Columns

News from 100, 75 and 50 years ago in Healdsburg, including the fact that two television sets will be in operation as part of the extensive program of entertainment planned for St. John’s County Fair to be held over the July Fourth weekend...

With the sight of blooming spring flowers, early morning treks to the farmers markets and casual afternoons at the many pandemic parklets and outdoor cafés, life in Sonoma County keeps opening a bit wider with each day. With many indoor spaces still closed or limited to public access, we are finding more things to do closer to nature and unconfined by walls, roofs and artificial lighting.

This Week in H’burg is a weekly column featuring photos and fun facts from local photographer Pierre Ratté. Each week we’ll feature a new photo from Ratté along with a fact about the subject matter of the photo.

What’s more fun than children playing in puddles? The rain created many joyful moments this past week—and not just for 5-year-old boys in rubber Wellies. Fire-risk gauges dialed down to their lowest level: Low. Creeks started flowing. Hills and meadows began greening, a harbinger...

A bas-relief sculpture in Healdsburg along University Avenue harkens back to the days of manual labor when steel and iron workers built skyscrapers that changed America’s city skylines. The subject matter and style reflects Depression Era art coming from the Federal Emergency Relief Act, which...

Of all the great imponderables of life, one keeps retuning to my thoughts like a poorly digested burrito. I speak not of the cosmic why of our existence, nor of the vastness of space and what lies beyond our increasingly expanding horizons. No, I refer to something far weightier: why do some pop songs have a definitive ending and some just fade out?

Outside it was 99 degrees, even in the shade, and way too hot for humans and dogs, too. Inside, with the air conditioning blasting away, Red Door Remedies felt like a cool oasis on the edge of a desert. Opened only since mid-April, the cannabis dispensary on S. Cloverdale Boulevard is still forging its identity, but it already has a wide variety of top-notch marijuana products and a loyal clientele who come from nearby and from distant hills and dales.

'We are fielding a lot of questions these days about our upcoming Building Modernization Project. The planning stage of the project is nearing completion and we still anticipate a start date for construction around Sept. 1...'

By Pierre Ratte This weekend’s rain released earthy fragrances, falling gently over two days and lessening fire-season anxieties. Maybe the rain is ending this year’s fire season and beginning winter’s filling of reservoirs and the Sierra’s snowpack. Last winter, Northern California received epic rain and...

Sometimes, it’s just a nice thing to do. Stare at artwork. I’m not sure why it should be so, but it is for me. Art, particularly sculpture, is a touch stone—oops. No, ahhhhhhh. Pun intended and achieved! Bada bing pause. Sculptures are a little more visceral...