Along Main Street, which is A Street, is also Highway 1 but is marked as Shoreline Highway, most of the north-facing facades date to the railroad era. The architecture is vaguely Italianate-- many of the early town fathers were Northern Italian immigrants or Italian speaking Swiss. The most imposing edifice is the brick Grandi Building, built in 1915. Although empty now, it once housed a grand hotel, ballroom, and general store. Down the street, the woodsided Point Reyes Emporium (1898) survived the 20th Century beautifully.

The railroad switching yard occupied the facing area. Here, once standard gauge rails were laid from Sausalito, loads had to be shifted to and from the narrowgauge cars that still ran north up to the Russian River. Ultimately, the old depot was turned and moved and is now the postoffice. The old enginehouse stands too; it's the burnt-red structure a block off the highway from the gas station. Elsewhere, commercial and office buildings are known as what they once were: the Old Creamery Building, the Livery Stable, the Hay Barn. The rambling white building at the southern entrance to town is known as the Cheda Building, although Cheda's Garage (the oldest Triple-A outlet in the state) is a block up the street. Even the Point Reyes Whale of a Deli is sometimes called by its original name - Cheda's - even though the store has had several evolutions in between.

The sidewalks buzz with activity on sunny weekends. As the coast's commercial anchor, Point Reyes Station has at least one - and usually just one - of everything: one hardware store, one grocery store, the only bank on the Marin coast, and likewise, the only feed supplier, and the only pharmacy. The downtown eateries, of which there are several, seem almost a mandatory stop for caravans of bicyclists, motorcyclists and all manner of visitors coming through. It's a free port, blue-collar at its roots, and you can still catch a whiff of livestock in the breeze.

Learn more about this city.

City of Point Reyes Station, CA official site

City of Point Reyes Station, CA Chamber of Commerce

City of Point Reyes Station, CA newspaper

County of Point Reyes Station, CA official site

State of California official site