


We all want to make healthy choices. At Kaiser Permanente, you’ll get a wide selection of doctors to choose from. So you can find the one with the experience and the personality that best fits you and your needs. And if you ever change your needs or your mind, you can change your doctor at any time. Visit kp.org today because together we thrive.
At Marin General Hospital, providing our community with comprehensive, compassionate, state-of-the-art care is our mission, and our privilege. That would not be possible without our exceptional roster of physicians. Together, we deliver the expert care that helps make Marin such an extraordinarily healing environment. We are delighted to see so many of these experts honored by Marin Magazine, across a broad spectrum of specialties. Congratulations – and many thanks – to all the top docs from everyone at Marin General Hospital.
For referral to a Marin General Hospital physician, call 1-888-99-MY-MGH (1-888-996-9644).
Or find a doctor at www.maringeneral.org
James R. Adams
Jennifer Agard
Romeo Agbayani
Edward Alfrey
Gail B. Altschuler
Peter Anastassiou
Benedict Ancock
Kristin Anderson
Robert Anderson
J. David Andrew
Tarun Arora
Robert Glenn Aycock
H. Scott Barshack
Mark Bason-Mitchell
Anjuli Basu
Adam J. Baumgarten
Mark Bazalgette
Kyle A. Belek
Robert Belknap
Patrick M. Bennett
Mitchel Berger
John Bettinger
Sally Boero
Julie Bokser
Raymond M. Bonneau
Michael I. Bozuk
Nelson Branco
Ray Brindley
Elizabeth Brown
Thato Y. Brumwell
Jasmine Burke
Eric Buxton
Robert H. Byers
Alexis Cardellini
Heather D. Carlberg
Emma E. Cermak
Michael C. Chase
Mickie H. Cheng
Suzanne C. Christie
Cynthia B. Clark
Catharine Clark-Sayles
Douglas Cohen
Arthur Cohn
Ilkcan Cokgor
Anne M. Cummings
Nona Cunningham
Elizabeth Dailey
Tancredi Fasanella Damore
Kerry Davidson
Wendy Davis
Brian Demuth
Keith Denkler
Tina R. Desai
Sujoya Dey
Mohammad Diab J. Jim Dietz
David Scott Duffy
Christina Edwards
Peter Eisenberg
Genevieve Estilo
Elizabeth Etemad
Alexander R. Evens
Shala R. Fardin
Anthony J. Fedrigo
Barbara Finzen
Daniel W. Flis
Sylvia Flores Cheri Forrester
Michael Fox Kim Frederickson
Arthur D. Fu David B. Galland
Barbara Galligan Tami Gash-Kim
Linda Gaudiani
Kent N. Gershengorn
Jonathan R. Goff
Ravinder S. Gogia David H. Goltz
William Good Cynthia Goodman J. Michael Graham
Jason Green Cindy J. Greenberg
Sajot Grewal
Nima Grissom
Joseph Habis
Alexandra Haessler
B. Colin Hamblin
Terry Hand
John Harvey
Bobbie Head
Erin Heath David P. Hoffman
Katey K. Hoffman
Christopher M. Hogan
Jessica C. Hollman
Renee Howard
Kambridge Hribar Yngvar Hvistendahl
Amber Jaeger
Jeremy Juriansz Ann K. Kao
Vineet Kapur Brian G. Keeffe
Leah Kelley Holly Kelly Abbey Kennedy Uta Kerl
Christian K. Kim Paul H. Kim
Haydee M. Knott Amy Kobalter Keith F. Korver
Tomas Kubrican Michael K. Kwok
Lizellen La Follette Barry Landfield Mark Lawler
Lisa Leavitt
Crystine Lee John Lee Natalie Lee John Lennox
Lawrence Levy Rebecca Li Guy Livnat Meenal Lohtia Elizabeth Lowe Jennifer Lucas Michael J. Maioriello Arundathi S. Malladi
Vikram Malladi Rina Marfatia
Alan Margolin Kristen Matsik
William Mcallister
Kathryn Beaufort Meier
Jane Meill
Rita Melkonian Alex S. Metzger
Roland Minami
James Minnis Khashayar Mohebali
Eddie Mozen
J. Timothy Murphy
Kathryn Najafi-Tagol
Roshanak Najibi Mather Neill
Harry Neuwirth Adam Nevitt
Robert Newbury Andrea A. Ngo Son Nguyen
Susan T. Nguyen Benjamin Nichols Bonnie L. Nickel
Merrill Nisam
Michael J. Oechsel
David L. Ogden
Alfred Oppenheim Oliver Osborn
Laura K. Pak David Palestrant Shelley A. Palfy John Panagotacos
Sujatha Pathi Fred Penczak
Lawrence Posner Stanley G. Poulos Arun K. Raghupathy Evan Ransom
Curtis Robinson James B. Robison Curtis Roebken Howard Rosenfeld David M. Rudnik Anika L. Sanda Hima Satyavolu
Nancy Schwartzman
Naureen A. Shaikh
Michael Shapiro Ripple Sharma
Sandra L. Shefrin
Gayle Shimokaji
John C. Shin
Kabir Singh
Joel Sklar
Ashley A. Smith
Mark E. Sockell
Daniel Solomon Anand Soni
Darya Soto
Timothy Sowerby
Marcella Spera David C. Sperling
Robert T. Sperling
Carl Spitzer Ernest H. Sponzilli Benjamin Stahl Peter H. Stein Hector C. Streeter Brian L. Strunk Brian W. Su
Susan Sun
Azita Taghavy Schuman Tam
Cheryl Tanasovich
James Taylor
Robert Teasdale
Irene Teper Gregg Tolliver Alex Uihlein Nushrat J. Ullah
Peter S. Uzelac Michael Vaughan Jennifer K. Voss Rishi K. Wadhwa
Helene Walters John W. Ward
Sally C. Ward Noah Weiss
Jeffrey Weitzman
Stephen Welter Arnold G. Werschky Suzanne L. Westphal Mark P. Wexman
Jeanette R. White E. Regina Widman Gerald Wilner
Heidi Wittenberg Michael Yamaguchi Alice Yee
Jerald A. Young R. James Yu John J. Zecherle
His outlook is global. His privacy is important. His giving is through Virtuoso.
The modern alternative to a private foundation. www.marincf.org 415.464.2507
UCSF Neurosurgery at Marin: 415-514-6868
1100 S. Eliseo Dr., Suite 1 Greenbrae, CA 94904
From one of the largest brain tumor programs in the nation to groundbreaking care for patients with epilepsy, cerebrovascular diseases and movement disorders, UCSF has long been at the forefront of treating disorders of the brain, spine and peripheral nervous system. UCSF Medical Center is recognized as the best neurology and neurosurgery program in California by U.S. News & World Report. UCSF neurosurgeons provide brain and spine surgical expertise on both an emergency and elective basis as part of Marin General Hospital’s Spine & Brain Institute.
In collaboration with Marin General Hospital, our Department of Neurosurgery offers convenient access to expert care in Marin.
Spinal Disorders: 415-353-2739
Foot and Ankle: 415-353-2808
1100 S. Eliseo Dr., Suite 1 Greenbrae, CA 94904
Pediatric Orthopaedics: 415-353-2967
Sports Medicine: 415-353-2808
1300 S. Eliseo Dr., Suite 204 Greenbrae, CA 94904
UCSF Orthopaedic Surgery provides expert treatment for all aspects of musculoskeletal injuries, rehabilitation, orthotics and prosthetics. Recognized by U.S. News & World Report as the best orthopaedics program in California, our physicians have specific training in the full range of orthopaedic specialties. Experts in spinal disorders, pediatric orthopaedics, sports medicine, hand, foot and ankle, and primary care treat patients in our Greenbrae clinic. Our Sports Medicine staff provides exceptional care and health education to young athletes in high schools throughout Marin.
www.ucsfhealth.org
Find Your Aloha.
Where the spirit of exploration meets the sweetness of homecoming, you’ll fi nd Montage Residences Kapalua Bay. A modern take on resort living, free of pretense, alive with fun. Signature services and amenities are infused with the essence of a beloved place. Make the Montage experience your own, and reclaim the luxury of delight. A limited o ering of spacious oceanfront three- and four-bedroom Residences is available. Starting from the mid $3 millions. Schedule your private showing.
800 691 3527 MontageResidencesKapaluaBay.com
This does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy a unit. Nor is it an offering or solicitation of sale in any jurisdiction where the development is not registered in accordance with applicable law or where such offering or solicitation would otherwise be prohibited by law. Obtain all disclosure documents required by applicable laws and read them before signing anything. No governmental agency has judged the merits or value, if any, of the development. Further, ownership of a unit in the development will be subject to the terms of various documents relating to the development. The resort project described herein (the “Project”) and the residential units located within the Project (the “Residential Units”) are not owned, developed, or sold by Montage Hotels & Resorts, LLC, its affiliates or their respective licensors (collectively, “Montage”) and Montage does not make any representations, warranties or guaranties whatsoever with respect to the Residential Units, the Project or any part thereof. Island Acquisitions Kapalua LLC uses the Montage brand name and certain Montage trademarks (collectively, the “Operator Trademarks”) in connection with the sales and marketing of the Residential Units in the Project under a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable and non-sublicensable license from Montage. The foregoing license may be terminated or may expire without renewal, in which case neither the Residential Units nor any part of the Project will be identified as a Montage branded project or have any rights to use the Operator Trademarks.
OSKA
153 Throckmorton Mill Valley, CA 94941 415 381 1144
OSKA 310 Center Street Healdsburg, CA 95448 707 431 7717
Shop online millvalley.oska.com
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Most of us think of pint-size tutu-wearing toddlers when it comes to dance classes.
Whatever method you choose to stay healthy — dance, meditation, hiking, stretching — it only works if you keep at it.
CELEBRATING THE TOPIC of health this month, our cover features the graceful Annie Rosenthal Parr of RoCo Dance and Fitness floating effortlessly amid Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture.
Most of us think of pint-size tutu-wearing toddlers when it comes to dance classes — and yet thousands of tiny and not-so-tiny dancers fi nd their way to the Marin Center stage every year as part of productions by RoCo, Happy Feet and other local studios. I’ve often thought of these performances as a rite of passage for our young people, and of sitting through hours of performances and paying for single-use costumes as a parallel parental “right.” Yet the rewards of this ancient art form don’t all come from having an audience. There are few things that give me as much joy as just dancing with friends. Years ago, I wrote an essay called “Solid Gold” in which I shared my unful fi lled dream of being one of those sleek dancers on the classic TV dance show. For hundreds in our community, as Kier Holmes makes clear in her Subcultures article, that dream is realized through dance classes catering to adults.
Also in this month’s issue, in what could be taken as a macabre match-up of topics, we are running a raw, in-depth narrative by Melanie Haiken on how eating disorders have a ffected not only her daughter but many families here in Marin, a county often maligned for promoting a culture of perfection. I’d like to thank those mentioned in the article for sharing their own stories so others might be able to seek help.
Fronting our Top Doctors section this month is a story by Carrie Kirby on back pain. If you think about it, given that the human spine is composed of 33 separate bones supported by disks filled with fluid protecting miles of nerves and veins sending messages and pumping blood throughout the body, it’s no wonder that all too often something goes wrong.
For me, it happened a few years ago, after a car accident followed by a rather intense and bloody head butt with a sailboat boom. A quick look at our Top Docs list led me to the office of Dr. Brian Su, and a sepia image of my neck. Su used polite language to tell me that at my age, I should expect a bit of degradation and wear and tear, but we had some work to do. Luckily, my injury was pretty common and after a few months of physical therapy at Presidio Sports Medicine, I finally started to feel good again. The information in Kirby’s back pain article meshed with what I discovered in my own experience. She interviewed Su and pointed out that the problem most people have with physical therapy is that they just don’t stick with it.
Speaking of which, the fact that 50 percent of patients with serious medical conditions don’t take their medications is ba ffling to me. Do we just like to wallow? Are we too busy? When I turned 50, I figured it was time to evaluate my health. Medical tests yielded a few vague diagnoses of excessive mercury, something about thyroid and possible Epstein-Barr virus. It was suggested I go off luten for six weeks. I did that, and 42 miserable days later I reported to my doctor proposing my own self-diagnosis of Roseanne Barr virus. I had gained weight, was extremely cranky and had developed a propensity for wearing baggy sweatshirts.
My road to recovery involved no magic pill. I finally found a meditation practice I could stay with, resumed my moderate exercise routine and doubled my gluten intake. I’m not sure if there is an easier county in the country to be healthy in, given our open space, locally sourced organic food and various health care modalities. In fact, at the risk of being too corny, I will say that being healthy is contagious here in Marin.
Mimi Towle, EditorAS PART OF this month’s special focus on area Top Doctors, we dive into several important issues pertaining to health.
First, writer and mom Melanie Haiken looks at the troubling issue of eating disorders; her account of her own daughter’s struggle astutely highlights how insidious and hidden this condition can be.
Next up is the conclusion of Kasia Pawlowska’s two-part feature on social media. Do you use dating apps? Do you check your phone during dinner? She looks into how online phenomena are shaping our relationships.
We lighten up a bit with a new Subcultures story on adult dance classes in Marin. As Kier Holmes reveals, people fi nd this activity a great way to work out and have fun too. With
genres like cardio beat, hip-hop, ballet, tap, urban and more, there truly is a step for everyone.
Our special Top Doctors section includes a list of more than 650 superlative physicians as selected by their peers, plus Carrie Kirby’s updated look at back pain and recommended ways to treat it (hint: it’s probably not surgery).
Do you use dating apps? Do you check your phone during dinner?
Up front, we profi le local chocolate makers who make their product a truly guilt-free treat, unwrap a fresh idea in groceries, talk to Deborah Santana about her new anthology of women’s essays, and introduce you to an Impossible Burger that you’ll be seeing everywhere soon.
Destinations explores some far-flung honeymoon spots, from Bora Bora to Nicaragua. If you are getting married soon — or even if you aren’t — you’ll want to add these to your wish list.
It’s a big issue that covers lots of timely topics. Enjoy, then grab those tap shoes and we’ll see you out on the floor.
After 12 years, our Sausalito office was looking a little tired and outdated; the entire staff was ready for a remodel. So in December we packed up our stuff, threw away or donated even more, knocked down a few walls and sent everyone off to work from home as much they could. Less than two weeks later we returned to an opened-up space, new carpet and paint, updated workspaces and a fresh outlook for 2018.
We treat more cardiac patients than any other hospital in San Francisco. When you call this city home, you call CPMC your hospital.
In this issue: “Lust for Like” (p. 40)
How would you describe your relationship with social media? It’s been pretty much nonexistent until very recently. About a month or so ago I entered this brave new world and started an Instagram page. You can check out my recent illustrations and comics @ryan_inzana.
What’s the most challenging part of your job? Managing deadlines. You wonder to yourself why you decided to accept all of these assignments in such an unreasonable time frame. Ironically, that’s usually when the best work gets done.
Where has your work appeared before? The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, GQ and others.
In this issue: “Honeymoon Havens” (p. 75) What is your favorite travel destination? Hawaii, especially Kauai and the Big Island, have proved entrancing time and time again, but I also love the energy of bustling cities such as London and Tokyo. What was your honeymoon like? My husband, Ian, and I spent two nights — all we could a fford — at a rustic lighthouse inn on Isle au Haut in Acadia National Park. The ferry from Stonington, Maine, was the best part; a deer fly attack was the worst.
Where has your work appeared before? San Francisco Chronicle, Sunset, The Guardian, My Table, Boston Globe, Washington Post.
In this issue: “The Last to Know” (p. 48)
In this issue: “The Pain Game” (p. 54)
What was the most surprising fact you learned while writing this story? I wa s stunned to learn that having an MRI show an abnormality like a ruptured disk did not mean you need surgery, and that in fact lots of people have abnormal MRIs with no pain at all.
Any go-to exercises for when your back is acting up? Ever since reporting this story, I’ve been trying Stuart McGill’s Big 3 back exercises. It’s too soon to say if they’ve really helped me, but many people report relief after they use these exercises to strengthen muscles to support the back. Where has your work appeared before? San Francisco Magazine, BBC online, TheAtlantic.com, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Chicago Tribune and my blog TheMiles.Mom.
What were some misconceptions you had about eating disorders before writing this story? I didn’t have a lot of misconceptions about eating disorders before writing the story, but I sure did before my daughter’s experience. Like many people I thought it was about food, about dieting gone overboard, but that’s not it at all.
Any words of advice for someone currently in the thick of the illness? My advice for anyone dealing with eating disorders, whether it’s you or a loved one, is to take it seriously right from the start — don’t minimize what’s happening. Ask for help and don’t stop until you fi nd it. Denial is dangerous. Where has your work appeared before? My work has appeared in many national magazines including Health, Parade and Parenting, and at Forbes.com
Nothing provides greater relief than mapping a clear course for your financial future. It’s like a massive weight has been removed. If you’re not getting that lift from your current wealth manager, it’s time to play the field. Don’t stay stuck in a loveless relationship — download our Practical Guide to Finding Happiness at www.privateocean.com/guide
Our top Instagram post in December was by @samuelbrian_. “I took the shot back in September from the S.F. side looking towards Marin, standing right next to the Langdon Court parking lot off of Lincoln Boulevard in the Presidio.” He titled the shot “International Orange.” Want to see your photo in print? Tag us @marinmagazine with your best snap.
“My family goes to Union Square every Christmas to see the gingerbread houses, write Santa at Macy’s and go skating, but this year the ice rink was all sold out,” says Adam Babendir, the winner of the ice rink tickets who definitely made the most of his prize. “My mother was in town from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and we surprised her, too.” Congrats, Adam!
1 “Jerry and Diane Jampolsky” Jerry, a shy underachiever with a learning disability, grew up to be a world-renowned, Stanford-educated child and adult psychiatrist.
“Making a Difference” We spoke with over 30 organizations here in Marin and asked exactly how donations would help them.
“Not Just for Kids” A childhood passion for Lego becomes an adult obsession.
If you’d like to see your art on the cover of Marin Magazine, now is the time to get in the running: the deadline for our 12th annual cover contest is March 5. To enter, go to marinmagazine.com/ getcovered.
I enjoy reading your magazine every month as it has a variety of interesting articles. My husband and I have a home in Knights Valley in Sonoma County (from which we evacuated October 8) and access it from Mark West Springs Road off f 101. I read with great interest your breaking news column (Editor’s Note, December) in the latest issue and noticed that you went to Safari West post-fi re to interview Peter Lang. We drive by there on the way to our home so are very familiar with the route and are not sure how someone thought it was
experience the beauty of the local animals, and not the architecture of the high-rises. Many nights I have sat outside my house just to watch the doe and her fawn trot up the street. I consider myself blessed to be able to be surrounded by such beauty and it is so simple to live harmoniously with all of them; you just have to use common sense and not be self-centered. GRAYSON DAVIS, VIA EMAIL
One word to describe your story of that brave mom who lived through an addiction nightmare (“Getting My Child Back,” November) with both of her kids while her marriage blew up — brutal! ROGER HOWARD, MILL VALLEY
20 miles or so from 101 to get to Safari West. The actual mileage is closer to five or less. T he scope of devastation on that route is hard to drive though (and in fact we were shut out until about three weeks after the fi re), so while it may seem like a 20-mile drive [due to] all the devastation, the author may want to check her odometer. I enjoyed the article and interviews of the fi re survivors very much! Thank you for the great magazine. Keep up the good work.
LESLIE S. TOGNAZZINI, KNIGHTS VALLEYI have never written a response to any article in your magazine, or any other magazine, but I was appalled when I read your piece called “Deer Debate” (December). I would like to say I am shocked to read that opinions in the community are split, but sadly I am not. This sums up exactly what is wrong about Marin County currently. T he fact that a group of people in Belvedere want to dart-tranquilize, and surgically sterilize, the female native black-tailed deer is incomprehensible. To those people, I would like to point out the operative word in that sentence “native.” The whole reason I chose to move to Marin County, and not San Francisco, decades ago was to be able to
I am so happy that Marin Magazine did the article on Jerry Jampolsky and Diane Cirincione (Conversation, December). The article and photos were perfect and so well done. I had written to you back in 2014 after the Attitudinal Healing International conference because I knew that Marin residents would love getting to see more of these amazing people. Their work locally, statewide and worldwide has made a huge difference in thousands of people’s lives. We have witnessed their work and connections for years and are continually impressed and grateful for all that they do and are in this world. My husband and I love Marin Magazine and are so grateful that you are here bringing our residents to life in such vibrant and informative ways. Thank you, thank you, thank you. MICHELLE GROLEAU, VIA EMAIL
We did think it was a little strange that you put the foie gras in the vegetarian section (“Best of the County,” August). But Le Garage was happy to be included. Yes we do have the vegetarian basquaise on the menu (or some variation of it) regularly. Thanks! SUSANNAH SOUVESTRE, VIA EMAIL
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Your comments may be edited for clarity and brevity. Send letters to Marin Magazine , One Harbor Drive, Suite 208, Sausalito, CA 94965, or email us at letters@marinmagazine com . Please include the town where you live and a daytime phone number.
March 10, 6–10 p.m.
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Animal lovers from all over the Bay Area are invited to this elegant affair featuring silent and live auctions, gourmet dining and visits from animal ambassadors. Marin Humane brings animals and humans together, forging a bond that impacts not only our homes, but makes neighborhoods happier and healthier.
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From creative designer Janet Deleuse, a necklace of Aquamarine flwers and faceted gems hand-cut from Germany with highlighting diamonds and an adjoining Akoya cultured pearl necklace. Matching drop earrings completes this bejeweled blossom.
DELEUSE JEWELERS 55 Broadway, Fairfax, CA 415.459.3739 Deleuse.com
Spring jackets are here! Designed in Mill Valley, sewn in San Francisco.
J’AMY TARR
By appointment only or online, Mill Valley, CA 415.450.9677 jamytarr.com info@jamytarr.com
riding breeches or black leather pants, the Stick & Ball original classic Knit Collar Poncho is a chic way to seek warmth and style as an all season piece. Add the Palermo Soho Italian leather bag and you master the LOOK.
STICK & BALL 186 E. Blithedale Ave, Mill Valley, CA 415.388.2270 stickandballco.com
Encore Consignment has served Marin since 1984 with luxury designer consignment at accessible prices. Also carries handbags, fabulous shoes, hats, finejewelry and other accessories. Browse our curated collection and meet our dedicated staff. Marin’s best kept secret!
ENCORE DESIGNER CONSIGNMENT 11 Mary Street, San Rafael 415.456.7309 encoreconsignment.com
Three local chocolatiers are doing good in the world and making delicious chocolate at the same time. KIER HOLMES
ALTER ECO San Francisco
DOING GOOD
Supports fair trade practices, packaging is sustainable, and company is carbon neutral (2 million–plus trees planted in cacao fields).
THE DETAILS
Organic, non-GMO, and crafts a bar with a heart-healthy 90 percent cocoa.
San Francisco
DOING GOOD
Sources chocolate locally and portions of recent proceeds are donated to local fire relief efforts.
THE DETAILS
Small batches, by hand, and made in San Francisco.
DANDELION
San Francisco
DOING GOOD
Makers travel to ingredients’ places of origin and work directly with growers and producers.
THE DETAILS
A bean-to-bar chocolate made with only two ingredients: cocoa beans and organic cane sugar.
What Wedged between the shores of Sausalito and Belvedere stands Richardson Bay, home to the second largest eelgrass bed (437 acres) within San Francisco Bay. This flowering water plant thrives in shallow waters and creates underwater meadows that serve as intricate and important ecosystems. These beds are a haven for all types of sea life, including fish, invertebrates and even waterbirds.
Why “The estuary has an ideal combination of shallow water depths and good water quality that provides clarity allowing aquatic plants to grow,” says John Takekawa, program director at Richardson Bay Audubon Center. During the winter months, this estuary serves as a sanctuary for waterbirds that rely heavily on eelgrass for roosting and feeding. “ The San Francisco Bay estuary is also notable for its broad shallows, soft sediments, and highly urbanized environment supporting more than 7 million people,” says Takekawa. Given the urbanization encroaching everywhere else, without these beds, many animal species would be without food and home.
How to protect it In the past 20 to 30 years, coves like Richardson Bay have seen a drastic decline in the vital water plant. “Eelgrass can be harmed by boats and by threats to water quality from runoff f adjacent communities,” Takekawa says. In an effort to protect these beds from any disturbance caused by boats that anchor there, the sanctuary in the northeast region of Richardson Bay is closed to boat tra ffic from October through March. “Our goal is to minimize the effects of human disturbance on these critical habitats.”
Back in January 2016 we printed a small article in this section that garnered a lot of attention. “A Prescription for Trouble” brought to light an unfavorable superlative in our community — the highest amount of alcohol and overdose deaths among teens per capita — and noted a slew of overdoses that had recently landed five teens in the hospital. Also mentioned were the mitigation efforts of local groups like RxSafe Marin and the Marin County Department of Health and Human Services. Drug overdose is still the leading cause of accidental death in Marin, with prescription drugs being the biggest culprit, but things are looking up for the county. The numbers for opioid prescriptions and overdose deaths are significantly declining, and in April 2017, Marin HHS and RxSafe Marin had a hand in making naloxone, a medication that reverses an opioid overdose, more available countywide. Additionally, RxSafe Marin has started holding quarterly community forums on topics related to prescription drug misuse and abuse. The March session focuses on “Healthy Pain Management” and will cover topics like understanding pain, non-opioid alternatives to treatment for pain, and navigating your options for treating pain. rxsafemarin.org KASIA PAWLOWSKA
If you’re looking for great medical care, there’s no reason to stray from the North Bay. The Prima Medical Foundation has convenient offices in Sausalito, Mill Valley, Greenbrae, Larkspur, Terra Linda, Novato, and Sonoma. We have more than 60 clinicians, including primary care doctors and a broad range of specialists. Our offices are seamlessly connected to local hospitals and to each other through electronic medical records. We also offer free access to our secure, self-service patient portal, FollowMyHealth™ to make it easy for you to stay in touch between visits.
