did the same with Kym. Becky, aside from the fact checking and irksome frustrations, we’ll be over at your place soon now after reading this. No worries. It was a good review. Hope to see some elves among the chantrelles.

skippy
Guest
skippy
13 years ago

Enjoyed the article in all its whimsy and the few token warts. Not a bad assessment. The NCJ carried it and kindly linked this site to theirs; wishing Mr. Tower did the same with Kym. Becky, aside from the fact checking and irksome frustrations, we’ll be over at your place soon now after reading this. No worries. It was a good review. Hope to see some elves among the chantrelles.

olmanriver
Guest
olmanriver
13 years ago

foggsodden… hooboy… that’s why he’s the editor and me a …….

olmanriver
Guest
olmanriver
13 years ago

foggsodden… hooboy… that’s why he’s the editor and me a …….

Hank Sims
Guest
Hank Sims
13 years ago

Kym:

I believe that Mr. Tower does not “Imbibe.”

Not unless you have some good Dutch Isolator hash, anyway.

I cannot speak to any of the alleged factual inaccuracies, but I thought the spirit of the article was beautifully true to the place. And it was very, very funny.

Harry
Guest
Harry
13 years ago
Reply to  Hank Sims

Poetic license at it’s best. I thoroughly enjoyed the article myself. And this article was about a lot more than just the Marijuana industry, like our magnificent redwood forests. Nice pictures and contact information to draw more monied Eastern tourists to Humboldt. 🙂

Staff
Member
13 years ago
Reply to  Hank Sims

Hmmph! He said he was “…spooked by Garberville’s aura of the underworld.” I leave my car unlocked unless I’ve got my fancy camera sitting on the front seat in the open. I’ll bet he doesn’t even leave anything in his car in NY. (Insult my beloved Gville and I don’t care if I thought I liked you before, keelhauling is too good for you now!)

Harry
Guest
Harry
13 years ago
Reply to  Staff

They used to cut ship knees on KneeLand. I guess that’s how it got it’s name. Kneeland had some of the best trees knees for ships knees. Those old sailing ships were great for Keel Hauling though. Love old photos of Bear Harbor and the rail from Andersonia/Moody to the shipping center of the world. Keel Hauling just isn’t as much fun anymore with our new age boats, but maybe someone from the Mosquito Fleet may be interested? lol

Hank Sims
Guest
Hank Sims
13 years ago

Kym:

I believe that Mr. Tower does not “Imbibe.”

Not unless you have some good Dutch Isolator hash, anyway.

I cannot speak to any of the alleged factual inaccuracies, but I thought the spirit of the article was beautifully true to the place. And it was very, very funny.

Harry
Guest
Harry
13 years ago
Reply to  Hank Sims

Poetic license at it’s best. I thoroughly enjoyed the article myself. And this article was about a lot more than just the Marijuana industry, like our magnificent redwood forests. Nice pictures and contact information to draw more monied Eastern tourists to Humboldt. 🙂

Staff
Member
13 years ago
Reply to  Hank Sims

Hmmph! He said he was “…spooked by Garberville’s aura of the underworld.” I leave my car unlocked unless I’ve got my fancy camera sitting on the front seat in the open. I’ll bet he doesn’t even leave anything in his car in NY. (Insult my beloved Gville and I don’t care if I thought I liked you before, keelhauling is too good for you now!)

Harry
Guest
Harry
13 years ago
Reply to  Staff

They used to cut ship knees on KneeLand. I guess that’s how it got it’s name. Kneeland had some of the best trees knees for ships knees. Those old sailing ships were great for Keel Hauling though. Love old photos of Bear Harbor and the rail from Andersonia/Moody to the shipping center of the world. Keel Hauling just isn’t as much fun anymore with our new age boats, but maybe someone from the Mosquito Fleet may be interested? lol

Ross
Guest
Ross
13 years ago

I’m going to agree with Hank on this one. Sometimes it takes an outsider to tell us what we really look like. His description of the scene inside of Arcata Theater on New Year’s Eve was priceless. And, yes, Eureka does look like that with it’s plethora of bail bond agents. But, he described Willow Creek, my hometown, with glowing accuracy. Bigfoot and all.

Ross
Guest
Ross
13 years ago

I’m going to agree with Hank on this one. Sometimes it takes an outsider to tell us what we really look like. His description of the scene inside of Arcata Theater on New Year’s Eve was priceless. And, yes, Eureka does look like that with it’s plethora of bail bond agents. But, he described Willow Creek, my hometown, with glowing accuracy. Bigfoot and all.

