Joel, Mike and BOB R have hit on key points here. Between 1970 and the recent economic implosion Eureka and the North Coast have turned into a third world country. When Great Western Tours ran the North Coast Daylight back in the 1980's, 400 people got dumped in Eureka for the weekend and all the shops were closed. They were drunk when they got there. There was little to do but find someplace to eat, hit the hotels, drink a little more and sleep it off on the return to Willits on Sunday. Maybe Joel remembers the Holiday Trains sponsored by the Eureka Inn and the NCRA in early 1990's. The railroad ran shoppers specials during the day on weekends from Fortuna to Arcata with Bayshore Mall and First Street Eureka as the primary stops. Gottschalk's was a major sponsor of that. At night, The Inn took over the diner for a catered meal cooked at the Inn. Crews were paid by the Inn. Both were popular, but crappy weather, no heat in the coaches (I don't consider propane driers from Don' Rental heat) and a few embarrassing incidents caused by the railroad (leaving people behind and flushing toilets onto city streets) and it all just faded with the economy.

When people hit the ships for those Alaskan get-aways they have money to spend and are trying to "escape" their real World. I'll have to admit that Skagway looked, smelled and felt like Humboldt County when I worked there in the 1970's.....Red alder, Sitka spruce, Western hemlock, rain, trains, everything except redwoods. But there was one key factor.......I had escaped in both time and space to a place that looked, smelled, and sounded like the post-War Humboldt County I knew as a kid. A visit to Eureka today is just a visit to another rundown coastal town with Indian Casinos as economic anchors. If you have money you can fly in and out, there's a nice B&B, maybe visit the redwood parks. That's about it.
ARD