Sebastopol Urgent Care doctors tirelessly serve West County

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Sebastopol Urgent Care doctors tirelessly serve West County

It has been a long year for Sebastopol Urgent Care. 

Founders Drs. Libby Flower and Kathleen Whisman have worked themselves, well, to the quick, since they opened their new business on Aug. 23, 2021. Flower has worked seven days a week for the past six months, with only four days off, while Whisman was diagnosed with a rare cancer in February and is currently undergoing chemotherapy as she fights for her life. She will return to her practice Sept. 19, while continuing to receive cancer treatments until August 2023.

While the two owners exude palpable dedication and enthusiasm during an on-site interview, they make it clear that their fledgling business needs community support in order to make it through the end of the year and into 2023. “We’re in the sweat-equity part of the phase,” Whisman says. “And then I got pulled out of the game, and we don’t have the capital to replace me.”

“Once we see 30 patients a day in the urgent care—we’re up to 20—we have enough revenue flow to pay another doctor,” Flower adds. In the meantime, she continues to work seven days a week until Whisman returns.

The story behind Sebastopol Urgent Care begins in early 2020, when Whisman began working for Providence Health at Healdsburg Hospital. When the pandemic hit, her dream job went from 10 patients a day and four work days a week to 25-plus patients a day, six or seven days a week. Though swamped, she fortuitously met Elizabeth “Libby” Flower there, a contract doctor who had once started her own urgent care clinic, and together the two dreamed up—and opened—Sebastopol Urgent Care.

The business fills an important niche for the entire West County, which suffered a huge loss when Palm Drive Hospital closed in 2015. “Our facility helps with the crowding of the ERs,” Whisman says, “because if people, especially on the weekend, [are] injured, cut, whatever, they can come here. They don’t wait in the ER for 12 hours before they get their arm sewed up, and that helps the whole system.”

The practice is currently officially open 67 hours a week. “[But] if the demand grows, we’ll stay open longer,” Flower says. “Sometimes somebody knocks on the locked door, and we let them in and we take care of them.” At 5pm their first day, they let in a patient who had been bitten by his pet bearded dragon. In researching how to treat his bite, they also diagnosed the bearded dragon as being sick.

In addition, the two perform advanced treatments that few, if any, other local ERs are able to perform. This is partly due to Flower being an ER doctor by trade. During the last year, she obtained a urine sample from an infant—not an easy task, I’m assured—reset a dislocated shoulder and stitched nearly amputated toes back on.

Plus, Flower and Whisman are dedicated to helping patients of all economic levels. “Anybody who is at Burbank Heights [an affordable housing complex in Sebastopol] gets a 50% discount, which amounts to about $60 a month,” Flower says. “I really want to care for people who are on limited incomes.”

Their business model is unique in several ways.

In addition to running the Urgent Care facility, the two doctors each also run their own concierge practice out of the same space. The concierge practices allow patients to pay a yearly one-time, out-of-pocket membership fee and get same- or next-day appointments and 24/7 access to Whisman’s or Flower’s cell-phone number. The plan is for each doctor to take on only 200 to 500 patients so they can each guarantee personalized care. Running all three practices out of the same space also allows them to share staff and rent, reducing overhead.

Whisman’s and Flower’s interest in personalized care clashes with today’s corporate medicine model.

“The basic problem is that the administration of medical care has been taken over by business people whose goal is profit, and our goal is care. And those conflict,” Dr. Richard Powers, a local medical practitioner, and friend to both Flower and Whisman, tells me. His book, The Murder of American Medicine: How Medicare Took the Caring Out of Medical Care (2021), illuminates the subject in greater depth. “For the doctors who came before this change came around, their reward was the care they gave to people, and the appreciation that came back from those patients. And that becomes less and less available as the system presses us to see more patients, do more paperwork and have less opportunity to really care for—and spend time with—each patient.”

In the corporate world, all three doctors spent two minutes on paperwork for every one minute they spent with a patient. Now the mandated charting, once meant exclusively for personalized communication between doctors, is filled with billing notes. Nevertheless, the three doctors remain determined to offer their patients care over profit.

“Dr. Powers has given us funds in emergency care to treat the uninsured, the unemployed, the people that get lost in the system, the people who don’t get care because if they go to the emergency room they get a $10,000 bill,” Flower says.

The actual clinic, located in a small business park along Petaluma Boulevard a few short blocks south of downtown Sebastopol, has lofty ceilings and bright, sunlit rooms. It consists of four exam rooms, one pediatric room and the main office, or “the Bullpen,” as Whisman jokingly calls it. The concierge lounge has velvet-upholstered comfy chairs and offers patients a relaxed space for conversation, consultation and a cup of tea. A lab room contains two high-tech analyzers for NAAT/PCR COVID tests that yield results in 10-15 minutes. They are the only such rapid-test machines in the county, and last spring the clinic did brisk business in providing walk-ins with fast COVID test results.

The professional dedication Flower and Whisman exhibit is not limited to my own observation. Regarding Flower, Cassidy Whisman, Kathleen Whisman’s daughter, says, “Libby is a passionate doctor; you can see it in her work. She just lights up when she helps people. It’s amazing to see.”

