Tag Archives: Small business

Happy Easter? Bah, Humbug!

Posted on by
7

***Here’s an oldie but a goodie in the holiday spirit.***

Easter is my least-favorite holiday.  At Christmas you get good chocolate and lots of presents.  At Easter you get Peeps. No comparison.

As a kid growing up in Eureka, I was subjected to all kinds of barbaric treatment by well-meaning family members. I HAD to have a new coat, made from scratch by a lady on “A” Street, Audrey Hansen and her mother. Anyone remember them? Every coat involved two or three fittings all of which involved repeatedly being stuck with pins. These days we’d call it child abuse. The ladies were still in business when I was in sixth grade and had to have a Tiger Lily costume for the Christmas Pageant. More pins.

My normal hair wouldn’t do for Easter, either. My grandmother would march me down to Daly’s to have my hair permed. Remember that salon on the mezzanine level?  The sulphurous fumes from the frying hair filled the whole store.  Ah, the good old days.

Like it or not, Easter is a big holiday for retail spending. The National Retail Federation tells us each of us will spend $140 on Easter this year.  I’m not even close. I bought some Reese’s and a Paas egg coloring kit.  Don’t ask.  Our Easter Dinner will be a pork roast rescued from the freezer. I like to slow-cook them so that the house smells good for hours.  

That NRF article includes some fascinating data on how people plan to spend the holiday. almost half of you will be in church.  Which is good.  I don’t go myself, but I definitely  approve of church. Almost a third of you will be surfing the web on Easter, maybe doing some online buying. I asked the friendly staff at Partrick’s the other day about their holiday sales and they reported that while their big days are Christmas and Valentine’s,  Easter comes in a close third,  representing maybe 15% of yearly revenues. That’s pretty much the same as on the national level.  

So Happy Easter, everyone.  Support your local candy store and don’t make your kids get their hair fried. And go to the Zoo. It’ll make you feel good.

END

Classy Digs in Old Town- Meet Firework!

Posted on by
Reply

Are you looking for a workspace? A meeting place? Tired of trying to run your business from the dining room table? Welcome to Firework!

Firework is a collection of offices, workspaces, and meeting spaces located atop the Healy Building, home to the Siren’s Song in Old Town.  Go around to the left of the building to access the entrance. There is an ELEVATOR, relatively rare in Old Town, and the views from Firework are spectacular. If I were to rent there I would have to arrange my furniture so that I couldn’t see out the window because just in the short time I was there I got very involved  in watching the birds on the roof of the building opposite.

The space is simply beautiful- lots of light and polished floors.  There is a group workspace where several people can work independently at the same time, with headphones. There are cleverly designed  “phone booths”  where you can have a private conversation and there are two kitchens. They offer different levels of membership to suit your needs.  There is 24-hour access and if there’s a better location in Eureka, I haven’t seen it. 

Like many good ideas, Firework was born of necessity. Mark Sullivan, who owns Firework with his wife, Kiva, is a telecommuter who does marketing for a firm in Atlanta. Check out their gorgeous website and get ready to move, but hurry. Their spaces are about half occupied already.  Here’s a link to the Times-Standard coverage of their recent ribbon-cutting.

END

Chickens

Posted on by
Reply

We have chickens. Five little fur-balls in a crate on the dining room table. There is a bigger one, old enough to be outside, but the ones that I keep staring at and checking every few minutes are the chicks. They huddle together-and on top of each other-  as if trying to form a ball of chicken. Their little wings are just starting to poke out of the fuzz. They are wonderful. I love them.

The dogs are going crazy.   LouLou killed two mostly-grown chicks when we were just getting set up. Now we are more vigilant and she knows she won’t get that lucky again. She and Buddy keep a vigil but it’s kind of half-hearted. In another month all the chicks will be outside. We’ve turned the sidewalk running around the side of the house into Chicken Central and it’s a lovely space with dappled shade and plenty of room for walking around and being chickens.

 I rent out my extra bedroom and bath and at least 14 prospective tenants have asked me about keeping chickens.  “Go right ahead”, I always say, knowing none of them are really ambitious enough to do it.  (It’s a LOT of work.) Then Jon moved in and actually built a coop in the back yard. We’ve moved the chicken area to the side, better protected and also closer to the neighbors, who also have chickens. The “big” one, a half-grown white silky with a fetching topknot, seems to like hearing the neighbors’ chickens.  We call her Silky Silk ’cause she’s definitely a rapper.  I love how she walks so deliberately, lifting her feet up high. 

