Sebastopol: California's Apple Cart

As an avid bookreader, my pick of the highlights would have to be Copperfields Books. Both the main store and the annex that carry discounted products are here, within the same block. Another mind-blowing shop is the Incredible Music Store which is a Canadian transplant from Toronto. There is nothing ordinary about this place, and you’ll read more about it. The owner recommended we drive to Jenner and Bodega Bay and that was fabulous. Also celebrating the goddess in all women, is a thought provoking place called Milk & Honey . At first, I thought the shop related to Israel, which has always been coined as the land of milk & honey, but this owner must not have known that. Rosemary’s Garden is a welcoming place that offers herbs for teas, cooking, skin care, and relaxation. There is yet another East/West Café here with a similar menu to that of the one in Santa Rosa, but we were still stuffing ourselves with croissants, so I just peered inside the window to see the décor.

Quick Tips:

This is another community which is part of the ArtTrails program. As we were readying ourselves to leave, we passed a studio that displayed a wonderful version of a statue of liberty which was dedicated to the victims of the September 11 attack of the World Trade Center. As we stopped to take photos, another family driving by decided to stop as well and show their children. The cars parked in front of the studio were pieces of artwork as well as the photos will reveal. Art galleries are not lacking on Main Street, and there is also a study program on Main Street called Abroad Italy offering intensive and true Italian culture in Perugia. It is sponsored by the Dominican University of California. Call 707-824-8965 if you find this appealing.

Best Way To Get Around:

You can only get here by car. Sebastopol is situated at the intersection of Highway 12 and Highway 16, the latter which is also called Gravenstein Highway. Best thing is to park and walk around. There are many apple orchards along Highway 16, where this fruit is celebrated in every form possible.

For more on San Francisco and other Northern California Cities:

San Jose

Healdsburg

Go West!

Petaluma

Slumming in San Francisco

San Francisco II

Rohnert Park Berkeley

Santa Rosa

Are you stressed? This is the rhetorical question of our age; if you’re in California, you will be at a loss as to where to "de-stress". Spas, hot stone therapy, massages, detox farms, yoga therapies, ayurveda seminars, - all of which are wonderful and equally expensive. If you are in Sebastopol, there is a place where you can unravel your knotted minds and bodies in a do-it-yourself apothecary called Rosemary’s Garden. There really is a person called Rosemary, and she, in fact, is quite notorious as a famous herbalist who has specialized in this trade since 1972.

I love to go into shops like these because I use a lot of the products, and when I find something noteworthy, or something that I use which is not found easily, I am thrilled. I also realized that my mother had been using herbal therapy as her mother had, giving me chamomile to relax a nervous stomach, diluting a tincture of peppermint for abdominal pains, and cooking with rose water to add flavor to special dishes.

At Rosemary’s Garden, you can find herbs for cooking, for making teas and infusions (that’s another thing my mother used to inflict on me: tisanes), flower essences and essential oils. She carries a specific line of women’s cosmetic and skin care developed by a Dr. Hauschka. If you’re adventurous, you can mix and make your own soaps, fragrances and gifts. How many of you have been tempted to bite into a slice of soap that smelled so authentically of coconut? I have drawer sachets which I have made from lavender from Provence; one of the greatest herbal movements "du jour" are natural estrogen replacement therapies for women who are reluctant to take prescribed estrogen. I am currently using Dong Quai, Black Cohosh, Vitamin E among other herbs and vitamins to fend off some of the discomforts, and they have worked admirably.

Rosemary’s Garden is the oldest and largest herb store in Sonoma County. They have a web presence, however, I did not find the site very informative as far as the function of the various herbs and remedies. If you are new to the herbal life style, a good place to start would be here.

Milk & Honey bills itself as the store for "treasures and pleasures of the goddess", and believe me, it looks and feels like a haven for women, about women, glorifying women of all walks of life. Books, jewelry, cards, CDs - it's all here. There is an emphasis on the spiritual, by way of an extensive array of statues ranging in the $200 area; there was a small statue of Artermis!! We had seen hundred of them in Turkey.

Books abound on the topic, and I found quite a few that were in my own library back in New York. Have you ever heard of Sark? She's absolutely fabulous and her books combine humor and total common sense.

