Inside Napa Valley - Summer 2015 by Napa Register

inside

napa valley MAY 2015

A special tribute to mothers 1

inside

In this Issue

napa valley 4

Preserving a mother’s tradition

Great moms

A mother’s love

Downtown Napa revisited

BottleRock returns!

23 Summer fun in the Valley

44 Old Faithful Geyser revamps 46 New shops upvalley 52 Dealership thrives through the years 55 Bootcamp for the bubbly

Chef reaches for the stars

Offering tasty treats – and opportunities

In praise of mothers N O R M A KO S T E C K A , A DV E RT I S I N G D I R E C TO R

Norma Kostecka is the advertising director for the Napa Valley Register.

‌Mothers are a special kind of people: they give us life, protect us as we grow, and ultimately teach us how to live. With this edition of Inside Napa Valley, published on the eve of Mother’s Day, we’ll pay tribute to moms of all sorts. We’ll tell the story of one Napa Valley daughter who is making sure that her family business upholds the powerful tradition set by her late mother. We’ll look at a mother-daughter team building a business together. We’ll hear from some people who share why their mothers are so special.

And we’ll visit with some American Canyon moms who banded together to offer each other support and love as they work to care for their kids. But great as they are, moms aren’t the only ones on the agenda for this issue. We’ll take a look at big events on the calendar for the summer, including the powerful lineup for this year’s BottleRock music festival. We’ll look at quirky shopping options in Downtown Napa, and take a stroll down the main streets upvalley to see what’s new and interesting in their shopping scenes.

Will travel to Calistoga’s Old Faithful Geyser, and visit with some great Napa Valley chefs. So join us as we celebrate mom and enjoy life here in the valley in this spring edition of Inside Napa Valley. On the cover: Melissa Doughty, owner of Creations Fine Jewelry, holds a picture of her mother, the late Judith DalCielo, who owned the store for 27 years and set a high standard that her daughter works to carry on. Photo by Dana Halvorson, courtesy of Melissa Doughty.

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Carrying on a mother’s legacy Jeweler carries on tradition wrought by her mother

JESS LANDER

hen you walk into longtime Napa staple Creations Fine Jewelers, you might be greeted by 6-year-old Justin, offering to clean your rings — don’t worry, mom and owner Melissa Doughty will do the actually cleaning — or run into 3-year-old Ava and her dazzling, new Hearts on Fire earrings. Both children are fourth-generation apprentices at the store, acquiring a passion for all things shiny from a young age, just like Doughty did, thanks to her mother Judith DalCielo, former store owner of 27 years. “Justin has already looked under the microscope and worked at the jewelers bench, which is exactly what I did at his age. I would go sit on the bench and watch the jeweler work,” said Doughty. “We’re teaching them exactly what my mom taught me. We’re instilling it in them.” Doughty and her husband Brian, who she met right there at the store, worked side-by-side with Judith for years. They took over in 2010 when she passed away after a two-year battle with Leukemia, but have kept her legacy very much alive inside. “When she passed away, Brian and I said, ‘We want to carry on the business. We want to carry on all the traditions, all the relationships that have formed over these three generations. It’s too special to lose.’ So we decided we’d do whatever it takes to keep this store here,” said Doughty. Her grandfather, Melvin Greenville, first opened the store in 1976 as a jewelry repair shop, and there Judith quickly realized her love for gemstones and natural talent in the art of stone cutting. She took over as sole owner in 1983 and a young

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Creations Fine Jewelry owner Melissa Doughty and her husband Brian.

J.L. Sousa/Register

Brian Doughty, right, owns Creations Fine Jewelers with his wife Melissa.

Doughty was by her side from the beginning. The store moved from Grape Yard Shopping Center to Bel Air Plaza, where Judith took the store to a whole new level of custom design and even started to carry brands. No more would Napa residents have to travel to the city to find the most popular ready-made styles. “When I was a baby, she would sit me in the carrier right by the stone cutter machine and the sounds of the vibration would actually calm me,” said Doughty, who helped out at the shop as soon as she was old enough, starting the coffee pot in the morning before school. “My sisters weren’t quite as interested in it. I was always very close with my mom, we always had a strong relationship and worked well together. It was just natural for us.” By middle school, Doughty was helping with the bookkeeping and eventually transitioned to the counter, doing repairs. “My mom would come in for some of the repairs and actually explain the whole thought process. She would hand me a loop and ask

J.L. Sousa/Register

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An infant Melissa Doughty with her mother Judith DalCielo.

me, ‘How does this ring need to be repaired?’ and ‘What’s wrong with this ring?’ She would teach me about diamonds and the facets and quiz me,” recalled Doughty. “She would show me what makes stones so magnificent and I always had the microscope and was right there with her.” Doughty is now carrying on that family tradition with her two

Melissa and Brian Doughty describe their store as a “full service jewelry store specializing in custom design and fine jewelry brands.”

children, who she would love to one day carry on the business as well. Since Judith’s passing, Creations Fine Jewelers (which moved to Redwood Plaza in 2004), has only undergone one big change: a name modification from Creations By You Fine Jewelers. Doughty wanted the change to better reflect the store’s commitment to carrying

high-end brands in addition to creating custom pieces. The rest, is still all Judith. “We carry on everything that she stood for — quality, integrity, the involvement with the customers,” said Doughty. “It really does still feel like she’s here honestly, because the original foundation hasn’t changed. We’ve just kept it going and kept it really strong.” 5

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More than family

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S A M I E H A RT L E Y s har tle y@nap ane w s . com‌

ome mothers and the bridge or inside the Paldaughters are best ace of Fine Arts. We’re always friends, but Elizabeth working on something either Hicks and her daughtogether or near each other. ter Shauna Bergstrom are It’s the simple things because more like kindred spirits. The it’s really effortless when Napans share a bond that tranwe’re together.” scends family and friendship. Bergstrom said it’s impos“Often we started humsible to choose a favorite ming the same songs, craving memory of her mother, but the same food, saying the same these days she’s most fond things, laughing the same way of watching Hicks interact with tears streaming down our with her grandson. Hicks faces and melting our makeup said Bergstrom is a natural as off,” Bergstrom said. “I feel a mother, and she hopes she’s like our connection is incomset a good example to follow as prehensible.” her children grow with famiHicks said being highly lies of their own. “The pride in sync with her daughter I feel seeing how successful might seem weird to others, my girls are, it’s like I got it but she wouldn’t have it any right on this mom thing,” she other way. “We often say the said. “My kids are my greatest same thing at the same time. accomplishment.” Probably 10 times a day, like Bergstrom said she’s followtwins. If a song is stuck in my ing her mother’s lead as she sets Submitted photo‌ out on her own motherhood head, she will start humming Elizabeth Hicks, daughter Shauna Bergstrom and grandson Flynn enjoy a quiet it. It’s pretty crazy. That’s our journey, valuing her mother’s moment in Napa. The bond between mother and daughter is more than family and friendship, advice and looking forward to every day.” a closeness Berstrom hopes to replicate with her 9-month-old son. Bergstrom recognized the the future. special bond she shares with “My mom showed me that her mother at an early age and since they get to work together. back. Our life is amazing now in for a few years (of motherhood) took comfort knowing that her While the two spend time large part because of my mom’s you’ll lose yourself in your mom mother would always be there for together on the job, they spend a conscious decision to change it.” persona,” she said. “Your baby her, supporting and loving her no lot of their free time together, too. Bergstrom credits her mother needs you for everything, but at matter what life had in store. When Bergstrom lives just around the cor- with instilling in her a sense of some point you need to be you Bergstrom was younger, her family, ner from her mother in downtown adventure and the ambition and again. If you asked me to use five which includes little sister Leslie, Napa with her husband and their faith to take risks and live life to words to describe myself, ‘mom’ moved around a lot, but when her 9-month-old son, Flynn. As a first- the fullest. probably wouldn’t be one of them. parents divorced, Bergstrom said time mom, Bergstrom values her “She’s that person who will call I’m so many things before I’m a her mother used the opportunity mother’s wisdom even more these you on a Friday night and ask if you mom. I love my son with all my to start on a new path, opening her days. She said her mother’s outlook want to go to Tahoe for the week- heart, but I know he won’t love me own business and setting a strong on life has served as an inspiration, end. She’s the person who packs down the line just because I gave example for her daughters. and she hopes to instill that same bubbles and doesn’t really have a birth to him. He’ll love me because Today, Bergstrom works side- wisdom in her own children. plan other than to go blow bubbles I’m me and we’ll evolve together. by-side at Hick’s business Napa “There is no point leading a somewhere cool. We don’t really “I want so much for my son, Valley Steaming, cleaning hood frustrated life because you decided misbehave; we just try to find that and my husband and I are going and exhaust systems in commercial to take a backseat instead of driv- thing that few people have found, to make it happen. It’s been so kitchens throughout the Bay Area. ing your own life,” Bergstrom said. go places that few people go, and amazing seeing how curious he is. It’s dirty work, but when you’re “Rule number one in our house do something different.” It makes boring things fun again working alongside your friend, when I was growing up was that Hicks said one of her favorite because you get to see him experitime passes quickly. Since most of life isn’t fair. We’ve always made things to do with her daughter ence them for the first time.” the cleaning takes place at night our own luck. She assesses every when they’re near San Francisco is Hicks said she enjoys watching after restaurants have closed, Berg- risk, reward, and potential conse- to drive to the Golden Gate Bridge her daughter explore motherhood strom said their work feels a bit quence and chooses where to put and blow soap bubbles after a job. and has no worry that Bergstrom mischievous, standing on rooftops her energy to do the most good. We “It never gets old,” Hicks said. “We will be anything but a remarkable while most people are asleep, but don’t like to worry about the past. always have bubbles with us so we’ll mother. “She’s good at it. I knew they enjoy what they do, especially We can’t get that time or energy take them and go blow bubbles by she would be.” 7

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Hagan Bresee, seen here with his parents James and Rita Bresee at graduation last year, believes he has one of the best moms in Napa Valley.

Mother’s Day wishes

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S A M I E H A RT L E Y s har tle y@nap ane w s . com‌

he Internet is littered with inspiring and thoughtful quotes about mothers and the act of mothering, but motherhood is more than an act of selflessness. It is a state of being. Motherhood is opening your heart to love and giving love in return. The late comedienne

The ‘professional’ mom Napa resident Jessalyn Jade Hood thinks her mother Cheryl Lea Thibaut, also of Napa, is the best in the Valley because Cheryl’s role as a mother extends beyond her two biological children and her two step-children. “When I turned 18 and moved to Lake Berryessa for the summer to work at a resort, my mom instantly got ‘empty nest syndrome’ and that’s when she and my step dad decided to sign up for foster care,” Hood explained. “One of the first girls they got, they adopted and kept her from 10 to 18 years old. I still call her my sister, and we are still very close. My mom has helped so many children over the past decade I’ve lost track.” Hood and her husband Christopher and 8

Gildna Radner described motherhood as the “biggest gamble in the world.” If that’s true, these Napa Valley moms are on to something. The title of Napa Valley’s greatest mother is certainly up for debate, but these readers believe their moms are worthy nominees. Here are some of their stories. Submitted photo‌

Jessalyn Jade Hood, seen her with mother Cheryl Lea Thibaut and brother Brian Torrez, hopes her children take after their grandmother’s giving spirit.

their two daughters Addalyn , 3, and Charlise, 3 months, live just down the road from Thibaut, who continues mothering in retirement as nanny to 7-year-old twin boys. “My husband calls my mother the ‘professional mom’ because she is just a pro at anything that has to do with children,” Hood said. Hood said she’s learned a lot from her mother and she hopes her daughters inherit their grandmother’s dedication, giving spirit and young-at-heart approach to life. “I just think she’s an outstanding woman. She has the biggest heart and is so incredibly selfless. She’s always giving someone a ride or watching someone’s kids. She’s just so full of life. We all love her so much.” Mother knows best Now that Pookie McGlothern is a student at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, she gets to interact with highly-educated professors on a daily basis, but the lessons she’s learned outside of the classroom – from her mother, Napa resident Ailene Pritchett – are far more impactful. “Whenever I am in doubt, my mom always has the answers,” McGlothern said. “This beautiful, strong-willed, hard-working, and loving individual has made me into the person I am today. She has worked so hard to give me so many opportunities and make sure that I have

love, who never ceases to amaze me,” McGlothern said. “She’s my role model, my inspiration and my rock. I’m beyond grateful to have her as my mother.”

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Pookie McGlothern says her mom Ailene Pritchett, left, is the smartest woman she knows.

everything I need to succeed.” McGlothern describes her mother as the toughest woman she knows, capable of doing everything 10 times better than anyone else. “She is the woman with endless amounts of

Team Mom Napa native Hagan Bresee believes his mom, Rita Bresee, is the best in Napa Valley because she raised six children while working full time. “She’s just an amazing mom,” Bresee said. “She raised six kids and did everything for us, such as cooking for us, cleaning, and helping us with our homework; basically anything you could ever imagine.” In addition to raising Hagan, 18, Rita is mother to Kaylani, 13; Trenton, 17; Easton, 20; Brian, 22; and Matthew, 24. She and husband James will celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary this August. Hagan said he admires his mother’s kindness the most. Aside from raising a family and working full time at Napa-based Chaudhary and Associates, a surveying and engineering company, Rita also volunteers in the community and is big supporter of Vintage High School sports. “She was the team mom for more teams than you can count on your hands,” Hagan said. “I never see her stop. She’s always helping someone and just being a great mom.”

