Home Care In Ripon, CA

The Falcon’s Lair isn’t just a restaurant. Nor is it just a bar.

Instead, the newest eatery in Ripon is, as its owner happily declares, a “vibe.”

Think cushy chairs and dark walls and gold highlights and extravagant decor which are all meant to whisk you to another time. Owner Moe Willey, whose family runs the popular Gold Dust Pizza locations around the region, has opened her dream spot in her hometown.

The new restaurant-lounge is a tony looking, but relaxed feeling place that serves small plates, a few favorites and lots of craft cocktails. But really what Willey hopes it serves is endless ambiance.

“It’s hard to sum up (Falcon’s Lair) with just one word. Really, it’s a vibe,” Willey said of her Canal Boulevard space. “It’s a vibe that we don’t have here in the Valley and something I wanted to bring to our Valley. I want people to be relaxed. I don’t want them to be in a rush.”

Since buying the 6,000-square-foot building last September, Willey and her team have transformed the former Canal Street Grille space into an upscale speakeasy complete with personal touches from home. A pair of nearly life-size bronze goddess statues from Willey’s house greet guests, and the massive hostess stand was originally purchased to be her family’s bar.

Both cut a grand figure in the lobby, where customers choose one of two paths — to the left to the dining room and to the right to the lounge. In the dining room they’ll find tables and rich booths that can seat around 150. The lounge fits another 75 people (including on the attached outdoor patio) in stuffed chairs with low tables across from a 29-foot Carrara marble bar.

You’ll probably also notice all the old Hollywood touches inside right away, including posters and photos from famous Golden Era films and stars. Then, of course, there’s the name. The Falcon’s Lair was the name of 1920s Hollywood heartthrob Rudolph Valentino’s famed Hollywood Hills estate, where he would throw star-studded parties.

Since opening in late March, the Lair already has had repeat customers including Ripon resident Erin Danforth.

“We love it. Between Sacramento and who knows where there is just no place like this,” she said. “This is a breath of fresh air. I don’t have to go to Sacramento or San Francisco or anywhere else to get this atmosphere.”

Willey said they’ve been purposeful with how they operate as well. The lounge and restaurant have a large staff of 60 employees who are alert and attentive. The space also doesn’t have any televisions showing live programming, like sports or the news. Instead whatever screens are scattered around show old silent-era pictures.

The dining room has a stage in the back, and Willey said they’ve already begun to bring in local jazz performers to provide mood music. And they don’t accept reservations on purpose, because that would mean people would feel hurried to get out for the next guests.

“I want them to enjoy great music, fine cocktails, great food and one another,” Willey said. “That’s something we’re missing in society. We don’t take the time to enjoy one another and really talk. Off of our phones. Not watching TV. But just enjoying time with one another.

Plus, why would you want to watch anything else when the cocktail menu alone is filled with entertainment. The lounge has more than a dozen signature drinks — some like the smoked old fashioned that comes with a built-in show as they twice fire the whiskey in front of guests. Others like the lavender gin fizz are almost too pretty to drink — almost. Specialty cocktails run $14 to $15, and the bar is stoked with other top-shelf options all served by nattily dressed bartenders.

While the food may not be the main attraction, it’s still a feature presentation. The menu has about a dozen appetizers and small plates, from a share-size charcuterie board to lamb chop lollipops, oysters on the half shell and poke nachos (ranging in price from $10 to $35). The only entrees are its Bel-Air Burger ($17 with fries) and their specialty or build-your-own pizzas (which run from $19 for a small to $31 for a large).

Willey’s attention to detail even extends to the faux newspapers that the fries and pizzas are served on. The “Hollywood Herald” front page includes a prominent post about the Falcon’s Lair. In the end, she said, she just wants a place for friends, neighbors and everyone else to enjoy and unwind in style.

“(Ripon) is where we live, where our children grew up and live and we wanted to give back to our hometown,” she said. “So come for the vibe, don’t come for any other reason. Bring a friend that you like to talk with, or maybe somebody that you’ve been trying to talk with — maybe a daughter or a son. Just come in and enjoy time together.”

Falcon’s Lair, at 1225 Canal Blvd. in Ripon, is open 3 to 9 p.m. Tuesday to Thursday, 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday to Saturday, and closed Sunday and Monday. For more information call 209-599-9999 or visit relicincorporated.com/falcons-lair.

This story was originally published April 3, 2023, 8:00 AM.

You know it’s almond blossom season in Ripon when the air gets a certain scent— one that you can’t really put in words.

