James Dean was the Timothée Chalamet of his generation. If you have somehow missed Timothée’s rising star, think young Brad Pitt or Leonardo DiCaprio. So when the handsome, moody hunk arrived in Mendocino in late May of 1954 to star in Elia Kazan’s production of “East of Eden,” people took notice. It’s good that they did because it was the beginning of his meteoric film career [...]
The little coastal town of Mendocino, California, has long been a hotbed of progressive activism. In 1976, the cause was saving whales from slaughter by Russian and Japanese whaling fleets. In June, 1975, a Greenpeace patrol boat located a Russian fleet killing sperm whales off Cape Mendocino. Activists used a high-speed Zodiac inflatable to maneuver themselves between the harpooners and the whales, capturing dramatic footage of [...]
For decades, log rafts were a vital part of transporting timber down Big River to the Mendocino Mill. Francis Jackson’s book, “Big River Was Dammed,” offers a fascinating glimpse into this process, detailing the challenges of controlling logs as they made their way toward the mill pond. Philip Madera and Joe Vincent standing on a log raft in the Mendocino Mill Pond on the north [...]
MacCallum House Inn, March 2025. (Photographer: Robert Dominy) The original MacCallum House, built by J. D. Johnson in 1881 for Alexander and Daisy Kelley MacCallum on Albion Street in Mendocino, was smaller and located farther north on the lot. After her husband died in 1908, Daisy returned to Mendocino from San Francisco, where they had been living. Later that year, she had the house [...]
The questions posed most frequently by visitors to the Kelley House Museum have to do with Mendocino’s water towers: why are they here, how do they work, why are some so tall? What were once utilitarian devices that conducted water into houses have become charming and iconic objects of fascination and mystery. To satisfy the curiosity of tourists and locals alike, the Kelley House has just [...]
Fourth of July parade in Mendocino headed east down Main Street. Horses are pulling decorated wagons carrying people. Seen on the left side of the image are the Ford property's fenced gardens. Note the wooden sidewalk and the square wooden utility poles along the street. On the right side is the Kelley house property with large cypress trees along its fenced frontage. On the far right [...]
Local woodcarver Byrd Baker and Jacqueline McAndrews in 1976, standing in front of Baker's Land Rover and Whale Bus with a sign that reads, "Crusade to Save God's Whales." Jackie and Byrd were activists in the Mendocino Whale Wars environmental action movement. This photograph, taken from an elevated position, may have been made from the MacCallum House water tower on the south side of Ukiah Street. [...]
J. D. Mayhew models the Save The Whales T-shirt he designed for the Mendocino Whale War. He was aboard the Whale War boat Phyllis Cormack in San Francisco preparing to go on the 1976 anti-whaling voyage. (Photographer: Nicholas Wilson) Each year when the Mendocino Coast Whale Festival kicks off, I am filled with memories of my artist grandfather, J.D. Mayhew. He fell in love [...]
On Wednesday, January 20, 1886, a fierce storm battered the Mendocino coast, leaving destruction in its wake both on land and at sea. Strong winds and relentless rain swept through the region before gradually subsiding. According to the Beacon, the storm “broke upon us quite suddenly, although the cold weather and extremely low barometer of the three previous days were the sure harbingers of an approaching [...]
These two photographs, taken 40 years apart, show the John & Annie Maria Silveria House located at 10470 Kelly Street in Mendocino. This home was built in 1916 by Pete Hansen and Ray Valentine for John and Annie Maria Silveria. John and Annie Maria Silveria House, 1985. (Photographer: Bill Wagner) John and Annie Maria Silveria House, 2025. (Photographer: Robert Dominy) Annie [...]