Historic, downtown Vallejo is often overlooked by out-of-towners. Six Flags Marine World on the outskirts of town draws plenty of visitors, but few make it downtown and to the waterfront-the real Vallejo.
Georgia Street downtown
Published: July, 2001
Historic, downtown Vallejo is often overlooked by out-of-towners. Six Flags Marine World on the outskirts of town draws plenty of visitors, but few make it downtown and to the waterfront-the real Vallejo.Satisfy your curiosity and check it out, because the setting is incredible. This expansive waterfront near the mouth of the Napa River, takes in the view of open hills, the Carquinez Strait, and the W.W.II vintage skyline of Mare Island across the water. Vallejo began as a vision of General Vallejo. Proclaiming it to be the true center of the state, commerce, and travel, he offered to donate this land to the State of California, complete with a state capitol building. Upon acceptance, the state named the new, but ultimately short-lived capitol after the generous general. As one of California’s oldest settlements, Vallejo and its architectural splendor will impress you as you stroll through downtown, or through the Vallejo Heritage District on the hill above. Laden with potential, the City is beginning to organize and market its attributes for visitors.
With one of the most beautiful ferry rides on the bay, Vallejo-based commuters are both fortunate and ferry-loyal. The ride passes so much of the Bay Area’s prettiest shoreline, beginning with the San Francisco skyline, Alcatraz and Angel Island. After passing under the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, the East Brother Light Station comes into view, built in 1873 to light the way for ships traveling to Vallejo and Sacramento. The old light station was eventually decommissioned and narrowly rescued from demolition by a group of loving citizens. It is now an inn run by East Brother Light Station, Inc. If you come to spend the night, you will be well-fed, or you may come for the day with a picnic. Though the rooms aren’t cheap, the money they generate goes to maintain the light station. The boat that takes you there leaves from the San Pablo Yacht Harbor in Richmond. The ferry continues on into the Carquinez Strait, with views of the picturesque shoreline near Crockett and the C&H factory, before heading into Mare Island Strait to the terminal. Its a wonder more sight-see-ers don’t opt for a ride on the Vallejo ferry run in place of the more mundane bay cruises. Those in the know have figured out that the Vallejo ferry also provides an excellent gateway to Napa Valley, or to Benicia along the Carquinez Strait. From Vallejo, you can visit Napa Valley wineries with the California Wine Ship, or venture to Benicia to watch glass blowers craft phenomenal things in their studios. At the ferry terminal, transit will link you with all of this, as well as Vallejo accommodations, which are all out by Six Flags Marine World. The Ramada Inn and the Best Western Inn both offer shuttle service from the ferry terminal for their guests.
1. But first you will want to explore downtown. There is a visitor information station, and coffee and sandwiches at Mugg’s Coffee Emporium in the ferry terminal to help you get started. You might begin your downtown exploration with a visit the Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum at 734 Marin Street. The museum interprets the history of Vallejo and Mare Island, and it is a great jumping-off point for a Mare Island tour. The museum itself is on the National Register of Historic Places, and used to be city hall. Inside, the Saginaw Gallery portrays Mare Island’s achievements. Here, you will learn that Mare Island was established in 1850 as the country’s first Pacific Naval installation on the west coast and home to the Pacific Fleet, which, back then, was a squadron of wooden ships. Mare Island also provided the first docking and repair facility for Pacific trade in the early days, docking vessels like New England whalers, Cape Horn clippers and Nicaraguan steamers carrying gold. Ultimately the Mare Island Shipyard served in the Civil, Spanish American, Korean, and both world wars. Incidentally, it was also in 1850 that the state legislature accepted General Vallejo’s offer to locate the state capitol in Vallejo, and the population grew in response. The state capitol moved to Vallejo in 1852 but never settled in, moving to Benicia in 1853, and ultimately to Sacramento. Mare Island carried on for another 142 years. By World War II, Mare Island had become the largest construction and repair yard in the world. During the war it repaired or overhauled over 4500 vessels from US and Allied fleets before sending them back to war. Models of many of the shipyard’s vessels are on display in the Saginaw Gallery.
