The Little River Inn is located in

Little River, California Little River (formerly known as Littleriver, Bell's Harbor, and Kent's Landing) is a small census-designated place in Mendocino County, California, United States. It lies at an elevation of , south of the town of Mendocino and running along the ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The

inn Inns are generally establishments or buildings where travelers can seek lodging, and usually, food and drink. Inns are typically located in the country or along a highway; before the advent of motorized transportation they also provided accommo ...

is located on the Mendocino Coast on California State Route 1 (SR-1).

History

The original inn building was built in 1853 by Silas Coombs. It was built in the

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literature ...

style. In 1939, Coombs granddaughter, Cora, and her husband, Ole Hervilla, opened the property as an inn, which comprised a two-story

motel A motel, also known as a motor hotel, motor inn or motor lodge, is a hotel designed for motorists, usually having each room entered directly from the parking area for motor vehicles rather than through a central lobby. Entering dictionaries ...

. The on-site bar, called Ole's

Whale Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully aquatic placental marine mammals. As an informal and colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea, i.e. all cetaceans apart from dolphins and ...

Watch, is the former bedroom of Silas Coombs' wife. It expanded to include new buildings on the original property and on other nearby properties. It remains owned by the Coombs family. Today, the property encompasses 225 acres.

Hollywood history

One of the first guests of the inn, in 1939, was the actress

Myrna Loy Myrna Loy (born Myrna Adele Williams; August 2, 1905 – December 14, 1993) was an American film, television and stage actress. Trained as a dancer, Loy devoted herself fully to an acting career following a few minor roles in silent films. ...

Joan Fontaine Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland (October 22, 1917 – December 15, 2013), known professionally as Joan Fontaine, was a British-American actress who is best known for her starring roles in Hollywood films during the "Golden Age". Fontaine appeared ...

and other cast members of '' Frenchman's Creek'' stayed at the Inn during 1943.

Jane Wyman Jane Wyman ( ; born Sarah Jane Mayfield; January 5, 1917 – September 10, 2007)"Actress, P ...

, and then husband

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

, stayed there during the filming of '' Johnny Belinda'', in 1947.

James Dean James Byron Dean (February 8, 1931September 30, 1955) was an American actor. He is remembered as a cultural icon of teenage disillusionment and social estrangement, as expressed in the title of his most celebrated film, ''Rebel Without a Cause' ...

stayed at the hotel in 1954, which was used as the casting office and headquarters for the Mendocino-based filming of '' East of Eden''. He was kicked out of Ole's Whale Watch after putting his feet on a bar table top. In 1966,

Jonathan Winters Jonathan Harshman Winters III (November 11, 1925 – April 11, 2013) was an American comedian, actor, author, television host, and artist. Beginning in 1960, Winters recorded many classic comedy albums for the Verve Records label. He also h ...

, who was filming ''

The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming ''The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming'' is a 1966 American comedy film directed and produced by Norman Jewison for the United Artists. It is based on the 1961 Nathaniel Benchley novel ''The Off-Islanders'', and was adapted for the s ...

'' in Mendocino, visited Ole's Whale Watch and performed an impromptu, three-hour-long comedy show.

Facilities

Rooms

Many of the inn's 65rooms have family

heirloom In popular usage, an heirloom is something that has been passed down for generations through family members. Examples are a Family Bible, antiques, weapons or jewellery. The term originated with the historical principle of an heirloom in ...

s on display. Suites have

jacuzzi Jacuzzi Brands LLC (; ), through its subsidiaries, is a global manufacturer and distributor of branded baths, hot tubs, pools, saunas and, formerly, aircraft. Founded in 1915 by the Italian family of the same name, Jacuzzi is a federally regist ...

tubs, wetbars, and fire places. The inn is

dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative. Do ...

friendly. The majority of rooms have an ocean view. The main property is located on a hill, with the ocean directly across the street, past Highway1. Other inn rooms are located on the west side of Highway1, on cliffs overlooking the ocean.

Amenities

The inn has a nine-hole

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". Th ...

, two

tennis court A tennis court is the venue where the sport of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the centre. The same surface can be used to play both doubles and singles matches. A variety of surfaces can be u ...

day spa A day spa is a business that provides a variety of services for the purpose of improving health, beauty, and relaxation through personal care treatments such as massages and facials. The number of day spas in the US almost doubled in the tw ...

, restaurant and bar. The restaurant's executive chef is Marc Dym. The restaurant serves local

seafood Seafood is any form of sea life regarded as food by humans, prominently including fish and shellfish. Shellfish include various species of molluscs (e.g. bivalve molluscs such as clams, oysters and mussels, and cephalopods such as octopus an ...

, including

petrale sole The Petrale sole (''Eopsetta jordani'') is an edible flatfish of the family Pleuronectidae. It is a demersal fish that lives on sandy bottoms, usually in deep water, down to depths of about . Males can grow to in length, females to , and they ca ...

from

Fort Bragg Fort Bragg is a military installation of the United States Army in North Carolina, and is one of the largest military installations in the world by population, with around 54,000 military personnel. The military reservation is located within Cum ...

. A signature dish ingredient for sweeter dishes is the

olallieberry The olallieberry ( ), sometimes spelled ollalieberry, olallaberry, olalliberry, ollalaberry or ollaliberry, is the marketing name for the 'Olallie' blackberry released by the USDA-ARS (in collaboration with Oregon State University). The berry was ...

, which is inspired by Ole Hervilla's

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

heritage. It is served with

pancake A pancake (or hotcake, griddlecake, or flapjack) is a flat cake, often thin and round, prepared from a Starch, starch-based batter (cooking), batter that may contain eggs, milk and butter and cooked on a hot surface such as a griddle or fryi ...

s and used in

cobbler Cobbler(s) may refer to: *A person who repairs, and sometimes makes, shoes Places * The Cobbler, a mountain located near the head of Loch Long in Scotland * Mount Cobbler, Australia Art, entertainment and media * ''The Cobbler'' (1923 film) ...

, the latter which uses a recipe created by Cora Coombs. Dym has partnered with

Anderson Valley Brewing Company Anderson Valley Brewing Company is a brewery founded in 1987 in Boonville, California. Its name is derived from its Anderson Valley location in Mendocino County. History Anderson Valley Brewing Company was founded in 1987 by David Norfleet an ...

to create specialty

craft beer Craft beer is a beer that has been made by craft breweries. They produce smaller amounts of beer, typically less than large breweries, and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as having an emphasis o ...

s, including Saison75, a

saison Saison ( French, "season," ) is a pale ale that is highly carbonated, fruity, spicy, and often bottle conditioned. It was historically brewed with low alcohol levels, but modern productions of the style have moderate to high levels of alcohol. ...

(sparkling pale ale) that uses three types of hops and a spice blend created by Dym. John Sverko is the restaurant and bar's

sommelier A sommelier ( or or ; ), or wine steward, is a trained and knowledgeable wine professional, normally working in fine restaurants, who specializes in all aspects of wine service as well as wine and food pairing. The role of the wine steward in hau ...

(wine expert).

References

External links

*
Foodie Chap With Chef Marc Dym of Little River Inn
{{DEFAULTSORT:Little River Inn Buildings and structures in Mendocino County, California Canoeing and kayaking venues in the United States Hotel buildings completed in 1853 Hotels established in 1939 Hotels in California Restaurants in California 1853 establishments in California 1939 establishments in California