Monthly Archive: May, 2007
May 10, 2007 at 3:29 am
by bruce
· Filed under general
In honor of the Mendocino Film Festival, Sue Bondoux, longtime bartender at Little River Inn, has created a special menu of drinks inspired by the motion picture industry. Makes since given the fact that Ole’s Whale Watch Bar, a watering hole not only affords a spectacular views of the ocean and spy-hopping gray whales, is where James Dean spent his evenings during the filming of East of Eden in 1954. Sue proudly offers the following:
- Pear-a-Mount Martini with Grey Goose pear vodka;
- Blue Velvet – “bizarre, salty and sweet” with Cabrito Tequila;
- Twentieth Century Sex Martini with Absolute Vodka;
- Sergio Leone Sangria – Italian wine “mixed with Spanish flavor”;
- Limelight Cosmopolitan with Captain Morgan rum, fresh lime, cranberry juice;
- Late Night Martini with Vanilla Stoli and much, much more.
The drinks will be offered during the four days of the film festival, May 17-20.
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May 8, 2007 at 9:21 am
by bruce
· Filed under events, general
I just picked up the program for the 2nd Annual Mendocino Film Festival and see that this year’s feature artist and “guest of honor” is Albert Maysles, who the New York Times has called the “dean of documentary film makers.”
Two of Maysles’ films, “The Beales of Grey Gardens” (2006) and “What’s Happening! The Beatles in the USA” (1964), will be screened during the festival, which takes place May 17-20 in Mendocino. And, on May 19 at 1:30 p.m. there will be a “conversation” with Maysles at Crown Hall ($20/person).
The Festival kick-off is 6 p.m. Thursday, May 17, at a champagne reception ($40/person) at the Festival Tent in the Village.
The four days of the festival are jammed with screenings of short subjects, animation, and full-length documentaries.
Of note: “Reel Mendo”, a showcase of films created by local Mendocino Coast filmmakers, will be shown on May 20.
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May 4, 2007 at 10:08 am
by dff
· Filed under eats, gardens, general
Now that we’re well into Spring, and past most of the rains, the farmers markets are opening up again. They’ll be running well into October, so take advantage of one of them. The Mendocino Farmers Market opens up today, May 4, and runs every Friday from noon until 2pm. They are set up on Howard Street, in the first block off Main Street. You’ll find locally grown vegetables, fruits, meat, cheese, olive oil, honey, tea, fresh and dried flowers, and other surprises. Quite a few local innkeepers shop here for fresh ingredients for their food….
The Fort Bragg Farmers Market opened up on Wednesday, May 2, and will be open until October 31 — wanna bet they’ll have pumpkins that day? The Fort Bragg market has moved this year. Instead of Franklin Street, they will be at the north end of town off Main Street (Highway One) at the lot by Century 21, just south of Elm Street. The market runs from 3:30 pm until 6 pm on Wednesdays.
The Gualala Farmers Market takes place at the Gualala Community Center, and it runs from May 26 through October 27, on Saturdays from 10am - 12:30pm.
If you’d like to know more, check out the Web site of the Mendocino County Farmers Market Association.
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May 1, 2007 at 6:11 pm
by nancy
· Filed under events
A “must do” activity this weekend is a trip to the Point Cabrillo Light Station for a guided tour of the Third-Order Fresnel Lens. These tours are led by members of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary and are offered only a few times each year. I participated in the tour last year, so I can personally recommend it for both the history and the view. After hearing the tales of the lightkeeper’s life and then traversing the stairs, I could only imagine how perilous a job this was. Once out onto the platform, the whistling wind confirmed my impression. However, my breath was taken away not by the brisk wind, but by the stunning view. I can only entice you with photos - they cannot fairly represent the experience. You must go and see for yourself.
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May 1, 2007 at 11:44 am
by bruce
· Filed under attractions, general, history
Little River Inn General Manager Printha Worthen and Inn Publicist Cammie King Conlon played host today to three Japanese visitors who were following the “James Dean Trail.” Writer Michio Michael Higashi, Editor Makoto Fukuda and Photographer Naonari Kohira arrived on the Coast last night from Rakuda (”Camel” in Japanese – a symbol of the blending of eastern and western), an upscale bi-monthly lifestyle magazine produced in Tokyo. I joined them for breakfast.
They came to the U.S. on a two-week whirlwind trip to gather material for a feature story on towns and locations made famous in movies, including Mendocino and Little River (East of Eden), Wyoming (Shane), Arizona (O.K. Corral) and Petaluma, California (American Graffiti).
While Printha talked about James Dean who stayed in Room 102 at the Little River Inn during the filming of East of Eden in 1954 and the Inn’s history of five consecutive generations of owners, we ate Ole’s Swedish Pancakes in the restaurant. Coincidentally, filling in as a server for the day and waiting on the group’s table was Cally Dym, operations manager, granddaughter of Inn Founder Ole Hervilla.
When Cammie pulled out publicity photos of herself as five-year-old Bonnie Blue Butler, the daughter of Rhett Butler (Clark Gable) in Gone With The Wind, there was a burst of smiles and recognition by Higashi, Fukuda and Kohira that they were dining with a real movie star. 
Printha took the group on a tour of the inn property and to Mendocino to see areas where East of Eden and Murder She Wrote were filmed.
Higashi said that James Dean is cult figure in Japan. Of course, it’s no secret that the Japanese are great lovers of the American West and western movies.
We also talked about other movies made on the Mendocino Coast.
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