Sean
Guest
Sean
13 years ago

Funny “hand pick chantrelles” have you ever found any picked by other means!?!?

East coasters.

Sean
Guest
Sean
13 years ago

Funny “hand pick chantrelles” have you ever found any picked by other means!?!?

East coasters.

Matthew Meyer
Guest
Matthew Meyer
13 years ago

KYM sez:

I met the author and he seemed a nice fellow but I’d recommend a little less inhaling…though who can blame him when this place is “home to a large community of people whose knack for growing high-quality marijuana has made “Humboldt” a sacred word to dope smokers worldwide.”

I SAY:

ZING!

Matthew Meyer
Guest
Matthew Meyer
13 years ago

KYM sez:

I met the author and he seemed a nice fellow but I’d recommend a little less inhaling…though who can blame him when this place is “home to a large community of people whose knack for growing high-quality marijuana has made “Humboldt” a sacred word to dope smokers worldwide.”

I SAY:

ZING!

Random Guy
Guest
Random Guy
13 years ago

ya know…one world one love, and all that jazz…but we could do without a flood of east coasters making the migration. Better that the spin stays negative IMO…let the real heartfelt tourists find their own way here. Economically, interstate travel is less viable than ever, and there’s more than enough potential tourists south of us to woo. Woo? izzat right? woo. WOO THEM. WOOOOOO.

Norah
Guest
Norah
13 years ago

Makes me reconsider the quality of the NYT’s reporting. This was only an on-line travel issue, though. Pretty shallow!

Random Guy
Guest
Random Guy
13 years ago

ya know…one world one love, and all that jazz…but we could do without a flood of east coasters making the migration. Better that the spin stays negative IMO…let the real heartfelt tourists find their own way here. Economically, interstate travel is less viable than ever, and there’s more than enough potential tourists south of us to woo. Woo? izzat right? woo. WOO THEM. WOOOOOO.

Mr. Nice
Guest
Mr. Nice
13 years ago

This fool shoulda came to Angelo’s.

You hardly need D.E.A. training to catch on to Humboldt’s open secret. Driving along county byways with the windows down, you may suddenly pass through banks of skunk-gland miasma

Those were actual skunks. Can’t even walk a quarter mile without a skunk den.

Many small towns consist of little more than a grocery and a horticultural supply store, selling such products as Buddha Bloom bat guano fertilizer and Humboldt Nutrients Ginormous Bloom Enhancer.

I hope he is tryna go out on 96 and tell some stories because that sounds like he went to Redway and saying that Redway is wack. Like he saw some burnt out motel and was all nothing is down here. He didn’t even mention the trim store.

Roadside billboards advertise sales on “turkey oven bags,” preferred by contraband expediters for their odor-suppressing properties.

That they cop at Cash and Carry.

If Humboldt’s large-scale cannabis industry has a factory town, it’s Garberville, an unprepossessing community not far from the Mendocino County border.

This dude been in a cannabis factory in Garberville? He thinks the movie theater’s hiding something?

Garberville has zero stoplights

I go, you stop.

two gun stores

Sporting goods.

“We’ve got more restaurants per capita than San Francisco,” I was told by Hank Sims, the former editor of Humboldt’s biggest weekly paper, The North Coast Journal. “There are a lot of places that wouldn’t be in business if not for pot money.”

Hank Sims is more famous as former editor than he was as editor.

One evening, I dined at Cecil’s, the fanciest restaurant in Garberville, whose unusual market will apparently bear a steak topped with crab meat, shrimp and handpicked chanterelles for $72.

Alright he might exaggerate on that special but that joint is practically $20 for a glass of water.

I headed back to Arcata

Booo

Becky
Guest
Becky
13 years ago
Reply to  Mr. Nice

Ohhh really have you ever dined there? A giant salad and big bowl of gumbo is $15, less than a burger and fries at other spots in our neighborhood- please speak from experience.

Ernie's Place
Guest
13 years ago
Reply to  Becky

Oh, come on Becky, we all love you and Cecil’s, but I do wish that you would put that steak on the menu, it sounds killer!

Mr. Nice
Guest
Mr. Nice
13 years ago
Reply to  Becky

Go and publish the menu then. Getting on the internet all mad about your restaurant being mentioned in the New York Times ain’t making nobody want to come through. Least he wrote y’all’s food was good.