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Susie Stanley cradles granddaughter Nina. Stanley raised six kids by herself. Napa Chamber of Commerce President Travis Stanley, left, with his family: daughter Nina, wife Irene, and son Elijah.

A Mother’s Love ‌“Y

ou’ll never understand until you have your own”. Those were some of the most profound words ever spoken to me by my mother as she tried to explain the strength behind the faded phrase on her favorite old t-shirt — she wore it to bed every night. “A Mother’s Love” was the message, but what did that mean? After all, there were six of us, and she was a single mom working a full-time job with a 50-minute commute that could easily last several hours in the dead of winter in Lansing, Michigan. She managed to make us each feel as though we were her favorite; after all, it’s not humanly possible to disperse 10

Irene Stanley, left, and her mother-in-law Susie Stanley visiting the Elan Winery on Atlas Peak

T R AV I S S TA N L E Y the love we were each shown in equal amounts. We were a pretty average middle-class, Mid-western family. We didn’t have much, but our needs were a lot more minimal than kids of today. We were strictly raised to appreciate all that we did have – including each other. That was an easy task when we all saw how hard she worked to make our lives better, each and every day. Simple needs like school clothes, Christmas gifts, holiday gatherings with family and friends and freedom to play outside as much as we wanted is all I remember wanting. Whatever the case may be, she always made us feel there wasn’t a need for much else.

The rules were simple: 1) be neat – house and clothes; 2) be respectful; 3) have manners; and 4) treat others as you would like them to treat you. Grow up to be a good man and not only will things you wish for come your way, but good things that are not expected will arrive as well. Truer words could not have been spoken. Fast-forward one wife, two children, a 98-year old grandmother and 40-plus years later and still I have no idea how she did it. I mention my grandmother because I do know she played a huge role. She was always there for mom — along with my late grandfather. Whatever she/we needed, whenever she/we needed

it. A Mother’s Love. I have my hands completely full with two smart, beautiful and very socially active kids whose mother works from home. I find myself telling my mom that her folklore has officially reached Super Hero status for raising six kids with no father in the house. How did she do that? I now watch in amazement as my wife juggles work and life, me and our kids and I see Wonder Woman all over again. She’s strong, beautiful and amazing, and the most thoughtful person I’ve ever met in my life. I married a new age version of my mother and grandmother rolled into one. Talk about things not expected. I

Irene Stanley with son Elijah.

didn’t even think I was marriage material and I’m blessed with an opportunity to spend the rest of my life with my soul mate. I’m still not really sure how my life journey ended up here in Napa – from Michigan — living in the most beautiful place in the world, but I tell her thank you taking the wheel and bringing me along for the ride. I often joke with her about wanting to trade places with our kids, and most of the time it’s after witnessing how she absolutely loves, cherishes and adores them every minute of their lives. My son must tell her he loves her 15 times a day! I’m not making that up, and there are times I might get a little jealous/envious, but I completely understand. A Mother’s Love. My grandmother’s 98th birthday is actually May 17 and I hope to get back to celebrate with my family. Whether I make it back or not, I know that my mom is making plans to make sure that it’s a very special day. Although she lives about 40 miles away, she now makes sure that my grandmother gets whatever she needs, whenever she needs it. No easy task when you’re 75 years of age yourself. She does it without hesitation. Not only is she assisting with the needs of my grandmother, but also my physically disabled aunt, who was paralyzed as a result of a surgical procedure gone bad. Did I mention the fact the she also heavily shares in the

Travis Stanley, left, with son Elijah and mother Susie Stanley at San Francisco’s Union Square in 2011.

Bernice Demps with her great granddaughter Nina Stanley. Grandson Travis Stanley credits his grandmother with helping his own mother raise six kids by herself.

responsibilities of raising a multitude of grandkids and great grandkids. I often plead with her to be a little more selfish and to make more time for herself — she certainly deserves it. It often appeared that she was working even harder to take care of her now fully-grown kids — and their families. It didn’t seem fair to me. Her response was always the same “you’ll never understand until you have your own.” I now understand. I still can’t fully explain it, but I understand. A Mother’s Love. That’s the faded phrase on my new favorite t-shirt. Happy Mother’s Day Travis Stanley is president and CEO of the Napa Chamber of Commerce.

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Club offers help to stressed-out mothers NOEL BRINKERHOFF n brin k e rhoff@a meric a nc a nyonea gl e. com‌ ‌A MERICAN CANYON — Having a child can be a wondrous experience. But it can also be a stressful, exhausting and, in a way, lonely experience for women who stay home raising a boy or girl while their spouse is off at work during the day. Fortunately, there’s the Moms’ Club of American Canyon. The Moms’ Club is exactly what its name indicates: a club for moms. It is part social group, part support network for women with children looking for connection — both for themselves and for their kids — and for help with all things related to child rearing or being part of a family. “The Moms’ Club is a group of stay-at-home moms and working moms who get together and support each other with whatever we need,” said Megan Mann, the club’s president. “Once you have a kid, your life changes completely,” said Mann. “You don’t even know when you will have time to sleep, go to the bathroom, eat …” While talking to Mann at Shenandoah Park two days before Easter, a perfect example of what a mom goes through was on display. Her young daughter, Abi, really wanted a candy-filled Easter egg from an unopened, tightly sealed plastic bag. Mann grappled with the packaging, pulling and pulling unsuccessfully. The interviewer offered to take a crack at the bag, so Mann could go back to finishing her thought. The bag confounded him as well, refusing to open. That is until Mann came up with a practical solution. “How about your pen?” she said, nodding toward the pen he was using for the interview.

Sure enough, one quick stab of the pen and the bag was open. And Abi had her pre-Easter treat. “What is it they say,” said Mann with a chuckle, “the pen is mightier than the sword?” All joking aside, Mann’s simple ingenuity for solving a problem was something moms have to tackle every day. For those brand new to the experience, the group offers a wealth of personal knowledge that can be accessed in person or online. In addition to getting together for play dates for their kids or other events, the Moms’ Club has a private, members-only Facebook page that provides tips and advice. Tracey Jones, who has been a member for about a year, cited a common problem facing a new mom: “My daughter has a cold, what should I do? What’s the best remedy for this, or anything?” “It’s great to see what other moms are doing,” she added. Like a lot of the mothers, Jones joined the club to make new friends for herself and her daughter, 21-month-old Josie, who was strapped into her stroller now that she has full use of her feet. “She really likes to take off,” said Jones with a smile. Being out at the park on a sunny Friday morning with some of the other moms for an egg hunt for the kids was just one example of how the club gives its members a chance to leave the house and socialize. Kami Wanous, who served as club president last year, said she joined five years ago when her son, Kenyon, was only a year old in order to connect with other moms. “Just to know I wasn’t alone,” said Wanous. “You want to know

Noel Brinkerhoff/Eagle

Members of the Moms’ Club organize an Easter egg hunt for their kids at Shenandoah Park.

what you’re going through is not unique.” The club affords the women the chance to share and socialize, and not always with kids. A subgroup called Run Moms Run provides those into jogging, and even tackling marathons, the chance to stay fit and have fun. At least once every month, the club organizes a “mom’s night out” sans children. Sometimes it’s a simple potluck at someone’s house, sometimes they hit the local bowling alley to knock down some pins. It’s a chance for them to be women and not moms for an evening. But because they are mothers most all the time, many of the members appreciate one particular part of the club. Called “In a Pinch,” their version of mealson-wheels provides hot food up to three times a week for a month or more to a mom in need of

some help while taking care of a newborn as well as the rest of her family. The food is prepared by the other members, who sign up to volunteer and help out. Megan Dameron, a three-year member who went out on maternity leave from her job at Guide Dogs for the Blind, really appreciated the in-a-pinch assistance, “especially having twins and a toddler at home” to feed, along with a husband. Mann says those who join the club, which has about 50 members, usually stick around for a long time. “No one ever really leaves Moms’ Club,” she said. “Some become less active as their kids grow older,” said Mann. “But those with older kids still enjoy the camaraderie” the club offers, which is why they still show up at events to hang with those just like themselves: moms. 13

Wolf named Napa Valley Grower of the Year R E G I S T E R S TA F F ‌The Napa Valley Grapegrowers have chosen longtime grapegrower Mike Wolf as the 2015 Napa Valley Grower of the Year. Wolf will be honored for his contributions to Napa Valley farming and the community on May 15 at the 40th annual NVG dinner. Wolf has been involved with developing and managing California vineyards for more than 35 years. He launched Michael Wolf Vineyard Services in 1997, working with many of Napa Valley’s leading independent growers, and premium and ultra-premium wineries in all phases of sustainable vineyard development, from planning and development to maintaining well-established vineyards. He currently farms more than 800 acres across Napa County. Wolf started working with grapes when he moved to Mendocino County with two college friends and wound up connecting with Beckstoffer Vineyards in Ukiah for his first vineyard job. He moved to Napa County in 1981 as vineyard supervisor for a large agricultural development company in Pope Valley where he worked for 12 years, managing all vineyard development and vineyard operations. In 1994, he accepted a position overseeing 500 acres of vineyard in the Napa Valley for Beckstoffer Vineyards. Wolf’s name is associated with vineyards that

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Mike Wolf has been named Napa Valley Grapegrowers’ Grower of the Year.

express the exceptionally high quality for which Napa is known. Respected for his commitment to Napa Valley farming and the community, Wolf has served as: — Board trustee of the California Grower Foundation since 1987; board chairman from 1994–1998. — Professional member of the American Society of Enology and Viticulture. — Member of the Napa Valley Viticultural Technical Group’s Executive Committee from 1995–1996. — Director of the Napa County Farm Bureau from 1986–1998; president from 1990–1992;

vice president from 1988–1989. — Board member, Jameson Animal Rescue Ranch. “Mike is a tremendous example of a quiet, genuine leader. He is a perennial contributor to advancing viticultural best practices, dependably mentors the next generation and furthers the process of sustainable farming,” said NVG President Steve Moulds. “We are very proud to honor him.” He continues to be a strong advocate and supporter for farmworkers in the valley, actively supporting the Napa Valley Farmworker Foundation, Harvest Stomp and the annual Napa Valley Pruning Contest. Mike was raised just outside of New York City, and received a B.A. in history from Alfred University in New York. Nominations for the Napa Valley Grower of the Year come from the NVG membership and the recipient is chosen by a selection committee made up of past presidents and current committee members. The award criteria a strong commitment to sustainable practices; recognized leadership in agricultural preservation; dedicated community focus, contributions to Napa Valley; and someone who actively promotes Napa’s reputation for the highest quality vineyards.

Downtown Napa revisited S A M I E H A RT L E Y s har tle y@nap ane w s . com‌

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owntown Napa may be evolving from a quaint pocket in Napa Valley into a tourist destination lined with high-end boutiques and luxurious restaurants, but at the heart of downtown Napa remains the locally-owned, mom-and-pop stores that are a throwback to the Napa of yesteryear. These stores are charming, picturesque visions of a Napa that some longtime locals yearn for, but these stores also glitter with a modern flare that appeals to the vast array of visitors who pass through each year. Some locals say they don’t go downtown because it’s become a tourist trap, but there is more to downtown Napa than meets the eye. There is a quiet spirit to the downtown district that rests along the Napa River. Whether you’ve lived here for years, or you’ve just moved to town, a visit to downtown Napa is in order. So take an afternoon and rediscover downtown Napa. Here’s a sampling of the many places you may discover. But make sure to bring your wallet. It’s nearly impossible to step into these stores and walk away empty-handed. Local treasures at Traditions Start your tour at Napa Valley Traditions on Main Street. The shop is filled with brightly-colored figurines, souvenirs and glassware. Plus, you’ll find delicacies such as locally-made jams, jellies, mustards, olive oils, candies and spice rubs. And if you realize you’re a bit hungry while shopping, you don’t even have to leave. Grab a cup of coffee or tea at the café and relax as you shop. “We have greeting cards, stationery, journals, soaps, candles, locally-made jewelry and pottery, wine and accessories, locally-produced snacks,” said Ruthie Gardner, who’s been working at the shop for more than 20 years. “There is something for everyone here, and if we don’t have it, we’ll tell you where

The children’s section at Napa Bookmine on Pearl Street in downtown Napa.

J.L. Sousa/Register file photo

Tilly Blakesley shops at Napa Bookmine in downtown Napa. Sales were up 9 percent in downtown during the first nine months of 2014, the city reported.

to look.” As Gardner explains, the tightknit crew of five that keeps Napa Valley Traditions bustling act as unofficial ambassadors of downtown Napa. If someone comes to the shop looking for something

specific and Traditions doesn’t have it, the staff will direct them to the local shop that has what you’re looking for. And if they aren’t sure where to send you, they’ll call around while you continue browsing.

