Rubaiyat Beads
45070 Main Street, Mendocino — A bead and jewelry shop in the old Cecchi family residence beside Dick's Place.
Last updated: August 20, 2026
Some Mendocino storefronts are small enough to miss if you walk too fast, but they can still carry a whole lot of village history.
Overview
Rubaiyat Beads occupies the little storefront beside Dick's Place at 45070 Main Street, facing the Mendocino Headlands and ocean from one of the village's oldest commercial blocks.
For years the shop has been a colorful counterpoint to the old bar next door, filled with beads, semi-precious stones, jewelry-making supplies, textiles, rugs and other imported and handmade objects.
Listings for the Mendocino shop describe it as a place for both finished gifts and materials for people who want to create their own jewelry.
But the little building has a story that reaches much farther back than beads.
Location
Rubaiyat Beads is at 45070 Main Street, immediately beside Dick's Place.
The address represents a mixed-use property extending from Main Street toward Albion Street and containing the bar, adjoining commercial space and residential portions.
Current real-estate records describe the property as approximately 3,235 square feet and specifically note the adjoining commercial space beside Dick's Place as a successful retail shop.
History
The earliest documented history of the property takes the story back into Mendocino's nineteenth-century village.
The updated 2026 Inventory of Historic Structures for the Mendocino Historic Preservation District identifies several structures on the 45070 Main Street parcel.
One building, now identified with Dick's Place, is documented by 1903 and was originally a barber shop.
Even earlier, another building on the same lot is identified in the inventory as "Doctors' Offices" and is documented in an 1874 directory. Both are listed as Category I historic structures.
Kelley House Museum research adds another detail. Its history of Mendocino buildings states that the building occupied by Dick's Place was constructed as dentist Walter Hodghead's office in 1902.
The property entered one of its best-known chapters during the Depression.
Riccardo "Dick" Cecchi and his wife, Dora, opened a liquor business on Main Street in 1934, shortly after Prohibition ended. Dick had previously worked in the logging industry.
The business developed into Dick's Place, which remains one of Mendocino's best-known old bars. Local histories describe Dick's as operating from this location since 1934.
The connection between the Cecchi family and the little building beside the bar is especially important to the Rubaiyat story.
In 1937, Dick and Dora Cecchi purchased both the bar building and the neighboring house. The family lived in the residence beside their business while operating Dick's Place and its cafe.
That neighboring family residence is the building that later became commercial space associated with Rubaiyat Beads.
One reply to the original post independently preserves that same memory. A former coworker of Pete Cecchi at Dick's Place remembered that the Cecchi family originally lived in the building now associated with the bead shop.
That gives the storefront a completely different character when you look at it today. What appears to be a small independent shop beside a bar was once part of a family arrangement in which the Cecchis lived next door to the business that supported them.
The Cecchi family continued operating Dick's Place until Pete Cecchi sold the business in 1983.
The Building Today
Rubaiyat Beads belongs to the property's more recent chapter.
The shop became known for beads from around the world, semi-precious stones, stringing materials, jewelry, textiles, handcrafted rugs and other items for artists and craftspeople.
Rubaiyat also had a Fort Bragg presence. Visit Mendocino County listed Rubaiyat Beads at 222 East Redwood Avenue in Fort Bragg and described it as a haven for artists carrying beads from around the world, stringing materials, imported textiles and handcrafted rugs.
Community Memories
The replies to the original post add some of the best details about what Rubaiyat meant to its customers.
One person remembered Ruby and said the shop had wonderful beads and projects people could take home and make themselves. She also remembered the Fort Bragg store.
Her favorite part of the story was what happened after visiting Rubaiyat: her husband became a beader and still spends evenings making beautiful pieces.
Another reply supplied an important piece of building history, remembering that the Cecchi family who originally owned Dick's Place lived in the building beside the bar. He had worked with Pete Cecchi at Dick's Place and remembered that connection firsthand.
Why It Matters
Those memories tie together two very different periods in this little Main Street building: first a family home connected with one of Mendocino's oldest bars, and later a shop where people walked out carrying beads, stones and enough inspiration to start making things of their own.
The earlier history continues to emerge through old directories, photographs, property records and community memories, and there may still be more to learn about the building's uses between the Cecchi family years and the arrival of Rubaiyat.
Timeline
1874 - A building on the lot is listed as "Doctors' Offices" in an 1874 directory.
1902 - The building now occupied by Dick's Place is built as dentist Walter Hodghead's office.
1903 - The same building is documented in use as a barber shop.
1934 - Riccardo "Dick" and Dora Cecchi open a liquor business on Main Street.
1937 - The Cecchis purchase both the bar building and the neighboring house, living next door.
1983 - Pete Cecchi sells Dick's Place.
Recent decades - Rubaiyat Beads occupies the former Cecchi residence beside the bar.
Sources & Original Research: Mendocino County, Updated Inventory of Historic Structures, Mendocino Historic Preservation District, March 1, 2026 - identifies the 45070 Main Street parcel and its historic structures, including Dick's Place documented as an earlier barber shop by 1903 and doctors' offices documented as early as 1874; Kelley House Museum, "Discovering a Building's History" - identifies the Dick's Place building as dentist Walter Hodghead's 1902 office; Meet Mendocino, Dick's Place - history of Riccardo "Dick" Cecchi and the 1934 opening; Rubaiyat Beads, WineCountry.com - address and shop description; Visit Mendocino County, Rubaiyat Beads - Fort Bragg location and shop description; current 45070 Main Street real-estate records; original Buildings and Businesses in Mendocino post and community memories supplied by India Gingell, Brian Crasno and Anna Roeth; original post text, photograph and research compilation provided by Gee Bee.