Becky
Guest
Becky
13 years ago
Reply to  Mr. Nice

Mr. Nice- The menu is printed at urbanspoon.com & I believe I have a right to comment about factual errors in his reporting, especially when I went over all of it with his fact checker.

Ernie- We are waiting for organic beef raised by dwarves, and crabs harvested by mermaids to pair with our chantrelles hand picked by elves than we will have the $72 steak on the menu! Yum!!

Norah
Guest
Norah
13 years ago

Makes me reconsider the quality of the NYT’s reporting. This was only an on-line travel issue, though. Pretty shallow!

Mr. Nice
Guest
Mr. Nice
13 years ago

This fool shoulda came to Angelo’s.

You hardly need D.E.A. training to catch on to Humboldt’s open secret. Driving along county byways with the windows down, you may suddenly pass through banks of skunk-gland miasma

Those were actual skunks. Can’t even walk a quarter mile without a skunk den.

Many small towns consist of little more than a grocery and a horticultural supply store, selling such products as Buddha Bloom bat guano fertilizer and Humboldt Nutrients Ginormous Bloom Enhancer.

I hope he is tryna go out on 96 and tell some stories because that sounds like he went to Redway and saying that Redway is wack. Like he saw some burnt out motel and was all nothing is down here. He didn’t even mention the trim store.

Roadside billboards advertise sales on “turkey oven bags,” preferred by contraband expediters for their odor-suppressing properties.

That they cop at Cash and Carry.

If Humboldt’s large-scale cannabis industry has a factory town, it’s Garberville, an unprepossessing community not far from the Mendocino County border.

This dude been in a cannabis factory in Garberville? He thinks the movie theater’s hiding something?

Garberville has zero stoplights

I go, you stop.

two gun stores

Sporting goods.

“We’ve got more restaurants per capita than San Francisco,” I was told by Hank Sims, the former editor of Humboldt’s biggest weekly paper, The North Coast Journal. “There are a lot of places that wouldn’t be in business if not for pot money.”

Hank Sims is more famous as former editor than he was as editor.

One evening, I dined at Cecil’s, the fanciest restaurant in Garberville, whose unusual market will apparently bear a steak topped with crab meat, shrimp and handpicked chanterelles for $72.

Alright he might exaggerate on that special but that joint is practically $20 for a glass of water.

I headed back to Arcata

Booo

Becky
Guest
Becky
13 years ago
Reply to  Mr. Nice

Ohhh really have you ever dined there? A giant salad and big bowl of gumbo is $15, less than a burger and fries at other spots in our neighborhood- please speak from experience.

Ernie's Place
Guest
13 years ago
Reply to  Becky

Oh, come on Becky, we all love you and Cecil’s, but I do wish that you would put that steak on the menu, it sounds killer!

Mr. Nice
Guest
Mr. Nice
13 years ago
Reply to  Becky

Go and publish the menu then. Getting on the internet all mad about your restaurant being mentioned in the New York Times ain’t making nobody want to come through. Least he wrote y’all’s food was good.

Becky
Guest
Becky
13 years ago
Reply to  Mr. Nice

Mr. Nice- The menu is printed at urbanspoon.com & I believe I have a right to comment about factual errors in his reporting, especially when I went over all of it with his fact checker.

Ernie- We are waiting for organic beef raised by dwarves, and crabs harvested by mermaids to pair with our chantrelles hand picked by elves than we will have the $72 steak on the menu! Yum!!

Tj
Guest
Tj
13 years ago

I enjoyed it, but I did take offense at his feeling of Garberville being scary. But then again, it was his perspective. Mine is that it is more like being time warped to the 60’s.

Tj
Guest
Tj
13 years ago

I enjoyed it, but I did take offense at his feeling of Garberville being scary. But then again, it was his perspective. Mine is that it is more like being time warped to the 60’s.

olmanriver
Guest
olmanriver
13 years ago

I actually liked his florid prose, but my depends did bunch up a bit around a few of his sentences.

Thanks for clarifying that there was the same number of gun shops before and after the newcomer immigrations Ernie. That info were helpful.

A New Yorker noting inflated ( though made up) restaurant prices, gun shops, and “underworld auras”… precious.

olmanriver
Guest
olmanriver
13 years ago

I actually liked his florid prose, but my depends did bunch up a bit around a few of his sentences.

