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Photograph by Brett Ascarelli
Flagship: The original Grocery on Hwy. 29 retains its funky ambiance.
The historic and original Oakville Grocery, which has been in business for more than 125 years, radiates ambiance in every nook and cranny, and that feeling rubs off on nearly everyone who steps inside the hallowed space. In Napa County, where brand-new million-dollar mansions and spanking new wineries backed by new money push out the old, a bit of genuine, local history seduces vintners, bankers, bakers and bikers.
In fact, the Oakville Grocery has served locals and tourists from before the turn of the last century, through Prohibition of the 1920s to the Depression of the 1930s and the wine boom of the 1980s. It seemed as eternal as Napa’s rolling hills themselves. Then, in 1997, Dean & DeLuca, the glamorous gourmet food giant, invaded and little by little made life miserable for its poorer rival down the street.
At first, local residents were distraught. Then, many mourned when the little store with the global reputation filed for bankruptcy last winter and, what’s more, when Leslie Rudd, the owner of Dean & DeLuca and the CEO of the Rudd Group snapped it up. A market-savvy, Kansas-born multimillionaire and the cofounder and benefactor of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University, Rudd rarely comes out of hiding at his vast Napa estate. Of all the wine and food barons in Northern California–including Robert Mondavi and Michael Chiarello–he’s surely the most invisible and reclusive.
When his company announced the purchase of the Oakville Grocery (now a three-store chain), Rudd issued a press release and let his public-relations staff handle inquiries. “I am honored to now be the steward of both the original Oakville Grocery location as well as the market that has been an icon of the wine country experience since 1881,” he allowed himself to be quoted as saying. “I am committed to refurbishing this beloved landmark so that it will serve as a symbol of hospitality to Napa Valley visitors for many generations to come.”
Two days after the deal was finalized–on a sunny, spring morning with the hills a bright green, the old, valley oaks sending out new leaves–there was no sign of refurbishing at the Oakville Grocery on Highway 29. The hand-painted Coca-Cola sign still needs a fresh coat; the tin roof begs for cleaning and so do the benches in front of the store. The picnic tables want new legs, and the sagging umbrella could use replacing. But inside, business seemed as brisk as ever, though Linda Cook, the efficient store manager, appeared to be unusually vigilant and perhaps even defensive about the sale. “I have absolutely nothing to say,” she exclaimed, in response to a reporter’s request for an interview, though, when asked, “Do you like the food?” she fired back, “Of course, I do!”–and sounded like she meant it.
It would be hard not to like the food at the Oakville Grocery. It would also be nearly impossible not to find something appetizing, even for the most finicky eater, though finding the items on a shopping list might take time. Intrepid shoppers enjoy the Oakville experience, because they have to hunt for what they want, and sometimes they even discover something new and unexpected, like the Katz and Company wildflower honey.
Ozzie Gallegos, the recently hired, bilingual wine buyer, apologized to a customer for not having a larger assortment of wines and for a nearly nonexistent and embarrassing section of French and Italian reds and whites. Born and raised just minutes from the Oakville Grocery, Gallegos knows its long, rich history and the roles Joseph Phelps and Steve Carlin played in shaping the store’s image from the 1970s to the year 2000. “There’s no such thing as a slow day here,” Gallegos says. “If you’re claustrophobic, you don’t want to be here in the first place.” He adds wistfully, “I hope they hold on to the aura of this place.”
In the deli, a small army of Mexican women make hot and cold sandwiches: grilled cheddar and young Asiago or smoked turkey and Brie. These speedy lunchtime miracle workers slice Serrano ham from Spain, mortadella from Italy, and Willie Bird smoked turkey from Sonoma County. Probably the very best food they wrap and package are the freshly made Green Chile tamales with black beans, cheese and corn and the sumptuous steak chimichangas that come with bite-size cubes of steak, Jack cheese, pico de gallo and bell peppers.
