Building Davinci
Tyler Young
Since its founding in San Francisco in 1986, Burning Man has evolved from a renegade artists’ experiment into a widely respected community of makers, dancers and thinkers. These self-described Burners now gather annually in Nevada’s inhospitable Black Rock Desert. They come to celebrate creative expression, open-hearted collaboration and radical self-reliance.
An event theme guides the annual innovations of these spirited makers. In 2016, the selected theme “Davinci’s Warehouse” spoke to the culture renaissance blowing from the arid, expansive desert back to faraway townships like Petaluma, California. Here, longtime Burners Claus Brigmann, Jack Haye, Mark Jaramillo, Carly Weaver, and Julie Young build their next creation. Having attended the event since the 1990’s, this crew understands the value of the Burning Man experience.
For more information, check out www.burningman.org.
Installation photos by Claus P Brigmann
Sonoma Patchwork
Field Sonoma is celebrating the special destinations of Sonoma County through our Field Patch Collection. It is our way of giving a shoutout to the places of interest that contribute to this culturally rich county. We will be introducing more in the months to come, so check back often to see what’s new. Consider them inspiration to get out and experience these Sonoma County gems yourself.
Workspace: Tim Nicholls
Timothy Nicholls opened the roll up doors to his bike repair and sales shop in February 2017, contributing to the interesting new mix of businesses along Petaluma’s Second Street corridor. Cycle Chvrch Cycles has less of the feel of a typical bike shop, and feels more like an artist’s studio. Tim approaches his craft from a design perspective, refurbishing bikes with purposeful detail from carefully reconstructed mechanics to beautiful pinstriping work. He takes massive pride in his finished products and if you buy a bike from him, you can be sure he will be there to provide ongoing maintenance to your two-wheeled friend. Tim refurbishes bikes not just for sale but also donates to local organizations including COTS. You can find him most days from 11-7 in his shop, and also on social media @cyclechvrchcycles. Look for the handpainted signs (painted by Tim) on the nearby corners to show you the way.
Workspace: Alfie Turnshek
Meet Alfie Turnshek, Beverage Director and Partner at Brewster’s Beer Garden in Petaluma. With street cred from East Bay establishments Tribune Tavern and Plum, Turnshek has brought his colorful cocktail concoctions to Petaluma, and the creative juices are flowing freely. Alfie takes his workspace very seriously, sourcing only the best and freshest ingredients in his recipes. The bar itself is designed and includes materials from local businesses; it’s spacious, with cleanly limned angles and color splashes of various drink additives from citrus to mint to bitters. It is Aflie’s happy place and he fully enjoys making it the happy place for a many a visiting patron. Talk about doing what you love for a living. Thanks for coming, Alfie. Sonoma County is very happy to have you.
Workspace: Freestone Country Store
Located at 500 Bohemian Highway in the hamlet of Freestone, the Freestone Country Store provisions the visitor with every necessity for either road trip or essentials of life in West County. Walking up to the porch and through the screen door and presented with its litany of mostly very useful items that you haven’t thought of in a while, you will be blasted with a wave of nostalgia for some part of your past that you also haven’t thought of in a while. It’s worth stopping in to see what treasure you will be so glad to take home with you. It might be some local honey, but it also might be an interesting box of matches or a particularly functional dustpan. Eclectic and vintage wall decor, which is not for sale, adds to the visual richness of this place and reminds the visitor that this land has history that stretches long before organic bakeries and artisan cheeses.
Rocker oysterfeller's
It’s not about the food. I mean, obviously it is about the food but that isn’t the most important part. Sometimes you can get the most mouth watering morsels in a funky spot that looks like an old laundromat. Or absolute cardboard crap in a glorious architectural specimen with sweeping vistas. At Rocker Oysterfellers you get a little bit of all the goods. From the rocking chairs on the front porch you can suck down a PBR from a mason jar or a flute of sparkling while checking out the local cow country. The place is in an old school building from the late 1800s that I’m pretty sure used to be a brothel. A gravel parking lot leads to a couple of big goats in the back forty named Pancho and Lefty, who aren’t quite friendly.
