MAKE MIME MENDOCINO

MAKE MINE MENDOCINO Part 1 of 3 Mendocino is a town, but also a coast, a county and a state of mind. Mendocino is often compared to pre-tourist Carmel, or the New England Coast. Its artists and shops remind one of San Francisco's North Beach or the Height-Asbury districts trapped in the amber of the isolation winding roads, but sans derelicts and heavy drugs. As is the case with quality wines from nearby North Coast vineyards, capsule descriptions fail to capture the complex, sometimes subtle, but often robust attractions of the town, perched on its flat rocky marine terrace above a tidy bay carpeted with abalone and rimmed with mussels.

At various times in its history, Mendocino became a logging center, bootlegger's haven, fisherman's port, sheepherder's and dairy farmer's shopping center and the center of robust, if illegal stands of "green vegetal material.

[mendocino_001.]It's an irresistible site for movies. Early on JOHNNY BELINDA paid enough in site rentals to get the local church roof fixed up. MURDER SHE WROTE'S Cabot Cove is really Mendocino -- at least in part. Jimmy Dean's EAST OF EDEN, THE SUMMER OF '42, Alan Alda's SAME TIME NEXT YEAR and the Julia Roberts tear-jerker DYING YOUNG found the area's scenic attractions irresistible.

The Mendocino's art tradition goes back a long way. Artists constantly discover picturesque small towns that they can enjoy for a decade or so before tourists and, eventually, retirees price the creative out of town. Back in the 1960s, artists displaced by Carmel, Big Sur and Sausalito costs and commercialization flocked in. Bill Zacha beat the rush in 1957. Friends followed, and in 1959 the group started the Mendocino Art Center in an old mansion that's now a gallery for local artists. Classes in more modern studios on the grounds, and shows bloomed like the old time roses in Mendocino's gardens. Others followed.

Now musicians and writers share Mendocino's rocky headland. The annual Mendocino Music Festival gives San Francisco Symphony members a week out of town and, for most offerings the sound of summer surf isn't too distracting. Well, crashing surf does suit Wagner better than Bach. Dance and writing programs offer additional diversions.

Locals claim festival dates and the shopper's feeding frenzy from Memorial Day to Labor Day fill sidewalks with tourists. While winter tends to be damp enough to excuse cuddling up to a nice fire in the Mendocino Hotel, spring offers wildflowers and roses on the headlands and lambs in the fields. Fall provides the best weather of the year. Just don't go near the water, it's too cold for swimming and sneaker waves wash the unwary of rocks.

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