J.L. Sousa/Register photos

“Our goal is to brighten your day,” Gardner said. “This is a happy little store. We try to keep it bright, open and inviting. If you don’t leave with a smile on your face, I don’t feel like I’ve done my job. I want everyone to leave happier than when they walked in.” Napa Valley Traditions has woven its way into the hearts of locals for 22 years. Gardner said one of her favorite parts of the job is getting to know customers and becoming their go-to shop for every occasion. “You get to meet a lot of people, and it’s wonderful to become a part of people’s lives and help them find the right gifts for those milestone moments like birthdays, weddings, anniversaries. After being here for two decades, we see the kids from those early years coming in with their own families now. It’s surreal, but we love it.” Napa Valley Traditions is at 1202 Main St. Hours of operation are Monday-Friday 15

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7:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m.; Sunday 10 a.m.-4 p.m. For more information, call 226-2044 or visit napatraditions.com. Downtown’s new book nook If you have time to steal a quiet moment when visiting downtown, a trip to Napa Bookmine is a must. The used bookstore, which also features a small collection of new books, is home to more than 20,000 titles, all meticulously shelved and stacked in a cozy store on Pearl Street. Despite the surge of popularity in e-readers and tablets, owner Naomi Chamblin has made it her goal to get books in the hands of as many people as possible. “Books are works of art,” Chamblin said. “We spend so much of our time looking at screens. I love the physical feeling of a book in my hands. Thankfully, books are not going out of style. Teens love to come in with their friends and browse books together. There is this feeling of discovery and serendipity.” In addition to books, Napa Bookmine also features a collection of novelty items, such as greeting cards, stationary, journals, mugs, art supplies, buttons, tote bags and other gift items. Plus, the bookstore is home to a monthly book club where customers choose the selections. Bookmine also offers its space to community groups to host events. Bookmine Manager Elayna Trucker said getting to know customers is her favorite part of the job. “The people here are spectacular,” she said. “We love meeting with the locals, and getting to know them and making recommendations, and we like chatting with tourists and learning about where they are from and how their trips been.” For readers looking for specific titles, Bookmine offers a digital inventory so that it is easy to locate books among the towers of titles. Napa Bookmine also accepts used books for store credit, so the selection is ever-changing. “I love our customers,” Chamblin said. “They are so loyal. We hope that we offer the best service

The coffee bar at Napa Valley Traditions on Main Street in downtown Napa.

as a way to show our customers how much we appreciate them.” Napa Bookmine is at 964 Pearl St. Hours of operation are Monday from 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Tuesday-Saturday from 10 a.m.-8 p.m.; Sunday from noon-5 p.m. For more information, call 733-3199 or visit napabookmine.com. Mo r e t h a n yo u r a ve r a g e general store Napa General Store owners Jim and Jill Brandt pride themselves in offering distinctive products that reflect the Napa Valley experience. “Napa is a special place, and we want what we sell to reflect Napa Valley authenticity,” said Jill. “For instance, we sell recycled items such as wine barrel art and furniture. We sell items made from repurposed corks. The art we feature is from Napa Valley artists. If it’s not local, we make sure that it’s produced in the United States. That is very important to us.” Open since 2002, Napa General Store on Main Street offers an eclectic collection of goods, including designer shirts, fine jewelry, scarves and accessories, gift items, kitchenware, linens, greeting cards and wine accessories. Jill works with local artists to custom-make many of the items sold at the store. “You won’t find what we sell anywhere else in Napa,” she said. “I work with Napa Valley and Bay Area artists to come up with fun designs. We have a lot of input in the creation of the items we sell, which gives our goods a unique touch.”

Napa General Store also includes a café at the rear of the store, which serves breakfast and lunch from 8 a.m.-4 p.m., The café includes indoor seating and an expansive patio dining area, which can be opened up to host private and public events. Since the Napa General Store has a little bit of everything, it is only fitting that the store also includes a wine bar. Sommelier Tammy Wisnoskie works the bar, where she delights in chatting with customers and visitors while pouring exclusive wines from Napa Valley. “We only buy from winemakers who make less than 1,000 cases a year,” Wisnoskie said. “These are wines made by seasoned winemakers who make wine for their own enjoyment. Some of them even make the wine out of their garages. It’s a hobby. They make it for their family and friends, and they serve it here.” Napa General Store is at 540 Main St. Hours of operation are 8 a.m.-6 p.m. daily. For more information, call 259-0762 or visit napageneralstore.com. A place for home and happiness The Roost Napa is difficult to describe. At its heart, the store offers new and vintage home décor and accents, casual apparel, candles, jewelry, greeting cards and a host of novelty items. But if you ask owner Patricia Trimble to describe her store, she offers a more insightful, simplistic answer. “This store is me. If you opened

J.L. Sousa/Register

up my head, this is what my imagination would look like. These are things that make me happy.” The Roost Napa began as a consignment shop on Lincoln Avenue. But when Trimble moved the business downtown, she used the opportunity to reimagine the store. “I like to play at work, and retail is more fun,” Trimble said. “Consignment wasn’t for me anymore. It was a great way to get started and establish the name, but I was ready for a change, so when we moved, we changed. We evolved beyond consignment, so I decided to pivot the business in a new direction.” Now nestled downtown on Second Street, The Roost Napa continues to inspire locals and enchant tourists. An avid antique collector, Trimble has filled her shop with things that she enjoys, and her customers appreciate her sense of style. She is particularly excited about the new line of clothes coming in for spring and summer and the new line of dog toys and accessories she began selling in early March. She also sells Annie Sloan chalk paint, which is a big hit with customers. Trimble says it’s the best paint she’s ever used and even hosts workshops to teach her customers how to use the paint in their own do-it-yourself projects. “This is a friendly store,” she said. “It’s a welcoming store. I like getting to know my customers. You’re not a stranger when you walk in. It’s that simple.” The Roost Napa is at 1407 Second St. Hours of operation are Monday-Saturday 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m.; Sunday from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. 17

NO DOUBT

2015 BottleRock festival features broad, deep range D AV I D K E R N S newsroom@na pa new s . com ‌ ‌The 2015 edition of BottleRock features a wide-ranging lineup, with the blockbuster indie group Imagine Dragons, No Doubt featuring Gwen Stefani, and Led Zeppelin legend Robert Plant headlining the three-day, four-stage, 60-plus band festival at the end of May. Following the “something for everyone” BottleRock philosophy, the lineup beyond the headliners is broad and deep — from a big roster of indie bands including Foster the People, Passion Pit and Young the Giant to folk-pop rockers The Avett Brothers to hip-hop legends Snoop Dogg and Public Enemy to artists as eclectic as Michael Franti & Spearhead, Gipsy Kings and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. Once again there will be a large contingent of local bands, with Napa Valley reggae rockers Pion 2 Zion opening the festival on the

IMAGINE DRAGONS 18

main stage. By all accounts, the 2015 lineup is stronger than 2014 when a local partnership, Latitude 38 Entertainment, resurrected the festival after a star-powered, deficit-laden inaugural year in 2013 under other promoters. Dave Graham, the CEO of Latitude 38 Entertainment, said the process of creating this year’s lineup began with research, which was already in motion when country rocker Eric Church played the last encore of the 2014 festival. The promoters analyzed ticket sales, audience demographics and attendance at last year’s performances. “We were able to uncover information,” Graham said, “that showed us more clearly who our audience is, what is most important to them and how to deliver on that for the coming year based on the lineup that we book.” With a sense of what the audience wants, the BottleRock leadership created multiple theoretical lineups or wish lists that were feasible within their budget, and then turned to determining band availability. Sheer availability, it turns out, shapes the eventual lineup more than any other factor. “We looked at all kinds of bands,” Graham said, “and you find out who’s really available. So, this one very popular band is going to be in Europe and already has a conflicting booking in the Bay Area close to our dates, which

ROBERT PLANT BottleRock information When: May 29, 30, 31 Where: Napa Valley Expo, 575 Third St., Napa The daily performance schedule and single-day tickets will become available at a future date. Now available: 3-Day General Admission Pass – starting at $235. 3-Day VIP Pass – starting at $575; includes VIP parking near the venue, prime viewing areas, separate entry/exit and access to VIP lounge and restrooms. 3-Day Platinum Pass – starting at $2,500; VIP benefits plus Platinum access to onstage seating and seating directly in front of the stage, access to Platinum Lounge with complimentary fine wines and food tastings, air-conditioned spaces, Platinum restrooms and parking directly at the venue. See BottleRockNapaValley.com for detailed festival information and tickets.

precludes us. It doesn’t matter if you can afford that very desirable band, you have to work within their schedule. “Other bands that you look into haven’t yet decided if they are going to play, and if they are going to play they want to find a desirable routing schedule. Can they create a tour that maximizes efficiencies, so that they’re not going from New York to Los Angeles, then to

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Nashville and Hawaii, but instead they can go from L.A. to the Bay Area to Seattle. So if you’re going to get them, you either fall into that schedule or you were part of it when they were creating it.” “Some bands haven’t yet decided if they want to tour at all,” Graham added, “or they haven’t decided if they’re going to record a new album at the time that you want them. You have to take all of that into consideration just on availability.” Once a band is determined to be available, Graham and his Latitude 38 partners, Justin Dragoo and Jason Scoggins, carefully analyze

Submitted photo‌

the wisdom of the choice. “We’re not making a decision based simply on ‘We like the music, we don’t like the music,’” Graham said. “We have to know where a band is trending in ticket sales, how they’re being perceived in a certain market, especially in the Bay Area, how historically they’ve been perceived in that market and how purchases of tickets have taken place. Are they at the end of a record, are they developing a new record, are they going to be launching a new record during or more importantly prior to our festival?” He went through their process for assessing Imagine Dragons, one of the hottest bands in

the world over the last two years. Their 2012 debut album, “Night Visions,” has gone platinum in 12 countries. This indie band from Las Vegas won the 2013 Grammy for best rock performance, the American Music Award for favorite alternative artist and five Billboard Music Awards. “Here’s how the decision on Imagine Dragons happened,” Graham said. “They’re on our wish list, we want them. Why do we want them? They’ve got a really good brand. Kids love them, their parents love them, and there’s credibility with hard-core music people. “And are they entertaining or is it just a

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guy with a turntable? No, Imagine Dragons’ production value is huge. Have you seen the drum sets and what they do in concert? They’re amazing. So the performance is great. Then you say, ‘Hey, they’re launching their new single in November and launching a new album on February 17.’ You take all of that into consideration.” Once a decision is made to make an offer to a band, that is the beginning of a negotiation, which, as Graham puts it, “goes on and on and on and on. You don’t book these bands without them agreeing to the set time, the day, the amount of time onstage, what’s included if they’re asking for additional perks, who’s going to open for them, what’s their position on the festival admap (poster). It’s not just, ‘Here’s the money, play.’” Despite the challenges of availability, of budget and of the individual demands of the bands, BottleRock 2015 is booked on schedule and the Latitude 38 partners are enthusiastic about both the star power of the artists and the mix of musical genres. In discussing the composition of the lineup, Graham returned repeatedly to what he believes is the uniqueness of the BottleRock audience. “Our festival is different from an audience perspective,” he said. “Rarely do you see young and old alike attending major rock festivals together.

ZZ WARD “We’re different, not only from the promise that people expect from Napa — great food, great wine, great weather, mountains and vineyards and all of that — but we’re different because we welcome a cross-section of festivalgoers that runs the gamut, and the lineup reflects that. Rarely do you see a festival where there are so many parents with their kids. Now how cool is that?” David Kerns is a Napa-based freelance journalist.

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BottleRock announces artistic partners R E G I S T E R S TA F F

‌I

n partnership with Zener Schon Contemporary Art (ZSCA), the 2015 BottleRock Napa Valley music, food, wine and brew festival will showcase a curated group of muralists and sculpture artists who will bring to life a variety of one-of-a-kind installations. Each piece will be on display among the action on the festival grounds throughout the three-day festival on May 29-31. Featured artists include the following: ‌

Muralists Ian Ross: Ian is best known for his huge murals and live painting events in startup offices across the Bay Area and the country. His most notable pieces include “Royal Feathers,” the 70-foot mural within The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, as well as large-scale pieces in the offices of Google, Gap HQ and Whatsapp. Zio Ziegler: The American artist is most notably known for his paintings and large-scale outdoor murals. His early work was inspired by the 1990 graffiti movement in the Bay Area and Europe. He has collaborated with Brands such as Urban Outfitters, Pottery Barn and Vans, and has painted murals at Facebook, Sherpa Foundry, Lyft, Scopely, the U.S. Open for Surfing and many other places across the globe. JM Rizzi (JMR): JMR fuses a neo-abstract expressionism with hints of contemporary art to create a style he’s dubbed his own. Originally from Brooklyn, New York, JMR has been influenced by street art his entire life. His work has

been shown alongside several street art legends including Blek, Banksy, Shepard Fairey and Swoon, among many others. D Young V: The work of San Francisco-based artist D Young V often revolves around the idea of a highly technological post-apocalyptic society. He is a pen and ink artist whose monochromatic drawings are often mistaken as stenciling. President Obama recently named D Young V as America’s second greatest living artist.‌ Sculpture Artists Laura Kimpton and Jeff Schomberg, Collaboration LOVE: Laura and Jeff have been collaborating for years on their “Monumental Word Series,” a collection that launched at the annual Burning Man Festival in 2009. “LOVE,” which will be on display at BottleRock, is the third of seven words in a series that includes “MOM,” “OINK,” “EGO,” “‌B ELIEVE,” “BE” and “DREAM.” Currently living in Marin County, Kimpton is a three-time honorarium grant

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recipient at Burning Man and the creator of the famous installation Celtic Forest. Schomberg fabricates and installs the large-scale sculptures. Karen Cusolito’s Tumble Leaf: Cusolito’s art takes many forms, from painting and mixed media to her most recent focus, large-scale steel sculptures. She currently operates the American Steel Studios in Oakland, and has shown her work at numerous festivals including Burning Man, Electric Daisy and Outside Lands. At BottleRock she will bring to life Tumble Leaf, a large steel-structured chair. Katy Boynton’s Heartfullness: Boynton’s first trip to Burning Man in 2007 changed her perception of art and her self-imposed boundaries of creativity, and as a result, a vision came to her of an enormous metal hear‌t that had been broken and pieced back together — a piece of art she would create with‌her own two hands. Heartfullness has been featured at several festivals throughout the country and will be making its debut at BottleRock this year. For those interested in seeing more work from the BottleRock artists, the Zener Schon Contemporary Art gallery (23 Sunnyside Ave., Mill Valley) will be showcasing the fine art canvas, sculpture and mixed-media works from this group from May 19-June 28.

