After Redwood Empire's Bar, Mare Island Is A Sunday Island

The Redwood Empire Bar and Eatery at 1095 Nimitz Ave closes for good today, October 4, 2026. The whiskey distillery in the same historic buildings will stay open for tours, tastings, classes and events, but only by reservation. That leaves the island with a short list of places you can simply show up to. Most of them are on Walnut Avenue or Nimitz Avenue, and their hours line up fully on just one day of the week.

That day is Sunday, and the second and fourth Sundays of the month line up best. Getting there has rules too. For nearly a year, the Mare Island Causeway has carried traffic onto the island only. Everyone driving back to the mainland goes out by Highway 37.

What Changed At 1095 Nimitz

Redwood Empire got its start in Graton, in the Russian River Valley, and in 2025 it bought the Savage & Cooke distillery on Mare Island. The larger space took production from four barrels a day to 14. The bar and eatery opened in May 2025, and the company says the idea was to build community. According to the Vallejo Sun, the bar had a following of its own, including well-attended drag shows hosted by Ariel Fantasea. Seven employees are affected by the closure.

Andrew Floor, Redwood Empire's vice president of marketing, explained the decision plainly:

"We are in the business of making California's best whiskey, and a whiskey that can challenge other whiskies across the country. We are not restaurateurs."

The reservation side is still worth a visit. Tours last 90 minutes and cover the barrel room, the production room and the rooftop balcony, then end with a guided tasting of six whiskies. In November, master blender Lauren Patz teaches a blending masterclass. The most useful line in Floor's interview is about the future. Redwood Empire hopes to reopen for daily drop-in visits once Mare Island has more foot traffic. So drop-in hours depend on people actually walking in, and right now those people are concentrated on one day of the week.

The Week, Day By Day

These are the places that stay open without a booking, laid out by day. Hours come from each business's or organization's own pages:

A few of those entries need context. The Coal Shed at 850 Nimitz is closed Monday and Tuesday. On September 9, the brewery announced longer Sunday hours, to 8:30 p.m., from September 13, 2026 through January 10, 2027. Other directories may still show older Coal Shed hours, so trust the brewery's own notice over them. Vino Godfather pours in a historic mansion at 1005 Walnut Ave. Its visit page says walk-ins are welcome, but that page dates to early 2025, and no newer confirmation of the hours turned up. Call before you plan a Thursday around it. The National Park Service says one or more of the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park ships may be open on weekend afternoons, depending on staff, and ships sometimes move for maintenance.

The table shows a clear pattern. Monday through Wednesday, the island's walk-in options are mostly coffee. Thursday adds wine, Friday adds a band, and Saturday adds the ships if staff are available. Sunday is the only day when the Art Studios and the chapel join everything else.

Why The Second And Fourth Sundays Stack

St. Peter's Chapel at 1181 Walnut Ave opens for self-guided visits on the second and fourth Sundays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., with a suggested $5 donation per person. The Mare Island Historic Park Foundation lists October 11 and 25, November 8 and 22, and December 13 and 27, and notes that dates can change. The Foundation's docent-led chapel and shipyard tours are different, because every public tour requires a reservation.

Inside that chapel window, the Quarters' weekend hours, Vino Godfather's opening and the Art Studios' October Sunday hours all overlap. At 110 Pintado St, Mare Island Art Studios is running "Step Into Wonder," an all-ages community art experience created by resident artist Priscila Soares, on October 4, 11, 18 and 25 from noon to 4 p.m. The studios list general admission as free.

Here is how October 25 lays out, using only published times:

1. 11 a.m. St. Peter's Chapel opens at 1181 Walnut.
2. 11:30 a.m. The Coal Shed opens at 850 Nimitz.
3. Noon "Step Into Wonder" opens at the Art Studios, and the historic ships may open at 860 Nimitz.
4. 1 p.m. At Vino Godfather, Key Lime Pie plays from 1 to 4 p.m. and Healing Hearts from 1 to 3:30 p.m.
5. 2 p.m. The chapel closes, and so does the Quarters' counter.
6. 8:30 p.m. The Coal Shed closes on the extended Sunday schedule.

October 11 follows a similar pattern. Los Cochinos plays at Vino Godfather from 1 to 4 p.m. That same morning, from 10 a.m. to noon, the Foundation runs a Mare Island Navy Hospital Area Tour with Dr. Tom Snyder, starting at Touro University's Lander Hall.

The geography makes these Sundays even easier. The Quarters is at 1015 Walnut, Vino Godfather at 1005 Walnut and the chapel at 1181 Walnut. The Coal Shed, the historic ships, the ferry terminal and the Redwood Empire distillery all sit along Nimitz, between 850 and 1095. This is the strip Mare Island Company calls the Wet Mile.

The Way Off The Island

Since October 7, 2025, the causeway's one open lane has carried westbound traffic onto Mare Island at all times. Eastbound traffic heading back to the mainland has to use Highway 37. In its September 14 update, the City reported the project at about 68% complete and said completion "remains March 2027." The Vallejo Sun reported in July that nesting restrictions for the California Black Rail had slowed some of the work, pushing the estimate from mid-February 2027 to March.

Starting tomorrow, walkers and cyclists have tighter rules too:

• Weekdays through October 23, the causeway and the trails beneath it are closed to pedestrians and bicyclists while crews apply polyester concrete and methacrylate.
• Fridays around 5:15 p.m. it reopens on foot and bike, then closes again around 7 a.m. Monday. Saturdays and Sundays are open.
• During weekday closures, the options are the San Francisco Bay Ferry between the Mare Island and Vallejo terminals or a detour of about 2.6 miles over the Highway 37 Napa River Bridge.
• Drivers can use the bridge as usual, inbound only.
• The Mare Island ferry terminal is at 1050 Nimitz Ave, and only some Vallejo-route trips stop there, so check the timetable first.

So for the rest of October, getting onto the island by foot or bike without a detour mostly means a weekend. That pushes even more of Mare Island's walk-in traffic onto the days already in the table above.

If you miss the island's weekday hours, the Mare Island Brewing Co. Ferry Taproom is across the water at 289 Mare Island Way and lists 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.

Dated Events Through December

These are the events with published dates that fall outside a regular Sunday:

• Fridays at the Coal Shed, 6 p.m. Jonny Mojo on October 9, Nathan X Moody on October 16, What the Folk on October 23, Michelle Lambert on October 30 and Joyce Grant & Company on November 6.
• October 17, 7 to 11 p.m. The adults-only "Step Into Wonder – After Dark Party" at Mare Island Art Studios.
• October 24 "Speaker Series: Haunted Mare Island" at St. Peter's Chapel at 3 p.m., then the Mare Island Halloween Block Party from 4 to 8 p.m. Eventbrite lists the party at 1015 Walnut with Mare Island Co. as organizer, while Vino Godfather's calendar lists the winery as organizer.
• November 6, 6 to 9 p.m. First Fridays Salsa at Vino Godfather, which also has Papa Joe & The New Deal on November 14 and Soul'd Out Band on November 21.
• November 15, 3 to 4 p.m. Historian Nicholas Veronico presents "World War II Shipyards by the Bay" at the chapel.
• December 6 VOENA Children's Choir performs "Voices of Peace on Earth" at St. Peter's Chapel at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m.

No 2026 date has been posted yet for a Mare Island holiday tree celebration. The only listing on Mare Island Company's events page is from December 5, 2025.

Carla follows the Vallejo details that change week to week, from causeway lane patterns to which Mare Island spots still take walk-ins. If you'd like a local read on what's happening near the island or anywhere else in Vallejo, reach out to Carla Shaheed. Work With Carla.