Django's Rough Bar

Overview

Some Noyo Harbor places do not have just one name. They collect names the way the harbor collects old ropes, floats, boat stories, and half-remembered nights with music coming off the water.

The spot now known through Princess Seafood's restaurant chapter has another life in local memory as Rough Bar, and before that, people remember it through several earlier names and uses. This is one of those harbor locations where the building, dock, restaurant, and water all feel tangled together in the best Noyo way.

Location

Django's Rough Bar was located in Noyo Harbor, on the waterfront where the river meets the sea. The site had decks over the water and the kind of close harbor setting that made the place feel less like a polished restaurant and more like part of the working waterfront.

Its location matters because Noyo Harbor has always been more than a scenic backdrop. It is a place of docks, fishing boats, seafood businesses, restaurants, bars, tourists, locals, and old stories stacked on top of each other.

History

The current restaurant chapter is tied to Princess Seafood, which now serves in the former Django's Rough Bar location. Princess Seafood also has its own Noyo Harbor history, beginning as a local seafood business focused on sustainably caught seafood and later opening its market and deli in the harbor in 2018. The restaurant location continues that fresh-fish connection with the harbor still right outside the door.

The older memory of this location reaches back before Rough Bar. One comment remembered that Ray Welsh built the place in the early 1940s and that it served for many years as Sportsman Dock. Local history sources describe Sportsman's as founded by Ray Welch Sr. and Jr., Dick Lucas, and Shirley Stribling, with small fishing boats built on site and rented during the busy summer season. Another account says the dock was built by Richard Lucas and Ray Welch to serve sport fishermen, which lines up closely with family memories shared in the comments.

That Sportsman Dock chapter is pure Noyo Harbor: floats, perch fishing, party boats, charter trips, kids underfoot, and adults working the water. The comments remembered the party boat Buela, the old floats, and the place as a living dock long before it became known mainly as a restaurant or bar.

The restaurant names changed over time too. People remembered Sharon's by the Sea, Sherry's by the Sea, Heron by the Sea, and then Rough Bar. Sharon's by the Sea was remembered with Odile as chef. Heron by the Sea was remembered as connected to the family behind Noyo Grill, who later outgrew the space and moved on. Rough Bar was then born, with Odile remembered as coming back to cook there. Others remembered food, Bloody Marys, friendly staff, and sitting down in the harbor with the water right there. By the Rough Bar years, the place had become associated with live music, craft beer, summer crowds, drinks, and the relaxed rough-edged charm that makes Noyo feel like Noyo.

The Building Today

Today, the site has a new life through Princess Seafood's restaurant presence. That chapter continues the harbor's seafood tradition in a modern form while keeping the same waterfront setting active.

The names have changed, but the location is still doing what Noyo places do best: feeding people, gathering people, and keeping them close to the water.

Why It Matters

This place matters because it shows how Noyo Harbor keeps changing without losing its character.

The site has been remembered as sport-fishing dock, family workplace, restaurant, bar, live music spot, craft beer stop, and now seafood restaurant.

Rough Bar may be gone, but the location is not empty history. It continues to carry the same harbor energy: informal, weathered, social, and tied directly to the water.

There was even a television memory attached to it. One person remembered part of the opening of Murder, She Wrote being filmed around Sportsman Dock, which fits with the larger Fort Bragg and Noyo connection to the show's fictional Cabot Cove image.

Whether people remember the dock, the bar, the food, the music, the decks, or a favorite seat by the water, this location clearly held more than one kind of memory.

Community Memories

Community memories connect this location to Sportsman Dock, party boats, the Buela, old floats, perch fishing, Sharon's by the Sea, Sherry's by the Sea, Heron by the Sea, Rough Bar, Odile in the kitchen, Bloody Marys, live music, craft beer, friendly staff, summer crowds, waterfront decks, and the later Princess Seafood restaurant chapter. Those memories show a place that kept changing names while staying rooted in the same harbor life.

Timeline

Early 1940s — Comment-thread memory that Ray Welsh built the place, which served for many years as Sportsman Dock.

Mid-20th Century — Sportsman Dock remembered as part of Noyo Harbor's sport-fishing life, with small fishing boats, party boats, floats, and charter activity.

Restaurant Eras — Location remembered through names including Sharon's by the Sea (with Odile as chef), Sherry's by the Sea, and Heron by the Sea (connected to the family behind Noyo Grill).

Rough Bar Era — Django's Rough Bar becomes known for live music, craft beer, drinks, food, decks over the water, and Odile returning to the kitchen.

2018 — Princess Seafood opens its market and deli in Noyo Harbor.

Current Chapter — Princess Seafood restaurant continues the seafood and waterfront gathering tradition in the former Rough Bar location.

Sources: Original post text and photos provided by Gee Bee; comment threads provided by Gee Bee including contributor memories from Annierose Wise Moran, Sue Langford, Wendy Holloway, Julie Guenther, Jim Nailor, Jeni Lee Smith, Candi Baird, Margie Bates, Patty Reed Barrow, Suzette Burnett, Traci Meadows, Stella Kay, Cindy Patterson, Rebecca Jarman Warnock, Harriet Bird, and Jennifer Owenns; Princess Seafood Market & Restaurant; Visit Fort Bragg / Heather, Wendy & Princess Seafood; Visit Mendocino listing for Princess Seafood; Sportsman's Park History; It Happened at Purity / Sportsman's Dock; Mendo Food Guide / Princess Seafood; Harbor RV Park activity guide / Django's Rough Bar Cafe.