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Events of summer in Napa Valley S‌ ummer is a busy time in the Napa Valley for locals and tourists alike, with an amazing array of things to do. Here is a sample of some of the many interesting events on the schedule for the spring and summer of 2015. Napa Homebrewers Classic May 9 Napa Valley Expo, Napa northnaparotary.org/napa_ homebrewers_classic A brewfest with lots of great music, food, homemade beer and raffle prizes, hosted by the Rotary Club of North Napa.

Submitted photo

Music in the Vineyards offers free wine tasting at intermission, shown here at Rubicon Estate Winery (now Inglenook). Kids enjoying the swings at the Napa County Fair in Calistoga on July 4, 2014. Tom Stockwell, St. Helena Star

Na p a So l a n o Ho m e & Garden Show May 15-17 Napa Valley Expo, Napa www.napahomeshow.com One of the largest Home & Garden Shows in Northern California. You’ll find hundreds of local, national and international exhibitors and the newest in organic gardening, energy-saving home improvements, and many new innovations. BottleRock 2015 May 29-31

Napa Valley Expo, Napa www.bottlerocknapavalley. com The county’s biggest music festival returns for a third year, featuring a wide assortment of performers from many genres, including headlines Imagine Dragons, No Doubt, and rock legend Robert Plant. (For more information, see Pages 18-21). Auction Napa Valley June 4-7 Various locations auctionnapavalley.org An intangible mingling of extraordinary Napa Valley wines, memorable meals from talented chefs, the beauty of our landscape at every turn, the music and design and, of course, the thrill of bidding on one-of-akind Napa Valley wines and experiences, all coming together in an original way each year since

Napa Valley College, St. Helena Campus shakespearenapavalley.org Productions The Comedy of Errors (June 5-21) and William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (abridged) by Reed Martin and Austin Tichenor, a fun romp through Shakespeare’s plays that will have audiences of all ages rolling in the aisles with laughter (June 26-July 12).

The audience gathers on the lawn at the Robert Mondavi Winery in Oakville for one of the long-running summer festival events in 2014.

1981. The centerpiece auction event will be at Meadowood in St. Helena on June 6. Napa Valley Jazz Getaway June 10 -14 Various locations www.jazzgetaway.com A 5-day luxury wine and jazz

festival set in the heart of California’s famous wine country, featuring an all-star cast of jazz and R&B greats. In addition, you’ll try some of Napa’s most iconic wines and many hidden gems as well. Shakespeare Napa Valley June 5-July 12

King of the West “410” sprint cars June 27 Calistoga Speedway www.calistogaspeedway.org California’s premier 410 sprint car series will be in the middle of their 2015 points battle in this mid-summer contest. Keith Connelly Napa Valley Joe DiMaggio Baseball League Fourth of July Tournament; July 1-5 Justin-Siena High School and Veterans Home of California’s Cleve Borman Field in

Yountville. Information, call Steve Meyer, 312-0188. Robert Mondavi Winery Summer Music Festival July 4 -Aug. 1 Robert Mondavi Winery www.robertmondaviwinery. com For nearly five decades, Robert Mondavi Winery has hosted legendary artists for its Concert Series, this year featuring The Wallflowers plus Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness (July 4), Phillip Phillips (July 11), Lyle Lovett and His Large Band (July 18), Melissa Etheridge (July 25), and Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue (Aug. 1). Napa County Fair and Fireworks July 4 Napa County Fairgrounds, Calistoga www.napacountyfair.org/ Rides, events, exhibits and games at the fairgrounds, following the annual 4th of July Parade through downtown Calistoga.

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A crowd surfer is passed to the front as a crowd of thousands waits for LL Cool J to perform on the final day of BottleRock on Sunday, June 1, 2014.

Town & Country Fair July 8-12 Napa Valley Expo, Napa www.napavalleyexpo.com/townand-country-fair.php Circus dreams and carnival screams at the annual Town & Country Fair in the heart of Napa. Festival del Sole July 15- 26 Various locations festivaldelsole.org The annual summer festival artfully blends the world’s finest classical, jazz, opera, theater and dance artists with curated culinary, wine and fitness pursuits, staged in Napa

Valley’s most iconic settings (For more information, see Page 37) Napa-to-Sonoma Wine Country Half Marathon Series July 19 Carneros destinationraces.com Runners tour the roads of scenic wine country, starting at Cuvaison Carneros Winery and finishing at Sonoma Plaza in front of City Hall.

For more information, call Steve Meyer, (707) 312-0188. Music in the Vineyards July 31-Aug. 23 Various locations www.musicinthevineyards.org The four-week festival showcases nearly 40 world-class artists-in-residence from the U.S., Europe and Canada performing new and classic chamber music repertoire in stunning winery settings.

Jo e Di Ma g g i o Ba s e b a l l League World Series July 23-28 Various locations, TBA.

3 9 t h a n n u a l To u r o f Napa Valley Aug. 16 Various locations

Multi-instrumentalist/recording artist Brian Culbertson, center with trombone, reunited three titans of contemporary jazz for the sold-out 2013 Napa Valley Jazz Getaway.

Catcher Will Knopka of Napa Sheriff’s/Matt Salsman Insurance tracks down Rupert Watson of the Vallejo Spartans before he can score in the top of the fifth during the 2011 Joe DiMaggio Baseball World Series at Justin-Siena High. The 2015 World Series will be July 23-28.

www.eaglecyclingclub.org Presented by Eagle Cycling Club, this biking event offers rides ranging from 35 miles to 100 miles Louis Vermeil Classic Sept. 4-6 Calistoga Speedway www.calistogaspeedway.org An end-of-summer racing celebration featuring the annual Hall of Fame dinner on Friday, and racing by USAC/CRA non-wing, traditional “410” sprint cars on Saturday and Sunday, with teams from all over the West, and some local champions as well.

Hannah Madole shows her 208-pound pig at the livestock auction at the 2014 Napa Town & Country Fair. The 2015 fair begins July 8.

Permanent tribute to pioneers Statues of farmworker activists Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta unveiled in Napa

‌T

H OWA R D Y U N E h yu ne@napanews.c om‌

he memory of Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta now belong not only to the history books, but also to downtown Napa. Before a festive, oft-cheering throng of more than 500 this spring at Veterans Memorial Park, Huerta, the longtime farmworker activist, joined local dignitaries in pulling the cover off twin lifesize bronze statues of herself and Chavez, who together launched the United Farm Workers of America 53 years ago. The monument’s creators had described it as their way of immortalizing the labor leaders’ campaign to improve the lot of Mexican-American laborers, and to give farmworkers of the Napa Valley wine country their due. But even in a celebration of her crusades from decades ago, Huerta retained the fire of her younger self, the one who with Chavez led strikes, marches and boycotts to wring better wages and working conditions from California growers. To her modern-day audience she called for continued education, political awareness and vigilance against discrimination. “We are 55 million Latinos in the United States, but if we do not organize and get educated, we are invisible,” she said. “We have to get involved, because if we don’t do it, no one will do it for us.” With that, she led her audience in the call-and-response of a rally: “Who has the power?”

she shouted. “We have the power!” came the massed reply. “What kind of power?” “People power!” The sculptures are the work of the Napa artist Mario Chiodo and were paid for by the local developer Michael L. Holcomb. He plans to install them in an outdoor second-floor niche above Velo Pizzeria, a building he owns on Main Street opposite the park. Holcomb and Napa County Supervisor Alfredo Pedroza, who organized the dedication, also have proposed a traveling roadshow to display the monument at various local schools while also discussing the history of Chavez, Huerta and the farmworker rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s. “The Napa Valley is a world destination, but it couldn’t be what it is without the people who toil and pick its grapes,” said Chiodo. “Without what Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta did, none of this could have happened here. “I’ve worked with monuments big and small, but this one had an enormous personal meaning to me. I’ve tried to show something of their strength and courage, something they were always nonviolent about.” “There are two amazing cultures beside each other, and yet rarely is there a chance to bring them together,” said Amelia Ceja, co-founder of Ceja Vineyards in Carneros. On a cloudless and

Howard Yune/Register

Dolores Huerta helps pull the covers off a statue depicting her and the late Cesar Chavez, co-founders of the United Farm Workers, during a celebration at Napa’s Veterans Memorial Park.

Howard Yune/Register

Dozens of the 500 or more spectators at the statue dedication in Napa for Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta waited in line to speak with the 84-year-old Huerta, or to get an autograph or a photo with the co-founder of the United Farm Workers.

unseasonably warm March afternoon, the gathering was as much festival as solemn ceremony, spiced with hours of dancing, mariachi music and a concert by the guitarist Jorge Santana. Shortly before 3 p.m., Huerta – still dark-haired and strong-voiced at 84 – made her way to a small canopy, and a surge of well-wishers 30 deep, some holding the red-black-white flag of the United Farm Workers, immediately formed to get her autograph or a smartphone photo, or simply to

thank her for her labors on behalf of the once-voiceless. “She is the most humble person, but to me she is a rock star, in the very best sense of the word,” said Ceja as she handed Huerta the microphone. After thanking “the farmworkers of the Napa Valley who make that fine wine,” she turned her attention not toward the past, but toward the continuing battle to defend laborers rights, especially those without immigration papers. “We know we have a lot of work to be done, especially for people who have no documents, who are afraid to stand up for their rights. … We have to continue the fight so we can get immigration reform for everybody. And we won’t get that reform until we get everyone out and vote!” she said, exclaiming the last word for emphasis as cheers rang out from the audience. Finally, just before 3:30 p.m., Huerta and a half-dozen others gathered around a black pedestal shrouded with a cloth tarp. With a pull on the cover, two bronze life-size figures were revealed, both facing west: Chavez holding a long-handled hoe and Huerta to his left, pointing forward. A priest led a bilingual prayer, then produced a small bottle of holy water. He sprinkled a few drops onto the monument, then passed the bottle to Huerta, who sprinkled the water onto the form of Cesar Chavez – in bronze, forever her comrade in arms. 27

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Urban wineries thrive without vineyard vistas

J.L. Sousa/Register

Guests sit in the culinary garden and eating area of St. Clair Brown Winery on Vallejo Street near Soscol Avenue. The building in the background houses the winery and brewery. Above left: Guests walk through the warehouse at Spelletich Family Wine Co. in Napa during the Morning in the Winery open house in March.

K E R A N A TO D O ROV k tod orov @nap ane w s . com‌ ‌A grape likely doesn’t care if it’s turned into wine in a bucolic Napa Valley vineyard setting or in a gritty industrial park. These days many visitors to wine country don’t care either. Adventurers are finding their way to a growing number of wineries located near auto body shops and plumbing supply businesses — neighborhoods where vineyard vistas are not to be found. The 10 or so urban wineries inside the Napa city limits can be found within walking distance of downtown and in far-flung business parks. Startup costs are much less, government regulations on tours and tastings fewer, so here they come. One such winery is Spelletich Family Wine Co., which hosted 50 visitors in March at its Napa Valley Commons business park site as part of Napa Valley Vintners’ Morning in the Winery program. The fully functioning winery on Napa Valley Corporate Drive exists inside tilt-up walls housing more

than 1,000 wine barrels. Owners Tim and Barb Spelletich divvy up the work with daughter Kristen. Tim is cellar master, Barb is the winemaker and Kristen is general manager. The family produces between 4,000 and 6,000 cases a year under three labels. Spelletich Family Wine Co., which moved to the corporate park in 2013 from another facility near the Napa County Airport, also does custom crush orders for clients. “If I could afford to buy 50 acres or 100 acres and build, I would do it,” said Barb Spelletich. “But I can’t afford it. This is what you do when you’re a small family winery.” “And these industrial spaces are beautiful for us because, yes, they’re not like any of the estates up there, but these are fabulously wealthy people that can do that,” Spelletich added. Napa residents at the open house were happy to have a winery in town to visit. “This gives people an

opportunity to go wine tasting and meet the owners,” said Rod Santos. “Frankly, as a resident, it keeps people off the roads.” Bob Skupny, who came to the open house with wife, Kate, said he does not believe there will ever be too many wineries. “I don’t think there is such a thing as too many anything. The market pretty well will control it. If the market thinks (there are) too many, there won’t be any more.” A short drive from Spelletich is Falcor Napa Valley, also at Napa Valley Commons, where oenophiles taste wines in a home-like setting. The winery includes a tasting room and full production facility, along with a commercial kitchen for parties. Clients are referred by The Meritage Resort and Spa nearby, word of mouth and the Internet, said Zack Miskel, wine club manager. The winery, which offers as many as 14 varietals, produced about 7,500 cases last year. While Falcor’s owners have not ruled

out building a winery one day, the company has renewed the lease at the corporate park for five more years. Laurie Rich, a partner at Falcor, sees no drawbacks to being in a corporate park. “We just don’t see any disadvantages at all,” she said in her Southern drawl. They let their prospective clients know without ambiguity that Falcor is in a corporate park, she said. “It’s an easy location to get in and out of,” Rich said. “People pass by it coming into town and leaving town. We’re the first stop in and the last stop out. We’re super-convenient to get to.” Just north of downtown on Vallejo Street sits the Twenty Rows winery where Lori and Brian Nuss produce merlot, sauvignon blanc and other wines. “The economics down here work very well for us,” said Lori Nuss, whose family also produces under the Vinoce label, with fruit from its vineyard on Mount Veeder. Since 2013, Laina Brown and 35

business partner Elaine St. Clair, a winemaker and brewery master, have run St. Clair Brown Winery, also on Vallejo Street, a short walking distance from Soscol Avenue. Visitors find the winery online where the winery’s website calls St. Clair Brown an “urban winery located in the city of Napa.” Neighborhood residents and workers in the industrial area also walk over to the winery’s Garden Eatery. “I really like being in the city. It’s nice being part of the … merchant community and being part of the neighborhood,” Brown said. St. Clair Brown includes a tasting room and café, which operates from a glass greenhouse. Customers can taste and buy wine while eating small plates close to the company’s garden planted with herbs, strawberries and other vegetables. Sixty fruit trees have also been planted, in part to provide a natural fence, espalier style, near their 17-stall parking lot. Across the street is the 2,300-square-foot winery and a future brewery in a former warehouse.