Vallejo Directory
Transportation
Vallejo Baylink Ferry, (707) 643-3779, www.baylinkferry.com
Vallejo Transit, (707)648-4666
Benicia Transit, (707)745-0815
Napa Valley Transit, (707)259-8637
Museums and Visitor Information
Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum, (707)643-0077
Camel Barn Museum, (707)745-5435
Vallejo Visitor Information, (707)642-3653
Napa Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau, (707)226-7459, 1310 Napa Town Center
Events
Annual Flyway Festival, January, (707) 557-9816, Mare Island
Benicia Camel Races, July 14-15, (707)745-5435, East 2nd street
Carquinez Heritage Month, August, (510)787-2487, carquinezstrait.org
July 4th Vallejo Parade and Waterfront Concert, Vallejo Waterfront (707)642-3653
Solano County Fair, July 13-July 26, (707)642-3653
Annual Vallejo Shoreline Jazz, Art and Wine Festival, August 25-26, (707)557-0325
Wednesday Night Celebrations, June through September, (707)642-3653 Georgia Street
Vallejo Blues Festival, (707)642-3653, September 15-16, Vallejo waterfront
Vallejo Artist Guild Open Studios, September 22-23 and 29-30, (707)557-3319.
Open Studios group show, Vallejo museum, September 22-23 and 29-30, (707)643-0077.
Vallejo Symphony (707)643-4441, www.vallejosymphony.org
Whaleboat Regatta October 6-7, (707)643-3653, Vallejo Waterfront
Tours and Attractions
Mare Island Historic Park Foundation Tours, (707) 557-1538, www.mareislandhpf.org.
California Wine Ship, (707)643-7337
Six Flags Marine World, (707)643-6722, sixflags.com
Napa Valley Bike Tours and Rentals, (707)255-3377
Downstairs, the museum’s South Gallery houses community relics from arrowpoints to vintage women’s clothing, and a recreated corner store. You will learn about people from Vallejo’s past, like David Glasgow Farragut, first Commander of Mare Island Shipyard, General Vallejo, who was sent by the Mexican government to colonize California north of San Francisco, and his son-in-law General John Frisbie, the man behind the growth and development in Vallejo’s early days. As the community grew, it was General Frisbie who co-designed the street layout, and named the east-west streets with state names and the north-south streets with county names. Frisbie encouraged settlers to stay in Vallejo and sold them land. He also donated land for schools and churches, and developed the Blue Rock Springs Resort. The museum’s main stairway houses a working submarine periscope installed through the roof, offering a unique view of Vallejo and Mare Island.
For glimpses of Victorians, of which Vallejo has many, walk up Georgia Street to the edge of downtown and head up the hill into the neighborhood streets. It’s a pretty walk. There is a book Victoria’s Legacy , (available through the Alameda Museum) that you can bring with you for a more formal tour of Vallejo’s Victorians, but the architecture is so plentiful that you can just wander and enjoy. The Vallejo Heritage Homes District is one of four nationally registered districts west of the Mississippi River. The District is generally centered on Georgia Street in the Old Town area and bordered by York, Marin, Capitol, and Monterey Streets. Most of the buildings were built between 1860 and 1890 and exemplify "working man’s Victorian", ornate with a blend of styles-Queen Anne, Eastlake, Italianate, and Stick-for a distinctive twist. The Heritage Homes District is as much an open air museum as a neighborhood. There are blocks and blocks of beautiful old homes you can see along your hillside stroll with great views over the waterfront.
Back downtown, Georgia Street is a great place to get a feel for Vallejo. It is the heart of Historic Old Town, and hosts a farmers market on Saturdays. Nearby, you may notice the murals of local artist Harold Beaulieu, owner of the Art Department on Georgia Street. Harold’s murals grace Vallejo schools, parks, and downtown buildings. (There is one outside the Afro-Cuban Dance Studio.) What makes him so special is that he makes himself (and art supplies) available for local kids who want to do art. In fact his philosophy calls for a basic art experience for every child. Harold tells me Vallejo would be a better community if there were projects that involved the kids downtown, and he is doing something about it. His opens the door to the Art Department so young kids come by and pick up chalk to decorate the sidewalk outside. He helps people through tough times at home, encouraging them to build their own self esteem through creating their art. For some he offers encouragement to stick with art, for others he provides instruction on how to frame or sell their work. Perks Coffee Shop in the Gateway Plaza has a student-painted mural inside, and runs an ongoing Art Department student art show.
Harold was raised in Vallejo, and is the only artist in Solano County that maintains an ongoing open studio. His students participate in community affairs through the Art Department, which routinely makes banners for community events. Helping build Vallejo’s sense of community, the Art Department completed an Art Against Violence mural project, and Peoples High School holds the largest high school mural in northern California. "Years ago I started this mural thing as a way of showing the community that kids have a lot of contributions to make, and that paint was an easy and inexpensive way for them to contribute" he says. This year, some Art Department students received summer scholarships to the Art Academy and some full scholarships to the Oxbow School in Napa, founded by Robert and Margrit Mondavi, and Ann Hatch. Last summer, Harold organized a band of helpers to fix a long-time vacant building that had been used as a drug deal shelter. They cleaned it up and hung a young peoples art exhibit in the window, and the building now has a happy merchant tenant. Because Harold’s mentoring is widely known, businesses like Amsterdam Art in Berkeley donate materials for him to supply to his artists. "Art gives the community identity" Harold tells me. I think the Art Department gives Vallejo something it can be proud of.
