We tend to think of state capitols as grand marble monuments to governance, not parliamentary construction projects plagued by all the mishaps of home renovation. But as we strolled through the Benicia Capitol State Historic Park on a recent sunny Saturday, exploring the place where some of our earliest legislators crafted laws and debated what do about Mother Lode ruffians, we had a sudden realization:
California’s earliest delegates were rather like the clients on HGTV shows who can’t decide between the adobe house in Monterey and the chartered steamer on the Sacramento River. These guys went through five state capitals (and capitols) in four years — not counting the boat.
We’d spent the day hiking a segment of the San Francisco Bay Trail and exploring Benicia’s charming main drag, where bookstores, antique shops and tempting eateries await. The former state capitol, a grand Greek Revival-Palladian structure, is perched downtown, too. And it was there that we went down a rabbit hole.
The historic California State Capitol building in Benicia was used by the state legislature from 1853 to 1854. It was one of several state capitols in a scant five-year span. (Getty Images)
Turns out that from 1853 to 1854, Benicia ruled the Golden State — or rather, from Feb. 11, 1853, to Feb. 25, 1854. The speed with which these flighty politicos swapped digs means the State of California Capitol Museum lists very specific dates of occupancy and notes that “legislators were concerned that roving about the state would erode the people’s confidence in state government.”
Concerned? We’re in awe at the sheer logistics involved in moving the legislature from Monterey (site of the state’s first constitutional convention the year before statehood) to San Jose (where legislators didn’t like the building), then Vallejo (the building wasn’t ready), an emergency steamer trip to Sacramento, then Benicia (usable but deemed “inadequate”), then back to Vallejo (still not ready) and finally to Sacramento in 1854. Just think of the size of that Pony Express bill.
Today, you can wander through Benicia’s impressive capitol building and explore the State Senate and Assembly chambers, which could hold up to 27 senators on the first floor and 66 assemblymen upstairs, according to the California State Parks site. Historic desks topped with candlesticks and top hats fill the room, as if those politicians were going to stroll in at any moment and start drafting a contract for bounty hunter Harry Love to go after Joaquin Murrieta. There are spittoons arranged about the room as well, but placed far enough from the visitor barrier to deter any would-be historical re-enactors.
The California State Senate and Assembly Chambers are recreated at the Benicia State Capitol building, which is now a state historic park, complete with candlesticks, top hats and even spittoons. (Jackie Burrell/Bay Area News Group)
The Gold Rush was a tough time to start a new construction project (see: Vallejo capitol building). Manpower and supplies were at all-time lows, as gold-seekers raced off to the foothills so fast, they left their sailing vessels behind. But Benicia’s residents were determined. They built their capitol in four months flat, using bricks crafted on site and other materials reclaimed from abandoned ships in San Francisco Bay. The columns in the Senate chamber, for example, are New England cedar — former ship masts.
The Benicia Arsenal and Camel Barn — yes, the U.S. Army once tried to use camels as pack animals — are just a couple of miles away on aptly named Camel Barn Road. It has since become the home of the Museum of History Benicia, where the Arsenal Gallery complex reopened just last month.
If you’ve had enough of the past by now, you can dabble in the present with a hike on the Bay Trail, whose 350-mile length runs through nine counties, 47 cities, more than 130 parks and seven toll bridges — including the Benicia-Martinez Bridge. Traipse across the bridge for stunning mid-river views of the Carquinez Strait, then come into town, where the trail continues along the waterfront, up to the old capitol building and beyond. You might catch sight of the whimsical Robert Arneson sculpture at the marina or Lida Reinerston’s bronze Neptune’s Daughter holding a pelican on the waterfront, just behind the Bella Siena restaurant on First Street.
A bronze sculpture on the Benicia waterfront is called “Neptune’s Daughter” by Lisa Reinertson. (Chris Riley/Times-Herald)
Limiting your walk to First Street is an option, too, especially if you stop in at Hannalee Pervan’s One House Bakery, where you can enjoy that blueberry scone ($5.50), biscuit breakfast sandwich ($11) or flaky chicken pot pie ($10) at a table on the sunny deck out back.
Browse the antique shops and boutiques nearby. And pick up a good book — Amy Tan’s “Backyard Bird Chronicles,” perhaps, or something by native son Jack London — at Bookshop Benicia to read on a bench by the water (or while downing scones). Then end your day at Mare Island Brewing’s First Street Taphouse.
Benicia’s historic downtown dates back to the 19th century with buildings now re-purposed as cafes, eateries and a bookstore. (Getty Images)
Founded by winemakers and beer buffs Kent Fortner and Ryan Gibbons on the former naval station, Mare Island Brewing has three outposts these days, including a taproom at the Vallejo ferry landing and the Coal Shed Brewery and Taproom on Mare Island itself. They opened the Benicia taproom in 2021 in a 19th-century building that has housed everything from Elsie’s Rooming House to Arneson’s art studio. The taproom serves up shareable bites, including tasty pork belly bao buns ($17) with Sriracha mayo and hoisin, fish tacos ($16) with mango habanero salsa and Taphouse burgers ($18) topped with brie and fig jam.
Those California delegates didn’t know what they would be missing.
Seared pork belly bao gets a drizzle of Sriracha aioli and hoisin at Benicia’s Mare Island Brewing First Street Taproom. (Jackie Burrell/Bay Area News Group)
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If You Go
Benicia Capitol State Historic Park: Admission is $3 ($2 for kids). Open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday-Sunday, 115 W. G St. in
Benicia; www.parks.ca.gov/.
Museum of History Benicia and Arsenal Gallery: Admission is free. The complex is open from 1 to 4 p.m. Friday-Saturday at 2060 Camel Road, Benicia; https://mohbenicia.org.
One House Bakery: Opens at 8 a.m. Wednesday-Sunday at 918 First St., Benicia: www.onehousebakery.com.
Bookshop Benicia: Opens at 10 a.m. Tuesday-Saturday and 11 a.m. Sunday at 636 First St., Benicia; https://bookshopbenicia.indielite.org/.
First Street Taphouse: Opens at 11:30 a.m. daily at 440 First St., Benicia; www.mareislandbrewingco.com/.
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