Christine Delsol, one of an alarmingly many of former Chronicle staffers-turned-stringers, explored the quirky and fun Bohemian Highway, as detailed in this Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle’s Travel section.
Some of the best tips: check out Wild Flour Bread in Freestone, try Howard’s in Occidental for coffee and don’t try to break into the Bohemian Grove. Bad things happen dude, bad things.
Excerpt of the story below, with a full link to the story in the San Francisco Chronicle:
Spilling quaintly down the mountainsides on either side of the road, Occidental lies 4 miles from Freestone at the southern end and 7 miles from Monte Rio at the north. The town is best known for its family-style Italian restaurants and abundance of nearby nurseries, which most tourists are content to sample as a side trip, but my husband and I chose it as our base for a recent getaway. Not only is it perfectly positioned for exploring the Bohemian Highway and beyond, staying there introduced us to some of Occidental’s overlooked pleasures – not the least off which was discovering our own private Bohemian Grove.
Why now? The off-season brings lower lodging costs and respite from summer’s heat and tourist spillover. And with its church spires and bower of red and gold leaves, Occidental could pass for a New England village.
The back story: The Bohemian Highway corridor, buffered from coastal fog and inland heat, was one of the first areas settled in the region – Monte Rio boasted the first elevator west of the Mississippi. Occidental was the last stop on the North Pacific Coast Railroad on its trip south to the Sausalito ferry.
The railway begat a lumber boom in the late 19th century. Soon the train brought hordes of summer vacationers, and the Union Hotel and Negri’s restaurant opened to serve them multiple-course, family-style Italian dinners. Artists, nature lovers and assimilated counterculture types prevail today, maintaining organic farms and wineries, specialty nurseries, and quirky shops and restaurants.
