We just turned ONE. And since we love a good party (see our St. Patrick’s Day Celebration), we threw ourselves a big birthday bash.

Thanks to the superstar local photographer, Craig Clement, we’re able to show you what it was all about. So without any further ado, here’s our party in pictures…

For starters, you can’t have a birthday party without birthday cake of some sort. So we enlisted Pastry Chef Tosha Callahan to do what she does best… dazzle. The result was a Lemon Cupcake with Lemon Mousse that was outta this world.

Yes, it tasted as good as it looked.

Guests were also treated to a new Russian River Valley Trousseau Gris from Spoonbar’s resident Wine Wizard, Ross Hallett.

And anyone who spent $20.11 at the bar, or in the dining room, were automatically entered into a drawing for a free PUBLIC bike.

Yes, you read that right. We gave away a brand new bike.

Drum roll, please.

Owner Circe Sher, moments before announcing the winner…

And here’s whole lot of people, all hoping their name is called…

Can’t you just hear their inner thoughts? (”Pick me! No, pick me!)

But when it was all said and done, the PUBLIC bike was won by one lucky ducky.

Meet Betsy Nachbaur of Acorn Winery.

Doesn’t she look happy? Yeah. You’d be happy too if you won a snappy new bike.

And while only one person rolled away with the free bike, everyone was free to dance.

And dance they did.

The night featured vintage blues from David Katznelson of KUSF’s The Cotton Exchange.

And electro-pop mash-ups from Healdsburg-naive Josh Williams, aka DJ 8Ball of Space Cowboys‘ fame. (Click that link. He’s kind of a big deal.)

Oops! That’s not 8Ball. That’s Julian Hull and brother Gianni. They’ve apparently hijacked the decks.

THAT’S more like it. 8Ball mixing the beats.

All in all, it seemed like people were having a great time. Especially Mr. Healdsburg, Tejpal Singh Sekhon.

This next photo is of Tej, holding court with the ladies. He sure knows how to captivate an audience. (Which is probably why he whipped your bloggers tail in the 2011 Mr. Healdsburg contest).

And below left, you’ll find Spoonbar regular, Elizabeth Cosin, waving at us. She’s a best-selling novelist. And has even penned some episodes of Law and Order. She’s brilliant.

And not to name drop too much, but that’s Jack Sonni. Another regular, and a former guitarist for Dire Straits. He’s an all around swell guy.

And I certainly had fun. That’s me, your blogger, and my wife and friends.

Of course, since h2hotel is on a mission to help green things, we wanted to give something back to this lovely planet of ours. The first thought was “Buy a cocktail, plant a tree.” While this was catchy and had a very nice ring to it, it wasn’t the right fit for us. The organizations that run such programs are usually focused on the Amazon or other far flung stretches of the world. Not that there’s anything wrong with them. Or that those programs aren’t absolutely essential. But ultimately, we wanted to keep the money in the community and support a cause that’s near and dear to our hearts – saving Foss Creek. And so for every Tres Agaves cocktail we sold, we donated a dollar to the Russian Riverkeepers organization. ($375 in all).

So cheers to that! And to a fantastic birthday bash. We’ll see you next year.

it's official. h2 is solid gold.

The wait is over!  h2hotel has finally gone gold.

The U.S. Green Building Council has just awarded us LEED Gold Certification. And we’re the first LEED Gold hotel in all of Sonoma County.

What’s that? you ask.

LEED is an acronym for the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. It’s an internationally recognized, third-party certification for the design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings.  In short, it’s a point-based rating system that establishes whether a building was designed and built with green principles and practices in mind. The rating system offers four certification levels for new construction — Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum — that correspond to the number of credits accrued in five green design categories. And yes, we went above and beyond to achieve Gold status.

What did this mean for us?

For us, this meant installing a living roof and solar heated pool. Those are the most obvious green features.

But it was the little things, the details you might not notice unless you knew what to look for, that earned us the majority of our points.

For instance, during our build-out, more than 85% of h2hotel’s construction debris was recycled.  Many of the materials used to build the hotel—from steel to concrete to glazing—contained a high percentage of recycled content.  And the custom furnishings, exterior wood decking, main stairs, and meeting room floor are all made from salvaged lumber (such as American elm, acacia, and black walnut) in percentages far exceeding the LEED standard.

