August 16, 2008

Smiley's -- Bolinas, California


click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

I've never been inside this watering hole, but I know it's a popular place...   Some nights they blast reggae, and other evenings they are more into jazz, or open-mike, or whatever.

Ask me where Bolinas is and I would probably tell you Bolinas is simply a state-of-mind...
Visitors who know that are better tolerated than those who don't.

But actually, Bolinas is a sleepy little town on the California coast, about twenty miles north of San Francisco as the pelican flies...   It is the home of artists, freethinkers, families, kooks, and bumper crop of crazy old hippies...

Bolinas isn't terribly fond of visitors, although the management of the Coast Cafe, Smiley's, the Market and other shops in town have a more favorable attitude towards tourists...   In general, the residents of Bolinas seek to protect their un-hurried lives and creative lifestyles.

There is no sign pointing to Bolinas, and that's the way most residents want it...
For years, the "Bolinas Border Patrol" confiscated the road-signs so many times out on Highway One that the county just gave up trying to give Bolinas a sign...

I found this interesting story about Bolinas on the Internet...
"Harry Pothead and the curse of Bolinas" at:  
http://www.coastalpost.com/00/8/06.htm.


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3 comments:

kjpweb said...

Very interesting post. So good that places like that do exist!
Cheers, Klaus

Tomate Farcie said...

Bolinas!!! Yes, they did use to pick the sign off the road! Well, that's one way to resist gentrification... although when I was there 2 weeks ago, I noticed a couple of PRIUSes and even one SMART, and fewer beat-up cars than last time I was there, years ago ... ;) Still no Starbucks, though ;)

Neva said...

Sounds like small town America!

 
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