Flower emphasizes that her goal in practicing medicine is not to make a fortune. “Who needs to get rich? I don’t want to get rich. We’re very community focused. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Whisman acknowledges the outpouring of support for her recovery and the success of the business. “I appreciate all the healing prayers from my patients and community, and their generous contributions,” she says.

As this article goes to press, Sebastopol Urgent Care celebrates its one-year anniversary in downtown Sebastopol. At this time, patients and contributions are needed in order to help it find its footing. Let’s hope West County steps up to embrace the quality personal care this valuable business offers the entire community.

Sebastopol Urgent Care, 555 Petaluma Ave., Suite B. Hours Monday-Friday, 8am to 7pm; Saturday-Sunday, 11am to 5pm. 707.509.5961. fr*******@***uc.org

GoFundMe for Dr. Whisman and Sebastopol Urgent Care: https://tinyurl.com/yc34nxta

Atlas, the Lonely Gibbon at Spreckels in Rohnert Park

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Atlas, the Lonely Gibbon at Spreckels in Rohnert Park

Despite the word “robot” being initially coined in Karel Capek’s 1921 play R.U.R, “science,” “fiction” and “play” are three words not generally associated with each other.

Truth be told, Deborah Yarchun’s Atlas, the Lonely Gibbon is less sci-fi and more a scary not-so-speculative, not-so-fictional story. Sheri Lee Miller directs the world premiere production running at the Spreckels Performing Arts Center in Rohnert Park through Aug. 28.

Yarchun’s play centers on Irene—an endurance race of a performance by Taylor Diffenderfer—an investigative journalist now reduced to copy editor for bot-generated work. Again, not so far-fetched. We’re looking at you, New Yorker poetry.

Irene is leery of all the smart technology in her home. Everything from the lights to the refrigerator to the fern, hilariously played by Kevin Richard Bordi, is hooked up to the home’s AI. However, her husband David (Keith Baker), a cybercrime reporter, is excited when the fridge (played by Julianne Bradbury) gets hacked, starts a fire and, in a Shakespearean rant, shuffles off its refrigerated coil. The fridging of the fridge sends David on an epic AI home upgrade with some unexpected results.

The AI leads to some truly funny moments, but as with all good speculative fiction, the heart isn’t in the technology but in the people. Irene’s leeriness soon gives way to paranoia à la Charlotte Perkin’s Yellow Wallpaper. Mix in David’s singular career fixation, the fern’s sudden interest in emo poetry and a lonely gibbon named Atlas, and you have a bittersweet—but very human—mix of the sublimely absurd and the devastatingly accurate.

Special mention must be made of Jess Johnson’s sound design. Johnson might be the best sound designer in the county. Her work is showcased here with a design that delivers just the right emotional, aural jab needed to recenter the play when the script veers too close to the sentimental or silly.

As a world premiere, a lot could have gone wrong. But thanks to intelligent writing, sound acting and Spreckels’ first-class design team, all the circuits clicked into place to produce a show that, though a bit shouty at times, was nonetheless enjoyable. Audience members should not be surprised if they have the urge to unplug their Alexas when they get home.
“Atlas, the Lonely Gibbon” runs through Aug. 28 at Spreckels Performing Arts Center, 5409 Snyder Lane, Rohnert Park. Friday–Saturday, 7:30pm; Sunday, 2pm; Thursday Aug. 25, 7:30pm. $12–$26. 707.588.3400. spreckelsonline.com

Jack and Charmian London Return as Holograms

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Jack and Charmian London Return as Holograms

All birthdays are good, but this year mine was the best, because Jack London State Park digital tour’s soft release date coincided with it, on Aug. 6. So, while I ate cake on my deck, I also downloaded the app and took the tour. And it was both informative and enjoyable.

The digital app is part of a new breed of self-guided smart phone-based tours that includes virtual holographic guides—in this case Jack London and his wife Charmian London themselves—who speak to the viewer on their phone screen, appearing as if they are in front of the landscape said viewer’s phone camera is pointed at. It’s unlike any app I have previously used, and the experience reminds me of a toned-down version of the time I donned a virtual reality headset.

Kristina Ellis, tours and education manager at Jack London State Historic Park, managed the project in partnership with Timelooper Inc., which developed the app.

“My job was to research and develop the storyline and script, gather resources like historic photographs and information on the historic structures [and] find actors for the holograms,” she told me. “This is a new and interactive way for visitors to engage with the story of the park and sort of take a step back in time. The virtual tour is comprised of 10 different tour stops located throughout the park, and combines exciting elements like digital animation, holograms of Jack and Charmian London, historic photographs, 3D augmented-reality models of the famous Wolf House and more.”

Jack London State Park, located on 1,400 acres near Glen Ellen on the eastern slope of Sonoma Mountain, was founded on London’s own Beauty Ranch in 1959. 

“While we are an historic park, rich in artifacts and stories, we also have nearly 29 miles of gorgeous wilderness trails dotted with coastal redwoods,” Ellis said. “I recommend that visitors see the House of Happy Walls Museum and the London’s Cottage to truly get a picture of Jack London’s life and story. We also have excellent docents who lead free tours to the Wolf House on weekends.”