Or, to pull another example… rather than stock your room with plastic water bottles, we offer you empty glass carafes which you can fill with purified sparkling and still water at the custom-made h2O bars on each floor.

Oh, and let’s not forget about the energy efficient appliances, or occupancy sensors that conserve electricity when the room is empty. Or the complimentary PUBLIC bikes that help you wheel around town. Or our efforts to help restore Foss Creek, a troubled habitat for wild Steelhead trout that lines our property.

See, there’s almost too many details to list!

But it’s important to note that this isn’t about bragging or being green for green’s sake. Rather, we believe strongly in this Healdsburg community and in taking care of the world we inhabit.  And so long as it makes financial and practical sense, we are committed to creating a super green luxury experience.

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Special thanks to David Baker + Partners (the architect responsible for the AIA design award-winning Hotel Healdsburg), Andrea Cochran Landscape Architecture, and Interior Designers Marie Fisher and Jennifer Gadiel for thoughtfully incorporating an eco-conscious sensibility into every aspect of h2’s design.

A Message from Healdsburg's iconic Raven Theater

Psst…

Yeah, you. The one with the nice eyes scanning across the screen. Well, I’m gonna let you in on a little secret. But you can’t tell everyone you know. You ready?

This is The Best Time of the Year in Healdsburg.

Don’t get me wrong. This town dazzles in the spring, summer and early fall, when the weather is hot and dry and the Square is teeming with brides and tourists from near and far. It’s fun then, too. Lots of fun. But the off-season holds its own singular appeal. It’s as if post-Harvest – when most vacationers are planning their trips to the tropics – we all take a collective breath and the small town charm is particularly expressive. You can walk into Scopa on a whim and maybe, just maybe get a table. You can step into Spoonbar and strike up a conversation with Scott Beattie about his world-famous cocktails. On those many temperate days, you can ride a bike down a quiet country road, lapping up the outrageous beauty of the naked vines. Or on rainy days, you can cozy up to the fire in the h2 or Hotel Healdsburg lounge. There’s still so much to do, there’s just less people doing it. Which, as a local, makes everything that much more sublime.

See for yourself…

FIVE GREAT REASONS TO HEAD TO H2 NOW-ISH.

1) Scott Beattie’s Holiday Cocktail Class – Learn how to make Hot Buttered Rum, Classic Punch, the allspice-laden Lion’s Tail, and more from the best of the best. This Saturday afternoon class is like a mock holiday party. Complete with a “Hideous Holiday Sweater Contest.” Yup, you read that right. Time to crash your attic, dust off the moths, or rifle through a Goodwill for the worst of the worst. The person with the most hideous holiday sweater wins a dinner for two at Spoonbar! (Saturday; 11/13; h2hotel Green Room; 2-4pm. Class includes all produce, spirits, materials, and snacks provided by Chef Rudy Mihal of Spoonbar. Size is limited to 30 lucky guests and costs only $50. For reservations call 707 433-7222.)

2)  Mushroom Hunting & Cooking Class - Our friends at the Relish Culinary Center have a great event on their calendar featuring chef Elissa Rubin-Mahon (past president of the Sonoma County Mycological Association). As you’ve probably guessed, she’s an expert in all things fungi, and she’ll take one lucky group into the surrounding woodlands and teach them how to forage for mushrooms. Afterward, the group will return to the Center for a cooking demonstration featuring… you guessed it… wild mushrooms! A complete lunch will be served with wines from Gustafson Vineyards. (Sunday, 11/28; Relish Culinary Center; 9am-2pm. Foraging from 9-11, class and lunch to follow. $94. For more details, click here.)

3)  Healdsburg’s Downtown Holiday Party – Once you’ve recovered from your Thanksgiving food coma, head downtown for a festive town celebration. An annual affair, the shops and galleries in and around the Plaza light up their stores and stay open late. There’s live music and wine, snacks and smiles.  It’s the perfect time and place to get a jump on your holiday shopping at our unique boutiques. (Friday, 11/26; Downtown; 5-9pm. For more info, call 707-433-6935 or follow this link.)

