Mendocino Area Directory: Point Arena

Pt. Arena offers amenities greatly exceeding its tiny posted population. It has plenty of accommodations, some worthwhile shops, and even boasts its own movie theater. A steep, straight span of Highway One serves as the town’s downtown district and Main Street. A mixture of twentieth century art deco and boxy buildings mingle here with the few nineteenth century Victorians that survived the 1906 earthquake.

To sample the saltier side of Point Arena, turn west onto Port Road from the town center and drive to its end where you will find Arena Cove sandwiched between rocky cliffs. As well as being the site of the original wharf, Arena Cove was once a whaling station and the Coast Guard maintained a station here for years. Today Point Arena’s fanciest accommodations cluster in this sheltered canyon. The cove also offers some of the best surfing on the Mendocino Coast.

In January 1983, huge high-tide-driven storm waves roared in one after another at Arena Cove, destroying the pier and fish house and severely damaging the historic boat house and cafe. Not the first of such incidents, it was the worst since the original wharf was built. The rebuilt steel and concrete pier, completely wheelchair accessible, is 322 feet long, fifteen feet higher than its predecessor.

No fishing license is required to fish from this public pier. Arena Cove offers the only all-tide boat launching facility between Bodega Bay and Fort Bragg. Pier facilities include public rest rooms, fish-cleaning tables, cold showers, hoist, and offshore mooring.

Robert Lorentzen, The Mendocino Coast Glovebox Guide