Mare Island
Mare Island Historic Park Foundation, (707)557-1538
Benicia
Benicia Glass Studios, 675-701 East H Street, (707)745-5710
Camel Barn Museum, 2060 Camel Road, (707)745-5435
Camellia Tea Room, 828 1st Street, (707)746-5293
Captain Blyther’s, 123 1st Street, (707)745-4082
In the Company of Wolves, 737 1st Street, (707)746-0572
First Street Cafe, 440 1st Street, (707)745-1400
Petals, 1st Street, (707)748-5695
Shoreline Restaurant, 1st Street, (707)745-3364
Mabel’s, 2034 Columbus Parkway, (707)746-7068
Napa
California Wine Ship Winery Tours, (707)643-7337
Napa Valley Bike Tours and Rentals, (707)255-3377
Lodging
Best Western Inn, (707)554-9655, provides a shuttle link to the ferry
Ramada Inn, (707)643-2700, provides shuttle link to ferry with chain restaurants nearby
East Brother Light Station, (510)233-2385 www.ebls.org
Food
Liled’s Ice Cream and Candy Kitchen, 1318 Tennessee Street, (707)643-7425
Georgina’s Coffee House, 1505 Tennessee Street, (707)552-5070
Mugg’s Coffee Emporium in ferry terminal, (707)648-0412
House of Soul Restaurant, 1526 Solano Street, (707)644-3792
Banana Q, 301 Georgia Street at Sacramento, (707)552-4327
Tacos Jalisco, Broadway and Texas Street, no phone-open every day from 9:30-9pm
Sardine Can, 0 Harbor Way, (707)553-9492
Waterbarge Tavern, 23 Harbor Way, (707)642-8984
In the food department, Harold tells me the three Vallejo favorite institutions where everyone goes to eat are the House of Soul, run by McCarver family for over 20 years; Banana Q on Georgia Street, a Filipino restaurant and cultural center of sorts, with kareoke, ball room dancing, and weddings; and the taco truck, Taco’s Jalisco. For a while the taco truck was set up in different parking lot locations, but they got tired of moving around and bought their own parking lot at Broadway and Texas. Make no mistake-there are a lot of wanna-be taco trucks-be sure it’s Taco’s Jalisco.
On the waterfront, ice cream is available at the California Wine Ship office near the ferry terminal. The California Wine Ship also acts as the Riverboat Steakhouse when not on a cruise. If you brought a bike, you could venture from downtown for goodies like those at Liled’s Ice Cream and Candy Kitchen at 1318 Tennessee Street, where chocolate and ice cream are made on the premises, or Georgina’s Coffee House at 1505 Tennessee Street, with house baked pastries and gourmet sandwiches. Heading northwest from the ferry terminal, there’s lots of room to bike along Vallejo Waterfront Park. En route you pass the Vallejo Yacht Club, with waterfront views to Mare Island and the Strait. The Sardine Can at the municipal harbor offers casual waterfront dining. Further on, the Waterbarge Tavern is more elegant. Next, you pass under the Mare Island causeway to your destination-River Park. A paved trail passes along the Strait here, and there is a nice marsh. When the route ends, you can simply return the way you came.
2. With advance reservations on one of Mare Island Historic Park Foundation’s tours, you can visit Mare Island. (For now, you cannot visit the island without a guide. Tour guides will pick you up at and return you to the ferry terminal.) The 3-mile long island is a National and State Historic Landmark. You can view St. Peter’s Chapel, the oldest Naval Chapel in the Pacific, with 29 beautiful stained glass windows designed at Tiffany Studios, 16 of which were produced and signed by the studio-a priceless collection of stained glass is one of the finest anywhere. The officer’s row mansions with their beautiful gardens, are a feast for the eyes, and you can tour the interior of the Admiral’s Mansion with special arrangements. Mare Island Historic Park Foundation tours also visit the cemetery and Alden Park, with its Polaris missile and a German W.W.I suicide submarine, and trees from around the globe. Especially impressive is the shipyard, where 513 ships were built over the Island’s years of service, and Dry Dock #1, built over a period of 17 years with stones hand cut and brought from the Sierras.