Land costs in the city are so much cheaper than winery-suitable locations in unincorporated Napa County, Brown said. Financially, “it made a huge difference.” Also, St. Clair Brown Winery wanted to stay open after 6 p.m. and did not want to be “by appointment only” like the newer wineries that have opened in unincorporated Napa County after 1990. St. Clair Brown’s hours now are noon to 8 p.m. St. Clair Brown Winery produces 1,800 cases with fruit from a dozen or so growers, Brown said. Several varietals currently available sell for $38 a bottle. The company wants to build a commercial brewery and a restaurant in a section of the warehouse adjacent to the winery. According to city senior planner Michael Walker, any winery in the city of Napa is subject to the 75 percent Napa Valley grape-sourcing requirement. Rules for tours, wine tastings and retail are determined through the use permit process.

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TOP: Opera star Frederica von Stade will perform in a free Community Concert on July 26.

Violin superstar Midori is a featured performer at this year’s Festival del Sole.

Natalia Osipova from the Royal Ballet will dance at this year’s festival.

BOTTOM: Estonia-born conductor Kristjan Järvi will lead the Russian National Orchestra in a performance of Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” on Saturday, July 18.

Ivan Vasiliev, a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre, will perform “Solo for Two” with Natalia Osipova on July 24.

Russian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky makes his Napa Valley debut at this year’s Festival del Sole.

Festival del Sole celebrates 10th season

‌N

apa Valley Festival del Sole marks its 10th season in wine country this summer with 10 days of performances featuring the return of the Russian National Orchestra, local debuts of renowned Russian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky and violin superstar Midori, plus evenings of ballet, jazz and choral music. And, for good measure, festival producers are throwing in the first annual 5K and 10K Sun Run benefiting Napa County arts education programs. Also returning to the program are popular wine and culinary events, a free community concert and the well-received Bouchaine Young Artists concerts at Jarvis Conservatory. This year’s festival takes place July 17-26 in a number of venues throughout the valley. Featuring dozens of performers for every taste and budget, the 10th season kicks off Friday, July 17, with Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato and

L . P I E RC E C A R S O N lp car s on@nap ane w s . com‌

pianist/composer Jake Heggie in a courtyard recital at the Tuscan-inspired Castello di Amorosa in Calistoga. The festival’s opening weekend continues Saturday, July 18, with the Russian National Orchestra, under the baton of Estonia-born conductor Kristjan Järvi, performing Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, which concludes with the famous “Ode to Joy,” featuring soprano Amber Wagner, mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor, tenor John Tessier, bass-baritone Brandon Cedel and San Francisco’s Volti Chorus. The program also features the world premiere of new choral compositions by San Francisco’s Gordon Getty, plus works by Dvorak, Offenbach, Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky. Additional festival highlights: — Two performances by Hvorostovsky, including the showstopping “Moscow Nights” at Castello di Amorosa on July 22, and an evening of romantic classical favorites

interwoven with popular music. — Natalia Osipova, principal of The Royal Ballet, and Ivan Vasiliev, American Ballet Theatre principal, performing their acclaimed contemporary program “Solo for Two” at Lincoln Theater on July 24. — The annual admission-free Community Concert on July 26 presents the musical storybook “Angel Heart,” starring opera stars Lisa Delan and Frederica von Stade, plus cellist Matt Haimovitz. — A celebrity cast — to be announced soon — takes the Lincoln Theater stage July 25 during Festival Live, an entertaining live script reading of much-loved and classic film scenes. — An evening of jazz in the Castello di Amorosa courtyard is slated for July 23. Performers will be announced in coming weeks. — Superstar violinist Midori brings the 2015 season to a jubilant close with the beloved Mendelssohn “Violin Concerto.” Also 37

on the same program is Hvorostovsky offering a selection of celebrated Russian opera arias by Mussorgsky, Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky and Borodin. — Three admission-free Bouchaine Young Artist Series concerts showcase the stars of tomorrow at Jarvis Conservatory. — The annual Festival Gala at Meadowood Napa Valley supports the festival’s innovative programming and arts education with an evening of music and glamour reminiscent of a nightclub during Hollywood’s Golden Era. — Taste of Napa, a festival signature event, introduces an exciting new culinary competition to complement tastings from 70 wineries, restaurants and food artisans. — Cellist Nina Kotova will be featured as will the Young People’s Chorus of New York City. The choral group will offer a program of contemporary music, American gospel and traditional songs from around the world at a chamber concert scheduled July 20 at Mont La Salle Chapel. Visit FestivalDelSole.org to view the full schedule and detailed descriptions of each event. FESTIVAL PASSES, TICKETS‌‌ Festival del Sole offers a range of pass options to ensure the entire community has the opportunity to experience and enjoy live performances.

Stephanie Berger

The Young People’s Chorus of New York City will perform a program of contemporary music, American gospel and traditional songs from around the world at a chamber concert scheduled July 20 at Mont La Salle Chapel.

Free Performance Pass: Attend any of the four admission-free concerts during Festival del Sole 2015. This season’s free performances include the Community Concert, “Angel Heart,” and the popular Bouchaine Young Artist Series at Jarvis Conservatory. Reservations required. Concert Pass: Watch the world’s leading artists perform in intimate and unique Napa Valley settings such as Castello di Amorosa, Lincoln Theater and Mont La Salle Chapel. The 2015 festival concert lineup features

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From the ground up Raphael Kluzniok/Register

Carpet One Floor & Home Design Center celebrates 20 years M I C H A E L WAT E R S O N bus iness@na pa news.c om Ask any business owner and Design Center has 13 employshe or he will tell you that in ees and a full showroom at its order to survive, an enterprise 14,000-square-foot Enterprise Way has to be sensitive to changing location. Once a prospective client markets and quick to adapt to has picked out a preferred type and those changes. The public’s taste is style of flooring, the salesman visfamously fickle. its the location, either commercial Scott Carston, owner of or residential, to measure the Carpet One Floor & Home area for a free estimate on Design Center, can attest to installation. The company that. He marked the 20th offers in-house financing. anniversary of his business In addition to flooring, in April. Carpet One Floor & Home “When we started, prob- Scott Design Center offers shutCarston ably 80 to 90 percent of our ters, drapes and other winbusiness was carpet,” Cardow products with instalston said recently. “Now it’s about lation. With 1,000 stores world50/50 with laminate and other wide, Carpet One Floor & Home types of flooring.” The fastest Design Center has enormous growing trend is luxury vinyl tile, buying power and more than a he said. Today’s customers are very dozen exclusive brands, according style-conscious, and prefer “a lot to the business website. Selection more patterns and unique looks,” is vast, with about 4,000 different Carston said. products on hand, and thousands You might say Carston carried more available, Carston said. on a family tradition; his dad was As a buy-in co-op, the business in flooring in Santa Rosa. That’s is locally owned and controlled, where Scott learned the basics of something Carston said connects the business. him to the community. Carpet One Floor & Home “Eighty percent of our business

Raphael Kluzniok/Register

Yarn color samples are seen in the foreground, right, as an employee passes through the show room at Carpet One Floor & Home Design Center in Napa on March 4.

is in the community. I think it’s important to shop local,” he said. Carston says the business gives back to the community by contributing to Little League, juvenile diabetes research and music in schools. Carpet One Floor & Home Design Center is located at 910 Enterprise Way, Suite A, just off Napa-Vallejo Highway. The phone number is 224-6994 or visit CarpetOneNapa.com. The company website offers interior design advice on a linked blog, Beautiful Design

Made Simple. A graduate of St. Helena High, Scott married his high school sweetheart, Chrissy. They have a 21-year-old son at St. Mary’s College, and a 20-year-old daughter going to Texas Christian University, both Justin-Siena High School graduates. With the children grown, his wife has returned to college to study nursing, Carston said. Carston said he is looking forward to the future. “I’m excited for the next 20 years,” he said. 39

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Little Free Libraries popping up all over town

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JENNIFER HUFFMAN jh uffman@na pa news.c om‌

crop of mini libraries has recently popped up around Napa, offering free books to one and all. They’re called Little Free Libraries and the city is home to at least four of them. The idea, reportedly born in Wisconsin in 2009, is simple. According to the Little Free Libraries website, each mini library is meant to be a “take a book, return a book” gathering place where neighbors share literature. In its most basic form, a Little Free Library can be as simple as a box full of books. Cris Kelly of Napa created her own Little Free Library at her home at 537 Minahen St. in south Napa. “I would have loved to be a librarian,” said Kelly. “Now I get to be a free librarian.” Kelly said that after reading about Little Free Libraries online, “I just decided to do it.” The Little Free Libraries website sells prepared box kits starting at $174 and also offers free plans to build a library. About six months ago, Kelly built her own weatherproof library box and installed it on a corner of her front yard. “It’s a really cool idea, and people seem to really love it,” she said. “It’s a huge hit in our neighborhood.” An artist, Kelly decorated her handmade box with a heart-shaped ceramic handle and figurine that is reading. On a recent visit, it was full of titles by such authors as Stephen King and Anne Lamott and the bestseller “Gone Girl.” A Little Free Library “just brings people together in an old-fashioned way, and a tactile way, with a book,” she said. When her library was first installed, Kelly and her husband hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony and invited all their neighbors. “It’s just a nice avenue to get folks out of their house, walking and talking. And reading too. Even 42

if someone isn’t into reading yet, maybe they will start reading and get hooked,” she said. Kelly said her library gets visited about four times a week. “I try to switch out the books every few days to make it fresh and interesting.” One city in Wisconsin created an ordinance to regulate tiny libraries. The city of Napa’s planning manager, Ken MacNab, said that city doesn’t require a permit to install such libraries. “We haven’t received any complaints,” he said. “These are so small. They’re nice looking. Hopefully it will work as intended.” His only suggestion was to make sure the box doesn’t obstruct the sidewalk or public right of way. “Any effort to promote and encourage literacy among our residents is a positive thing,” MacNab said. John and Leslie Haddad created their Little Free Library, located at 232 Bancroft Court., more than a year ago. He also made his own box, John Haddad said. “We both love to read a lot,” he said. “I heard about it somewhere and decided that sounded like a wonderful idea.” Today there are more than 20,000 Little Free Libraries around the world, according to the nonprofit’s website. A Google map on the site notes the site of each library, but not all four Napa libraries are currently pinpointed. There may even be others in the Napa Valley that have yet to officially register with the nonprofit. “It’s gotten huge,” Haddad said. “But all in a small scale and that’s the neat thing about it.” His library holds about four dozen books, and is visited about 10 times a month, he estimated. On a recent visit, it included titles from David Baldacci, Pearl S. Buck and a whole row of children’s books. Sometimes, “we see two or three kids out there at the same time. It’s

Raphael Kluzniok/ Napa Valley Register

John and Leslie Haddad show off their Little Free Library box outside their home. John, an avid reader, built the box from recycled fence material. The Haddad’s library box features an entire shelf of children’s literature, which they say is popular.

neat because they’ll take something or leave something.” The couple also visits another nearby Little Free Library on Elodia Circle “just to see what they’ve got,” he said. “It’s a friendly neighborhood thing to do,” he said. “It’s just a neat giving thing.” Leslie Haddad said she likes that Little Free Libraries can make it easier for kids to get to books. “To go to the library when you are a youngster, you are relying on mom and dad to drive you there and back. This is just free and easy,” she said. Denise Bleuel didn’t plan to become home to a Little Free Library. But when her son and his girlfriend surprised her with a book box, “We definitely wanted to do it,” she said. Last January, the box, which her son made, was installed at the front of her yard at 2534 Main St. Modeled after her own home, it features a clear glass door and shingle covered top to protect the books. A sign on the back reads “Take a book, return a book.” They have a lot of visitors, she said, adding, “We just really want people to take a book and enjoy.” Returning the book isn’t required, but donations are accepted, said Bleuel, wants to increase literacy and a love for books. She hopes to add Spanish language books and add a sign explaining the library in Spanish. Shelley Rounds and her husband Scott said they installed the first Little Free Library in Napa. Launched in

June 2013, their box is located at 119 Elodia Circle in west Napa. “I just stumbled upon it on the Internet and thought it was a great idea,” Shelley Rounds said. “We’ve always been very big supporters of literacy.” Rounds estimated that 10 to 15 people visit their library per week. In the almost two years since they created it, “we have met more neighbors than we have in the whole 18 year we’ve lived here, it’s been great.” The Little Free Libraries idea may soon expand dramatically in Napa. A group of Leadership Napa Valley students has chosen to create as many as 30 library boxes as part of a group project. They will be installed at locations to be determined, said project member Jeff Zajas. An launch event for the project will be held at the Napa County library on April 25 at 6:30 p.m. “We thought there was a need” to offer such a literary project, he said. “It’s a wonderful way to foster community involvement and reading. “ Library Director Danis Kreimeier called Little Free Libraries “fantastic.” Kreimeier said the library plans to donate books from the Friends of the Library’s inventory or library catalog discards as “seed” inventory for each new Little Free Library made by Leadership Napa Valley. The boxes help create “a sense of neighborhood connection,” she said. “Wouldn’t it be great if you could walk to one in every neighborhood?”