“The app was designed as a guided tour of the park, and the experience is maximized by being here,” she added. “However, there are quite a few elements such as video clips, slide shows of historic photos, story narration and the 3D models and animations that can be enjoyed anywhere. I have enjoyed the tour from the comfort of my living room and gotten quite a bit out of the story.”

Enter moi. By simply scanning my deck with my cell phone camera, a virtual reality table  appeared on it in my iPhone’s viewscreen; it was on this table that buildings and animations—and sometimes Jack London himself—manifested as 3-dimensional holograms. I was led through an interesting and informative history that began with an explanation of how immigrant Chinese workers wound up working for local wineries and that ended well beyond London’s death at Beauty Ranch many years later. Atmospheric music accompanied each point.

As a lifelong history buff, I found the tour illuminating and learned about London’s non-literary interests, which I’d heretofore been unaware of. One video seemed to sum both he and his primary interests up with the narration, “Jack saw his ranch as an outdoor laboratory for experimentation and innovation in sustainable farming, a place that could teach the nation how to farm organically.”

I won’t describe the tour in further detail; that would spoil everyone’s fun. My advice: Download the free CalParks Adventurer app, which is available online at app stores everywhere, right now, and take the tour pronto. At the park or at home? Both are worth the price of admission.

For more information about the new augmented reality tour app, visit  www.jacklondonpark.com/digital-tour-experience/.

Finding Meaning on a Ship of Fools

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Finding Meaning on a Ship of Fools

Life is like a journey aboard a steamship. We did not ask to be here, and we can’t get off until the captain says so. 

No one has ever seen the captain, and no one knows why this is even happening, but a few can point us in the right direction. The journey is the same for everyone, starting with birth and ending with death, and the point of it seems to be how we choose to spend our time on board.

Some were given first-class accommodations, while others are in steerage. Some rise to a better room through good works, while others are booted down if they prove unworthy of their privilege. We make the best with what we’ve got, and in the end everyone has a spot to call their own—and this is called having a life.

We can wander the ship and interact with others, who represent the spectrum of humanity. Some are saints and sages, and others are devils and demons—so remember two pieces of golden wisdom. First, the devil’s greatest ruse is convincing us he doesn’t exist, and second, vice is never more dangerous than when hiding behind a mask of virtue.

Almost all the passengers spend their time in the bowels of the ship, where the only light that shines is artificial. There are endless entertainments to distract us from the journey, and an all-you-can-eat buffet of bad food to gorge upon gluttonously. Many have never even been on deck before to experience the wonder of the starry night and vast ocean.

A few solitary souls, however, like to visit a special observation deck at the highest point on the ship. In the morning, they greet the sun, bringer of light and life, and at night, the moon, which points the way to the eternal realm beyond the confines of the ship. If we ask, they will tell us of a secret compartment on board the ship, a library of sacred books from around the world and a place to receive illumination. Those who find it are never the same again, and one look in their eyes shows that they know something others do not.

Most of the passengers mock these quiet solitaries and call them fools. But when someone finds the sea too stormy and the entertainment too empty, they ask about the secret chamber, and they are always told the same thing. No one can tell us where it is, because it’s different for everyone. But if we seek it, we will find it, and if we knock, the door will be opened.

Petaluma Installation Celebrates People of Color at Burning Man

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Petaluma Installation Celebrates People of Color at Burning Man

For the past three decades, people have ventured into Nevada’s Black Rock Desert in late August to build, run and then disassemble a functioning city on a remote and dusty piece of land.

With a population of roughly 70,000, the temporary city is the 10th largest in Nevada for one week of the year.

Burning Man, as the gathering is called, produces life-changing experiences for many of its participants, known as “Burners.” However, the event has received criticism over the years for a range of issues, including a lack of diversity.

The 2019 Burning Man Census found that only 16 percent of attendees identified as a person of color, a rate that has remained relatively flat since at least 2013 despite public criticism and organizers’ pledges to improve. The “average Burner” that year, the last festival before a two-year Covid-enduced break, was a 35-year-old white man making $64,700 per year, the website SFist reported. Only 1.1 percent of attendees identified as Black in 2019, according to the census.

Responding to this challenge, Erin Douglas, a Black photographer and founder of the Black Burner Project, has made it her mission to make the festival more diverse since her own awakening at Burning Man in 2017.

The Black Burner Project uses visual representation to document people of color at Burning Man “to encourage the curious.” In other words, the project creates art using photographs taken at Black Rock City to help people of color imagine themselves at Burning Man.

The idea behind the project is that photos of half-dressed white people in the desert, the most common representation of the event in the media, serve as a barrier to entry for Black folks who don’t see themselves represented as a part of Burning Man’s culture.

Douglas recognizes that it can be difficult to go out to the playa for people of color. In fact, if it were not for a free ticket from a friend, she may have never overcome her own initial personal and cultural barriers to experiencing the desert festival.

I met Douglas at Marco Cochrane’s studio in Petaluma—notable for the 47-foot-tall wire-frame woman visible from the street—where Douglas is assembling her new piece with the help of Kyle Mimms.

While we spoke, a small army of volunteers worked on a structure of metal and billboard-sized photographs of Black Burners.

The final artwork, called “Black! Asé,” will consist of two 30-foot-tall interactive installations at the edge of Black Rock City, serving as a beacon of welcome and celebration for Burners of color.

