In Case You Go There
Monday, November 10th, 2014
"Downtown" Port Costa with the Burlington Hotel on the right and the biker bar on the left.
You may never find yourself anywhere close, but in case you do I want to tell you about a really sweet little off-the-beaten-path town and biker bar up at the far north end of the San Francisco Bay Area.
It’s Port Costa and we heard about it from a park ranger at John Muir National Historic Site in Martinez, California, just a short distance away.
The national historic site was the home of John Muir, good buddy of Teddy Roosevelt and acclaimed the father of the National Park Service. Seeing as how I work for the park service, this stop was one on our California vacation agenda. We had been in the city (San Francisco, that is) for a few days and then headed out to go to the wine country.
When we were ready to leave the park we were interested in finding some place nice but not overly expensive as knew any place around Napa would be. We were particularly interested in the area on the south shore of the strait and Suisun Bay, which separate the northern part of the Bay Area from Napa County.
“Take California 4 west to the very next exit and get off on McEwen Road to Port Costa,” one of the rangers told us. “It’s a really cool little town and they have a great biker bar there.”
Who could resist that?
So we did and you have never seen a narrower, twistier little road than this one. It led into this funky little town that was just a trip. At the end of the road was the strait. This place had once been a busy shipping area for locally grown wheat.
The downtown consists of six building. The Burlington Hotel, where we stayed, is one of those grand old hotels of days gone by, only this one is still not exactly restored to its old grandeur. But it was cool and funky and we liked it.
Across the street was . . . I don’t know what. That is, I don’t know what it was built as. A warehouse? Hard to say. But it now houses one of the most interesting bars and restaurants you’ll ever find. You’ve surely seen some of these chain restaurants that fill the place with all this collection of antiques and kitsch and whatever. They’re trying to be this place. This is the real thing.
And it’s a favorite of bikers. The parking lot was loaded with bikes the whole time we were there, and what a collection of bikes. There were old Nortons, modern Harleys, ancient stripped down cruisers, not to mention some old Hondas and old Triumphs and you name it. In fact, it was surprising how many of these bikes were old.
And then there was the rest of the town. We walked down the main street and it seems everyone in town has done what they could to make their house and yard as original, as totally different, as imaginable. And there are chickens walking around, numerous motorcycles in various stages of repair, orange trees full of fruit–an incredible mish-mash.
So I’m telling you, if you ever find yourself out in the area, go there. This is a hidden gem. Heck, the park ranger who told us about it said he had lived in the area his whole life and he only found out about this place a couple months ago.
But I will warn you: nothing is cheap there. Beer is beer but the restaurant serves lobster, steak, prime rib–the whole shebang, and you’ll pay. Likewise, the hotel may still be shabby but it ain’t cheap, either. But it’s such a cool place.
Biker Quote for Today
We are here to show those guys that are inching their way on the freeways in their metal coffins that the human spirit is still alive.
