SEA GULL
The Sea Gull Restaurant was a popular hangout in Mendocino during the 1970s and 80s. Lots of things happened there, good and bad. I knew sooner or later this would all be converted to words. On this page you will find stories, experiences, and reflections on my time at the Sea Gull. Pictures, articles, art, and more will be posted as they become available. If you were an employee or customer during that time and have pictures or experiences you want to share, send them to me at dhj@thinkinthemorning.com. Don’t expect this to be a foodie site. I might from time to time venture into the joys of mezcal or review a favorite restaurant or offer up a recipe that I’ve found tasty, but my primary purpose is to document some of the happenings at the Sea Gull during the 70s and 80s for those who care.
New Years 2017 Napkin Art Special
[click on blue links for further information] First, a few facts about New Years: The date of New Year’s Day seems so fundamental that it’s almost as though nature ordained it. But New Year’s Day is a civil event. Its date isn’t precisely fixed by any...
Cellar Bar Napkin Art Christmas Special
Think in the Morning is not a fan of Christmas. The Scrooge portrayed by Dickens in A Christmas Carol has always seemed a bit of a wimp to us, relenting at the end because of a few silly ghosts. However, we know that we are likely at the eccentric end of our...
Sea Gull Cellar Bar Remembered
This article was copied from the Mendocino Beacon, December 1976, just after the fire that destroyed the restaurant. Unfortunately a portion of the article was lost. Otherwise, it appears as it was published in the newspaper. Sea Gull Cellar Bar Rememberedby...
Keynesian Economics and the Sea Gull
[click on blue links for more information] All you need to know about Keynesian economics can be summed up in one statement: What goes around comes around. Several years ago, I came across a small isolated town and stopped for gas. Being an economist, I...
Special Thanksgiving Napkin Art Edition
I first learned about San Pasqual, patron saint of cooks and shepherds, from my friends Gil and Lucy in Puerto Vallarta where I purchased the wood carving at the top of this post. I will be writing a piece on Gil and Lucy soon. There are many sources online that...
Drunkards, Fools, and the United States of America
Marlene Hall, the previous owner of the Sea Gull Restaurant, once told me that God protects drunkards, fools, and babies. Or, maybe it was my friend Judy Johnson. Actually, I think they’ve both used the phrase in my presence. A little googling revealed that a similar...
We Cracked Pots Have A Sense Of Humor
[click on highlighted links for further information] When everyone is insane, ‘Tis folly to be wise (Paul Samuelson, 1970 Nobel economist rephrasing Thomas Grey) If you can keep you head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you...
Home Cooking
[Click on highlighted links for videos and more information.] In the 70s we had Opal’s Silver Spoon Café on the Lily Tomlin show and Mel’s Diner in ALICE. Today these have morphed into the Food Network. A pinch and a shake are no longer the norm. Recipes are...
The Wanda Tinasky Affair
There are strange things done in the midnight sun By the men who moil for gold; The Arctic trails have their secret tales That would make your blood run cold; The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, But the queerest they ever did see Was that night on the marge of...
A Few Comments About The Old Sea Gull Cellar Bar
The old Sea Gull Cellar Bar really was a cellar, a hole in the ground carved out below the dining room and accessed via a spiral staircase from inside the restaurant upstairs. That staircase was the bane of many waitresses and waiters who ran up and down to retrieve...
The Mendocino Shuffle
A few patrons and some of the staff referred to the Sea Gull Cellar Bar as The Meat Market or The Butcher Shop. This was a variant of the Mendocino Shuffle itself “a pun on the rather open sex life of many free-love folks at the time” and the inspiration for at least...
New Years at The Sea Gull 1975
The post below was transcribed from My Bag by Joe Fitzpatrick published in the Monterey Peninsula Herald on Friday, January 10, 1975. Mendocino in the 1970s was a different place than it is today. Things moved at a slower pace. The article describes accurately but...