Thanks for clarifying that there was the same number of gun shops before and after the newcomer immigrations Ernie. That info were helpful.

A New Yorker noting inflated ( though made up) restaurant prices, gun shops, and “underworld auras”… precious.

Emily
Guest
Emily
13 years ago

I feel like the bigger picture is being ignored in most of these comments and in the title of this post: An engaging writer just wrote a story about the stunning natural beauty of Humboldt County for T magazine!! This is great for tourism, especially during a time when people really need to start thinking about ways to DIVERSIFY the local economy. Okay, so he got a few facts wrong (the Times is great about running corrections re: steak and # of gun shops, btw), but in general the piece was really positive and I felt it he largely nailed it. I personally love Garberville, but I’ve heard that a lot of non-dreadlocked visitors feel a little intimidated by it. One way to become more welcoming is to stop thinking and treating visitors as “outsiders” (which is creepy) and more as “guests.”

Staff
Member
13 years ago
Reply to  Emily

Ah but when you treat somebody like a guest (ie run down the hill and take them to see a great natural beauty, spend your time to talk to them in a warm and welcoming way) and then they call your beloved home town “spooky” then one is less likely to be welcoming the next time.

Perhaps if they are the kind of folk that think that dreadlocks make someone scary, then Humboldt isn’t really a place they should visit. I think our acceptance of different dress and kooky dancing is what makes this place heartwarming, a welcoming shelter in a world of conformists perhaps?

Emily
Guest
Emily
13 years ago
Reply to  Staff

Well, to be a true tourism destination you have to give your guests space to have their own opinions even if they differ from yours. At least he fell for the trees.
As for the dreadlocks making people scary, all I meant was that I have heard that more mainstream tourists often feel the same way as the writer. So, as we look for ways to DIVERSIFY, it might be good to think about what might have spooked him. (Maybe he stayed at Johnson’s Quality Motel?)
About the acceptance of “different dress,” I’ve found that people who truly dress differently in town (i.e. ladies who wear lipstick and dress more polished) get occasional grief about it, which is pretty damn funny if you think about.

Harry
Guest
Harry
13 years ago
Reply to  Emily

The photos were stunning. This article will definitely draw Easterners to our magnificent forests, ocean, lodging and restaurants. A great advertisement for our area for drawing Eastern guests with their money to spend. And if they really like it maybe some will drop some money at our local real estate office, buy some land and call this home, or at least a second home. We need all the Easterner’s money we can get after all with the economy what it is 🙂

Emily
Guest
Emily
13 years ago

I feel like the bigger picture is being ignored in most of these comments and in the title of this post: An engaging writer just wrote a story about the stunning natural beauty of Humboldt County for T magazine!! This is great for tourism, especially during a time when people really need to start thinking about ways to DIVERSIFY the local economy. Okay, so he got a few facts wrong (the Times is great about running corrections re: steak and # of gun shops, btw), but in general the piece was really positive and I felt it he largely nailed it. I personally love Garberville, but I’ve heard that a lot of non-dreadlocked visitors feel a little intimidated by it. One way to become more welcoming is to stop thinking and treating visitors as “outsiders” (which is creepy) and more as “guests.”

Staff
Member
13 years ago
Reply to  Emily

Ah but when you treat somebody like a guest (ie run down the hill and take them to see a great natural beauty, spend your time to talk to them in a warm and welcoming way) and then they call your beloved home town “spooky” then one is less likely to be welcoming the next time.

Perhaps if they are the kind of folk that think that dreadlocks make someone scary, then Humboldt isn’t really a place they should visit. I think our acceptance of different dress and kooky dancing is what makes this place heartwarming, a welcoming shelter in a world of conformists perhaps?

Emily
Guest
Emily
13 years ago
Reply to  Staff

Well, to be a true tourism destination you have to give your guests space to have their own opinions even if they differ from yours. At least he fell for the trees.
As for the dreadlocks making people scary, all I meant was that I have heard that more mainstream tourists often feel the same way as the writer. So, as we look for ways to DIVERSIFY, it might be good to think about what might have spooked him. (Maybe he stayed at Johnson’s Quality Motel?)
About the acceptance of “different dress,” I’ve found that people who truly dress differently in town (i.e. ladies who wear lipstick and dress more polished) get occasional grief about it, which is pretty damn funny if you think about.