Edward Alfrey
J. David Andrew
Anjuli Basu
Mark Bazalgette
Sally Boero
Raymond M. Bonneau
Elizabeth Brown
Alexis Cardellini
Suzanne C. Christie
Brian Demuth
Elizabeth Etemad
Alexander R. Evens
Barbara Finzen
Sylvia Flores
Cheri Forrester
David B. Galland
J. Michael Graham
Joseph Habis
Erin Heath
David P. Hoffman
Katey K. Hoffman
Amber Jaeger
Leah Kelley
Uta Kerl
Tomas Kubrican
Crystine Lee Guy Livnat
Meenal Lohtia
Kristen Matsik
James Minnis
Robert Newbury
Merrill Nisam
Oliver Osborn
Sujatha Pathi
Lawrence Posner
Anika L. Sanda
Marcella Spera
Benjamin Stahl
Hector C. Streeter
Gregg Tolliver
Jennifer K. Voss
Gerald Wilner
Alice Yee
HUNDREDS OF YEARS ago Ben Franklin proclaimed that “time is money.” And yes, the proverb still holds true, but Franklin wasn’t living in the age of smartphones, SAT prep courses and salaried jobs. In today’s world, perhaps more so than ever, time is a precious resource, and to maximize it people take lots of shortcuts: express workout classes, mini facials, takeout meals. “Customers constantly tell us that it’s a struggle to get dinner on the table when there’s barely time to fi ll the fridge — I get it,” says Bentley Hall, CEO of Good Eggs online grocery delivery company, who lives in San Rafael. “My wife and I both work, commute and have two little boys at home. The last thing I want to do on a Sunday is take two hours to menu-plan and then trek to a crowded grocery store with the kids.” PHILOSOPHY Good Eggs aims to resolve such quandaries with same-day fresh delivery throughout the Bay Area, with no delivery charge. While many companies offer similar services, what sets Good Eggs apart are highly local sourcing (85 percent of items come from nearby) and freshness: food arrives at customers’ homes two to three days after it’s picked, caught or baked, versus within two weeks, the norm for delivered inventory from most grocery stores. THE SCOOP First thing every morning, local producers transport their latest pickings to Good Eggs’ location in the San Francisco Wholesale Produce Market; within 24 to 48 hours the products are dispatched to 120 ZIP codes in San Francisco, Marin, the East Bay and the Peninsula. In addition to groceries, Good Eggs delivers wine, alcohol, California beers and dinner kits. WHAT THEY SAY “Good Eggs is the only company where I can order absurdly fresh groceries, easy weeknight dinners, and wine and beer to wash it down, all delivered the same day,” says Hall. “My family has more time to play outside and we eat better than ever. It’s a winwin. Other families deserve the same.” goodeggs.com KASIA PAWLOWSKA
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• Cowgirl Creamery (Point Reyes Station)
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Natives and newcomers agree: Marin is a wonderful place to live. It’s perfect combination of wilderness and sophistication with everything you need nearby – including top-notch physicians. Our Marin Healthcare District Health Centers have excellent specialists and primary care doctors, backed by Marin General Hospital. Patient records are all linked through our Electronic Medical Record System for seamless communication,coordinated care, and a better patient experience. And you can use FollowMyHealth™, a secure patient portal to manage your health and communicate with your physician’s office.
James R. Adams
Benedict Ancock
Adam J. Baumgarten
Patrick M. Bennett
Mickie H. Cheng
Catharine Clark-Sayles
Tina R. Desai
Sujoya Dey
Christina Edwards
Linda Gaudiani
Kent N. Gershengorn
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Ann K. Kao
Brian G. Keeffe
Rebecca Li
Elizabeth Lowe
Arundathi S. Malladi
Rina Marfatia
Laura K. Pak
Arun K. Raghupathy
David M. Rudnik
Kabir Singh
Joel Sklar
Mark E. Sockell
Anand Soni
David C. Sperling
Robert T. Sperling
Peter H. Stein
Brian L. Strunk
Irene Teper
Alex Uihlein
John W. Ward
Stephen Welter
Mark P. Wexman
E. Regina Widman
Jerald A. Young
San Rafael Medical Center
Sirona Vascular Center
Tamalpais Internal Medicine
J. Timothy Murphy
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R. James Yu www.marinhealthcare.org/physician-offices
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Whatever their specialty, our doctors specialize in great care.
MM: What is the main message of your foreword?
DS: The topic of my foreword is to introduce the 69 voices of the women of color whose essays are in the anthology. In 2005 I published my memoir Space Between the Stars: My Journey to an Open Heart, in which I shared my personal story of growing up biracial and coming of age in the 1960s. All the Women in My Family Sing is an extension of my story as told through the women whose essays bravely tell of personal struggles around immigration, identity, romance, selfworth and creativity.
MM: How does it feel to give these voices a platform?
DS: At this momentous time in our world, our nation and our collective consciousness, it is important to begin to look much more intensely at what we have in common as human beings rather than what separates us. I am honored to bring the stories of women of color to
the forefront, asking people who are not of color to read them so that they may understand the privilege they have lived with and the ways others have been held back or oppressed.
MM: How do you view the power of women’s voices/stories in our current climate?
DS: Since the Women’s March in January 2017, there has been a growing sense of solidarity among women who refuse to be silenced. What began as a protest of women from every racial and socioeconomic background has evolved into a social and political movement. We have seen arguably some of the most prominent, in fluential men in television and Hollywood be ejected from the industry once women began to bravely step forward to share their horror stories of sexual assault and abuse. There is a growing need to illuminate the diversity and complexity of women’s experiences in the world.
All the Women in My Family Sing by Deborah Santana (San Rafael), Nothing But The Truth Publishing, $15.95. This is an anthology documenting the experiences of women of color at the dawn of the 21st century. It is a vital collection of prose and poetry whose topics range from the pressures of being the vice-president of a Fortune 500 Company to escaping the killing fields of Cambodia. Thoughtfully edited by Deborah Santana. Appearing at Book Passage Corte Madera February 3, 7 p.m.
A False Report:
in America by T. Christian Miller (Berkeley), Crown, $28. T. Christian Miller and Ken Armstrong, both Pulitzer Prize–winning journalists, unite to tell the riveting true story of Marie , a teenager who was charged with lying about having been raped, and the detectives who followed a winding path to arrive at the truth. Based on investigative files and extensive interviews with the principals. Appearing at Book Passage San Francisco February 6, 6 p.m.
Tell Me More by Kelly Corrigan (Piedmont), Random House, $26 . This is a story-driven collection of essays on the 12 powerful phrases we use to sustain our relationships. In praise of Tell Me More , Lena Dunham writes that Corrigan “transforms the mundane pain of life into a necessary spiritual text of sorts, one that reminds us that we have the right to grieve but the obligation to be grateful.” To celebrate the launch of her latest title, Corrigan will be joined by acclaimed musician Matt Nathanson for a special evening of notes and words at Book Passage. Appearing at Book Passage Corte Madera February 7, 7 p.m.
Song of a Captive Bird by Jasmin Darznik (Larkspur), Ballantine Books, $27. This spellbinding debut novel follows trailblazing poet Forugh Farrokhzhad, who defied Iranian society to find her voice and her destiny. Inspired by Farrokhzad’s verse, letters, films and interviews and including original translations of her poems, Jasmin Darznik has written a haunting novel, using the lens of fiction to capture the tenacity, spirit and conflicting desires of a brave woman who represents the birth of feminism in Iran. Appearing at Book Passage Corte Madera February 13, 7 p.m.
We sat down with San Rafael’s Deborah Santana to discuss All the Women in My Family Sing: Women Write the World: Essays on Equality, Justice, and Freedom, a new anthology centering on experiences of women of color published, edited and with a foreword by the author.
The Impossible Burger patty comes in at about the same calorie count (220) as beef but with less fat. Protein and iron are comparable to what’s found in an 80/20 beef patty.
IT’S BIG, FILLS up the whole poppy seed bun, and has a mouthwatering savory scent. It’s ever so slightly charred and when you bite in and get a dose of that umami flavor, the red juices come trickling out. It’s delicious, it’s healthy, it’s a burger, and it’s not meat. Meat alternatives have come a long way from the bland bricks of waterlogged tofu in the deli section. With today’s nutritionally savvy consumers and growing concern about the future of the planet, the food industry has revolutionized its relationship with “alternative” proteins.
According to a 2017 New York Times article, the average American daily consumes about 100 grams of protein (about twice the recommended amount), much of it from meat eaten in almost every meal. And while global movements like “meatless Mondays” have caught on, the time is clearly ripe for less resource-depleting protein sources, particularly as the world population continues to rise.
Luckily, today’s vegetarians are no longer limited to pasta, grilled cheese or a “stupid eggplant sandwich,” as an Ike’s Place sandwich shop menu jokingly says. In the past 20 years, companies like Morningstar Farms have introduced veggie corn dogs and sausage patties to grocery store freezers. Faux meat options are in a new league of their own, graduating from frozen gardennothing-burger to “I want this” status.
Since 2009, Beyond Meat, based in the L.A. suburb El Segundo, has marketed meat-like foods while eluding some of the downsides of meat industry production. The products have sold well enough at stores like Safeway and Whole Foods to cross over to restaurants: TGI Fridays is set to
A new crop of faux-meat proteins is on the menu —and they taste better than ever.
offer Beyond Meat at hundreds of U.S. locations this year. And it won’t be a limited option — customers can order a Beyond Meat patty for any burger on the menu.
Not surprisingly, much of the innovation in this market is happening here in the Bay Area.
With a Silicon Valley–style financing approach, Redwood City–based Impossible Foods made a breakthrough, utilizing the discovery that a molecular complex called heme is a key factor in meat’s textural characteristics and taste. Heme, which also gives blood its red color, is abundant in animal muscle but also, it turns out, in nitrogen-fi xing (nitrogen-storing) plants and legumes. Scientists at Impossible Foods engineered a yeast and used a fermentation method akin to beer-brewing to make a meat-free heme. The result: the Impossible Burger, which provides nutrients and calories on a par with meat’s minus the environmental or bodily health drawbacks. Available locally at the Counter in Corte Madera, it “bleeds” just like its animal counterpart.
Another Bay Area startup is leading the meatless momentum with technology that sounds like science fiction. San Leandro’s Memphis Meats is trailblazing in the new field of cultured meat: actual meat, but made from
animal cells in a lab — no beastly cattle feeding, breeding or slaughtering involved. The method is expected to be environmentally friendly, with up to 90 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions and less land and water use than conventionally produced meat. So far, progress is impressive: in February 2016 the company posted a video about its cultured beef meatball, and in March 2017 it unveiled another first: cultured poultry, in the form of chicken tenders and duck à l’orange.
These advances have understandably caught the eye of forward-thinking entrepreneurs like Richard Branson, who has invested in Memphis Meats, and Bill Gates, who invested in both Memphis Meats and Impossible Foods. But more surprisingly, and perhaps prophetically, in 2017 Tyson Foods, the largest U.S. meat producer, created a fund focused on companies that would “sustainably feed” the world’s growing population — and invested a stake in Beyond Meat.
So where’s the beef? Apparently not so prominent on tomorrow’s dinner plate. “As a growing number of retailers, food service operators, and even processors invest in the future of the technologies behind these new products,” observed a recent piece in Meat + Poultry magazine, “the future of meat alternatives beyond 2017 looks bright.” And cattle’s futures too. m
social media and online dating apps are shaping our relationships.
BY KASIA PAWLOWSKA • ILLUSTRATION BY RYAN INZANAIT WAS FRIDAY NIGHT, but for whatever reason, instead of hitting the bars he opted for the bookstore. While browsing the biographies he got the feeling someone was looking at him. Peering up and between the bookshelves he saw her on the other side of the store in the home and garden section. Her face flushed when their eyes met and she giggled bashfully — the rest was history.
Scenes like this, connecting in stores and coffee shops, and in bars, for that matter, have now become the “old-fashioned way” of meeting people. Ten years ago, meeting people online was considered at best embarrassing and desperate, and at worst crazy and dangerous. Now it’s the exact opposite — what kind of person would go out into the world and try to fi nd their potential mate without seeing that person’s profi le fi rst?
Of course, things have come a long way since Match and eHarmony. Today, people expect their romantic desires to be satisfied the same way eating, entertainment and errands now are — instantly, via a mobile app. In response to this need, the past five years have seen an explosion of mobile dating apps created for almost any imaginable niche. Grindr, Tinder, Bumble, Happn, Hinge, Coffee Meets Bagel and others may di ffer in certain aspects, but all are based on the same underlying promise of an eventual real-life connection with the flesh-and-blood person seen on the screen.
The ease of the apps is intoxicating for users. With a seamless Facebook integration, new Tinder profiles are automatically populated with your profi le photo, age and things you’ve “liked.” Narrow down the gender preference, age and location and the swiping begins. A mere tap on a prospective match reveals shared likes and mutual friends — you know Brian and love cheese and camping, too? It must be love. However, many potential mates don’t ever even get a tap, as users are not willing to go beyond what they think the profi le photo says. Tinder and apps like it have long been criticized for the potential discrimination or shallowness in this visual approach, but meanwhile it also thwarts the happenstance that used to make dating fun. These apps seem to keep us fi rmly within our bubbles.
Yet it doesn’t seem people are going offl ine either. According to a 2016 Pew Research Center poll cited in Psychology Today, statistics suggest that about one in five relationships currently begin online, and it’s estimated that by 2040 that number will jump to 70 percent. Concerns about creating an even bigger social echo chamber and an even more divided country are emerging in analyses of dating trends.
Match is the most popular site, with 23.5 million users eHarmony is responsible for 4% of U.S. marriages More than 7,500 dating sites exist worldwide
49 million people have tried online dating 59% of people say online dating is a good way to meet people 66% of users have dated someone they met online 1/5 of committed relationships began online 17% of marriages started online
The online dating gender ratio is 52.4% male vs. 47.6% female What’s more important? 64% say shared interest, 49% say looks More than 50% lie on their dating profile The online dating industry’s annual revenue is about $2 billion and growing The average online dater spends $243 a year on dates 10% of online daters quit after three months
“Recently there’s been a proliferation of dating apps for select groups, including matchmaking services that target speci fic populations by screening potential dates for their clients,” says Kimia Mansoor, clinical psychology doctoral student and matchmaker at Tawkify. “You’ve likely heard of JDate, for meeting Jewish matches, but have you heard of Sheytoon for meeting Persian matches, or EastMeetEast for meeting Asian-American matches?” While lesser known, all these sites and services are real.
At San Francisco–based Tawkify, matchmakers screen and handpick each possible candidate, arrange dates, and collect and provide feedback to help refine the process and recalibrate for the next match. “While social media has largely brought people of different cultures and ethnicities together, we are definitely seeing some trends toward dating in one’s own cultural group,” says Mansoor.
She also points to apps like The League, which aim to connect people of similar education or professional levels (using LinkedIn as confirmation), with the implied shared socioeconomic status or cultural values that entails. The app has been lambasted and denounced for elitism — and with a waiting list in the tens of thousands and ads saying “Are you told your standards are too high? Keep them that way,” it’s not hard to see why.
“People are doing whatever they can to increase their chances of fi nding love; they’re craving connection, they want it now and dating apps offer that instant reassurance,” Mansoor says. “The trends we are seeing all point to the fact that people do not want to put in the work for a connection to develop; they want the connection to be there before investing time and energy into getting to know someone.”
Hiring a matchmaker may seem both oldworld traditional, à la Fiddler on the Roof, and new-world excessive, but when dating apps aren’t working, putting your love life in someone else’s hands for a fee may seem to offer assurances and can possibly speed the process of meeting someone suitable. Enlisting a professional can also help eliminate a big downside of online dating — cat fi shing, or creating a fake online profi le to trick users into a
sham connection. Most commonly operating on social media and dating apps like Tinder, catfishers make up life stories and job histories and pirate others’ photos to perpetuate the charade. Their motives range from boredom, loneliness, curiosity and revenge. The phenomenon has spawned a television show (MTV’s Cat fish) and been referenced in episodes of series like Law & Order: SVU. About a dozen states, including California, now have laws that address catfi shing and give victims legal recourse to seek monetary damages.
You can reduce your chances of being catfi shed by watching for red fl ags like continuity problems in someone’s story or a reluctance to meet up, but the reality is it’s easy to lie and misrepresent yourself online. Privacy is at risk, too, since most of us readily upload information about our lives to the cloud — likes, interests, videos, photos of ourselves clothed or nude. Apps like Snapchat, while inherently ephemeral since exchanges aren’t stored, don’t stop people from screenshotting pictures or texts. As a result, the lure of social-media theft has never been higher. The service Ashley Madison, marketed to people who are already married or in relationships, capitalized on the infidelity urge and the internet’s ability to ful fi ll it (“Life is short. Have an a ffair”) until it was infamously hacked (and all user data released) in 2015.
Chat features on everything from Instagram and Twitter to the seemingly innocuous Words With Friends are prime locations for sparking up new relationships; in fact, there’s a term for it
— sliding into DMs (direct messages). A 2017 Men’s Fitness story explains “how to slide into her DMs,” calling them “an undisputed fire-starter of the digital age.” In the 2016 song “Down in the DM,” Memphis rapper Yo Gotti details an addiction to Instagram and requesting nude photos on the app; the song has had over 115 million plays on Spotify.
Along with this new digital landscape has come a rise in partner anxiety, distrust, and cottage industries that track our significant others’ actions online. Some people use revenge porn — sharing sexually explicit photos and videos without the other person’s consent — to blackmail or coerce a current or former lover or punish one who’s broken things off. The practice is outlawed in countries like Israel, Germany, the United Kingdom and the majority of the United States. Capturing compromising images can be as simple as taking screenshots or as involved as using keylogging spy apps; a quick Google search yields numerous hits for software that can access deleted data offa monitored device in addition to phone logs, social media activity and location history, all for a nominal fee.
Prior to Facebook, sites like MySpace and chat rooms made it easy to meet strangers online — just look at Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks in an “over-30s” chat room in You’ve Got Mail. With the demise of these forums, many people have taken to dating apps not for dating, but for just talking — face-to-face is ideal, but digital is more convenient. A survey by Abodo of 3,500 college students published on Mashable found that only 4 percent preferred to meet people through dating apps, while 80 percent still liked to meet via mutual friends or shared interests. Even 34 percent of those on Tinder said it was mostly for entertainment, also the top motivation of Bumble and Grindr users.
To provide this more generalized connection, some matchmaking apps are branching beyond dating. Bumble now features offshoots Bumble Bizz, for fi nding mentors, networking and career opportunities, and BumbleBFF, geared solely to making friends. Tinder has launched Vina, also for finding friends. The internet has become our public space, the new town square — it’s up to us to figure out the best way to use it. m
Statistics suggest that about one in five relationships currently begin online, but it’s estimated that by 2040 that number will jump to 70 percent.SUBCULTURES
Adult dance classes are the new alternative to ho-hum gym workouts.
BY KIER HOLMESINSTEAD OF REPS, pounds and circuits, deciding to try an old-school exercise option might involve getting to know words like pliés, chassé and arabesques. Adult dance classes have become the artistic, freeing alternative to the StairMaster or treadmill. The appeal of using both your brain and your body to follow steps and routines has caught on, aided by TV shows like So You Think You Can Dance and Dancing With the Stars. Local studios teach a wide range of styles to fit di fferent tastes and activity levels. Research shows dance is a potent source of “good mood chemicals,” aka endorphins, released naturally through movement and sweat, but on a simpler note, “Everyone is welcome to come to dance classes,” says Alan Scofield, a teacher at RoCo Dance and Fitness and College of Marin.
Who takes adult dance classes? There’s a genre for every personality. Annie Parr, director of RoCo Dance and Fitness and a dancer, choreographer and teacher, says, “Those who take dance are people who have enjoyed dance class on and offthroughout their lives, those who have always wanted to take dance classes but never did until now, and those who are looking for more stimulation mentally and physically in their daily lives and workout.” Alicia Cardoza, dance teacher at the Performing Arts Academy of Marin, agrees: “All different types of adults take dance classes but most are not involved in dance professionally like myself; they are hardworking adults with tech or fi nance jobs, college grads and moms who all share the passion, hard work and athleticism that dance has.”
Many
Where to dance in Marin County? Marin has enough movement studios to fi ll an entire dance card. RoCo’s two locations, Fairfax and Mill Valley, feature unique options like cardio beat, Latin dance fusion and hip-hop. At Happy Feet Dance School in Mill Valley, adults can get their tap on. San Rafael’s Dance Arts Studios holds classes in salsa, ballroom and Argentine tango. “For adult ballet classes I go to Marin Dance Theatre in San Rafael,” says Cardoza, who studied classical ballet starting at age 3. Also in San Rafael, Aerial Dance Marin teaches students up to age 70 the ropes of aerial dance on trapezes and silks. Local community centers host Zumba and Jazzercise groups. And in San Francisco, Dance Mission Theater and City Dance Studios teach dance with an urban vibe.
How often are classes taken? “People generally take from one to four classes a week,” Parr of RoCo says, either focusing on “a particular class or teacher, or they enjoy a handful of di fferent types ... Once someone fi nds a class they enjoy, the more frequently they take it and the more they get out of it in enjoyment and skill. Most buy cards for 10 to 20 classes that can be used within six months.” Scofield reports that adult students attend an average of three times a week; sessions usually last an hour and a half.
What makes a great dance teacher? While there is no most popular type of class, there are popular dance teachers who have devoted followers. “A good dance teacher cares about his/her students, regardless of why they’re taking class or their dance experience,” says Grace Kraaijvanger, founder of The Hivery and a seasoned ballet dancer. “I love it when
teachers take the time to give corrections and make suggestions for improvement in adult students.” Great teachers also know where injuryinducing habits are formed and how to retrain away from them so you can keep dancing safely. Parr adds, “Our teachers have huge personalities that inject a lot of passion, purpose and beauty into the room.”
Why do adults take classes? Of course reasons vary wildly, but some women and men find it easier to get exercising through aerobic dance classes like hip-hop or Zumba because it’s exercise in disguise — “all forms of movement are dance,” Alan notes. Adults also take classes to step outside day-to-day stress and busyness and reconnect with their physical selves. “I love being with other adults in these classes because here in the Bay Area especially,” Cardoza says, “there is no judgment and it’s noncompetitive, and if you fi nd the right class, those peers become your friends who cheer you on.” Scofield adds, “Adults take classes to educate and sculpt their body while sharpening the mind, to learn how to express one’s soul in movement, and to gain a health that glows as they sweat.” m
LOCAL STUDIOS RoCo Dance and Fitness, Mill Valley, Fairfax, rocodance.com; The Performing Arts Academy of Marin, Mill Valley, paamarts.com; Happy Feet Dance School, Mill Valley, happyfeetmillvalley.com; College of Marin, Kent field, pa.marin.edu/dance; Dance Arts Studios, San Rafael, dancearts studios.com; Aerial Dance Marin, San Rafael, aerialdancemarin.com; Marin Dance Theatre, San Rafael, mdt.org; Dance Mission Theater, San Francisco, dancemission.com; City Dance Studios, San Francisco, citydance.org
A call from the school psychologist finally revealed the problem that was too close for this Marin mom to see. Many other families are facing similar struggles with dangerous eating disorders.
BY MELANIE HAIKEN • ILLUSTRATION BY MARINA MUUNI WISH I COULD start this story in a way that would make me look good — the watchful mother, aware and attuned to the fact that her daughter was in danger. I wish I could describe a wake-up moment — at the beach, or in a department store dressing room — when I suddenly noticed my daughter’s stick-thin arms, her shoulder blades jutting out unnaturally beneath the straps of her tank top. I wish I could say that it was I who made that call to the doctor or therapist, asking for help the minute things began to go wrong.
But that’s not how it happened. Instead, the phone call came from the school psychologist, reading from an email Serena had written to a friend. In it, Serena described in stark terms her deep despair over a battle with anorexia that had been going on for more than a year, since well before the start of high school.
How could this be true, and how had I not noticed? I asked myself, slumped on the stool in my daughter’s bedroom, where I’d instinctively gone the minute I heard the counselor say her name over the phone. Around me I saw a typical 15-year-old’s room, festooned with colorful posters, a rainbow bead curtain, light-up butterflies dangling over the bed. Serena had seemed fine that morning, heading offto school with her usual goofy cheer, reminding me about a drama rehearsal after school. Yet when the counselor fi nally put her on the phone, she was choked by sobs. Yes, it was true. She couldn’t let herself eat. And she couldn’t control it. How could this be my girl talking?
There were answers, of course, answers that made sense later, when I learned more about how eating disorders work, and how they thrive in secrecy. Serena ate fine in front of me — she powered through pizza and chicken burritos just as she always had, laughing on the couch with us over a favorite episode of Veronica Mars or Gilmore Girls
Her weight hadn’t offered a clue, either, or at least not an obvious one. Always a string bean, under the 20th percentile for weight and above the 90th percentile for height her entire childhood, she hadn’t lost weight, she’d just failed to fi ll out as she hit adolescence.
