Marin Magazine February 2020

25 Gilmartin Drive, Tiburon

Romeo Agbayani Bernard Alpert Gail Altschuler Peter Anastassiou

Kristin Anderson Robert Anderson

David J. Andrew Tarun Arora Olusinmi Bamgbose

MarinHealth Medical Network Physicians

James Adams * Nadine Aldahhan

Edward Alfrey

Stephen Allison Benedict Ancock

Anjuli Basu Adam Baumgarten

Patrick Bennett Yamilee Bermingham

Robin Bitner

Sally Boero

Raymond Bonneau * Charles Bookoff Elizabeth Brown Alexis Cardellini Heather Carlberg Michael Chase Mickie Cheng Catharine Clark-Sayles * Brian Demuth Tina Desai

Sujoya Dey Ahmed El-Ghoneimy Elizabeth Etemad

Alexander Evens

Mary Rose Fabi Barbara Finzen

Sylvia Flores

Cheri Forrester

David Galland

Linda Gaudiani

Kent Gershengorn

J. Michael Graham

Sajot Grewal

Joseph Habis

David Hoffman

Katey Hoffman

Vivek Iyer

Mark Jacobs

Amber Jaeger

Ann Kao

Anthony Fedrigo

Daniel Flis Michael Fox

Barbara Galligan

Tami Gash-Kim Jonathan Goff Ravinder Gogia David Goltz

Irina Melnik Scot Merrick Alex Metzger Lloyd Miyawaki Khashayar Mohebali

Eddie Mozen

J. Timothy Murphy Ramana Naidu

Brian Keeffe Leah Kelley Isabelle King Tomas Kubrican Rebecca Li

Meenal Lohtia Elizabeth Lowe

Arundathi Malladi Kristen Matsik

James Minnis Harry Neuwirth Patrick Newman Merrill Nisam Oliver Osborn

Laura Pak Ramon Partida Sujatha Pathi

Arun Raghupathy Alex Rainow

David Rudnick Kabir Singh Joel Sklar Mark Sockell

Anand Soni

David Sperling * Robert Sperling

Benjamin Stahl Peter Stein Hector Streeter

Brian Strunk Anita Szady Irene Teper Gregg Tolliver

Alex Uihlein

K. Jennifer Voss

Mark Wexman

E. Regina Widman

Gerald Wilner

Alice Yee

Jerald Young *

R. James Yu

Jeffrey Barry Scott Barshack Mark Bason-Mitchell Mark Bazalgette Robert Belknap Mitchel Berger David Berman

John Bettinger Jeffrey Binstock Julie Bokser

Brian Brady Nelson Branco Ray Brindley Michael Brook

Thato Brumwell Shane Burch Eric Buxton Robert Byers * Dylan Carney

Jocelyn Chapman Lee-May Chen Suzanne Christie Cynthia Clark Douglas Cohen Arthur Cohn Ilkcan Cokgor Michael Conte Hillary Copp Richard Coughlin

Susan Cumming * Anne Cummings Nona Cunningham Susan Dab

Elizabeth Dailey Tancredi D’Amore Kerry Davidson Russell Davis Wendy Davis Keith Denkler Mohammad Diab J. Jim Dietz * David Duffy Peter Eisenberg Genevieve Estilo Shala Fardin

William Good Cynthia Goodman

Jason Green * David Guillion * Alexandra Haessler

Francine Halberg B. Colin Hamblin Terry Hand Steven Hao Bobbie Head Erin Heath Christopher Hogan Richard Hongo Renee Howard James Huang Yngvar Hvistendahl Igor Immerman

John Jolley Gordon Juriansz Dimpi Kalira Gerald Kangelaris Uta Kerl Christian Kim Paul Kim Thomas Kim Haydee Knott Amy Kobalter Keith Korver Michael Kwok

Lizellen La Follette

Barry Landfield Drew Lansdown David Laub Mark Lawler

Lisa Leavitt Crystine Lee John Lee Natalie Lee Marc Levsky

Sarah Lowenthal Jennifer Lucas John Maa Jan Maisel Vikram Malladi

Christopher Martin William Mcallister, Jr.

Kathryn Najafi-Tagol Roshanak Najibi Priscilla Navarro

Son Nguyen Susan Nguyen

Benjamin Nichols Bonnie Nickel Michael Oechsel

David Ogden

Alfred Oppenheim

Kara Ornstein

John Panagotacos

Joseph Poen Jason Pomerantz

Keith Quattrocchi

Sue Rhee

James Robison Curtis Roebken Kristina Rosbe

Howard Rosenfeld Jason Ruben

Anika Sanda Srinath Sanda Stephen Santucci Naureen Shaikh

Ira Sharlip Ripple Sharma John Shin Ashley Smith Daniel Solomon

Timothy Sowerby

Alan Spain * Carl Spitzer

Ernest Sponzilli

Paul Stanger Brian Su

Azita Taghavy

Schuman Tam

Ronn Tanel

James Taylor

Robert Teasdale

Noah Weiss

Jeffrey Weitzman

Yvette Wild Michael Yamaguchi

*Honorary (not currently practicing medicine)

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SANTA ROSA

Vascular Medicine

PETALUMA

Urology

SONOMA

Cardiovascular Medicine

Orthopedic Surgery

Pediatric Care

Primary Care

Urology

Urogynecology

Vascular Medicine †

NAPA

Urology

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Adult After-Hours Care

Cardiovascular Medicine

Cardiovascular Performance Center

Endocrine & Diabetes Care

Family Medicine

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Internal Medicine

Neurology

Obstetrics, Gynecology & Midwifery

Primary Care Psychiatry

Rheumatology

Urology

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SAN RAFAEL

Family Medicine

Pediatric Care

Primary Care

Santa

GREENBRAE

Breast Surgical Oncology

Endocrine & Diabetes Care

Gynecologic Surgery

Internal Medicine

Men’s Care

Obstetrics, Gynecology & Midwifery

Orthopedic Surgery

Psychiatry Supportive Care

Urology

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LARKSPUR

Cardiovascular Medicine

Critical Care & Pulmonology

General Surgery

Infectious Disease

Internal Medicine

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Primary Care

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MILL VALLEY

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Neurology

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Features

42 All You Need Is Love

Nurturing your connections to yourself and others.

