— If you read the Kevin Hoover police blotter (now linked by Daily Pundit), you’ll come across many references to the very special piece of government housing where miscreants experience personal growth, the infamous Pink House on 101 in downtown Eureka, and you’ll become curious about it. Here’s a pop-up picture of the pokey
I took on a visit to the youngster who once attended school in Arcata to satisfy that curiosity.
The story goes that Kevin Hoover, AKA “God”, started the Arcata Eye because he couldn’t find a regular paying gig in Arcata. It’s a limited media market, but Dan Walters, dean of the Sacramento capitol press corps, got his start there as managing editor of the Eureka Standard, or whatever it’s called.
The Standard wasn’t hiring, so Kevin started the Eye as a weekly, and soon discovered that a police blotter was the feature most desired by his audience, after the classifieds. So he assigned the task to his only staffer, himself, and the rest is history. There’s a minor cult following for Hoover’s blotter all around the web, but now that it’s entered the blogosphere, the tipping point is near: book deals, movie rights, a series, Happy Meal characters, who knows what, the sky’s the limit.
Richard, I moved to Eureka in 1989 from St Louis — talk about culture shock — and stayed through 1992, just before redwoodscoleosis set in.
I went back for a visit and saw the Thing. The Pink House. It.
Whoa.
And I thought the pulp mill was ugly.
Oh, the paper is the Times-Standard, but we called it the Sub-Standard.
Arcata is definitely a world apart – they passed an ordinance banning patchouli oil from city hall, because they had to. Nowhere else.