4)  Handmade Holidays @ h2hotel – The incredibly talented ladies behind Healdsburg boutique design studio notion:creative will guide you through an evening of arts and crafts, where you’ll stamp, collage, draw, stencil & sew one-of-a-kind note cards or gift tags for holiday gift-giving. Materials provided will include recycled papers (newsprint & old book pages), vintage reprints (photographs & ephemera), stamps, fabric, and metal & plastic whatsits. Feel free to bring your own stash of crafting materials to contribute to the creativity. And of course, if you need a little extra inspiration, something to get stir your creative juices, arrive a little early and order one or two of Scott Beattie’s holiday cocktails. (Saturday, 11/27; h2hotel Green Room; 5:30-7:30. The $30 fee includes materials for 6 notecards or 12 gift tags, a short idea session from notion:creative and bottomless inspiration. For questions contact info@notioncreative.com or call 707.321.7811. Or if you’re the type who knows a good thing when you see it, go ahead and BUY YOUR TICKET NOW.)

5)  Scott Beattie’s DIY Winter Citrus Cocktails – With the winter citrus season well under way, we have the chance to incorporate the rare and complex flavors of fruits such as the Rangpur Lime and Bergamot Orange into show-stopping cocktails. This class will draw from Scott Beattie’s book Artisanal Cocktails to show how to use peak-of-season citrus and local fresh-fruit enhanced spirits in cocktails such as Pelo del Perro, Meyer Beautiful, and Waverly Place Echo. You’ll also learn how to make creative rims for your drinks with colored sugars, salts and ground spices; make silky foams from juice and cocunut milk; and dehydrate thin slices of fruit using your own conventional oven at home. In other words, once again, Scott Beattie will show you how to be a dinner party legend. (Saturday, 12/11, h2hotel Green Room, 2-4pm. Class includes all produce, spirits, materials, and snacks provided by Chef Rudy Mihal of Spoonbar. Size is limited to 30 lucky guests and costs only $50. For reservations call 707 433-7222.)

**

Oh, and details of our New Year’s Eve DJ bash coming soon!

Well, forget what you think you know about Machiavelli. Because after centuries of controversy and misinterpretation, his progeny will be in Healdsburg, at h2hotel, to set the record straight. Or at least try to. Count Capponi has written a compelling new biography titled: “An Unlikely Prince: The Life and Times Machiavelli.” And he will be here, in the flesh, signing books and discussing his outrageously famous and deeply influential ancestor.

Oh, and if meeting a Count isn’t enough of a draw, there will also be a complimentary Tuscan wine tasting. Delicious Tuscan wines that said Count made on his family’s estate. Yes, in addition to being a critically acclaimed author, historian and a Florentine Noble, he’s also a winemaker.  Now that’s what you call a true Renaissance man.

We bet you’re dying for the details. So here they are:

• Friday, August 27th
• Book Signing & Tuscan Wine Tasting (4-6pm in the h2 lobby)
• Conversations w/ Author and more Wine Tasting (6-8pm in Spoonbar)

Oh, and all night at Spoonbar, wine flights made by Count Capponi will also be served by Ross in the dining room.  Highlight include: Comitale bianco Toscano 2009 (Vernaccia/Grechetto); Chianti Classico 2004; Chianti Classico 2006; “Casarsa” super Tuscan 2004 (100% Merlot)

We hope to see you here.

Circe Sher on our Corten Steel Balcony (Photo from The Press Democrat)

Our superst-architect David Baker recently made news when renowned SF Chronicle design columnist, John King, praised Baker’s work with h2hotel.  From the undulating living roof right down to a ground floor that “blurs the line between indoors and out,” King was clearly impressed with the design.  So naturally, we posted a link to the feature on our Facebook fan page.  And this is when we realized that some people have questions about our rusted steel balconies.  And by “questions about” I mean “issues with.”  In fact, one of our FB friends even suggested that the balconies make h2 look like “an old slum building with the rust stains running down the walls.”  Wow!  Tell us how you really feel! In his estimation, it was a “terrible design error” and he asked, “Is there a plan to fix it or are we just pretending it’s not a problem?”