46 Free Your Mind

Once taboo, psychedelic drugs are being rethought as possible remedies.

52 The Silent Enemy

The health effects of stress are more serious than you think.

56 Game Changers

The Bay Area is leading the way in groundbreaking medical research.

58 [415] Top Doctors

The Bay Area’s best physicians.

Spirit Rock retreat refuge

OSKA 153 Throckmorton Mill Valley, CA 94941 415 381 1144

Shop online millvalley.oska.com

OSKA Outlet 310 Center Street Healdsburg, CA 95448 707 431 7717

CHIEF VISIONARY OFFICER

Susan B. Noyes

Editorial

NATIONAL EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

Mimi Towle

NATIONAL MANAGING EDITOR

Daniel Jewett

NATIONAL DIGITAL CONTENT DIRECTOR

Brooke Geiger McDonald

ASSOCIATE EDITORS

Macaire Douglas, Kasia Pawlowska

DIGITAL EDITORS

Anna Carlson, Jessica Gliddon

ASSISTANT EDITOR

Christina Mueller

COPY EDITOR

Cynthia Rubin

NATIONAL DINING EDITOR

Julie Chernoff

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Diane Cirincione, Jeanne Cooper, Jerry Jampolsky, Carrie Kirby, Dawn Margolis Denberg, Kirsten Jones Neff, Andrew Nelson, Calin Van Paris, Jan Wahl

Art

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Casey Gillespie

ART DIRECTOR

Rachel Gr iffiths

PRODUCTION MANAGER

Alex French

ILLUSTRATORS

Laura Liedo, Michael Morgenstern

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

Mo DeLong, Vivian Johnson Administration

CIVIC DEVELOPMENT Sharon Krone

SYSTEMS AND DATA DIRECTOR Jennifer Speaker

CONTROLLER Maeve Walsh

Volume 16, Issue 2. Marin Magazine is published in Marin County by Marin Magazine Inc. owned by Make It Better Media LLC. All rights reserved. Copyright©2019. Reproduction of Marin Magazine content is prohibited without the expressed, written consent of Marin Magazine Inc. Unsolicited materials cannot be returned. Marin Magazine reserves the right to refuse to publish any advertisement deemed detrimental to the best interests of the community or that is in questionable taste. Marin Magazine is mailed monthly to homes and businesses in Marin County. Marin (USPS 024-898) is published monthly by Marin Magazine Inc., One Harbor Drive, Suite 208, Sausalito, CA 94965. Periodicals Postage Paid at Sausalito, CA, and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Marin Magazine, One Harbor Drive, Suite 208, Sausalito, CA 94965.

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HAPPY FEBRUARY. And , if we haven’t met before, welcome to the Make It Better Media Group. Marin Magazine is a crown jewel of our portfolio, which also includes SPACES and Chicago’s Better magazine.

I’m Susan Noyes, the founder and chief visionary officer of our media company. Signi ficantly, I’m also the member of a family wit h five generations of Marin County roots and connections; our forebears moved here in 1878. A small point of pride is that the stunning stained-glass windows in Sausalito’s Christ Episcopal Church are dedicated to our ancestors who helped found and grow the historic church. My husband and I now have a home in Tiburon. But Chicago’s North Shore, which is demographically very similar to Marin, is where we raised eight children and I founded Make It Better.

We bought Marin Magazine two-and-ahalf years ago. The more I learn about your values and the broader Marin community, the prouder I am of our stewardship of this beloved publication. That’s because my mission as a publisher is to amplify good, strengthen community and make it easy for readers to find and support the best local

and national resources. That’s what Marin readers and marketing partners are natu rally inclined to do — make choices that support the community and make the world a better place. It’s an honor to work for and with you.

This issue of Marin Magazine focuses on health, innovation, love and dining — themes that resonate universally. We all want the best possible health care, to use innovation to solve tricky problems, more love in our lives and better dining experiences.

Never have I experienced a more urgent drive to fi nd a “Top Doctor” and the best possible medical care than when my son-in-law was diagnosed with a baseball-size brain tumor a few months ago. Life altered dramatically wit h five stunning words, “Ed has a brain tumor.” Stop, drop, seek multiple opinions and make informed decisions as quickly as possible became our family’s modus operandi. Fortunately, Ed’s now well on the other side of successful surgery at a leading neurosurgical institution. The tumor was benign and Ed’s far along the healing path.

I’m profoundly grateful that our family had the resources to be able to respond to this crisis as we did. I’m also more determined than ever that our company help people fi nd and support the best possible care. Marin Magazine ’s Top Doctors feature does just that. Our online content and fundraising tools also help others amplify fundraising for medical research and other forms of improved health care for all.

Susan B. Noyes, Chief Visionary Officer the

A small point of pride is that the stunning stained-glass windows in Sausalito’s Christ Episcopal Church are dedicated to our ancestors.

THE RIGHT DOC MAKES IT ALL BETTER

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.

It’s called Blue Mind Therapy and combines the healing powers of the water with the movement of the body.

Just Move

Marin is rife with opportunities to walk, hike, SUP or do anything else that gets the blood pumping.

IF YOU COULD take a pill that would help you lose weight, sleep eight hours a day, reduce your risk for all major diseases, oh and puts you in a good mood, would you take it? This question was posed to me last summer by a human Ken doll named Randy Gibson, who was obviously taking this pill. Besides running two health clinics in Novato with his wife, Cat, an equally impres sive human specimen, Gibson works closely with the Buck Institute. So I was hoping he was going to reveal a new pill they were developing and was recruiting me as a test subject. Nope. He just smiled. “Exercise.”

Ugh, the Randys and Cats of the world make optimal health look so easy. But he’s right: exercise is the magic formula. A quick glance online produces listicles touting the benefits from all the major health sources: Mayo Clinic, Medline (U.S. National Library of Medicine), Harvard School of Medicine, etc. Harvard’s experts state, “Adding as little as half an hour of moderately intense physical activity to your day can help you avoid a host of serious ailments, including heart disease, diabetes, depression and several types of cancer ... Regular exercise can also help you sleep better, reduce stress, control your weight, brighten your mood, sharpen your mental functioning and improve your sex life.” In other words, just do it!

