Glen Ellen, CA

The Town That Jack Built

Jack London, the most dramatically successful novelist in turn-of-the-century America, owned his own schooner and traveled to lands most people never heard of. But he always came home to Glen Ellen.

Why London returned repeatedly is no mystery. The northern California village, located in the northern half of the Sonoma Valley, the “Valley of the Moon,” is regarded as one of the most beautiful natural scenic spots in the state, and it called to London to make it his home in 1905. Today, that same call attracts visitors to Glen Ellen’s nearby bubbling hot springs, redwood forests, and rolling pine-topped countryside.

Vineyards grace the surrounding landscape too, part of the rich wine-country heritage of not only Sonoma Valley but also the Napa and Santa Rosa valleys. “This whole area has much the climate of the Mediterranean, of the French and Italian grape-growing regions,” notes Bob Glotzbach, 75, who has authored three books on Glen Ellen. “It’s just ideal for grape growing.”

The town, as you might expect, exudes all things London, including the Jack London Saloon, Jack London Lodge, Jack London Book Store, and Jack London State Historic Park—a forest of oaks, madronas, Douglas firs, and redwoods with open land and streams—where London’s Beauty Ranch, as he called it, is located. The park includes the House of Happy Walls, a home and museum built by the author’s second wife, Charmian, after his death in 1916 at age 40. Among the artifacts on display is a roll-top desk where London did much of his writing.

While London’s echo still reverberates throughout this unincorporated area embracing 30 to 40 square miles, most of it rural, its nearly 3,000 residents today are focused on preserving their jewel of a town.

“We’re basically in a glen between two mountains, with only one road coming through from the south,” says Glotzbach. “It makes it very cozy. Partly because of that, tourism has not developed here nearly as much as down in Sonoma.”

Being unincorporated, Glotzbach notes, Glen Ellen residents find the road to getting the attention of county officials can be bumpy. “But one of the positive things we’ve done recently, through support generated from a number of community meetings, has been to make some road improvements—getting more stop signs, more walking paths along the side of the road. Like many small towns, people come out to support various issues. We’re a feisty community,” he adds.

One instance of that town spunk was exhibited in 1992, when local citizenry rallied to protect a venerable landmark. On that occasion, some townspeople literally chained themselves to an old Civil War cannon to prevent it from being hauled away. The relic had been given to Glen Ellen by a general 87 years earlier.

“The town really came together,” Glotzbach says. “Our protection of an important town symbol became a national news item.”

Another symbol of great community pride is the annual Glen Ellen Village Fair, held each October. It has its own distinctiveness, according to one longtime resident:

“We have the shortest parade in the United States,” says Milo Shepard, 76, whose grandmother was London’s stepsister. “About a block and a half long.”

But what the event lacks in length, it more than makes up for in enthusiasm and spirit. Each year the women of Glen Ellen put together a handmade quilt, which becomes the theme for the fair. The 6-by-9-foot quilt is then auctioned off to generate funds for the following year’s event. Zany floats abound as well, gliding down Arnold Drive.

“We’re part of a food co-op,” says Glotzbach. “Every year we put in an entry and usually manage to get a first prize. This year we built a 35-foot-long carrot, with the theme ‘It Takes a Village to Raise a Carrot.’”

If Jack London were alive today, he’d likely stamp his approval on the efforts being taken to preserve this peaceful glen. A passionate farmer, London might well have taken a personal hand in the making of—of all things—a 35-foot carrot.

Paul Engstrom is a freelance writer from Sebastopol, Calif.

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