You can get some afternoon delight for your mouth with 5 flavors of grilled oysters as well as the fresh, raw, notoriously naughty bivalves. And if that doesn’t float your boat, the bacon wrapped goat cheese jalapeños will burn it down. But in a good way…the food is lovely. Fried chicken. Fish tacos. A thick ass steak. Locally sourced, supporting the nearby farms. House made pimento cheese from the award winning Estero cheese that you can actually see the farm from the front porch. And if you get there quick, you might score some bacon wrapped water buffalo meatloaf from just down the street.
The real truth is in the bar. It’s like a west county version of the breakfast club but all grownups. You could be sitting next to a cattle rancher, surfer, wine maker, fisherman, or a tourist from Germany. You never know. But unless you are a mute you will find interesting conversation. People share tables and become best friends. You can have a delicious Manhattan with some deviled eggs and shoot the shit with a local cheesemaker. Or just stop by for a beer. Whatever you do, if you are driving by, stop. Oh, and by the way, if you want you can also sleep over in the hotel up above. You might see a ghost or just have a super chill time in a room with no tv, where people just talk. Or whatever.
Stillwater Spirits
Visiting Stillwater Spirits on a Friday afternoon feels like walking into a party in progress. Blues music booms from wall-mounted speakers. Local brewers wander in to grab a drink and share their latest beer. The distillery dogs greet people who walk by and wonder what they’re missing. But there’s serious business happening inside those barrels.
Ever since Brendan Moylan opened Stillwater Spirits at the Petaluma Foundry Wharf in 2004, the awards have been pouring in — including best in show and best in category at this year’s New York World Wine & Spirits Competition for Moylan’s cask-strength single malt whiskey finished in port barrels and a Gold Award from the American Distilling Institute for Moylan’s cask-strength single malt whiskey.
Long before the first barrel rolled in or out of the distillery, Moylan was already a big part of the Bay Area beverage scene. His brewpubs Marin Brewing Company and Moylan’s Brewery & Restaurant have been local favorites for decades.
Distiller Tim Welch is working with Moylan to make a big name for this little distillery, even though they’ll produce only 50 barrels this year. In addition to single malt whiskies, Stillwater also makes bourbon, rye, vodka, gin, liqueurs, grappa, brandy and beer schnapps. Most of this is put out under the Moylan’s name, although about a quarter of production is dedicated to making spirits for other companies, including grappa for next-door neighbor Sonoma Portworks.
Welch is experimenting with mixing a whiskey finished in sherry barrels with their award-winning port finished whiskey. He and Moylan treat the barrels like they’re living beings and not containers of product.
With Ralph Steadman murals covering the walls and a steady stream of blues music playing after hours to keep the barrels company, Stillwater isn’t just a place that makes good booze. It’s also a second home for people who are passionate about spirits.
Aldo The Piano Man
When Aldo Garibaldi moved to Petaluma 11 years ago, he quickly traded in his piano hiatus for daily finger exercises needed in order to stay in shape for his new gigs around town.
We caught him in between songs at Petaluma Coffee and Tea on Second Street where he plays 2-3 mornings a week, part of the eclectic cast of characters that create a particularly unique tableau. Aldo shared a bit of his story along with a few ultra special nuggets of wisdom mined from a long life full of experience with music at it’s core.
A classically trained pianist that started music lessons at 10 years old, Aldo has almost always been a working musician. As a teen, he played in a band getting paid a modest $8 a night for gigs. He played in the Catskills, New York and New Jersey piano bars, and his claim to fame, as he says, was playing the Waldorf-Astoria (for free for the Italian Society.)
In another chapter of his life he worked at Gimbel’s Department Store in the piano section. He laughed as he confessed he was the only salesman on the floor that could actually play the piano. When you bought a piano at Gimbel’s, you would receive a package of piano lessons, which Aldo taught, and over the course of a few years, gained a critical mass of students.
He speaks passionately about teaching music.
“I learned so much about life from the people I taught,” Aldo told us, visibly moved by the experience. “I connected to people through music.” and from what we can tell, he still does. It is clear that the lives of his students deeply shaped his own and the music has so often been the connective tissue of his most meaningful human relationships.
