For years, the city of Napa - located near the southern tip of California's Napa Valley winemaking region - was a place to refuel the car and drive on. Now, sprouting savory restaurants, art galleries, live music venues, the foodie-favorite Oxbow Public Market, ever-more places to taste and buy wine, and several new hotels, it is becoming a destination in its own right.
Napa city is still a work in progress but progress is being made, due in part to the emergence of hotels that fill the space between upscale bed and breakfasts and downscale motels and motel-like lodgings. The most notable newish place is the 2-year-old Westin Verasa Napa (www.westinnapa.com). My wife and I stayed there over the predictably rowdy St. Patrick's Day weekend.
Our stay was simultaneously both terrific and awful.
Awful because the rowdies filled the hotel and, fueled by alcohol, turned the elevators and hallways into verbal free-fire zones. Awful because sound-proofing inside the guest rooms was poor, letting all the noise from the hallways in, barely muting talking, weeping and laughing between rooms and failing to muffle traffic noise from the busy roadway outside the hotel. Awful because our bathroom was small and old-fashioned with a shower inside a small tub and not enough shelf space. Awful because there was a flat-screen TV in our room but, man, was it small. When city taxes and hotel amenity fees were tacked-on to the bill, the price rose from the listed $249 to an actual $306.
But:
Terrific, too, because we had a lovely meal in the hotel's fine-dining restaurant, the Michelin-starred LaToque, helmed by the talented chef Ken Frank. Terrific because our standard room came complete with a sink, dishwasher, drawers filled with cutlery, an empty refrigerator, a microwave and a coffeemaker; we weren't staying long but if we had, it would have been a comfortable room to hunker-down in. Terrific because the hotel has a swell location walking distance from Oxbow Market and Napa's riverfront promenade and downtown. The Wine Train's Napa city station is across the street from the Westin. Terrific because the double king bed was commodious and comfortable.
So, it's fair to say this is a classically mixed review.
Some of our problems were due to happenstance, to be sure - St. Patrick's Day, for example - not the hotel. But the Westin also made an inexplicable error. It came at check-in, when the desk jockey gave us our room keys and wrote out the room number on paper while repeating it verbally. Three times, we tried opening the door at the room he told us about, using changing sets of keys. Finally, the front desk figured out that the original guy keystroked the wrong room number into the hotel's computer system, so when the keys were magnetized, they were programmed for another room.
All this may sound like this seasoned traveler is saying to other travelers: Don't stay there. Indeed, our experience is enough to prompt me to consider other options next time, but I'm not saying don't stay there. The Westin is not cheap considering it is a somewhat standard cookie-cutter hotel, but Napa city and valley are not cheap. The hotel's location is good and the staff was friendly and tried hard. Just know that there are some flaws and factor them in if you are planning a trip to this late-blooming but increasingly attractive city in northern California's Wine Country.
The Westin Verasa Napa is located at 1314 Mckinstry St., Napa, CA 94559 USA. Tel. 707.257.1800, toll-free reservations at 800.937.8461, Web: www.westinnapa.com.
Showing posts with label California. Show all posts
Showing posts with label California. Show all posts
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Saturday, February 18, 2012
2012 Travel Guide to California
Toronto company Globalite Travel Marketing Inc. has published its 2012 Travel Guide to California, which includes my feature story on California cities, headlined "Where the Action Is.'' The piece, found on pages 14 through 19 of the 168-page print version of the guide (price: $6.95 USD), is also available online at www.californiatravelguide.travel. It begins like this:
"Famous for its beaches, mountains, deserts and vineyards, California has yet another treasure that makes the Golden State shine: its cities. In cities, culture meets commerce, producing world-class dining and world-renowned movies, music, television and digital media - not to mention major arts venues and major-league sporting events. Nowhere are these attractions on more engaging display than in California's most traveler-friendly cities: Los Angeles, San Jose, Palm Springs, San Francisco, San Diego and Sacramento.''
If you are interested in Caalifornia travel, the glossy, color-splashed guide is worth checking out. Dining and wine, family fun, guides to the mountains, deserts, and destinations such as Yosemite, Big Sur, Death Valley and Lake Tahoe are covered by a variety of California-based travel writers - accomplished pros, all.
"Famous for its beaches, mountains, deserts and vineyards, California has yet another treasure that makes the Golden State shine: its cities. In cities, culture meets commerce, producing world-class dining and world-renowned movies, music, television and digital media - not to mention major arts venues and major-league sporting events. Nowhere are these attractions on more engaging display than in California's most traveler-friendly cities: Los Angeles, San Jose, Palm Springs, San Francisco, San Diego and Sacramento.''
If you are interested in Caalifornia travel, the glossy, color-splashed guide is worth checking out. Dining and wine, family fun, guides to the mountains, deserts, and destinations such as Yosemite, Big Sur, Death Valley and Lake Tahoe are covered by a variety of California-based travel writers - accomplished pros, all.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Oakland and The List
Ah, list-making time again. How precious.
Every year at about this time - which is to say, the end of one year and the beginning of the next - travel media line up to draw up their lists of what's in and what's out, and share their wisdom about what destinations you absolutely have to visit. You know, be there or be square, Where to Go Now, etc.