But she’d been skipping lunch, ducking into the bathroom while her friends ate, or arriving as they put their bags away to say she’d eaten during break. Those peanut butter sandwiches I’d watched her make, the bagels with cream cheese, the apples, the mini boxes of raisins — all in the trash, day after day.
And she’d been lying — lying about the meals and snacks she said she’d eaten at friends’ houses, lying about the club meetings she said she’d been attending at lunchtime, even lying about foods she’d recently announced she didn’t like, such as pasta.
But what about breakfast, which typically in our harried household consisted of something slapped together and eaten on the way out the door — she never skipped
that, right? Suddenly I remembered the pink frosted Pop-Tart I’d pulled out of the bushes in the front yard a few months back when I was gardening. And it was as if someone had flipped the lens of a camera upside down. Suddenly we were in a new world, one where nothing looked the same.
It happened fast, after that. A call to her pediatrician at Kaiser led to a multifaceted program that included weekly weighings, consultations with a nutritionist, individual and family therapy, and support groups, both for her and for us.
Her story, once we began sharing it, turned out not to be unusual. Parents, I discovered, are often the last to know. There’s a good reason for this, of course: our kids know that if we understood what they were
Eating disorders are insidious, and only a subset of patients become underweight enough for others to notice. Other signs to watch for:
Skipping meals regularly
Frequent excuses for not eating, such as “I ate at a friend’s”
Picking at food or secretly throwing it away
Avoiding certain food groups, such as carbs
Going to the bathroom after a meal
Taking a shower after a meal
Obsession over weight or body size
Using veganism, gluten sensitivity, and other dietary restrictions to avoid eating
Eating unusually large quantities of food seemingly without control
Hiding or hoarding food
Black-and-white thinking about food
Rigid exercise regimen, talking about need to “burn off” calories
doing, we’d insist that they eat. So they learn to lie — that’s part of the disease. And over time they learn to lie very well.
What else have I learned? That eating disorders are much more common than most of us realize. Nationally, 20 million women and 10 million men suffer from an eating disorder, according to the National Eating Disorders Association, but only one in 10 gets diagnosed. Rates are much higher among adolescents; a recent survey found that these disorders affect 5 million teens ages 13 to 18.
It’s not easy to cite local numbers, as they aren’t tracked in county and state health surveys. But in 2000, when researchers from the National Eating Disorders Screening Project surveyed ninth graders at a Marin high school, they found that Marin’s rate of eating disorders was twice the national average.
And by all reports, the numbers have continued to rise since then. “I’ve seen a significant increase in cases over the past few years, and this fall I’ve received more referrals than I’ve had at any other time in the past,” says Haleh Kashani, a therapist in private practice in Corte Madera who is also program director of an outpatient HMO eating disorders program for adults and adolescents in Marin County. In fact, of the five therapists I spoke with for this story, all say they are seeing more eating disorder cases than ever before.
Binge eating, too, is spiking, particularly among adults. Characterized by eating a large quantity of food in a short amount of time, binge eating can be differentiated from overeating by the obsessiveness, loss of control and extreme shame and self-hatred associated with it, says Kim Leicester, a therapist in private practice in Corte Madera. “Like other eating disorders, it’s done in secret, you can’t help yourself, and you become obsessed to the point that it interferes with other aspects of your life.”
And many kids are now having problems as early as elementary school, experts say. “I’m seeing body image and eating issues among younger and younger kids. I’ve seen 7- and 8-year-olds pinching their bellies and saying ‘I’m so fat’ and talking about dieting,” Kent field therapist Lauren Isaacson says.
The intense pressure to be successful that Marin kids — and adults — feel may be an underlying contributor to the problem, experts say. “We know that being high-achieving and perfectionistic are characteristics that many with eating disorders have,” Leicester says. “There’s an image consciousness here; kids feel pressure to be cool, to look good, to fit in.” Bulimia in particular can be contagious, she says. “We hear people minimize it; they say, ‘Everybody does it, it’s not that big a deal.’ ”
But eating disorders are a big deal — in fact, they can be deadly. “Anorexia has the highest mortality of any psychiatric condition, including depression,” Kashani notes. The mortality rate associated with anorexia nervosa is 12 times higher than the death rate of all causes of death for young women 15 to 24 years old. Without treatment, up to 20 percent of people with serious eating disorders die.
Yet sadly, only a third of those with anorexia receive treatment. And anorexia can be very di fficult to cure once it becomes entrenched; in one study, two-thirds of people diagnosed with anorexia never fully recovered.
Bulimia carries a death rate nearly as high, including an elevated risk of suicide. Shockingly, only 6 percent of those with bulimia receive treatment, and relapse rates are estimated at between 30 and 50 percent.
The price of not receiving treatment has been high for Sylvia Keats (not her real name) of Petaluma, who recently entered treatment at age 45 after a lifetime of being sidelined by severe anorexia and resulting health problems.
Sylvia, too, became anorexic during middle school, but back then the problem
When researchers from the National Eating Disorders Screening Project surveyed ninth graders at a Marin high school, they found that Marin’s rate of eating disorders was twice the national average.
was little known and even less well understood. “I lost a lot of weight and got really sick, but no one talked about it,” she says. “In college and afterwards, my friends would sometimes notice that my clothes were falling offme and tell me they were worried, but I’d just try to deal with it on my own. I would gain just enough weight so people would stop mentioning it.”
Serious health problems finally forced her to look for help, and she recently entered intensive outpatient treatment at Full Heart Treatment Center in Santa Rosa. And for perhaps the first time, she’s looking at the significant toll anorexia has taken on her life.
“It’s very isolating — I’ve never gone out to eat with friends, because I don’t want people to tell me to eat,” Keats says. She feels worst, she says, about the negative effects her anorexia has had on her children, now 27 and 17.
“All the years my kids were growing up, I knew eating together as a family was important, but we never sat down together because eating is so hard for me,” she says. “I don’t know how many times my daughter has broken down in tears begging me to get some kind of help.”
But even those experiences weren’t enough to overcome anorexia’s grip, she says, until her weight dropped so precipitously she began having kidney, vision and other serious health problems. “It [had] worried me, but not enough to stop me from doing what I was doing — the anorexia overrode everything else.”
There were many years when I feared recovery would never come for Serena, either. It
wasn’t for lack of quality treatment; within days of that first phone call, we were plunged into a comprehensive program of familybased treatment (FBT), known to have the highest success rate of any method.
Also known as the Maudsley method, after the hospital in London where it was developed, FBT is an intensive yearlong program that actively involves parents in all aspects of treatment, including closely supervising meals to ensure the child regains weight. “Refeeding is critical,” says Isaacson. “You can’t get at the underlying issues with a starving brain.”
Meanwhile, individual and family therapy sessions focus on treating the anxiety, low self-esteem or past trauma that usually underlie the eating disorder. “Restricting food intake, bingeing and purging are coping mechanisms to numb feelings,” Kashani says.
“It may sound strange, but denying yourself food, bingeing and vomiting can provide a feeling of release, even elation,” Isaacson adds. “It’s a short-term solution with negative consequences in the long run, but it’s a very powerful response in the moment.”
In fact, eating disorders develop in similar ways as alcoholism and addiction, says Isaacson, a former case manager for Marin Services for Women, an outpatient and residential program for alcoholism. “It’s the same dance, di fferent shoes.”
An important part of treatment, then, is learning new and healthier coping strategies. One of the most effective approaches is dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), which combines cognitive behavior therapy with mindfulness-based practices. Developed by therapist Marcia Linehan, DBT provides a “toolkit” for learning how to manage
emotions, deal with stress more effectively, and better handle the ups and downs of interpersonal relationships, says Nancie Jordan, a therapist at the DBT Center of Marin. “It’s learning how to help yourself be more balanced in life.”
In addition, many people benefit from a referral to a psychiatrist for medication to treat anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder or trauma. “If there is some kind of co-occurring disorder, we definitely want to treat that because if we don’t it can lead to more relapse,” Leicester says.
“The eating disorder mindset is like an upside-down world,” Kashani con fi rms. “It brainwashes you into thinking being hungry is good, eating is bad — the very things that support your health get turned upside down. And when you try to get rid of it, it fights back.”
It was certainly a fight for my girl. By the time she was 23, Serena had spent many months in intensive outpatient and inpatient programs, including a stay at Herrick Hospital in Berkeley that forced her to take a year offfrom college. That program proved a turning point, in part because she was so dismayed at falling behind her friends.
Another turning point came the following year when a psychiatrist suggested she try a medication used in addiction treatment for its capacity to reduce cravings and urges.
But what really worked? Persistence, determination and even anger. “I fi nally got so fed up — I realized I didn’t want to be that girl anymore, the one with the problems,” Serena says. “I wanted to get my life back.”
When I ask Serena, now 25, what she remembers about those years, she looks sad. “I hardly have any clear memories of high school,” she says. Outings with friends, school dances, holidays and family vacations, all are hidden behind the
haze the eating disorder cast over her mind. “Someone else will say, ‘Remember when we all went to such-and-such? And I don’t — it’s like I wasn’t really there.’ ”
Parker Hanley of Tiburon describes her experience of anorexia and bulimia in eerily similar terms. “Having an eating disorder felt like having a friend that’s always there for you.”
It was in fi fth grade, when she was being teased by another girl, that Parker fi rst discovered she could make herself throw up — and feel better. “It was something I knew how to do when I was upset or felt bad. I wanted to have something I could be in charge of that none of them could do.”
By eighth grade, Parker’s bulimia was bad enough that two friends became concerned and told school psychologist David Kover at Del Mar Middle School, who called her mother, Whitney. “To this day I’m so grateful to those two boys who were brave enough to come forward,” Whitney says. “They saved Parker’s life.”
When Parker entered treatment at Center for Discovery, a residential inpatient program in Danville, Whitney decided to be completely open about the family’s situation, and she sent an email to the entire school community thanking the boys and explaining what had happened.
Whitney also shared the fact that she herself had been anorexic for several years in college, and welcomed other parents to talk with her about the issue. “I got several calls from other parents who were concerned they were seeing signs, and I still get calls to this day,” she says.
Enforcing treatment can run against every parental instinct. Whitney can still
Those peanut butter sandwiches I’d watched her make, the bagels with cream cheese, the apples, the mini boxes of raisins — all in the trash, day after day.
picture how her daughter would beg her not to leave after every weekly visit. “Even though she wanted to get better, she would be gripping my arm and crying and saying, ‘Why are you leaving me here? You must not love me.’ I would cry in my car every time as I drove away.”
Parker, too remembers the misery. “It was horrible, and almost the whole time I was there I kept saying I didn’t need to be there. But now, looking back on it I know that I needed it and it really helped me. But it took me a long while to see that.”
Today a junior at Marin Academy, Parker has been healthy for several years, but still works to overcome the occasional negative thought. “The times I feel it most are when for some reason I think my friends don’t like me, or I don’t get invited to something. Sometimes then I have a thought like, ‘I’ll show them’ — it’s just there.”
Whitney, too, remains vigilant. “I still worry every day,” she says. “But it helps that I coach her lacrosse team, so I see her out there every day kicking butt on the field. It helps to know she’s healthy.”
Parker Hanley’s experience is more common than not, says Laurelee Roark, co-founder with Carol Normandi of Beyond Hunger, until recently Marin’s primary eating disorders awareness and outreach program. “All over this country, the number one reason for kids to be bullied is weight. It typically starts between fifth and seventh grade and kids carry the damage into their teens and 20s.”
The internet and social media, with their seductive images of thinness and opportunities for cyberbullying, have only deepened the problem. “We’re a fat-phobic society that equates skinniness with beauty, yet we have a huge obesity problem, so obviously what we’ve been trying to do all these years isn’t working,” Roark says.
The national conversation about childhood obesity may indeed be having negative consequences in leading kids to develop
eating disorders, says Tracey Hessel, lead pediatrician at Marin Community Clinics. “We’re seeing a new phenomenon of kids who were overweight deciding to diet and the next thing you know they’ve gone [too much that] way.”
Parents and schools would do well to be very careful about how they talk to kids about health and fitness, experts say. “We need to better about not weighing kids in public and not talking about BMI,” Leicester says. “Instead, we should be teaching kids size acceptance, and talking in terms of health at every size.”
“We’re talking about kids who are at an extremely vulnerable age, they’re very aware of their bodies, and they’re just developing their sense of themselves. And when you talk about weight, what they hear is you aren’t OK the way you are, you need to fi x it,” says Kashani. “And then you get that perfectionistic child, and they’re going to take it too far and end up developing an eating disorder. I hear it all the time.”
Shockingly, in wealthy and mental health–conscious Marin County, resources for eating disorder treatment are dwindling. Beyond Hunger, which for 25 years provided support groups and outreach programs in Marin schools and communities, ceased its programming in September, though its founders continue to offer individual therapy.
Both of the county’s inpatient treatment programs, New Dawn and Vista, closed within the past two years. That leaves Marin families to look to San Francisco and the East Bay for intensive outpatient and inpatient programs, like UCSF’s Eating Disorders Clinic and Center for Discovery — and fight to get them covered by insurance.
The lack of services is particularly acute for those on Medicaid, says Hessel. It’s not that Medicaid doesn’t cover therapy, she says; it’s that few services accept the government insurance. “When we get a child with an eating disorder, we really have to look hard to fi nd treatment that’s covered.”
It was horrible, and almost the whole time I was there I kept saying I didn’t need to be there. But now, looking back on it I know that I needed it.
That said, Marin is rich in psychotherapy resources, including family-based treatment and teen and adult support and DBT groups, in addition to individual therapy. Kaiser Permanente’s behavioral health department offers individual and family therapy, support groups for both patients and families, and intensive outpatient programs (IOPs) for those who need it, although families have to go out of county to access those programs as well.
The more resources the better, because timing is crucial to the success of eating disorder treatment. “We know that if people with eating disorders are treated during the fi rst six months to a year of onset, there’s a
CENTER FOR DISCOVERY 866.933.0866 centerfordiscovery.com
UCSF/BENIOFF CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL EATING DISORDERS PROGRAM Greenbrae clinic, 415.353.2002 ucsfbenioffchildrens.org/clinics/ eating_disorders_program
KAISER PERMANENTE BEHAVIORAL HEALTH 415.491.3000 healthy.kaiserpermanente.org
DBT CENTER OF MARIN 415.459.5206, dbtmarin.com
BEYOND HUNGER beyondhunger.org
COMMUNITY INSTITUTE FOR PSYCHOTHERAPY 415.459.5999, cipmarin.org
very good chance of full recovery, and it goes down from there,” says Leicester. “So I would tell parents and friends, if you notice something off, listen to yourself and don’t wait too long.”
Jordan agrees: “As complicated as this issue is, we’ve made a lot of progress and there is effective treatment for this. People do recover and reclaim their lives.”
“I wish I could tell all the young people out there, as soon as you start thinking you’re having an unhealthy relationship with food or your body, get help, because trying to do it when you’re older and all these behaviors and thought patterns are ingrained is a much di fferent journey,” Sylvia says.
“In my support group there are a number of high school students. And I’m not downplaying what’s happening for them, because it’s horri fic. But sometimes I can’t help but look at them and think, if I could have gotten help when I was their age, what would my life be like now? Things might have been so di fferent.”
Today in our family, we don’t talk about Serena’s eating disorder that much, though I still feel a nagging anxiety if too much time goes by between phone calls. And I don’t know if I’ll ever stop covertly glancing at her during meals to make sure she’s eating, or feeling a knot in my stomach if the bathroom door is closed too long.
But every three months I get a text announcing that she’s passed a new milestone since she last purged more than two years ago. And in her wallet she carries a gold coin her therapist gave her to commemorate her fi rst six months bulimia-free.
The inscription on that coin: “On this day my new life began.” m
This may sound like a joke, but the punch line is anything but funny: all three were/are formerly vigorous people who su ffered chronic back pain that multiple back surgeries failed to ease. That also gives them something in common with millions of Americans, since low-back pain is one of the top complaints that brings patients to doctors’ offices, and surgery is rarely the answer.
According to Dr. Brian Su, a surgeon in chief with Mt. Tam Orthopedics and Marin General Hospital’s Medical Director of Spine Surgery, a common misconception among patients is that surgery will cure the chronic back pain that plagues so many of us.
“It typically cannot,” Su says. “I do surgery for back pain, but they are very select patients. The vast majority I turn away.”
Surgery is probably not necessary even if a scan shows scary-sounding things like a herniated disk, multilevel compression, pinched nerves or degenerative disk disease, he says. In fact, a 2016 review of the literature con fi rmed what was already common knowledge among spine surgeons: for 95 percent of chronic lower-back-pain patients, a cause can’t be pinpointed, meaning that surgery is not a good idea.
Perhaps surprisingly, an MRI doesn’t always help doctors fi nd the cause of the pain. Research has shown no nonspecific correlation between abnormal MRI scans and lower back pain.
Aching back? You probably don’t need surgery.
“Ninety percent of people over 60 years of age have abnormal MRIs. I always tell patients, we’re not here to treat your MRI — we are treating you,” Su says. Accordingly, the American Academy of Family Physicians recommends against doing a scan within the fi rst six weeks of back pain, in the absence of red flags such as trauma or fever.
And so many patients complain they still have back pain after a surgery that it’s understandable why Su — and pretty much all medical authorities — recommend trying just about anything else to ease chronic back pain before considering surgery. (This is assuming your doctor has ruled out an injury like a fracture or illness such as cancer or a rare emergency disorder known as cauda equina syndrome.)
A prescription is rarely the answer either. The use of painkillers for chronic pain is rapidly falling out of favor now that the opioid crisis has made apparent the outsize risks of OxyContin and similar drugs. When Woods was arrested after being found asleep at the wheel earlier this year, six weeks after his fourth back surgery, he was found to have two opioid drugs in his system. He later completed a drug treatment program.
Su’s practice has “drastically” reduced prescriptions of opioids, with the exception of postsurgical patients, he says.
With surgery and painkillers off the table for most patients, what to do about the persistent pain that can make it difficult to sit, work, even sleep? Fortunately, you don’t have to give up and bear it. There are noninvasive treatments that patients say really help.
These are fi rst on the American College of Physicians’ 2017 guidelines for treating acute and chronic low back pain. While there isn’t strong evidence behind these treatments’ effectiveness, the risks are low and doctors say they’ve seen some patients benefit. For chiropractic care, Su recommends muscle release over adjustments.
If you hurt your back and the doctor recommends ibuprofen or aspirin, pay close attention to the dose the physician
recommends — it’s probably a higher dose, for a longer duration, than you’d think.
“The mistake most patients make is that they pop a couple ibuprofen and say they feel a little better, and then that’s all they take,” Su says. “Even if you don’t have pain, take it. Because it builds a baseline level of anti-in fl ammatory in your blood, and that actually treats the in flammation.”
Of course, all drugs have side effects and risks. The Food and Drug Administration has warned that nonsteroidal anti-in flammatory drugs including ibuprofen can increase the risk of heart attack or stroke, so don’t start a regimen without consulting your doctor.
Osteopathic physicians undergo a di fferent training protocol than medical doctors, with a focus on the whole person. Some specialize in manual therapy, using their hands to manipulate the patient’s body. If you bring your aching back to an osteopath such as Novato’s Dr. Maud Nerman, you can expect the physician to feel your back and hips for out-ofplace parts and gently guide them back into position.
“About 70 percent of the time that somebody has low back problems, the sacrum is in the wrong place,” Nerman explains. “It’s either pushed up, which would squeeze the lumbar disks, or it’s at an angle — which can happen if there’s a fall or a car accident. Most of the time when you get the sacrum back in place, the back pain goes away.”
A 2013 review of the research on osteopathic intervention for chronic low-back pain found some evidence for effectiveness, but called for more rigorous clinical trials.
While more commonly used for nerve pain, such as sciatica, steroid injections are one option Su’s clinic sometimes offers to temporarily ease lower-back pain. Even though the Journal of the American Medical Association recommends against these injections for back pain alone, Su has found they can bring short-term relief for an injury to or arthritis in the spinal joints. But he advises against repeated use, which can cause a loss of bone density.
While many physicians prescribe physical therapy to teach patients pain-relieving stretches and exercises, the research doesn’t conclusively support it: a 2015 study found only a small di fference in the recovery of patients who attended four PT sessions and those who didn’t. The PT patients did recover their ability to move freely more quickly, but there was no di fference in pain.
Still, it could be the typical PT regimen just doesn’t cut it. In 2008, Marin investigative reporter Cathryn Jakobson Ramin set out to fi nd the solution to the back pain that was holding her hostage; later she chronicled the effort in her 2017 book Crooked: Outwitting the Back Pain Industry and Getting on the Road to Recovery. Ramin, who tried pretty
much every noninvasive treatment out there, found that when it comes to PT, most patients get one-size-fits-all regimens that aren’t intensive enough to help.
A recent Finnish study corroborates her view, finding that a personalized PT regimen yields better results. Attitude also matters; if you approach PT as something merely to get out of the way before you can have surgery, it probably isn’t going to work.
Ramin concluded that the PT most likely to succeed is led by a doctorate-level therapist who’s also an orthopedic clinical specialist able to launch patients on a “custom exercise-based rehabilitation program.” Such programs can take weeks and require a lifelong commitment to keeping up the exercise on your own, but for Ramin and many patients she writes about, they were the key to lasting relief. Unfortunately, they’re often not fully covered by insurance.
The concept that exercise can ease back pain makes sense if you listen to the many experts who told Ramin that the problem often stems from muscle weakness associated with a sedentary lifestyle. In fact, the doctor who fi nally helped relieve JFK’s back pain blamed weakness exacerbated by failed back surgeries for his patient’s pain. The answer for Kennedy, and others including Ramin: strengthening exercises, performed religiously. Many people fi nd it helpful to maintain an ongoing relationship with a trainer well versed in spine health.
Su agrees exercise to strengthen core muscles can do a lot to prevent and relieve back pain, but says it also helps in
another way — weight loss. “Belly weight increases pressure on the disks,” he points out. “Most people are able to eliminate the need for surgery by losing weight.”
If you can’t find or afford a back rehab program, don’t despair; other physical activity, such as tai chi or certain types of yoga, may be effective. You can find exercises on YouTube; Ramin swears by Canadian biomechanics professor Stuart McGill’s “Big Three” exercises.
Since research has shown that stress hormones such as cortisol can promote chronic pain, it’s not surprising that some rehab programs for back pain also include a psychological aspect. Studies show that cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness, and other psychological interventions can be effective components of treatment.
Perhaps the surest ticket to recovery is patience. According to the American College of Physicians, “Most patients with acute or subacute low back pain improve over time regardless of treatment.” Try some of the noninvasive tactics listed above to ease the discomfort, and wait it out. m
A common misconception among patients is that surgery will cure the chronic back pain that plagues so many of us.
We asked doctors, “Whom would you send your family members to, or whom would you go to, if faced with a medical problem?” More than 7,200 votes were cast, and the results — approximately 650, all in the 415 and 628 area code — are listed on the following pages. To search by specialty online, visit marinmagazine.com/415topdoctors/.
Methodology: Marin Magazine conducted a 2018 survey that has resulted in this [415] Top Doctors list — top physicians practicing in San Francisco and Marin counties who received multiple independent recommendations from their peers. The list was rechecked again this year. The survey process started with a list of more than 3,600 licensed doctors across all specialties in both counties. All doctors on this list were both candidates and eligible voters in the peer-to-peer voting poll. Doctors were allowed to cast an unlimited number of votes across all specialties — they could vote for as many doctors as they wanted regardless of specific area of expertise — but they could only vote for the same doctor once.
Response rate was maximized by the following procedures: (a) a long field period of 12 weeks that was further extended to allow all doctors ample time to log in and vote for peers; (b) multiple channels of solicitations including both individual invitations and organizational outreach to maximize contact with all eligible voters; and (c) repeated invitations and reminders to doctors who did not respond to initial rounds of solicitations. At the close of the voting period, approximately 670 doctors with the highest vote counts were short-listed for the database. Each of these doctors received a statistically significant number of votes from peers based on established principles of sampling probabilities and power analysis. LinChiat Chang, Ph.D.
