For day-trippers, Point Reyes Station may be a popular pit stop for picnic supplies on the way to Limantour Beach (even if the town refused to be mentioned in the country's tourism campaign), but for the surrounding rural residents, the old railway depot is their outpost of civilization. Alongside high-end gift shops slinging Burt's Bees hand lotion and New Age books are the only bank, pharmacy, and gas station for miles.
In the food-centric town nestled near Tomales Bay amid farms and ranches, debates over cattle grazing and pesticide use infiltrate neighborhood gossip. The Summer of Love made its mark here: pickups are plastered with stickers for local enviro radio station KWMR 90.5 FM, and the main street's bulletin board is filled with ads for meditation retreats and portable solar generators. A new generation of ranchers, like Marin Sun Farms' David Evans and Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company's Giacomini sisters, is combating agribusiness by attemptiong to corner the high-end gourmet market and touting sustainable practices. The nonprofit Marin Organic serves food at local schools and is pushing for an all-organic county. But, as Evans points out, "older ranchers don't like to be told what to do."
WHAT IT COSTS
...to rent: $2,200 for a two-bedroom apartment in the newly restored historic Foresters Hall at 505 Mesa Rd.
...to buy: $752,000 for a 1,300-square-foot house at 11547 Hwy. 1.
SHOP FRONTS
Toby's Feed Barn has it all: grains for the locals, West Marin Trees bath salts for the tourists, a farmers' market in the summer, and local artwork displayed among bales of hay in the gallery out back. 11260 Hwy. 1.
With its saddles, reins, and spurs, Cabaline reminds you that this is a ranching town, after all. 11313 Hwy. 1.
They may work out of a small trailer, but the bike repair guys at Cycle Analysis have saved many a spandex-clad cyclist stranded in the boonies with a flat tire or a broken chain. Hwy. 1 and 4th St.
ONLY HERE
The ramshackle shed with no sign at the end of the main street sells Jerry Garcia dolls, Impeach Bush stickers, and tie-dyes. Earth mama Tara Thralls used to buy the shirts at Dead shows before she started making them herself. 11395 Hwy. 1.
BACKSTORY
Sci-fi writer Philip K. Dick lived in Point Reyes Station from 1958 to 1964, which explains why many of the novels' characters have an uncanny resemblance to certain locals. Cultish fans still make pilgrimages to his old house. 145 Mesa Rd.
THE TALK
When the park service recently proposed to eliminate the 1,200 nonnative deer at Point Reyes National Seashore, it reignited a raging debate. "Manage, Don't Exterminate" signs sprouted up around town, and environmentalists were pitted against animal rights activists. Nine hundred e-mails and letters to the park later, with even primate researcher Jane Goodall chiming in, the park is weighing options like contraception and donating the carcasses to soup kitchens.
Residents say the jury's still out on Robert Plotkin, the new editor of the Point Reyes Light, which was run for nearly 30 years by David Mitchell. Plotkin says he'll continue the investigative work that won the paper a Pulitzer in 1979, but wants a more sophisticated voice for the feel-good stories the readers love. "I want to be the Che Guevara of revolutionary literary journalism."
BACK TO NATURE
Farm tours led by Marin Agricultural Land Trust and Marin Organic let members stop and smell the lettuce at Star Route Farms and taste fresh yogurt at Straus dairy.
HANGOUTS
John Korty, Oscar-winning producer-director (and colleague of George Lucas), hand-picks the movies shown at Take 2. With its screening of local filmmakers' work and independent flicks, it feels more like a campus film club than a cineplex. 54 B St.
At the divey watering hole the Old Western Saloon, bearded ranchers play pool, Merle Haggard and Waylon Jennings warble on the jukebox, and regulars like country legend Ramblin' Jack Elliott chase bourbon with beer backs. 11201 Hwy. 1.
CELEB
Local indie folk musician Nabob Shineywater of Brightblack lived for a while in a tepee deep within the Point Reyes forest. His band draws crowds from all over the Bay Area. According to Shineywater, their show with Will Oldham at the Old Western "set a record for the amount of whiskey sold in one evening...all of it."
THE GRUB
The Indian Peach may have left the Tomales Bay Foods building, but Cowgirl Creamery is replacing it with a new charcuterie. Now you can get Paul Bertolli's salumi along with Cowgirl's seasonal nettle-leaf-wrapped St. Pat's cheese. 80 4th St.
Tattooed vegans sit alongside the work-boot-and-flannel-shirt crowd at the counter of the Pine Cone Diner, an old truck stop done up in vintage '50s style. 60 4th St.
A white-haired father explained watershed issues to his tween daughters, Harley bikers ate organic salads, and fleece-clad hikers slurped Drake's Bay oysters. It was just a typical Sunday at the Station House Café. 11190 Hwy. 1.
Chefs at Zuni, Jardinière, and Chez Panisse swear by David Evans's grass-fed beef. His Marin Sun Farms eatery was flooded out last winter but reopens this month alongside his butcher shop. 10905 Hwy. 1.