Ths year, the upmarket, Ivy League New York Times (www.nytimes.com) puts at no. 5 of its 45 must-see places of 2012 a place I know pretty well: Oakland, California. Not suprisingly, visitoakland.com, whose melancholy task it is to promote tourism to this interesting but gritty (and occasionally scary) city across San Francisco Bay from San Francisco is sending out e-mails to tout the recommendation.
The Times touts Oakland chiefly for the revitalization of its Uptown district - actually centered near downtown at roughly Telegraph Avenue above 20th Street - and the most expensive restaurants by celebrity chefs it could visit on the parent company's expense accounts. Uptown is indeed an interesting area, worth your time if you're in the Bay Area. Other places, such as Temescal, the restored Victorian Row of houses and restaurants downtown and especially Rockridge, on the northern city line with Berkeley, are worth a visit, too.
I used to live in Oakland and I like some things about it very much, but as a long-time Bay Area guy, I have to level with you and say it is not most people's idea of a tourist paradise. Most of Oakland is not pretty, some of it - especially West Oakland, east Oakland, downtown's streets after dark and long blocks of murderers' row along International Boulevard are visited at your own risk. Some Oakland BART transit stations and especially the parking lots are high-risk.
I suspect the Times flagged Oakland because the writers and editors like to play with a frisson of fear and see themselves as hip and pioneering, very cool trendspotters, if they do say so themselves. It could be a reaction to the Gray Lady's longtime reputation as an authoritative but dowdy Establishment sheet. Not any more, the Times's hipsters want us to know.
OK, if you say so. Bottom line for travelers: Don't avoid Oakland, just keep your eyes open and explore it on your own, within the broad guidelines cited above.
Every year at about this time - which is to say, the end of one year and the beginning of the next - travel media line up to draw up their lists of what's in and what's out, and share their wisdom about what destinations you absolutely have to visit. You know, be there or be square, Where to Go Now, etc.
Ths year, the upmarket, Ivy League New York Times (www.nytimes.com) puts at no. 5 of its 45 must-see places of 2012 a place I know pretty well: Oakland, California. Not suprisingly, visitoakland.com, whose melancholy task it is to promote tourism to this interesting but gritty (and occasionally scary) city across San Francisco Bay from San Francisco is sending out e-mails to tout the recommendation.
The Times touts Oakland chiefly for the revitalization of its Uptown district - actually centered near downtown at roughly Telegraph Avenue above 20th Street - and the most expensive restaurants by celebrity chefs it could visit on the parent company's expense accounts. Uptown is indeed an interesting area, worth your time if you're in the Bay Area. Other places, such as Temescal, the restored Victorian Row of houses and restaurants downtown and especially Rockridge, on the northern city line with Berkeley, are worth a visit, too.
I used to live in Oakland and I like some things about it very much, but as a long-time Bay Area guy, I have to level with you and say it is not most people's idea of a tourist paradise. Most of Oakland is not pretty, some of it - especially West Oakland, east Oakland, downtown's streets after dark and long blocks of murderers' row along International Boulevard are visited at your own risk. Some Oakland BART transit stations and especially the parking lots are high-risk.
I suspect the Times flagged Oakland because the writers and editors like to play with a frisson of fear and see themselves as hip and pioneering, very cool trendspotters, if they do say so themselves. It could be a reaction to the Gray Lady's longtime reputation as an authoritative but dowdy Establishment sheet. Not any more, the Times's hipsters want us to know.
OK, if you say so. Bottom line for travelers: Don't avoid Oakland, just keep your eyes open and explore it on your own, within the broad guidelines cited above.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Sonoma's Blessed Olives
Olives - after wine grapes - are the second-most important crop in California's Sonoma - an unpretentious getaway destination and prime agricultural area. Sonoma is actually three overlapping places in the north central part of the Golden State - town, valley and county.
During the otherwise slow, rainy winter months, Sonoma puts on an annual three-month-long Festival of the Olive (www.olivefestival.com). Local chefs feature the fruit in their dishes, bartenders vie with one another to fix the perfect 'dirty'' martini - spiked with olive juice and flecks of fruit - wineries set out olive oil tastings, hotels offer off-peak deals and the area generally celebrates all things olive.
As it happens, my wife and I are amateur olive growers. We have a few slender, young trees on our property and in recent years have home-cured olives we hand-picked from our trees. The goal is to make our own olive oil when we get a big enough crop.
So it was that we motored yesterday to the town of Sonoma for the blessing of this year's commercial olive harvest. The event took place before a hundred or so olive fanciers in the nearly 200-year old Somoma mission and church - the northernmost and youngest of the chain of missions built from Mexico's Baja California deep into the U.S. state of California from the 16th to the 19th centuries. Founded by Jesuit and Francican friars from Spain, the missions introduced olive trees to California. The variety - or cultivar - the padres planted is known today as the mission olive. This is the variety we have out in back of our house.
