Columns

This Week in H’burg is a weekly column featuring photos and fun facts from local photographer Pierre Ratté. Each week we’ll feature a new photo from Ratté along with a fact about the subject matter of the photo.

Designed by Malcolm Sayer, this automobile is occasionally described as a “mid-engine.” It was the fastest production car of its time. Its top speed was 150 mph. With independent front and rear suspension, 4-wheel disc brakes and an innovative chassis, this sports car showcased advanced technology and styling....

The Healdsburg Library is not the only local public resource undergoing a renovation this spring. The historic Healdsburg Museum, located ironically in the former Carnegie Library building on Matheson, closed in mid-January and will remain closed until late March or early April for renovation.

Hot air. Sonoma summer. So much going on, including Sonoma County’s Hot Air Balloon Classic. Early morning reveille and revelry at the County Fairgrounds with gates opening at 4am. Although it was dark, once the hot air balloons “stood up,” propane flames and glowing balloons became a sound-and-light spectacle...

It’s winter (though sometimes it feels and looks like spring) and this is the time of year for Meyer lemons and Valencia oranges. Our trees are bursting. We’ve picked all our lemons by now, but the oranges are still in great abundance.

100 years ago – May 24, 1923 Men of Eastern Star Are Hosts  The annual “Men's Night” of Sotoyome Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star, proved to be a highly successful affair, when the men of the chapter were hosts to the other members Tuesday night....

From the Healdsburg Tribune, June 24, 1949: "New faces are seen about the city, new cars on the streets, activity in the Fitch Mountain area is increasing . . . which all points to the fact that summer residents are here again..."

There has been a lot of advice on how to landscape our homes to keep wildfires away (including this column).

This bad baby rolled in from Colorado. It’s the Acela Monterra XL 6x6. The Bozeman, Montana-based company says it is “born from a desire to exceed current industry standards for reliability and durability.” Can’t even imagine an RV class for this thing...