Someday, I guess, we’ll be getting eggs from them but I don’t really care.  Our home is a happier, though messier, place. We have chickens.

END

The Tragedy of Toni’s

Posted on by
16

Over New Year’s we had occasion to revisit Toni’s 24-Hour Restaurant.  This is a terrific establishment, especially at 2am when I will never see it, but we experienced the same flaw as on our first visit-stale frying oil. This time it was the chicken-fried steak , which otherwise would have been wonderful,  which had been fried in oil that should have been changed.   I brought it home for LouLou but it was really a shame. On the other hand, the onion rings were great. Go figure. The burgers continue to be superb. My companion ordered a triple and almost finished it.

My chicken-fried steak came with a choice of breads including a home-made biscuit, which was delicious  and served with a huge gob of soft butter.

I guess in order to avoid the tragedy and heartbreak of stale oil, you could just order carefully, staying away from  anything  fried.  “I’ll have a blue cheese burger and a biscuit”. Nah, doesn’t work. I’ll keep playing the cooking oil roulette at Toni’s because when they do get it right, it’s glorious.

END

Three Things I Just Learned

Posted on by
2

1. Mega-uber-Hollywood producer Kathleen Kennedy, the godmother of the Star Wars franchise, is a graduate of Shasta High School. That’s in Redding.

2.  14% of the State of California is pavement. That includes roads.

3.  When the Humboldt Soup Company says on its Facebook page that they have Chicken Cocoanut Curry Soup, you HAVE to get there before 2pm or it will be gone.

Speaking of gone, we are taking a hiatus until the New Year. Stay dry and and take care of each other. Hopefully the new year will not be as ugly as the old was. Our very best wishes to each of you!

 

end

Yowza! Your neighbors are making piles of $$$ thru Air BnB! Or not.

Posted on by
Reply

Would anyone, I wondered idly, be crazy enough to list their place in Humboldt on Air B and B?  Well, apparently over 200 of you in Eureka have signed up, see HERE,  and in the other towns, there must be even more. Check it out!  You may see your neighbors’ house!!

You’ll surely see some houses you recognize, and the Eureka listings include a popup trailer and a couple of boats. I had no idea.  Really.

 

END

The HSU Economic Index For October Is In!

Posted on by
Reply

The Index of Home Sales fell in September but is almost 14% higher than this time last year.  30-year mortgage rates in Humboldt County have decreased fro 4 per cent to 3.875 percent, while the median home price rose from $268,000 to $270,000.  In other words, things are pretty flat.  See the full report HERE..

The Turkeys Are Lurking In Eureka

Posted on by
2

 

I don’t like cornbread stuffing. I don’t like cranberry sauce. I don’t like wheat bread. I don’t even like turkey much. But around this time last year I concluded that the Turkey Lurkey sandwich made with the foregoing ingredients by the then-Vellutini’s Bakery in Henderson Center, is one of the best I have ever had.

Vellutini’s has become a commercial bakery operating on Broadway near Marie Callender’s. Scott and Stephanie Phelps are now operating The Corner Bakery and Cafe at the Henderson and “F” location. (They also have Babe’s Pizza and Pasta, so they’re a busy pair.)  Stephanie shared that their intent, especially with regard to the Turkey Lurkeys, is to carry on exactly as before.  I agree. Why mess with perfection?

The origin of the Turkey Lurkey is shrouded in the mists of the past.  I think the reason they’re so darn good is the FRESHNESS of the ingredients, not just the bread, which you’d expect, but all of it. This season a Turkey Lurkey goes for $7.65 for a whole sandwich (they’re pretty big- I eat them in halves) and a half -sandwich is $5.25, both before tax. You have a choice of chips or potato salad. Get the potato salad.

I had a Turkey Lurkey  the other day and it was amazing.  Definitely puts you in a holiday mood, plus if you come in October you can check out the Hallowe’en goodies.

So welcome the Corner Bakery and Cafe to Henderson Center. Sometimes it’s nice when things don’t change.

END