The pieces will be large metal structures bookended by a massive picture of Douglas’ friend and fellow Burner, “Anisette,” dancing on one end, and a picture of “Ken,” another Burner wearing a colorful neck gaiter, on the other. In between the photos will be climbable metalwork with stairs and platforms allowing visitors several opportunities for experience and reflection, driven by unique audio tracks playing throughout the piece.

Despite being an experienced solo world traveler, Douglas recalled that her first visit to Burning Man was “so drastically different [than any previous experience], and we are surrounded by white people. In the middle of nowhere. I can’t go anywhere. I can’t even call my mom and parents.” Suddenly, Douglas found herself without access to anyone who understood her experience of otherness.

The harm in this case is that Burning Man really transforms lives, and if people of color do not feel welcome and do not come, the opportunity for that expansive consciousness is lost to the same demographics that have always been excluded.

Let’s take a step back. What is so amazing about Burning Man? “You have a lot of time with yourself internally,” Douglas said. “You’re asking yourself questions that, for some reason, you just don’t get that same time or space to explore these questions in everyday life.”

“I always say, like, whatever you have pushed aside, whether you know it or not, the playa is gonna like put it in your face. Just gonna shove it all up in there and you might not be ready,” she added, laughing. “It’s just about, like, accepting that [it] might need tears.”

In describing the impact that Burning Man can have, Douglas’ indispensable build lead, Mimms, put it another way: “You can be free to be yourself without consequences.”

Those words capture the intent of Douglas’ project perfectly. Knowing that many Black folks will not feel comfortable with the idea of coming to Burning Man until they begin to see people like themselves there, Douglas understands that a whole segment of society has been effectively cut off from the opportunity to experience the rich cultural space the festival offers.

For a time, the founders and organizers seemed to minimize the problem. Burning Man co-founder Larry Harvey infamously said that, “Black folks don’t like to camp as much as white folks,” later attempting to justify the statement in the historical context of slavery and the dangers of travel for Black Americans during the Jim Crow Era.

Thankfully, Burning Man culture has begun to respond to the problems inherent in that out-of-date sentiment. Efforts for inclusion have received an increased level of focus, including a reevaluation of “Radical Inclusion,” one of the festival’s guiding 10 Principles.

Douglas is the recipient of a Black Rock City 2022 Honorarium Art Grant, one of the first given to a Black woman Burner. The Grant amounts vary project by project. In Douglas’ case, the award covered about 20 percent of the submitted project budget, making it much easier to complete the project with help from other funding sources.

As we talked, new volunteers to the project wandered in and were put to work. Douglas, a photographer by trade and new to installations, emphasized the collaborative nature of the massive pieces. 

“Kyle [Mimms] came out and has been working non-stop on the structure of the builds,” Douglas said. “[Mimms and his wife] have been beyond supportive, they’ve helped me get the photos [from Maryland where they were printed] to New York for fundraisers” to help pay for the  project.

Douglas had been weighing the costs and environmental impact of building the structure on the East or West Coast and transporting it out to the desert. However, with Cochrane’s offer of studio space in Petaluma to build the installation, Mimms joined Cochrane out West.

Burning Man’s reputation seems to have both grown and wavered in recent years. Many around the country who had likely never heard of the event now know it as the summer destination of celebrity CEOs and reality-TV moguls.

However, Douglas’ work is a reminder of the potential of the annual gathering in the desert: A space of radical inclusion where the work of being better and doing better is both personal and communal.

Follow “Black! Asé” and Erin Douglas on Instagram @blackburnerproject.

Culture Crush—KingLung, Debussy, Hollywood and More

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Culture Crush—KingLung, Debussy, Hollywood and More

Healdsburg

Brazilian Guitar 

This Saturday, spend the evening transported by Brazilian jazz guitar. Renowned guitarists Romero Lubambo and Chico Pinheiro come to Healdsburg’s intimate music space The 222. Lubambo has been described as “perhaps” the best practitioner in his day, bringing the rhythm and sensuality of his Brazilian heritage and a mastery of the instrument to jazz guitar, creating an inimitable sound. Pinheiro is a composer and bandleader, and one of the most widely acclaimed guitarists to emerge in the past two decades, collaborating with artists such as Placido Domingo and Chris Potter. The two promise a night of adventurous, boundary-breaking guitar playing. 7pm, Saturday, Aug. 20 at 222 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg. Tickets range from $35–$75. www.the222.org  

Ross

Outdoor Chamber Music 

For those moved to tears or elation by Debussy’s lilting flutes or Francaix’s resonant harps, look no further. This Tuesday, the Marin Art and Garden Center will host Eos Ensemble in the Redwood Amphitheater, serenading the audience with dreamy, musing, passionate music in a beautiful outdoor setting. The program includes Claude Debussy’s Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp, Jean Francaix’s Quintet for Flute, Harp and String Trio, and Beethoven’s String Trio Op. 9 No. 1. Craig Reiss plays the violin, Caroline Lee the viola and Thalia Morre the cello, with special guests Meredith Clark on harp and Katrina Walter on flute. Clark has played with the San Francisco and Oakland Symphonies, among others. Walter is a member of the Marin Symphony. The Eos Ensemble plays Tuesday, Aug. 23, from 5:30–7pm at the Marin Art and Garden Center, 30 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., Ross. Tickets $20, beverage of choice included. www.maringarden.org