Here in Marin there is no shortage of opportunities to sweat or at least get your heart rate revved. Personally, I opt for out door recreation, which includes getting out on the miles of trails or taking select subur ban strolls. As long as I can hit my steps, I feel great; I feel even better if I do it with a friend and get that boost of emotional con nection. Many years ago, we published a story about John Horton who at 86 walked nearly every street in Marin. I’d love to do this too; it would be a great way to explore the diverse neighborhoods.

However, my world was rocked a couple months ago when I tagged along on a com munity stand-up paddle with 101 Surf Sports in San Rafael and found the best workout I’ve ever done was actually on the water. Dave Wells leads free early-morning adven tures for customers. “Getting out on the water is the new health craze,” he says. “It’s called Blue Mind Therapy and combines the healing powers of the water with the move ment of the body. What’s made paddle sports so popular is the blending of meditative rejuvenation with physical improvement all in one workout.” In one hour I had activated every muscle in my body and I saw a bald eagle, countless waterbirds and an otter family. I was working so hard, I didn’t have the energy to wipe the sweat dripping off my nose. And, a big bonus, I burned enough cal ories to enjoy eggs Florentine and pancakes at Theresa and Johnny’s guilt-free and still made it into work by 9 a.m. Just another epic Marin morning.

In this issue we explore many ways to achieve ultimate health. We review the newest research on stress and how it a ffects our overall well-being and the latest exciting medical fi ndings from Bay Area hospitals. Curious about the hubbub over microdosing for mental health, Kasia Pawlowska dives into that controversial topic: once-maligned psychedelic drugs are seeing a resurgence in clinical settings, with some very positive results. And of course, the new research has roots in the Bay Area and Marin.

As always, we welcome your feedback and would love to hear about your health hacks, favorite hikes and activities indoors or out. How do you stay healthy? After all, we’re living in one of the healthiest counties in the country; we must be doing something right.

Mimi Towle, Editor

Imagine

Imagine

Via

Imagine

Calin Van Paris

Writer, Reading List (p. 36)

Favorite book of 2019? Among other winning traits, I’m often both stubborn and late to the party, so my favorite books of 2019 are actually acclaimed bestsellers from years past. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr — ever heard of it? Won the Pulitzer Prize in 2015? Well, I’m here to tell you that it’s great. Also, Exit West by Mohsin Hamid, one of the New York Times Book Review’s top ten books of 2017, is transportive (in more than one sense) and features Marin County in a wholly unexpected way. You’re welcome, readers, for these hot, hot takes.

Are you more into character-driven stories or plot-based ones? Both, really. I’m into languagedriven stories. If an author knows how to work words in a unique way, I’m in.

Where has your work appeared before? I’m a regular contributor for Vogue, with past works in Allure, Teen Vogue and Marin Magazine

Writer, “Mélange à Trois” (p. 72)

Michael Morgenstern

Illustrator, “Free Your Mind” (p. 46)

What was the most challenging part of this assignment? The concept of the healing potential of psychedelics lends itself well to the imagination. I came up with so many sketches, it was hard to decide which to show. What is your favorite kind of work to illustrate? I especially like illustrating topics that involve psychology, literature and politics. I enjoy the freedom to use symbolism and to not have to be literal in presenting a visual idea that complements the text. Some of my favorite editorial pieces include art that I created over a nine-year period for The Economist magazine’s weekly Banyan column. I also love doing book covers. Some favorite covers that I worked on include the cover art for the novel Speak by Lori Halse Anderson, Gossamer by Lois Lowry and Counting Stars by David Almond.

Where has your work appeared before? I have illustrated for The Economist; The Chronicle of Higher Education; The Wall Street Journal; The New York Times; Random House; and Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

What continues to surprise you about New Orleans? What always surprises me about New Orleans is its cultural resilience in the face of new challenges like gentrification and climate change. Wherever you are in the city you will hear music — under the interstate overpasses, from car radios or a backyard jam session — and smell good food. It’s a passionate town that seizes on any excuse to celebrate life. Dive in. If you had to pick one not-to-miss NOLA attraction, what would it be? The spot I would urge readers not to visit is Bourbon Street. Leave that for the drunk tourists, or, as New Orleanians like to call them, “Meanderthals,” due to their woozy gait and oversize Mardi Gras beads hung like totems around their necks. Pro tip: never wear Mardi Gras beads outside of Mardi Gras. But I digress. Visit Jackson Square. Face St. Louis Cathedral with the Mississippi behind you. You’ll feel the weight of human history and the river’s inexorable might. Good place. And there are fortune-tellers there.

Where has your work appeared before? I have been a contributing editor and writer for National Geographic Traveler for more than a decade; I have also written for San Francisco Magazine, GQ and The New York Times

Andrew Nelson

CONNECT WITH US

Top Gram

Our top Instagram post this month is by Ryan Hevern, @downtoexplore. “This is a sunset view of Mount Tamalpais from Ring Mountain in Tiburon. Ring Mountain is a special area to explore in Marin. Coastal Miwok remnants, petroglyphs, wildlife and incredible views of the Bay Area are to be found here.” Want to see your photo in print? Tag us @marinmagazine with your best snap.

1 “8 Questions for Dr. Elmo Shropshire” (December 2014) The Novato veterinarian recalls his 1970s holiday hit, “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.”

2 “Top Apps to Identify Plants” (November 2018) Download these and let your botanical knowledge grow.

3 “A Place to Play” (December 2015) A newly built Greenbrae house is the perfect home for three growing boys and their parents.

4 “Hangover Cures” (January 2020) Start the New Year right with hangover cures from Jeff Burkhart, Barfly columnist for the Marin Independent Journal

5 “Changing Hands” (January 2020) Three beloved local restaurants continue to thrive after a change at the helm.

