A few years ago, Dorine Real and Lee Tupper bought the old Cobweb Palace, a hard-used, decrepit hotel and bar that had presided over the pristine seaside village of Westport, California, about twenty miles north of Fort Bragg, since the 1800s. They undertook the intimidating mission of transforming it into its twenty-first century incarnation as The Westport Hotel and Old Abalone Pub. Only people who knew it “back in the day” (I am one who visited the Cobweb Palace in the 1970s), and inhabitants of the population-200 town who watched the remodel as it happened, have a grasp of what Dorine and Lee had to do to get it to its newly splendid state. It’s almost beyond comprehension to find the place whole again, serenely overlooking sunset over a rumpled Pacific, as it has since Westport’s glory days as a major logging town. The Hotel has re-birthed to a level of comfort and loveliness that, I am sure, it never possessed, even when brand new. Because of the vision, dedication and, I can only surmise, stamina of its new owners, Westport has become a destination for people seeking a retreat from modern culture and busy-ness, an imaginative and delicious meal, a place to gather in a community that is exactly what it is: homey, substantial, unaffected and really fun.
You enter from The Hotel’s beautifully finished, west-facing front porch to find the Old Abalone Pub gleaming in light that streams from every window: the deep blue room with endless views westward, pressed copper ceiling, red chandeliers, warm woods and even warmer greetings from its staff.
The Old Abalone PubThe best part of all this is that The Westport Hotel has somehow retained its warm, welcoming, unpretentious soul through its rebirth. It’s a place I want to visit again and again, to drive that gorgeous road to a gathering place for friends and family, locals and visitors, where we all can get something fabulous to eat, something wonderful to listen to, unparalleled natural beauty, something soulful to inspire our lives. There is no place like it. Their tag line is “cozy, casual and a little bit elegant.” Yes, I’m a fan. It succeeds on all counts, exceeds every expectation.
Chef Shana’s inspired, imaginative, locavoracious potstickersGet sconed at the Westport Hotel — Dorine’s famous scones The Arches Room with a View — yummy lodging by the sea
Imagine how exciting it was for me to get to design The Westport Hotel‘s new business cards, ads, rack cards, and just-launched web site. Maybe you can’t imagine it, but I was excited, may I just say. Working closely with Dorine and Lee throughout these various projects is one of many creative delights of this work because their vision didn’t stop at the building, but informs all of it. Yet they are open and welcoming to my ideas, which, if you have worked with me, are kind of never-ending and don’t want to be squished. They never squish. Everything is part of this big, amazing idea that almost takes on a life of its own. Here are the business cards:
The Hotel’s wide front porch is decorated with a huge metal sculpture, forged by a local artist, of seaweed spiraling over a giant replica of an abalone shell. This I took as the motif for the front of the letterpress business cards. To reiterate the pressed copper ceiling, we chose a gleaming copper foil. The the finishing surprise was finding a holographic foil that looks a lot like the inside of an abalone shell. I used Lee’s sumi-e brush drawing of an abalone and filled it with the blue-green-silvery patterned foil, making every card one-of-a-kind. The paper is deep blue on one side & white on the other (this is called “duplex” paper); on the white back side, contact and schedule information is printed in deep blue ink.
Eco-artist, Erica Fielder, helped me figure out how to redraw the seaweed one night while enjoying a little impromptu dinner party and Photoshop session at my house. A big, collaborative beauty, don’t you think? It continues to be a pleasure to work on the printed materials and web site for this place; to be able to use Pablo Abuliak’s unerringly spectacular photographs, with brilliant styling by my daughter Alicia Borcich Abuliak; and to work with my brother, Joe Neves, on the web coding (see our handiwork at www.WestportHotel.us). Yep, I am so lucky to have such a talented family.
We did not stop at business cards. Below is an ad I made for the Hotel, for the magazine 101 Things to Do in Mendocino County.
Worth the Drive, indeedIf you want to make reservations for rooms or meals, call them up: 877.964.3688 (locally 964.3688). You can discover more, plus see our web design work, on the web site we just designed for them: www.WestportHotel.us
If you want to have a consistent branding context, it makes sense to have a designer who can provide creative design, letterpress printing, a sensitive ear and eye, a million ideas, extensive experience, and one-stop shopping for all print collateral, as well as advertisements and web design capabilities. That would be Studio Z Mendocino. Did you know we did more than letterpress printing? Yes, even digital rack cards like these:
The Westport Hotel offers breakfast when you rent a room, gorgeous Sunday Brunches, afternoon tea on weekends, and absolutely worth-the-drive dinners by Chef Shana Everhart, four nights a week, plus beer-wine-espresso and a brilliant pub menu in the bar. Let’s meet there sometime and talk about YOUR branding over a beautiful glass of wine and something delicious at sundown.
We welcome your inquiries: 707.964.2522
i worked lived @ the cobweb palace very shortly in 1972 mike & janet ran the joynt , there was japanese chef & billy the kid , plus other assorted nutz myself included.one of the most beautiful spotz on earth i slept in huge trailer out back. of particular interest back then was dr peoples museum next door.
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Thanks, Tom. I would love to hear more about your time in Westport. It was so wild back then. I loved my little almost-one-year there with my new baby (who is almost 44 now). Time travels on, and our memories litter the path with smiles and wonder.
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yea japanese cook wuz jack fong he drove a killa hip vw bus, bill bonet said direct descendent of billy tha kid also bartender,janet crane wuz cook also daughter of photographer eve crane & her brother dana were there. ron keltner would come over old branscom rd & poach ab. i wuz complicit in tha endeavor i helped carry abs back over to coast from rock that wuz support 4 original pier for shipz in tha 1800’s. that wuz in “72” still recall like yesterday. & a million more memerories.
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I actually worked here for a year back in the mid 1970’s when it was Cobweb Palace and I lived on the second farm house back on Wages Creek. I never imagined anyone could do this. It is resplendent. I do hope you preserved the old burl bar top. It really is a 1 of a kind. The back bar had been sand blasted by the new owners to remove multiple layers of paint. Prior to them is was supposedly a kind of biker place but I have no documentation . I truly hope you are succeeding. The water shooting up from the NorWest rock is one of my favorite memories.
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Saw your post on the old Cobweb Palace and that you lived in the second house up Wages Creek.
I too lived up Wages Creek in the first house on the left but sad to say we burned down and lost everything in 1946.
The first house was the Massolini Ranch, 2nd house was the Cecil Linch Ranch which is probably the one you lived in.
Cecil died in the 1960 time frame.
The Barnard family (Harold, and the daughter Barbara later on)
I saw recently she died.
I now live in the Cascade Mountain foothills northeast of Seattle,WA.
Used to be great fishing in Wages Creek.
Speared man salmon across from the old house when food was scarce.
Regards,
Earl H.
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Hi Zida,
LOVE LOVE LOVE the website and the whole rebranding, beautiful and perfectly evocative of the sensibility and character of the Hotel. I tried to email you a few times but I keep getting it returned! Can you email me so I have a current email address? Hope to see you soon.
Alan
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Thank you so much, Alan. I’m so happy you like it. xoxoxoxo
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