Erin and the Collective
Erin & the
Coast Collective
Coast Collective founder Erin Irber has a passion for fine woodworking. Starting at the Krenov School of Fine Furniture in Fort Bragg, an institution that cultivates a reverence for quality and excellence. Erin and all the Collective artisans who attended—emerged from hundreds of hours of intense study understanding that, as often as not, the nature of a piece is revealed in the handling, a slow process of discovery that requires patience, precision, an affinity for power tools and a love affair with wood.
As the name implies, Coast Collective has gathered a group of artisan woodworkers who share a commitment to quality craftsmanship and a desire to create furniture that performs and delights. All the Collective’s designs are now in stock with new furniture collections released several times a year. And unlike fast furniture destined for the landfill, members of the Collective design and build furniture meant to last and be passed on for generations.
Local Tip:
Bespoke pieces can be made to order.
Fast furniture isn’t better. In fact, with supply chain disruptions, often it isn’t even fast.
Pacific Textile & The Weavers
Pacific Textile &
The Weavers
Since the dawn of civilization, textiles have kept us warm, signaled our cultural identity and offered a canvas on which to explore and describe the world. Textile artists Lolli Jacobsen, Jackie Wollenberg and Elaine Todd understood the value of keeping the ancient art of weaving alive and with the support of their fellow Fort Bragg weavers, created a vibrant space where the local community can explore the fabric arts.
The House That Weavers Built
Established in 1993, for the last 17 years, the Pacific Textile Arts campus on Alger Street has functioned as a hybrid gallery, art school, studio space, and museum with exhibits that showcase textiles from around the world and offer classes and groups that explore a variety of disciplines from Japanese paper weaving to spinning and calligraphy. The Brockschmidt Sutherland lending library for members is an inspiring collection of over 3000 textile-related books, articles and videos.
Local Tip:
Check out the Pacific Textile Arts website to learn more about this vibrant and welcoming community and for the latest information on upcoming shows, classes and exhibits.
Kiersten & The Braggadoon
Kiersten &
The Braggadoon
If you spot a beautiful sign somewhere in Fort Brag, chances are Kiersten and her team had something to do with it.
As Owner and Creative Director of Fort Bragg creative services agency, Braggadoon, Kiersten Hanna is a central figure in the Fort Bragg and Mendocino County art and culture scene. Her agency’s wide array of creative offerings includes art direction, logo design, archival quality print production and creative signage. “Being a graphics shop in a town on the edge of nowhere, Braggadoon has to be a little bit of everything for everyone in the community,” says Kiersten. From business signage to props for local theater productions, Kiersten and Braggadoon truly can be said to influence the entire look of the town.
“There’s something about this area, I’m never in want of things to do, new experiences, interesting people, and creative endeavors. Plus, it is beautiful!”
- Kiersten Hanna
Local Tip:
Those amazing murals you see around Fort Bragg. Many of them were created by artists who work for Kiersten at Bragadoon.
Ryan & The Amazing Murals
Ryan & The
Amazing Murals
Part artist, part engineer, part craftsman, Ryan possesses a skillset that is at once highly creative, analytical and practical.
Ryan’s co-workers at Braggadoon Signs & Graphics gave him the moniker Mentalist for his otherworldly ability to pull off extraordinary feats of technical prowess. But less supernatural, though no less wonderful is Ryan’s artwork. Trained in oil painting and adept at large canvases and murals, his painting style evokes imagery that is at once classical and surreal. Inspired by surrounding seascapes and forest vistas, the spirit of Fort Bragg and the North Coast bubble to the surface in Ryan’s current work. And yet, it’s also his technical skills that allow him to move easily from conception through production to installation. It’s a rare and sometimes seemingly otherworldly combination that makes him such a valuable member of the team at Braggadoon, an accomplished artist and has earned him a position at the very the center of the artistic community in Fort Bragg. ryangrossman.com
Rise
Local Tip:
Ryan’s downtown Fort Bragg murals can be seen at the corner of Redwood Avenue and HWY 1, and his latest at 301 Redwood Avenue at the corner of Redwood and McPherson.
