One of the great places to eat in Sonoma County is a little dockside spot in Bodega Bay called "The Sandpiper". It gently plays to our memories of authentic seafood joints from the past, with good, fresh food, inspiring views of a working harbor and a minimum of nautical kitsch. A place where a cup of clam chowder is mandatory and the fried seafood platter is offered without shame or irony. Where you can become a member of their frequent customer club, earning points for various entrees. My wife and I registered our birthdays with them, and every year we get cards in the mail awarding us a free dinner (offer valid for the entire month). This is the kind utterly charming, small town sort of, well, marketing seems too crass a word, and community-building seems too geekspeak, but it certainly makes you feel like eating there more often than you would.
And before or after dinner its always nice to take a stroll around the marina, looking at the boats and the funky little community of single and doublewides that make up the village of Porto Bodega. The RV park next door is full of interesting folks in their various encampments, fire rings and grills blazing, satellite tvs glowing inside. We've seen everyone from hipsters in a vintage Airstream pulled by an old DeSoto to Pentecostal families in tour buses worthy of Willie Nelson.
All of this makes for a lovely glimpse of what a working fishing community is like.
So why does Richard Battaglia want to destroy it? Good question. Only Richard Battaglia knows for sure, but if his past achievements are any indicator, it is so he can replace it with a theme park reflecting the charms of a traditional California fishing village chock full of thrill rides, entertainment complexes, unique characters, specialty shops and restaurants.
Wow.
Usually one has to go to Orlando for a clean, exciting, family-friendly simulacrum like that. Or, in a pinch, Vallejo.
Two years ago, Mr. Battaglia bought 15 acres of Porto Bodega, including the land where the Sandpiper sits. He has, according to sources, been engaged in a campaign of harassment and intimidation to force the owners of The Sandpiper to walk away from their seven-year lease and get the hell off his property. Nice.
Perhaps Mr. Battaglia is actually envisioning an upmarket, nautically-themed complex more in tune with the tastes of wine country tourists. Something like Nick's Cove.
God help us all.
Joe's Crab Shack for people who would not be caught dead in Joe's Crab Shack, Nick's is a former fishing community turned resort where meals are delicious as only Pat Kuleto can serve them, and a stay in a "rustic" cabin goes for over $600 a night. Art directed to the tits by professionals (and you know what that means), I stepped into the restaurant and felt like something in me had died. And not in a good way. What Paris must be like at Disney World. In other words, a fish camp for people who don't fish, but love the experience of being where that sort of thing might have happened. Tasteful, clean and modern.
And those are the hallmarks of Battaglia, Inc. projects. Exciting re-creations of reality. Better reality, if you will. The reality they've torn down to build the new reality. The Truman Show comes to mind.
Admittedly, you'd be hard pressed to stop or even slow the wheels of this kind of "progress", but in this case Mr. Battaglia does not have the law on his side. Still, the citizens of Porto Bodega and Sonoma County are outraged by this, uh, outrage. Anyone who has been to this area understands that its appeal lies in what is is now, not what it could be with just a little more development. Real estate goons never seem to understand that.
I encourage you to SIGN THE PETITION and do what you can to HELP KEEP SONOMA COUNTY REAL!
No comments:
Post a Comment