While I had a few minutes to spare before meeting a friend for coffee at the Flying Goat, I drew Healdsburg’s Raven Theater, just around the corner. The Raven Theater was built in 1949 as a movie theater and was named the “Aven,” after the owner’s wife’s name spelled backwards. Sometime later the “R” was added giving it the current cool name Raven Theater. Today, the theater has performances ranging from jazz (Jean Luc Ponty) to blues (Bo Diddley), comedy and variety shows like Healdsburg’s home grown “Mr. Healdsburg” competition. The Raven Players, Healdsburg’s Resident theater group, also performe here with ambitious productions like Cats, Miss Saigon, and Our Town. Although I drew this when Seussical the Musical was playing, the current theater production is RENT. I hear its great. Be sure to check it out.

More information can be found at the Raven Players website: http://www.ravenplayers.org/

and the Raven Theater: http://www.raventheater.org

A big thanks to all the firefighters for keeping the Healdsburg post office fire contained to one building. The restaurant Ravenous and the Northcoast Bank next door were untouched. Friends of mine told me smoke could be seen and smelled throughout town, but I had no knowledge of this since I was in Santa Rosa with my sketch group that evening. I also heard that two Windsor firefighters were injured while containing the blaze and I hope they have a speedy recovery.

While drawing two emergency vehicles outside the Healdsburg fire station, the scene reminded me of a fire engine sketch created by illustrator James Jean. It’s from a wonderful book called An Illustrated Life by Danny Gregory. James Jean is one of my favorite sketch artists and this particular drawing contains a great deal of detail. But really, it’s the solidness of the truck that he captured that impresses me the most.

Before I had a chance to finish my drawing, a fireman backed the fire engine inside the station and the other emergency vehicle was driven away, a real disappointment. But, I did my best to remember remaining details in order to finish the sketch as best I could from memory.

As soon as I got out of my car I could smell the residual smoke from the fire that burned the Healdsburg post office last night. The street was taped off along with police, fire and federal officials still swarming the area. Although no one yet knows how the fire got started, speculation is that it started in the roof of the building. A couple of years ago postal officials wanted to move the post office to the annex location on Foss Creek Circle to save money, but an uproar with residents forced them to reconsider the move. Smoke once again starts to rise from the back of the building and the firefighters get to work.

I park myself right at the edge of the Do Not Cross tape in front of Amoruso Print shop, pull out my sketchbook and start drawing. Many residents stop by to pay their regards to the old burned out building and tell me stories about the history of the place. The building was used for many things before being a post office including a small Safeway grocery store back in the 60’s.

This sketch of Healdsburg’s North Street was drawn from a vantage point near city hall looking east. I chose to stay in my car while drawing because I liked the angle and sometimes its nice to have good back support and a radio for company. Using a Moleskine and a Pigma Micron pen, I fleshed out the drawing and then added a little watercolor. Although I like Moleskine sketchbooks, I find that watercolor often beads up on the page, so I usually only add spot colors instead of washes.

In my drawing, the old, abandoned Purity Products building is on the left. The building was originally called Cerri Brothers Produce Warehouse and was used for packing fruit before sending it on its way along the railroad. Over the next few years, the railroad tracks will be upgraded to make way for the new passenger train called SMART that will run from Cloverdale all the way down to Larkspur, not far from the Golden Gate Bridge. From there passengers can take the bus or ferry to San Francisco.

Located at the far end of the street is the Les Mars Hotel which also houses the critically acclaimed restaurant, Cyrus.

Healdsburg is a small town in northern California where I call home. It’s an artsy community in the heart of Sonoma County wine country and I love living here. When one of my good friends Monte visits from Arizona, he likes to call Healdsburg a sophisticated Mayberry (after the fictional town in North Carolina that was the setting for the American television sitcom, The Andy Griffith Show). I understand what he means, but it just feels like home to me. Similar to many 150 year old towns, we have a central square or plaza that defines and unifies the downtown area, and also provides an excellent venue for community events. Concerts, art festivals, and antique shows fill the summer months, keeping the tourist season alive. But it’s the wine industry that usually draws people to Healdsburg with restaurants coming in a close second. This sketchbook drawing of Hotel Healdsburg is one of our premiere hotels, located on the west side of the downtown plaza.