McKissock became acquainted with the original owners of the bar (then known as George’s Log Cabin) when he began holding VFW events there. I’m very fortunate to have him as an employer and friend.” He saw me through breast cancer and sat with me during chemo. “He’s really seen some shit and he’s got great stories, but he’s also a wonderful person and employer. “Monty won’t tell you this because he’s too humble, but everyone in town knows him,” says Janette Waters, who’s been bartending for McKissock for 18 years. Upon moving to Felton in the late ’70s, he started pouring drinks at the now-shuttered Don Quixote, a bar and music venue. A former Marine and graphic designer, McKissock started bartending in college to help cover his tuition. “It reminded me of the Adirondacks, really green and peaceful,” he says. A native of upstate New York, McKissock fell in love with the Santa Cruz area on an early ’70s road trip. Monty’s Log Cabin fits seamlessly within the oddball landscape, as does longtime proprietor Monty McKissock, who is 72. The combined vibe of Felton, then, is perhaps best described as sublime small town-meets-ID Channel. A former logging center with a population just over 3,000, the sleepy town, which is nestled within the lush San Lorenzo Valley, draws an international array of low-key visitors who come for the massive old-growth redwood trees, scenic hiking trails and campgrounds.Īt the same time, evidence of the region’s countercultural past remains-aging hippies and alternative modalities abound-alongside curiosities like the Bigfoot Discovery Museum (“Attract and edutain the public with the facts about mystery primates around the world”), a historic narrow-gauge railroad and a handful of tasting rooms offering pours from the Santa Cruz Mountains AVA.įelton was also home to a former Monty’s regular, the late Herb Mullin, one of three serial killers who earned Santa Cruz the dubious title of Murder Capital of the World in the early 1970s. While Santa Cruz–adjacent, Felton is a world away from the beaches, surf culture and boardwalk.
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