Must Travel: Boonville, CA

For a tiny town with a wee population of just over 1,000 people, the one-bar(The Buckhorn Saloon) hamlet of Boonville, CA is quite the charmer. Boonville bursts with loads of natural beauty, a unique jargon(Boontling), and more friendly folks than the heart of Texas. A popular getaway for California city-dwellers, San Franciscans can roll up in a little over 2 hours. With a charming main street, numerous farms, vineyards and tasting rooms, the Anderson Valley Brewery, the ole wise Redwoods hovering nearby, and sun and shade drenched shadow play across picturesque landscapes with plenty of room to spread your picnic blanket, and of course the beloved Boonville Hotel, it is a verdant hiatus away from your everyday. With just enough gristle and quirk to make you forget your Joe** for a few days.

The Boonville Hotel

Nestled in a valley pitched between tree-lined sun-kissed hill peaks, on a winding mountain road not half an hour from California’s rustically invigorating Mendocino Pacific shore, the darling Boonville Hotel has all the right priorities: “It’s all about people, food, drink, and a well-made bed." No doubt. The hotel perches right on the main street in town, and houses a terrific innkeeper’s lodge, with rooms above the lobby, bar and restaurant, and warmly detailed casitas sprinkled on the land. It’s so cozy, it makes it hard not to sleep in in the morning. If you somehow manage to rise early, there are plenty of pockets and nooks on the pastoral grounds perfect for daydreaming, exploring, or mingling. You early birds can even catch a cat nap if you wish outdoors—hammocks drape most of the trees and porches on the property.

Visit one of the few lunch spots in town, get you some hot zeese*** and treat yourself to some fresh churned ice cream across the street at the Boonville Hotel’s sister ice cream shop Paysanne while you browse the colorful main street shops. Enjoy mid-century architecture, old-school pace of life, and the subtler sounds of nature you can’t pick up in the city. But save your appetite, as The Boonville Hotel's famously scrumptious slow-food, farm-to-table restaurant Table 128 chef-owner Johnny Schmitt’s articulate cuisine, which features a prix fixe, daily freshly-curated menu that will cause the tongues of your tastebuds to dance in wonderment and downright disbelief—it is impossibly delicious. The meal is prepared with love and it shines through. For those just looking for a relaxing evening, any day of the week you can grab a glass of wine or wine by the bottle to enjoy in the lush grounds. Saturdays and Sundays enjoy an on-site outdoor cold-pressed juice bar, and the weekly Saturday farmer’s market. On your way out, be sure to stop at Pennyroyal Farm for a sweet farmstead cheese plate.

Put it on your list! And don’t forget to mention Small Room Collective for a special price when booking a midweek stay at the Boonville Hotel!

*Apparently the wealthiest man in the area at Boontling’s renaissance was a very tall man.

**Your phone. Otherwise known as a “Joe” or a “Walter" in Boontling, for the first man in Boonville to own a telephone, and the first man to have one installed, respectively, supposedly.

***Zeese Blevens apparently liked his coffee and he liked it strong.