Harry
Guest
Harry
13 years ago
Reply to  Emily

The photos were stunning. This article will definitely draw Easterners to our magnificent forests, ocean, lodging and restaurants. A great advertisement for our area for drawing Eastern guests with their money to spend. And if they really like it maybe some will drop some money at our local real estate office, buy some land and call this home, or at least a second home. We need all the Easterner’s money we can get after all with the economy what it is 🙂

Mr. Nice
Guest
Mr. Nice
13 years ago

Don’t even trip. At least he got the story back before he stuck around long enough to fall under the spell. Two more days and he woulda been chopping wood, sleeping in a Yurt, talking about heading down to the Yellow Rose.

Instead he got that outsider view that’s better for tourism.

Staff
Member
13 years ago
Reply to  Mr. Nice

He came in winter. If he’d been here in May, we’d have had to pry him out of the meadows;.

Brandon
Guest
Brandon
12 years ago
Reply to  Mr. Nice

You make the place sound so lovely. Are there any summer jobs available in the area, like farm work or something?

Staff
Member
12 years ago
Reply to  Brandon

Brandon, come and work at a local restaurant or gas station. If you fit in, someone will invite you soon enough to do “farm work.”

Brandon
Guest
Brandon
12 years ago
Reply to  Staff

What is the job market like there for low paying work?

Staff
Member
12 years ago
Reply to  Brandon

Usually you can find a dishwasher/ grocery bagger job pretty easily somewhere in Humboldt.

Mr. Nice
Guest
Mr. Nice
13 years ago

Don’t even trip. At least he got the story back before he stuck around long enough to fall under the spell. Two more days and he woulda been chopping wood, sleeping in a Yurt, talking about heading down to the Yellow Rose.

Instead he got that outsider view that’s better for tourism.

Staff
Member
13 years ago
Reply to  Mr. Nice

He came in winter. If he’d been here in May, we’d have had to pry him out of the meadows;.

Brandon
Guest
Brandon
12 years ago
Reply to  Mr. Nice

You make the place sound so lovely. Are there any summer jobs available in the area, like farm work or something?

Staff
Member
12 years ago
Reply to  Brandon

Brandon, come and work at a local restaurant or gas station. If you fit in, someone will invite you soon enough to do “farm work.”

Brandon
Guest
Brandon
12 years ago
Reply to  Staff

What is the job market like there for low paying work?

Staff
Member
12 years ago
Reply to  Brandon

Usually you can find a dishwasher/ grocery bagger job pretty easily somewhere in Humboldt.

longwind
Guest
longwind
13 years ago

You can’t get Garberville until you’ve kooky-danced with it. Don’t they teach nothin’ at J-school?

Reporters are storytellers, and they can’t stray too far from the stories their readers already know. Even after meeting a typical shady underworld character like Kym (your underworld’s showing, Kym ;^) this goof still has to think in stereotypes. We should keep in mind that the same effect happens closer to home, right here in Humboldt.

Having received similar Noo Yawk treatment (they’re *so* stereotypical!) I’ll give the devil his due: someone knowing nothing of Humboldt will get a glimmer of how wacked-out wonderful it is, with gobs of goofy on top. is that wrong?

longwind
Guest
longwind
13 years ago

You can’t get Garberville until you’ve kooky-danced with it. Don’t they teach nothin’ at J-school?

Reporters are storytellers, and they can’t stray too far from the stories their readers already know. Even after meeting a typical shady underworld character like Kym (your underworld’s showing, Kym ;^) this goof still has to think in stereotypes. We should keep in mind that the same effect happens closer to home, right here in Humboldt.

Having received similar Noo Yawk treatment (they’re *so* stereotypical!) I’ll give the devil his due: someone knowing nothing of Humboldt will get a glimmer of how wacked-out wonderful it is, with gobs of goofy on top. is that wrong?

Jan
Guest
Jan
13 years ago

The article was hilarious! Every stereotype (and yes folks, much of it based in truth) that the outside world has of us, all in one place, priceless. We all have stereotypical opinions about other places. Query: what do YOU think of when you hear the song “Dueling Banjos” doesn’t it make you want to go on a canoe trip in Georgia? Personally I’d be a little bit nervous. I’ve understood what the “outside world” thought of us since the first time I took a bag of books into Moe’s in Berkeley (the bag was from Murrish’s Market, now Smart Shop, in Redway) and had the clerk go “ooooh, you’re from Garberville”, that was 30 years ago. Stereotypes hurt, maybe the lesson that should be taken from this is that we should look inside ourselves. Change starts in your own backyard.
PS – One day I went to pick up the mail in Miranda, btw school was in session, I was overwhelmed by the waves of pot smell rolling down into town, it almost made you high just breathing the air. If you were just passing through, and ran into that, what memories would you take away with you? Nice trees, pretty drive and oh, yes, was that marijuana?
PPS – That steak sure does sound good, think I’ll make it for dinner with my locally raised, grass fed beef, hand-picked black chantrelles & some canned crab. I don’t have the $$$ to go out to eat.