Anna & The Harbor
Anna Neumann
& The Harbor
Head down to the Noyo Harbor and treat yourself to the catch of the day right off the boat it came in on. While you’re there, say hello to Harbor Master Anna Neumann. From a childhood in Morro Bay that ingrained a love of the sea, to an advanced degree in fisheries policy, Anna isn’t just another bureaucrat who doesn’t know her stuff. She’s sailed the sea, spending two years fishing commercially with the women from The Princess to earn her way through school and loved (most) every minute of it.
A Safe Harbor For All
Her experience at sea taught her a lot about the fishing culture, specifically how the health of the harbor contributes directly to the health of the local economy. She’s working to reeducate the community that they can buy directly from fishermen right off their boats, the ultimate sustainable sea food. Anna wears many other hats, renting out the 256 slips that are the harbor’s main source of income. She’s also a grant writer and project manager. But her most significant role is in supporting all aspects of the fishing industry and ensuring the Noyo Harbor is safe in every sense of the word.
Jack of All Trades,Master of One:
The Noyo Harbor
Local Tip:
The Noyo Harbor Fish Market at South Harbor opened in April and runs on the second Saturday of the month through September.
Tristin, Grant & The Kelp
Tristin, Grant
& Helping The Kelp
A thriving nearshore ocean ecosystem is crucial to maintaining wildlife on land and at sea. Today, that ecosystem is in danger along much of the Northern California coast. In just under ten years, a ‘perfect storm’ of warming oceans, loss of apex predators, and the subsequent proliferation of the voracious native purple sea urchin has decimated 96% of kelp forests on California’s North Coast.
Community Mobilization
On the shores of Fort Bragg, Kelp Forest Restoration is a community effort. Local urchin divers like Grant Downie, The Nature Conservancy Kelp Project Director, Tristin McHugh, resource managers at the state of California, and local nonprofits like Reef Check and the Noyo Center for Marine Science all pitch in. Although in early stages, the program has seen some kelp recovery in targeted restoration areas where purple urchins have been systematically harvested by divers.
Fort Bragg’s Marine Science and Education hub, The Noyo Center for Marine Science, has locations in Fort Bragg that the public can visit to learn more about this issue and participate in activities that support kelp forest restoration.
The program has seen recent progress with areas along the North Coast where purple urchins have been removed reporting some natural recovery.
Local Need:
So much more needs to be accomplished to ensure the health of the nearshore ecosystem. Recreational divers with a valid California fishing license can join the effort by participating in the harvest of purple sea urchin from approved locations. Visit California Department of Fish and Wildlife website HERE, (section “29.06 Sea Urchin”) to learn more about the current regulations.
Beautiful Earth & The Minerals
Beautiful Earth & The Amazing Minerals
Gary Mason has been collecting rocks since he was a little kid. But, trust us, Beautiful Earth is no junior geologists rock collection. And Gary has gone from a kid with heavy pockets to teaching college labs in minerology, geology and chemistry. But it’s his truly awe-inspiring shop full of every kind of mineral imaginable that you have to see to believe. A visit to Beautiful Earth is like walking into a museum, gem store, jewelry shop and prehistoric history classroom combined. Who knew you could come to Fort Bragg and come home with a Megaladon tooth.
Gary And Rob
Bring Stones To Life
There’s more to all of these beautiful rocks than meets the eye and, besides Gary, Field Paleontologist Rob Sula is often on hand to tell each incredible story. Ron studies the late Cretaceous period, so, if he’s not in the shop, he’s probably out somewhere rummaging among the bones of dinosaurs that lived over 66 million years ago. His travels take him to some of the most important geological digs in the country. But if you catch him at Beautiful Earth, he or Gary would be more than happy to send you home with a gift or keepsake with a timeless story to tell.
“I was retired and needed something to do. Now I live 5 miles from the ocean and get to work with what I know and love.”
