The Historic Eagle House located at 139 2nd Street in Old Town Eureka, CA is excited to announce the Grand Opening of Tavern 1888. The press and public are invited to attend on Friday, October 14th from 5:30pm to 10pm. A ribbon cutting ceremony starts off the celebration at 5:30pm, followed by live music from Canary and the Vamp and DJ Marjo Lak in the grand theater ballroom.

Because of their ability to think quickly and reimagine their operations, over the past year, Septentrio Winery and Tasting Room has been my place of choice to experience a sense of safe connection to our community, to feel somewhat normal on a date night, and to fuel my new-found day-drinking habit.

It’s my general philosophy that sparkling wine is perfect for any and all occasions - celebrating the start of a new year, an anniversary, a big accomplishment, the premier of a new season of the Bachelor while sitting in my sweatpants on the couch - but I truly believe that weddings are sparkling wine’s true calling.

Turning onto Hilfiker Lane, the last thing you would expect to find amid the industrial lots is a wine tasting room. In fact, it’s easy to think maybe Google Maps has made a mistake except that there is a huge billboard affirming that there is indeed wine tasting ahead.

As soon as I said it, I was sure it was the dumbest thing I had ever said in my life. This thought seemed to be confirmed by the look on my boss’ face. Apparently Texans aren’t particularly familiar with Disneyland, let alone the nuances of Pirates of the Caribbean. After some discussion in which I described the ride, we discovered that what I was smelling was referred to as “wet stone” and not necessarily the animatronic pirates.

A small, painted paw print in the epoxy on the bar top peaks out from under the foot of my glass, and Jennifer explains that her cat was the original Phatsy Kline. She points to a portrait just above the back-bar of the fluffy feline yawning lazily, completely undisturbed by the hustle and bustle of the quickly growing crowd. The single paw print on the bar leads to another, and another and shows a path of where the ghost of Phatsy herself has appeared to traipse down the length of the counter, attending to customers.

Before I had ever tasted a sauvignon blanc, I was told that it smelled like cat pee. The wine dork that told me this didn’t even mean it in a bad way, and I was so very confused. I mean...I grew up with cats. My mom was completely incapable of turning away a stray cat. I knew what cat pee smelled like and as far as I was concerned, that scent could never elicit positive reactions - especially in my wine.

Adding to his renaissance man resume, Francis Ford Coppola is now venturing into the budding California cannabis industry. Though this business may be a new branch of Coppola’s resume, he himself is not new to cannabis. Throughout the years of Coppola’s career, cannabis has played a part in his creative process - which should be no surprise at all to anyone who’s seen Apocalypse Now.

I, like many others, have lived the majority of my life believing that rosé just wasn't good. Perhaps it was instilled in me at a young age by my grandma, who referred to it only as "pink shit." Whatever it was, it left a bad taste in my mouth. But after much convincing to give it a second shot, I am happy to say that I was terribly, terribly mistaken.