"I Like It Here”: Life Stories of Humboldt’s Bob McKee

Creative Type Productions, 2022

Each of us inhabits a specific place, but rarely does “place” loom so large as it does for Bob McKee. “Godfather” of Northwest California’s back-to-the land movement, McKee sold parcels to some 900 families, starting in the late 1960s. He was a master storyteller with a tenacious memory and 92 years of life stories. His tales—some 50 hours of tape in the year before he died, edited and curated by Raphael—form both a personal history and a record of the varied realms he inhabited, from rough-and-tumble Humboldt County loggers to Bay Area Beat poets to backcountry hippies. An astute observer of people, he brings characters to life; by personalizing the past, he gives history a granular presence. McKee’s multi-layered tales spiral outward and inward, gathering breadth and depth. He makes readers smile, laugh, and sometimes tear up—a full range of human emotions.

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