This 11th annual blessing of the olives was a lovely event, staged to the sounds of an acoustic trio playing (mostly) Mexican music in the long, deep, narrow nave of the old mission, which is still used for Roman Catholic church services. The blessing was performed in a soft, lilting Irish brogue by Rev. Michael Kelly.
Outside the church, in what is now a state park, mature olive trees flourish, providing, in the warm months, a sheltering canopy for picnicers (admission $3 USD). The church's full name is Mission San Francisco Solano de Sonoma, and it humble but beautiful, with whitewashed walls, narrow windows and a weathered roof supported by wooden pillars.
Wendy Peterson, of the Sonoma Valley Visitors Bureau, MC'd, as half a dozen speakers extolled the health benefits of olives, spoke of the millennia-old olive oil trade born in southern Europe, the Near East and north Africa, proudly recounted the painstaking revival of historic, long-neglected olive groves at the California missions and hailed the modern American trade in olives and olive oil. California produces well over 90 percent of U.S. olive oil. In recent years, the state's growers have become mainstays of the organic, slow food, locavore movement.
Sadly, the nonprofit group that spearheaded the worthy work of reviving the old groves - the Mission Olive Preservation, Restoration and Education Project - disbanded after yesterday's ceremony. After 13-years of volunteer labor, its trove of knowledge is headed to the University of California at Davis and other educational centers where it can be cared for and developed.
If you visit Sonoma, be sure to sample some olive oil. If you have time for only one olive-inspired stop, check out the Olive Press shop (www.theolivepress.com) at the far southern tip of Sonoma Valley. Then, sip some local wine. Combined, the olive and the grape provide a true taste of Sonoma - and California.
For more information:www.sonomavalley.com, phone toll-free in the U.S. 866.996.1090, or, when you're local, go to the visitors' center in the handsome brick building in the town of Sonoma plaza: 453 First Street East, Sonoma, CA 95476 USA.
During the otherwise slow, rainy winter months, Sonoma puts on an annual three-month-long Festival of the Olive (www.olivefestival.com). Local chefs feature the fruit in their dishes, bartenders vie with one another to fix the perfect 'dirty'' martini - spiked with olive juice and flecks of fruit - wineries set out olive oil tastings, hotels offer off-peak deals and the area generally celebrates all things olive.
As it happens, my wife and I are amateur olive growers. We have a few slender, young trees on our property and in recent years have home-cured olives we hand-picked from our trees. The goal is to make our own olive oil when we get a big enough crop.
So it was that we motored yesterday to the town of Sonoma for the blessing of this year's commercial olive harvest. The event took place before a hundred or so olive fanciers in the nearly 200-year old Somoma mission and church - the northernmost and youngest of the chain of missions built from Mexico's Baja California deep into the U.S. state of California from the 16th to the 19th centuries. Founded by Jesuit and Francican friars from Spain, the missions introduced olive trees to California. The variety - or cultivar - the padres planted is known today as the mission olive. This is the variety we have out in back of our house.
This 11th annual blessing of the olives was a lovely event, staged to the sounds of an acoustic trio playing (mostly) Mexican music in the long, deep, narrow nave of the old mission, which is still used for Roman Catholic church services. The blessing was performed in a soft, lilting Irish brogue by Rev. Michael Kelly.
Outside the church, in what is now a state park, mature olive trees flourish, providing, in the warm months, a sheltering canopy for picnicers (admission $3 USD). The church's full name is Mission San Francisco Solano de Sonoma, and it humble but beautiful, with whitewashed walls, narrow windows and a weathered roof supported by wooden pillars.
Wendy Peterson, of the Sonoma Valley Visitors Bureau, MC'd, as half a dozen speakers extolled the health benefits of olives, spoke of the millennia-old olive oil trade born in southern Europe, the Near East and north Africa, proudly recounted the painstaking revival of historic, long-neglected olive groves at the California missions and hailed the modern American trade in olives and olive oil. California produces well over 90 percent of U.S. olive oil. In recent years, the state's growers have become mainstays of the organic, slow food, locavore movement.
Sadly, the nonprofit group that spearheaded the worthy work of reviving the old groves - the Mission Olive Preservation, Restoration and Education Project - disbanded after yesterday's ceremony. After 13-years of volunteer labor, its trove of knowledge is headed to the University of California at Davis and other educational centers where it can be cared for and developed.
If you visit Sonoma, be sure to sample some olive oil. If you have time for only one olive-inspired stop, check out the Olive Press shop (www.theolivepress.com) at the far southern tip of Sonoma Valley. Then, sip some local wine. Combined, the olive and the grape provide a true taste of Sonoma - and California.
For more information:www.sonomavalley.com, phone toll-free in the U.S. 866.996.1090, or, when you're local, go to the visitors' center in the handsome brick building in the town of Sonoma plaza: 453 First Street East, Sonoma, CA 95476 USA.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Carmel, California's Aunt Fairy Bird
I lunched recently at Casanova restaurant, in Carmel, California, where I came across this short history of the restaurant's cottage-like building - rendered in what I'd call Carmel Hobbit architectural style - as printed in a local newspaper, the Carmel Pine Cone. I am reposting the undated item because I find it charming:
"Some years ago, we were walking along Fifth between San Carlos and Mission, when we suddenly heard a gentle "hello'. The sound came from behind a screen door in a tiny house, the worse for wear, just past the Shell station. We approached the door (which never opened) and met Aunt Fairy Bird, a small black lady who had lived there for over 50 years.