Occidental

Movie Night

Join Occidental filmmaker C.M. Conway this weekend for a screening of her new film, How to Successfully Fail in Hollywood, at the Occidental Center of the Arts. Filmed in various locations in the North Bay, Oakland and Los Angeles, this is a recognizable and exciting film. Produced by women, the film explores themes including love, triumph over personal failure and pursuing a dream against all odds. This special screening event will include photo ops, a raffle with prizes donated by local businesses and a Q&A with the filmmaker. Conway is thrilled to show How to Successfully Fail in Hollywood at OCA, where she had cheerleading tryouts as a young girl in the room that now serves as the Center’s state-of-the-art auditorium. How to Successfully Fail in Hollywood screens 5:30–8pm Saturday, Aug. 20, at Occidental Center for the Arts, 3850 Doris Murphy Court, Occidental. Tickets are $12. www.funnyfailurefilm.com

Sebastopol

Hip-Hop Series 

Come hear the beat and move your feet this Saturday at the first night of Manifest Your Destiny, a North Bay hip-hop concert series bringing a diverse range of musical talent together to perform. Hip-hop artist and promoter Damion Square was inspired to organize the series after performing at Santa Rosa’s Railroad Square Music Festival this June and feeling the community’s desire for quality, meaningful hip-hop music. Longtime North Bay concert organizer and musician Josh Windmiller is collaborating with Square on the series. Get familiar with the local hip-hop talent, including artists KingLung, Simoné Mosely, Erica Ambrin, Kayatta and Damion, under his stage name D.square, at Manifest Your Destiny’s first event, on Saturday, Aug. 20, at Jasper’s at 6957 Sebastopol Ave., Sebastopol. Show starts at 9pm. $5 suggested donation. www.jasperspub.com

—Jane Vick 

Flamingo Resort Brings Nightlife to Santa Rosa

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Flamingo Resort Brings Nightlife to Santa Rosa

The long wait for a dance space is over, Santa Rosa. 

No longer will we comb the streets after 10pm searching for a spot with a DJ and a dance floor. No longer will we make our party plans in San Francisco.

Moving forward, North Bay revelers need look no further than the towering, pink neon sign on Fourth Street, announcing the historic Flamingo Resort which, last weekend, launched the retro-galactic nightclub Vintage Space, paying homage to the Flamingo’s early history and elevating Santa Rosa nightlife in one astronomical swoop. Peep the details.

Remember the Space Race? That miraculous—albeit fraught—time in global and American history when truly anything seemed possible? The Allies had just won World War II, and America was in a renaissance of socio-political change and revolution. Racing Russia to get to the moon, long hair and go-go boots. James Baldwin. Bobby Lewis. Mod living room sets. And everywhere the promise of space. That incredible new frontier of infinite potential.

Enter the Flamingo. In 1957, while Russia launched Sputnik 1 into space and America fervently worked on Explorer 1, an architect, widely believed to be Homer A. Rissman, designed a resort nestled in the Valley of the Moon. When completed, the mid-century modern style building sporting 156 beds, a pool and a whole lot of pink quickly became a Sonoma County landmark, its signature “Flamingo” sign, with a neon bird at the top, leg gracefully raised, illuminating the night in pink.

The likes of Jane Mansfield and Frankie Avalon were quickly spotted poolside. In 1994, yours truly, as a small girl moving with her family from Tucson, Ariz., lived in two rooms while her parents finalized the purchase of a Northern California home. In 1997, Santa Rosa declared the Flamingo sign a historic landmark. In short, the Flamingo Resort is iconic and central to the Santa Rosa experience.

In spite of all this, the time came for the Flamingo to evolve, in an effort to ensure its relevance into the next several decades.

Enter the new owners. In 2019, Anderson Pugash, Steve Yang, Rebecca Bunya and Benson Wang purchased the Flamingo from previous owner Pierre Ehret and family, quickly launching into a $20 million renovation.

(from left to right) Stephen Yang, Anderson Pugash and Benson Wang purchased the Flamingo Resort in 2019 with Rebecca Bunya (not pictured). Photo by Deb Leal.

Three years and one global pandemic later, the Flamingo has a new lease on life, reimagined with a wooden-and-glass porte-cochere entry and white wicker furniture that showcases the pool’s glittering, aqua-colored water. 

The lobby is quintessential mod mixed with jungley, tropical wallpaper and features art from Serge Gay Jr. and HYBYCOZO. It’s finished with triangle pillows, low couches and gold light fixtures. Tres vibe. While true to the Flamingo’s origins—the new owners worked closely with Ehret while reimagining the hotel vibe—there is an evident modern twist.

The desire to strike a balance between history and contemporary styles is what inspired Pugash and Benson Wang to reimagine what used to be The Lounge at the Flamingo Resort into Vintage Space. Those who spent time in The Lounge will be pleased to find the bone structure of the space largely unchanged, with dark walls, a curved bar, ample dancefloor, and booths for cozy conversation and dance breaks.