IMRAN JUNAID
Kaiser Permanente
RUSSELL LEONG Sutter Health CPMC
SCHUMAN TAM
Asthma & Allergy Clinic of Marin and San Francisco
JAMES R. ADAMS
Cardiovascular Center of Marin
SCOTT H. ADELMAN Kaiser Permanente
ALAN S. AMENT
Kaiser Permanente
BENEDICT ANCOCK
Cardiovascular Center of Marin
MARGARET L. BAER
Cardiovascular Center of Marin
ADAM J. BAUMGARTEN
Cardiovascular Center of Marin
BARBARA A. BOYLAN
Kaiser Permanente
SUJOYA DEY
Cardiovascular Center of Marin
KENT N. GERSHENGORN
Cardiovascular Center of Marin
STEVEN HAO
Sutter Paci fic Medical Foundation
RICHARD HONGO
Sutter Paci fic Medical Foundation
PETER HUI
Sutter Paci fic Medical Foundation
ANN K. KAO
Cardiovascular Center of Marin
BRIAN G. KEEFFE
Cardiovascular Center of Marin
BJOERN LAURBERG
Kaiser Permanente
GARY FLOYD MILECHMAN
UCSF Health
JACOB MORTON MISHELL
UCSF Health
RICHARD A. PODOLIN
St. Mary’s Medical Center
ARUN K. RAGHUPATHY
Cardiovascular Center of Marin
GAGANDEEP K. SANDHU
Kaiser Permanente
KABIR SINGH
Cardiovascular Center of Marin
JOEL SKLAR
Cardiovascular Center of Marin
ANAND SONI
Cardiovascular Center of Marin
DAVID C. SPERLING
Cardiovascular Center of Marin
ROBERT T. SPERLING
Cardiovascular Center of Marin
BRIAN L. STRUNK
Cardiovascular Center of Marin
DAVID J. SULCINER
Kaiser Permanente
RAMI J. TURK Kaiser Permanente
MARK P. WEXMAN
Cardiovascular Center of Marin
RUPSA YEE
Sutter Paci fic Medical Foundation
JERALD A. YOUNG
Cardiovascular Center of Marin
TIMOTHY M. BAKER Kaiser Permanente
JAMES C. BARTON Kaiser Permanente
SHALA R. FARDIN Southern Marin Dermatology
KIM FREDERICKSON
Novato Dermatology Associates
ILONA FRIEDEN
UCSF Medical Center
RAVINDER S. GOGIA Marin General Hospital
JOSEPH H. GREENBERG Sutter Health
JODI GROSSFELD
Dermatology Consultants of Marin
JULIA E. HAIMOWITZ Kaiser Permanente
RENEE HOWARD
Dermatology Consultants of Marin
LINDA Y. HWANG Kaiser Permanente
HAYDEE M. KNOTT Mill Valley Dermatology
AMY KOBALTER
Dermatology Consultants of Marin
JOHN LINDSEY MADDOX JR Kaiser Permanente
SETH L. MATARASSO UCSF Health
DAVID G. MOSKOWITZ Kaiser Permanente
BENJAMIN NICHOLS Dermatology Consultants of Marin
ASHLEY A. SMITH Ashley Smith, M.D.
CHERYL TANASOVICH Greenbrae Dermatology
SUZANNE L. WESTPHAL Southern Marin Dermatology
SIEGRID S. YU UCSF Health
VERONIQUE AU
Marin Emergency Physicians Medical Group
ANNIE-LAURIE AUDEN Kaiser Permanente
DUSTIN W. BALLARD Kaiser Permanente
MARK BASON-MITCHELL Marin General Hospital
JASON C. BATEMAN Kaiser Permanente
CYNTHIA B. CLARK Marin General Hospital
ARTHUR COHN Marin General Hospital
MICHELLE DENHAM Kaiser Permanente
ANNA MICHELLE DENHAM Kaiser Permanente
J. JIM DIETZ
Marin General Hospital
DAVID SCOTT DUFFY
Marin General Hospital
MICHAEL FOX Marin General Hospital
TAMI GASH-KIM Marin General Hospital
DOUGLAS C. HARRIS Kaiser Permanente
JULIE A. HERSK
California Emergency Physicians
DIMPI S. KALIRA
California Emergency Physicians
ZITA I. KONIK Kaiser Permanente
KURT KUNZEL
Marin Emergency Physicians Medical Group
SCOTT T. LANDECK
California Emergency Physicians
MARC E. LEVSKY California Emergency Physicians
CHRISTOPHER L. MARTIN California Emergency Physicians
VICKI S. MARTINEZ Kaiser Permanente
F. THOMAS MEYER Kaiser Permanente
EDDIE MOZEN Marin General Hospital
JASON R. NAU Kaiser Permanente
MATHER NEILL Marin General Hospital
BRIAN NISHINAGA Kaiser Permanente
SETH M. PECKLER Kaiser Permanente
JASON B. RUBEN California Emergency Physicians
TANIA SADOUN Kaiser Permanente
TOBY OTIS SALZ Toby Otis Salz, M.D.
JORDAN M. SAX Kaiser Permanente
D. SCOTT SCHMIDT Kaiser Permanente
KIMBERLY A. SCHRAGE Kaiser Permanente
ALAN SPAIN California Emergency Physicians
CARL SPITZER Marin General Hospital / Emergency
JONATHAN W. VLAHOS Kaiser Permanente
JEFFREY WEITZMAN Marin General Hospital
JASON WILLIS-SHORE Kaiser Permanente
JANET H. YOUNG California Emergency Physicians
JOHN J. ZECHERLE Marin General Hospital
ERIC BUXTON Eric Buxton, M.D.
ANTHONY YIN Sutter Paci fic Medical Foundation
MICKIE H. CHENG Marin Endocrine Center
LINDA GAUDIANI Marin Endocrine Center
KEVIN J. KOBALTER Kaiser Permanente
ARPITA P. PITRODA Kaiser Permanente
ALEX UIHLEIN Marin Endocrine Center
ENDOCRINOLOGY / REPRODUCTIVE
JENNIFER AGARD Marin Fertility Center
PHILIP CHENETTE
Paci fic Fertility Center
CAROLYN GIVENS
Paci fic Fertility Center
CARL HERBERT
Paci fic Fertility Center
LIYUN LI Paci fic Fertility Center
ISABELLE RYAN Paci fic Fertility Center
ELDON SCHRIOCK Paci fic Fertility Center
PETER S. UZELAC
Marin Fertility Center
GAIL B. ALTSCHULER Practice of Dr. Altschuler
J. DAVID ANDREW Prima Medical Foundation
ROBERT BARTZ UCSF Medical Center
ROBERT BELKNAP
Robert Ellsworth Belknap, M.D.
DANIEL M. BLUMKIN Kaiser Permanente
MARK BOHLANDER Kaiser Permanente
SEAN O. CALANDRELLA Kaiser Permanente
RICHARD A. CHRISTENSENDALIA Kaiser Permanente
IRINA DEFISCHER Kaiser Permanente
JONATHAN K. DELSON Kaiser Permanente
ELIZABETH ETEMAD Prima Medical Foundation
JAY F. FAIRBORN Kaiser Permanente
PATRICK FLYNN Kaiser Permanente
CHERI FORRESTER Prima Medical Foundation
MARGARET GOLD Kaiser Permanente
J. MICHAEL GRAHAM Prima Medical Foundation
SUSAN H. GROSS Kaiser Permanente
B. COLIN HAMBLIN West Marin Medical Center
ORNA HANANEL Kaiser Permanente
BRIAN HERTZ Kaiser Permanente
CATHERINE HURLEY Kaiser Permanente
MATTHEW J. KATICS Marin General Hospital
ALPANA KHARKAR Kaiser Permanente
TOMAS KUBRICAN Prima Medical Foundation
BARRY LANDFIELD
Barry Land field, M.D.
ANNA K. LEWIS Kaiser Permanente
SHARON LIN Kaiser Permanente
MEENAL LOHTIA Prima Medical Foundation
SARAH A. MANSELL Kaiser Permanente
MICHAEL E. MASON Kaiser Permanente
KATHERINE R. MCNALLY Kaiser Permanente
J. TIMOTHY MURPHY North Bay Family Medicine
JACK S. NADLER Kaiser Permanente
PHONG NGUYEN Kaiser Permanente
ELIZABETH A. OLLE Kaiser Permanente
OLIVER OSBORN Prima Medical Foundation
SHAWNDRA C. PARISE Kaiser Permanente
MITESH GHANSHYAM POPAT Marin Community Clinic
STEVEN N. PYKE Kaiser Permanente
DOROTA RHOADS Kaiser Permanente
CURTIS ROBINSON Curtis Robinson, M.D.
EDWARD ROTAN Kaiser Permanente
NAUREEN A. SHAIKH Practice of Dr. Shaikh
NATALIA SHAPIRO Kaiser Permanente
JEANNE-MARIE SINNOTT Kaiser Permanente
LISA M. VELASQUEZ Kaiser Permanente
SALLY C. WARD One Medical Group
ARNOLD G. WERSCHKY Practice of Dr. Werschky
DANIEL G. WHITE Kaiser Permanente
E. REGINA WIDMAN San Rafael Medical Center
KAREN WINTER Kaiser Permanente
ALICE YEE Prima Medical Foundation
TANYA S. ZAMORANO Kaiser Permanente
JOHN BETTINGER Marin Gastroenterology
KENNETH BINMOELLER Sutter Health CPMC
WENDY DAVIS Meritage Medical Network
JEFFREY M. FOX Kaiser Permanente
SURAJ GUPTA Kaiser Permanente
JENNIFER A. HEWETT Kaiser Permanente
CHRISTOPHER M. HOGAN Marin Gastroenterology
BROCK A. MACDONALD Kaiser Permanente
VIKRAM MALLADI Meritage Medical Network
JANE MELNICK Paci fic Internal Medicine Associates
RIPPLE SHARMA Marin Gastroenterology
TIMOTHY SOWERBY Marin Gastroenterology
ANDREW D. SPEARS Kaiser Permanente
RICHARD SUNDBERG California Paci fic Medical Center
JONATHAN TERDIMAN Mt Zion Gastroenterology
SHEBA VOHRA Kaiser Permanente
GREGORY ARENT Kaiser Permanente
RAE BOURNE Kaiser Permanente
KRISTINA BRENNAN Kaiser Permanente
INGRID KRISTINA BRENNAN Kaiser Permanente
THATO Y. BRUMWELL MGH Hospitalist / Adult
JASMINE BURKE MGH Hospitalist / Adult
MISCHKA GERKEN Kaiser Permanente
JANE LINDSAY JAROSZEWSKI Kaiser Permanente
ROSHANAK NAJIBI MGH Hospitalist / Adult
SUSAN T. NGUYEN MGH Hospitalist / Adult
SCOTT SINNOTT Kaiser Permanente
AZITA TAGHAVY MGH Hospitalist / Adult
MONICA TSE Kaiser Permanente
ALEX WEN Kaiser Permanente HUI-SHAN A. WEN Kaiser Permanente
JOSE M. EGUIA St. Mary’s Medical Center
ALEXANDER R. EVENS Prima Medical Foundation
MARY ELLEN GUROY Sutter Health
RINA MARFATIA Tamalpais Internal Medicine
SHILPA MARWAHA Kaiser Permanente
GREGG TOLLIVER Prima Medical Foundation
DAVID WHITT Kaiser Permanente
CLAY R. ANGEL Kaiser Permanente ZULAIKHA ARAKOZIE Kaiser Permanente
ANJULI BASU Prima Medical Foundation
KAREN E. BAYLE Kaiser Permanente
KAREN BLOOM Kaiser Permanente
RAY BRINDLEY Marin Hospitalist Medical Group
RAYMOND W. BROW Kaiser Permanente
ANNE-MAREE CANTWELL Kaiser Permanente
TERESA CARON Kaiser Permanente
MICHAEL C. CHASE Practice of Dr. Chase
TOM S. CHENG Kaiser Permanente
CATHARINE CLARK-SAYLES Marin Internal Medicine
DOUGLAS COHEN Marin Hospitalist Medical Group
DAVID CONANT Kaiser Permanente
DAVID CULBERTSON Kaiser Permanente
ANNE M. CUMMINGS Anne M. Cummings, M.D.
SALLY DAGANZO Kaiser Permanente
RAYMUND MAFNAS DAMIAN JR Kaiser Permanente
KERRY DAVIDSON Marin Hospitalist Medical Group
SHAWN M. DONALD Kaiser Permanente
JILL DUNTON Kaiser Permanente
CHRISTINA EDWARDS North Marin Internal Medicine
WILLIAM T. ELLIOTT Kaiser Permanente
ISAAC B. ENGLISH Kaiser Permanente
AMY J. EWING Kaiser Permanente
ROYA FATHI Kaiser Permanente
SAL FAZIO
Kaiser Permanente
BARBARA FINZEN
Prima Medical Foundation
CHRISTINA C. GOETTE Kaiser Permanente
ROBERTO Z. GONZALEZ
Kaiser Permanente
JASON GREEN
Marin Hospitalist Medical Group
SAJOT GREWAL
Tamalpais Internal Medicine
JOSEPH HABIS
Prima Medical Foundation
RUTH A. HOLLY
Kaiser Permanente
JEREMY JURIANSZ
Marin Hospitalist Medical Group
JESSICA KEANE
Group Medical Practice
STEVEN P. KILLPACK Kaiser Permanente
AIRI H. KOPPEROINEN
Kaiser Permanente
MICHAEL K. KWOK
Michael K. Kwok, M.D.
VIET M. LAM Kaiser Permanente
CHASE T. LAMBRECHT
Kaiser Permanente
CAMERON LEGGETT Kaiser Permanente
WILLIAM C. LEGGETT Kaiser Permanente
BARI E. LEVINSON Kaiser Permanente
NA (REBECCA) LI
Internal Medicine
JANE LOUISE LINDSAY
Kaiser Permanente
AMY LIU
Kaiser Permanente
ELIZABETH LOWE
Tamalpais Internal Medicine
RAKESH MALHOTRA
Kaiser Permanente
HELEN MAN-SON-HING
Kaiser Permanente
CAROLYN D. MAR
Kaiser Permanente
ALAN MARGOLIN
North Marin Internal Medicine
WILLIAM MCALLISTER
William Joseph Mcallister Jr., M.D.
LYNETTE MCLAMB Kaiser Permanente
DANIELLE M. MELLACE Kaiser Permanente
CHARLES E. METZGER Kaiser Permanente
RITU MUKERJI METZGER Kaiser Permanente
RITU MUKERJI-METZGER Kaiser Permanente
ANDREA A. NGO
Marin Hospitalist Medical Group
SON NGUYEN
Marin Hospitalist Medical Group
DAVID L. OGDEN
Marin Personalized Medicine
ALFRED OPPENHEIM
Alfred Oppenheim, M.D.
GYORGY PATAKI Gyorgy Pataki, M.D.
LAWRENCE POSNER Prima Medical Foundation
KEYVAN POURMEHR Kaiser Permanente
PETER C. REIDY Kaiser Permanente
CURTIS ROEBKEN
Kent field Rehab & Specialty Hospital
ERIK PAUL SCHTEN
Jolaine Beal, M.D.
RENATA M. SCOTT Kaiser Permanente
LORI Z. SELLECK Kaiser Permanente
SHIDEH N. SHADAN Kaiser Permanente
ELIZAVETA SHOSTAKOVICH Kaiser Permanente
NITIN SIL Kaiser Permanente
JAMES SCOTT SINNOTT
Kaiser Permanente
MARK E. SOCKELL North Marin Internal Medicine
SUSAN SUN Marin Hospitalist Medical Group
JAMES TAYLOR James Taylor, M.D.
MARK R. TAYLOR Kaiser Permanente
IRENE TEPER North Marin Internal Medicine
CAROL TERESZKIEWICZ Kaiser Permanente
ELIF TOKCAN TALEGON Kaiser Permanente
CATHERINE B. TRESELER Kaiser Permanente
NUSHRAT J. ULLAH Prima Medical Foundation
MICHAEL VAUGHAN Marin Hospitalist Medical Group
DANIELLE WALKER Sutter Paci fic Medical Foundation
JOHN W. WARD Marin Internal Medicine
North Marin Internal Medicine
ERIC WRIGHT Kaiser Permanente
KEVIN YEE Kaiser Permanente
RUKIYE YOLTAR Kaiser Permanente
SHARINA S. BELANI Kaiser Permanente
GENEVIEVE ESTILO Marin Nephrology
LAWRENCE LEVY Marin Nephrology
JONATHAN E. ARTZ Kaiser Permanente
SUZANNE BOURQUE Kaiser Permanente
ILKCAN COKGOR
Neurology Clinic of Marin
LYNDA L. LAM Kaiser Permanente
ARCHANA P. MUDIVARTHI Kaiser Permanente
SIRISHA NANDIPATI Kaiser Permanente
DAVID PALESTRANT David Palestrant, M.D.
JOHN PANAGOTACOS John J. Panagotacos, M.D.
SANDA L. SHEFRIN Marin General Hospital
SECILY BASON-MITCHELL Paci fic Womens Ob/Gyn Medical Group
SALLY BOERO Prima Medical Foundation
ANDREW BRILL Sutter Paci fic Medical Foundation
ELIZABETH BROWN Prima Medical Foundation
KAREN CALLEN Golden Gate Ob/Gyn
ALEXIS CARDELLINI Prima Medical Foundation
EMMA E. CERMAK San Rafael Clinic
MARGARET CHEN
Sutter Paci fic Medical Foundation
NONA CUNNINGHAM
Nona Cunningham, M.D.
VICKI DARROW Kaiser Permanente
BRIAN DEMUTH Prima Medical Foundation
JANE FANG Golden Gate Ob/Gyn
SYLVIA FLORES Prima Medical Foundation
DAVID B. GALLAND Prima Medical Foundation
LAURIE GREEN Paci fic Womens Ob/Gyn Medical Group
JILL GUELICH
Sutter Paci fic Medical Foundation
ALEXANDRA HAESSLER
Sutter Health
PETER K. HEINLEIN
Kaiser Permanente
JUDY UNGERLEIDER HENNESSEY Kaiser Permanente
JAN L. HERR Kaiser Permanente
HOLLY HOLTER Sutter Paci fic Medical Foundation
JORDAN HOROWITZ
Sutter Paci fic Medical Foundation
KATHERINE HSIAO Katherine Ting-Ann Hsiao, M.D.
MARIA G. INIGUEZ Kaiser Permanente
AMBER JAEGER
Prima Medical Foundation
JOANNE KIM
Sutter Paci fic Medical Foundation
LIZELLEN LA FOLLETTE
Lizellen La Follette, M.D.
JOHN LENNOX
Prima Medical Foundation, Inc
MICHAEL J. MAIORIELLO Practice of Dr. Maioriello
KRISTEN MATSIK Prima Medical Foundation
JUDITH MCCARTHY Kaiser Permanente
LESLEY MICHELLE MEISTER UCSF Health
RITA MELKONIAN Rita Melkonian, M.D.
MARILYN S. MILKMAN UCSF Health
CASSIUS A. SCOTT Kaiser Permanente
HELENE M. SPIVAK Kaiser Permanente
HECTOR C. STREETER Marin General Hospital
BONNIE H. SUDLER Kaiser Permanente
GAMIN M. THOMASON Kaiser Permanente
NAOMI TORGERSEN Kaiser Permanente
JEAN VIERRA Kaiser Permanente
JENNIFER K. VOSS Prima Medical Foundation
ANNE M. WARA Kaiser Permanente
DONNA WIGGINS Golden Gate Ob/Gyn
GERALD WILNER Prima Medical Foundation
HEIDI WITTENBERG Urogynecology Center of San Francisco
KRISTIN ANDERSON Marin Cancer Care
JULIA CATHERINE CARNEVALE UCSF HEALTH
PETER EISENBERG Marin Cancer Care
BARBARA GALLIGAN Marin Cancer Care
NATALYA GREYZ-YUSUPOV Kaiser Permanente
DAVID GUILLION Marin Cancer Care
BOBBIE HEAD Marin Cancer Care
LEAH KELLEY Prima Medical Foundation
JEROME G. KIM Kaiser Permanente
LORI C. KIM Kaiser Permanente
JENNIFER LUCAS Marin Cancer Care
DANIEL J. MALONEY Kaiser Permanente
ALEX S. METZGER Marin Cancer Care
KRISTA MUIRHEAD Kaiser Permanente
KENNETH S. YAMAMOTO California Paci fic Medical Center
RHUNJAY JAMES YU North Bay Urology
RICHARD ALVARADO Kaiser Permanente
ROBERT ANDERSON Robert Anderson, M.D.
JAMES CAROLAN Kaiser Permanente
ALICE CHENG-BENNETT Kaiser Permanente
J. DAVID CLAIBORNE Kaiser Permanente
ARTHUR D. FU West Coast Retina Medical Group
JYOTSOM B. GANATRA Kaiser Permanente
GREGG S. GAYRE Kaiser Permanente
DANIEL GOODMAN Goodman Eye Center
PETER H. GORENBERG Kaiser Permanente
KRISTEN L. HARTLEY Kaiser Permanente
CHRISTIAN K. KIM MarinEyes
H. RICHARD MCDONALD West Coast Retina Medical Group
KATHRYN NAJAFI-TAGOL Eye Institute of Marin
BONNIE L. NICKEL Sutter Health
GAYLE SHIMOKAJI Shapiro & Shimokaji, M.D.s
JOHN C. SHIN MarinEyes
SIGURD BERVEN UCSF Medical Center
ROMEO AGBAYANI Marin General
JEFFREY S. CHIEN Kaiser Permanente
J. BRIAN DELFANTI Kaiser Permanente
CAROL DIMELING Kaiser Permanente
THOMAS ENGEL San Francisco Ear Nose & Throat
THOMAS L. GUERRY
Kaiser Permanente
KAMBRIDGE HRIBAR
Kambridge P. Hribar, M.D.
SALVATORE D. IAQUINTA Kaiser Permanente
VANESSA KENYON
San Francisco Ear Nose & Throat
ADITI H. MANDPE Sutter Health CPMC
GARY S. MIZONO
Kaiser Permanente
AMIR A. RAFII
Kaiser Permanente
MICHAEL SHAPIRO
Shapiro & Shimokaji, M.D.s
MICHAEL HARVEY MOSKOWITZ
Bay Area Pain Medical Associates
GIOVANNI ELIA
UCSF
PEDIATRICS / ADOLESCENT MEDICINE
SCOTT EDWARD OLSON
Group Medical Practice
DARYN MICHELE SPERLING
Daryn Michele Sperling, M.D.
PEDIATRICS / CARDIOLOGY
MICHAEL BROOK
UCSF Benioff hildren’s Hospital
HOWARD ROSENFELD
UCSF Pediatric Associates
SCOTT SOIFER
UCSF Benioff hildren’s Hospital
PAUL STANGER
UCSF Benioff hildren’s Hospital
DAVID TEITEL
UCSF Benioff hildren’s Hospital
PEDIATRICS / ENDOCRINOLOGY
IVY PINTORIBEIRO ASLAN
UCSF Health
STEPHEN GITELMAN
UCSF Benioff hildren’s Hospital
STEPHEN ROSENTHAL
UCSF Benioff hildren’s Hospital
SRINATH SANDA UCSF Health
PEDIATRICS / GASTROENTEROLOGY
ELIZABETH ELLEN GLEGHORN
UCSF Health
MELVIN HEYMAN
UCSF Benioff hildren’s Hospital
SUE RHEE
UCSF Benioff hildren’s Hospital
PATRIKA M. TSAI
UCSF Benioff hildren’s Hospital
PEDIATRICS / HOSPITALIST
SETH BOKSER
UCSF Benioff hildren’s Hospital
DAVID P. HOFFMAN MGH Pediatric Hospitalists
KATEY K. HOFFMAN Prima Medical Foundation
STEPHEN WILSON
UCSF Benioff hildren’s Hospital
PEDIATRICS / INFECTIOUS DISEASE
THEODORE RUEL
UCSF Benioff hildren’s Hospital
PEGGY WEINTRUB
UCSF Benioff hildren’s Hospital
PEDIATRICS / NEPHROLOGY
PAUL BRAKEMAN
UCSF Benioff hildren’s Hospital
ANTHONY PORTALE
UCSF Benioff hildren’s Hospital
PEDIATRICS / NEUROLOGY
DONNA FERRIERO
UCSF Benioff hildren’s Hospital
AUDREY FOSTER-BARBER
UCSF Benioff hildren’s Hospital
AMY GELFAND
UCSF Benioff hildren’s Hospital
JESSICA RUTH LITWIN UCSF Health
ELYSA MARCO
UCSF Benioff hildren’s Hospital
KENDALL NASH UCSF Health
JONATHON STROBER
UCSF Benioff hildren’s Hospital
PEDIATRICS / ONCOLOGY
JAMES HUANG UCSF Health
PEDIATRICS / OPHTHALMOLOGY
WILLIAM GOOD William Good, M.D.