Well, when your h2blogger first read his comment, he thought, “With friends like him, who needs enemies?”  But then another idiom surfaced: “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”  And it applies, because we all possess our own unique aesthetic, and ideas about the big things like beauty and art and music.  Not that it’s a bad thing.  Rather, it’s what makes life interesting and fresh and engaging.  So while we can’t please everyone, what we can do is explain our rationale behind the rusting steel balconies.  And who better to do that than the architect himself – David Baker.  Here’s what he had to say…

“Wabi-sabi is a Japanese aesthetic concept that is often considered untranslatable.  It means something like ‘honest, authentic, natural and real.’  Another related meaning is ‘materiality.’  The corten steel, which was used for all the exterior metal at h2hotel, is a material that epitomizes wabi-sabi.  The steel has an outer sacrificial layer that oxidizes, rusts, and forms a beautiful and tough finish completely naturally.  One of the results of this is the iron oxide red bleeding that occurs as rain washing over the steel carries some of the oxide onto adjacent surfaces.  Some architects consider this a flaw as it interferes with the perfection of their building.  I choose to see the stains as a document of the process of weathering, of the unavoidable aging of all surfaces.  The stains are very beautiful when you let go of the concept of eternal but static beauty.  Additionally it adds, and will continue to enhance, the textural characteristics of the wall.  Green wall climbing vines were planted at the base of the hotel: over time they will grow up to meet the red stains washing down.  A durable and beautiful materiality results, that with change and mature over the years.  Very different from simple paint, and much more sustainable as well.”

So, while some may see our rusting balconies as a design flaw, as Baker explains, they were an aesthetic choice.  One that underscores the idea that h2hotel is a living building, while reflecting the natural cycle of decay.  We hope that makes sense, and that you dig our balconies as much as we do.  But if not, we still encourage you to explore h2hotel.  For we’re certain that our eco-chic boutique offers something for everyone.

Healdsburg makes Jessica feel "shiny."

…that girl.  Jessica DeLasaux.  (Congrats Jessica!)  She looks so happy in her FB profile pic.  And we bet she’ll look even happier when she realizes she won a free Junior Suite @ h2hotel.   (Right Jessica?)  Either way, we’re thrilled for her.  And we’re sure you are too.  Because she’ll be happy for you when YOU win the next contest.

Yes, there will be more contests and chances for our FB followers to win free stuff.  Cocktails, dinners, rooms, etc.  This Mad Libs contest was only the first our giveaways for our loyal fans and ambassadors.  And as you help us spread the word (by suggesting our FB page), and we reach the next milestone, we’ll organize another fun contest for you.  One that YOU WILL (POSSIBLY MAYBE) WIN!!!

Now, the other moment you’ve all been waiting for… our Mad Libs template.  So here it is….

So what this means for our winner is that every time Jessica visits Healdsburg, she gets the sudden urge to SMOKE like a BULBOUS LEMUR.  “Why?” you ask.  Well, it’s really quite simple.  Our town makes her feel SHINY.  The wine, the food, the MAYANS.  Not to mention our new hotel, with our living roof and SHOELACE heated pool.  That’s what you call the icing on the CHALUPA.  This is to say nothing of Spoonbar, of course, and Scott Beattie’s world-famous PLAYMATES.  Oh, how Jessica loves Healdsburg.

Pretty funny, huh?

Speaking of funny… we’ve picked 5 MORE WINNERS for FREE COCKTAILS @ Spoonbar.  This was a more challenging task, as it didn’t involve randomly picking a contestant out of a hat (or HBG Farmers’ Market canvass tote, actually).  Rather, we had to look at all your responses, select from some very VERY funny answers, and whittle it down to what we thought were the five best.  Here they are:

• BEST URGE:  To LIVE like a JUICY COUGAR  (Kristi Detwiler)
• STRANGEST URGE:  To FLOSS like a CRUSTY HAMPSTER  (Michael Bairdsmith)
• BEST ALTERNATIVE ENERGY:  The GOOGLE heated pool  (Heather Coder)
• MOST DISTURBING ALT ENERGY:  The DIAPER heated pool  (Carly Douglas)
• BEST SIDE BUSINESS:  Scott Beattie’s world-famous PERSIAN RUGS  (Amy Karmimipour)

Thanks to everyone for participating.  We hope you had as much fun with this as we did.  Please share our FB page with your friends and we’ll launch another contest real soon. Oh, and for all of our contest winners, please message your h2blogger to redeem your prizes.

Here’s the deal…

• Go to our Facebook Fan page.  (Friend us, if you haven’t yet)
• Leave a reply to the Mad Libs contest post.
• Get your friends to reply too, cause we need at least 100 participants to activate the promotion.
• Sometime this weekend we’ll post the Mad Libs template to this h2blog.
• Hilarity ensues. 

