Point Reyes tiny homes open doors

Three years ago in November, Enrique Hernandez set out to gather crisp apples and herbs from the garden beside his home at the Martinelli ranch. With his harvest, he baked a postre de manzana to celebrate the 94th birthday of Leroy Martinelli, a former rancher and dump operator whose property housed the trailer Mr. Hernandez lived in for 26 years.

Mr. Hernandez recalls that day with a smile. “I brought him the apple tart and everything and said, ‘Look, thank you for this land—this is what it has given to us this year,’” he said.

At the time, Mr. Hernandez, who works as a chef in Bolinas and will soon open a new restaurant in Inverness, did not know that moment would mark the end of an era.

Two months later, Mr. Martinelli died, and soon afterward, Marin County health inspectors red-tagged the ranch, declaring it unfit for habitation. The 64 tenants living on the 1,000-acre property at the time were plunged into a period of uncertainty that finally ended last week.

Beneath a rolling fog bank, community members, nonprofit leaders, and government officials gathered last Wednesday morning at Sixth and B Street to celebrate the completion of a tiny home community that is now occupied by nine families who formerly lived at the Martinelli ranch, just north of Point Reyes Station in Tomasini Canyon.

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