Just 4.3 miles north of the Oakville Grocery on Highway 29, Beethoven reverberates at Dean & DeLuca, the megastore big enough to house four or five Oakville Groceries. Dean & DeLuca offers more of everything: more room, food, wine and lots more stuff, including Dean & DeLuca T-shirts. It’s also spotless and a bit sterile. “May I help you, sir?” an employee deferentially asks me. Everything is neatly arranged, and, far more than the Oakville Grocery, Dean & DeLuca is clearly about branding itself, marketing itself.
Phil Box, who has worked for Robert and Magrit Mondavi and for Francis and Eleanor Coppola, sees Rudd’s purchase of the Oakville Grocery as symptomatic of what’s happening to Napa. “Everyone wants a piece of the county,” he says. “The nouveau riche have rushed in, and Napa has become a place to see and to be seen. I’ve met all kinds of royalty there: counts and countesses from Italy, barons and baronesses from France.”
Perhaps new paint, new floors and more modern fixtures will add to the glory of the once grand Oakville Grocery. Perhaps Leslie Rudd will achieve yet another triumph of repackaging. But it’s no wonder Napa residents ask one another what he means when he promises to become a “steward” of the Oakville Grocery, and what he has in mind when he talks about “refurbishing.” It’s no wonder, too, that local residents ask friends and family if they’ll respond to the new sign on the old, weather-beaten front door that reads, “Full Time and Part Time Positions Available: Cashiers, Barista, Grocery, Deli, Sandwiches.”
The Oakville Grocery now has three locations: 7856 St. Helena Highway (Hwy. 29), Oakville. 707.944.8802; 124 Matheson St., Healdsburg. 707.433.3200; and 715 Stanford Shopping Center, Palo Alto. 650.328.9000.
SEARCH AVAILABLE RESERVATIONS & BOOK A TABLE
Quick dining snapshots by Bohemian staffers.
Winery news and reviews.
Food-related comings and goings, openings and closings, and other essays for those who love the kitchen and what it produces.
Recipes for food that you can actually make.
Singular Status
April 11-17, 2007
According to popular theory, the age of digital downloading spells the death of the compact disc and thus, by default, the death of the album. If so, then what’s left? If the new model for distribution and consumption of rock/pop is now just song files purchased randomly for mp3 players, then it’s not unreasonable to expect a rebirth of the single.
While disc sales have been in decline for several years, music download sites have proliferated, largely as legal “for profit” sites due to the aggressive arm of the major labels crushing peer-to-peer file-sharing sites. These pay-to-download sites seem eager to promote hit tracks, usually featuring their list of the week’s top 10 downloaded songs. The home page of Napster.com, for example, has a hot button going directly to fully listenable versions (not just samples) of their top 10.
Historically, singles have never been a profit center for the record industry, but rather a tool for marketing albums. In the ’60s and ’70s, consumers enjoyed the A- and B-sides of vinyl 45 rpm records, but radio stations often received singles pressed with only the label’s chosen hit A-side. Sometime in the late ’80s, after the compact disc replaced the vinyl LP, the industry stopped manufacturing singles altogether (on vinyl, cassette or disc) except for specialty markets like club DJs. As product, the single has often been the bridesmaid and not the bride.
Though there haven’t been substantial sales numbers for singles in the last 15 years, downloading has suddenly returned the sale of hit songs to a place of power on the charts. Singles are poised to be an essential profit engine that’s much greater than ever imagined. Downloads of singles are now crucial to the Billboard charts, where the mighty Hot 100 has always been an amalgam of radio play and sales.
The single song file itself is today’s driving mode of consumption. Even the indie obscurities of MySpace are presented and buzzed about as songs and demos. In the mainstream, American Idol finalists, like rocker Daughtry and country songstress Carrie Underwood, are guaranteed to have top-selling (that is, top-downloaded) songs.