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New in Town

EAT & DRINK

After a complete remodel, Floodwater opened in late 2019 in the space that once housed Frantoio in Mill Valley. The open hearth remains a feature of

the main dining room, where TVs high above the room-length bar are large enough to watch the Super Bowl while noshing on chef Michael Siegel’s (Betelnut, Shorty Goldstein’s)

tight menu of favorites like Vietnamese chicken wings, Shorty’s Reuben or a pizza. Across the foyer, a separate dining room is TV-free, and a private dining room and lounge with couches offers a more intimate space. floodwatermv.com

Though the canteen at the Point Bonita YMCA has been open since August, it recently transitioned to Cafe Bonita The menu of hot coffee, homemade muffins, and turkey and vegan wraps, served from a window in the existing dining hall, is perfect for a post-hike

lunch, but be sure and try the chili. It placed second in the 2018 Sausalito Chili Cookoff category of Judges’ Choice. ymcasf.org

The Hanson family of Sausalito’s Hanson Gallery of Fine Art launched a new program of vodka tastings in the gallery’s upstairs Tasting Room earlier this year. Made in the Hanson of Sonoma Distillery, the line of six organic vodkas is available to be sampled in cocktails or paired with Napa’s Kollar chocolate truffles or

Hanson Caviar sourced exclusively by Regiis Ova from Thomas Keller. A special Valentine’s Day pairing of limited-edition Boysenberry Vodka with Kollar truffles runs from February 8 to 16. hansonofsonoma.com

Marin’s own Michael Mina’s has opened Bourbon Pub at Northstar in North Lake Tahoe, giving the aprèsski crowd a new place to gather. In the Village at Northstar, the kitchen, led by executive chef Jon

of drinks (Mountain Mule) and snacks (Frito pie, wagyu corn dogs). michaelmina.net

SHOP

Fabulous former Marin Magazine intern Sabrina Tuton-Filson moved on to open Closet Case , a virtual decluttering and organizing service for home, office and retail stores. Like a Marie Kondo for the North Bay, Tuton-Filson helps edit your belong ings and encourages you to let go of what

Blackley, turns out hearty entrees (cauliflower steak, double cheese burger) and lighter fare (avocado hummus, Asian chopped salad) all day and a special après menu

you no longer use, wear, want or need. She also provides mer chandising assistance for storefront window and in-store displays. closetcase.global

New in Town is an ongoing bulletin on new businesses throughout the Bay Area. To be considered for future listings, email christina@marinmagazine.com.

Tasting Room

Cafe Bonita

Chef Jon Blackley of Bourbon Pub at Northstar

New in Town San Rafael

Honoring past tenants Napoli Pizza & Pasta and Taste of the Himalaya in downtown San Rafael, Shangri-La Organic Kitchen swooped into the longtime restaurant space in late 2019 with a menu that nods to both Italy and Nepal. Placed atop a crispy pizza crust, warmly spiced chicken tikka melds Italian with Indian accents; Nepal, which is cradled by the Himalayas, is the origin of the cute dumplings known as momos, which come in vegetarian, vegan and sweet versions.

869 Fourth St, Ste C, shangrilaorganickitchen.com

Surinder Sroa opened a new outpost, Lotus Curry House , in Novato late last summer, and plans are now underway to purchase a San Rafael building that once housed Pizza Orgasmica and move his downtown restaurant Lotus Cuisine of India into that space later this spring. With the building’s bigger footprint, Sroa also wants to open a grocery featuring Indian spices, beans and other regional products.

704 Fourth St, lotusrestaurant.com

Jerk chicken with just the right amount of heat is a menu highlight at Caribbean Spices in San Rafael. A brick-and mortar-outpost of chef-owner Frantz Felix’s food truck of the same name, the downtown restaurant opened in 2019. A native of the Haitian side of the island of Hispaniola, Felix knows his griot (pork bites) from his goat curry and serves it all with the region’s habanero-laced pikliz, a vegetable-based relish. 819 Fourth St, carribeanspicesdba.net

SNAPSHOT

CELEBRATING THE PEOPLE, PLACES AND CAUSES OF THIS UNIQUE COUNTY

AND THE WINNER IS ...

In anticipation of Oscar night, the Bay Area’s favorite movie critic (KCBS radio, KRON4 TV and S.F. Examiner), Jan Wahl, names some of her favorite movies of 2019. Join the Oscar party at the Lark Theater on February 9 to see which films earn the top prize.

BY JAN WAHL

GIANT CHANGES

For baseball-lovers, February means one thing — spring training. Regardless of the team, this is peak eagerness and anticipation time, but especially so for the San Fran cisco Giants and their fans. Late last year Gabe Kapler became the Giants’ 17th manager. The hiring of the 12-year MLB out fielder by President of Baseball Opera

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 31

• BOMBSHELL

Three bright, ambi tious women (Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, Margot Robbie) find themselves in the poisonous world of sexual harassment and exploi tation at Fox News. The man in charge (John Lithgow) is the nightmare that resonates to this day. Powerful, unforgettable filmmak ing by Jay Roach, with an Oscar-worthy perfor mance by Theron.

• A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD

Beatles to life by becom ing them. It sounds bizarre, but it’s told with charm and humor.

• HARRIET

tions Farhan Zaidi was polar izing, due to issues during Kapler’s time as Philadelphia Phillies manager and as head of the farm teams for the Los Angeles Dodgers (Kapler was cleared of any wrongdoing in widely reported incidents in L.A.). Want to know more?

Sportscaster Vern Glenn interviewed Kapler about his history and plans for the team; check out the story online at marinmagazine.com/kapler.

KASIA PAWLOWSKA

Unexpected would be another title for this film. It is not the gentle story of Mr. Rogers, the man who brought empathy, intelligence and joy to children’s television. We see the cynical side of human nature through the eyes of a magazine writer determined to find the dark side of Rogers, who seems to be able to live in grace with the anger and emotional pain around him. This film rises to a level Mr. Rogers himself would appreciate.

• YESTERDAY

Creativity stars in this imaginative movie about a young man who wakes up one day to find that nobody has ever heard of the Beatles. The world discovers the band’s music and lyrics by lis tening to this unknown musician, who brings the

Harriet Tubman’s story is remarkable. The woman herself deserved this kind of film long ago. Cynthia Erivo stars as the slave who becomes a slave leader, rescuing hundreds and risking her own life daily. It is a strong narrative that goes along with Hitchcock’s belief that one doesn’t need to show gruesome details for the audience to feel them. The luminous Janelle Monáe steals the scene every time she appears, deserving of a Supporting Actress win, but this year Margot Robbie in Bombshell and Cho Yeo-Jeong in Parasite will be hard to beat. I hope Harriet finds its way to schools after its run.

• MAKING WAVES: THE ART OF CINEMATIC SOUND

In a year loaded with good documentaries, this one stands out as entertaining, informa tive — one of the few movies I never wanted to see end. From the early days of sound to Star Wars and Saving Private Ryan, you will never hear films the same way again.