Discover

St. Helena and Calistoga A look at the latest doings upvalley

Old Faithful transformed from boring to fun

‌O Anne Ward Ernst, Weekly Calistogan

Koray Sanli, new owner of Old Faithful Geyser, stands in front of the erupting geyser. Sanli is turning the park into a family-friendly, educational and fun destination by adding and improving the park. New additions include two bocce ball courts, a geology museum, goat farm, picnic areas, comfortable seating, gardens and an updated gift shop. Coming soon will be a greenhouse and produce garden, and an outdoor evening music series.

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ld Faithful Geyser is one of three “faithful” geysers in the world, long known by locals as being faithfully boring, but a new owner set out to transform the attraction from a onelook wonder to a family-friendly park worthy of setting aside a full day to enjoy. “People would come and see the geyser erupt and then say ‘Now what?’” said Koray Sanli, the new owner. “There’s so much more to tell. There’s history that dates back 3.4 million years.” Sanli has quietly been improving the grounds, adding picnic and seating areas, a geology museum, bocce ball courts, goat farm, native plant garden, informational signs and an improved and updated gift shop. “We’re always going to do things upscale,” Sanli said. Come June there will be weekly concerts in the Music Under the Stars series that will be held on Saturday evenings with the geyser and trees lit up. Guests will be allowed to bring

in their own food and wine and picnic under the stars. Sanli is considering adding a Friday night series, he said. Sanli’s own curiosity and love of education and learning are behind the improvements. There are signs all over explaining what a visitor is looking at. For example a large capped pipe sticking up out of the ground turned out to be a capped geyser that was once used to fill a mineral therapy pool. Before, it was just an ugly pipe without meaning, but an informational sign explains what it is giving it purpose for still being there. A steam well nearby was used to boil eggs and cook pigs, but without the sign one might assume it was only used to pull water from below. The new bocce ball courts are free to visitors and offer comfortable cushioned seats at either end of the courts for relaxing and watching Old Faithful do what it does best — erupt. On a wall nearby hangs brightly colored hula hoops and a carnival fun mirror Sanli found

Bocce ball courts are among the family-friendly activities added to the park in the remodel. There are two courts with comfortable cushioned seating at either end. Park visitors can play for free. Anne Ward Ernst, Weekly Calistogan

tucked away in storage. “We’re creating a whole section for kids,” Sanli said that will include other a variety of games such as corn hole. More cushioned seating is available under two separate shade structures. Scattered across an open area are dozens of Adirondack chairs and picnic tables, none of which existed before Sanli took over. In process now is a native plant garden with a fountain and bench seating, and through a grove of bamboo he’s adding a greenhouse and

culinary garden that will provide ingredients for the food offerings that will expand later in the renovation process. The gift shop sells some pre-packaged snacks now, as well as some locally produced olive oil, but Sanli wants to offer more food for snacks and meals. There will also be a small library in the future, Sanli said, and the gift shop will be growing. It also includes some historical pieces and photos of what the place looked like decades ago. The new goat farm has several Tennessee

fainting goats, Jacob’s four-horn sheep and guard llamas, with plans to add more animals. The geology museum is partially finished and includes information on geysers, volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, geothermal and other geological topics. “It’s written in language an average Joe can understand,” he said. It was important to Sanli to include a tribute to the original owner, “The Geyser Lady,” Olga Kotbek who died in 2008. There is a seismograph on display that operated at the park from 1990 to 2002. Geysers are earthquake indicators, Sanli said, and stop erupting about an hour-and-a-half before an earthquake event. Geyser behavior shifts with heavy rain sending steam and water into the air at different intervals and heights. More interactive features for the geology museum are underway and plans for the museum include partnering with UC Berkeley to develop a real-time app that will show when the geyser is erupting. Old Faithful Geyser is located at 1299 Tubbs Lane. Information can be found at OldFaithfulGeyser.com, or by calling 942-6463.

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New shops upvalley JESS LANDER ‌A slew of new shops have popped up upvalley in the past several months, with many owners, naturally, betting on business from tourists. Yet some of the new kids on the block are indeed providing that something more, meeting the needs of locals, their homes and wardrobes, by bringing something different and on-trend to their backyard at long last. Here is a sampling of the new offerings. ST. HELENA‌ Gathered: This trendy women’s boutique opened up a sister location to its original Healdsburg store on St. Helena’s main street in February. With something for hip mothers and their daughters alike, Gathered carries everything from clothes and chic home decor to handmade jewelry and gifts. Co-owners Cindy Holman and Jessica Maas thought a St. Helena location made great 46

business sense due to the Healdsburg location’s popularity with the tourists, but have been pleased at the store’s warm local reception as well. “We’ve been hugely surprised by the support from the locals, it’s just been tremendous. At least half of our transactions are from locals, which is completely different from our Healdsburg store,” said Holman. “I think it has to do with our price point, which is approachable for a lot of people. What we hear people say is that its like a mini Anthropologie, so there’s a lot of people in the community that weren’t getting their needs met.” Be sure to stop in here for your festival gear before heading to BottleRock. 1309 Main St. Allison [in wine country]: Napa native Allison Molinatti brought her success from running a Southern California boutique back

home and opened up a second shop in St. Helena this past December, Allison [in wine country]. The younger sister to her Manhattan Beach store, Allison [by the beach], features similar casual chic, designer clothes and accessories — yet less beachy, more wine country. This is also the only place on St. Helena Main selling children’s clothing and toys, plus they offer a free, personal shopping and delivery service for clients who can’t find time to shop. 1204 Main St. CALISTOGA‌ Stompy: Although visibly more tourist-friendly with Calistoga-logoed souvenirs like wine glasses, shot glasses and T-shirts, locals too Anne Ward Ernst editor@weeklycalistogan.com

Kellie Anderson is co-owner of the Depot Trading, the newest store at the Calistoga Depot.

should find it difficult to pass by the bright, purple floor of Stompy without curiosity getting the best of them. Inside is a fun assortment of useful goods and even some of owner and Hawaiian-native Ilona O’Brien’s favorite island treats. 1407 Lincoln Avenue Roam Antiques and Design: If you want a good conversation piece for your home or business — wineries especially — head straight to Mario Sculatti’s Roam Antiques. Sculatti has partnered up with five other collectors to fill his store with beautiful and rare pieces from here and abroad. There’s an obvious wine country theme, with antique farming equipment, barrels, wine presses and corkscrews, but it’s definitely not limited to that. 1124 Lincoln Avenue CALISTOGA DEPOT REVITALIZATION‌ The historic Calistoga Depot is going through a big revival. In addition to the re-opened ECHO Gallery and a Tibetan-themed store called Morning Lotus that opened in April, the main depot and rail cars have welcomed two other new shops that locals can appreciate. Depot Trading: From furniture, frames

and fabric to children’s toys, books and art, you never know what sort of treasures you’ll find at Depot Trading. Much like the recently revitalized Depot itself, co-owners and collectors Kellie Anderson and Susan Garden rescue items some may have labeled junk and give them new life in their store. Enter through the Palisades Deli or around the back of the Depot and give yourself ample time to browse — there’s something for everybody. 1458 Lincoln Avenue, #3 Flowers and All That Jazz: Calistoga finally gets a flower shop with the town’s newest neighbor Flowers and All That Jazz. Owner Charlene Hamilton decided to give her pop-up shop some permanent roots and help “brighten up” the old Depot. She designs unique floral arrangements for all occasions, accessorizing them beyond the traditional throwaway vase with beautiful repurposed items, like bows and jewelry crafted from local artisans. The funky Rail Car No. 15 also embodies the 1920-30s jazz era in honor of Hamilton’s father, who she says instilled in her a love for jazz and dancing, and greets patrons with the sweet sounds of Sinatra, Holiday and the like. 1458 Lincoln Ave., Railroad Car #15

1332 Main Street, Saint Helena 707-963-2154 daisysthelena.com A casual, fun & fresh boutique for her. Featuring the latest accessories & handbags, unique jewelry from local artists, Brighton & Alex & Ani.

Anne Ward Ernst, The Weekly Calistogan

Owner Ilona O’Brien plays with stress reliever balls shaped like grape bunches. They are among the items that are for sale at Stompy.

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Unique shopping graces Upvalley A N N E WA R D E R N S T e d i t o r@we e k lycalistogan. co m‌ ‌There is nothing cookie-cutter or ordinary about Upvalley shopping in Napa County, where big-box stores are passé and people who live locally own the businesses on the main drags in Calistoga and St. Helena. “Part of the fabric of Calistoga is our unique shopping experience. We are a community that does not subscribe to the ‘anywhere USA’ look and feel because we do not allow chain stores,” said Chris Canning, executive director of the Calistoga Chamber of Commerce. “It is one of the elements that contributes to our small town character and charm.” The variety of retail offerings is so broad that it’s nearly impossible to come up with a reason to not spend money here. Shoppers can certainly find plenty of highend baubles and art, but there are myriad must-have and gift items affordable to every pocketbook. “We might not have the big-box stores, nor do we want them, but we certainly have enough variety to keep it interesting,” Canning said. Some of the local shopkeepers have been in business for decades, others see a void and slip in to fill it. No matter old or new, the vibe is always friendly and welcoming, with a genuine “I’m here to help you and get to know you” demeanor. “We are fortunate to have local owners and operators that locals and visitors can get to know. This allows for a unique shopping experience with offerings for all,” Canning said. Blackbird There is something for anyone and everyone in this bright, 48

fashionable, yet oh-so-not snooty store that has quickly become a town favorite in the two years it’s been opened. Proprietor Nancy Putney-Abernathy’s style, grace and charm wrap its arms around the offerings in the store she runs with her husband Wally. It was important to Putney-Abernathy to provide a wide range of products that would appeal to those who don’t need to look at a price tag, and those who must look at the tag when shopping. And it’s evident she has fulfilled her goal. On one wall at the front of the store Blackbird displays a revolving exhibit of an artist’s work and hosts a reception for each new show. Below that is a selection of Blackbird’s most popular-selling item – indoor/outdoor rugs. There are a variety of sizes and colors, and they sell like hotcakes, Putney-Abernathy said. This is not a quick-sweepthrough shop. There is a beautiful selection of decorative items from frames, candles, vases, boxes, and more, plus a garden selection in back, with books, terrariums, air plants, hats, gloves, outdoor furniture, decorative solar lights and a whole lot more. For the aromatherapist in you, there is a wide range of delicious-smelling soaps and lotions

Anne Ward Ernst, editor@weeklycalistogan.com

A clear glass ball terrarium sets off an airplant. The ball can be placed on a table, as shown here or strung and hung from the ceiling. Blackbird carries a variety of terrariums and airplants. There are other decorative and household items for both indoors and out.

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for both women and men. One line in particular – Ziesche – is available only at Blackbird outside of exclusive shops in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Falling in line with Putney-Abernathy’s way of thinking, the Ziesche line is paraben-free, natural, organic, and only tested on people. Not to mention offering luscious fragrances and indulgent textures. Putney-Abernathy goes out of her way to buy American-made products whenever she can, she said. There are classic-look warm blankets made in the U.S., a smattering of artisan works throughout the store, done in earthenware, ceramics, and other art forms. And a special nook is devoted to children’s toys, puzzles, games, books, and other cuddly items. “Nobody else has this,” she said of the children’s section. There are the nostalgic, nevergo-out-of-style toys like Pick-up Stix, boomerangs, and dominoes – made in the U.S. and affordable – and then there are the unique, plush items that aren’t going to be found in any ordinary shop.

And that’s exactly the point – there is something fit for everyone’s pocketbook, and taste. Blackbird is at 1347 Lincoln Ave., Calistoga. A Man’s Store What a better way to get women – the spending engines of the nation – to come into your store? Call it “A Man’s Store” and then quietly, politely announce that women are welcome, too. (Hint: look for the sign out front.) Women who shop for men — be it a dad, bro, bud, or hubby — will have no problem finding something of good quality here. There are top-name brands throughout – Patagonia, Merrell, Carhartt, Vibram, The North Face, and Kuhl to name but a few. A solid selection of men’s casual clothing is offered, including shirts, pants, shorts, shoes, socks, and belts, but there are other manly things here as well. Cigars and lighters are available for those who fancy themselves a smoke after dinner. A hike in one of the nearby parks might call for a forgotten

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pair of sunglasses – Ray-Ban is among the top names to mention. The observant may scan the walls to find fun, nostalgic, tin signs. And the even more observant will be awed by the handmade kayaks hung on the ceiling, crafted by an artist who works down the street at the local ACE Hardware store. A Man’s Store is at 1343 Lincoln Ave., Calistoga. Stompy’s Stompy’s is one of the newest kids on the block in Calistoga, and will take you away – far, far away – from any bad place you don’t want to be. There are reminders every where you look in Stompy’s of a reason to love life. You’re in Calistoga; if you live here – lucky you. If you are visiting – also lucky you. Take home a reminder of a place that just makes you feel good all over. The owner, Ilona O’Brien, is from Hawaii, and carried some of her homeland to Calistoga, with offerings of Hawaiian coffee, chips, chocolate, and warm and friendly spirit.