But it’s clearly a new venue, and the space theme is fully evident. Starry collages featuring astronauts and old automobiles hang on the walls. The drinks menu offers a delightful assortment of “Cosmic Cocktails” including drinks such as the M.A.S.A., featuring tequila, mezcal, peach, habanero shrub and sparkling wine; the Liftoff Espresso Martini, featuring cold-brew coffee liqueur, vodka, espresso, chocolate bitters and mint foam; and the E.TEA, a non-alcoholic option with ice tea, lemon, peach and habanero shrub. The feel is playful, exploratory, cosmic—keeping the sense of exploring new frontiers very much alive.

The retro feel has a surprising innocence, and it’s refreshing. The mystery of life and our sense of humanity’s boundless exploration have been temporarily compromised by the hyper-developments of technology in the last three years, contributing to a general lack of wonder and curiosity in the current world. Kicking back in all that joyful exploration of the late 1950s is a fun mini-time travel experience and a good perspective refresh. Let’s keep that curiosity alive, people!

The nightclub will be open until 1 or 2am—depending on the show and the crowd—with doors opening at a reasonable 8pm. The lineups will be versatile. Friday night shows will feature cover bands, jam bands, funk, reggae, soul, disco and more. Saturdays are DJ nights, with disco house, trap house, deep house and so on.

“We’re going for a vibe. What brings fun, what makes people happy,” Pugash said during a Thursday morning conversation just before Vintage Space’s maiden voyage. “1957 was such a cool time. It was a time of American possibility and ingenuity—this feeling of a limitless horizon. That’s the kind of energy we’ve tried to tap into. That exploratory, fun feeling.”

Pugash and Benson Wang—who spear-headed Vintage Space—are no strangers to creating an exploratory, fun feeling. Bay Area natives and EDM lovers may not be surprised to learn that these two are the masterminds behind the San Francisco establishments Bergerac, a bar with an impromptu house party feel; Audio, a music-driven nightclub; Palm House, a tropical restaurant with vacation drinks; and The Dorian, a neighborhood supper club. Combined, the two are a recipe for nightlife.

Though I’ve long been chomping at the bit for a hot club presence in Sonoma County, I asked Pugash if he thought Santa Rosa’s demographic was ready for this type of socializing.

“The median age in Sonoma County is 38 now, which kind of blew my mind,” Pugash said. “I think people are ready for it. Do people like good music? They do. Do they like having fun? They do. Even though we’re space-themed, we’re not doing any rocket science here. We’re just trying to give people a good time.” 

And Vintage Space, as with the Flamingo Resort in its entirety, really isn’t just for the visiting guests; the goal is that Santa Rosans will enjoy it just as much as out-of-towners. Pugash, a North Bay local himself, born in San Francisco and raised in both Marin and Sonoma, is excited to provide locals with more opportunities to get out and have fun.

“With the music program, the concepting and everything, I want to create something that’s harmonious to both locals and hotel guests,” he said. “It’s always about bringing people together in these kinds of spaces. I do think that locals will like this place.”

Though music is Vintage Space’s primary focus, comedy nights, Sunday salsa nights and other events are also on the docket. While staying focused and bringing in Bay Area musical talent, Vintage Space looks forward to giving local artists space to explore. *Cough cough*. 

Last weekend, Vintage Space held two inaugural shows. This Friday the five-piece “roots-reggae” band the Bloodstones takes the stage. On Saturday, All Good Funk Alliance kicks things off before DJ Malarkey spins some dusty electro swing. The lineup is stacked through the end of the month with no signs of slowing. 

Get ready to blast off, Santa Rosa.
For more information on Vintage Space visit www.vintagespacesr.com.

Sonoma County Publishes Report on Impacts of Development at Former State Hospital Site

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Sonoma County Publishes Report on Impacts of Development at Former State Hospital Site

Sonoma County moved closer to developing a plan for the former site of the Sonoma Developmental Center as Permit Sonoma released a draft environmental impact report on Wednesday, Aug. 10.

The county has been grappling with how to develop and preserve the 945-acre property in Glen Ellen that formerly housed a state hospital and shut its doors in 2018.

Proposed designs combine housing and infrastructure while at the same time enhancing the site’s historical character and natural beauty, according to the county. It is what Sonoma County policy manager Bradley Dunn calls an “intentional community,” with walking and bike paths, eateries, a grocery store and housing.

“It’s somewhere that is a vibrant community that people want to live in, where they can walk, where they can interact with their neighbors,” Dunn said in January.

That doesn’t mean that the entire acreage will be turned into a quaint-yet-bustling village. According to Dunn, only 180 acres of the site will be developed, leaving more than 700 acres as a preserve.

The state has taken the unusual step of allowing Sonoma County to determine how the land will be used before the state cedes the property, Dunn said.

“The state created a partnership with us, but really allowed us to work with the community to program the land use,” he said. “As long as we protect open space, prioritize housing and affordable housing, and focus on economic development, they will let the county program the land use.”

Preliminary ideas for the site were presented at a Board of Supervisors meeting on Nov. 1, 2021, and the county has sought input from the community through workshops, meetings and an online survey. The county’s plan would include preservation of Sonoma Creek; 1,000 housing units with 283 reserved as affordable housing, especially for adults with developmental disabilities; a walkable core with transit, pedestrian and bike paths; institutional uses to drive research and education and employment; and commercial, recreational and civic uses for residents.