“There is a smell to the season,” said Kelly Donohue with the Ripon Chamber of Commerce. “It was Wednesday or Thursday last week when I was like, ‘It’s here.’ ”

With that season comes the annual Almond Blossom Festival. This is the 62nd year residents and visitors have celebrated the town’s largest tradition, now held at Mistlin Sports Park.

This year’s Almond Blossom Festival features four days of fun, from a baking competition and a fun run to food trucks and carnival rides.

The Ripon Chamber of Commerce started the festival as Simpson Lee Days in 1962 as a way to welcome the paper-producing giant to town.

The event was originally held in the fall during almond harvesting season.

“It turns out that when you are harvesting almonds, it’s really dusty and not cute outside,” Donohue said. “They decided to change it to the Almond Blossom Festival, which is arguably the much more beautiful time.”

The festival was originally held at the Ripon Community Center, which is considerably smaller in size than the 100-acre sports park.

As the town grew and the festival drew people from other areas, the festivities were moved to the park around 15 years ago, Donohue said.

The 2024 Almond Blossom Festival will be held at Mistlin Sports Park, 1201 West River Road in Ripon, from Thursday through Sunday.

The festival kicks off with a bake-off at the community center, 334 Fourth St. in Ripon, from 7 to 10 a.m. Thursday. A spaghetti dinner at the community center will be held from 4:30 to 7 p.m.

The carnival opens with $2 rides at 5 p.m. Thursday and closes at 10 p.m.

“A lot of locals like that night,” Donohue said.

The Miss Almond Blossom coronation will take place at 7 p.m. that night at the Ripon Community Center.

The Ripon Chamber of Commerce has added an arm wrestling competition to the lineup of events this year.

“I think Almond Blossom has seen a lot of different phases over the years,” Donohue said, naming a yo-yo competition and tractor pulls as some of the unique festival events that have taken place in years past. “An arm wrestling group came to me and they said, ‘We think we can be your next thing.’ ”

The competition will take place Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at Mistlin Sports Park and will be hosted by Sac County Arms. Anyone can enter, and participants 17 and under must have a guardian present to sign a waiver.

There will be more than 100 vendors and 25 food trucks at the festival.

“The food trucks will inherently bring people, but then you stay for all the cool, fun things you see along the way,” Donohue said.

Here are the other festival events:

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Entry to the Almond Blossom Festival is free. Parking is $5, and the proceeds go to the nonprofit organizations who volunteer to help facilitate the parking.

Pre-sale tickets are available now through Wednesday online or at Ripon Chamber of Commerce.

For $35, you can get a voucher that you can redeem at the carnival for a one-day, unlimited ride wristband. There is an additional service fee when you purchase the vouchers online.

These wristbands are $45 when you purchase them at the festival.

“(The festival) is a celebration of our community and agriculture and the farmers and the almonds that support this town,” Donohue said.

What do you want to know about life in Modesto? Ask our service journalism team your top-of-mind questions in the module below or email [email protected].

Three well-known Valley restaurants have closed recently as the post-pandemic fallout in the area’s dining scene continues.

Downtown Modesto restaurants Ralston’s Goat and Chefs of New York have shuttered, as has high-end Italian eatery Fina by John Surla in Ripon.

Both Ralston’s Goat and Fina have been purchased by new owners, who plan to change the names and restaurant concepts before reopening. Chefs of New York, which moved moved to its larger downtown location two years ago, has gone dark with no update on possible reopening or sale from longtime owner Vinny Altadonna.

Ralston’s Goat, which opened in December 2015, closed in early July after a blowout going-away party for its longtime operator, Mike Shelton. The restaurant and bar was known for its vibrant nightlife and music scene and drew a large audience for its outside patio shows featuring local musicians during the pandemic.

Shelton, who started with the restaurant as general manager, sold to a familiar downtown Modesto face. Former club owner Les Knoll will be returning to 10th street as the new owner of the property. Knoll owned the Copper Rhino on the same street, one block over, from 2004 to 2012. The bar transformed during its run from a place to have a drink and shoot pool to one of the most popular downtown nightspots.

Then in 2017, Knoll returned to city’s bar scene and opened CR2, an ode to the Copper Rhino, at the corner of Oakdale Road and Sylvan Avenue in northeast Modesto. The bar continues today.

Knoll said his plan is to transform the former Ralston’s Goat into a venue more like Copper Rhino’s early days. He called his concept “a bar with food,” and plans to continue to host live music. The space, which is split in the middle by an awkward entrance hallway, also will be changed. The current dining area will be transformed into a game room with pool tables, shuffleboard and pinball machines. The back space will continue to be the bar.

