The newspaper began publication in 1979 as The Paper in the Guerneville area of western Sonoma County[2] by artist turned community journalist Nick Valentine and jazz pianist Bob Lucas.

[3] Elizabeth Poole bought the struggling publication with family money shortly after its 1979 debut and owned it until its 1990 purchase by John Boland and James Carroll.

[3][4] The Paper was renamed the Sonoma County Independent in 1993 and published every other week under Boland and Carroll, who moved its offices to Santa Rosa.

In 2000, the newspaper was rebranded as the North Bay Bohemian and the circulation area was expanded to Marin and Napa counties.

Charity Case 1999 Lincoln Steffens Award for investigative journalism for coverage of deaths of inmates at the Sonoma County Jail