Need a last-minute Labor Day adventure? Take a road trip to a roadhouse

If you spend enough time driving California’s two-lane roads, you’ll eventually find yourself staring down a roadhouse, wondering whether it’s wise to walk through its squeaky, slightly unhinged, neon-lit doors. These places, the last of a dying breed of waypoints and stopovers, have a menacing reputation (thanks in part to a sweaty, muscular, peak-1980s Patrick Swayze). 

But roadhouses are inherently welcoming to outsiders. Unlike a small-town dive bar, with its cast of regulars who have “their” stool near the taps and “their” songs on the jukebox, roadhouses cater to the passersby — to that eclectic mix of humanity that shares a highway and, often, little else. 

Northern California’s coolest roadhouses are among the last places where bands play to boot-stomping crowds that are an unpredictable mix of ranchers and hippies, loggers and New Agers, good old boys and pot growers, along with road-tripping city folks and families passing through on their way to Grandma’s house. They stand alone on a stretch of road, offering not just gas or convenience, prepared food or a place to rest your head, but the promise of a good time.

Here are four roadhouses that are worth a stop on your next road trip.

Near Stony Point in Sonoma, 1 hour from SF

The Highway 101 off-ramp at Stony Point Road deposits you directly into one of the few remaining truly rural pockets of the greater Bay Area. Just 10 minutes south of Santa Rosa’s suburban sprawl, the drive to Washoe House passes chicken hatcheries, faded yellow farmhouses, rusting farm equipment, and two-story stacks of hay. There are occasional vineyards, too, but this isn’t “wine country.” If anything, it’s the Sonoma County of another time. Built in 1859, nine years after California became a state, Washoe House remains a place of big hats, gleaming belt buckles, and handlebar mustaches. 

Brick-red and imposing, at the intersection of two well-traveled country roads, Washoe House seems — on the surface, at least — to have a seat for everyone: from the older white man in a MAGA hat and “Step aside coffee, this is a job for alcohol” T-shirt to the young Black man in tie-dye to the outdoorsy-looking woman with an undershave who looks to have just paddled in from a surf session at Salmon Beach. The jukebox is heavy on contemporary country: Luke Combs’ “Blue Collar Boys,” Confederate Railroad’s “Daddy Never Was the Cadillac Kind.”

The service is friendly and casual, and the menu is wide and comforting. Expect better-than-average prime rib, fish and chips, pork chops with steak fries, and the house favorite: fluffy, fried cheese curds heaped with fresh garlic (also available coated in chile pepper or buffalo sauce). From Thursday to Sunday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., you can order grilled oysters, fresh from Bodega Bay, in either barbecue sauce or butter and garlic.  

On the Mendocino-Humboldt county border, 3 hours and 12 minutes from SF

Just north of Leggett (population: 46), where Highway 1 and Highway 101 meet near the iconic Chandelier Drive-Thru Tree, the Peg House could be mistaken for yet another roadside tourist trap selling kitschy Sasquatch knickknacks, burl carvings, and jokey cannabis refrigerator magnets. But there’s a reason the motto of this perennially for sale Mendocino County institution is “Never don’t stop.” It’s part convenience store-souvenir shop, part motorcycle-gang pit stop. Mostly, though, it’s an open-air roadhouse offering both Humboldt Bay oysters and a full stage. 

By summer’s end, the Peg House’s side yard, where food is served from a take-out window and the seating is at picnic tables beneath a fluttering shade awning, is surrounded by towering sunflowers. Specialties include grilled local oysters in a deeply garlicky butter sauce and sundaes with fresh blackberries that are tart, sweet, and quintessentially summer. The oyster-sundae-beer combo (with cold Scrimshaw from North Coast Brewing Company in a plastic cup) is the ideal antidote to a day spent baking in the sun at one of South Fork Eel River’s dreamiest swimming holes, a 10-minute walk down a steep dirt path at Standish-Hickey State Recreation Area. The 1,000-acre, 150-plus-site park and campground keeps the Peg House in brisk weekend business from June to September.

On the Russian River en route to Guerneville, 1 hour and 20 minutes from SF

On the banks of the Russian River, Rio Nido Roadhouse has seen tough times. The historic stopover dates to the 1800s and had its heyday from the 1920s through the 1950s. But floods and fires are the region’s enduring burden, and the original roadhouse was washed away in the Great Valentine’s Day Flood of 1986. The current iteration is a reincarnated double-wide trailer that calls itself the “Backwoods Hamptons.” From River Road, this newfangled roadhouse may not look like much. But those who step inside will find a bar of varnished redwood slab cut from a single tree, felled in the 1940s. 

Like the Peg House, most of Rio Nido’s action happens out back, where a 1-acre clearing features a picture-frame stage bordered by wagon wheels and where bands, including the occasional national act, play to a multigenerational crowd. Rio Nido’s mom-and-pop owners, Raena and Brad Metzger, are raising their kids at the roadhouse, which means they also have family nights, with cotton candy and popcorn; craft markets; school fundraisers; and birthday parties. 

Oh, and did we mention there’s a swimming pool? For $15 a person (free for kids under 2), parents can lounge with a house margarita while a lifeguard watches the kids. The pool stays open into September, or “until the water aerobics crew says it’s too cold,” jokes Raena. 

The bar has 16 mostly local craft beers on tap and hosts annual parties when a new Pliny the Younger, the cult beer from Russian River Brewing Company, is released in late winter. The kitchen’s most popular dishes are classic California pub food: super nachos or a deli-roll tri-tip sandwich, packed with thinly sliced meat, grilled mushrooms, peppers, and onions, served hot and au jus for dipping.

Highway 84 over the Santa Cruz Mountains, an hour or less from SF

Housed in a 144-year-old redwood cabin — originally a blacksmith shop — with a wide back deck, Apple Jack’s may call itself a bar, but it is a quintessential roadhouse: a simple stage set in a clearing of wood chips, where the bands are as eclectic as the crowd. The outdoor bandstand, in the shadow of sky-high redwoods, hosts acts that range from hip-hop to indie rock to a Grateful Dead cover band. Dancing is encouraged, while any form of too-cool, putting on airs is an offense. Wednesday is karaoke night, with the locals leaning heavily on country, but when live bands play, any genre goes. 

Inside, there’s foosball and a heavily abused pool table, license plates nailed to the ceiling, and Budweiser lamps illuminating the otherwise dark, redwood interior. On weekends, there’s usually barbecue and, occasionally, something even more homey: tacos or split-pea soup. But the food offerings are as irregular and unpredictable as the music, so it’s best to treat them as a bonus rather than an expectation.