Anne Ward Ernst, editor@weeklycalistogan.com

Blackbird features artists’ work on a wall at the front of the store. Beneath the art are the store’s most popular-selling items; indoor-outdoor rugs.

She also carries a broad variety of Calistoga-logoed products to prove you have been to, or live in and are proud of Calistoga. There are T-shirts, wine glasses, cocktail glasses, notepads, tote bags, water bottles, and a plethora of other products that sport the

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town’s name. O’Brien wants people to walk out of the store having enjoyed their experience there, she said. That will reflect on her, and the town she has come to call her own. Stompy’s also carries jewelry, socks – not your ordinary, blah Gold Toe sock, but socks that make a statement – home décor and art made by locals. Stompy’s is at 1407 Lincoln Ave., Calistoga. Funke’s If you weren’t from these parts, you may not know that the name is not a ploy to be cool or hip. It’s the family name that opened a department store in town more than 100 years ago. In one shape or another, Funke’s has survived and it is now a men’s and women’s retail clothing store that carries Tommy Bahama Nat Nast, and Tori Richard for men; Habitat, and Not Your Daughter’s Jeans for women. An assortment of jewelry,

through here. Funkes is at 1417 Lincoln Ave., Calistoga. North Star The selection of clothing and accessories is reflective of owner Carol Bush’s taste, said a longtime employee as she looks down at an outfit put together by North Star purchases. Bush has “eclectic” tastes Stompy’s is a new and inventive shop that dip and weave between trendy, on Lincoln Avenue. A wide selection of Calistoga-logoed items from acrylic wine youthful, and Napa casual, which can mean almost anything. glasses, shot glasses, T-shirts, mugs as A wide variety of coordinated shown here, and more are perfect gift jewelry at reasonable prices will items, or just to show off where you live. The Hawaiian-born owner brings a little easily pair up with a multitude of home with her offering potato chips, outfits in the store. coffee and other Hawaiian goodies. Also Hidden in the back is a rack of at Stompy’s is jewelry, home décor, crazy greeting cards that one employee socks, and lighting. said is where they send the men to hang out while the women shop. accessories and handbags are availNorth Star is at 1443 Lincoln able, as well as the oft-forgotten Ave., Calistoga. swimsuit visitors seek when they Lolo’s Thrift and Consignment want to partake in a spa experiAnyone in Upvalley looking ence. for designer clothing at a discount Men and women have a already knows about Lolo’s on fashionable selection to browse Main Street in St. Helena. There are

top-end brands that move quickly in this bare-bones shop brimming with famous names that normally cost up to 75 percent more than what Lolo’s asks. Plenty of tourists pass through, this being the heart of trendy St. Helena, but the store wants to appeal to the locals as well and offers a 20 percent discount every Wednesday during their Girls Day/Night Out. Wednesdays are not big tourist days in the area, so the discount brings in a lot of regulars who both purchase and sell their garments. Every quarter, Lolo’s sponsors a charitable organization to donate a portion of their sales to. In March, for example, it was Jameson Ranch Animal Rescue, a group that is making strides to pay for food, veterinarian costs and pet deposit fees for low-income families that want to keep their pets. Lolo’s has men’s and children’s clothing and shoes, housewares and furniture, too. Lolo’s is at 1120 Main St., St. Helena.

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RO S E M A R I E K E M P TO N

s the owner and CEO of Zumwalt Ford in St. Helena, Ron Clark spends every day, except Sunday, at his busy dealership. A wall in Clark’s office is lined with photos that trace the dealership’s history. This busy establishment, located at 21 South Main St., has been selling and servicing cars and trucks in the valley for nearly half a century. Over the years Clark has seen many changes in vehicles. “New autos are more complicated,” he said. “The cars coming out today are more complicated than what they used to put Neil Armstrong on the moon.” A collection of baseballs sit on his desk. Each ball bears the name

of a grandson, the date he was born and his newborn handprint. “There will be more coming,” Clark laughed, glancing at the collection. Clark, a grandfather of 16 grandchildren is passionate about his family, church, trucks, cars and baseball. He had scholarships in football, basketball and baseball when he graduated from Vallejo High School. Later, as a student at Brigham Young University, he coached baseball during his senior year and dreamed of a career as a baseball coach. In 1973 he graduated from college, married Rhonda Walker, and began selling cars. As the couple’s children—Randa, Rhett, Roxanne and Rolene came along, Clark

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Zumwalt owner Ron Clark started in 1983 as a salesman. He eventually bought the business from founder Dave Zumwalt in partnership with son Scott Zumwalt. The younger Zumwalt died of cancer in 2009, but Clark has maintained the family’s name.

found many opportunities to use his sports expertise for coaching his children and their friends. About a decade after he started selling cars Clark joined Zumwalt Ford. “Zumwalt Ford was owned by Dave Zumwalt. I began working for Dave in 1983,”

Clark recalled. Zumwalt had become the country’s youngest Ford dealership owner, at age 27, by purchasing the dealership from Bill Stansberry in 1966. “Dave’s nickname was Daring Dave, the Legend of St. Helena.

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He had – and still has – one of the best personalities you could ever find for the car business,” Clark said. “We still go out to lunch sometimes and he give me advice.” “Dave’s son, Scott, and I bought the dealership from Dave in 1999,” Clark said. How did the dealership keep its doors open after the 2008 financial collapse? “Our customers are loyal,” Clark said. “We’ve always been committed to servicing our friends and customers. And, when other car companies were bailed out, Ford stood tall,” “People who had never entered the dealership before would walk in and say they admired Ford for not taking a government handout when other car companies did,” he continued. “We gained customers.” Since rolling out its first car, a two-cylinder Model A in 1903, the Ford Motor Company has survived many challenges. It was one of the few early car companies to remain in business following the

Sean Scully/Register‌

Zumwalt Ford at the southern end of St. Helena is the last remaining upvalley car dealership.

Great Depression in the 1930s. Early cars were owned by the rich, but with efficient assembly line production, Ford was able to bring the cost within reach of the “common man.” “Henry Ford got the idea for an assembly line from meat packing plants,” Clark said. “Ford thought his employees should be able to afford the cars

they were making so he offered them twice as much money as employees of other car companies—$5 a work day for an 8-hour day. It was $2.56 for a 9-hour day before then.” Clark credits Ford for making us “a nation of car owners” and he agrees with Ford’s guideline for success: “Offer the best quality goods possible at the lowest

cost possible, paying the highest wage possible.” Like its parent company, the St. Helena dealership has not only endured over the years, it has thrived—but not without heartache. In 2009 Scott Zumwalt died of cancer at age 47. His death was a shock and personal loss to everyone who knew him. “On July 3rd Scott and I were going to work together to give everyone else the day off,” Clark remembers. “He didn’t show up for work, which wasn’t like him, so I called him. That was the day Scott found out he had cancer.” Three months later, cancer claimed the life of the fun-loving young Zumwalt. Over 500 mourners attended his memorial service at Charles Krug Winery. The team at Zumwalt Ford is like a close-knit family. Out of its 21 employees, a number have been with the company over two decades and a few have been there over 30 years. About 10 years ago Clark’s

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Ron Clark, owner and CEO of Zumwalt Ford in St. Helena

son, Rhett Clark, was hired as finance director. “He does all our paperwork,” Clark said. “Rhett spent years in the Dominican Republic so he is fluent in Spanish, which is spoken there. That is invaluable to us since 30 to 40 percent of our business is Hispanic.” Two brothers, Miguel Alfaro and Ed Alfaro, have worked at the dealership close to 20 years. “I’ll never get rich,” Clark said. “I come to work today to support those families.” Clark said that Zumwalt Ford doesn’t do the huge mark ups that are a hallmark of “big city” dealerships. He once had a customer who tried to return $2,500, after buying a car from him, because he had priced the same vehicle out elsewhere and discovered how much

higher the same automobile was priced in other dealerships. The customer didn’t feel right about it. Clark refused to accept the money but told the customer he could donate it to the Napa Food Bank. Later, a thank you letter came from the food bank thanking Clark for the donation. The appreciative car buyer had donated the $2,500 in Clark’s name. Zumwalt Ford believes in helping the community and has sponsored the St. Helena Little League “Zumwalt Mustangs” for 40 years. The dealership also helps sponsor the St. Helena Ag Boosters and the St. Helena high school football team and donates $50 for each home touchdown. Clark has served as a Bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

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CAMP SCHRAMSBERG Total immersion in sparkling wine A N N E WA R D E R N S T ed i tor @we e k lycali s tog an. com‌ It’s Camp Schramsberg. Camp Schramsberg is a twoday instructive course of all things Schramsberg and its sparkling wine. It’s hands-on in the vineyard, learning about soil, light, clones, varietals’ likes and dislikes, with a lesson in pruning; all the way through to tasting base wines, blending, bottling, and lots of food and wine pairing that takes place both at a lunch table and classroom table. Camp is held twice yearly – once in the spring, and again in the fall – with about 30 campers attending each. About half of the campers are wine club members or other consumers, and the other half are sommeliers, wine educators, restaurateurs and the like. Half of camp is devoted to learning about, and participating

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in winemaking practices; the other half is learning about and enjoying food with wine. (In this multi-part series, this article will focus on the winemaking portion of the camp.) A chilly morning bus ride from Meadowood Napa Valley Resort in St. Helena where “campers” had breakfast, the bus unloads at the vineyards of 97-year-old Jack Tognetti and the chardonnay vines he has managed for Schramsberg long enough to have three different winemakers’ clone selections in three separate, but contiguous plots. The winemaker before current Schramsberg winemaker Keith Hock asked to have a specific clone planted. There are French clones, an old Wente clone and a Monticello clone. And the rootstocks have been selected to get the

most out of the soil composition. The diversity is like having “different spices in your spice rack,” Hock said. The Tognetti grapes provide “tropical notes” and the nearby Hyde vineyard presents “citrus,” Hock said. Hock and Hugh Davies, proprietor of the family-owned winery, discuss the vineyard and its Carneros location – the coolness there produces vibrant acidity and bright fruit flavors. There’s “dark, loamy soil” here, Davies tells the group. All but one of the rows of vines have already been pruned; one row has been waiting for the campers to nip and tuck. Tognetti, Davies, Hock and fellow winemaker Sean Thompson, who also oversees the J.

Davies wines, supervise and advise campers as they take blade to stick. They are looking at two years’ history in pruning; and what they prune now will be visible another two years from now. Schramsberg sources grapes from more than 110 specific vineyard sites in four coastal counties: Napa, Sonoma, Marin and Mendocino. Back at the Calistoga winery, Hock shows the campers where, during harvest, grapes will be delivered and pressed. The free run juices are the best, he said, and next a bladder press is used to gently squeeze out more liquid for the first press. He takes the group into a tank room where a couple of frost-covered tanks indicate the temperature winemakers want to control the fermentation process.

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Stephanie Ong, right, releases a giant spray of sparkling wine as she sabers a bottle of Schramsberg Brut Rose during Camp Schramsberg. Holly Peterson, center, taught “campers” how to saber. She also led food and wine pairing classes.