"Her house, situated as it was in downtown Carmel, was in truth a shack, but it was coveted by nearby landowners. She lived there alone for many years. When she died at nearly 90, not long after our only encounter, her house and a lot were the object of spirited bidding in an estate sale. We learned that she had once been the cook for Charlie Chaplin, that her husband Tom had been a popular handyman in Carmel, and that she was a handy-lady for several Carmel families.
"While cleaning uup her house, her executor found a great many Social Security checks that she had saved, hidden in the pages of newspapers and magazines. With him we helped open her safe deposit box and found a gold watch and two $2 bills. Aunt Fairy Bird's place is now occupied by Casanova Restaurant. Approach it with some reverence.''
Actually, Casanova is worth visiting not just for history but for cuisine. Run by a Belgian family, it is now a destination restaurant in this popular seaside town and is known for country French and Italian food.
Casanova is located on Fifth Avenue between San Carlos & Mission, Carmel-by-the-Sea, California USA. Tel. 831.625.0501. www.casanovarestaurant.com.
"Some years ago, we were walking along Fifth between San Carlos and Mission, when we suddenly heard a gentle "hello'. The sound came from behind a screen door in a tiny house, the worse for wear, just past the Shell station. We approached the door (which never opened) and met Aunt Fairy Bird, a small black lady who had lived there for over 50 years.
"Her house, situated as it was in downtown Carmel, was in truth a shack, but it was coveted by nearby landowners. She lived there alone for many years. When she died at nearly 90, not long after our only encounter, her house and a lot were the object of spirited bidding in an estate sale. We learned that she had once been the cook for Charlie Chaplin, that her husband Tom had been a popular handyman in Carmel, and that she was a handy-lady for several Carmel families.
"While cleaning uup her house, her executor found a great many Social Security checks that she had saved, hidden in the pages of newspapers and magazines. With him we helped open her safe deposit box and found a gold watch and two $2 bills. Aunt Fairy Bird's place is now occupied by Casanova Restaurant. Approach it with some reverence.''
Actually, Casanova is worth visiting not just for history but for cuisine. Run by a Belgian family, it is now a destination restaurant in this popular seaside town and is known for country French and Italian food.
Casanova is located on Fifth Avenue between San Carlos & Mission, Carmel-by-the-Sea, California USA. Tel. 831.625.0501. www.casanovarestaurant.com.
Friday, July 29, 2011
It'll Be a Very Warm Time in the Old Town Tonight
I know hot weather. I have been in heat: foolishly trying to walk to an appointment while wearing a pressed, briefly crisp white shirt and tie in Hong Kong heat and humidity. Strolling the Las Vegas Strip when the temperature hit 117F. Shopping in outdoor markets on a sweltering Mumbai afternoon. Stopping at a desert camp for a meal in the United Arab Emirates in weather that was far from chilly.
And I live in California, where temperatures - or temps, as our local TV weather forecasters call them - can reach triple-digits. Yet, unless they actually do reach triple digits, the aforementioned weatherpersons will not utter the H word on the air: Hot. Forecasts this week, for example, call for seven consecutive days with highs at 90F and above, yet the TV weather map reads "Very Warm.'' Excuse me, that's hot. Why the reluctance to utter the H word?
Denial of climate change, consciously or unconsciously? Could be, as said weatherpersons virtually never address global warming in their reports. Or maybe it's a California thing. The Golden State is, after all, famous as the land of sun and fun. With lots of sun come lots of high temps. They are virtually never dampened in the dry summer months by rain - er, precip (forecaster-speak for precipitation). So, maybe it's bad PR for the state, even when directed at people who live here.
Ah, well. It's supposed to hit 98F shortly and that means just one thing: It'll be a very warm time in the old town tonight.
And I live in California, where temperatures - or temps, as our local TV weather forecasters call them - can reach triple-digits. Yet, unless they actually do reach triple digits, the aforementioned weatherpersons will not utter the H word on the air: Hot. Forecasts this week, for example, call for seven consecutive days with highs at 90F and above, yet the TV weather map reads "Very Warm.'' Excuse me, that's hot. Why the reluctance to utter the H word?
Denial of climate change, consciously or unconsciously? Could be, as said weatherpersons virtually never address global warming in their reports. Or maybe it's a California thing. The Golden State is, after all, famous as the land of sun and fun. With lots of sun come lots of high temps. They are virtually never dampened in the dry summer months by rain - er, precip (forecaster-speak for precipitation). So, maybe it's bad PR for the state, even when directed at people who live here.
Ah, well. It's supposed to hit 98F shortly and that means just one thing: It'll be a very warm time in the old town tonight.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Coming Attractions @ Francis Ford Coppola Winery
GEYSERVILLE, Calif. - Movie director and entrepreneur Francis Ford Coppola bought this bucolic, gently terraced Sonoma County winery in 2006, with plans to diversify the property by offering some resort-like features. Some of those new features premiered in late July; others are among the coming attractions for late fall.