Even with this reborn potential for sales, the single is still being viewed as a mere promo. Billboard notes in its explanation of chart data that “while the consumer’s decision to purchase is a significant vote of popularity, singles have a job that extends beyond being a sales vehicle: to capture radio play and, hopefully, stimulate album sales.” In a recent marketing ploy, iTunes begin offering reduced prices on full albums from which consumers had already purchased at least one track.
So this means the album isn’t dead after all? More likely, the new music market model simply reaffirms the value of the hit. How else did we all get so much from Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy,” the first song to hit No. 1 based on downloads?
In his 1989 survey of 1,001 classic singles The Heart of Rock & Soul, music critic Dave Marsh noted, “In our society, there’s an essential cultural need for a unitary, memorable musical motif. At some point . . . this desire may have been consciously manufactured by shrewd entrepreneurs or some other stratum of cultural manipulators, but it hardly seems eradicable today. There may have been societies in which people preferred long compositions evolving into one coherent theme . . . but that’s not the case in any of the urban, industrial societies in which rock and roll is created and consumed.”
That communal desire for immediacy anchors the opposing reactions my family had to a disc I burned last week of the top 10 downloaded songs on iTunes. “There isn’t a ‘Satisfaction’ or a ‘Born to Run’ on there,” my wife complained, sharing my generational bias toward significance. “I don’t buy albums,” commented my 19-year-old daughter. “I just download songs I hear that I like.” They both want songs with impact. I enjoy top 10 singles like Akon’s sensitive reggae-lite hit “Don’t Matter” and Fall Out Boy’s rocking “This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race,” knowing that there are many more strong single tracks, regardless of format, waiting to become hits.
Letters to the Editor
April 11-17, 2007
Police praise
I would like to commend Gabe Meline on (“Not What It Seems,” April 4). I am the sergeant for the Santa Rosa Police Department Downtown Enforcement Team.
Ms. Reed failed not only to pay her bills, as any other responsible business owner would in the downtown area, but provided an unsafe business that was potentially a disaster waiting to happen. Mr. Meline’s article addressed key points in that it is not about the music. I am all for having a venue that provides a safe haven for kids to perform; however, this does not allow someone like Ms. Reed to allow for dangerous conditions. I would bet my bottom dollar that if a fire or other incident happened during a concert and a young person was killed or injured, their parents would be the first ones at the city doors demanding why Ms. Reed was allowed to operate her business in such a hazardous way.
Sgt. Andy Romero, Santa Rosa Police Dept.
Difference of opinion
Hip-hop is one of my true loves. The Bohemian might occupy a place in my heart if it plays its cards right. I don’t always agree with reviews, but whatever–it’s a difference of opinion, right?
However, before the arrival of Heroes in the City of Dope is something that I feel Gabe Meline shouldn’t get away with (Critic’s Choice, “Hyphy Overload,” April 4).
Sure, his material might be obscure, but the Grouch is one of the dopest emcees ever, and I’ll say in this letter that Heroes in the City of Dope didn’t sound that special at all.
Oh yeah, and the picture attached to the critic’s review isn’t the Grouch as the review claims. Do your homework. There is a presence of melanin in the emcee’s material, but other than that he is a pasty white mofo. Thanks for trying, though.
Handsome Frank, Calistoga
Um, speaking of pasty white mofos, certain terrifyingly white editors made the mistake with the picture, not Gabe . . .
Who is that gorgeous man?
At a time of war, global warming and breathtaking government corruption, the notion of artistic attribution is less than cosmic. But I was delighted by the lovely photograph of the sexy man in the sombrero on page 99 and noticed there was no photographer’s credit (Critic’s Choice, “Si Se Puede,” March 21 print edition).
Art rarely feeds the poor or clothes the naked. Indeed, the artist more often than not struggles to feed and clothe herself. But the value of art to our collective souls is incalculable and acknowledgement of its source is, at the least, a courtesy. Thanks for running a terrific picture.