• THE PEANUT BUTTER FALCON Zack Gottsagen is, on screen and off screen, a young man with Down syndrome. This is no trick casting. He beautifully portrays an orphan

determined to not only flee the assisted living facility where he lives but to become a wrestler. His road trip is worth taking, full of enjoyable characters and challenging situa tions. Gottsagen should win Supporting Actor gold, but has to go up against Tom Hanks ( A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood ), John Lithgow (Bombshell ) and Taika Waititi ( Jojo Rabbit). Still, a milestone performance and a heartfelt story.

• JOJO RABBIT

When this satire was released, I warned peo ple that if they had an issue with “Springtime for Hitler” in The Producers , this was not the movie for them. The rest of us are still talking about the tale of a young boy in Nazi Germany who has Hitler as his imaginary friend. Taika Waititi directs and stars as Hitler, with truly grand character actors adding texture as the Third Reich tries desperately to hold on. While there are very serious moments in the film, it is audacious and highly original filmmaking.

• LITTLE WOMEN

Many women grew up thinking they were Jo March, the heroine of the wonderful novel by Louisa May Alcott. Jo has stayed with me always, and Greta

Gerwig has directed a film worthy of her. Though made many times in the past, this Little Women is modern, hip, faithful to the book and never reduced to sentimental clichés. Saoirse Ronan leads the strong cast.

• GAY CHORUS DEEP SOUTH

The San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus goes to Mississippi, Alabama and other parts of the Deep South. These states had recently passed legisla tion against the LBGTQ community, but that is not the theme of this fine documentary. Through singing and performing in churches, the choir and the Southern citizens find forgiveness, compassion and love. The sequence when chorus members walk across the famous Selma Bridge is just one of the moments that make this an important, touching film and a reminder of the healing power of music.

• DOWNTON ABBEY

Once in a while a movie gets points for being enjoyable, lush and a good time. Though many tried to find fault with it, and others refused to see it thinking they needed the backstory of the TV series, they missed out on the joy of kicking back and letting story, characters, sets and costumes sweep them away on a wave of high-quality production values and escape.

Rising Tides

Tides, they are a-coming. It is projected that king tides could become the norm in any season as sea level rise continues, and so could tide-related flooding. King tides materialize when the earth, moon and sun align to exert maximal upward gravitational pull on tides and increase overall water elevations. In Marin this year, these tides are expected to cause flooding through February 10. The Department of Public Works and the Marin County Flood Control and Water Conservation District have coordinated with Caltrans to install a 175-foot-long sandbag wall along High way 1, by the historically flood-prone road in front of the Manzanita Park & Ride lot. Travelers should always avoid driving through ponded water — even six inches of standing water can stall a low-clearance car — and check 511.org for the latest traffic and transit information. DPW, Marin County Sheriff’s Office and CHP Marin all have active Twitter accounts with up-to-date news. The CHP traffic website is another other useful resource for updates during storm events. marincounty.org K.P.

MAKE A DIFFERENCE

The Kids Are All Right

There are a lot more ways to help Marin’s young people in need than you might think. JESSICA GLIDDON

Bake a Cake If you enjoy baking, why not make it a way to give back? Cake4Kids gives youth who are homeless, exposed to violence or human tra fficking, in foster care or living at the poverty line a chance to feel special. Serving 10 di fferent counties in California, volunteers bake and deliver personalized birthday cakes, cupcakes, cookies, bars or brownies to underprivileged kids. cake4kids.org

Be a Storyteller Communicate the joy of reading as a storytelling volunteer with the Marin County Free Library. Volunteers select books that encourage language-building play and read them to children in a laundromat for 20 to 30 minutes. Marin loca tions include The Wash Tub in Corte Madera and Speed-Dee Wash in San Anselmo. marinlibrary.org

Tutor Latino Youth Specifically targeting the cycle of poverty faced by Latino immigrants and their families, Canal Alliance works to educate, empower and lend support to motivated kids. The after-school University Prep program assists 120 low-income Latino young people in completing a four-year college degree, with daily tutoring in core subjects and homework help. So far 100 percent of its gradu ates have enrolled in four-year state universities. canalalliance.org

Virtual Care

Web doctors, telemedicine — whatever you call it, it’s now part of health care and could become more common than doctor visits in the next five years. BY KASIA PAWLOWSKA

YOU’RE STARTING TO get a rash. It’s itchy, unsightly and unfamiliar, so like most people, panicked, you go on WebMD. Three slideshows of oozing wounds later, you’re convinced it’s a brown recluse bite and death is imminent.

It’s a common story. But such internet-inspired worry can now be avoided thanks to a growing trend in health care — telemedicine. Used by Kaiser Permanente and many other medical and insurance providers and included in plans for the MarinHealth Medical Center’s new facility, telemedicine lets patients with a computer or smartphone consult a medical professional without getting out of bed.

Telemedicine is a way to interact with a health care provider digitally rather than in person. The technology is frequently used for follow-up, managing chronic conditions and medications, specialist consul tations and a variety of other services.

While telemedicine’s roots date to the 1950s, when a handful of hospitals and uni versity medical centers sought ways to share information and images by phone, the turn of the century brought a leap forward. In 2002 in Dallas, Texas, former NASA surgeon and engineer G. Byron Brooks co-founded Teladoc, which in 2005 became the first national tele health provider. The practice of telemedicine got another big boost in the 2010s with smart phones that could transmit high-quality video.

Soon the Apple Watch and Fitbit, new software and other “internet of things” devices accelerated the industry even more, expanding options to deliver remote care to patients in their homes, workplaces or assisted living facilities. Increasingly, health care organizations adopted self-tracking and cloud-based

technologies, and more than half of all U.S. hospitals now use some form of virtual care.

That will soon include the state-of-the-art MarinHealth Medical Center (formerly Marin General). “Telemedicine is having a bigger and bigger role in patient care,” says Lee Domanico, CEO of MarinHealth. “In our new hospital, for example, information about medications, care routines, discharge information and more can be shared with patients via two-way visual communication equipment at the bedside.”

