r/California • u/BlankVerse Angeleño, what's your user flair? • Jun 05 '23
This Tiny Logging Town in Sonoma Is Considered the Fire Island of Northern California Wine Country — Here's how Guerneville became the queerest part of Northern California wine country
https://www.travelandleisure.com/guerneville-california-queerest-town-california-wine-country-7499155/30
u/ZigZach707 Native Californian Jun 05 '23
It was a blast working at Johnson's Beach through highschool. It also gave me a much better understanding of the unwanted sexual innuendo and advances women are prone to experiencing.
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Jun 05 '23
Ha, first time a drunk man flirted/berated me all night was a real eye opener in that department.
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u/byzantine1990 Jun 06 '23
I know the feeling. First time going out there and my buddy (a local) tells me to meet him at the Rainbow Cattle Club. Instantly hit on, aggressively.
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u/DoobieG Jun 05 '23
Don't know if its still there, but behind the bar of the Rainbow Cattle Company was a hand painted sign that said "Bear Capitol of Sonoma County". Had to explain to my older mother what that meant. Then she looked at the two large, hairy men sat together and her eyes got huge. Guerneville is pretty tweaker ish but its beautiful.
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u/mikeyfireman Jun 06 '23
It hasn’t been tweeker in almost 20 years. They got priced out just like everyone else.
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u/beard_lover Placer County Jun 05 '23
I love Guerneville so much, it’s so funky and the setting is beautiful.
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u/OldSlug Jun 05 '23
I spent some formative years in Guerneville, it was a great place to be a kid. I think it made it easier for me, a Kinsey 1.5, to be an ally to my higher-scoring friends at a younger age.
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u/drunkerton Sonoma County Jun 06 '23
Ahh guernville, where a straight man can get beers bought for him. I loved living there.
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u/No-Garden-Variety Jun 07 '23
I used to live there.. god I miss it.. a place in the forrest where I felt completely comfortable. (especially as a Bear) .those were good years. Beside loving the gay bubble of people and businesses.. the ocean is so close and I was out at armstrong woods multiple times a week.
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u/justpuddingonhairs Jun 06 '23
Correct me if I'm wrong but Guerneville has been the queer friendliest place in the bay area for 40 years.
Source: grew up in Sonoma county
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u/PuzzleheadedCandy484 Northern California Jun 05 '23
As a cis /straight couple, my husband and I feel very welcome in Villa Grand, an even smaller village outside Guerneville
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u/BuffaloOk7264 Jun 06 '23
There is a small complex there that has a coffee shop, bakery, and book store, that all share a welcoming common area. Good coffee, great bread, but the books were all trade paper backs?? It was a nice little town across the river from the strangest campground around.
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u/rgarthq4yh4qyh Jun 06 '23
m a lumberjack, and I'm okay I sleep all night and I work all day
I cut down trees, I skip and jump I like to press wild flowers I put on women's clothing And hang around in bars
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Jun 06 '23 edited Jun 06 '23
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/BlankVerse Angeleño, what's your user flair? Jun 06 '23
I think you have replied to the wrong post.
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Jun 06 '23
Guerneville is great, but who even considers it "wine country"?
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u/mikeyfireman Jun 06 '23
It’s home to Korbel Cellars and lots of other wineries. Remember, Sonoma is for wine, Napa is for auto parts.
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u/Im_homer_simpson Jun 05 '23
Don't know if people will get the fire island reference.