And next week, we will announce the WINNER of the FREE NIGHT in a Junior Suite (Sun-Thurs).  Since Mad Libs is wholly random, it only seems fair that we draw the winner out of a hat.  However, we will post the FIVE FUNNIEST ONES on the h2blog, and offer each of these lucky duckies a pair of celebratory Spoonbar cocktails.  Sound good?

Bee. Obviously.

Maybe it’s just me. Maybe I’m a bit neurotic. But if you were to tell me that there were bees all over the roof of your hotel, I’d quickly assume the worst. It’s not that I dislike bees. Bees are fantastic. Not just because of the honey. Or the “Bee Girl” from a certain beloved music video. Just in general.

But bees on the hotel’s roof? Why are there bees on the roof? Is it littered with trash? Empty soda cans? And furthermore, if it’s the kind of establishment that attracts bees, you’ve gotta wonder what’s crawling behind your walls?

My suggestion? Check out! Now!

Or that’s what this neurotic blogger would have suggested before seeing h2’s living roof, and all the bees happily buzzing about from one native succulent to the next. Yes, our green roof is alive and thriving and it just so happens to provide a great habitat for bees and birds and butterflies too.

So what’s the takeaway? The moral, if you will?  Don’t worry if your hotel’s roof is teeming with bees.

Unless, of course, it doesn’t have a living roof. And in that case: Check out! Now!

our roof is alive and well

David Baker + Partners' SOMA Studios in SF

h2’s architect, David Baker, is not known for his modesty. In fact, quite the opposite. The man behind David Baker + Partners thinks BIG. The celebrated San Francisco architect has bold and bright ideas about how our dwellings should be designed. His SOMA Studios – an affordable housing project that hangs like a Picasso above Eighth and Howard streets – was named one of the city’s best buildings of the past decade by important people who write about such things. And in recent years, as the “green” architect’s focus shifted towards creating energy-efficient, environmentally sustainable, high-density cityscapes – like his 224-apartment neighborhood at Showplace Square on Seventh St. – he’s been hailed as the “high priest” of new-urbanism. So when it came time to select an architect to design our super green h2hotel, he was a natural choice. Not to mention the bang-up job he did with our AIA-award-winning big sister, Hotel Healdsburg, of course.

David Baker + Partners was charged with creating a fun, fresh, and eco-conscious property that catered to active users, and at risk of sounding immodest, or like a sports color commentator, he smacked it straight outta the park. It’s not just that h2hotel looks cool. Sure, it has a visually striking living roof that reflects the rolling hills of Healdsburg, but form always follows function. That undulating roof also serves several environmental purposes (more on the roof in an upcoming post). In fact, there’s a pragmatic utility to everything in Baker’s design, right down to the corten steel balconies that will (quite literally) imbue the property with rustic charm as they intentionally rust over time and stain the exterior. But when talking about h2hotel on a recent press tour, what really got him animated was the rooms themselves.

Genius at work

“I like to think of this as the Apple of hotel rooms,” he beamed. “It’s the iHotel.” For one, the rooms are sleek and stylish. With the 42-inch flat-screen TV’s mounted on the walls (and an auxiliary plug to play movies off your laptop) there’s no need for the deep dresser or bulky armoire that oftentimes house the entertainment system. So the rooms can afford to be sleeker without sacrificing any space or comfort. And with user-friendly closets that can easily accommodate your rolling luggage, he eliminated the standard-issue luggage racks that he may or may not have described as “horrible” on the tour. Another pet peeve of his seems to be showers that you can’t easily adjust without getting blasted with cold water, so he re-imagined their design so you could tweak the head and temperature before stepping in. “We got to build a full scale mock-up of this room which was really great because we solved a lot of the issues.  Typically when you design a hotel, you build it and then realize all the things that are wrong.  But this time, we got to fine tune things big and small.”

As the tour wound down, he elaborated on the iHotel analogy. “Apple has been gaining market share because it’s actually easier to use.  And people finally realize you pay a little more, and you get something really useful that’s not frustrating all the time. I think people will see that we really thought this thing through.”  And with David Baker thinking things through, we know we’re in pretty good hands. Not just me and you and we, but the planet itself.

Check out Healdsburg’s new “iHotel” for yourself.