The Marin hospital had already incorpo rated methods like two-way conferencing with off-site neurologists for rapidly evaluat ing stroke symptoms and an off-site eICU for backup monitoring of intensive care patients. But plans for the new incarnation call for secu rity cameras, a large-screen TV and a tablet device in every patient room; patient-scheduled video sessions with the hospital pharmacist; and two-way phone visual calling between

patient and doctor. “The future promises even more exciting uses of this tech nology,” adds Domanico. The hospital will be among the first in the country to adopt a virtual presence system for inpatient treatment.

There’s a host of reasons medical facilities fi nd the technology attractive. Telemedicine improves patient safety in the hospital and gives more people access to services. With a rapidly aging population, need for care is outpacing the number of health care providers. The new MarinHealth Medical Center building plans include the same number of beds, but a patient care area that’s three times bigger; virtual technology may help nurses and doctors cover this larger ground without compromising quality of care.

Another big draw: telemedicine saves money. Patients can get questions answered promptly, take less time off ork to see a doctor or travel to a specialist, and avoid exposure to other potentially contagious patients. Providers can function more efficiently, improve patient follow-up, avoid the hassle of missed appoint ments and increase overall profits.

Some specialists were early telemedicine adopters and now have a competitive edge. Have you seen advertisements for “text thera pists”? Telepsychiatry is popular with clients who appreciate the convenience and privacy; dermatology and physical rehabilitation, with their visual components, lend themselves to telemedicine as well.

Still, it’s no panacea. Some ailments do require an in-person visit — and skipping that step could lead to misdiagnosis and harm. But as the industry works to improve the technology and its capabilities and potential, telemedicine is looking more and more essential in today’s health care landscape. m

Thank you, Marin!

Our providers recognized on the [415] Top Doctors 2019 List:

Jeffrey Barry, M.D. • Shane Burch, M.D. • Drew Lansdown, M.D. • Igor Immerman, M.D. Mohammad Diab, M.D. • Peter I-Kung Wu, M.D. • Ralph Coughlin, M.D.

Alan Dang, M.D. • Alan Zhang, M.D. • Alexander Theologis, M.D. • Alexis ang, M.D. • Amir Matityahu, M.D. Anthony Ding, M.D. • Anthony Luke, M.D. • Bobby Tay, M.D. • Brian Feeley, M.D. • C. Benjamin Ma, M.D. Carlin Senter, M.D. • Christina Allen, M.D. • Daniel Thuillie, M.D. • David Shearer, M.D. • Derek Ward, M.D. Eliana Delgado, M.D. • Eric Meinberg, M.D. • Erik Hansen, M.D. • Hubert Kim, M.D. • Jason Jagodzinski, M.D. Kirstina Olson, M.D. • Kristin Livingston, M.D. • Lionel Metz, M.D. • Lisa Lattanza, M.D. • Lisa Pascual, M.D. Melissa Zimel, M.D. • Michael Coughlin, M.D. • Michael Ries, M.D. • Nicholas Colyvas, M.D. • Nicolas Lee, M.D. Nicole Schroeder, M.D. • Nirav Pandya, M.D. • Paul Toogood, M.D. • Ramani Chaganti, M.D. Richard Coughlin, M.D. • Richard O'Donnell, M.D. • Roger Long, M.D. • Rosanna Wustrack, M.D. Saam Morshed, M.D. • Sigurd Berven, M.D. • Stefano Bini, M.D. • Theodoe Miclau, M.D. Thomas arber, M.D. • ThomasVail, M.D. • Vedat Deviren, M.D.

Providing world-class Orthopaedics in San Francisco, North Bay, East Bay and South Bay and proud to serve you at MarinHealth Medical Center.

Author Talk

We sat down with Madeline Levine, Ph.D., to discuss her new book, Ready or Not: Preparing Our Kids to Thrive in an Uncertain and Rapidly Changing World.

MM: At what point in your psychology career did you decide to make the issue of high-pressure/high-privilege parenting your area of focus?

ML: About 15 years ago. The Price of Privilege was written when I was still practicing in Marin (I’m in San Francisco now) and I had been practicing for around 20 years at that point, and I was seeing this new kind of patient. Usually in psychology you see people who look depressed and act depressed, or look anxious and act anxious — and that wasn’t the case. I was increasingly seeing kids who looked OK, and who came from the kind of environment that we think of as protected (concerned parents, good education), but they weren’t OK. I like a challenge, and I really didn’t understand what was happening, so I set out to see what research there was, and there was very little. So that turned into The Price of Privilege

MM: Do you find that helicopter/highpressure parenting occurs more in certain demographics than in others?

ML: Sure. You know, if you’re working two jobs and trying to put food on the table, you don’t have the time to hover over your kids. But let me be clear: I don’t think it’s only upper–middle class parents. I think it has

drifted down to the majority of parents, particularly because of this economy. People either make a lot of money or don’t. No parent wants their kid to be a loser. So, it’s the middle class, it’s the upper–middle class, it’s the a fflu ent — but it’s probably not people who are struggling to get by.

MM: So the issue is a lot more normalized now than it was a little more than a decade ago?

ML: Yes. I think that it has become incredibly clear that this is a problem; I don’t have to convince anybody anymore that there are high rates of anxiety and depression, because people see it all around them. My question in this new book is why aren’t we doing much about it?

MM: What’s one simple and really impor tant daily change that a parent can make to shift toward a healthier parenting style?

ML: My first takeaway is always talk less and listen more. I have never had a kid in my office who said, “My parents listen too much.” I think that when our kid says they’re stressed, or having a hard time managing it all, we don’t have to come in and make them less anxious, but we do really need to listen to what they’re saying.

CALIN VAN PARIS

Local Page Turners

Ready or Not: Preparing Our Kids to Thrive in an Uncertain and Rapidly Changing World by Madeline Levine, Harper, $28.99. From the changing climate to the competition to get into a good college, children know that the greatest challenges are ones their parents cannot protect them from. In The Price of Privilege and Teach Your Children Well, clinician Madeline Levine presented some of the limited views that parents have to overcome in order to provide the best environment for childhood development. She con tinues this work in Ready or Not, identifying the tools that today’s children will need to become tomorrow’s leaders and suggesting strategies to help them develop those skills. Appearing at Book Passage Corte Madera February 20, 7 p.m.