Pending permits, Knoll said his hope is to reopen “in the next few weeks.” He purchased the restaurant, he said, so it wouldn’t become “just another nightclub.” The menu will be similar, with more bar-friendly options, and lunch and dinner will be served daily.

“(Me and my business partner) like the space, we’ve been wanting to get back into doing live music and entertainment,” Knoll said. “We’re going to see if we can keep the overall feel but make it profitable. I’m excited to be back downtown.”

In Ripon, chef and owner Surla has said goodbye to his from-the-ground-up restaurant, Fina. Opened in late summer 2019 about six months before COVID-19 closed restaurants around the world, the striking Italian eatery offered Surla’s upscale menu in a sophisticated setting. The restaurant has a wall-size picture window into its kitchen, giving diners a front-row seat to their meal creation.

The spot has been sold to a new owner, who Surla said wanted to remain anonymous. The eatery’s name will change, as will its menu. Surla said the new owner plans to use the kitchen’s large wood-burning pizza oven in the new venture. Expect it to reopen with its new name and concept in around a month, if all goes smoothly.

Surla, who named Fina after his wife, Josephine, said dining in the region has not returned to what it was before the pandemic, forcing him to make the difficult decision.

“The (post-pandemic) struggle? We felt that,” Surla said. “I’ll miss it truly, deeply, immensely. It’s a bittersweet ending. I’m happy I built it, but sad I have to say goodbye. But you can always meet me at Surla’s.”

The well-known Valley chef is keeping his namesake Modesto restaurant, Surla’s on 12th Street on the edge of downtown. Opened in 2009, the eatery slowly has increased its hours and offerings after long pandemic closures. It is now open Tuesday to Friday for lunch and Wednesday to Saturday for dinner. The spot’s famous Sunday brunch is back once a month.

Some of the Fina favorites, including lobster ravioli, will make their way onto the Surla’s menu.

“It’s a slow return back to the normal numbers, and hopefully consolidating (the businesses) will mean more customers will come out. But I can’t predict the future,” he said. “So support your local small businesses and stop going through the drive-thrus.”

And finally, Chefs of New York appears to be no more. The Italian restaurant known for its generous dishes and gregarious owner has been dark, quite literally, since June. When reached by The Bee, the normally talkative Altadonna gave a “no comment” on the future of the well-loved restaurant.

Since moving to its larger 13th Street space two years ago, Chefs has had a sometimes erratic open schedule with some closures and fitful reopenings. But its latest closure may well be its last, as the restaurant’s front windows have been plastered with “Notice to Pay Rent or Quit” flyers dating June 1 to 30.

A no doubt forlorn former patron has scribbled “Please do not quit!!!” on the door’s paper “Closed” sign next to all of the notices.

Chefs of New York, Ralston’s Goat and Fina join a handful of other Modesto-area eateries to close or sell in the past year. They include Beijing Restaurant in north Modesto, which closed after 28 years late last year; Concetta, which closed last December and reopened this year as Chinn’s International; Bauer’s Downtown Gastropub, which sold in January and has since reopened with new owners; and the Farmacy, which sold its plant-based cafe in May to a new owner who has yet to reopen the space.

The future of downtown Modesto’s beloved vintage A&W Restaurant, which opened in 1957 and is one of only a handful of Graffiti-era drive-in burger joints still operating in the area, also is up in the air. Longtime local owner Johnny Matthews, who has run the site with its rollerskating carhops for the past 26 years, is retiring and has put the site up for sale.

This story was originally published August 2, 2023, 7:30 AM.

Follow more of our reporting on Modesto Bee: What You’re Reading on Instagram

See all stories

Parents in one California community are fighting for answers after at least seven children were diagnosed with cancer in the past four years. Earlier this year, they fought to remove a cell phone tower from a local elementary school campus. Now, they're focusing on a chemical in their drinking water supply that's linked to cancer. And Ripon, California, is just one of dozens of cities across the country dealing with the possibly harmful chemical.

"Until we figure out what is happening in this town, we won't stop," said Kellie Prime, a mother whose son, Kyle, is one of at least seven kids in Ripon who have been diagnosed with cancer in recent years. Prime and another mother successfully had the cell phone tower removed, and have since shifted focus to the drinking water.

"My gut tells me that something is here that's causing these issues," Prime said.

Ripon was once home to a Nestle plant that used trichloroethylene, or TCE, to decaffeinate coffee until the 1970s. Nestle discharged the plant's wastewater into the city's sewers. TCE was recently found in one of five city drinking water wells.