PEDIATRICS / OTOLARYNGOLOGY
ANNA MEYER
UCSF Benioff hildren’s Hospital
KRISTINA ROSBE
UCSF Benioff hildren’s Hospital
PEDIATRICS / PEDIATRICIAN
EILEEN AICARDI Golden Gate Pediatrics
JULIE BOKSER Tamalpais Pediatrics
NELSON BRANCO Tamalpais Pediatrics
ESTOL TAYLOR CARTE Kaiser Permanente
SUZANNE C. CHRISTIE Prima Medical Foundation
CINDY T. CHUNG Kaiser Permanente
JANET K. COYNE Kaiser Permanente
SUSAN DAB San Francisco Bay Pediatrics
JOHN J. DAHMEN Kaiser Permanente
LISA GIANNINI DANA Golden Gate Pediatrics
RICHARD J. DOW Kaiser Permanente
ANDREA H. FEEBACK-LEE Kaiser Permanente
GIANNA FRAZEE Kaiser Permanente
GARY GIN San Francisco Bay Pediatrics
CINDY J. GREENBERG Sutter Paci fic Medical Foundation / Pediatrics
MICHAEL I. HARRIS Kaiser Permanente
JOHN HARVEY Tamalpais Pediatrics
FATIMA MOHAMED HASSAN Marin Community Clinic
ARI HAUPTMAN Kaiser Permanente
ERIN HEATH Prima Medical Foundation
DONALD S. HENSLEY Kaiser Permanente
MELVIN B. HEYMAN UCSF Dept of Surgery
LINDSEY H.Y. HIBBARD Kaiser Permanente
JESSICA C. HOLLMAN San Rafael Clinic
ALAN JOHNSON San Francisco Bay Pediatrics
PAUL KATZ Kaiser Permanente
UTA KERL Prima Medical Foundation
GRACE C. KWOK Kaiser Permanente
LISA LEAVITT Marin Community Clinics
JOHN LEE Tamalpais Pediatrics
STEPHANIE LIESER Kaiser Permanente
MICHAEL K. MATSUMOTO Kaiser Permanente
KATHRYN BEAUFORT MEIER Marin Pediatric Associates
JANE MEILL Marin Pediatric Associates
SHELLEY A. PALFY Sutter Paci fic Medical Foundation / Pediatrics
MOLINA S. PATEL Kaiser Permanente
ANIKA L. SANDA Prima Medical Foundation
LAUREL JEAN SCHULTZ Golden Gate Pediatrics
NANCY SCHWARTZMAN Marin Pediatric Associates
MARCELLA SPERA Prima Medical Foundation
AMY STENBACK Kaiser Permanente
TIFFANIE TSE Kaiser Permanente
OTTO VON FRANQUE Kaiser Permanente
HELENE WALTERS Marin General Hospital
REBECCA WHITE Kaiser Permanente
JEANETTE R. WHITE Tamalpais Pediatrics
KATRINA WOO CABARRUS Kaiser Permanente
MICHAEL YAMAGUCHI Terra Linda Pediatrics
GWYNNE CHURCH
UCSF Benioff hildren’s Hospital
JEFFERY FINEMAN
UCSF Benioff hildren’s Hospital
KAREN HARDY
LPCH Medical Group
DENNIS NIELSON
UCSF Benioff hildren’s Hospital
ERIC ZEE Bay Area Peds Pulmonary
PEDIATRICS / RHEUMATOLOGY
EMILY VON SCHEVEN
UCSF Benioff hildren’s Hospital
PEDIATRICS / SURGERY
HANMIN LEE
UCSF Benioff hildren’s Hospital
TIPPI C. MACKENZIE
UCSF Health
COLEEN SABATINI
UCSF Medical Center
PEDIATRICS / UROLOGY
MICHAEL J. DISANDRO
UCSF Health
WILLIAM A. KENNEDY
LPCH Medical Group
LENA KIM CPMC
MAMIE AIR
Kaiser Permanente
LISA IACOVELLI
Physical Medicine Ctr Of Marin
HOLLY KELLY Marin Orthopedics and Sports Medicine
DIANE M. MURRAY
Kaiser Permanente
SCOTT E. PINNER Kaiser Permanente
ERNEST H. SPONZILLI
Mt. Tam Orthopedics
VINCENZO VITTO Kaiser Permanente
DAN J. CHOUNG Kaiser Permanente
ANTHONY J. FEDRIGO
Foot & Ankle Specialists of Marin
JONATHAN C. GRAHAM Kaiser Permanente
OENDRILA KAMAL Fedrigo Podiatry
DAVID C. LIN Kaiser Permanente
JAMES B. ROBISON Marin Foot & Ankle
H. SCOTT BARSHACK Practice of Dr. Barshack
JOSHUA BLUME Kaiser Permanente
JON L. BOONE Kaiser Permanente
KRISTEN B. BROOKS Kaiser Permanente
HEATHER D. CARLBERG Heather Carlberg, M.D.
TIERNEY CASELLI Kaiser Permanente
WENDY A. EBERHARDT Kaiser Permanente
RODNEY J. ERWIN Kaiser Permanente
RICHARD A. GLASS Kaiser Permanente
ANDREA L. HEDIN Kaiser Permanente
CARMEN P. IRIZARRY Kaiser Permanente
ELYSE F. WEINSTEIN Kaiser Permanente
NICK WINER Kaiser Permanente
JOSEPH N. WINER Kaiser Permanente
LAURA EBERHARD Kaiser Permanente
VINEET KAPUR Marin General Hospital
GUY LIVNAT Prima Medical Foundation
ROBERT NEWBURY Prima Medical Foundation
MERRILL NISAM Prima Medical Foundation
SRIDHAR K. PRASAD Kaiser Permanente
NIRUPAM SINGH Kaiser Permanente
DARYA SOTO Darya Soto, M.D.
ANN M. BELEK Kaiser Permanente
NEAL BIRNBAUM Neal Birnbaum, M.D.
MAURICE KINSOLVING Kaiser Permanente
ARUNDATHI S. MALLADI North Bay Rheumatology
PETER H. STEIN North Bay Rheumatology
SURGERY / CARDIOTHORACIC
PETER ANASTASSIOU Sutter Health
KEITH F. KORVER Keith F. Korver, M.D., Inc.
SURGERY / COLORECTAL
MARK BAZALGETTE Prima Medical Foundation
SURGERY / GENERAL
MICHAEL ABEL Volpe Russell Chiu and Abel M.D.s
EDWARD ALFREY Prima Medical Foundation
MICHAEL I. BOZUK Practice of Dr. Bozuk
JOSE M. GOMEZ Kaiser Permanente
NIMA GRISSOM Sutter Paci fic Medical Foundation
KEVIN R. HILER California Paci fic Medical Center
CRYSTINE LEE Prima Medical Foundation
MICHELLE LI San Francisco Surgical Medical Group
CHERYL LIN Kaiser Permanente
JAMES MINNIS Prima Medical Foundation
KENNETH E. NOVICH Kaiser Permanente
PATIENCE ODELE Kaiser Permanente
MICHAEL PARNES Kaiser Permanente
JENNIFER T. PLUNKETT Kaiser Permanente
BENJAMIN STAHL Prima Medical Foundation
RANNA TABRIZI Kaiser Permanente
LAURENCE YEE San Francisco Surgical Medical Group
SURGERY / NEUROLOGICAL
BRIAN ANDREWS Sutter Health CPMC
TARUN ARORA UCSF Medical Center
MITCHEL BERGER UCSF Medical Center
NICHOLAS BUTOWSKI UCSF Medical Center
DEAN CHOU
UCSF Medical Center
NALIN GUPTA
UCSF Benioff hildren’s Hospital
MICHAEL LAWTON
UCSF Medical Center
GEOFFREY MANLEY UCSF Medical Center
MICHAEL MCDERMOTT UCSF Medical Center
PRAVEEN MUMMANENI UCSF Medical Center
RISHI K. WADHWA UCSF Neurosurgery
PETER B. WEBER Sutter Paci fic Medical Foundation
SURGERY / ORTHOPAEDIC
KENNETH AKIZUKI Sports, Orthopedic and Rehabilitation Medicine Association
CHRISTINA ALLEN UCSF Department of Orthopaedic Surgery
FRANCOIS S. ANTOUNIAN Kaiser Permanente
PIERS AMBROSE BARRY Piers Barry, M.D.
ERIC D. BAVA Kaiser Permanente
JOHN P. BELZER California Paci fic Orthopaedics
RAYMOND M. BONNEAU Prima Medical Foundation
JASON BOURQUE Kaiser Permanente
SHANE BURCH UCSF Department of Orthopaedic Surgery
ROBERT H. BYERS Mt. Tam Orthopedics and Spine Center
PETER W. CALLANDER California Paci fic Orthopaedics
KEITH W. CHAN California Paci fic Medical Center
VINCENT E. CHOW Kaiser Permanente
RICHARD COUGHLIN UCSF Medical Center
CHRISTOPHER V. COX California Paci fic Orthopaedics
ELIZABETH DAILEY Mt. Tam Orthopedics
TANCREDI FASANELLA DAMORE Paci fic Surgery Center
VEDAT DEVIREN UCSF Department of Orthopaedic Surgery
SIBEL DEVIREN
UCSF Medical Center
MOHAMMAD DIAB
UCSF Medical Center
JON A. DICKINSON California Paci fic Orthopaedics
KEITH C. DONATTO
California Paci fic Orthopaedics
BRIAN FEELEY
UCSF Department of Orthopaedic Surgery
JONATHAN R. GOFF Mt. Tam Orthopedics
DAVID H. GOLTZ Mt. Tam Orthopedics
W. SCOTT GREEN California Paci fic Orthopaedics
MARK I. IGNATIUS
California Paci fic Medical Center
JAMES D. KELLY
California Paci fic Medical Center
ABBEY KENNEDY
Meritage Medical Network
JOHN KEOHANE Mt. Tam Orthopedics
PAUL H. KIM Mt. Tam Orthopedics
HUBERT KIM
UCSF Department of Orthopaedic Surgery
LISA LATTANZA
UCSF Department of Orthopaedic Surgery
MARK LAWLER
Marin Orthopedics and Sports Medicine
KEVIN LOUIE Kevin W. Louie, M.D.
ANTHONY LUKE
UCSF Medical Center
C. BENJAMIN MA
UCSF Medical Center
ROBERT E. MAYLE
California Paci fic Orthopaedics
H. RELTON MCCARROLL
California Paci fic Medical Center
WILLIAM A. MCGANN
St. Mary’s Medical Center
WILLIAM MONTGOMERY St. Mary’s Medical Center
SAAM MORSHED
UCSF Medical Center
TOM R. NORRIS California Paci fic Medical Center
RICHARD O’DONNELL
UCSF Medical Center
MICHAEL J. OECHSEL Mt. Tam Orthopedics
KIRSTINA OLSON
UCSF Department of Orthopaedic Surgery
ALEX V. PRESCOTT Kaiser Permanente
MICHAEL RIES
UCSF Department of Orthopaedic Surgery
NICOLE SCHROEDER UCSF Medical Center
MARK A. SCHRUMPF California Paci fic Orthopaedics
DANIEL SOLOMON Marin Orthopedics and Sports Medicine
BRIAN W. SU Mt. Tam Orthopedics and Spine Center
BOBBY TAY UCSF Medical Center
ROBERT TEASDALE Robert Teasdale, M.D.
THOMAS VAIL UCSF Medical Center
FRANK H. VALONE California Paci fic Medical Center
JENNIFER M. VAN WARMERDAM St. Mary’s Medical Center
NOAH WEISS Weiss Orthopedics
ADAM NEVITT Marin General Hospital
DANIEL W. FLIS Marin General
SURGERY / PLASTIC & RECONSTRUCTIVE
ROBERT GLENN AYCOCK
Robert Glenn Aycock, M.D.
KYLE A. BELEK Kyle Belek, M.D.
KENNETH BERMUDEZ Kenneth Bermudez, M.D.
CAROLYN CHANG Carolyn Chang, M.D.
DAVID S. CHANG David S. Chang, M.D.
MIGUEL ANGEL DELGADO JR Marin Cosmetic Surgery Center
KEITH DENKLER Keith Denkler, M.D.
CYNTHIA GOODMAN Cynthia Marie Hom Goodman, M.D.
TERRY HAND Terry Lee Hand, M.D.
YNGVAR HVISTENDAHL Plastic Surgery Specialists
JANN JOHNSON Kaiser Permanente
GABRIEL M. KIND California Paci fic Medical Center
HOP N. LE Kaiser Permanente
EDWARD P. MIRANDA California Paci fic Medical Center
KHASHAYAR MOHEBALI Khashayar Mohebali, M.D.
STANLEY G. POULOS Plastic Surgery Specialists
EVAN RANSOM SF Center for Facial Plastic, Reconstructive & Laser Surgery
SUSAN A. BAILEY California Paci fic Medical Center
JEFFRY D. CARDNEAU Kaiser Permanente
TINA R. DESAI Sirona Vascular Center
EUGENE C. GROEGER Saint Francis / St. Mary’s Medical Foundation
DANIEL R. NATHANSON UCSF Health
LAURA K. PAK Sirona Vascular Center
LAURENCE BASKIN UCSF Medical Center
JAY S. BELANI Kaiser Permanente
PATRICK M. BENNETT North Bay Urology
PETER BRETAN Peter Bretan, M.D.
DENISE CHOW Kaiser Permanente
ANJALI M. GANATRA Kaiser Permanente
BRIAN PAGE GRADY Golden Gate Urology
JOSEPH H. LEE Kaiser Permanente
HARRY NEUWIRTH Harry Neuwirth, M.D.
SUJATHA PATHI Prima Medical Foundation
DAVID M. RUDNIK Marin Urology
YEVGENIY VELTMAN Kaiser Permanente
MICHAEL K. KWOK, M.D. IS A BOARD CERTIFIED INTERNIST who has lived and practiced in Marin County for more than 20 years. Dr. Kwok graduated from the UCLA School of Medicine and completed his Internal Medicine internship and residency at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. Whether seeing patients in his office, at the hospital, in their home or at the nursing home, Dr. Kwok delivers medical care with excellence, thoroughness and compassion. Having a Retainer Practice allows Dr. Kwok time to spend with his patients, developing a detailed understanding of their medical needs and structuring a plan to optimize their medical care. Dr. Kwok is honored by repeatedly being named “Top Physician” in peer to peer physician surveys such as [415] Top Doctors, Guide to America’s Top Physicians and Top 500 Doctors.
Dr. Kwok has held various medical leadership positions, previously serving as Vice Chief of Staffand on the Board of Directors at Novato Community Hospital. He was recently elected by fellow physicians to the Medical Executive Committee of Marin General Hospital.
1300 South Eliseo Drive, Suite 203 Greenbrae, CA 94904 415.925.3617
kwokinternalmedicine.com
*Recognized on the [415] Top Doctors 2018 list.
ANY SUCCESSFUL AESTHETIC SURGERY is a blend of science and art. Dr. Kenneth Bermudez, a highly experienced board-certi fied plastic and reconstructive surgeon, works to not just meet but exceed patients’ goals. His exceptional skill in an array of procedures, including body contouring and face-lift, let him deliver the best stateof-the-art care available. Trust, compassion and communication are key to the process, and this doctor truly listens, advising honestly on which treatments fit your needs. Always the aim is a balanced result that reduces signs of age and accentuates natural beauty to help people look and feel their best. He provides personalized care and is there with you every step, from fi rst consultation to recovery, supported by a knowledgeable, friendly sta ff
A Bay Area physician since 1992, Dr. Bermudez did his medical studies and surgical residencies at UCSF. He sees patients in an ideally located o ffice and surgery center and has hospital privileges with California Paci fic and Catholic Healthcare West.
525 Spruce Street San Francisco, CA 94118
415.668.2122
plasticsurgery-sf.com
*Recognized on the [415] Top Doctors 2018 list.
MT. TAM ORTHOPEDICS & SPINE CENTER AND MARIN ORTHOPEDICS & SPORTS MEDICINE - two leading providers of orthopedic and spine care in Marin and the North Bay have merged.
Together, we will continue to provide leading edge care through fellowship trained physicians and surgeons in sports medicine, shoulder, hand and wrist, foot and ankle, knee and hip joint replacement, fracture care, pain management, and spinal surgery.
With two convenient locations in Larkspur and Novato, we will be offering seamless integration of clinical care, X-Ray, MRI, durable medical equipment, injection therapy, and physical therapy.
Our mission continues to be focused on “excellence in motion”, which starts at exploring all conservative options before pursuing invasive procedures. If surgery is necessary, we use the most innovative, minimally invasive techniques available to get you back to your personal goals as quickly as possible.
18 Bon Air Road 2 Bon Air Road, Suite 120 Larkspur, CA 94939 415.927.5300 mttamorthopedics.com 7100 Redwood Blvd, Suite 200 Novato, CA 94945 415.492.1600 marinorthopedics.com
Pictured (seated from left):
Elizabeth Dailey, M.D.*, Michael Hellman, M.D, Brian Su, M.D.*, Thomas Kim, M.D., Robert Byers, M.D.*
Pictured (standing from left):
Jonathan Goff, M.D.*, Ernest Sponzilli, M.D.*, Daniel Solomon, M.D.*, Mark Lawler, M.D.*, David Goltz, M.D.*, Michael Oechsel, M.D.*, Ramo Naidu, M.D., Holly Kelly, M.D.*, and Paul Kim, M.D.*
* Recognized on the [415] Top Doctors 2018 list.
EVERYONE WANTS TO LOOK THEIR BEST. Our philosophy is natural-appearing rejuvenation – making an individualized treatment plan that enhances your unique beauty. We provide honest advice and expert care to help you achieve your goals.
Dr. Evan Ransom is an Ivy League-trained, double-board certified facial plastic surgeon and an attending physician at Marin General Hospital and St. Francis Memorial. His practice includes cosmetic and functional rhinoplasty, facelift, eyelid lift, browlift, fat grafting, and reconstruction after trauma or Mohs surgery. Dr. Ransom also performs minimally-invasive treatments, including, Botox, fillers, laser resurfacing, photofacial (IPL), neck tightening (ThermiTight), and body contouring (SculpSure). Lastly, Dr. Ransom provides the latest in hair replacement using the NeoGraft system (FUE).
Community service is very important to Dr. Ransom. He performs pro bono cleft lip and palate surgery with Healing the Children, a nonprofit focused on international health.
450 Sutter St., Suite 1212, San Francisco, CA 94108 415.550.1077
SanFranciscoFacialPlasticSurgery.com HTCNorCal.org
655 Redwood Hwy, Suite 250, Mill Valley, CA 94941
*Recognized on the [415] Top Doctors 2018 list.
SAN FRANCISCO SURGICAL MEDICAL GROUP (SFSMG) is San Francisco’s premier surgical group specializing in colorectal, general and laparoscopic surgery.
We provide comprehensive care ranging from the management of complex abdominal and gastrointestinal conditions to colorectal cancer screening. The scope of our practice includes treatment of abdominal cancers, inflmmatory bowel disease, gallbladder disorders, gastroesophageal reflux, hernias, endocrine disease and anorectal problems. Our surgeons are pioneers in laparoscopic abdominal surgery and treatment of hemorrhoids, anorectal fistulasand pilonidal disease. The practice was established in 1939, and we take pride in our history of surgical excellence and leadership. We are proud of our specialty training and our dedication to patient care. Members of our staffspeak Chinese and Tagalog.
3838 California St, Ste 616, San Francisco, CA 94118 415.668.0411
2100 Webster St, Ste 520, San Francisco, CA 94115 415.923.3020
1580 Valencia St, Ste 607, San Francisco, CA 94115 415.213.7971
sfsurgery.com
Pictured:
Laurence Yee, M.D., FASCRS*
Vanessa Talbott, M.D., FACS
Michelle Li, M.D., FACS*
Michael Abel, M.D., FASCRS
Yanek Chiu, M.D., FASCRS
T. Philip Chung, M.D., FASCRS
*Recognized on the [415] Top Doctors 2018 list.
CALIFORNIA PACIFIC ORTHOPAEDICS has been providing comprehensive orthopaedic care to Marin County and the greater San Francisco Bay Area for more than 40 years.
Our physicians will provide you with the same level of elite care that they do for the San Francisco Ballet, Oakland A’s, Golden State Warriors and many other sports and entertainment patients.
We have three clinics to serve you, including our most recent addition of San Francisco Shoulder, Elbow & Hand Clinic in San Francisco. Visit calpacortho.com for more information about our locations and physicians.
For your convenience we offer in house MRI and X-ray and have clinic hours five days a week. We accept most major insurance plans and are Brown & Toland providers. We look forward to serving you.
1099 D Street, Suite 105 San Rafael, CA 94901
3838 California Street, Suite 715 San Francisco, CA 94118 2351 Clay Street, Suite 510 San Francisco, CA 94115
calpacortho.com
Pictured (back row, from left):
Rowan V. Paul, MD, Keith C. Donatto, MD*, James D. Kelly, II, MD*, Mark A. Schrumpf, MD*, Mark I. Ignatius, D.O.*, Christopher V. Cox, MD*, Adrian J. Rawlinson, MD, H. Relton McCarroll, Jr., MD*, John P. Belzer, MD*, Frank H. Valone, III, MD*
(front row, from left):
Peter W. Callander, MD*, Robert E. Mayle, Jr, MD*, Keith W. Chan, MD*, W. Scott Green, MD*
Not pictured: Jon A. Dickinson, MD*, Tom R. Norris, MD*, Lindsey C. Valone, MD
* Recognized on the [415] Top Doctors 2018 list.
2017 HAS BEEN A YEAR OF CHANGE. We’ve grown in both personnel and services, and are excited to introduce our MedSpa, which includes our Health and Wellness Program, offering a revolutionary device for weight loss; the Obalon ingestible balloon. Our coordinator coaches patients to healthy lifestyle changes and weight loss, using tools like InBody570 to track fat loss and lean muscle mass increase.
With the opening of Spa PSS, we’ve introduced new MedSpa technologies designed to complement each other, including the soothing Hydrafacial and the rejuvenating ProCell Microchanneling with growth factors. Combined with laser technology you take off years, in hours. PSS is a leader in aesthetics, with an armamentarium of services in the North Bay. From noninvasive, to surgical solutions for the face and body, Drs Hvistendahl and Poulos together offer over 50 years experience assuring you are in the most talented hands available.
Pictured (from left): Stanley G. Poulos, M.D.* Yngvar Hvistendahl, M.D.*
350 Bon Air Road, Suite 300 Greenbrae, CA 94904 415.925.2880 psspecialists.com
*Recognized on the [415] Top Doctors 2018 list.
LOSE WEIGHT SAFELY AND KEEP IT OFF FOR LIFE, with our science based, physician supervised care and individually tailored plans. The Marin Weight Loss & Wellness Center offers weight loss programs individually tailored to suit your lifestyle.
You’ll find carefully designed meal plans based on nutritious whole foods along with education, accountability and support.
We are now delivering a Mindful Eating Program alongside all of our plans which focuses on bringing conscious choice to eating behaviors and tapping into physical cues for hunger, fullness, body and taste satiety.
Discover the difference in your health, in your life, and in your wellbeing as you start to make the necessary lifestyle changes to optimize your health.
400 Professional Center Dr, Suite 411 Novato, CA 94947
350 Bon Air Rd, Suite 1 Greenbrae, CA 94904 415.897.9800 marinweightloss.com
Pictured: Gail Altschuler, M.D.* and Cassale Sherriff, Nutritionist Recognized on the [415] Top Doctors 2018 list.
AS PLASTIC SURGERY BECOMES INCREASINGLY POPULAR in the San Francisco Bay Area, Dr. Robert Aycock is distinguished by his industry-leading skill and highly personalized care. “No two procedures are ever performed exactly the same way,” he explains. “I approach each case di fferently, modifying my technique to enhance natural beauty.” The board-certified plastic surgeon consistently goes the extra mile to provide patient-specific care. “Getting to know each patient helps me better address their concerns,” he explains. “I want to understand their needs and help them achieve their goals.”
After nearly 30 years in practice he has developed a loyal following. Dr. Aycock spends much of his time performing surgical procedures including face and neck lifts, breast augmentation, breast reduction, abdominoplasty and liposuction, but he’s quick to point out that surgery is not always necessary. “In some cases, surgery may not be the best course of action. Some of our patients’ goals can be achieved using lasers, fillers, and other noninvasive protocols,” says Dr. Aycock, who is an international speaker and trainer for the various laser procedures he offers.
575 Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, Suite 2, Greenbrae, CA 94904 415.925.1700 1855 San Miguel Drive, Suite 4 Walnut Creek, CA 94596 925.937.8377
aycockmd.com
Robert Aycock, M.D., F.A.C.S.,* Board Certified Plastic Surgeon
* Recognized on the [415] Top Doctors 2018 list.
SINCE 1962, OUR PRACTICE HAS PROUDLY DELIVERED world class cardiovascular service and care.
Our 19 board certi fied cardiologists are experts in their fields of cardiovascular medicine, interventional cardiology, cardiac electrophysiology, and advanced heart failure. They have trained at our country’s top academic institutions and share decades of clinical experience. As a collaborative team, the CAM physicians have created numerous highly successful programs in primary prevention, diagnostic imaging, and cardiovascular interventions.
Our cardiac catheterization laboratory has evolved over 30 years, from being one of the fi rst to perform lifesaving angioplasty into a state of the art center for managing complex coronary and structural heart disease. Our clinical outcomes in treating victims of heart attack and cardiac arrest consistently exceed national benchmarks. This year, our electrophysiology program was the fi rst in the Bay Area to implant a completely leadless pacemaker.
We are one of the fi rst centers in the country to offer intensive cardiac rehabilitation as a comprehensive lifestyle management program for primary prevention.
Our outpatient offices are located in Larkspur, Novato, and Sonoma.
Services include: Consultative Cardiology; Cardiac CT, Echocardiography, Nuclear Cardiology; Stress Testing and Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing; Coronary Stents, Chronic Total Occlusion, Left Atrial Appendage Closure, Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR), Peripheral Vascular Intervention; Atrial Fibrillation Ablation, Leadless Pacemaker, Implantable Defibrillator, Remote Arrhythmia Monitoring; Cardiac Rehabilitation and Lifestyle Wellness Programs, Cardiac Dietician
2 Bon Air Road, Suite 100 Larkspur, CA 94939 415.927.0666
75 Rowland Way, Suite 101 & 140 Novato, CA 94945 415.878.2910
Ancillary Testing 415.927.0666 CT Scheduling 415.927.8594
Staff Doctors:
558 Third Street West Sonoma, CA 95476 707.935.1470
marinhealthcare.org/ccm
Mark P. Wexman, M.D., FACC*
David C. Sperling, M.D., FACC*
Jerald A. Young, M.D., FACC*
Brian L. Strunk, M.D., FACC*
Joel Sklar, M.D., FACC*
James R. Adams, M.D., FACC*
Brian G. Keeffe, M.D., FACC*
Robert T. Sperling, M.D., FACC*
Arun K. Raghupathy, M.D., FACC*
Sujoya Dey, M.D., FACC*
Adam J. Baumgarten, M.D., FACC*
Kabir Singh, M.D.
Ann K. Kao, M.D., FACC*
James Price, M.D., FACC
Benedict Ancock, M.D., MPH
Anand Soni, M.D., FACC
Not pictured:
Kent N. Gershengorn, M.D., FACC*, James Price, M.D., FACC, Anita Szady, M.D., FACC
* Recognized on the [415] Top Doctors 2018 list.