He shared a favorite quote of Lily Tomlin’s with us, “We are all together, alone.” which captures a sad existential truth about life along with the beauty of human connection and seems central to his philosophy about life.
Petaluma Coffee and Tea has become a creative safe space for Aldo where he relinquishes all sheet music and plays from the heart.
He played one last piece for us before we said goodbye, a beautiful rendition of Duke Ellington’s jazz standard, Satin Doll. We could tell by how he played that this particular song had been a soundtrack to his life more than once.
He did, and so did we.
Ray’s Regulars
Photography by Paige Green
At Ray’s you will find a cast of characters that shows up with regularity. You’ve got your Wednesday Open Mic night people, your Friday happy hour people, your little league parents before and after (some during) the-game-up-the-street-people, and then your daily check in for a pint around 5 people. Great crews, all.
Wednesdays are particularly eclectic at Open Mic night, drawing on a local talent pool of all ages and abilities to get up in front of a small crowd in the corner of the deli space that becomes a makeshift stage. For a few years, Open Mic night has been run by Ariel Monterrey, a Cuban-born but now longtime Petaluma resident that thrives in his role as MC of this regular occurrence. He runs the show with encouragement and spirit, and is often up himself playing guitar and singing. Every act is treated to a rising roar of applause at the finish and the heartfelt camaraderie of the audience is palpable. Close your eyes and hear banjo strumming, see children scooting around taller people’s legs, smell pastrami and cheese. That’s a sensory synopsis of Ray’s Open Mic night.
On Fridays the party gets going early, especially when the weather is nice and one can sit outside to watch the parade of vehicles that move through the intersection of West and Webster Streets. The inside scene is TGIF-jovial and can border on the raucous. In one glance around the room you may see a bank executive, an electrician, a musician and a Petaluma High history teacher. Go back next week, and they will all be there again.
Back to the “regular” thing. There is another special group of regulars that must be mentioned: the dogs. You’ve got Mimi and Steve’s hound dog, Blue, of the 5 o’clock regular crowd. And Joe’s pitbull mix, Buttons, a Friday regular. Blue and Buttons have many friends, which you will have to come to Ray’s yourself to meet and pat.
From Thistle to Green
From Thistle To Green
Step One: secure transportation for said errand running. We tapped our friendly neighbors at Yuba Bicycles.
Field: Hey Yuba. Can we borrow bikes to tool around downtown prepping for our pre-Green Music Center errands? We promise not to crash.
Yuba Bikes guys: No problem!
What picnic would be complete without meat and cheese? Really not a one. So, we proceeded directly to Thistle Meats where we knew we could successfully procure just the right array of savory local pig and cow cured deliciousness. We love Thistle for its dedication to locally sourced meats and support of small farms in Sonoma County. And, because everything in that place looks beautiful and tastes amazing. Oh, and don’t forget the rabbit terrine, which we did not. We were also able to throw in a round of Cowgirl Creamery Red Hawk to provide a creamy foil to the salty meats. So far so good.
We sadly said goodbye to the bikes and returned them, unscathed, to Yuba. Then it was time to embark on our journey north in a mode of transportation with a little more horsepower. Beverages were top of mind for our next stop: Oliver’s Market in Cotati. The wine section there is well stocked with local vintages and the staff is incredibly helpful. We chose a Kunde Sauvignon Blanc and an Unti Vineyards Rose to complement our spread of meat, cheese and bread.
And a little fruit never hurt anyone. If you haven’t visited an Oliver’s Market, its time. Between the produce, meat department, wine and spirits section and ready to eat food bar…you can’t really find an improved situation for grocery shopping and eating. Locally owned, the vibe of Sonoma County is alive and well within the walls of each of its 3 locations.
Then we arrive at the lawn at the Green Music Center. Blanket laid, food arrayed, wine poured, and the party can start. And its a really good party — surrounded by other lawn revelers with picnic situations of their own. Everyone is friendly as the crowd grows and the lawn fills in with concert goers awaiting the music that is getting closer and closer to starting.
It’s a beautiful summer Sonoma County evening…time to put the wine and cheese down and stand up and enjoy the show, we did and look forward to next summer season when we will most certainly do this all again.
