A tragedy to start the year, I’m still in shock after coming upon the scene shortly after it was called in. Downtown Arcata will not be the same. For anyone …

I heard some other people talking about a gas main causing this earlier. I was right there when the first sign of smoke started coming up between the two buildings …

This breaks my heart.It’s hard to understand how so many fires over the years have taken out so many beloved businesses and buildings in downtown Arcata just over just my …

Also gone: the 10th Street Artists studio, where Laura Corsiglia, Carol Andersen, Peggy Rivers, and Van Shield moved just months ago after Cal Poly took over the StewArt Building. Decades …

@Hank- The loss of a businesses is hard, but insurance will cover some things. The article doesn’t mention the (largely uninsured) renters who lost all their possessions and pets and …

Our hearts reach out to Donald and Mary, of Global Village Gallery, which has been a hearth for our community for 30 years. It is an unspeakable loss for the …

I hope so. I’ve been a customer since Northtown Books was in Northtown and it is near and dear to me, one of the things that brings me joy in …

I remember that fire also. Wasn’t that on New Year’s Day? 1995? Casa and Tomo’s as I recall.

Huge kudos to the firefighters! Big time courage and dedication. A minor caveat would be to recommend that more of them mask against smoke inhalation, the leading cause of cancer …

“Marino’s and the paint store” and the NEC office and archives.

Northtown Books will surely rise like a phoenix from the ashes, but we’ll miss you in the meantime 🥺

So, are we to assume that chem-trail pilots are deliberately altering our climate that they, their families and loved ones will have to live in? Oh, it’s aliens? I mean …

I was 14 that year I came to California to meet my bio Dad in Petaluma. We went to Mendocino, but didn’t make it up that far. I lived in …

It is incredible that this didn’t spread in these winds. Thank you to all the fire departments and emergency services!

I’ve lived in the area for forty years. I saw the fire that happened on the same block with Hensel’s and Casa De Que Pasa burning down. Then later, just …

This is horrible. I was a weekly customer of Northtown books, and have been for years…. I hope they are able to rebuild and re-open. This is a huge loss …

I would hope that Tin Can Mailman takes precautions as they have a large antiquarian section along with books that are now out of print.

Northtown moved to H Street about 1980.

Waking up to King Salmon underwater and ending the day with Arcata on fire is absolutely devastating. As an amazing tight-knit community, I know this loss is felt personally to …

I don’t think so.. I want to say it was around 2010.

Also noteworthy is the loss of Global Village Gallery. The store had just permanently closed, at the end of 2025, but it was still full of irreplaceable, one-of-a-kind treasures collected …

That took 30 years to rebuild :-(

And the three stores on the Plaza at 9th and H that were lost to fire (Rexall Drugs, Authur Johnson’s and a barber shop.) I think that was in the …

Don’t forget Big Blue Cafe a few years ago. They were very lucky the entire building didn’t go up in flames.

Was that when Northtown Books was actually in Northtown (where Wildflower Cafe is now)? Did you meet the founding owner Jack Hitt?

Arcata has had so many terrible fire over the last 25 years. The old church on 16th st, Marinos and the Paint Store in Summer 2001, The tea garden apartments …

Nice tribute to Northtown Books, Hank. But I would think that the store can and will be replaced. A different building, of course, but all those books are new and …

The history of that building is worth an indepth article. So many local businesses had their start in that building. There is a wealth of information about it on the …

Northtown Books was the first business I spent money and met locals in. It made me love the idea of being on the coast with this variety of humans with …

Northtown Books was in the front part (the retail section) of Seely and Titlow and Hensel’s was where the back of the shop and inventory was kept.