A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende, Ballantine Books, $28 . In the late 1930s, hundreds of thousands were forced to flee Spain following General Franco’s fascist takeover. In Isabel Allende’s latest novel, a pregnant widow and the brother of her lost love find themselves among those exiles, embarking on a ship chartered by Pablo Neruda bound for Chile. Watching Europe descend into war while facing adversities of their own, the unlikely partners maintain hope that they may one day return home to Spain and be exiles no longer. Appearing at Angelico Hall, Dominican University February 3, 7 p.m.

An Old Man’s Game by Andy Weinberger, Prospect Park Books, $16 Retired private investigator Amos Parisman is pulled back into the game after a controversial celebrity rabbi dies. Yet what begins as a simple investigation soon spirals into something more sinister as other members of the community begin to die or disappear. With only an ex-wrestler for company and protection, the detective follows the thread into a tangle of treachery and deception that makes for a suspenseful, engaging mystery. Appearing at Book Passage Corte Madera February 8, 1 p.m.

Reviews by Book Passage Events and Marketing Assistant Bella Blofeld.

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Eric Verdin

As the number of older Americans begins to rise, the director and CEO of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging is leading his organization on a mission to end the threat of age-related disease.

BY KIRSTEN JONES NEFF

MANY OF US have seen it from the freeway — the striking white building sitting nobly atop the hills above Novato. We may be intrigued, and we may even know that it is the Buck Institute for Research on Aging. But like those captivated by Willy Wonka’s mysterious factory, most Marinites have never ventured inside and cannot describe what is actually happening within those architecturally stunning walls (the center was designed by the late I.M. Pei).

It turns out a lot is happening inside the Buck Institute these days. As it celebrates its 20th anniversary, the Buck is a worldrenowned leader in research on aging. The institute’s mission to “end the threat of age-related disease” has become increas ingly relevant as our world population ages; a 2017 United Nations report predicts that by 2050 there will be more people 60 or older on the planet than there are adolescents and young adults ages 10 to 24, which will make it important that societies cope with chronic age-related disease. While the relevance of the Buck Institute’s research spans the globe, Director and CEO Eric Verdin, M.D., who arrived there from the UCSF Gladstone Institute for Virology and Immunology three years ago, is also working to increase that work’s visibility and accessibility here in Marin County. The 62-year-old Mill Valley resident instigated a new approach that includes outreach and efforts to connect Buck Institute research to people’s daily lifestyle and health choices.

We sat down with him to learn more about the institute’s current research and his vision for its future.

You took the helm three years ago. What is your vision for the Buck Institute? We are the only large independent medical research institute in Marin and we have the potential to change medicine. Today medicine is very organ-centric. We call it “whack-a-mole” medicine, treating every disease of aging as if each were independent. You see a heart doctor, then a neurologist, and so on, and we are currently treating these diseases as if they were independent problems. Our message is that all these diseases of aging are driven by

the same pathways, the pathways that we have discovered that control aging, and by targeting the pathways we will be treating all of these diseases. Our drug research is part of the equation, and there is also a long-term desire to open a clinic and become more directly relevant to humans, and so we are hiring people interested in human biology.

We also want to become a voice in the community that provides evidence-based recommendations that people can actually trust and follow. We believe the Buck Institute can be a leader not only in research, but also in terms of the dissemination of simple, clear, science-based information. And we have been ramping up our programs. We created the “Live Better Longer” blog, offering evidence-based information about supplements, ketogenic diet, calorie restriction, fasting, exercise and other aging-related subjects. We are also offering community seminars, which are available online, and tours — community engagement opportunities. We should be the pride of Marin. People have told us, “I had no idea that this was right in my backyard,” and so we are working hard to let people in Marin know they have a gem in their midst.

What are the most significant breakthroughs in the study of aging at the moment? In the mid-’90s, new research showed that we could modify an organism and, with one single mutation, double its life span. If you could double life span by making such a small modification, we realized that there are pathways and systems on the cellular level that we could modify to control aging in organisms. This changed the way we thought about aging. Twenty years ago the Buck was founded on the promise of these discoveries, [presented in] just a few research articles at the time. This was incredibly gutsy, to found an entire institute on this idea. And it turned out that it was true: we can manipulate aging in simple ani mals. At the Buck Institute we study C. elegans, a small worm about the size of a comma, fruit flies and mice. People ask, how could a tiny worm have any relevance to us? Well, this little worm lives 20 days and in those 20 days it recapitulates a whole life span — childhood, teenage years, adulthood and then old age and death. All of the work on these worms has yielded an understanding of the aging pathways in our cells. A pathway is a series of proteins all talking to each other and controlling the rate of aging. If you tinker with them, you can accelerate aging or you can slow it down.

Two surprising things came out of this research. One, we found the pathways are conserved, meaning they are not unique to the worm. They actually are the same in fruit flies, in mice and in humans, so we can learn a lot by study ing these systems. And second, aging is plastic — it can be modulated and regulated. If we (scientists) can make mutations, we ca n find drugs that do the same thing. Our scientists Gordon Lithgow, Ph.D., and Simon Melov, Ph.D.,

were the first to show you can increase life span with a drug. And now there are many of these drugs — the NIH (National Institutes of Health) has a program that tests drugs that increase life span in mice and there are eight or nine of these so far. Several are already being used with humans.

I have heard you use the term “healthspan.” What does this mean? Everybody focuses on life span, but our primary focus is healthspan, or increasing the healthy years of life. There’s a whole series of diseases as you age, the chronic diseases of aging: cancer, heart attack, stroke, macular degeneration, osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, osteoarthritis, for example. The link between aging and disease is something we’ve internalized as the order of things — you get old, you get sick, and then you die.

Most of us have a life expectancy of around 78 (although it is on average almost 10 years more here in Marin), and we will live 15 percent of our lives a ffected by disease. By the time we are 65, about 80 percent of us are a ffl icted with a chronic disease of aging and close to 60 percent are a ffl icted by two of these diseases. So when we think about aging, most of us are dreading it. Here at the Buck Institute we are not focused on radical life extension — that is not what we are after — but we have discovered that disease is not a necessary part of aging.

Healthspan has enormous implications for both quality of life and the cost to society. As the population ages, our cost of health care is going up. This could bankrupt our Social Security, our Medicare and Medicaid, the whole system. What we have learned in studying these simple animals is that when we slow down aging, we don’t only make the ani mals live longer, but they live healthier. They see what we call the “compression of morbidity,” meaning the disease years are compressed, a smaller percentage of their lives.