Lucy Aron, Sebastopol
Fortunately for us, Lucy, artistic images are also often degraded into that anonymous bundling known as “clip art.” Our Mister Beautiful of p99 was indeed a product of such a homely transaction. Good-looking, half-dressed people sell free papers (and make us deeply happy on the inside). Thanks for the nice note; sorry to strip the scales away.
Making mention of mentoring
Mentor Me Petaluma would like to thank the many individuals and businesses in Sonoma County that so generously supported our recent Mad Hatter Ball. The proceeds, in excess of $20,000, will assist us with some of next year’s expenses as we provide over 100 mentorships in 10 schools. This kind of support is exactly what we envisioned as we founded our school-based mentoring program eight years ago. We know that a community that supports its youth for success in school and in life is a stronger, healthier community.
In my years as principal of McNear School, I witnessed the many immediate positive results of mentoring on children, on their mentors and on our school as a whole. Mentoring is among the strongest interventions we can provide our children.
On the eve of my retirement from the Mentor Me Petaluma Board, I urge others to join in this effort–if not as a mentor, then as a committee or board member who provides the support that insures successful, ongoing mentorships.
Call Mentor Me Petaluma at 707.778.4798 or visit our website www.mentormepetaluma.org. Your life will be enriched and our community will become more interconnected.
Clare Eckhardt, Sonoma
Trimming the Herd
The Byrne Report
April 11-17, 2007
Last month, I had the pleasure of chatting with media critic Norman Solomon at the Pine Cone Diner near his home in Point Reyes Station. We exchanged pleasantries about how lucky we are to be living in the ecologically buxom North Bay. Then we got down to discussing the matter at hand: exactly how our federal government uses public-relations techniques to sell state-sanctioned murder and war-for-profit to the American people decade after decade after decade.
Solomon, 55, is a slightly built man with piercing eyes and a gentle demeanor. Since the mid-1980s, he has been dogging the game of mainstream journalism. As a leading press critic, he writes a national Media Beat column and hosts a radio show. He speaks to audiences around the country about war, truth, government lies and the science of spin. And he has written a dozen books that should be required reading in journalism classes. They should also be penitential reading for the Fox News, CNN, NPR and New York Times propagandists while they serve prison sentences imposed by people’s courts under the Nuremburg Principles for aiding and abetting crimes committed by what Solomon calls the “warfare state.”
To comprehend how and why the prevaricating, incompetent, buccaneering Bush-Cheney administration remains in power, we must detoxify our media-poisoned brains. Truth to tell: from Hiroshima to Baghdad, we have been psychologically conditioned to accept unpardonable acts of violence as moral imperatives. A succession of “elected” spokespeople for the corporativist agenda, including hot-war presidents Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, George Bush I, Bill Clinton and George Bush II, have employed the words “peace,” “freedom,” “democracy” and “liberation” as the warp and woof of propaganda invented to cloak in moral terms a series of brutal, sadistic, terroristic, high-tech wars waged primarily against Third World civilians and their environments.
On April 21, a rough cut of a film based on Solomon’s most recent book, War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death, will premiere at the College of Marin in Kentfield. The activist-writer hopes the movie, which is narrated by Sean Penn, will help people to see through the fog of media and work to unravel the military-media complex. The tightly directed movie is packed with snippets of presidents lying through their eyeballs as they manufacture excuses for aggressing, such as Johnson’s phony Gulf of Tonkin ploy and Bush II’s nonexistent weapons of mass destruction. Solomon shows how, for 50 years, chief executives from both political parties have cynically extolled the benefits of “peace and freedom” while simultaneously ordering the slaughter of populations of noncombatants in Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, Iraq, Kosovo, Afghanistan and back to Iraq, to name but a few instances of for whom the bell of our national shame ceaselessly tolls.
As Solomon observes, “War becomes perpetual when used as a rationale for peace.”
War Made Easy shows generations of interchangeable reporters dutifully recording sanctimonious bullshit preached by generations of interchangeable politicians claiming that industrialized violence is the path to peace. Oblivious, or uncaring, about how they are being used by the war machine, the scribblers mechanically jot down simplistic explanations for the commission of unspeakable acts that are done for complex geopolitical reasons to which neither the scribes not the public is privy.