Most of the jewelry depicts faeries, goddesses, spirits, and sexual symbols. My favorite was the Creation Goddess which had very sensual lines with her spirals on both sides, and I could see myself wearing those earrings. Their aromatherapy products are few, but use quality materials such as ylang ylang which is hard to come by. We had seen the flower itself during a visit to Jamaica. Other natural ingredients include rose, lavender, chamomile, grapefruit, clove and ginger. You'll be enticed by names like Sweet Surrender, and Charmed and Smitten . They are available in perfume, spritzer and lotion forms.

Don't be surprised to hear African Drum Music or Celtic pieces like Enya. Milk & Honey doesn't stop there; they are very involved in the community sponsoring various events as they relate to the store; the products they offer are made by women of Sonoma County; in the divination department, they offer all sorts of cards which fall under the tarot and oracle varieties. Imagine Helen Reddy in this store belting out her I am Woman hit.

Copperfield Books is apparently well known on the West Coast. I became acquainted with it on this visit, and quickly fell in love. Aside from being an independent bookstore, they pride themselves in their efforts to maintain a censorship-free press. The owners are situated in Sonoma County and their book selections reflect the local causes, and the flavor of the local folks. I found it surprisingly refreshing to have a tarot reader in the back of the store. She was dressed as a gypsy, seated with a large round table in front of her covered with a red cloth. No takers at the time.

Their section on house decor was outstanding, rivaling the best stocked areas of Barnes and Noble or Borders. Did I forget to mention the waterfall? Yes, a wonderful, murmuring, soothing waterfall sits in the center of the store gurgling water. It's positively enchanting. The selection of magazines is definitely not random. Most are targeted to well read individuals and/or causes such as conservation, green living, healthy living, gay causes, art, photography and the like. Very little in the way of cheesecake, and that was a welcome change.

They also have a very active guest program where author and readers converge. They will do out-of-print book searches for you, and also sell tickets to worthwhile cultural events in the community. They have their own literary magazine called the "Dickens" (how appropriate) to which contributions are solicited on line and at the store.

Their annex is located a few yards down the street, and we browsed in there for a long time; I was particularly delighted to find never seen before titles. Copperfields has 5 stores in Sonoma County and are headquartered in Nebraska.

As we turned the corner from the place we had left the car, the music emanating from the store was late 70"s early 80’s. Impossible to resist. The doors were wide open, and there was a hastily scribbled poster announcing a music event in the forthcoming days. As you enter the store, you really don’t know what to look at first as everything everywhere demands your attention. The wall is literally filled with pictures, posters and all sorts of memorabilia to take you back to the golden age of rock’n’roll and some go even farther back.

The owner, Jonathan Lipsin, moved here from Toronto, and continues his reputation as music maven from Jim Morrison’s era. He is a devout fan of Morrison’s and has photos of himself together with him, and other music celebs. He is a very friendly and knowledgeable man.

I decided this would be the perfect place for me to find something for my daughter Michele, who would live on music if food were not available. I made my way to the poster area, where two huge "v- shaped" libraries hold rare and not so rare posters of famous singers. I don’t know what Sharon Stone was doing in there, but there she was. I found one poster of Ani di Franco, Michele’s idol. I didn’t recognize it, so I thought this would be awesome for her. Then I asked Jonathan about CDs. He showed me the area where Ani’s were and I selected 2 of them, hereagain, assuming that Michele didn’t have them. As I was doing my shopping, Chuck was playing 20 questions with Jonathan. Chuck is music freak # 2 in my life.

It was amazing to see what this man had amassed in his years on the planet. Also, the categories were extensive in the CD albums, especially the international section which always draws me to it.

We saw a photo of Morrison at 12 years of age. Then I told him the story about Michele and Heather in Paris this summer who got locked into the cemetary while looking for Morrison’s grave. (They were eventually rescued by the French flics). The CDs were $17 each and the poster was $20. A bit pricey, but I knew Michele would love it. As it turned out later, she already had the poster, and one of the CD’s. She also informed me that I was "ripped off" on the poster. Oh well…

You definitely have to stop in here whether you buy something or not. If you are a baby boomer, this place will take you back all the way to your high school sweetheart.