Earlier this year, the Mendocino Coast lost one of its most devoted artists and historians with the passing of Kevin Milligan. Kevin’s paintings captured not only the beauty of Mendocino’s historic buildings and landscapes, but also the spirit of the community he came to love so deeply. A building, a water tower, and the ocean by Kevin Milligan. In the summer of 2024, the [...]
The current exhibit at the Kelley House Museum, “Tying the Knot: Bridal Fashion Unveiled,” showcases beautiful wedding dresses, photographs, and artwork illustrating Mendocino bridal fashion through the years. Among the couples featured are Joseph Lucio (Joe) Lenhares and Mamie Jerome, whose wedding took place at the Catholic Church in Mendocino on January 10, 1909. Their marriage lasted more than sixty years and became part of the [...]
With the 2026 Wimbledon Tennis Championships wrapped up, let’s look at where tennis was played in Mendocino. Kelley House has documented five tennis courts in town, starting in 1892 at the Morgan residence on Little Lake Street. At present, this is the site of the Art Center, but from 1890 to 1956, the town’s only bona fide mansion occupied most of this site. It had a [...]
In the first season of the Mendocino Music Festival 40 years ago, there were eight concerts in a small yellow and black striped tent on the headlands. All were classical music, four performed by an orchestra and four by a chamber group. This season, which begins on July 11th, there will be 27 concerts performed in a spacious white tent by a mix of musicians playing [...]
Mendocino has a long tradition of Independence Day celebrations, very traditional in the good old days, and rather idiosyncratic in recent years. Regardless of where the festivities have fallen on the flag-waving spectrum, however, all of them have shared certain elements: eating, drinking, marching, and blowing things up. As we prepare to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States of America, we are also marking [...]