Today, they are paid to amplify professionally designed fear memes such as “Islamo-fascism,” “dirty bombs” and “biowarfare” while demonizing the enemy of the week as a “little Hitler.” Solomon points out that we are trained to view our wars through the eyes of the invaders (us) and not the bleeding eyes of our victims. Political dissenters and war protesters are easily portrayed by the entertainment news “hosts” as traitors or ne’er-do-wells. Meanwhile, platoons of intellectually shallow journalists seldom ask tough questions about the power elite’s motives until American troops are defeated in battle. And then they blame the leaders of the moment and never a socioeconomic system that thrives upon and lusts for endless war.
The worst of the journalistic lot, says Solomon, are the “embeds.” They willingly embrace and allow themselves to be smothered by the invading apparatus as they bond with soldiers. Public relations is now a weapon.
Solomon corrects a misperception that, on the whole, television news coverage of the Vietnam War was more truthful than today’s coverage of Iraq. It is true the CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite declared on the air in 1968 that the Vietnam War was a “cosmic disaster.” But, for many years, Cronkite casually promoted the outright murder of 2 million Vietnamese. Wearing a flack jacket, he laughingly flew along on bombing missions over North Vietnam. He gloried in the ability of our machines to incinerate unarmed peasants. And when he finally critiqued the leadership, it was for losing the war–not for waging it in the first place.
or
Ask Sydney
April 11-17, 2007
Dear Sydney, my daughter-in-law wants to go out with her girlfriends once a week, and this always seems to include excessive drinking at her friend’s house or at local bars. She does not get home until 1 in the morning sometimes, and drinks and drives. She’s been trying to get my verbal support as a way of justifying her behavior to my son (her husband), who doesn’t like it when she goes out. She has also been asking me to babysit the baby so she can go out. I would be OK with the babysitting if she were going to a movie, but I just can’t justify helping her go out to engage in what I feel is destructive behavior. What should I say when she asks for my help? They are young parents, so it’s extra hard for me to remain unattached to their behavior.–Mama in the Middle
Dear MIM: They may be young, but if they’re old enough to become parents and get married, you cannot expect to be able to control the dynamics of their relationship any more than you can control the behavior of your daughter-in-law. It’s not your responsibility to watch the baby so Mom can party, this is true, but what needs to concern you in this situation is the safety and well-being of your grandchild. Try to look at things from this perspective rather than from the point of view of judging, supporting or not supporting your daughter-in-law’s behavior.
You are under no obligation to babysit, but perhaps babysitting would be in everyone’s best interest. Better that the baby is safe with you than partying with her or his parents or riding in a car with someone who has been drinking. Who goes out when is something for the happy newlyweds to work out with each other. In fact, you should feel free to tell your daughter-in-law, when she asks, that it’s not really any of your business how she chooses to socialize and that you have no interest in either defending or condemning her decisions. But by no means should you refuse to babysit on the grounds that by doing so you would be supporting her freedom-loving lifestyle. Refuse to babysit if you don’t want to babysit, but don’t do it as a means of controlling your daughter-in-law’s behavior. This won’t work anyway, and better to feel slightly used than to have your grandchild exposed to her parent’s occasionally life-endangering shenanigans.
Dear Sydney, my husband and I live with my in-laws who are very religious. When I first moved in they were respectful of my choice not to join their religion, but lately, now that they are more comfortable with me, they are trying to push their beliefs on me. My husband and I can’t afford our own place just yet. What should I do so that our living situation is more bearable for a few more months?–Sinner
Dear Sinner: Here’s the bad news: As long as you are living with them, they can push anything on you they damn well please, including their religious beliefs. This does not mean that you have to convert, only that you are obligated to endure their religious paradigms as long as you are living together. With this in mind, it makes the most sense for you to focus your energies on moving out. Therein lies your salvation! In the mean time, be quietly respectful; after all, chances are they are just doing what they feel is crucial for your salvation. They don’t want to turn you into something bad; they want to save your soul!