The environmental impact report has determined that three key things important to surveyed residents will not be impacted with the current development plan: preserving open space and wildlife, water issues, and wildfire risk and evacuation routes.

The plan includes a fire station and a new connection to Route 12, for example. As for water, the EIR determined that onsite water sources will be able to meet all demands through 2045, whether years are normal or dry.

The EIR did find some hiccups involving historical preservation and vehicle miles-traveled rates, the county said. Though the historic Main House and Sonoma House will both be protected, other historical structures will suffer “unavoidable impacts” as a result of the development.

The state gave Sonoma County until the end of the year to figure out its priorities for the site and create a timeline. Completing the EIR was a big part of that goal.

As to what ultimately happens to the land, Dunn said a developer will most likely buy it from the state, though they will have to respect the “blueprint” laid down by the county. Whoever ends up purchasing the property will also have to invest at least $100 million in new infrastructure, Dunn said.

The county is enthusiastic about the possibilities.

“For now, we are really thinking about the type of development we want done and how that will impact the environment,” he said. “At the end of the day, it is both a guiding principle for the development and required under state law that we preserve the open space, and that is really important to us. We’re really proud of the work that we’ve been doing.”

The draft EIR and other related documents are available at www.sdcspecificplan.com.

Sonoma Sheriff’s Office Releases 11-Minute Edited Video of Fatal Shooting

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Sonoma Sheriff’s Office Releases 11-Minute Edited Video of Fatal Shooting

The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office on Sunday, Aug. 14, released an 11-minute, edited video on Facebook showing a portion of the final moments of David Pelaez-Chavez’s life. 

The Sheriff’s Office says the video was created in accordance with a state law, requiring law enforcement agencies to release videos 45 days after a “critical incident” in most cases. On Aug. 15, the Press Democrat reported that Critical Incident Videos, a Vacaville-based company which specializes in creating videos for law enforcement following high-profile incidents, helped make the video.

Critics argue that such videos offer agencies an opportunity to craft a narrative before releasing full, unedited footage. However, by releasing the edited video, the Sheriff’s Office has effectively waived its ability to withhold raw footage on the grounds that releasing it would interfere with an investigation. Multiple news organizations, including the Bohemian, have requested unedited footage of the events leading up to Pelaez-Chavez’s death. 

The edited video was published two weeks after a Sheriff’s deputy shot and killed Pelaez-Chavez, a 36-year-old farmworker, on the morning of July 29, hours after law enforcement received several calls from homeowners in the Geyserville area.

One caller told authorities that a man had thrown a rock through a window of their home and then stolen an employee’s truck, dragging the employee 20 feet without injuring him. He drove the car through several fences and left it after crashing. A second nearby homeowner, armed with a gun, told dispatchers that Pelaez-Chavez had been on his property carrying rocks and “asking me to kill him.”

According to the Sheriff’s video, Pelaez-Chavez later took an ATV, crashed it and fled by foot. After pursuing him through the countryside for approximately a mile, two deputies confronted Paleaz-Chavez in a creekbed, where Pelaez-Chavez held two tools—a hammer and a hand tiller—and a rock.

The video shows that, when he leaned down and picked up another rock, deputy Anthony Powers fired a taser at Pelaez-Chavez and, almost simultaneously, the second deputy, Michael Dietrick, shot him three times with a gun from about 10–15 feet away at approximately 10:03am. Pelaez-Chavez was declared dead at 10:29am.

During the final interaction, the Sheriff’s Office’s helicopter can be heard hovering above and, shortly before his death, Pelaez-Chavez raises his arms and yells at the helicopter, reportedly saying in Spanish that the officers want to kill him.

Localuma Workshop Offers More Inclusive Approach to Sustainability

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Localuma Workshop Offers More Inclusive Approach to Sustainability

Last Friday I sat down with a couple of hundred other bright-eyed optimists at Petaluma’s much-loved Sonoma Marin Fairgrounds to talk about “the creation of strong, vibrant and connected neighborhoods.”

The event was part of the Sustainable Design Assessment Team grant from the American Institute of Architects. The goal of the project, known as Localuma, was put most simply by AIA team-lead Mike Davis: “We’re gonna try to get our arms around what having Petaluma be a 15-minute walkable city looks like.”

The idea behind this type of walkable city is the 15-minute neighborhood. Such a city is designed around neighborhood hubs that include retail, grocery, parks and other basic needs that, too often, people have to jump in their car and drive to reach. An example of such a hub in Petaluma that was noted by the team is Leghorn shopping center on the northeast side of town.

Dozens of volunteers from the community organized the application and hosted the Friday night dinner, where participants were asked how they would like to see the city transformed to meet carbon-neutrality goals.

In addition to the community gathering and other stakeholder events over the weekend, there was specific direct outreach to the Latinx community. Getting participation from the Latinx community has long been a goal for local sustainability activists, and one that has not yet been successfully attained.

The SDAT team took the time to build relationships with Spanish-speaking leaders and then, when the AIA consultants were here in town, by going to the Spanish-speaking community where they are … in this case to St. Vincent’s Catholic Church’s Spanish mass, and to Lolita’s Market on Lakeville. 

