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HomeArcataDan Duncan: "2022 Arcata: 18 Ways of looking at a City"

Dan Duncan: “2022 Arcata: 18 Ways of looking at a City”

Daniel Duncan is a retired contractor and present-time architectural commentator who has lived here in Arcata for over 50 years. He has written multiple articles on Arcata planning, housing, design, and reminiscences of his young-man life in Arcata and Humboldt that have been published in the Mad River Union newspaper. The eighteen articles from 2022 have been collected in his new book “2022 Arcata:  18 Ways of looking at a City.”

Dan’s book is available now at Northtown Books in Arcata (957 H Street, 707-822-2834) and at Booklegger in Eureka (402 2nd Street, 707-45-1344). The price is $10.

 

Table of Contents

Stoplight
A Stretch Too Far     
What Arcata Can Learn From Paris
What Fits and What Doesn’t fit in a Neighborhood 
Sandpiper Park
Creamery Row
Stewart School 
Plaza Point
What Arcata Can Learn From San Diego
Sorrel Place
Mother-in Law Gets a New Name
The Carpenter and The Dentist
The I-House of Old
Yellowstone comes to Arcata
A Field of Dreams for Our Town
Big Vs Small (or maybe medium)?
The Guy with The Brown Paper Bag
Genevieve

from the Preface:

During 2022, a sense of urgency descended on Arcata due mostly to the projected university expansion of 5,500 new students by 2028, with big changes needed in infrastructure and housing. The city’s formal effort to deal with these challenges is underway, but more is needed from the public to ensure that our voices are turned into actual policy, not just listened to, but heard.

In the following articles I look at Arcata through my personal experience as a carpenter and builder with Small World Construction, a company I founded. After I retired in 2008, I took on an informal examination of Arcata’s built environment with a view to learn what makes the place in which I live so decidedly unique. In these 18 articles I attempt to present honestly what I have discovered in the town’s buildings both old and new. Although I have found much to love, I have also come across some regretful and avoidable eyesores.

All of us desire, I believe, well-built, attractive, enduring buildings in our city, whether it’s a business or a residence, expressed in architecture that fits Arcata’s identity. To define what that is, that is the task before us.