Jan
Guest
Jan
13 years ago

The article was hilarious! Every stereotype (and yes folks, much of it based in truth) that the outside world has of us, all in one place, priceless. We all have stereotypical opinions about other places. Query: what do YOU think of when you hear the song “Dueling Banjos” doesn’t it make you want to go on a canoe trip in Georgia? Personally I’d be a little bit nervous. I’ve understood what the “outside world” thought of us since the first time I took a bag of books into Moe’s in Berkeley (the bag was from Murrish’s Market, now Smart Shop, in Redway) and had the clerk go “ooooh, you’re from Garberville”, that was 30 years ago. Stereotypes hurt, maybe the lesson that should be taken from this is that we should look inside ourselves. Change starts in your own backyard.
PS – One day I went to pick up the mail in Miranda, btw school was in session, I was overwhelmed by the waves of pot smell rolling down into town, it almost made you high just breathing the air. If you were just passing through, and ran into that, what memories would you take away with you? Nice trees, pretty drive and oh, yes, was that marijuana?
PPS – That steak sure does sound good, think I’ll make it for dinner with my locally raised, grass fed beef, hand-picked black chantrelles & some canned crab. I don’t have the $$$ to go out to eat.

tra
Guest
tra
13 years ago

A New Yorker noting inflated (though made up) restaurant prices, gun shops, and “underworld auras”… precious.

Yeah, I found that rather ironic also.

And the idea that Garberville is scary or “spooky?” Please.

Good thing nobody took him out by the Honeydew Store, late on a Saturday night. I get the impression that he would have wet his pants right quick…as the theme to “Deliverance” played in his head.

tra
Guest
tra
13 years ago

A New Yorker noting inflated (though made up) restaurant prices, gun shops, and “underworld auras”… precious.

Yeah, I found that rather ironic also.

And the idea that Garberville is scary or “spooky?” Please.

Good thing nobody took him out by the Honeydew Store, late on a Saturday night. I get the impression that he would have wet his pants right quick…as the theme to “Deliverance” played in his head.

Sara
Guest
Sara
13 years ago

Honeydew Fire Department does a wonderful job but you should see them. Not like
any other fire department you’ve ever seen lol.

Sara
Guest
Sara
13 years ago

Honeydew Fire Department does a wonderful job but you should see them. Not like
any other fire department you’ve ever seen lol.

Laura Paine Carr
Guest
13 years ago

I know, you need one more comment here, but I cannot help myself 😉

“The article” has me laughing out loud. As do many of these comments in response to it and to each other. Perhaps we all needed this.

Really, I would send the author a little thank you note. No one would dare set foot in Humboldt after reading his article, unless they were well-heeled enough to get out of there, quick. Also, after all those earlier blogposts and comments about creating a tourism-like-Napa, it must be considered that “the tourist” is a fairly important factor in the equation.

Laura Paine Carr
Guest
13 years ago

I know, you need one more comment here, but I cannot help myself 😉

“The article” has me laughing out loud. As do many of these comments in response to it and to each other. Perhaps we all needed this.

Really, I would send the author a little thank you note. No one would dare set foot in Humboldt after reading his article, unless they were well-heeled enough to get out of there, quick. Also, after all those earlier blogposts and comments about creating a tourism-like-Napa, it must be considered that “the tourist” is a fairly important factor in the equation.

Merry Meddler
Guest
Merry Meddler
13 years ago

Yes, the stereotypes….
My Idaho sister loved SoHum until on one visit she needed to go to Redwoods Rural and had to sit amongst other waiting patients in dirty clothes with dreadlocks.
I, on the other hand, am kinda horrified when I go to the market in her rural Idaho burg and find a dozen varieties of frozen fried potatoes, corndogs and the like, and no fresh greens in the produce section other than tired lettuce, celery with withered stalk ends and maybe an expired Dole package of slimy spinach leaves. And of course, I’m shopping amongst folks who by and large (no pun intended) are obese and generally unhealthy looking.

