Crockett is a small city with an outsized pull. Its intriguing historical past threads by way of the cross-Pacific sugar commerce, perilous smelting of valuable metals and unusual crimes involving an “Ocean’s Eleven”-style gold heist and complex networks of underground smuggling tunnels.
With charming eating places and a bustling music scene, it’s additionally an important place to have a day journey. However the place to start?
Filling up the caffeine reserves is clearly Precedence No. 1 for a lot of people. On the town, the brand new Calaca Espresso pours sturdy java with a Mexican twist. Attempt a restaurant de olla chilly brew with cinnamon and piloncillo (uncooked sugar) syrup or a Xoco latte with cacao and espresso – and for those who’re feeling naughty, high it off with banana or tres-leches cream.
Glommed onto an previous church like a retro barnacle, Revival Espresso farther down the highway is a trailer-based operation with a bohemian really feel due to an open-air porch with cozy furnishings and board video games. “Liquid pie” is an efficient solution to describe the espresso. There’s a Cherry Jubilee with white chocolate, a Coconut Cream Pie Latte and a Huckleberry Mocha, giving clients the prospect to slyly remark to their important others: “No, you’re MY huckleberry.” The fruit-forward drinks appear solid down from the berry-rich fields of Oregon, and for a breakfast snack there’s biscuits and gravy.
An Amtrak prepare speeds previous the C & H Sugar Manufacturing unit in Crockett, Calif., on Sunday, June 15, 2025. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Space Information Group)
The candy choices round city appear acceptable given its raison d’etre for an extended whereas was sugar. The California and Hawaiian (C&H) Sugar Refining Firm will have a good time its one hundred and twentieth 12 months in Crockett – additionally referred to as “Sugar City” – in 2026. Whereas it lately stopped importing from Hawaii, it’s nonetheless a significant participant out there, producing 14 % of the cane sugar in the USA. In native classic outlets you’ll discover its brand emblazoned on Hawaiian shirts, additionally in timeworn cookbooks with recipes like Hawaiian coconut pudding and frosted grapes on pine boughs.
That’s in all probability not true – the “soberly” half, as Crockett is a historic hotbed of consuming exercise. Among the many 45-plus bars that hung their flag on this tiny neighborhood over the last century had been Chuck & Henry, Dick & Johnny, Toots and Gully and the by-comparison-lonely-sounding Ray’s Nook, which poured booze for 103 years till closing in 2004.
A prepare transporting wine stopped in Crockett in 1920, the 12 months Prohibition began. The consequence was like one thing out of “28 Days Later” with alcohol-enjoying locals scenting blood within the air. “When the car was discovered on a recent Sunday many of the populace dashed madly to the railroad yards equipped with spigots, garden hose and hand axes,” the Los Angeles Herald reported on the time. “The car was entered and some 3000 gallons siphoned into buckets, bottles, kegs, demijohns and all manner of containers.”
There’s enjoyable historical past to be gleaned right here in regards to the previous Selby smelting works, as soon as the biggest refining firm within the West for gold, silver and lead. It was bulldozed within the Nineteen Seventies, however locals hold it alive sharing fond recollections on the general public Crockett-history Fb web page. “When you woke up there was always a layer of gray dust on the porches,” remembers one individual. Laments one other: “[M]y great grandfather fell into a smelting pot I believe never made it home soo sad.”
A lady walks her canine exterior Toot’s Tavern in Crockett, Calif., on Sunday, June 15, 2025. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Space Information Group)
Selby was the scene of one of many largest gold heists in up to date U.S. historical past. In 1901, a former employee named Jack Winters spent 6 weeks tunneling by way of filth and brick to succeed in the corporate’s metal-lined vault, the place he absconded with half a ton of gold bullion. He lowered the treasure into the muck of the Carquinez Strait, planning to retrieve it little by little. As an alternative, he was shortly caught and divers recovered the haul, although that doesn’t cease fortune-hunters from searching for remnants to today.
A pleasant solution to burn off some energy, then pack them again on, is to go to Crockett Hills Regional Park. From the staging space, the Crockett Ranch Path path leads up a fantastically forested trek to a tunnel below the Cummings Skyway. Go by way of this darkish orifice and also you’ll emerge on the opposite aspect of the hill with blazing solar and panoramic visage of the San Francisco Bay that may solely be referred to as gorgeous. The random cow that typically grazes right here would possibly agree with an appreciative bellow.
The solar peaks by way of the bushes alongside Edwards Creek Path at Crockett Hills Regional Park in Crockett, Calif., on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2019. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Space Information Group) (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Space Information Group)
Cocktail hour might be approaching, and beckoning onerous is the surf-and-turf establishment The Lifeless Fish. Supposedly named after a quirk of the proprietor’s nonna – she couldn’t bear in mind names of the ocean creatures she cooked, so referred to as all the pieces “dead fish” – the restaurant provides roasted Dungeness crab and Omaha prime rib in a kitsch-filled compound on the cliff. The views of big ships passing by way of the Strait are unbeatable, as are the “Drink-Like-a-Fish” cocktails for less than $10. A Crabby Temper Martini or Bloody Shark served in a relaxing wine glass? Pleasant!