The city of Ripon said TCE levels reached 90% of the EPA maximum allowed in drinking water last summer. The well was turned off four months later. The city says the water "meets all established drinking water standards," and Nestle said that for more than 30 years, the company has "implemented... cleanup and water protection measures to ensure... levels... do not exceed California standards."

But University of California San Francisco scientist Veena Singla said that when it comes to chemicals like TCE, there are no safe levels of exposure.

"Drinking water standards and guidelines that we have now are many decades old, and they don't account for the latest science that shows pregnant women and children are more susceptible to TCE," Singla said.

Millions of pounds of TCE are used every year for manufacturing and degreasing. The chemical can migrate from industrial sites into surrounding communities through the soil and water, and can even turn into a clear, odorless vapor that moves up into the homes above.

"We know it can cause cancer by any route of exposure," Singla said. "So what that means is whether you breathe it in, whether you drink it in contaminated water… we're concerned about all those exposures."

When asked if she thinks TCE exposure could have caused her son's cancer, Prime said that "I think it needs to be looked into, for sure."

Last year, CBS News visited Franklin, Indiana, where dozens of kids were diagnosed with cancer. A non-profit found high levels of toxins, including TCE vapor, in homes near an old manufacturing site. Clean up and testing under the EPA is ongoing.

"We used our kids as the canary in the coal mine in our town," said Kari Rhinehart, who lost her daughter to brain cancer.

In White Bear Township, Minnesota, community members diagnosed with cancer and their loved ones were outraged after learning a company that makes fishing sinkers and battery terminal posts admitted TCE had been leaking into the air for years, at points reaching seven times what was allowed.

In Ripon, families are calling for additional vapor testing. "We have a lot more questions than we do answers -- so until we get those answers to those questions, we are very concerned," Prime said.

Regulators say potential health effects from TCE depend on the amount and length of exposure, and it can be difficult to trace the cause of any one cancer diagnosis. But Prime says after seeing her son's battle firsthand, she'll do anything to prevent other parents from experiencing the same pain.

"It was hell… it was life-altering," Prime said. "He's sick every day, losing weight, losing his hair."

Her son is now in remission – but Prime is determined to keep pushing forward. She said she's motivated by "the fight these kids have in them."

"We have to show them that we will fight for them," she said.

The regional water board has asked Nestle to do additional vapor testing to ensure TCE levels are within new, stricter guidelines set by the state. Nestle says the work plan has been submitted and approved by the water board.

Several parents claim the cell tower at Weston Elementary is the cause of a cancer cluster. City officials deny the claim.

More Videos

RIPON, Calif. — Antonio Sanchez and his four daughters live directly across the street from Weston Elementary School in Ripon.

On school property is a cell tower operated by Sprint. Several parents believe the cell tower is the source of a childhood cancer cluster.

"I have heard a lot of people have gotten cancer from it. I'm glad they are going to remove it," Sanchez said.

Last night, the City of Ripon announced an agreement to have the cell tower relocated less than a mile away on a property near Jack Tone Road and Harvest Drive.

Bill Van Klaveren, who said he owns the property, said he has been in negotiations with Sprint to sign a 15-year lease agreement.

As part of the deal, a new cell tower would be set back about 500 feet from the road, according to Van Klaveren. He said it would be installed by the end of the year.

RELATED: Parents claim 'win' against Ripon USD over suspected cancer causing cell tower

The City of Ripon deny the cancer claims.

The city points to research conducted by the Cancer Registry of Greater California, which operates under the California Department of Public Health.

It evaluated "observed" and "expected" numbers of cancer cases among children ages 0 to 19. Between 2007 and 2016, 14 cancer cases were reported in Ripon.

"This did not differ from the total expected number of 13.7 cancer cases" compared to other San Joaquin County cities, researches concluded.

Kelly Blancarte lives in the neighborhood across the street from where the new cell tower will be located.

"I'm not really sure what to think. I haven't really done my own research into it. So, there are so many variables to it," said Blancarte, the mother of four young kids.

Joe Hidalgo, who has lived across the street from Weston Elementary School since 1999, said he has no problem with the tower.

He said his three kids went to school there from kindergarten through 8th grade and have no health issues.

"I might be in the minority... but I have no issues. We all have cell phones. Kids nowadays play with tablets that are wireless. Guess what? The same signal that's coming from that tower is going to their tablet, their phone," Hidalgo said.

WATCH MORE: Sprint announces relocation of Ripon cell phone tower suspected of causing cancer