Then again, considering the chaos that organized religion has wrought upon the world to this date, it could be considered wrong to be passive when confronted with someone else’s burning desire to convert you. You could stand up to them and assert your own views. But before you do, remember that religion is an emotional life vest that many seem to find it impossible to live without, and it is neither your job nor your responsibility to divest them of it. Just keep your trap shut and save up money for first and last. After that, you can draw the line between yourself and their religious overtures at whatever point makes you feel the most comfortable.
Dear Sydney, my partner recently discovered he has an STD, one that he says he has had for a while but just didn’t know it. I’m afraid that he might have come by it more recently. Maybe I’m just being paranoid. How do I know for sure? Should I ask him or just let it be for our marriage’s sake which, honestly, is pretty strained at this point by this unwelcome addition to our relationship.–Worried
Dear Worried: Well, first of all, this is a terrible bummer and the fact that it’s depressingly common does nothing to shine a ray of sunshine on the situation. STD’s are embarrassing, they’re painful and sometimes they can be deadly. There’s nothing good about them; they’re like the mosquito, simply irredeemable. With this in mind, it is in your best interest to take this situation with utmost seriousness. Do your STD homework. Some STDs can lay dormant, showing no symptoms for years at a time, especially in men who often fail to get regular STD check-ups (as compared to the yearly visit to the gynecologist you had better be getting).
I don’t know what it is he has acquired, so I can’t say for sure, but it’s certainly possible that he picked something up before the two of you met and just never knew about it. On the other hand, sometimes something like this can be a sign of more difficult things. Sit down and talk candidly about this with him. Express your concerns and fears. Why are you feeling suspicious? Are there any other indications that things in your marriage may be amiss? Or are you reacting to the news with emotions that are, quite understandably, a little excessive and paranoid? See what he has to say, and above all, try not to hold it against him.
The risk of STDs are a burden that all sexually active people must share. Remember that sometimes it only takes one mistake, and that’s it. At this point, your biggest concern should be doing your research and making sure that the two of you deal with your health issues appropriately. Make sure you both go to the doctor or a health clinic, and if you want to do some research on your own (always a good idea), check out www.plannedparenthood.org, where you can find all kinds of fun and friendly STD facts.
‘Ask Sydney’ is penned by a Sonoma County resident. Inquire at www.asksydney.com.
No question too big, too small or too off-the-wall.
Local Lit
Birds on a Page
Making Change
Photograph by Brett Ascarelli Flagship: The original Grocery on Hwy. 29 retains its funky...
Singular Status
April 11-17, 2007According to popular theory, the age of digital downloading spells the death of the compact disc and thus, by default, the death of the album. If so, then what's left? If the new model for distribution and consumption of rock/pop is now just song files purchased randomly for mp3 players, then it's not unreasonable to expect a...
Letters to the Editor
April 11-17, 2007Police praiseI would like to commend Gabe Meline on ("Not What It Seems," April 4). I am the sergeant for the Santa Rosa Police Department Downtown Enforcement Team. Ms. Reed failed not only to pay her bills, as any other responsible business owner would in the downtown area, but provided an unsafe business that was potentially...
The Byrne Report
April 11-17, 2007Last month, I had the pleasure of chatting with media critic Norman Solomon at the Pine Cone Diner near his home in Point Reyes Station. We exchanged pleasantries about how lucky we are to be living in the ecologically buxom North Bay. Then we got down to discussing the matter at hand: exactly how our federal government...
Ask Sydney
April 11-17, 2007 Dear Sydney, my daughter-in-law wants to go out with her girlfriends once a week, and this always seems to include excessive drinking at her friend's house or at local bars. She does not get home until 1 in the morning sometimes, and drinks and drives. She's been trying to get my verbal support as a way of...
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