SELECTED AS MARIN MAGAZINE’S TOP DOCTORS, Pacific Fertility Center (PFC) physicians are recognized internationally for their clinical expertise, outstanding academic credentials, research contributions, and compassionate patient care. With over 100 years’ collective experience performing IVF, we are one of the most experienced fertility centers in the U.S. As innovators in IVF, ICSI, and vitri fication, we continue to be early adopters of effective fertility innovations. To date, we have welcomed over 10,000 babies and look forward to helping you make parenthood a reality.
PFC offers comprehensive fertility options including IVF, Egg Freezing, Embryo Banking, and Donor Egg services.
Located in San Francisco with easy access from Marin, PFC is open 365 days a year, offering flexible hours to accommodate each patient’s individual needs.
55 Francisco Street, 5th floor San Francisco, CA 94133 415.834.3095
PacificFertilityCenter.com
Pictured (from left):
Carolyn Givens, M.D.*
Carl Herbert, M.D.*
Philip Chenette, M.D.*
Isabelle Ryan, M.D.*
Liyun Li, M.D.*
Eldon Schriock, M.D.*
* Recognized on the [415] Top Doctors 2018 list.
There’s something about traveling farther than their own backyards that allows couples to get closer. Whether it’s in a stylish city or the serene countryside, a destination honeymoon can help newlyweds unwind after wedding stress and emerge energized by new adventures. Here are four options — from Bora Bora to Nicaragua — for memorable post-nuptials.
This page: The Symphony of Lights and the Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong.
Opposite: Rooms and views at the 1675acre Mukul, Auberge Resorts Collection.
The most spectacular of the Society Islands has long been synonymous with honeymoons. Conrad Bora Bora Nui, the only resort on the pristine islet of Motu To’opua, lives up to Bora Bora’s reputation for romance, while encouraging guests to explore its unique culture and geography.
TABLE FOR TWO Enjoy a picnic à deux on the Conrad’s private islet, Motu Tapu; your charter boat captain will prepare traditional dishes such as poisson cru, served on freshly picked palm leaves. Other romantic options include dinner on the veranda of Iriatai French Restaurant, paired with a delicious Bordeaux, or sushi at Upa Upa Lounge and Bar, where musicians serenade guests at sunset and a glass floor provides a tantalizing peek at the lagoon’s coral reef.
ADVENTURE For an indelible (if somewhat painful) souvenir, the resort can arrange for authentic Polynesian tattooing by artist Marama Olsen, who uses a comb made of boar tusk to tap ink into skin. Tamure Beach Grill hosts a weekly Polynesian show wit h fi re throwers and dances tied to local lore. UNWIND A Balinese massage at hillside Hina Spa can release stress; book the open-air treatment room to soak in the lagoon views. DON’T MISS Hike twoplus hours up the steep slopes of iconic Mount Otemanu to explore Bora Bora’s only cave and revel in breathtaking views toward Raiatea, or circle the isle on a Matira Jet Tours wave runner. The Conrad concierge can book both
guided excursions. PROPERTY DETAILS The 114 rooms — 86 overwater and 28 garden villas with lagoon views — start at 1,087 square feet and offer king beds, wall-to-wall sliding doors opening onto large decks, and a modern South Paci fic aesthetic. Overwater villa decks sport catamaran-style hammocks above the turquoise lagoon; some also have their own in fi nity plunge pool. Rooms start at $698. boraboranui.conradhotels.com
Since you’ll need to overnight in Papeete en route from San Francisco (via Los Angeles), reserve a lagoon-view room at the InterContinental Tahiti Resort & Spa (tahiti.intercontinental.com), less than two miles from the airport, and awake to magni ficent views of Mooréa. Maximize the honeymoon mode with Conrad’s private boat transfer from Bora Bora’s airport ($134 round-trip).
Kick off your next chapter in the bustling Asian city of Hong Kong, famous for shopping and cuisine. And why not ensure a comfortable adventure by staying at the luxurious Peninsula Hotel, aka the Grande Dame of the Far East, famous for its fleet of “Peninsula Green” Rolls-Royces?
TABLE FOR TWO Go old school and retrace the dance moves of Clark Gable and Ava Gardner after an awardwinning meal at the opulent onsite Gaddi’s. Here you can be dressed in you r fi nest and experience the lost art of a
proper dinner-dance. ADVENTURE Get some perspective from high above the city via the property’s helicopter tour. Start at the retro-chic China Clipper Lounge for a light bite before departing. Or for those more inclined to earn their altitude, opt for a guided hike along Dragon’s Back just out of town with Walk Hong Kong’s Gabi Baumgartner. UNWIND Pre– or post–spa treatment, save at least an hour or so to lounge at the white marble pool; think Roman Holiday meets Hearst Castle, with sweeping views of Hong Kong’s skyline. DON’T MISS There is no better way to enjoy the city’s famous Symphony of Lights than on board an Aqua Luna tour boat with a cocktail in hand. This nightly multimedia light show includes displays on more than 40 buildings on both sides of the harbor. Be sure to ask the concierge to book you before 8 p.m. for the best time to view the show. PROPERTY DETAILS Named for its location on the tip of the Kowloon Peninsula, the 300-room hotel seamlessly blends the original 1928 building, famed for afternoon tea in its grand lobby, with a 30-story tower added in 1994. The gracious rooms, many with harbor views, feature touch pad technology, premium linens and large marble baths with deep tubs and separate showers. Rooms start at $510. hongkong.peninsula.com ARRIVE IN STYLE Cathay Paci fic’s late-night fl ight out of San Francisco lets you make the most of a full day upon arrival. Business class grants access to luxurious lounges, while aboard the new A350 aircraft couples can get cozy in spacious lie-flat seats in the center aisle. The spray of orchids between the large entertainment monitors adds a romantic touch.
Considered the “next Costa Rica” for ecotourism and Pacific surfing safaris, Nicaragua can still be a bit daunting to navigate. Enter Mill Valley’s Auberge Resorts, which since November has managed a 1,675-acre, 38-room resort on Nicaragua’s Emerald Coast. Now known as Mukul, Auberge Resorts Collection, this sustainably luxurious oasis offers carefree exploration of the region’s lush rain forest and uncrowded surf.
TABLE FOR TWO The aptly named Romantic Dinner features a special menu du jour, served on the beach and under the stars; luminaria light the way to your private open-air dining cabana with separate lounging area. ADVENTURE The four-mile private beach allows for all kinds of ocean sports; surfers of any level can try their hand at Manzanillo Point, while the more advanced can book excursions to hidden breaks. Check for four species of monkeys as you hike or bike 12 miles of nature trails, or take a helicopter ride over countless volcanic islets. UNWIND Among Spa Mukul’s six individually themed sanctuaries, the Secret Garden may be the most enticing. Its signature 3.5-hour ritual includes watsu therapy — floating in a warm pool while receiving gentle shiatsu massage — followed by a Nicaragua n floral body scrub and a massage with essential oils of local blossoms. DON’T MISS Though the Nica Luau may sound out of place by several thousand miles,
guests delight in this weekly beach bonfire dinner with grilled regional specialties and live music. Yoga devotees will want to go with the vinyasa flow in free daily sessions in the treetop Yoga Pavilion. PROPERTY DETAILS Built in 2013 by entrepreneur and philanthropist Carlos Pella for $250 million, the eco-friendly resort also boasts the 18-hole Guacalito Golf Course and low-density private beach residences. Guest lodgings, each with an ocean view, private pool and sta ff, and vast deck, are divided among 23 treehouse-style teak and pine bohios, perched 300 feet above the beach; 12 one- and two-bedroom beach villas with palapas and outdoor lava rock showers; and the Pellas’ enormous, elegant family compound. Rooms start at $725; see website for four-night honeymoon package. mukul.aubergeresorts.com ARRIVE IN STYLE Fly into Managua, Nicaragua, and a resort concierge will greet you with beverages, guide you through customs and whisk you to a private car with Wi-Fi for the scenic two-and-a-half-hour drive to Mukul.
A strong dollar and a Brexit-buffeted pound put London in reach for culturally minded couples who may have felt short on cash before. Overlooking Hyde Park, the smartly renovate d Royal Lancaster London is not only a paragon of midcentury modern style, but also a capital spot for taking affordable advantage of the city’s delights. TABLE FOR TWO Spice up your evening in Nipa Thai, the hotel’s teakpaneled restaurant with park views; its prettily presented cuisine has won an award from the Thai government. Room rates include a full English breakfast. Book the “A Night to Remember” package and you’ll also find a bottle of champagne and afternoon tea sweets awaiting your arrival. ADVENTURE Intellectual stimulation is easy here. Hop on the Tube’s Central Line at Lancaster Gate, just outside the hotel, for a quick trip to West End theaters (and the half-price TKTS booth in Leicester Square). A 25-minute walk through Kensington Gardens leads to the Science, Natural History and Victoria and Albert museums; as at all U.K. national galleries, admission is free. UNWIND Viva Therapies provides in-room massages, facials and other treatments to Royal Lancaster guests. Head to trendy K-West Hotel and Spa (k-west.co.uk) in Shepherd’s Bush to indulge in its elaborate hot-and-cold wet spa circuit, free with a two-hour holistic treatment or $65 without. DON’T MISS A hike in bucolic Hampstead Heath, just a half-hour bus ride from the hotel. Its hidden gems include Kenwood House, a beautiful 18th-century estate with a Rembrandt self-portrait among its collection of old masters. PROPERTY DETAILS The 411 rooms in the 18-story Royal Lancaster start at a cozy 215 square feet, but all offer sweeping views of the London skyline and understated nods to midcentury modern decor. Bathrooms are exceptionally indulgent for London, with bathrobes, slippers, heated floors and waterfall showers. Rooms start at $289. royallancaster.com ARRIVE IN STYLE Since you’re saving money elsewhere, book full-fare seats in Virgin Atlantic’s Upper Class and luxuriate in non-Uber private car service to and from SFO and Heathrow. Or gamble on a two-forone discount at the counter; all Upper Class passengers have access to Virgin’s swanky airport lounge/restaurant before enjoying the lie-flat seats in free black jammies. m
Most visitors to Oahu will be staying at a hotel on or near a golden swath of sand. While this is great for some vacationers, others might also want to get out and explore. Going clockwise from Waikiki, we list a few of our favorite sandy
• MAGIC ISLAND (AINA MOANA) Back in 1964, a small man-made peninsula was built across from Ala Moana Beach Park with the hopes of creating a resort. Instead, these best-laid plans eventually resulted in a public beach park. While the area can be a bit rough around the edges — people lingering with shopping carts — the beach is wide and expansive and the protected reef is excellent for snorkeling. Details Large parking lot, bathrooms and showers, picnic tables, plenty of shade and a paved path.
• POKAI BAY Located between the small boat harbor in Waianae and Kaneilio Point, Pokai Bay is a popular beach for locals on Oahu’s leeward (west) coast and a good day trip for those staying at Koolina and looking for a bit of loca l flavor. A crescent-shaped rock jetty offers protection from the surf, making this 15-acre beach park ideal for young swimmers, snorkeling and lap swimming. Details Public parking with over flow parking on streets,
picnic tables, shady grassy areas off he beach; be respectful of the locals, since this beach is far off he tourist track.
• WAIMEA BAY BEACH Depending on the time of year, you will have a varied experience here. If you are looking for massive surf with helicopters dropping daredevils into the water (tow-in-sur fi ng) you might fi nd it in this spot from November to February. The summer months provide a glassy gentle swell ideal for snorkeling or boogie boarding. Either way, this two-mile stretch of sand offers a classic North Shore experience. Details Public parking, bathrooms and showers; shade can be hard to fi nd.
• KAILUA BEACH On the windward side of the island, this three-mile expanse of powdery white sand has been voted best beach in America by several magazines and travel experts. There is a large grassy area with picnic tables, volleyball courts and public
restrooms. Unfortunately, there are no SUP, kayak or snorkeling rentals at the beach, but you ca n fi nd these as well as lots of friendly advice on where to launch at Kailua Sailboards and Kayak s located a block away from the public parking lot. Watch for Portuguese manof-war (jelly fi sh) and stinging limu (seaweed) from June through September, on the sand as well as in the water. Details Two parking lots with options for street parking; pop into Kalapawai Market for healthy picnic offerings.
• MAKAPUU BEACH Located on the easternmost tip of the island, this beach is famous for bodysur fi ng. Swimmers need to be very comfortable in waves here, so for those who are well versed in rolling with the swells and duck-diving incoming waves, this is your beach. And for those who are not as comfortable in the water, it’s a beautiful place to picnic and ponder the power of Mother Nature.
Details Public parking, some shade and lifeguard on duty.
sketches about dealing with tech in our daily lives. Shelton Theater (SF). megabytesthe musical.com
FEB 2–13 The Cutting Ball Variety Pack This two-week festival features four short, fully staged experimental works, readings of two brand-new plays by New York–based playwrights and more. The Exit (SF). 415.525.1205, cuttingball.com
FEB 24–25 Little Throck Presents Mulan The students of the Throckmorton Theatre’s Little Throck show off heir learned skills in acting, singing and dancing with this production of Disney’s spirited tale. Throckmorton Theatre (Mill Valley). 415.383.9600, throck mortontheatre.org
FEB 9–10 Dance Around Town ODC/Dance premieres ODC co-artistic director KT Nelson's immersive, site-specific work, Path of Miracles, created in collaboration with San Francisco's 17-member vocal ensemble Volti. Grace Cathedral (SF). odc.dance
THRU FEB 3 My Stroke of Luck Radiologist Diane Barnes, who diagnoses strokes, recounts her experience of having a stroke, her path to recovery and more. The Marsh (SF). 415.282.3055, themarsh.org
THRU FEB 4 The Birthday Party In Harold Pinter’s famed play, two strangers arrive in an English seaside town to make a slew of surreal inquiries about the sole tenant of a run-down boardinghouse — piano player Stanley — just in time for his birthday party. A.C.T.’s Geary Theater (SF). 415.749.2228, act-sf.org
THRU FEB 11 The Children’s Hour Showcasing the destructive power of lies, this play depicts the experiences of two longtime friends who run a boarding school for girls and whose lives are altered when one devious student spreads a malicious rumor. The Barn Theater (Ross). 415.456.9555, ross valleyplayers.com
THRU FEB 18 Skeleton Crew Workers at a Detroit auto stamping plant must decide what to do if the plant fails in the wake of the Great Recession. Marin Theatre Company (Mill Valley). 415.388.5208, marintheatre.org
THRU MAR 3 Megabytes! The Musical A new revue of comedy songs and
FEB 2–MAR 3 What They Said About Love Oakland-based actor Steve Budd’s solo show centers on marriage — namely, why other people seem able to tie the knot, but Budd himself cannot. The Marsh (Berkeley). 415.282.3055, themarsh.org
FEB 21–APR 22 Vietgone Qui Nguyen’s critically acclaimed play offers a modern twist on the classic story of boy meets girl as three young Vietnamese immigrants embark on an eye-opening road trip across the bewildering landscape of 1970s America. Strand Theater (SF). 415.749.2228, act-sf.org
FEB 11 An Evening with Bill Maher Comedian, political commentator and television host Bill Maher returns to Marin with an allnew stand-up routine. Marin Center (San Rafael). 415.473.6800, marincounty.org
FEB 24–25 The Book of Moron Robert Dubac presents a one-man show about Bob, a brain-injured patient struggling to recover his memory of himself, a performance that melds intelligence and absurdity. Marin Center (San Rafael). 415.473.6800, marincounty.org
FEB 4 Echo Meets
Mana Echo Chamber Orchestra presents a performance featuring the Mana Saxophone Quartet. First Presbyterian Church (San Anselmo). 415.300.7962, echorchestra.com
FEB 10 It’s Swing Time
Steve Lucky and The Rhumba Bums with Miss Carmen Getit provide the backdrop for this swinging party, featuring a live performance, dancing and dinner from San Anselmo’s Farm Burger. A part of Osher Marin JCC’s Winter Nights series. Osher Marin JCC (San Rafael). 415.444.8000, marinjcc.org
FEB 16–17 Dark Star Orchestra After celebrating its 20th anniversary last year, Dark Star Orchestra continues in its mission to offer a faithful Grateful Dead concert experience. The War field (SF). 415.345.0900, the war fieldtheatre.com
FEB 16–17 Monophonics
Marin County’s favorite soul band brings its danceable brand of funk, aka “psychedelic soul,” to Mill Valley for two nights. Sweetwater Music Hall (Mill Valley). 415.388.3850, sweetwater musichall.com
FEB 25 Willie K Enjoy a show by Hawaiian guitar virtuoso Willie K, who enhances his musical stylings with life stories and humor.
Marin Center (San Rafael). 415.473.6800, marincounty.org
FEB 28 Robert Plant the Sensational Space Shifters
The English singer, songwriter and musician — best known as the front man for Led Zeppelin — delivers a performance featuring old and new favorites, as accompanied by a band including drummer Dave Smith, West African musician Juldeh Camara, keyboardist John Baggott and bassist Justin Adams. Fox Theater (Oakland). foxtheater oakland.com
MARIN Bay Area Discovery Museum Imagine, create and transform while exploring the unique museum’s ongoing exhibits (Sausalito). 415.339.3900, baykids museum.org
Marin Museum of Contemporary Art InnerScapes A look at the internal spiritual, emotional and creative processes employed by artists in pursuit of craft, through February 25 (Novato). 415.506.0137, marinmoca.org
BAY AREA Asian Art Museum Philippine Art This exhibition is one of the firt in the U.S. to present Philippine art from the precolonial period to the present, through March 11 (SF). 415.581.3711, asianart.org
Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
Ida Lupino: Hard, Fast, and Beautiful An exploration of Ida Lupino from both sides of the camera, through February 24 (Berkeley). 510.642.0808, bampfa.org
ALASDAIR NEALE | MUSIC DIRECTOR
SUNDAY MARCH 4, 2018 / 3:00 P.M. TUESDAY MARCH 6, 2018 / 7:30 P.M.
ALASDAIR NEALE, CONDUCTOR MARIN SYMPHONY CHORUS
FAURÉ: REQUIEM BEETHOVEN: SYMPHONY NO.6 (PASTORAL) TICKETS: 415.473.6800 OR TICKETS.MARINCENTER.ORG
Winter Nights presents The Colors of India, an evening of colors and flavors featuring a performance by Dholrhythms Dance Company, along with instruction from the group — and a dance party. Osher Marin JCC (San Rafael). February 3, marinjcc.org
Workshop: Beginning Beekeeping Basics offers pointers on getting started as a backyard beekeeper. Fairfax Backyard Farmer (Fairfax). February 17, fairfaxbackyardfarmer.com
The music festival gets a makeover with Noise Pop Music and Arts Festival, with performances scattered around San Francisco and Oakland. Various locations (Bay Area). February 19–25, noisepopfest.com
Take a hit of musical nostalgia with Beatles vs. Stones: A Musical Showdown, featuring tribute groups Abbey Road and Satisfaction. Sweetwater Music Hall (Mill Valley). February 22, sweetwater musichall.com
novelist and short story writer, through April 15 (Sonoma). svma.org
The Walt Disney Family Museum Galleries, classes and exhibits related to Disney and the magic kingdom (SF). 415.345.6800, waltdisney.org
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Yishai Jusidman: Prussian Blue A series of paintings created nearly exclusively with one of the earliest artificially developed pigments used by European painters: Prussian Blue, through March 25 (SF). 415.978.2787, ybca.org
San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, the fi rst and largest Jewish fi lm fest in the world. Osher Marin JCC (San Rafael). 415.444.8080, marinjcc.org
FEB 4 History Hike: Mount Tamalpais Scenic Railroad Partake in a three-mile hike on the Old Railroad Grade while discussing the history of the railroad; the groundbreaking ceremony took place 122 years ago. W. Blithedale Ave Trailhead (Mill Valley). 415.473.2816
Police Training Room (Novato). resilient neighborhoods.org
FEB 11 Fungus Among Us Join a ranger in a hike on Big Trees Trail in search of the fruits of winter: mushrooms. Indian Tree Preserve (Novato). marincountyparks.org
5The Book of Mormon In case you missed the acclaimed musical comedy, which follows the antics of two mismatched missionaries, you’re in luck — it’s back in the Bay Area to elicit some more laughs. Orpheum Theatre (SF). February 6–March 4, shnsf.com
California Academy of Sciences Twilight Zone: Deep Reefs Revealed Explore the unknown expanses of the coral reefs alongside scientists who show off new and rare species found there; many have never been displayed in a public aquarium (SF). 415.379.8000, cal academy.org
Contemporary Jewish Museum Sabbath: The 2017 Dorothy Saxe Invitational Artists from a variety of backgrounds are given the opportunity to delve into the Jewish tradition with an exploration of the Sabbath (all works are for sale), through February 25 (SF). 415.655.7800, thecjm.org
de Young Teotihuacan: City of Water, City of Fire The de Young presents the firt major exhibition in the U.S. in over 20 years on the
ancient metropolis of Teotihuacan — located in Mexico, and one of the largest and most important archaeological sites in the world — featuring more than 200 artifacts and artworks from the site, through February 11 (SF). 415.750.3600, deyoung.famsf.org
Legion of Honor Casanova: The Seduction of Europe A look at 18th-century Europe as seen through the eyes of Giacomo Casanova, featuring around 90 works centering on the perspective of the international man of letters, February 10–May 28 (SF). 415.750.3600, legionof honor.famsf.org
Museum of Craft and Design Tom Loeser: Please Please Please Unconventional, imaginative furniture from the Madison-based designer, through May
20 (SF). 415.773.0303, sfmcd.org
Oakland Museum of California Question Bridge: Black Males An immersive exhibition of intimate videos — woven together and arranged to simulate face-to-face conversations between participants — among a diverse group of over 160 black men across the United States, through February 25 (Oakland). 510.318.8400, museumca.org
SFMOMA Robert Rauschenberg: Erasing the Rules A major retrospective featuring an array of works from the artist’s six-decade career, through March 25 (SF). 415.357.4000, sfmoma.org
Sonoma Valley Museum of Art An Eye for Adventure: Photographs by Jack London An exhibition of photographs from the
FEB 10 Winter Winemaker’s Dinner Enjoy an evening of fi ne wine, conversation and a gourmet dinner of three courses, each paired with a distinctive Etude wine selection. Etude Wines (Napa). 707.257.5782, etudewines.com
FEB 17–18 American Indian Art Show This signi ficant showcase offers an opportunity for collectors and designers to peruse and purchase jewelry, textiles, baskets, pottery, beadwork, sculpture, paintings, photography, books and more from Pre-Columbian, Spanish Colonial and contemporary Native American cultures. Marin Civic Center (San Rafael). 310.822.9145, marinshow.com
THRU FEB 8 Best of the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival Enjoy highlights from the newest season of the
FEB 6–APR 4 Free Climate Action Workshop This free, five-session workshop offers ways to reduce your carbon footprint and get prepared for emergencies by taking simple actions like trimming energy and waste, conserving water and making smarter transportation choices.
FEB 13 The Power of Meditation Transcendental Meditation teacher Bob Roth joins American director, screenwriter, producer, painter, musician, actor and photographer David Lynch to discuss meditation. Nourse Theater (SF). 415.392.4400, cityarts.net
FEB 14 Early Wildflowers at Chimney Rock Check out the early bloomers that freckle this wild flower hot spot, the visual experience heightened by breathtaking coastal views. Chimney Rock (Point Reyes National Seashore). 415.893.9520
SAN RAFAEL’S Art Works Downtown presents Journeys of Renewal: Contemplative Photography, a solo show from photographer Cindy Pavlinac. Pavlinac’s work explores ancient sites of wisdom and community, along with the mysterious nature of these powerful places.
February 9–March 3, artworksdowntown.org
The astronaut answers some questions about what it’s like to be out of this world.
CALIN VAN PARIS Astronaut Scott Kelly retired last year — after spending 340 consecutive days in space. Kelly embarked on a “One Year Mission” in March 2015, a sojourn on the International Space Station, which lasted until March 1, 2016. A former U.S. Navy captain, Kelly and his identical twin brother, Mark — also a retired astronaut and U.S. Navy captain — are the only siblings to have both traveled in space. Scott Kelly will discuss his experiences and his memoir Endurance: My Year in Space and Our Journey to Mars on February 5 and 8 at the Marin Civic Center as part of the MPSF Speaker Series . speakerseries.net
MM: Were you one of those kids who said you wanted to be an astronaut when you grew up?
SK: In an abstract way, like most kids — saying it, but not fully believing it, because I was such a poor student.
MM: If you could share one favorite detail about the experience of space flight, what would it be?
SK: The earth is incredibly beautiful from above. And, as you would expect, floating is fun but makes most things more challenging to do.
MM: What do you see for the future of space exploration?
SK: It will be what we want to make of it. Currently, I see big plans with no serious funding to back them up.
