Small Town Perfection on the Redwood Coast
by Amanda Bjerke
coastal sunset
the Redwoods
Battery Point Lighthouse
on the beach
Port of Brookings Harbor
The heart of the Redwood Coast spills from California’s Crescent City northward to Oregon’s Brookings and beyond. But forget state lines; this misty stretch of landscape, bordered by rocky shore and an intense army of gargantuan trees, defies manmade boundaries. Here, a natural environment of mythical proportions offers spectacular ocean vistas, wild rivers and a surprising array of cultural diversions.
Emerging artist Chuck Keeley moved to Crescent City from the decidedly spendier Mendocino County last December. It wasn’t purely a matter of economics. Amenities, including ample retail offerings, inspired the transition. “I’ve lived in some very small towns in my life. Round, Texas had 80 people. Leggett, California was just a couple of convenience stores and a post office. I am a small-town guy. But in Crescent City you have the perfect small town—all the things you need on a daily basis close at hand. So, it’s like a city to me.”
Keeley’s convenient little city affords him plenty of artistic inspiration. The redwoods are just a few miles east of town. The Smith River is nearby and, of course there’s the ocean.
He lives just five blocks from the water, and beachfront strolls are a part of his routine. “I can walk down the street and out to Battery Point Lighthouse. It’s really interesting. People actually live there and provide a very informative tour. It’s just one of the things that make Crescent City a fascinating place to live. There’s a great library here and Crescent City also has its own daily newspaper. I really like that.”
Friendly citizens—especially those involved in the arts—made Keeley feel immediately welcome. “There is a great group of artists at the Crescent Harbor Gallery. That’s been among the best parts of living here. I really look forward to learning more from them,” he said.
Retired aeronautical engineer Horst Wolf and his wife Leslie also laud the area’s cohesive arts community. Twelve years ago, the pair sold their Bay-Area house and scoured the Pacific Coast for a new hometown. Brookings’ cultural bent sealed the deal for Leslie.
“She found it,” Horst Wolf recalled. “We were staying at a rented place in Humboldt County, and I was ill. She went on north and came back and reported that there was this amazing town that I had never heard of and that they had this incredible library that the people of the town had put together, and they had a theater company that puts on plays, and they have a music association that brings classical music from all over the world—five, six concerts every year. She said, ‘this is where I want to live.’ The search ended right there. My wife is a cultural type.”
As is Horst. An accomplished artist who exhibits throughout the state, he and his wife, a costume designer, both ply their passions from their home atop a 150-foot bluff overlooking the Pacific. In an accent slightly more subdued than that of Governor Schwarzenegger, he describes Brookings as “the most beautiful place in the world.”
“This is the best time of our lives. We don’t work for money anymore; we just work for fun.”
Even Oregon’s pluvial climate doesn’t dampen Wolf’s enthusiasm. “Sure, there’s 80 inches of rain a year,” he admitted, “but, honestly, most of it is at night. It stops in the spring, and in summer we hardly have any at all. Then it starts again in October, but because of the way the land lays here, Brookings has a wonderful climate. Ten degrees warmer in winter than places to the South. In the summer we are cool. We have people coming from other parts of Oregon to warm up or cool down.”
Like Crescent City’s Keeley, Wolf waxes most effusive about the arts community. “When we moved here, there were maybe four galleries. It’s a small town and because it is so beautiful there are a lot of artists. The town cannot support all these artists. Some are retired people, like me, who do not depend upon art to feed them, so for some it is okay. A few years ago we decided we have to draw more people in the summer. So we have a fishing derby, a kite festival, and an azalea festival. What we really wanted was to make this the cultural center of the area. We got together; we looked at what bigger towns were doing. We were pretty small, but we decided we could at least try. So we had the four galleries, the library and the book store which also had an art gallery, and we started the Art Walk—on second Saturdays, all through town, every venue with music and wonderful hors d’oeuvres.”
That was three years ago. The Brookings Art Walk now includes 10 venues, sometimes more if the local college and public schools get into the act.
“New galleries are coming in and placing themselves right in the heart of our Art Walk. Crescent City artists come, so do those from Gold Beach. Gold Beach Books is a wonderful store; it’s pretty new. It has a gallery and live music, and they are starting their own Art Walk, only it will be an Art Ride. They’re getting buses, because things aren’t as close together as we have them. Here, in Brookings, the whole town is behind it; it’s a great social event. My wife and I are both so happy here. We are having the best time of our lives in the best place in the world,” Horst Wolf said.
SkyWest United Express serves Crescent City, Brookings and the rest of the Redwood Coast with daily flights between Crescent City and San Francisco.