There are many versions of the story of how Mare Island got its name. Ken Zadwick, founder of the Mare Island Historic Park Foundation, and tour guide, tells the same version that General Vallejo’s son Platon Vallejo relays in "Memoirs of the Vallejos". In the old days, they used to swim the horses across river. One late afternoon while they were doing so, treacherous currents took the horses out into bay. It got dark, and there wasn’t time to go after the horses. They were presumed lost, but 3 days later, General Vallejo saw his old mare running around on the island. When he went to Monterey to report to the commanding officer, he told him this story. The commanding officer, who was responsible for naming all of the areas described in the mapping expedition of General Vallejo, determined that the island would be called "Isla de la Yegua," or Mare Island.
Mare Island Naval Shipyard took shape under Commander David Glasgow Farragut, who later became the nation’s first Admiral for his victories in capturing New Orleans, Vicksburg, and Mobile Bay during the Civil War. During World War II, the island employed over 46,000 people, and was one of the most important ship repair facilities for the Pacific Fleet. World War II and Mare Island dramatically changed Vallejo, almost quadrupling its population and employing most of it. Mare Island Naval Shipyard built the first nuclear submarine on the west coast in 1954. Many more were built here, ending with the USS Drum in 1970. Repair of nuclear submarines continued into the 1990s. The Mare Island Historic Park Foundation will open the USS Drum for public tours in Dry Dock #1 as soon as it is retrofitted for public use. The most recent project of the foundation is the reprint of Lieutenant Commander Lott’s "A Long Line of Ships," describing the first 100 years of Mare Island history. Out of print for 25 years, the historic book was written in 1954 as part of the 100 year anniversary celebration.
Change will be coming soon to Mare Island. The Navy left Mare Island in 1996, and contractors are doing the required environmental clean up. When that is complete, Mare Island will be turned over to the City, and open the public. There are currently 65 civilian tenants here, including XKT Corporation, who utilizes the machinery left over from the submarine manufacture process to make towers for San Francisco International Airport and sections for the new bridges in Bay Area. In addition to the industrial, educational, recreational, residential, and historical areas planned for Mare Island, the foundation will open a 50,000 square-foot Mare Island Historic Park Foundation Museum in 2002, housed in the blacksmith shop behind Dry Dock 1, appropriately, the oldest building on the island.
3. Back near the ferry terminal, the California Wine Ship provides your ride to Napa. The outfit offers brunch with wine country tours and tastings every Sunday. You begin with a 2-hour cruise and buffet of champagne and Belgian waffles while the boat cruises the waters of the Napa Wildlife Refuge. Afterwards, you board a bus and head to Napa to tour the wineries: Viansa; RMS Distillery (who makes a California alambic brandy that, because of the high alcohol content is prohibited from tastings, but you are encouraged, even instructed in how to sniff); and Domaine Carneros, who produces sparkling wines in a chateau-like setting. If you are part of one of the Wine Ship’s smaller parties, you get to vote on where to go after that-perhaps to the Sonoma Cheese Factory. The California Wine Ship was built from scratch in Fort Bragg in 1992 by Bill Barker. Formerly the Petaluma Queen, she ran as a restaurant on the Petaluma River for seven years before coming to Vallejo. The Barker family still runs the outfit. Bill is the owner and captain and his daughter Sharana, will be your head waitress.
If you’d like another taste of Napa, check out Napa Valley Bike Tours and Rentals at 4080 Byway East in Napa for guided bike and kayak tours, rentals and bike maps. A short ride on Napa Valley Transit will get you there, and you can get your bearings at the Napa Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau Visitor Center at 1310 Napa Town Center. Napa Valley Bike Tours and Rentals offers a "Carneros Tour" of the prestigious grape growing region, with stops at Aretesa for a tasting, Mount St. John for a tour, tasting, and lunch, Bouchaine Winery for another tasting, and an option to visit RMS Distillery. There is an Upper Napa Valley tour featuring the Silverado Trail (not a trail but a road ride), Pine Ridge Winery, and Anderson Winery, or a custom tour if you know exactly where you want to ride and taste. This is arguably the best way to see Napa and enjoy the wineries. The tours offer a ride back in the van if you get tired, or will carry your wine if you find something you like. If you don’t ride a bike, Napa Valley Transit and the Napa Wine Train also serve the valley.
