A wood-fired pizza place opened in May at 20391 Highway 116, in the space formerly occupied by Lucy's Lounge. A year earlier, the park bearing the town's name grew from 515 to 2,032 acres via a $24 million conservation deal. Monte Rio — unincorporated, 1,080 people, median age 62.9 — is absorbing both at once.

At 20391 Highway 116 in Monte Rio, the storefront that Lucy's Lounge occupied became Wonderland Pizzeria on May 22. Co-owners Brian Perloff and Kellee Kessler — both residents of nearby Villa Grande — put roughly a year of renovation into the space before opening. The name comes from the sign that arches over the main drag, recently refurbished to its old proclamation: "Welcome to Monte Rio: Vacation Wonderland." Wood-fired pies, a landscaped beer garden, communal tables: the first new restaurant on this block in a while.

Monte Rio is an unincorporated Sonoma County hamlet on a lazy bend of the Russian River, about ninety minutes north of San Francisco. The 2020 Census counted 1,080 residents. The median age is 62.9 — roughly one and a half times the state average. Homeownership runs at 82.8 percent. Perloff, who previously ran restaurants in Santa Barbara and operates a construction company, has lived in the area for about twelve years. The pizzeria is the kind of small bet a longtime local makes on a block he knows.

The larger investment came a year earlier. On June 20, 2025, Save the Redwoods League closed escrow on 1,517 acres — including 1,287 acres of coast redwood forest — acquired from Mendocino Redwood Company for $24 million, then immediately transferred to Sonoma County Regional Parks. Monte Rio Redwoods Regional Park grew from 515 to 2,032 acres: quadrupled. Funding included $8 million from the California Wildlife Conservation Board and $6 million from the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District, with additional contributions from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria. The land had been zoned to allow timber harvesting and commercial development under its prior owner; the acquired acreage covers the headwaters of Dutch Bill, Freezeout, and Willow Creeks, three Russian River tributaries. Sonoma County Regional Parks is working toward a master plan — targeting a draft for the county board this winter — with interim public access open at a trailhead at 9610 Main Street while CEQA studies proceed.

Monte Rio's commercial strip runs a few blocks along the highway: the corrugated-metal Rio Theater, the old-school Bartlett's Market, the seismically flagged Bohemian Highway pony truss bridge. The Bohemian Club's 2,712-acre private grove sits just upstream. What you'd notice on a walk down Highway 116 this weekend: the "Vacation Wonderland" sign, freshly readable. A pizza place where there wasn't one. And behind the trailhead sign on Main Street, more than 2,000 acres of redwoods the county is still figuring out what to do with.