Fairfax, California

the sleeping lady

There are literally hundreds of little one-horse towns in California.  They have one main street with a theater, a few restaurants, a coffee shop, maybe a bakery, and perhaps a gift shop for tourists.  The architecture is circa gold-mining days through the 1950s.  I have been to beach towns, historic gold mining towns, northern, central, and southern California towns.  It gets a little monotonous.

Fairfax, in west Marin, is at first glance, just another little California town.  The ubiquitous theater, a bar, and a few eateries line Broadway, the main street,  Take a left turn up Bolinas where you'll see a coffee shop on the corner, a few more small restaurants, a dance studio, and a small park near the police station.  Sounds kind of dull, right?  But when I visited last week, the place was packed! 

So what makes Fairfax so darn popular?  It's hard for me to talk about Fairfax as a tourist destination since I lived there and still am so connected to the people and places.  The Fairfax theater was my entertainment and social mainstay. And for such a small town, they sure have a lot of bars.  The bars and some local eateries provide lots of live musical entertainment, which makes bar-hopping a lively "big-city" experience every night of the week.  The people are, well, its hard to say what the typical Fairfax person is like.  Old-timer ranchers, hippies young and old, yuppies, techies, soccer moms, welfare moms, business people, blue collar let's see, have I left anyone out?  Weirdos, freaks, geeks, young, old and everyone in between.  People-watching at the brew pub, the wine tasting bar, the coffee shop, and Peris and Naves bars is probably what draws so many out of towners to Fairfax. 

Fire road starting in Natalie Coffin Park in Ross leads to Phoenix Lake.

Another big attraction in Fairfax is the perfect starting point for a bike ride up to the lakes: Phoenix, Bon Tempe, and Lagunitas.  The dirt fire road starts at Deer Park, located in a neighborhood off of Bolinas Avenue,   From there the dirt roads take you wherever your legs allow.  You can go to Mt. Tam, but I warn you, the Eldridge Grade trail is a bumpy ride.  You can bike around the lakes, or if you are in the mood, go all the way out to the coast.  You can also stay on the paved road and head west out of town.  But most people prefer to drive that route and take a day trip through Samuel P. Taylor Park, Olema, and either Pt. Reyes Station or Bolinas/Stinsen Beach along Highway 1.

But like I said, my perspective a little different than a casual visitor.  When I drive by the coffee shop, I still see the Corner Bar and re-live some of the drama that went down so many years ago.  Just a few doors up the street used to be tiny Tom's Market, owned by Tom, an elderly Asian man, where you could get your smokes and booze.  He had an intense rivalry with Don's Market, located about a half mile away.  Don was his twin brother.  And next to Tom's used to be the little record store owned by Mr. and Mrs. Morrison.  They settled in Fairfax after following their son from Ireland.  Even though Van left for bigger and better things, the Morrisons stayed behind to run their little record store on Bolinas Avenue.  When I pass the police station, I think of the time Madam, my friend Bonnie's horse, threw her rider and galloped to downtown.  Someone recognized the horse and took her to the police station.  You can imagine Bonnie's surprise getting a call from the police saying they had her horse!

This last visit we went to Fairfax's venerable mainstay, the Deer Park Villa. This is a classic old-style Italian place where you can get prime rib, pasta, and seafood.  Out back on the outdoor patio, under a forest of redwood trees, a singer belted out Sinatra songs.  Inside at the bar, a guy walked in wearing a costume like a shepherd from the Jesus times.  What was weird was nobody gave him a second glance! One time I went into the Koffee Klatch, the greasy spoon breakfast place on Broadway, and saw George Lucas sitting at the counter drinking coffee and reading the Chron.  Again, no one gave him a second glance.  That's Fairfax for you!

Any time is a good time to visit Fairfax because something is always happening.  But the biggest party of the year happens during the Fairfax Festival.  This event takes place the second weekend of June.  It starts out innocently enough on Saturday morning with a parade down Broadway and up Bolinas.  Then everyone migrates to Peris Park for non-stop live music, dancing, partying, food, and a flea market.  As the day wears on, people hit the bars for more drinking, music and, well, that's all I'm going to mention.  At some point they get a little sleep and the party starts up and continues the next day.

I just had to include this video I took at the San Francisco Theological Seminary in San Anselmo.  It's spring in Marin and I was feeling it that day.

  Where the bee sucks, there suck I;
In a cowslip's bell I lie;
There I couch when owls do cry.
On the bat's back I do fly
After summer merrily.
Merrily, merrily, I shall live now
Under the blossom that hangs on the bough.