Staff
Member
13 years ago
Reply to  Merry Meddler

I point out the unique level of organic produce for small towns to every single reporter I talk to. Not one mentions it. Dare I say that that is because the rest of America is light years behind Humboldt in caring about healthy food. (I now get off my soapbox and go browsing among the chips and Easter candy for something tasty….;>)

Merry Meddler
Guest
Merry Meddler
13 years ago

Yes, the stereotypes….
My Idaho sister loved SoHum until on one visit she needed to go to Redwoods Rural and had to sit amongst other waiting patients in dirty clothes with dreadlocks.
I, on the other hand, am kinda horrified when I go to the market in her rural Idaho burg and find a dozen varieties of frozen fried potatoes, corndogs and the like, and no fresh greens in the produce section other than tired lettuce, celery with withered stalk ends and maybe an expired Dole package of slimy spinach leaves. And of course, I’m shopping amongst folks who by and large (no pun intended) are obese and generally unhealthy looking.

Staff
Member
13 years ago
Reply to  Merry Meddler

I point out the unique level of organic produce for small towns to every single reporter I talk to. Not one mentions it. Dare I say that that is because the rest of America is light years behind Humboldt in caring about healthy food. (I now get off my soapbox and go browsing among the chips and Easter candy for something tasty….;>)

skippy
Guest
skippy
12 years ago

Well, Humboldt got some major press, folks.

Matt Drange reported today this New York Times Style magazine article, The High Life, had ‘a million peeks.’

With 1.4 million subscribers and the magazine available in 53,000 retail outlets, the article was a major push forward introducing Humboldt and its gloriously wacky wonders to the nation, whether one likes it or not.

The East Coast just met the North Coast. If it wasn’t well known enough before, SoHum and Humboldt County are certainly the buzzwords of the day for the Big Apple– and everywhere in between.

Cecil’s fine food garnished with chantrelles and elves are equally famous, too, no doubt. What’s next? I’m sure Guy Fieri will be coming by soon to check it out.

Just like you, yours truly loves Humboldt– and everything in it. Humboldt never ceases to amaze me. What a great place. Shhh…

skippy
Guest
skippy
12 years ago

Well, Humboldt got some major press, folks.

Matt Drange reported today this New York Times Style magazine article, The High Life, had ‘a million peeks.’

With 1.4 million subscribers and the magazine available in 53,000 retail outlets, the article was a major push forward introducing Humboldt and its gloriously wacky wonders to the nation, whether one likes it or not.

The East Coast just met the North Coast. If it wasn’t well known enough before, SoHum and Humboldt County are certainly the buzzwords of the day for the Big Apple– and everywhere in between.

Cecil’s fine food garnished with chantrelles and elves are equally famous, too, no doubt. What’s next? I’m sure Guy Fieri will be coming by soon to check it out.

Just like you, yours truly loves Humboldt– and everything in it. Humboldt never ceases to amaze me. What a great place. Shhh…

Daisy
Guest
Daisy
12 years ago

Hell yes,the hippies are scary! I’m tempted to carry scissors in my pocket for the next unfortunate occasion of being stuck behind some dreadlocked creature while waiting in line at the store.
Becky, I am now no more inclined to visit your establishment after reading your rantings, though I may have considered it after reading the review in the article.
Although I did enjoy the article, I find it a shame Mr. Towers chose to focus on marijuana and the more unsightly areas and people of our county. I think Ferndale and the dairy farmers would have been a much more pleasant choice.

Staff
Member
12 years ago
Reply to  Daisy

(yikes, surely no one with the sweet name of Daisy meant to call human beings by the term “creature” or is even half seriously contemplating cutting someone’s hair without their permission.)
I love Ferndale but I’ve never found Garberville, hippies, or “dreadlocked creatures” very scary. Several of the people I rely on and care about have hairstyles outside the norm. I never found that scary. My 8 yr old is currently going for a retro fifties short cut that makes his ears stick out and he looks like something from a Norman Rockwell painting in a geeky redheaded boy kind of way. Now that is scary–a little too normal for the hippie lady hiding in me;>

And if you miss the food at Cecil’s…you’re missing some of the best food in Humboldt. There will almost assuredly be someone with dreadlocks there. Strike up a conversation. They might delight you.