Speaking about this novel approach, Iliana Madrigal-Hooper said, “It is something different I haven’t seen before. I have been telling all these nonprofit organizations, ‘If you want the Latino community to participate, [then] you have to go to the laundromat, you have to go to Lolita’s Market, there are a few key places in Petaluma that you have to show up. You have to be persistent.’” It is a credit to the SDAT team that they established a connection to the Latinx community here in town in a way not attempted before.

Another concern that was raised in conversations on Friday was the ever-present danger of overlap of activities with similar activist initiatives. Indeed, among the volunteers were local climate action leaders from Cool Petaluma, Daily Acts, 350 Petaluma and many more, all groups that have run their own similar activities, possibly running the risk of diluting their efforts.

SDAT committee co-chair Veronica Olsen agreed that there is a history of this problem. “We’re all guilty of being in our little zones,” she said, “and we don’t always look at how everything is impacting everything else.”

Natasha Juliana, Cool Petaluma’s campaign director, assured me that in her organization’s case there was an “intentional synergy” with SDAT’s work. The block-by-cool-block initiative will use the SDAT findings “to create a second phase going beyond the block program,” making changes on the neighborhood level.

According to SDAT’s findings, as presented to the city council, these changes could look like tree-lined major arterials, mini-downtowns throughout the cit, and interconnected green corridors, allowing for easy and inviting biking and walking throughout our fair city.

Sebastopol Urgent Care doctors tirelessly serve West County

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It has been a long year for Sebastopol Urgent Care.  Founders Drs. Libby Flower and Kathleen Whisman have worked themselves, well, to the quick, since they opened their new business on Aug. 23, 2021. Flower has worked seven days a week for the past six months, with only four days off, while Whisman was diagnosed with a rare cancer in...
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Atlas, the Lonely Gibbon at Spreckels in Rohnert Park

Despite the word “robot” being initially coined in Karel Capek’s 1921 play R.U.R, “science,” “fiction” and “play” are three words not generally associated with each other. Truth be told, Deborah Yarchun’s Atlas, the Lonely Gibbon is less sci-fi and more a scary not-so-speculative, not-so-fictional story. Sheri Lee Miller directs the world premiere production running at the Spreckels Performing Arts Center...
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Jack and Charmian London Return as Holograms

All birthdays are good, but this year mine was the best, because Jack London State Park digital tour’s soft release date coincided with it, on Aug. 6. So, while I ate cake on my deck, I also downloaded the app and took the tour. And it was both informative and enjoyable. The digital app is part of a new breed...
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Finding Meaning on a Ship of Fools

Life is like a journey aboard a steamship. We did not ask to be here, and we can’t get off until the captain says so.  No one has ever seen the captain, and no one knows why this is even happening, but a few can point us in the right direction. The journey is the same for everyone, starting with...
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Petaluma Installation Celebrates People of Color at Burning Man

For the past three decades, people have ventured into Nevada’s Black Rock Desert in late August to build, run and then disassemble a functioning city on a remote and dusty piece of land. With a population of roughly 70,000, the temporary city is the 10th largest in Nevada for one week of the year. Burning Man, as the gathering is called,...
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Culture Crush—KingLung, Debussy, Hollywood and More

Healdsburg Brazilian Guitar  This Saturday, spend the evening transported by Brazilian jazz guitar. Renowned guitarists Romero Lubambo and Chico Pinheiro come to Healdsburg’s intimate music space The 222. Lubambo has been described as “perhaps” the best practitioner in his day, bringing the rhythm and sensuality of his Brazilian heritage and a mastery of the instrument to jazz guitar, creating an inimitable...
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Flamingo Resort Brings Nightlife to Santa Rosa

The long wait for a dance space is over, Santa Rosa.  No longer will we comb the streets after 10pm searching for a spot with a DJ and a dance floor. No longer will we make our party plans in San Francisco. Moving forward, North Bay revelers need look no further than the towering, pink neon sign on Fourth Street, announcing...
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Sonoma County Publishes Report on Impacts of Development at Former State Hospital Site

Sonoma Developmental Center - California
Sonoma County moved closer to developing a plan for the former site of the Sonoma Developmental Center, releasing a draft environmental impact report on Aug. 10.
Read more

Sonoma Sheriff’s Office Releases 11-Minute Edited Video of Fatal Shooting

Sonoma County Sheriff's Office - Aug. 14, 2022
The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office on Sunday, Aug. 14, released an 11-minute, edited video on Facebook showing a portion of the final moments of David Pelaez-Chavez’s life.  The Sheriff’s Office says the video was created in accordance with a state law, requiring law enforcement agencies to release videos 45 days after a “critical incident” in most cases. On Aug. 15,...
Read more

Localuma Workshop Offers More Inclusive Approach to Sustainability

ByLorena Photography - Localuma
Last Friday I sat down with a couple of hundred other bright-eyed optimists at Petaluma’s much-loved Sonoma Marin Fairgrounds to talk about “the creation of strong, vibrant and connected neighborhoods.” The event was part of the Sustainable Design Assessment Team grant from the American Institute of Architects. The goal of the project, known as Localuma, was put most simply by...
Read more
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