ABOUT US

Loreen bought the Riverwood Inn in 1995.  A native of Humboldt County, she had been living on the Mendocino Coast for the past 15 years and one day came over the hill on a motorcycle run that ended up at the Riverwood Inn.    The run was in March and it was freezing cold, but inside the Riverwood was a huge fire and a BBQ going out on the porch.  It was love at first sight and upon finding out it was for sale, she decided to buy it, even though she didn't have any money.  She and her former husband Dick mortgaged everything they had and Loreen borrowed some cash from her Aunt Peg and made the offer.  By July 15th, the Riverwood Inn was hers.  

The Riverwood was in pretty rough shape.  In its heyday, it had been a Italian Dinner House and bar so there was a run down commercial kitchen with assorted pots and pans.  In what had been the dining room were pool tables and old carpet.  The rooms downstairs had been the living quarters for the former owner and only one had a functioning bathroom.  The hallways were littered with boxes of items stored by neighbors during the 64 flood that had never been claimed.  The whole building needed paint and a new roof.  The old roof was the original and had "Italian Dinners" painted on the shakes.  Loreen actually fell through the ceiling in the bar trying to empty leak buckets in the attic during a huge storm.  It was a monumental task to operate the business and clean it up all at the same time.   She began having live music and tried to run the restaurant several times with no success.  Then her husband ran off with the cleaning lady and Loreen almost lost the whole shebang!  Luckily he signed everything over to her, including the debt, of course, but somehow she kept the Riverwood afloat with live music and microwave burgers.  

In 1999, during the famous Redwood Run she ran into an old friend from the coast, Gary Eliason.   It was love at first sight and they were married during Street Vibrations in Reno in the Harley Davidson  Dealership in September 2000.  Then another turn came about when Loreen decided to serve Mexican food as there were no Mexican restaurants in Southern Humboldt.  So in 2001 she became partners in the restaurant with Hector Llamas, calling the restaurant portion El Rio, meaning "The River."  Hector brought in his crew and his special recipes, Loreen bought more tequila and together they have created a really fine Mexican restaurant with over thirty tequilas!  All the food is prepared fresh daily and Lupe', the chef, makes all her own tortillas by hand in the traditional way.  So now The Riverwood has live music, great food, lots of tequila and rooms.  And Gary?  Well, he loves to chop wood  and since we go through about ten cords a year that is a real good thing.   Who could ask for anything more!