Lots of Crockett’s hidden charms reveal themselves by wandering with no actual goal. The Epperson Gallery is a spacious showcase for California landscapes and quirky animal sculptures. You would possibly study that the Cat Classic store plans to open a Cat Museum this summer time, stuffed with priceless antiques – to cat lovers – like feline dolls, trinkets, shirts, staplers and extra Garfields than you possibly can shake a lasagna at. Ask properly and the proprietor would possibly pull again the curtain on the in-progress museum.
Artist Jeffrey Tover is photographed with certainly one of his work on show at Epperson Gallery in Crockett, Calif., on Sunday, June 15, 2025. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Space Information Group)
Membership Tac is a sleepy dive bar with drink specials and a wall of certificates that, upon nearer inspection, develop into from E Clampus Vitus, a males’s-only group dedicated to the historical past of the Western Gold Rush. Amongst its purported members was Gene Autry, Ronald Reagan and the well-known San Francisco eccentric Emperor Norton.
For dinner, The Sicilian serves up conventional Italian plates like penne amatriciana or antipasti with burrata-stracciatella and marinated artichokes. The restaurant might or might not be named in tribute to the eponymous 1987 film starring native tough-guy actor Aldo Ray.
Lucia’s Craft Sandwich closes within the afternoon, however for those who had been lucky sufficient to choose one thing up they’re sizable sufficient for a dinner. It’s no exaggeration to say it’s among the finest sandwich outlets within the Bay, centered on native produce and top-quality meats. The mortadella with artichokes and contemporary ricotta dances between delicate and decadent, and the specials are at all times value consideration: a porchetta with orange and fennel-pollen salad, say, or a croque madame with Mornay sauce, squash blossoms and a runny egg.
A Genoa Salami sandwich is photographed at Lucia’s Craft Sandwich in Crockett, Calif., on Sunday, June 15, 2025. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Space Information Group)
Crockett might have had dozens of bars in its historical past however at the moment is all the way down to a handful, an important one being Toot’s Tavern. Mentioned to be the longest repeatedly working bar in Contra Costa County, the wood-shrouded watering gap switches from sleepy neighborhood hangout through the day to high-energy music venue at night time. Patrons would possibly come across a thrash-metal band, a Van Halen tribute, an electro DJ or a 17-piece jazz ensemble – something’s potential right here.
There’s additionally stated to be a tunnel in Toot’s basement that smugglers used throughout Prohibition to get resupplies from the waterfront. Some locals assume it’s a fable, however a bartender swears it’s true.
“All of Crockett has tunnels under it,” he stated on a current go to. “There were tons of bars during Prohibition and you can see the holes open up by the water. Most are bricked over, and I wouldn’t recommend seeking them out. Yeah, it’s kind of a weird old town.”
Joe Kaline sings as Eric Eidbo performs the trumpet whereas acting at Toot’s Tavern in Crockett, Calif., on Sunday, June 15, 2025. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Space Information Group)
IF YOU GO…
Calaca Espresso: Open 7 a.m.- 2 p.m. at 605 Second Ave., Crockett; calacacoffee.com
Revival Espresso: Open 5 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday, 6 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and seven a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday at 1 Rolph Park Drive, Crockett; therevivalcoffeeco.com
Crockett Historic Museum: Closed till July 7, then open 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Wednesday and Saturday at 900 Loring Ave., Crockett; crockettmuseum.org
Crockett Hills Regional Park: Summer season hours by way of August are 8 a.m.-8 p.m. every day at 1300 Crockett Blvd., Crockett; ebparks.org/parks/crockett-hills
The Lifeless Fish: Open noon-9:30 every day (final seating 8 p.m.) at 20050 San Pablo Ave., Crockett; thedeadfish.com
Epperson Gallery: Open 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday-Sunday at 1400 Pomona St., Crockett; eppersongallery.com
The Cat Classic: Open noon-6 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday at 720 2nd Ave., Crockett; thecatvintage.com
The Sicilian: Open 6 p.m.-9 p.m. Thursday-Sunday at 601 2nd Ave., Crockett; thesiciliancrockett.com
Lucia’s Craft Sandwich: Open 8 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday-Thursday and eight a.m.-4 p.m. Friday-Sunday at 611 2nd Ave., Crockett; luciascraftsandwich.com
Toot’s Tavern: Open noon-1:30 a.m. every day at 627 2nd Ave., Crockett; tootstavern.com
Initially Revealed: June 19, 2025 at 12:56 PM PDT
