Guest Artists Craig and Anny Zweifel

Spring Sale at Nourot Studio is coming up in a month. This year's guest artists will be Craig and Anny Zweifel of Williams, Oregon.

Craig and Anny make a type of glass that is not often seen. The lustre effects they get always make them stand out at the art fairs and markets where we have seen them and their works.

Colors they work in are Amber, black and irredescence of many colors. No diachroic is ever used to achieve these effects.

The secret to making glass like the Zweiffel's will be revealed at the Nourot Spring Sale. Thursday through Sunday the last two days of April and the first two days of May there will be glassmaking by both the Zweiffels and the Nourots.

You may drop by the studio then to view their works. You can also sign up for email alerts on Benician Glass website which is the studio tourist site.

We hope next month this time we'll be welcoming you into our shop to see molten glass take form right before your eyes.

Location is 675 East H Street in Benicia, California about a half hour's drive from Napa and about an hour from San Francisco.

They will be refreshments as well and you won't want to miss Arts Benicia's Open Studios that weekend also. Many of the best artists in the area will be open to visitors. Look at the Arts Benicia website for information on who is participating. No charge for admission. At Nourot there is plenty of free parking and a great view of the straits! Vista Point bridge walk is now open too, for bicycles and pedestrians from here to Martinez. Google Vista point for location.

Level 12 Security

H and First Streets in Benicia has had a Nourot Glass Gallery sign like this on the corner since 1973 or 1974, if memory serves. At any rate it has been there through sun, rain, wind and storms. Usually if it blows down, a local merchant picks it up out of the street, and calls us to retrieve it.

Last May, however, the Nourot street sign at the corner of First and "H" got stolen three times! After a trip to the Police station, the Fire Department, the Preservation Guy, the City Manager and phone calls to the new mayor Elizabeth Patterson's office it was sort of revealed that there was a known "unknown crank" who was responsible.

The two signs Nourot Studio lost(the first one was returned to the city works yard once and re-set out for thieves) were the only ones we had. It took all summer to decide what to do. Should we chain it down like the officials suggested? "That is way too Ghetto for Benica," protested Ann Corcoran in a Benicia Herald interview about the thefts titled "Benicia Merchants Forced to Eat Humble Pie".

Should we wait for City Hall to involve us in "the process" of a new tourist program? Well, on Saturday last we set out our new sign WITH a cable chain. Gone in less than 12 hours it was! Sleuths that we are here in little Baghdad by the Bay, it was recovered by 6pm the next day. Thank you Benicia PD! What to do now, we thought? Could there be a cut-proof chain for Nourot Glass' only representation in our fair city?

After futile trips to our two local Home Depot Stores, it was determined that, yes, we'd have to go full Ghetto and drive to Berkeley for a "Level 12 Fugetaboudit New York City" chain and lock!

We will keep you posted as to how it holds up against the local crank. Doesn't anybody care about the local glass artists anymore? Once we were the talk of the town. Does anybody notice we STILL draw considerable numbers of tourists to historic Benicia every day of the year?

Like Mr. Nourot is fond of saying, "There's a reason they moved the State Capitol to Benicia, all the crooks were here even then!"

Benicia by the Bay

Hosting a guest in the Bay Area near San Francisco? No worries, Benicia is close by. Some people do come just to see the glass studios, of course, but there are many more fun attractions in this small town just north of the metropolitan areas of Berkeley, Oakland and Walnut Creek, California.

If boating or the waterfront activities are your thing, you will be pleasantly suprised to find that Benicia has a marina with many tall masted ships and many attractive parks along the Carquinez Straight. The end of First Street ( so convenient for those in your party that want to shop) has a new fishing pier and restrooms. The locals like to hang out there. The fishing season for Steelhead and Salmon is fast approaching. Mid-September is crunch time there for lucrative spots that yield trophy fish just a short throw away. Locate your bait at the Benicia Bait Shop on the "Y" at 6th and "J" St.

Spas, restaurants, and kid's parks (Playground of Dreams at First and Military) abound. For more information call the Benicia Chamber at 707-745-2120. Benicia is a Main Street city. The offices of the Main Street program are in the old Depot at the old terminius of the Southern Pacific Railroad, across from the pier.

Nourot Glass recomends the food at either Captain Blyther's at the foot of First, or Matsuri Sushi in the Olson Building--look for the St. Paul's garden at the corner of J and First.