Hillary Clinton Visits North Coast, Stops at Klamath's Requa Inn

Secret Service SUVs rolled across the tarmac at Arcata-Eureka Airport last weekend to collect a passenger who had flown in from San Francisco under a fake name: Hillary Rodham Clinton. The former U.S. Secretary of State, senator, first lady and two-time presidential candidate made a quiet appearance at the Historic Requa Inn in Klamath over the weekend of March 21-23, with photos of her visit posted to the inn's Facebook page confirming what a tipster had relayed to the Lost Coast Outpost days earlier.

Clinton met with Yurok Chief Justice Abby Abinanti and others from the Yurok Tribal Court during the visit. The Historic Requa Inn posted on Facebook that it "was honored to host former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, her good friends Anna Deveare Smith and Susie Buell, and the Yurok Tribal Court over the weekend."

Anna Deavere Smith is an American actress, playwright, and professor known for her roles in "The West Wing" and "Nurse Jackie," as well as a MacArthur "genius" fellowship for pioneering documentary theatre. Susie Buell is a San Francisco-based entrepreneur and progressive political donor who has been close to the Clintons for decades.

The arrival raised eyebrows even before the photos went public. The Lost Coast Outpost reported that it "had heard just the faintest rumors that she might be headed our way but was unable to confirm it last week," and that on Friday an email tip arrived claiming Clinton had flown into ACV from SFO under a fake name. "Secret service SUVs came and picked her up on the tarmac," the tipster told the Outpost. Those claims have not been independently verified by official sources, and no statement from Clinton's office, the Secret Service, or Arcata-Eureka Airport has been issued.

The Historic Requa Inn, built in 1914, commands a point overlooking the spot where the Klamath River meets the Pacific and sits squarely within the heart of Yurok ancestral territory in Del Norte County. It is a fitting destination for a Clinton visit rooted in a relationship with Yurok leadership that stretches back years.

Clinton's prior visit to Humboldt more than four years ago brought her and daughter Chelsea to see Yurok Chief Justice Abby Abinanti for an Apple TV documentary series called "Gutsy." That series documented the pair seeking out women whose courage and conviction they found compelling. Abinanti, who has served as Chief Justice of the Yurok Tribal Court and spent decades fighting for tribal sovereignty and Indigenous children's rights, was a natural subject. This weekend's return visit suggests that connection has only deepened.

Yurok Tribal member and Indigenous rights activist Amy Bowers Cordalis posted a highlight reel of the visit to Instagram, offering additional visual documentation of the gathering. The purpose of the meeting, whether personal, related to ongoing documentary work, or tied to the Yurok Tribal Court's work on environmental restoration and Indigenous justice, had not been officially disclosed as of Monday.

What is clear is that Klamath, a small community at the edge of Redwood National and State Parks, drew one of the most recognizable political figures of the past three decades to its riverfront this spring, and the inn that has stood on that bluff since 1914 was the setting.