It’s cold, but not freezing. They want the cold stabilization, but not so cold to create ice inside the tank, Hock said. The vineyard and clone selection, pruning, growing, picking, crushing and initial movement of the juice is just the beginning of the journey for a Schramsberg bottle of sparkling wine. Campers are invited to participate in the selection of the base wine, and they start by tasting five stainless steel lots of chardonnay. They are tasting the 2014 harvest, some from the Tognetti vineyard. They rank the Tognetti lot as third favorite. It has good acidity, the group said, but overall campers ranked the Hyde Creek with its pineapple flavor profile as No. 1 for the base wine. It’s not a wine anyone would want to drink now, Davies said, it’s the base for what five years from now will evolve into a classic Schramsberg sparkling wine, the likes of which have been served to U.S. presidents and other dignitaries year after year, starting with the 1969 Blanc de Blancs when President Richard Nixon in 56

1972 presented it to Premier Chou En-Lai of China in the “Toast to Peace.” The base wine needs acidity, and a lot of it, to support the other layers of the sparkling wine process – methode traditionnelle, in this case – that will include possibly the inclusion of some pinot noir, definitely some yeast and sugar, and years of careful doting. Chardonnay lots from oak barrels are tasted and ranked next; then a blend of chardonnay stainless with barrel lots go through the process. The next day of tasting for the campers includes their overall favorite of first-day base wine selection with varying percentages of pinot noir added to it. Everyone’s palette is different and each table comes up with a different winner. “The nose on (that one) was beautiful,” said April Gambetti-Mucci, who works for Hotel Yountville, of the tasting’s winner that was made up of a blend of 70 percent chardonnay and 30 percent pinot noir. Among campers’ comments of the young wine were that the

blend tasted “rounder,” and with notes of “cranberry.” To give attendees an idea of how Schramsberg wine evolves they were given samples of two Brut Napa Carneros vintage wines (2010 and 2013) that were disgorged — meaning the yeast sediment had been removed from the bottle – but had not had dosage – the sugar and wine combination – added. To show how the wine tastes in its finished stage, though not yet released for sale, in a cozy spot within the 34,000-square-foot caves the group tasted the finished 2010 Brut Napa Carneros and a 2003 Brut Napa. Flavors of bread and yeast rounded out bright flavors and uplifting acidity, campers were heard saying. Food and wine pairings There were Champagne wishes and caviar dreams at Camp Schramsberg earlier this month, and attendees learned which caviar they like best with different Schramsberg sparkling wines. Presented with two roes and two caviars – caviar is processed roe, or fish eggs — and three

Schramsberg sparkling wines, Holly Peterson led “campers” – those attending the spring session of Camp Schramsberg – in a seminar to discover how wine and food either complement or contrast one another, and in some cases shouldn’t be paired together at all. Peterson instructed the class to first taste the wines – a 2012 Blanc de Blanc, 2006 J. Schram, and 2004 Blanc de Blanc Late Disgorged – then taste the caviar, and return for another sip of wine to fully appreciate the pairing of food and wine flavors. Some of the caviar made the wine taste bitter, some campers agreed. On the tray with the caviar was a host of accoutrements to pair with the caviar. There was egg white, egg yolk, red onion, capers, and crème fraiche. “Now I want you to experiment,” Peterson said, telling the group to put a little of this with a little of that and find a food and wine pairing to love. The crème fraiche, which has a little acid in it, Peterson said, softened and rounded the flavors of the caviar, pairing nicely with all the wines. Served next, the Oysters Rockefeller paired beautifully with the 2004 Blanc de Blanc Late Disgorged wine, bringing out flavors of buttermilk biscuit and gingerbread, one camper said. The wine is recently released in celebration of Schramsberg’s golden anniversary. It is a special, limited bottling made of 100 percent chardonnay made with grapes from four counties. It spent nearly 10 years on the yeast, in the bottle. The layered flavors include brioche and warm hazelnuts, with bright tones of lemon, grapefruit and pear. Peterson, a Calistogan, has been involved with Camp Schramsberg since its inception working with Jack and Jamie Davies to create the camp’s food and wine program. She has a degree in viticulture and enology from UC Davis, and is a skilled chef with a long list of accomplishments including working at three-star restaurants and the American Embassy in Paris.

In a separate food and wine pairing three different Schramsberg wines were poured – 2011 Blanc de Noir; 2006 Reserve, and 2004 Blanc de Noir Late Disgorged – and paired with beef tetake with sides and sauces including lime wedge; sea salt flakes; ginger beurre blanc; apple butter with apple cider reduction; pickled radish; chilled spicy pomodoro; infused blood orange olive oil; and Bernaise sauce. Wine, lime wedge, and wine again was the first exercise. The more acidic lime wedge flattened the sparkle and vibrancy of the wine. “When food is more acidic than wine,” the wine will taste like it has less acid than when tasted on its own, Peterson said. “Acid is the backbone of sparkling wine, it is its posture,” she said. The infused blood orange olive oil imparted its orange essence in the wine, something Peterson said to consider when cooking with flavored oils. “Cooking with garlic infused

olive oil is different from cooking olive oil with garlic,” she said. It’s important to think of the cause and effect food and wine have on one another. For example, alcohol and acid increase the perception of spice, or heat, in food. Where the food and wine seminars were educational and experimental, the planned meals prepared and served by Michelin three-star Meadowood were purely for enjoyment. One lunch paired the 2006 Reserve with poached Maine lobster served with variations on celery; the 2009 Brut Rose Magnum served with Ora King Salmon on heirloom lentils with Iberico ham and coriander; and for dessert a 2011 Cremant Demi-Sec with peach crumble and anise ice cream. The final exercise of Camp Schramsberg pitted teams against one another to create a menu pairing five sparkling wines with menu items to create a fabulous meal. The winning team based its menu and event on Davies’ upcoming 50th birthday. R. Beauclair Plate 39 Cresent Books

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Fate of landmark again uncertain

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TO M S TO C K W E L L t st o ckwel l @sthel ena sta r.c om‌

ALISTOGA — Another plan to resurrect the old Francis House — a National Register property — has fallen through. Mario Sculatti, a wine consultant who former served on the St. Helena City Council, said recently that he has pulled out of the effort to restore the landmark property at the corner of Spring and Myrtle. “I was unable to find the necessary financial backers to bring this project to completion,” Sculatti said. “I’m hopeful that others will have more success because this is a building that deserves to be restored.” So once again the city is faced with the eyesore of the ruined building, and its fate remains uncertain. For many, the Francis House – also known as the Old Calistoga Hospital — is an integral part of the town’s history. It was originally the home of James H. Francis, a local businessman. He built his home in the Second French Empire style in 1886 constructed of local stone. He died in 1891, only five years after the mansion’s completion, and his widow sold the property to Colonel Myron E. Billings, who served as a judge and the legal counsel for town of Calistoga. When Billings died in 1918, Mabel Martin rented the mansion to start the Calistoga Hospital. When Martin subsequently married the Rev. C.L. Petersen they bought the property and the hospital grew to be an active complex of six houses, including the mansion housing about 30 beds for patients. The Petersens ran the Calistoga Hospital until the 1946 when it passed through a number of different hands. So it continued until 1965 when the State of California closed it down for failing to meet state standards. In 1970 the owner of the hospital, Jack Oughin, sold the property to Donald Selvey. Photos of the mansion in 1979 still showed the fading charm and beauty of the old mansion. That was the year that both the Francis House and the Palmer House on Cedar 58

Street were listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Subsequently, the Palmer House was restored by the Hughes family, while the Francis House was neglected by Selvey. According to city records, in late 2006 the Calistoga City Council was considering exercising a nuisance abatement declaration because the site had become a magnet for all sorts of trash and unwanted items, including cars. But then Selvey entered into a sales agreement with Neil Schafer – an agreement that was not settled until 2008 by the courts. Then Schafer began cleaning up the property with an eye to developing the property. Schafer’s plan was to restore the old mansion into a 25-room inn and spa featuring several bungalow-type buildings, a new dining facility and several cold pools and 26 parking spaces. But then the recession of 2008 seemed to stall the project. Nothing seemed to be happening until November 2013 when Sculatti became actively involved. Sculatti brought a new set of conceptual plans to the City Council to turn the project into an 18-room inn. The council entered into a memorandum of understanding to facilitate the building’s restoration. According to newspaper articles written at the time, the preservation and construction were to have started within a year of the city’s final approval agreement, with a projected finish date no later than 2016. Now, according to Sculatti, no financial backers have appeared for the restoration, and he is no longer under contract to complete it. According to Calistoga senior planner Erik Lundquist, the city has no applications or expressions of interest in the private property. Since Sculatti is no longer involved, the city’s 2013 memorandum of understanding is null and void. Any new plans for the property will need to start all over again with the council, he said.

Submitted photo

This rare photograph of the Francis House was taken in 1937 after it had been operating as a 30-room hospital since 1918. Above the second floor door a sign clearly reads “Calistoga Hospital.” The hospital was still running nearly 30 years later when it was shut down by the board of health in 1965. The future of Calistoga’s Francis House, once the Calistoga Hospital, is again uncertain. Mario Sculatti, one of the investors who had plans to restore it, said recently he couldn’t find investors for the restoration. The chainlink fence surrounding Francis House was erected in 2008. Tom Stockwell, St. Helena Star

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ur newest exhibit, “Growing Up in San Francisco,” slated to open with a fabulous reception on Friday, May 15, from 5:30 to 7 p.m., is a private collection belonging to longtime museum member Irwin Herlihy. Talking to Irwin is always a treat, stories of his life are endless, interesting and often times comical. This collection takes us from his first baseball mitt (1936), through games attended at Seal and Kezar Stadiums and on to Candlestick. Programs to be displayed date back to the oldest from 1942, only 25 cents, at Kezar, a game between the University of San Francisco and the U.S. Coast Guard, a Babe Ruth Day program from August 1947 at Seal Stadium, a book of official baseball rules from 1924, it goes on from there. Find out why Irwin is such a Bay Area sports nut, and not just baseball. Taken to his first

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Irwin and Sandy Herlihy are longtime Sharpsteen Museum members. Irwin’s “Growing up in San Francisco” private collection will be on display at Sharpsteen beginning May 15.

game by his Uncle Stanley, Irwin was honored just last year by the 49ers organization as the one man to have attended the most football games in a row, his first

being in 1946. By the end of the 2014 season he had attended 651 games without missing one. If you watch sports programs, you would have seen a 49er special last year

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interviewing Irwin and Sandy, all about his love of the game. It was filmed in Calistoga so I’m hoping you didn’t miss it. He began collecting old tins and containers in 1969 after a visiting a friend that did the same. Asking Irwin how this visit inspired him, he tells me the story. “We stopped by to visit some friends in the Bay Area. They had this beautiful home, all decked out. We walked into the living room and sitting on a table was this old, ugly, crappy looking tin. I thought ‘Why would they build this fantastic home and then put a piece of garbage on a table?’ Found out they were collectors and had been for years. After hearing their stories and piecing together the history of each can, my wife, Sandy, and I started our own collection,” Irwin said. Irwin’s tin collection now numbers in the hundreds, tins dating back to the 1930s such as Betty Lou

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Submitted photo

The new exhibit at Sharpsteen Museum includes programs from baseball games dating back to 1942, including a Babe Ruth Day program, center, from August 1947 at Seal Stadium.

Potato Chips, Littleman Coffee, Ovaltine, and Lake County Maid Milk, Uneeda Bakers, Jersey Wren Cornmeal, Fluff Cake Flour — there are simply too many to list. You will see pieces of the original Golden Gate Bridge as well as programs and banners of past World’s Fairs, old shoe shiner

paraphernalia and children’s books from 1940 and 1941; the variety of this collection seems endless. A true document of a Calistoga resident and San Francisco soul that should not be missed. Born in 1931 and growing up just 16 blocks from the beach, Ir w i n’s c h i l d h o o d memories have created a master storyteller. Ask Irwin what memory he most treasures about his young days growing up In San Francisco. He will tell you “the fog horns, it will always be the fog horns.” Collections of any kind always begin as a fun endeavor, then go on to becoming a passion, slowly progressing into a crazed obsession. Fortunately for Irwin, and the Sharpsteen Museum, his collecting remained fun (although he himself is a little crazed). Hundreds of items will be on display. This exhibit promises to be a

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highlight of the year at the museum. Everyone is invited to the Preview Party on Friday, May 15 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. As always, wine and appetizers will be served, raffle prizes will be won and for your entertainment pleasure, music will be provided by Gail Sharpsteen and the Hot Frittatas. Announcement Our annual Instant Wine Cellar event will be slightly different than in years past. This year’s IWC will be on Saturday, Aug. 29, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. There will be four Grand Prizes sponsors this year, Castello di Amorosa, Laura Michael Winery, Far Niente Winery and Nickel & Nickel. Each grand prize will be 36 bottles of mixed premium valley wines and will include exceptional tour and tasting packages for four people each donated by our sponsors. We plan on this year’s event being bigger and better than ever, more prizes, great food and the best wine we can get our hands on. (Trust me, we hustle big time). We are still in the planning process and need volunteers for a variety

Submitted photo

The “Growing up in San Francisco” exhibit is a private collection from Irwin Herlihy, a longtime member of Sharpsteen Museum. A reception for the exhibit will be held on Friday, May 15, from 5:30 to 7 p.m., at Sharpsteen, 1311 Washington St.

of sub-committtees. If you would like to be a part of this fantastic event, please contact Sue Mauro or Doug Cook through the museum at 942-5911. Or you can send a message through the Contact page on our web site: SharpsteenMuseum. org. Kathy Bazzoli and Patsy Hahn are on the board of Sharpsteen Museum. Bazzoli writes a monthly feature on Sharpsteen for The Weekly Calistogan.

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Dining in Napa Valley

A look at whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cooking for the spring and summer

Heritage Eats opens in Napa’s Bel Aire center ‌ eritage Eats Napa’s new “fastH fine dining” restaurant opened to the public in north Napa early this month. Located at 3824 Bel Aire Plaza in the Bel Aire Shopping Center, the concept of Heritage Eats is “Slow Meats Fast.” The restaurant is a globally-influenced, locally-sourced, and California-born destination with an emphasis on heritage breed meats, produce from local farms and house-made sauces. Co-founders Ben Koenig and chef Jason Kupper bring over 25 years of combined industry experience to this new venture. The unique restaurant concept offers locals and visitors alike the chance to enjoy interesting and elevated, yet approachable, cuisine at an accessible price. The menu offers unexpected combinations of wraps, sandwiches, salads and rice bowls featuring heritage breed proteins and a global mix of traditional street food flavors. The food will draw inspiration from South America, Southeast

Asia, Northern Africa and beyond. Diners are invited to customize their experience from beginning to end. Guests begin by choosing their protein from a rotating variety of options such as Jamaican jerk chicken, cider braised pork or crispy chickpea falafel. Next guests select from options such as house-made steamed bao buns, fresh baked pita bread, a tortilla wrap or rice bowl as a base for their creation. Pre-designed, signature offerings, known as “Good Calls,” are also offered on the menu. Heritage Eats is a proud partner of No Kid Hungry and in their first year will help connect children in need with up to 250,000 healthy meals. Heritage Eats is located at 3824 Bel Aire Plaza, Napa, and, beginning on May 8, will be open Sunday— Thursday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Friday—Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. More information is available at heritageeats.com.

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