4. Benicia is a great Vallejo side-trip with a beautiful waterfront. To get to Benicia from Vallejo, you can catch Benicia Transit at the corner of York and Marin, or bike the surface streets (check the Bay Trail Map for waterside routes). Within a short time, you will be downtown, where shops and restaurants along East 1st Street, once brothels and taverns, now offer antiques and good food. Check out the Camellia Tea Room, with its Victorian setting, In the Company of Wolves (a coffee house), Petals (for American Asian cuisine), First Street Cafe, and, near the water, Shoreline Restaurant and Captain Blyther’s. The historic SP Depot has been recently moved to the waterfront here as well. The Camel Races take place here each year in July where East 1st Street meets the Strait, also known as the East 1st Street Green. This year that event is July 14th and 15th. A short distance from the waterfront and East First Street, the Camel Barn Museum in the Arsenal is the home of the Benicia Historical Museum. The army invested in camels as pack animals for a short while, and they were kept at these camel barns. Now, the barns house artifacts from Benicia’s past, presented by friendly, knowledgeable docents.
The Benicia Glass Studios are nearby, and worth a visit. If you go Monday through Friday from 10am until 4pm, you can watch the artisans draw molten glass from 2,000 degree furnaces on to the blowpipe. The master glassblower then transforms the hot molten glass into a work of art as you watch. The glass made here is well known, and is shipped form the studios to museums, galleries and fine stores throughout the world. The studios of Nourot, Smyers and Zellique (which are all in the same area) form Benicia Glass Studios, Each have showrooms that display artists prototypes, as well as seconds.
Like Vallejo, Benicia was established by General Vallejo with the help of US Lieutenant Robert Semple. They hoped the town would grow to rival the port of San Francisco, and for a while, it looked like it might. It was already the site of the Benicia Arsenal, and became the state capitol in 1853. It was also an important center of wooden shipbuilding, home to the Pacific Mail Steamship Company. Pacific Mail was the Bay Area’s first major ship industry, providing transportation between the Bay Area and the East Coast before the arrival of the transcontinental railroad. This is the outfit that sailed the USS Tennessee (now a shipwreck off Tennessee Valley in Marin County) between San Francisco and Panama. Benicia also attracted the shipyard of Matthew Turner, the well known shipbuilder who moved from San Francisco to Benicia in 1882, with a crew that constructed an impressive 228 vessels before closing in 1903.
Ultimately, the capitol moved to Sacramento, and the Benicia Capitol, located at the corner of East 1st and West G Streets became a State Historic Park. The Benicia Arsenal has been converted to civilian use, its restored historic buildings-turned-artists studios and businesses. Shipyards also closed as the ship building industry changed. The Matthew Turner Shipyard has become Matthew Turner Shipyard Park, a 6-acre shoreline park at the end of West 12th Street, and a California Registered Historic Landmark. You can take the Bay Trail west from the Benicia Marina for 3 miles to the Benicia State Recreation Area, passing through neighborhoods, by the old capitol and East 1st Street to Matthew Turner Shipyard Park. From here you can see the old shipyard pilings offshore, and Carquinez Regional Shoreline across the strait.
Further west, is the Benicia State Recreation Area, which offers great trails around its 438 acres of marsh and shoreline. The Carquinez Strait is the narrowest channel through which bay water flows, and its fun to watch the tides change here. South of Benicia State Recreation Area is Vallejo’s Glen Cove Marina. There are plans to open a waterfront park and renovate the Stremmel Mansion built here in the 1930s. The Glen Cove Marina, actually in Elliot Cove is the site of the Carquinez Lighthouse, barged from at the mouth of the Napa River, where it stood from 1910 until 1957, when it was decommissioned and brought here to house the Glen Cove Marina harbor master’s office. West from here is the California Maritime Academy, and beyond that is Vallejo’s waterfront.
5. Six Flags Marine World claims to be as much about roller coasters as it is about marine education, with 32 rides and 32 animal attractions, plus 10 shows. An opportunity to get next to the bottlenose dolphins is packaged as Dolphin Discovery, which includes a training session and the chance to put on a wetsuit for a shallow water meeting with the dolphins. During the walk from the car to the park entrance, you can preview the gravitational horrors of the newest rollercoaster Vertical Velocity that rockets riders straight up and down two 150 foot sky towers at speeds of 70 mph. The tamer side of Marine World offers things like the a walk through a clear, water-tight tunnel surrounded by a tropical reef with lots of sharks in "Shark Experience", a walk through a tropical atrium with 500 butterflies in "Butterfly Habitat", and a chance to ride on an elephant’s back. The shows star California Sea Lions, harbor seals, dolphins, and elephants, and there are many other animals you can visit in their homes. Baby white tigers were born here May 2, and are on view in the animal nursery. Marine World provides a shuttle service to the ferry terminal.
Whether you come to Vallejo to check out Marine World, the naval history, the expansive and historic waterfront, the vintage architecture, the taco truck, or all of the great places you can go from here, enjoy your visit to Vallejo!
Vallejo’s Waterfront