My wife and I got a preview of this work-in-progress at a press luncheon yesterday, followed by a walk-around with Sally Srok, Vice President, Hospitality, at Francis Ford Coppola Winery. The place is good now; it's going to get better.
Falling under the corporate umbrella of Francis Ford Coppola Presents LLC, the winery - which is open daily from 11 a.m. during the current renovation - is located in Sonoma's Alexander Valley, a prime wine-making spot. It's across the ridge from Napa Valley, where Coppola has been making wine at his Rubicon Estate for some time. The expanding winery doesn't have overnight lodging like some of the great bodegas we experienced in Mendoza, Argentina's prime wine country, but it is blossoming with just about everything else.
I have been watching Coppola's work on screen from "You're A Big Boy Now,'' made in 1966 at the beginning of his career, to "Tetro,'' his recent shot-in-Argentina family drama, which marks an artistically satisfying return to personal filmmaking for him. I was initially skeptical of Coppola's wine-making efforts, partly because making wine can be more a hobby than a serious business for stars who glitter in other fields, and partly because I'd sampled some of the lower-end Coppola wines and thought they were just OK.
After tasting high-end Coppola vintages with Corey Beck, director of winemaking, however, I am revising my opinion upward. These are very good wines, and Rustic, the first of the winery's two restaurants, dishes fresh, seasonal, sustainable, Italian-inspired food that matches up nicely with the wine. The Rustic staff say the director, himself, tasted every dish before it went on the menu. The view from the Rustic terrace isn't too shabby either, allowing a visitor's eye to sweep over lovely vineyards bordered by fruit-bearing olive trees.
If you know northern California's famous wine country, you know that the small town of Geyserville is a long drive for most visitors, being some 90 minutes north of San Francisco, farther out than better-known places. Getting people there - and getting them to stick around a while - is one reason Coppola is diversifying the property. A handsome new hillside visitors' center opened last month. A new Pool Cafe with its own menu, swimming pool and cabins, is scheduled for late fall. Bocce ball courts, outdoor game boards, picnic tables and a performing-arts pavilion are also under construction. Husband-and-wife Francis and Eleanor Coppola intend the destination to be family-friendly, Sally Srok explained, giving visitors of all ages something fun to do.
If you are a fan of Francis Coppola's movies - among them, classics like ''The Godfather'' I and II and "The Conversation,'' and near-classics such as "Apocalypse Now'' - you'll enjoy, as we did, checking out the movie memorabilia on display in the main building. It includes typewritten scripts, posters, the hand-written cast list for the original "Godfather,'' costumes, wigs - and, perhaps best of all, the ornate desk and leather chair that Marlon Brando used in the first "Godfather.'' There are also items from Sophia Coppola's films, such as the enchanting tone-poem "Lost in Translation,'' her 2004 fish-out-of-water tale of two lost American souls in Tokyo - set partly in one of the world's great hotels, the Park Hyatt Tokyo.
At lunch yesterday, we enjoyed a 2008 Chardonnay, an artfully blended 2007 red, wittily called Director's Cut, and especially a 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon, named Archimedes, after one of Francis Coppola's uncles and the famous mathematician of antiquity. Retailing for $50, Archimedes is made in limited production and is available only at the winery shop. Robust but subtle, with good fruit, good tannins and a purple, inky color not unlike Argentine Malbecs, it's good value considering its high quality - and a killer match for a good steak.
Francis Ford Coppola Winery is located at 300 Via Archimedes, Geyserville, CA 95441, just off U.S. Highway 101 at the Independence Lane exit. Toll-free tel. 877.590.3299. Web: http://www.franciscoppolawinery.com/.
My wife and I got a preview of this work-in-progress at a press luncheon yesterday, followed by a walk-around with Sally Srok, Vice President, Hospitality, at Francis Ford Coppola Winery. The place is good now; it's going to get better.
Falling under the corporate umbrella of Francis Ford Coppola Presents LLC, the winery - which is open daily from 11 a.m. during the current renovation - is located in Sonoma's Alexander Valley, a prime wine-making spot. It's across the ridge from Napa Valley, where Coppola has been making wine at his Rubicon Estate for some time. The expanding winery doesn't have overnight lodging like some of the great bodegas we experienced in Mendoza, Argentina's prime wine country, but it is blossoming with just about everything else.
I have been watching Coppola's work on screen from "You're A Big Boy Now,'' made in 1966 at the beginning of his career, to "Tetro,'' his recent shot-in-Argentina family drama, which marks an artistically satisfying return to personal filmmaking for him. I was initially skeptical of Coppola's wine-making efforts, partly because making wine can be more a hobby than a serious business for stars who glitter in other fields, and partly because I'd sampled some of the lower-end Coppola wines and thought they were just OK.
