Tag: Mendocino County

Sea Ranch Chapel

Less than a mile from the Pacific, unmanned and open to all, the Sea Ranch Chapel appears to be protected by its own beauty, for vandals neither spray-can nor gouge it. A non-denominational sanctuary for prayer, meditation, and spiritual renewal, it is an architectural wave on a sea of grass just off California’s Route 1, 110 miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge and a few miles south of tiny Gualala (“wa-LA-la”), Mendocino County‘s southernmost city.

A gift from locals Robert and Betty Buffum, the chapel was designed by San Diego artist and architect James T. Hubbell and built in 1985.

Among the many beauties of the California coast, the Sea Ranch Chapel is unique.

Kenya in Willits

Mendocino firesIn Mendocino County recently, on a day when the smoke from the hundreds of still-burning forest fires was relatively tolerable, I walked through a nearly deserted city park in Willits with my son and my brother and noticed two black men lunching at a distant picnic table. From previous conversations with my brother, a double-decade Willits resident, I knew the town’s demographics: two black men were entirely anomalous…and therefore, intriguing. Originally on a tack that would pass them at an impersonal distance, our stroll was drawn closer by their African garb. On the edge of the table was a book, so my brother opened the conversation, “What’re you reading?” Continue reading “Kenya in Willits”