Fate of Johnson’s Beach resort unclear

GUERNEVILLE

The last of the umbrellas and beach chairs are being packed away. The pedal boats and kayaks are being stowed for winter. The dam that holds back the water for swimming comes down today. Another season at Johnson’s Beach is over.

With October around the corner, the beach crowds began waning weeks ago, and in just days the plank boardwalk, concession counter and equipment rental shack all will be moved to higher ground, leaving the riverfront beach in the heart of Guerneville to the mallards, sea gulls and other water fowl till spring.

But the usual pangs of loss that come with the end of summer’s carefree days carry an added edge of uncertainty this fall, with the landmark beach up for sale and its future still unclear.

Longtime operator Clare Harris, 94, vows to be back next year, telling guests over the loudspeaker Sunday that, while it was the last day of the season, the beach would reopen, as usual, next May.

But there’s no deal to announce, and neither Harris nor other family members - partners in the 11-acre beach and resort - nor their agents at Keegan & Coppin real estate will discuss what, if any, interest by potential buyers there has been since the landmark property was listed in July.

Harris says only that the nearly century-old beach will reopen and that he and his wife, Carla Harris, 80, hope to a play a role in it.

“It’s never not opened,” Harris said in private Sunday. “There’s been a commercial beach here since 1918.”

Harris’ public declarations drew a wave of light applause from beachgoers scattered across the gravel earlier Sunday, many of them, as is typical, taking part in a longtime tradition they hope hasn’t come to an end.

“I guess I’ll try not to think about it and just assume it will always be here,” said Suzi Slade of Santa Rosa, who relaxed on the beach Sunday with her husband, two daughters and one of their friends.

“There’s something primal about coming up here,” said Bay Area resident Rawnie Clements, 62, who used her cellphone video camera to document Harris in his spot behind the counter, then panned across the old wooden trailers from which he, his family and their staff have served the public for nearly five decades.

Clements has been visiting Johnson’s Beach since childhood and now has a vacation place nearby. She and her brother, Mike Clements, of San Francisco are regulars.

“This is like the best-kept secret around,” Mike Clements, 59, said Sunday. “It’s so close to The City, but you feel so far away.”

Opened to the public nearly a full century ago, the beach and resort on the Russian River has remained exceedingly popular, thanks in part to its scenic location across from towering trees and in view of the historic Guerneville Bridge, as well as Harris’ commitment to affordability.

Parking and admission to the beach are free. Guests pay only for food and refreshments such as $3 burgers and $5 beers, as well as rental equipment, such as inner tubes, beach chairs, umbrellas or canoes and other boats.

The prices, Gregg Slade of Santa Rosa said Sunday, are “the beauty of it,” along with the old-time charm that’s inherent in the operation, with its vintage wood-sided cash registers from Woolworth’s - they only go up to $6, so you punch everything in as cents and convert to dollars at the end of the day - the 80-year-old milk box, in which the beer is kept, and the persistent 1940s-era music piped over the loudspeaker.

And there’s Harris, perhaps moving more slowly than he once did, but still busy and in charge, inflating inner tubes, renting out boats and running the loudspeaker.

“One of the things I like about it is it hasn’t changed since we were little kids,” San Francisco resident Steve Balestrieri, 52, said of the beach during a visit with his brother last week. He recalled childhood days on the beach, and later bringing his own kids. “It’s been very much a tradition.”

Harris, who bought the beach and campground resort with his late brother, Herbert Harris, in 1967, both having co-owned the Rio Nido Resort decades earlier, said he loves to serve the public and “make people happy.”

He likes to think the beach helps fill restaurants and lodging in the river community he’s called home for 91 years - he spent three years in the Navy during World War II - and enjoys offering old-fashioned family fun even to those who might not be able to keep pace with the rising costs of so many other attractions.

In an era of increasing interest in the Russian River and its beaches, and in active, outdoor recreation as a whole, he views running the beach as “a way of giving back.”

And it’s clear that many of his regulars have an emotional connection to him and his beach as well, accounting for the constant inquiries and good wishes since news that he and his family might sell became public.

Joann Bacci of Guerneville said locals are very concerned about what the future holds and how much might change at their local beach.

“It’s just a happy childhood memory,” for so many, she said.

Dick Quinn, a visitor to Johnson’s Beach for decades, recalled being scolded as a youngster by Harris over the loudspeaker, when he was told, “We don’t throw rocks at Johnson’s Beach, Dick.”

“I can’t say enough about the guy,” he said. “He’s gentle, and he’s firm.”

“Everyone’s hoping that it stays open and he stays,” said Chelsea Bacon, a clerk at King’s Tackle & Sport in Guerneville. “People don’t want a big corporation to come in and change everything.”

Harris said he doesn’t want that either, though he acknowledged getting up there in years when the property went on the market in July for $2.8 million.

He celebrated 94 years ?Sept. 17, the date acknowledged with a message on the local River Theater marquis. It said “World Famous Clare - Happy 94th Birthday Z - We All Love You.”

But even so, Harris says he’s “not ready to retire” and balks at “end of an era talk.”

“I’m going to be here for the long run,” he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan at 521-5249 or Mary.Callahan@?pressdemocrat.com.