After tasting high-end Coppola vintages with Corey Beck, director of winemaking, however, I am revising my opinion upward. These are very good wines, and Rustic, the first of the winery's two restaurants, dishes fresh, seasonal, sustainable, Italian-inspired food that matches up nicely with the wine. The Rustic staff say the director, himself, tasted every dish before it went on the menu. The view from the Rustic terrace isn't too shabby either, allowing a visitor's eye to sweep over lovely vineyards bordered by fruit-bearing olive trees.
If you know northern California's famous wine country, you know that the small town of Geyserville is a long drive for most visitors, being some 90 minutes north of San Francisco, farther out than better-known places. Getting people there - and getting them to stick around a while - is one reason Coppola is diversifying the property. A handsome new hillside visitors' center opened last month. A new Pool Cafe with its own menu, swimming pool and cabins, is scheduled for late fall. Bocce ball courts, outdoor game boards, picnic tables and a performing-arts pavilion are also under construction. Husband-and-wife Francis and Eleanor Coppola intend the destination to be family-friendly, Sally Srok explained, giving visitors of all ages something fun to do.
If you are a fan of Francis Coppola's movies - among them, classics like ''The Godfather'' I and II and "The Conversation,'' and near-classics such as "Apocalypse Now'' - you'll enjoy, as we did, checking out the movie memorabilia on display in the main building. It includes typewritten scripts, posters, the hand-written cast list for the original "Godfather,'' costumes, wigs - and, perhaps best of all, the ornate desk and leather chair that Marlon Brando used in the first "Godfather.'' There are also items from Sophia Coppola's films, such as the enchanting tone-poem "Lost in Translation,'' her 2004 fish-out-of-water tale of two lost American souls in Tokyo - set partly in one of the world's great hotels, the Park Hyatt Tokyo.
At lunch yesterday, we enjoyed a 2008 Chardonnay, an artfully blended 2007 red, wittily called Director's Cut, and especially a 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon, named Archimedes, after one of Francis Coppola's uncles and the famous mathematician of antiquity. Retailing for $50, Archimedes is made in limited production and is available only at the winery shop. Robust but subtle, with good fruit, good tannins and a purple, inky color not unlike Argentine Malbecs, it's good value considering its high quality - and a killer match for a good steak.
Francis Ford Coppola Winery is located at 300 Via Archimedes, Geyserville, CA 95441, just off U.S. Highway 101 at the Independence Lane exit. Toll-free tel. 877.590.3299. Web: http://www.franciscoppolawinery.com/.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Oakland
If you follow the news in or from the United States, you may may have heard reports about a mob running amok in Oakland, California, in the wake of a court decision.
The reports are true. A mob did run amok in this city due east of San Francisco after a white former Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police officer was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the New Year's Day 2009 shooting of an unarmed black man; the officer testified he meant to use a Taser, not a pistol. Many people demonstrated peacefully early in the evening last Thursday, convinced the eventual sentence won't be heavy enough to fit the crime. Most kept their cool. A relative handful took to the city's streets after nightfall, looting a Footlocker store, burning trash bins, breaking shop windows and running around, pursued by Oakland Police Department officers.
After all that, a traveler might wonder why anyone would want to visit Oakland. In fact, there are good reasons to alight in Oakland, especially if you have visited San Francisco before and want to see something new in the Bay Area. Although it is riven by class and race - like the rest of the U.S. - and can be dicey in some spots at night, Oakland is an ethnically diverse, unpretentious, real-world city that travelers can enjoy. It's a 10-to-15 minute BART ride from San Francisco, accessible by ferry on San Francisco Bay - and by car, of course.
Here are some highlights for travelers that I - a long-ago Oakland resident - can recommend:
* Uptown, an entertainment district along Broadway just north of downtown, between roughly
17th Street and 24th Street. Uptown features the beautiful Fox Theatre (1807 Telegraph Ave., tel. 510.302.2277, http://www.thefoxoakland.com/), renovated a cost of $75 million after being shuttered since 1966, and reopened in 2009. If you're in the neighborhood, Neil Young is playing solo shows at the Fox on July 12 and 14. Nearby, on Broadway at 23rd, is Pican (2295 Broadway, tel. 510.834.1060, http://www.picanrestaurant.com/), a toothsome restaurant and bar that features top-shelf bourbons, bourbon cocktails and elegantly reimagined Southern specialties such as fried chicken that's been marinated in spices for three days before being battered and cooked. It falls off the bone. BART station: 19th Street.
* Lake Merritt. As old as Uptown is new, this downtown jewel - formed in the late 19th century when a tidal pool was sealed off from from San Francisco Bay - is a key stop on migratory bird routes for species such as snowy egrets. Lake Merritt, 3.4 miles around, is a brackish mix of fresh and salt water; you can rent kayaks at the Lake Merritt Boathouse, go jogging, skateboarding or rollerblading or just chill out. The vintage Grand Lake cinema and shop-lined Piedmont Avenue branch off from lakeside. BART station: Lake Merritt.