Shiro Kuma, which means polar bear, takes its inspiration from chef Yasuo Shigeyoshi’s childhood in a small rural town in the south of Japan and offers traditional-style sushi and Wagyu A5 and Kobe beef to cook over ishiyaki grilling stones. Three sushi chefs who have worked at Sushi Ko and Sushi Ran join Shigeyoshi behind the bar. Proving popular are weekly specials such as hamachi jalapeño as well as the omakase (chef’s choice) dinner. Read more online. AMY SHERMAN
WHO Yasuo Shigeyoshi of Shiro Kuma
WHAT A new Japanese restaurant in San Rafael
WHERE San Rafael 1518 Fourth St, 415.295.7464, sushishirokuma.com b $$ S LD
This upscale Italian restaurant franchise’s menu offers, aside from the pizzas and pastas, a variety of salads and carb-free entrées. 223
Corte Madera Town Ctr, 415.927.4400, ilfornaio.com s $$ S Í C LD BR
This Marin mainstay has been around for over 50 years. Choose from a menu of soups, salads, seafood, mesquite-grilled or sautéed meats and a plethora of pasta options. For a fun addition to your dining experience, order the Caesar salad — the server will prepare the dressing at your table. Not looking for a meal? Enjoy a drink and hear local musicians at the well-known piano bar. 1585 Casa Buena Dr, 415.924.2081, marin joesrestaurant.com s $$ S C LD
California/American Customers can build their own salads and burgers with fresh ingredients. Burgers are made with allnatural Angus beef, turkey, chicken or bison. Gluten-free options and a vegan burger are available. The restaurant also has patio seating, an airy kick-back vibe, and a popular happy hour (give the adult milkshake a try!). 201
Corte Madera Town Ctr 415.924.7000, thecounterburger.com s $$ S Í LD º
Wraps Owners Keith Cox and Matt Blair have revamped this 21-year-old “fast food”
joint to feature healthy and fl avorful items like a Hawaiian poke wrap and a tahini tofu summer roll that’s vegan-friendly. Exotic housemade beverages include boba tea, mango lassi and Vietnamese iced coffee. 208 Corte Madera Town Center, 415.927.3663, worldwrapps.com $ S Í LD
FRADELIZIO’S Italian
Fradelizio’s blends Northern Italian cuisine with Californiainspired healthy fare using the freshest ingredients possible. 35 Broadway Blvd, 415.459.1618, fradelizios.com b $$$ S LD BR
If you’re looking for a quick, fresh meal, Grilly’s is an easy and delicious stop. Pick up a couple burritos and the much-loved chicken taco salad and you have a lunch or dinner to please the whole family. 1 Bolinas Ave, 415.457.6171, grillys.com
$ S Í C BLD
MAS MASA Latin American and Mexican Chef and owner Patrick Sheehy and co-owner William Eoff ocus on the ancient technique of corn nixtamalization, utilizing organic, non-GMO heirloom corn varieties. The kitchen is 100 percent gluten-free and beer and wine lists highlight local California microbreweries and wineries. 31 Bolinas Road, 415.529.5444, eatmasmasa.com s $$ S Í LD
www.mcclurgcapital.com www.life-as-planned.com
• FISHER’S CHEESE + WINE American Marin Country Mart gets a new cheese-inspired restaurant and retail shop by Kiri Fisher. Expect a unique selection of fromage and wine as well as hot dishes like meatballs with creamed kale. 2201 Larkspur Landing Circle, 415.779.2201 fisherscheese.com b $$ Í LD BR
Francis famously requested Rustic Baker y fl atbread and crostini when he visited the United States in 2015. Bread that’s baked fresh each morning in addition to granola, cookies, mu ffi ns and croissants make this a local staple. 1139 Magnolia Ave, 415.925.1556; 2017 Larkspur Landing Circle, 415.461.9900, rusticbakery.com b $$ S Í BLD BR
5 p.m. to 6 p.m. every day. 44 E. Blithedale Ave, 415.381.2500, bungalow44.com s $$$ S Í C D
Run by sisters Sonia and Soyara, Sorella, serves fresh Italian food with a northern in fluence. Customer favorites include the cioppino, butternut squash ravioli and Pollo alla Sorella. Another highlight is the giant wheel of Grana Padana cheese. And if that isn’t enough, stop by for live music every second and fourth Thursday of the month, as well as accordion music every Friday and a piano, bass and drums combo every Saturday. 107 Bolinas Road, 415.258.4520, sorellacaffe.co b $$$ S D
VILLAGE SAKE
Japanese Lucky for Fairfax, beloved former Sushi Ran chef Scott Whitman and talented Marin-based restaurateur partners have opened an Izakaya — a Japanese
style community pub — on Bolinas Street. In this compact space you’l l fi nd maki rolls and skewers, plus sake and craft beers. Closed Tuesdays. 19 Bolinas Road, 415.521.5790, villagesake.com b $$$ Í D
EL HUARACHE LOCO Mexican The menu has gained quite a following for the authentic Mexico City dishes. From mini huaraches (fi lled corn masa cakes) to the foot-long huarache with two salsas, crema, queso fresco and two toppings of your choice, you’re sure to get a true taste of a homemade Mexican meal. Marin Country Mart, 1803 Larkspur Landing Circle, 415.925.1403, huaracheloco.com b $ S Í BLD
Italian Renowned for its Northern Italian specialties and treats, the Larkspur location (there are four others) is a favored spot for lunch as well as coffee and a sweet treat. 464 Magnolia Ave, 415.924.7478, rulli.com $$ S Í BL
FARM HOUSE LOCAL California This downtown Larkspur gem is sure to please with simple, healthy food in a warm, cozy atmosphere — both inside and outside on the covered patio. The seasonal menu follows what is fresh and local with dishes such a s flu ff y omelets stu ffed with local meats, cheeses and vegetables. 25 Ward St, 415.891.8577, farm houselocal.com b $$ S Í BL
FARMSHOP California
Located in the Marin
Country Mart since 2013, Farmshop Marin has quickly become a top spot here in the county. Indoor and outdoor seating available. Marin Country Mart, 2233 Larkspur Landing Circle, 415.755.6700, farmshopca.com s $$$ S Í C LD BR
PIZZERIA PICCO Pizza This upscale parlor offers Californiain fluenced Neapolitan pizzas, cooked in a wood burning pizza oven. Fresh mozzarella is pulled in-house and the menu also features organic salads, a daily soup and Straus Dairy soft serve ice cream. 316 Magnolia Ave, 415.945.8900, pizzeriapicco.com b $$ S Í LD º
RUSTIC BAKERY California This homegrown bakery is known and loved the world over. In fact, Pope
BALBOA CAFE MILL VALLEY California The San Francisco institution has become a place to see and be seen in Mill Valley, especially after 142 Throckmorton comedy nights. Menu includes Niman fl atiron steak, braised beef brisket risotto and classic burgers. 38 Miller Ave, 415.381.7321, balboacafe.com s $$$ Í LD BR º
BUCKEYE ROADHOUSE American Oysters Bingo, baby back ribs and Chili-Lime “Brick” Chicken are a few of the satisfying, comfort-food menu items that have made this classic roadhouse a favorite since the ’30s. The warm, dark-wood bar with red leather booths is a popular spot for cocktails, conversations or a light meal. 15 Shoreline Hwy, 415.331.2600, buckeyeroadhouse.com s $$ C LD BR
BUNGALOW 44
American One of Mill Valley’s neighborhood hot spots, featuring contemporary California comfort food, signature cocktails, fi ne wine, and one-dollar oysters from
EL PASEO American Todd Shoberg is joining the team as executive chef at this awardwinning eatery in the heart of downtown Mill Valley. Built from Mount Tam railroad ties and brick in 1947, El Paseo was restored by owner Sammy Hagar in 2009. Now boasting a full liquor license, the new Passage Bar and a new chef at the helm, this Marin gem is ready to rock. 17 Throckmorton Ave, 415.388.0741, elpaseomillvalley.com s $$$ Í C D
RISTORANTE Italian
This 6,000-squarefoot eatery is centered around the in-house olive press, which produces a special blend popular with locals. For special occasions and private parties, reserve the olive-press room. The popular weekday happy hour starts at 4:30 p.m. 152 Shoreline Hwy, 415.289.5777, frantoio.com s $$$ Í C LD º
GRILLY’S Mexican Grilly’s is an easy and delicious stop. Pick up a couple burritos and the much-loved chicken taco salad and you have a lunch or dinner to please the whole family. 493 Miller Ave, 415.381.3278, grillys.com b $ S Í C BLD BR
HARMONY Chinese
Enjoy a lighter take on Chinese at this restaurant, nestled in the Strawberry Village. The barbecue pork bun is fi lled with house-made
roasted meat in a savory sauce, and signature prawns are wok seared with scallions. Pair your pick with wine, beer or tea and be sure to check out the weekday takeout lunch special. Strawberry Village, 415.381.5300, harmony restaurantgroup.com b $$ S LD
Mexican Joe’s serves up fi sh tacos, burritos and enchiladas as well as more unusual items like Mexican pizza, tofu tostada and crab tostadas. Colorful interior and quick service make this a fun, easy stop. If there are too many unsupervised kids for a peaceful meal, takeout is easy too. If you stay, grab a selection of hot sauce bottles from the wall and fi nd your perfect match. 382 Miller Ave, 415.383. 8164, joestacolounge.com b $$ S Í BLD
LA GINESTRA Italian A favorite family spot for over 30 years; getting a table or booth here can take awhile. While this old-school Italian eatery is known for traditional pastas, veal dishes, pizzas and dry martinis, the familiar wait staff s also part of the attraction. 127 Throckmorton Ave, 415.388.0224, laginestramv.com
s $$ S D
AND BAR Italian The staff rides itself on capturing the warm and welcoming atmosphere of a traditional Italian trattoria. Get a table by the window or on the outdoor deck for a truly exceptional view right on the water. Peruse the impressive selection of Italian wines
to accompany your rustic seasonal meal. 625 Redwood Hwy, 415.380.2525, piatti.com
s $$ S Í C LD BR
PIAZZA D’ANGELO
Italian Family owned for over 35 years, Piazza D’Angelo evokes a traditional trattoria dining experience. Enjoy a variety of house made pastas, meat and seafood dishes, wood fi red pizzas, and gluten free offerings with organic and locally sourced ingredients. 22 Miller Ave, 415.388.2000, piazzadangelo.com
s $$ S Í C LD BR º
PIZZA ANTICA
Italian This Italianinspired restaurant in Strawberry Village offers much more than impeccably prepared thin-crust pizzas.
The seasonal dishes are created with local ingredients and include chopped salads, housemade pastas, and meat, fi sh and fowl entrees, such as the Tuscan fried chicken and roasted pork chop. 800 Redwood Hwy, 415.383.0600, pizzaantica.com b $$ S LD BR º
ROBATA GRILL AND SUSHI Japanese Robata translates as “by the fi reside”; fittingly, food here can be cooked on an open fi re and served in appetizer-size portions to pass around the table. Or simply order your own sushi or entree from the menu.
591 Redwood Hwy, 415.381.8400, robatagrill.com b $$ S LD
SHOP American Tucked away in a parking lot at Tam Junction, this coffee shop is a funky diner with a smalltown feel. Check out
the mix of Mexican and traditional breakfast fare. 221 Shoreline Hwy, 415.388.9085 b $$ S Í BL BR
THE WHISK + SKILLET
American This daytime eatery in Strawberry Village serves all-day breakfast and lunch with plenty of egg options to choose from and Equator coffee to boot. Lunch options include soups, sandwiches and salads. 125 Strawberry Village, 415.380.1900, whiskandskillet.com b $$ BL
THEP LELA Thai This jewel is tucked away in the back of Strawberry Village. Diners come for the tasty kee mao noodles, pad thai, fresh rolls and extensive bar menu. It’s also a great place for lunch. 615 Strawberry Village, 415.383.3444, theplela.com s $$ S Í LD
HOPMONK TAVERN
American The beer garden–styled outdoor patio and live music is what keeps fans coming back to this Novato brewhouse. Weekly events include country line dancing and open mic nights with an ample selection of beers on tap to wash it all down. 224 Vintage Way, 415.892.6200 hopmonk.com s $$ S Í C LD
RUSTIC BAKERY
California Organic pastries, breads, salads and sandwiches are on the menu here, including daily seasonal specials. Try the Marin Melt — Cowgirl Creamery’s Mt. Tam and Point Reyes Toma cheeses grilled on honey whole wheat, served with dressed baby greens and crisp apple slices. 1407 Grant Ave, 415.878.4952, rusticbakery.com b $$ S Í BLD BR
American There’s nothing like the comfort of a solid burger and beer when you’re kicking back and watching the game, and the Speakeasy provides you with just that. In addition to the 10 beers on tap, you can go beyond traditional pub grub with treats like a deconstructed salmon salad. 504 Alameda del Prado, 415.883.7793, thespeakeasynovato.com s $$ LD BR º
TOAST American
Toast Novato features outdoor dining and contemporary architecture by Stanley Saitowitz. The spacious restaurant is ideal for large parties and families looking for generous portions of comfort food. 5800 Nave Dr, 415.382.1144, toastnovato.com b $$ S BLD
BAAN THAI CUISINE
Thai Known for its mango sticky rice, this
• LAVIER CUSINE Latin-Fusion
Free-range meat and fresh seafood is the focus at this authentic Latin-fusion eatery in San Rafael run by Gabriela and her husband Guillermo who hails from Yucatan. Try the plantain and panko crusted cheese sticks to start and follow that with the popular puffy fish tacos with slaw and black beans. 1025 C St, 415.295.7990, lavierlatinfusion.com b $$ S LD BR º
restaurant is committed to bringing their customers fresh, local and seasonal food. Warm up with the tom kha soup or stave off he heat with a lychee iced tea. 726 San Anselmo Ave, 415.457.9470, baanthaimarin.com b $$ LD
American Established in 1986, Comforts has a cozy sit-down patio and serves breakfast, lunch and weekend brunch. A large take-out section offers fresh bakery items, seasonal salads, soups, sandwiches and even entrees for dinner at home. Besides the famous and popular Chinese chicken salad, other winners are the stu ffed pecan-crusted French toast , fl avorful scrambles, Chicken Okasan ( nicknamed “Crack Chicken” by fans) and wonton soup. 335 San Anselmo Ave, 415.454.9840, comfortscafe.com b $$ S Í BL BR
There’s a new pizza partnership to celebrate in San Anselmo. Pat Townsley and Chef Janet Abrahamson have reinvented the old True North Restaurant and turned it into a 40-tap draft and pizza slinging saloon with salads, sammies and pies. 638 San Anselmo Ave, 415.785.4450 creeksidesa.com b $$ S D º
American This burger chain is known for 100% grassfed meats and alcoholic milkshakes. So if you want to put a little tang in your dessert, try one of their golden state cider floats or a mission hard root beer. Other fares include a pastured pig banh mi, a superfood salad, as well as a lil farmers menu for kids. 882 Sir Francis Drake Blvd, 415.785.4802, farmburger.net b $$ S Í LD
INSALATA’S Mediterranean Award-winning chef Heidi Krahling offers Mediterranean and Middle Eastern dishes prepared with delicious produce and artisan meats. 120 Sir Francis Drake Blvd, 415.457.7700, insalatas.com s $$$ S C LD BR
L’APPART RESTO
French French specialties, local favorites and a $35 three- course prix fi xe menu are served up in an energetic yet sophisticated environment. Check out the live music on Thursdays. Open 6 days a week for dinner, MondaySaturday, and open for lunch Friday - Sunday. 636 San Anselmo Ave, 415.256.9884, lappartresto.com b $$ S Í LD BR
MADCAP Fusion Chef
Ron Siegel has opened hi s fi rst solo venture in the heart of San Anselmo. Madcap artfully fuses California and Japanese cuisine, creating colorful dishes that are bold, balanced and bright. 198 Sir Francis Drake Blvd, 415.453.9898, madcapmarin.com b $$$ D
The sister restaurant of Insalata’s continues to flourish as a center for creative Latin cuisine in Marin. It may not be as low-priced as most local Mexican restaurants, but this is not your typical southof-the-border spot. 218 Sir Francis Drake Blvd, 415.454.8900, marinitas.net s $$ S LD BR
M.H. BREAD AND BUTTER California This one-stop shop offers everything from coffee and pastries to artisan bread and braised meats. High-quality ingredients and a comfortable atmosphere make MH worth checking out. 101 San Anselmo Ave, 415.755.4575, mhbreadandbutter.com $$ S Í BL BR
SUSHI 69 Japanese Opened in 2001 in San Anselmo, Sushi 69 has been a favorite for locals looking to get thei r fi ll on no frills sushi. The owner hails from Japan and has created an extensive menu featuring traditional tempura and the popular Hiro’s roll (spicy tuna with avocado, salmon and ponzu sauce wrapped in sushi rice). 69 Center Blvd, 415.459.6969, shallwego69.com b $$ Í D
TACO JANE’S Mexican Taco Jane’s new full bar features a robust tequila and mezcal selection. Its regional Mexican cuisine includes Oaxacan mole, fi sh tacos and vegetarian options. Black Gold salsa arrives with complimentary chips and is created using charred blackened tomatoes and roasted chilis. Live music Thursdays and enclosed patio seating all year round and happy hour from 4:30 to 6, Monday through Friday. 21 Tamalpais Ave, 415.454.6562, tacojanes.com s $$ S Í LD BR
VALENTI
of the open kitchen. 337 San Anselmo Ave, 415.454.7800, valentico.com b $$$ D
AMICI’S EAST COAST
PIZZERIA California A wide array of thin-crust pizzas, freshly made pastas and salads are the ticket here, along wit h fl ame-roasted lemon chicken wings, for dine-in, takeout and delivery. Gluten-free pizza crust is available. 1242 Fourth St, 415.455.9777, amicis.com b $$ S Í LD º
The large selection of innovative and classic Tuscan dishes and house-made pasta has kept locals coming back for years. Ingredients are organic and locally sourced where possible, and there’s a vast selection of both Italian and California wines by the glass. A private party dining room accommodates up to 45 people. 901 A St, 415.454.8080, ildavide.net s $$$ S Í C LD
This American bistro features lots of farm-fresh salads and sandwiches to choose from. The outdoor patio is well suited for sipping a glass of wine or enjoying a signature fried chicken bomb sandwich. 1016 Court St, 415.521.5591, magnolia parkkitchen.com b $$ Í C BL
With floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the grand Peacock Gap lawns, the Range Cafe is the perfect place for comforting American classics with an elegant twist. This inviting lunchtime cafe with its ice-cold lemonade and refreshing chardonnays makes a great dinner spot once the sun sets. 333 Biscayne Dr, 415.454.6450, rangecafe.net s $$ S Í C BLD º
ramen shop in 2014, they weren’t sure what to expect. Three years later, Uchiwa remains loved by ramen enthusiasts for its rich broths and fresh noodles. Vegetarian and vegan options available. 821 B St, 415.991.3693, uchiwaramen.com b $$ LD
An authentic Italian restaurant with handmade pastas and seasonal antipasti, showcasing cuisine of the Campania region for over 20 years. 621 Bridgeway, 415.331.5225, angelino restaurant.com s $$$ S BLD
This bright and cozy space is the ideal environment for authentic Italian dishes made with local ingredients. A seat at the chef’s table gives a prime view
Italian Family owned and operated since 1985, La Toscana has completed an extensive interior and exterior renovation, transforming an already popular San Rafael gathering spot into a place for any occasion. The menu features classics like gnocchi and carbonara and an ample selection of wine. 3751 Redwood Hwy, 415.492.9100, ristorantelatoscana.com s $$$ S Í C LD º
SUSHI TO DAI FOR Japanese Snagging a seat in this popular Fourth Street sushi spot can be a challenge, but patience is rewarded with tasty and fresh sashimi, unique sushi rolls and great prices. 816 Fourth St, 415.721.0392, sushitodaifor.net b $$ S LD
Both North and South Indian cuisine is offered here, including the $10.95 lunch special and dinners that include goat curry, spinach, lentils and tandoori. 909 Fourth St, 415.459.9555, tajofmarin.com b $$ S LD
UCHIWA RAMEN
Japanese When owners Benson Yang and Kevin Fong decided to open Marin’s fi rst
After an 18-month closure due to a fi re, this Sausalito favorite has reopened to enthusiastic reviews. Favorites like the Prawn Arawan with yellow curry are back on the menu as well as $10 lunch specials. 47 Caledonia St, 415.729.9395 $$ LD
AURORA RISTORANTE & PIZZERIA Italian Novato’s Auror a fi nally has a counterpart in southern Marin. Traditional Italian food, a full bar and friendly service make it a great option for families, groups, dates and sports fans, who can keep up-to-date on the game via fl atscreen TV. 300 Valley St, 415.339.8930, aurora-sausalito.com b $$ S Í LD
BAR BOCCE American Food just tastes better on a bayside patio with fi re pits and a bocce
Sriracha wings, pad Thai and barbecued meats. 1001 Bridgeway, 415.331.8007 thai tanicstreetfood.com $$ S Í LD
ball court. Order one of the sourdough bread pizzas and a glass of wine and you’ll see why this casual eatery, overseen by Robert Price of Buckeye and Bungalow 44, has become a local favorite. 1250 Bridgeway, 415.331.0555, barbocce.com s $$ S Í LD
CIBO Cafe Located in a historic brick building, this is a great place to a sip a quick cup of coffee outdoors. The menu offers tarts, croissants, cookies, paninis and soups. Every dish is made from scratch with local and seasonal products. 1201 Bridgeway, 415.331.2426, cibosausalito.com $$ S Í BL
COPITA Mexican Chef Joanne Weir serves up fresh Mexican fare in the heart of downtown Sausalito. The everchanging menu is gluten-free, and the in-house tequila bar offers over 100 varieties
and fantastic cocktails. Dine at the bar or on the outdoor patio for great people-watching. 739 Bridgeway, 415.331.7400, copitarestaurant.com s $$ S Í LD BR
F3/FAST FOOD FRANCAIS French
Owned and operated by the owners of Le Garage, F3 serves brunch, lunch and dinner featuring “Frenchi fied” American comfort food. A rotating menu includes items like the Quack burger (Duck con fit, black pepper chèvre, lettuce and red onion marmalade). Enjoy with a side of Brussels sprout chips or pommes dauphines (tater tots). 39 Caledonia St, 415.887.9047, eatf3.com s $$ S Í LD BR
KITTI’S PLACE Thai/ California This homestyle family restaurant has been in Sausalito 20 years and features favorites like lettuce cups, soft spring rolls
and weekly specials. 3001 Bridgeway, 415.331.0390, kittisplace.com b $$ S Í LD
LE GARAGE French Escape the tourist crush for an indulgent meal right on the water. The atmosphere is animated with light French music (à la Amélie), and the much-adored croque-monsieur is authentic. Indoor or outdoor seating. 85 Liberty Ship Way, 415.332.5625, legaragebistro sausalito.com b $$$ S Í BLD BR
MURRAY CIRCLE
American Cavallo Point’s acclaimed restaurant features local seasonal fare by executive chef Justin Everett, with pairings from an extensive wine list and tempting desserts. Stop by Farley Bar for cocktails with a view. 601 Murray Circle, 415.339.4750, cavallopoint.com s $$$ S Í C BLD BR
•
The bistro’s menu highlights locally sourced organic produce, fresh sustainable seafood as well as pasture raised and free range meat. And wine lovers can embrace their inner Dionysus — Beso Bistro pours more than 20 wines by the glass and features more than 50 by the bottle. 502 S Palm Dr, besobistro.com b $$ Í LD
POGGIO Italian Executive chef Benjamin Balesteri creates Northern Italian fare using fresh and local ingredients. Private dining rooms above the restaurant can accommodate larger parties (10 to 150 guests). 777 Bridgeway, 415.332.7771, poggiotratoria.com s $$$ S Í C BLD
SCOMA’S OF SAUSALITO Italian The Scoma’s boat fi shes seasonally, going out from Pier 47 and is approved for salmon and Dungeness crab resulting in fresh catches year-round. The menu regularly features whole crabs, chowders, grilled fish and house specialties. 588 Bridgeway, 415.332.9551, scomas sausalito.com s $$ C LD
SEAFOOD PEDDLER RESTAURANT AND FISH MARKET Seafood The fi sh is bought daily from local
fi sherman and recipes are adjusted to incorporate the freshest catch. 303 Johnson St, 415.332.1492, seafoodpeddler.com s $$$ S Í LD BR º
SUSHI RAN Japanese Sample innovative small plates just big enough to share before enjoying some of the best sushi the Bay Area has to offer; the prices don’t deter the herd of enthusiasts who line up nightly to partake. Just stopping by? The wine, cocktail and sake lists keep even the pickiest bar fly satisfied. Reservations are required in the main room. 107 Caledonia St, 415.332.3620, sushiran.com s $$ Í LD
FOOD Thai Sausalito gets a new Thai spot from the owners of My Thai in San Rafael and Novato. The nautical-themed restaurant offers Bangkok street favorites like
THE TRIDENT Seafood Set in a turn-of-thecentury building constructed for the San Francisco Yacht Club, this waterfront restaurant is a shoe-in for date night. The restaurant, a famous 1970s hangout, is now known for supporting local farmers, fi sherman and organic food producers. 558 Bridgeway, 415.331.3232, the tridentsausalito.com s $$$ S Í LD BR º
CAPRICE California Book the private party room for large groups or just relax in this romantic dinner spot. Take advantage of the restaurant’s wellpriced three-course dinners for less than $30, and don’t miss prime rib Mondays. 2000 Paradise Dr, 415.435.3400, thecaprice.com s $$$ D
Located in Tiburon’s Ark Row, this trattoria serves authentic Italian cuisine in a quaint setting. Traditional selections include chicken piccata, veal marsala and housemade pesto. 114 Main St, 415.435.0400, donantoniotrattoria.com b $$ D
LUNA BLU Sicilian
Executive chef Renzo Azzarello and his wife, Crystal, serve English afternoon tea (a special service by reservation only). The
menu changes daily, incorporating seasonal, fresh and organic produce. The restaurant has partnered with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch, so all the seafood is sustainable. In 2014 diners voted Luna Blu one of the Top 100 Neighborhood Gem restaurants in America. 35 Main St, 415.789.5844 s $$$ S Í LD
NEW MORNING CAFE
American Sit outside or in at this casual cafe.