– Gary Mason
Heather, Wendy & The Princess
Heather, Wendy
& Princess Seafood
Whoever said that a bad day fishing beats a good day working probably never spent a week at sea in 40 knot winds. But that’s not a completely uncommon work day for the fisherwomen of Princess Seafood. And yet, with everything they have going on in Noyo Harbor, Wendy Holloway and Heather Sears might tell you that the fishing is the easy part. The Princess’s Empire, once just Heather and a small boat, now includes The Princess herself, a 42-foot freezer trawler, a full, all-female crew, a fish market and a new restaurant right on the harbor.
Female Fishing Royalty
It’s been quite a ride for Heather, who started fishing with her father off California’s Central Coast as a young girl. At 21 she bought her first boat and worked her way up to The Princess. Now she, Wendy and the rest of the crew fish what the seasons offer out of Fort Bragg. That can mean anything from salmon to Dungeness crab, tuna, ling cod, halibut, sablefish and, well, you name it, they’ve caught it.
Everything they harvest from the sea has long been available fresh from the Seafood Market. But the new treat is the Princess Seafood Restaurant, now serving harborside meals in the Old Django’s Rough Bar location.
“We got the prime spot on the harbor. Now you can eat fresh fish on our deck as you watch today’s catch come in.”
– Heather Sears
Local Tip:
You won’t find a fresher seafood special than what’s on the menu board at the new Princess Seafood Restaurant in Noyo Harbor. Choose from 12 beers on tap while tapping your toes to live music every Saturday and Sunday.
Mikael & The Golden West
Mikael &
The Golden West
The Golden West Saloon palpably holds down the fort in central Fort Bragg. It is an understatement to call it iconic, with its venerable wood-carved bar running the length of the room, walls covered in memorabilia, high coffered ceilings, and pretty much everything else that any respectable saloon should have. All boxes are checked on that list.
Holding Down the Fort
As regular patrons themselves of the Golden West back in the early 2000’s, current owners Jessica Morsell-Haye and Mikael Haye, loved the 130 year old establishment, it’s rich history and significance to Fort Bragg, and actually talked and dreamed of owning it one day. They were living in Petaluma in 2013, where Mikael bartended and took care of their first child, and Jessica commuted to a job in the fashion and textile industry in San Francisco – when they found out the saloon was up for sale.
“History gives a place soul. The old materials and aesthetics were made to last. We love that we can see where an old wall was built to section off the bar during prohibition. Stories come alive when you can see the marks they left on their environment.”
—Jessica Morsell-Haye
Local Tip:
Every Tuesday afternoon is Taco Tuesday at the Golden West. It gets going early afternoon and lasts until the tacos run out.
© 2020 Visit Fort Bragg – This Fort Bragg Story was created in September of 2020 and may contain information that is outdated or no longer relevant. Please reach out to Fort Bragg merchants directly or click here for more recent information.
Sally & The Pacific Star
Sally &
The Pacific Star
Winery
Who says you can’t have a winery right on the ocean? As it turns out, lots of people said just that to Sally Ottoson. And yet, that didn’t deter her from leaving her winemaking job in Napa Valley to found Pacific Star Winery. Perched on a beautiful bluff above the ocean, about 12 miles north of Fort Bragg, Pacific Star is like a slice of serene coastal paradise. So, pull up a chair overlooking the ocean and let Sally and her incredible staff treat you to a uniquely delicious array of rare and unusual varietal wines.
Aromas of fresh ocean air with notes of Pacific coast sunshine.
In a nod to her immigrant past (her family settled here from Scandinavia in 1861) Sally sources heritage varietal grapes with deep Californian roots. You may not be familiar with Charbono, Carignon or Tannat, but Sally blends them into the most delightful and delicious wines you’ve probably never tasted before. “It’s a sensory experience,” she’ll tell you, which certainly rings true. Pacific Star Winery will delight all your senses with wonderful wines, whales that roll through right off the rocks, a spectacular setting, cool ocean breezes and warm hospitality.
“It’s about happiness.
If you’re not happy when you get here,
you will be when you leave.”
– Sally Ottoson
Local Tip:
Prep a quick picnic by running into Roundman’s Smokehouse to build your own charcuterie platter which pairs perfectly with the It’s My Fault White Blend. Oh, and, yes, well-behaved dogs are more than welcome on the beautiful grounds at Pacific Star.