* Rockridge. A shoppers' and foodies' haven in North Oakland that snuggles up with neighboring Berkeley, Rockridge has some of the best food and drink in the Bay Area, matching more famous places in Napa Valley and San Francisco in quality. One of the Bay Area's most innovative restaurants, Oliveto (5655 College Ave., tel. 510.547.5356, http://www.oliveto.com/), serves California Italian fare, has a great (if pricey) wine list, and is located in the European-inspired Rockridge Market Hall, where fresh produce, fish and flowers are on offer. Also on College Avenue is the accomplished deep-dish pizza source Zachary's, the admirable independent bookstore Pegasus and Pendragon and a cluster of antique shops and other locally owned businesses. The commercial district stretches 14 blocks from the Berkeley city line on the north to the intersection with Broadway in the South. BART station: Rockridge.
There is more, of course. I could mention the lavishly restored Paramount Theatre, the up-and-coming foodie favorite Temescal district, the local politicans' fave soul food restaurant Lois the Pie Queen, and many others.
Oakland's delights don't, and perhaps can't, surface in quickie news reports about the violent side of the city. But just for context, local media reported several days after the mob rampage that just 19 of 78 people arrested by police were actually from Oakland. Most of the rest were self-described anarchists who use any pretext to loot, break things and protest the world as it is.
"On Thursday,'' reported a local newspaper, "people in the Oakland crowd were incessantly texting, and hooligans who smashed store windows were stopping to snap photos and record videos of themselves to share with their friends.''
Decency and common sense didn't stop these people from having their fun in Oakland. No reason why the sporadic actions of a few should stop us from having our fun in Oakland. This soulful, gritty, working-class city by the bay deserves a chance, and a good look from travelers.
The reports are true. A mob did run amok in this city due east of San Francisco after a white former Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police officer was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the New Year's Day 2009 shooting of an unarmed black man; the officer testified he meant to use a Taser, not a pistol. Many people demonstrated peacefully early in the evening last Thursday, convinced the eventual sentence won't be heavy enough to fit the crime. Most kept their cool. A relative handful took to the city's streets after nightfall, looting a Footlocker store, burning trash bins, breaking shop windows and running around, pursued by Oakland Police Department officers.
After all that, a traveler might wonder why anyone would want to visit Oakland. In fact, there are good reasons to alight in Oakland, especially if you have visited San Francisco before and want to see something new in the Bay Area. Although it is riven by class and race - like the rest of the U.S. - and can be dicey in some spots at night, Oakland is an ethnically diverse, unpretentious, real-world city that travelers can enjoy. It's a 10-to-15 minute BART ride from San Francisco, accessible by ferry on San Francisco Bay - and by car, of course.
Here are some highlights for travelers that I - a long-ago Oakland resident - can recommend:
* Uptown, an entertainment district along Broadway just north of downtown, between roughly
17th Street and 24th Street. Uptown features the beautiful Fox Theatre (1807 Telegraph Ave., tel. 510.302.2277, http://www.thefoxoakland.com/), renovated a cost of $75 million after being shuttered since 1966, and reopened in 2009. If you're in the neighborhood, Neil Young is playing solo shows at the Fox on July 12 and 14. Nearby, on Broadway at 23rd, is Pican (2295 Broadway, tel. 510.834.1060, http://www.picanrestaurant.com/), a toothsome restaurant and bar that features top-shelf bourbons, bourbon cocktails and elegantly reimagined Southern specialties such as fried chicken that's been marinated in spices for three days before being battered and cooked. It falls off the bone. BART station: 19th Street.
* Lake Merritt. As old as Uptown is new, this downtown jewel - formed in the late 19th century when a tidal pool was sealed off from from San Francisco Bay - is a key stop on migratory bird routes for species such as snowy egrets. Lake Merritt, 3.4 miles around, is a brackish mix of fresh and salt water; you can rent kayaks at the Lake Merritt Boathouse, go jogging, skateboarding or rollerblading or just chill out. The vintage Grand Lake cinema and shop-lined Piedmont Avenue branch off from lakeside. BART station: Lake Merritt.
* Rockridge. A shoppers' and foodies' haven in North Oakland that snuggles up with neighboring Berkeley, Rockridge has some of the best food and drink in the Bay Area, matching more famous places in Napa Valley and San Francisco in quality. One of the Bay Area's most innovative restaurants, Oliveto (5655 College Ave., tel. 510.547.5356, http://www.oliveto.com/), serves California Italian fare, has a great (if pricey) wine list, and is located in the European-inspired Rockridge Market Hall, where fresh produce, fish and flowers are on offer. Also on College Avenue is the accomplished deep-dish pizza source Zachary's, the admirable independent bookstore Pegasus and Pendragon and a cluster of antique shops and other locally owned businesses. The commercial district stretches 14 blocks from the Berkeley city line on the north to the intersection with Broadway in the South. BART station: Rockridge.
There is more, of course. I could mention the lavishly restored Paramount Theatre, the up-and-coming foodie favorite Temescal district, the local politicans' fave soul food restaurant Lois the Pie Queen, and many others.
Oakland's delights don't, and perhaps can't, surface in quickie news reports about the violent side of the city. But just for context, local media reported several days after the mob rampage that just 19 of 78 people arrested by police were actually from Oakland. Most of the rest were self-described anarchists who use any pretext to loot, break things and protest the world as it is.