On a sunny morning, the place is fi lled with locals enjoying the sun and extensive breakfast menu; lunch is served as well. 1696 Tiburon Blvd, 415.435.4315
S Í BL
California This location of the beloved bakery offers the same menu as the other locations as well as outdoor dining. Enjoy a wide selection of fresh salads, sandwiches and pastries on the boardwalk . 1550 Tiburon Blvd, 415.797.6123, rusticbakery.com b $$ S C BLD BR
American This sunfi lled one-room restaurant, featuring hardwood floors and blue-checkered tablecloths, is an area favorite. Popular items include scallops, ribeye steak, a beef burger and traditional crab cakes with jalapeño dipping sauce. 38 Main St, 415.435.3594 b S Í LD
SAM’S ANCHOR CAFE American The updated menu at this seaside institution features local organic produce and sustainably sourced meats and fi sh. Chef Robert Taylor, formerly of Farallon, has curated an oyster list for the raw bar menu and a fresh cocktail list to boot. 27 Main St, 415.435.4527, samscafe.com s $$$ S Í C LD BR º
SERVINO RISTORANTE
Italian Chef and owner Angelo Servino highlights organic ingredients in an array of rustic Italian dishes, including house-made pastas, wood oven pizzas, and seasonal specialties. Located on the bay in Tiburon, Servino also prides itself on itsextensive sustainable seafood
program. Savor la dolce vita on the waterfront patio. 9 Main St, 415.435.2676, servino.com s $$$ S Í C LD BR º
TIBURON TAVERN California The atmosphere here is enhanced by two outdoor patios, two indoor fi replaces and fresh flowers. Happy hour is 3 to 6:30 p.m. every day. 1651 Tiburon Blvd, 415.435.5996, lodgeattiburon.com s $$ S Í C BLD BR º
NICK’S COVE American Nick’s Cove offers a coastal escape on Tomales Bay, serving famous barbecued local oysters, Dungeness crab mac ’n’ cheese
and cocktails using home-grown ingredients. Large windows in the 130-seat restaurant provide picturesque views of Tomales Bay and Hog Island. (Marshall). 23240 Hwy 1, 415.663.1033, nickscove.com s $$$ S Í C LD BR
OSTERIA STELLINA California Whether it’s to cap off a ay of hiking or celebrate a romantic anniversary, Osteria Stellina suits any occasion. The menu is Italian-inspired and features local, organic ingredients. If you’re up for something unusual, try the goat shoulder (Point Reyes). 11285 Hwy 1, 415.663.9988, osteriastellina.com b $$ S LD
PARKSIDE CAFE
American Perfect for a sit-down alfresco meal or for grabbing a burger to enjoy on the beach. Beautiful patio garden seating, ocean views, and private wood-fi red dinners make this café a relaxing retreat. If you’re on the go, check out the market and bakery. Choose from an array of organic, locally grown produce, artisan meats and wild seafood (Stinson). 43 Arenal Ave, 415.868.1272, parksidecafe.com s $$$ S Í C BLD
American Known for live music and an extensive menu featuring everything from crispy calamari to braised lamb shanks, Rancho Nicasio is open seven days a week. Be sure to
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1350 South Eliseo Drive, Ste. 120 Greenbrae, CA 94904 Appointments: 415-461-9000
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stop in for happy hour, 4 to 6 p.m. Monday to Friday (Nicasio). 1 Old Rancheria Road, 415.662.2219, ranchonicasio.com s $$$ S Í C LD BR º
American Originally built from three barges in Tiburon in 1921, the Sand Dollar Restaurant wa s floated to Stinson that same year. Enjoy live music along with barbecued local oysters and New England clam chowder. The sunny deck is great in the afternoon (Stinson). 3458 Shoreline Hwy, 415.868.0434, stinson beachrestaurant.com s $$ S Í LD
American Sheryl Cahill, owner of Point Reyes Station House Cafe,
opens her newest venture a few blocks down in the former Pine Cone Diner. The fast-casual eatery with chef Aaron Wright (formerly of Tavern at Lark Creek) at the helm serves up favorites like rotisserie chicken, smoked oysters and creamed corn. Happy hour weekly from 2–4 p.m. 60 Fourth St, 415.663.0303 sidestreet-prs.com b $$ S Í LD º
The historic inn has reopened as a roadhouse-style restaurant featuring rustic decor and a delicious yet a ffordable menu. Try the house-made bread and honey butter, the kale Caesar and the stu ffed quail, then come back and work your
way through the entire menu — most items are $20 or less (Olema). 10000 Sir Francis Drake Blvd, 415.663.1034, sirandstar.com b $$ S C D
STATION HOUSE CAFE American Fresh local homegrown foods are showcased for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Stop in on weekends (5 p.m. on Sundays) for live music and wine, beer and cocktails (Point Reyes Station). 11180 Highway 1, 415.663.1515, stationhousecafe.com s $$ S Í C BLD BR º
THE SIREN CANTEEN American/Mexican Where in Northern California can you enjoy a taco at a restaurant nestled directly under a lifeguard tower? At The
Siren Canteen of course. Opened in the summer of 2014, this smart beach shack perched on the sandy shores of Stinson serves up burritos, burgers and creamy Meyer lemon milk shakes. Though the food is solid, we think the BYOW option with a $10 corkage fee and milliondollar views is reason enough to give this shack a shout-out. 3201 Hwy 1, 415.868.1777, thesirencanteen.com b $ Í LD
BENU Asian/French Plan on a formal and sophisticated evening. The compositions on the tasting menu provide a full experience of this restaurant’s
unique Asian fusion cuisine. 22 Hawthorne St, 415.685.4860, benusf.com b $$$ C D
BLACK CAT American Grit meets glam at this jazzy supper club in the Tenderloin with a focus on modern American fare. Chef Ryan Cantwell of Zuni and Chez Panisse puts forward a savory small plates menu featuring items like latkes topped with shallot cream and salmon pastrami and a Devil’s Gulch rabbit pot pie. Sip timeless cocktails while listening to live music in the downstairs lounge. Happy hour 5–7 p.m. 400 Eddy St, 415.358.1999, blackcatsf.com s $$ Í D º
BUN MEE Vietnamese A fun and casual lunch spot that put s a fl avorful twist on classic Vietnamese. Sit back in this playful space with a salad, bowl or sandwich and enjoy the stylish San Francisco vibes. 2015 Fillmore St, 415.800.7696, bunmee.com b $$ S Í LD º
CAPO’S CHICAGO Italian If you’re craving classic Chicago-style Italian and a venue to match, the endless pizza choices and fl avorful pasta and meat selections here will more than satisfy your appetite and take you back in time to the mobster days of the 1920s. 641 Vallejo St, 415.986.8998, sfcapos.com s $$$ S Í D º
Great food, beautiful view and lots of history — what else could you want? An awardwinning wine list? They have that too. Not only does Cliff ouse boast a popular Sunday champagne brunch, it also focuses on local, organic, sustainable ingredients and seafood on its everyday menu. 1090 Point Lobos, 415.386.3330, cliffhouse.c s $$ S BLD
This contemporary pâtisserie is located in San Francisco’s Mission district. Here, pastry-whiz William Werner serves egg-fi lled mu ffi ns known as the Rebel Within, bonbons, coffee and many other
sweet and savory baked goods. 746 Valencia St, 415.913.7713 craftsman-wolves.com b $$ Í BL
An upscale meat lover’s mecca with a sophisticated atmosphere, Epic Steak’s bayside location delivers on all fronts.
Professional service, choice cuts of prime rib and bittersweet chocolate fudge cake are among the things that keep patrons coming back. An upstairs bar is also a happy hour favorite. 369 Embarcadero, 415.369.9955, epicsteak.com s $$$ Í LD º
Brazilian This steakhouse boasts a tasting menu of 14 meat courses
grilled in the traditional Brazilian method. Patrons control the pace of the pri x fi xe experience with colored signal cards. 1686 Market St, 415.552.8792, espetus.com s $$$ S C LD
FRANCES California
San Francisco elegance meets comfort food. The local, seasonal menu complements any trip to the city. Bar is reserved for walk-ins, but reservations are recommended. 3870 17th St, 415.621.3870, frances-sf.com b $$$ D
GATHER American Nicknamed the “Omnivore’s Solution,” this Berkeley hotspot focuses on Northern California cuisine
inspired by local farmers, ranchers and artisan food producers.
Executive chef Charis Wahl serves up a dailychanging menu popular with both omnivores and vegans alike. The decadent brunch menu is a favorite with locals on weekends. 2200 Oxford St (Berkeley), 510.809.0400, gather restaurant.com s $$ S Í LD BR
The rich-fl avored slowbraised lamb and the crispy duck salad are popular at this San Francisco destination. Private dining rooms are offered: the Jade Room complete with lazy Susan and the larger Dragon Room for cocktail parties or dinners. 1 Kearny St, 415.829.8148,
hakkasan.com s $$$ C LD
American Filled with old-world charm, this establishment has been serving American classics since 1911.
Executive chef Jaime Molina’s seasonal menu features freshly prepared fi sh and favorites like Chicken Cordon Bleu. Weekly specials including Friday’s half off ottles of wine keep patrons coming back, as does the live music featured nightly (Richmond). 50 Washington Ave, 510.233.0576, hotelmac restaurant.com s $$ C LD º
KIN KHAO Thai Fullfl avored Thai: from spicy curries to pad kee mao (drunken noodles with pork) to off-thewall cocktails designed by Bon Vivants, this San Francisco eatery is sure to impress. 55 Cyril Magnin St, 415.362.7456, kinkhao.com s $$$ S LD º
LA FOLIE French Chef Roland Passot serves critically acclaimed fare in this intimate, family-run restaurant located in Russian Hill but the menu highlights ingredients from farms in Marin and Sonoma and all along the Paci fic Coast and the greater Northwest. 2316 Polk St, 415.776.5577, lafolie.com s $$$ D
Saturday, March 10, 2018, 6 pm
The Clubhouse at Peacock Gap
events@marinhumane.org 415.506.6231
American In the short time it’s been open, this eatery by husbandand-wife team Rupert and Carrie Blease has earned a Michelin star two years in a row and three-and-a-half stars from SF Chronicle restaurant critic Michael Bauer. The onion petals with sherry vinegar is a favorite and not to be missed. 2065 Polk St, SF 415.872.5512, lord stanleysf.com b $$$ D
MAYBECK’S American BIX and Fog City alums Erik Lowe and Aaron Toensing serve inventive American standards like St. Louis–style toasted raviolis and green chileapple pie with a cheddar cheese crust. The chefs explore regional culinary traditions and translate them into a Northern Californian lexicon as evidenced by their playful menu and a Negroni-centered
bar. 3213 Scott St, 415.939.2726, maybecks.com s $$ C D
NAMU GAJI Asian/ California A clean and natural design in a streamlined setting, where housemade shiitake mushroom dumplings and succulent grilled beef tongue are among the many options to discover. 499 Dolores St, 415.431.6268, namusf.com s $$ S LD BR º
NOPA California The easy California menu shows off oasted chicken and pork chops, with a bouquet of appetizers to set the mood. Although this S.F. destination is busy almost every night (a good sign), the wait at the legendary bar is half the fun. 560 Divisadero St, 415.864.8643, nopasf.com s $$$ D BR
• PERRY’S American Perry’s always pleases with it its wide selection of salads, steaks and comfort favorites. The skylights bring in plenty of natural light and an expanded bar is ideal for sipping the restaurant’s famed bloody mary’s. Valet parking is offered and brunch is served on Saturdays and Sundays. 234 Magnolia Ave, 415.927.1877, perryssf.com s $$ LD º
PERRY’S American Perry’s, for over 45 years an institution on Union Street in San Francisco, is known for its classic American food, its warm personable service and its bustling bar. Signature dishes include traditional Cobb salad, prime steaks and, of course, the renowned hamburger. Perry’s also serves a weekend brunch. Hotel Griffon, 155 Steuart St, 415.495.6500, perryssf.com s $$ S Í C D º
Steakhouse This allyou-can-eat steakhouse offers di fferent cuts of beef, pork, lamb and chicken that are slowly cooked with special grills to preserve all the natural juices and fl avors (Pt. Richmond). 25 W. Richmond Ave, 510.237.7585, pikanhas steakhouse.com b $$ S LD
PRESSED Italian Tucked away in the lobby of the Embarcadero Center, this Italian cafe serves a selection of paninis and artisanal coffee for breakfast and lunch. 3 Embarcadero Ctr, 415.781.0302 $$ BL
RICH TABLE California A bright, relaxed environment for savoring fresh ingredients grown only feet from the kitchen, creative and quirky
s b $ $$ $$$ S
cocktails and California wine. 199 Gough St, 415.355.9085, richtablesf.com s $$$ D
SALT HOUSE American Owned by Mill Valley residents, brothers Mitchell and Steven Rosenthal, and Doug Washington, San Francisco’s Salt House welcomes chef Evan Gotanda, formerly of Anchor and Hope. His take on the menu highlights a Japanese in fluence and includes seasonal dishes like roasted cauli flower with cashews, kabocha squash and furikake, as well as housemade pastas. 545 Mission St, 415.543.8900, salthousesf.com s $$$ LD º
STATE BIRD PROVISIONS American
With a wide variety of choices, from fresh local seafood to spicy kimchi yuba to savory pancakes, not to mention a full range of poultry, this uncommon dim sum–style setup features a little bit of everything. 1529 Fillmore St, 415.795.1272, statebirdsf.com b $$ S D
Californian The second restaurant venture from State Bird Provisions’ chef proprietors Stuart Brioza and Nicole Krasinski brings the same kind of innovation as thei r fi rst. Popular dishes include shaved cauli flowerherbs and pig fries as well as a “treasure chest” of fermented sausage. The beverage list is also worth a look as general manager and wine director Jason Alexander has curated an expansive wine list and a number of craft cocktails. 1525 Fillmore St, 415.673.1294, theprogress-sf.com s $$$ LD
The exposed brick and warm, unconventional lighting turn Town Hall’s large space into an intimate yet elegant environment. With a more-than-adequate wine list and savory American classics like fried chicken with rosemary crushed marble potatoes, a visit here should be on everyone’s list. 342 Howard St, 415.908.3900, townhallsf.com s $$$ Í C LD º
Full bar
Wine and beer Inexpensive (entrees $10 or less) Moderate (up to $20) Expensive ($20 and over) Kid-friendly
Í C BLD BR º
Outdoor seating Private party room
Breakfast, lunch, dinner Brunch Happy hour
The restaurant has opened within the last six months.
A major renovation to the restaurant or menu, or there is a new chef.
These listings are not intended to be a full review of the business, rather a quick guide to some of the most popular restaurants in the county. For more restaurant listings, visit us online at marinmagazine.com/dine
COMFORTS
335 San Anselmo Ave, San Anselmo, CA 415.454.9840 comfortscafe.com
bar
RangeCafe Bar and Grill, located on the course at Peacock Gap Golf Club, offers a delicious array of dining options. Enjoy weekend brunch and seasonal specials or stop in for Happy Hour drinks and appetizers. All our dishes are prepared fresh and sourced from local ingredients.
RANGECAFE
333 Biscayne Drive, San Rafael, CA 415.454.6450 rangecafe.net
Grilly’s serves up fresh, healthy and fast Mexican food to Marin. Everything is made from scratch daily-from the marinated and grilled meats, the fie roasted salsas, our world famous chicken taco salad to the housemade agua frescas. A great line up of vegan and gluten free items.
493 Miller Ave, Mill Valley, CA 415.381.3278
One Bolinas Ave, Fairfax, CA 415.457.6171
Sitting atop the Bay with unobstructed views, Scoma’s delights with incredibly fresh, creative food and warm, personal service. We offer steaming whole crabs, hearty chowders, clams, perfectly grilled fishand specialties. Seasonal offerings and perennial favorites keep the menu as lively as the daily catch.
SCOMA’S SAUSALITO
588 Bridgeway, Sausalito, CA 415.332.9551 scomassausalito.com
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Visit the Seafood Peddler for the freshest seafood Marin has to offer, shipped in daily from the east coast to West! Enjoy the view indoors or enjoy our beautiful flwer lined patio. Come enjoy our daily Happy Hour (including weekends) from 4:00 to 7:00PM.
SEAFOOD PEDDLER
303 Johnson Street, Sausalito, CA 415.332.1492 seafoodpeddler.com
PIKANHAS BRAZILIAN STEAKHOUSE
25 W. Richmond Ave, Pt Richmond, CA 510.237.7585 pikanhassteakhouse.com
For this remodel, a family brought a little bit of the beach to Mill Valley.
The home’s 675-square-foot addition is a step up from the rest of the house and just down the hall from the new open-concept kitchen.
SEVEN YEARS AGO, Ali Dunn and her husband, Matthew, purchased their fi rst home, in Mill Valley. The tiny bungalow was the perfect vehicle to test-drive a post-urban life.
“I wasn’t thrilled about leaving the city,” Ali recalls. “It was my husband who was driving the move.” But while it didn’t happen overnight, she adapted to the less bustling life and eventually grew to love it.
In those early years, the three-bedroom one-bath home worked well for the couple and their two young children. But as time went by, and their girls grew older, the once-cozy space began to feel cramped. “One bathroom with three ladies just wasn’t going to work,” Ali notes with a laugh.
So the Dunns, who by now felt very attached to their kid-friendly neighborhood in the flats of town, hired an architect to expand and remodel their home. “We wanted something
that was modern, but also beachy and boho,” Ali says. “Matthew’s grandmother used to have a house in the Bahamas that we both loved; it was a vibe we hoped to replicate.”
The plan included expanding the home by 675 square feet, which allowed them to build out a new master with an en suite bathroom. They also carved out space for a mudroom/ laundry room, an office that doubles as a guest bedroom, and a powder room. “It’s still not a big house, but it’s so light and airy that it feels spacious,” Ali says.
In the early months of the construction, the family remained in the house. “While they were building out the addition, we were able to keep living in the old part,” Ali says. “It was a bit noisy, but it defi nitely gave us an appreciation for what goes into the building process.”
Once the footprint was expanded, the family moved out as the entire space was reimagined. The children’s bedrooms and
bathroom required the least amount of work. “We put in new doors and new door hardware,” Ali says. They also pulled out the flooring and replaced it with wide-plank engineered wood floors, which are now the palette for the entire house.
The home’s public spaces were taken down to the studs. Out came the cramped galley kitchen breakfast nook and in its place was installed an open-concept kitchen adjacent to a great room. “We also retiled the fireplace and converted it from wood-burning to gas,” Ali says.
The backyard also got a face-lift: updates included a new deck area with a ga s fi re pit as the centerpiece and a bar counter with a passthrough window to the kitchen.
For novice remodelers, the scope of this project was admittedly ambitious. In the end, however, they have no regrets. “It was stressful for sure,” says Ali. “But I’d defi nitely do it again.” m
Opposite page: Adding a new fireplace surround using cement tile from Clé Tile brings a “beachy, boho” feel. Clockwise from top left: High ceilings and lots of light help small spaces feel grand; powder room; an outdoor gathering place; Matthew and Ali Dunn; turn that sofa into a bed, and voilà, the office transforms into a swank guest room.
WHERE THEY LIVE The Sycamore Park neighborhood in Mill Valley
A four-bedroom, twoand-a-half-bath home
ARCHITECT Colleen Mahoney of Mahoney Architects and Interiors in Petaluma
CONTRACTOR Andrew Malone of Rise Building in Mill Valley
Anja Michals of Anja Michals Design in Mill Valley
The Milton & King Shibori collection wallpaper in the powder room. “For most of the house we worked to combine my and Matthews’s tastes. This space is all me,” Ali says.
CHARLYNN
CHARLOTTE
JENNIFER
JEANNETTE CLING jcling10@gmail.com 415.706.2430 CalRE# 01484036
Vanguard Properties was excited to dedicate our day of service this past year to helping prepare the GrowingGreat Garden for the 2017-2018 School Year. The gardens at Bayside and MLK are included in the curriculum of an over-all nutrition and garden-based learning program for the students and their families.
Each year our agents dedicated hundreds of hours in support of our communities. It’s not enough to live, work and thrive here in Marin, but giving back to our community is the way we like to roll. www.vanguardproperties.com
Three homes, three parcels. Fabulous water views! Compound? Corporate Retreat? Live on a piece of Paradise? 54.6± acres of absolute privacy and seclusion behind the electric gates. Houses = 3,316 sq. ft.,2264 sq. ft., & 2496 sq.ft. including huge garage. gym and workshop. Parking is almost limitless. Preliminary drawings for 7 lots. Desirable Country Club central Marin location. Shown by appointment only. www.300MargaritaDrive.com
Barbara Ivy (415) 328-6413 Offered At $8,750,000
Kathleen Murphy Micheal Baronowski (415) 446-5511
Exceptional remodeled 5BR/3.5BA on one of the most desirable streets in the Country Club neighborhood on 2± acres with stunning views. Spacious home features a remodeled chef’s kitchen with high-end appliances, in law/au pair & views from every room. Master Suite with fireplace, magnificent private views, luxurious bath & deck. www.376Margarita.com
Offered At $2,495,000
Michelle McCarthy (415) 279-5329
This vintage 3BR/2BA, charmer with den features, an open floor plan for indoor/outdoor living and entertaining. Rustic highlights include open beam ceilings and a dramatic stone fireplace to warm up the sleek updates throughout. Enjoy the soothing sounds of Old Mill Creek from your sunny decks and level yards, while the very best of the Mill Valley lifestyle is just blocks away, with the Village, Old Mill Park, the Depot, and more local attractions nearby.
Arlene Manalo (415) 381-1092
Come experience luxury living at its finest at the prestigious Stonetree Golf Club! Nestled above the 15th fairway, this immaculate, 4,630± sq.ft. 4BR/3.5BA European style contemporary home features high ceilings, an open floor plan, commercial kitchen appliances, three fireplaces, and a large climate controlled wine cellar. Private gated community.
Jennifer Kuschner (415) 497-7022 Offered At $1,885,000
We're known for representing the most beautiful homes in the Bay Area. But Paragon is more than a residential real estate company.
Diverse by design, our breadth of expertise also covers investment, new developments, commercial sales, and leasing. Our agent bench is deep: we hire the right people and provide second-to-none support and training resources. Our community of top-tier agents has built a successful business with a best-in-class reputation, and we are invested in helping all of our agents achieve their life and sales goals.
At Paragon, we take people from the life they have to the life they want.
Listening. Connecting. Delivering.
DATED 1962
IN 1934, THE federal penitentiary on Alcatraz Island was established to house the “worst of the worst” of America’s criminals. And over its nearly 30 years of existence, no one ever escaped from “The Rock.” O fficially, that is. Recently, Dutch scientists, using hydraulic modeling software to analyze San Francisco Bay’s capricious currents, cast doubt on Alcatraz’s supposedly unblemished record of having no convicts ever successfully escape and elude capture. The incident they analyzed occurred on June 11, 1962, and involved three men, four dummies, 15 months of planning, 52 raincoats and, over a decade later, Clint Eastwood. Eastwood played inmate Frank Morris in Escape from Alcatraz, a 1979 fi lm that told how lifetime criminals Morris and brothers John and Clarence Anglin tunneled through cell block walls, created dummies with real hair, built rafts out of raincoats and one dark night set off n search of freedom. Their plan, according to a 2014 article in the Marin Independent Journal, was to paddle to Tiburon via Angel Island, then steal clothing and possibly a car and slip away. But, say the Dutch engineers, the bay’s formidable tides had other plans for the trio of convicts. “If they’d left before 11 p.m. on June 11, tides would have swept them under the Golden Gate Bridge and far out to sea,” said one engineer. “They’d never have survived.” “But if they’d left after 11 p.m. and before midnight,” countered a fellow analyst, “the currents would have deposited them safely in Horseshoe Cove near Fort Baker Beach in Sausalito.” Either way, neither convicts Frank Morris nor John or Clarence Anglin were ever seen again. Except, that is, as characters in the movie m
If they’d left after 11 p.m. and before midnight the currents would have deposited them safely in Horseshoe Cove near Fort Baker Beach in Sausalito.
Could the three escaped convicts have made it to shore?
Idaho | Offered at $16,000,000
This magnificent estate covers over 13 acres on the Bigwood River in Sun Valley, Idaho, where winter and summer recreation opportunities abound, where the to-do list is as high as the mountains, where you “come for the winter and stay for the summer.” The estate features ultimate privacy, beautiful landscaping and natural beauty. It has groomed ski and snowshoe trails in the winter, expansive mountain views with gated access for complete privacy with river and creek frontage. Eagle Creek runs the length of the property and joins the Bigwood River making a fly fishing paradise.
The main home is truly an architectural marvel spanning the Bigwood River with expansive river and mountain views from every room. Sid Schneider designed and built the state of the art recording studio with abundant features as well as three enchanting self-contained guest cottages bordering Eagle Creek. There are multiple bridges crossing Eagle Creek with meandering trails that create a charming and storybook atmosphere, and Wide River was recorded as a tribute to the Wood River running in the front of the property.
The Estate features an archive building with incredible 15 foot stained glass art by Jacques Bodeleau; a custom facility for art storage including a high security instrument and art storage vault. Contact us today for additional details.
Engel & Völkers Sun Valley
Tel: + 1 (208) 720-0741
Darlene.Young@evusa.com
Engel & Völkers Park City
Tel: + 1 (435) 640-7441
Paul.Benson@evusa.com