"On Thursday,'' reported a local newspaper, "people in the Oakland crowd were incessantly texting, and hooligans who smashed store windows were stopping to snap photos and record videos of themselves to share with their friends.''
Decency and common sense didn't stop these people from having their fun in Oakland. No reason why the sporadic actions of a few should stop us from having our fun in Oakland. This soulful, gritty, working-class city by the bay deserves a chance, and a good look from travelers.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Selling California
You wouldn't think a place as famous as California - one of the planet's most charismatic tourist draws -would need to sell itself. But you'd be wrong, especially in these days of heightened competition and lowered economic expectations.
I recently attended a coffee and pastry morning get-together at San Francisco's Pier 39, a tourist magnet on the city's beautiful northern waterfront. The gathering was held to mark the official opening of a new California Welcome Center, one of 17 outposts around the Golden State where visiting travelers can find brochures, ask questions, pick up maps and get tips from designated staffers that the California Travel and Tourism Commission is pleased to call concierges. The Pier 39 office, which has relocated upstairs to the second level of the big, restored wooden pier with its shops, food eateries, and rowdy resident sea lions - is decidedly bigger than its predecessor. Airy and washed with natural light, it includes a priority mail center for the USPS, several PCs set up for use, even lockers to store luggage while you walk around nearby Fishermans Wharf to see the sights. I'm happy to give it a plug.
Tourism is, as you might guess, big business in California, and in San Francisco, one of the state's most popular lures for travelers. The Golden State saw a staggering 351 million people who "traveled to and through California in 2008'' - the most recent year for which figures are available - according to the CTTC. Most were Californians, many were other Americans, about 13.4 million were international travelers. Together they spent $97.6 billion in 2008. That sounds like a lot, but domestic U.S. visitors actually dropped 1 percent from 2007, while domestic air traffic at the state's airports fell 3.6 percent from 2007.
Thus, the push to raise the state's profile and give travelers a helping hand. The Pier 39 California Welcome Center, marked by a large, easy to see sign on level 2 near the heritage Eagle Cafe, was expanded because it is the second most-visited California Welcome Center in the state, CTTC officials on the scene told me. I can see why. Pier 39 is a must-stop for most first-timers, is family friendly and gives access to many other waterside attractions in San Francisco, such as the Presidio, Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco Bay.
Well-regarded though it may be, the city of San Francisco has also seen a recent drop in visitors. Visitor numbers hit 15.4 million in 2009, down 5.8 percent from 2008, according to the San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau, which tracks the numbers. Visitors' spending in 2009 was $7.8 billion, down 7.6 percent from 2008, while tourism tax revenue - driven mainly by a city tax on hotel room rates - dropped a precipitous 19.2 percent.
These, I fear, are products of the Great Recession, and visitor numbers won't rebound fully until the recession ends. Cross your fingers, open your wallet as much as you dare and let's hope the recession doesn't develop a double-dip.
I recently attended a coffee and pastry morning get-together at San Francisco's Pier 39, a tourist magnet on the city's beautiful northern waterfront. The gathering was held to mark the official opening of a new California Welcome Center, one of 17 outposts around the Golden State where visiting travelers can find brochures, ask questions, pick up maps and get tips from designated staffers that the California Travel and Tourism Commission is pleased to call concierges. The Pier 39 office, which has relocated upstairs to the second level of the big, restored wooden pier with its shops, food eateries, and rowdy resident sea lions - is decidedly bigger than its predecessor. Airy and washed with natural light, it includes a priority mail center for the USPS, several PCs set up for use, even lockers to store luggage while you walk around nearby Fishermans Wharf to see the sights. I'm happy to give it a plug.
Tourism is, as you might guess, big business in California, and in San Francisco, one of the state's most popular lures for travelers. The Golden State saw a staggering 351 million people who "traveled to and through California in 2008'' - the most recent year for which figures are available - according to the CTTC. Most were Californians, many were other Americans, about 13.4 million were international travelers. Together they spent $97.6 billion in 2008. That sounds like a lot, but domestic U.S. visitors actually dropped 1 percent from 2007, while domestic air traffic at the state's airports fell 3.6 percent from 2007.
Thus, the push to raise the state's profile and give travelers a helping hand. The Pier 39 California Welcome Center, marked by a large, easy to see sign on level 2 near the heritage Eagle Cafe, was expanded because it is the second most-visited California Welcome Center in the state, CTTC officials on the scene told me. I can see why. Pier 39 is a must-stop for most first-timers, is family friendly and gives access to many other waterside attractions in San Francisco, such as the Presidio, Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco Bay.
Well-regarded though it may be, the city of San Francisco has also seen a recent drop in visitors. Visitor numbers hit 15.4 million in 2009, down 5.8 percent from 2008, according to the San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau, which tracks the numbers. Visitors' spending in 2009 was $7.8 billion, down 7.6 percent from 2008, while tourism tax revenue - driven mainly by a city tax on hotel room rates - dropped a precipitous 19.2 percent.
These, I fear, are products of the Great Recession, and visitor numbers won't rebound fully until the recession ends. Cross your fingers, open your wallet as much as you dare and let's hope the recession doesn't develop a double-dip.
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