What role does genetics play in how we age?

The old consensus about genetics has been replaced by data from a research institute called Calico that is very strong. They used data from ancestry.com and it indicates that only about 7 percent of longevity is determined by genes and 93 percent by the environment. This is incredible because it means longevity is determined by environmental factors. That is a powerful message that places the responsibility on each of us to do what we can to stay healthy. Now there is an exception to this. If someone in your family has lived to 100, then it becomes

We want to become a voice in the community that provides evidence-based recommendations that people can actually trust and follow.

very favorable that you will live to at least 90. The genetics become very strong. And these people who do live to 100, they can essentially do whatever they want and they still live to 100. But for the rest of us, everything from the air we breathe to exercise to sleep to diet to loneliness or depression — everything that is not your genes — will be strong determinants of life expectancy. In fact, the strongest determinants of life expectancy are a sense of purpose in life and fi rst-degree relationships — children, spouse, close friends — and being surrounded by these people.

What are you currently most excited about at the Buck Institute? I am excited about everything! One especially exciting thing is that with $6 million in seed money from Nicole Shanahan (an attorney, Silicon Valley entrepreneur and philanthropist married to Google founder Sergey Brin), we have recently established a Center for Reproductive Longevity and Equality. We have hired four faculty researchers, and their work of the center focuses on ovarian aging in women. It turns out, menopause is a

Here at the Buck Institute we are not focused on radical life extension — that is not what we are after — but we have discovered that disease is not a necessary part of aging.

strong predictor of longevity and ovarian aging is woefully understudied, completely ignored by modern medicine, even though ovarian aging is in fact the earliest manifestation of aging. It happens before muscle failure or brain failure and so on. By the age of 35, 10 percent of women will be infertile, so Nicole’s interest is in creating more equality in terms of reproductive choices for women.

What do you personally do to slow down your aging process on a cellular level? Fasting is important. Continuously eating from the moment you wake up to the time you go to bed is the worst thing you can be doing. So the concept is called “time-restricted feeding,” the idea that you restrict the number of hours that you eat throughout the day. A lot of people here at the Buck, I and many of my colleagues, are on something called 8-16, which means you eat during eight hours of a day, and the other 16 hours you do not put food in your mouth. Water, tea, coffee is OK, but no food [or drink] that brings calories.

There is research behind this — we are studying calorie restriction, the ketogenic diet and fasting. If you want to do something important for your health, start this 8-16 fasting tomorrow. A lot of us wake up in the middle of the night and have a glass of milk or orange juice. I tell people, don’t do it, that is poison. Your body should be fasting.

People who fast for 16 hours will tell you, I used to have heartburn, I had this or I had that. Everything goes away. Type 2 diabetes goes away. People lose weight, which is amazing because they don’t go on a diet, as you can eat whatever you want to in that eight-hour period. I do make exceptions, like a brunch with friends on the weekend — we shouldn’t let this regimen interfere with social connections, which are so important — but I do it in general.

Do you have other recommendations? We hear about so many interventions, not all of them science-based. For instance, with diets, people wonder, should I restrict carbohydrates or restrict fat? Should I supplement with protein or not? People have no ability to make a decision based on the literature because the literature is often con fl icted and complicated.

There is a lot of debate in the field about what are the main [health-impairing] culprits in our diet. For instance, the guidelines put out by the government, for a number of years, have encouraged people to restrict their fat, and we have a cottage industry of low-fat diets and food. Yet we have the largest obesity epidemic we have had in years. To me, this is an indication that there is something wrong about our recommendations.

The Buck Institute is an iconoclast in the sense that we believe we should be revisiting these questions. We are revisiting questions like, what is it about fat that is toxic? And, can protein be toxic? I worry when I see these huge bottles of protein supplements in GNC — who is buying this much protein and how much protein are they actually ingesting when they take these supplements? It is scary. People do this without real guidelines. The indication in the labs is that a mild degree of protein restriction is beneficial for your health, unless you are over 70 years old, in which case protein supplementation makes people more healthy.

For exercise, we all know that we should be physically active. Exercise is an antiaging medicine that protects us from disease. When you are physically active, your rate of cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis, they all go down by 40 percent. So why don’t people exercise? Less than 10 percent of people over 60 are regular exercisers — in Marin County it’s more, but nationwide it is 10 percent. Why is this? I believe marketing for things like Fitbit are a problem. Fitbit recommends you do 10,000 steps a day, which is a number that comes from nowhere; it is not science-based. And it takes about an hour and a half of walking every day to do this, which most people cannot do. But a recent study shows that you get most of the benefit in just 4,400 steps a day. So instead we can recommend something people can do; they can walk for 20 minutes and get most of the bang for the buck. m

Help Us Bring the Next Generation of Surgical Technology to Marin: The da Vinci ® Xi

Thanks to the revolutionary da Vinci® robot, many surgeries that once required large, open incisions are now performed laparoscopically with robotic-assisted technology. During robotic surgery, a miniature 3D camera and tiny surgical instruments are placed inside the patient through several small incisions. The instruments are attached to robotic arms, allowing the surgeon to operate remotely from a special console, with remarkable dexterity and precision. For patients, this means less blood loss, smaller scars, shorter hospital stays, and significantly reduced recovery times.

MarinHealthSM has been a leader in robotic surgery and we’re now looking to upgrade to the new da Vinci® Xi.

As R. James Yu, MD, Medical Director, Robotic & GU Oncology Services at MarinHealth, explains, “Applica tions for the first robotic surgeries were limited. With the latest version of the robot, we can bring even more benefits to so many more patients.” At MarinHealth, we perform more than 500 robotic surgeries each year, for such conditions as prostate cancer, kidney cancer, uterine fibroid disease, and hernias. With the expanded capabilities of the da Vinci® Xi, our surgeons will also be able to perform thoracic, bariatric, upper digestive tract, and head and neck procedures.

R. James Yu, MD, Medical Director, Robotic & GU Oncology Services

The MarinHealth Foundation has set a total project goal of $2.3 Million to acquire the da Vinci® Xi. This next-generation robot offers surgeons an extended range of motion, reducing surgical time and the number of incisions necessary to perform a procedure. Refinements to the robot’s articulating instruments enable surgeons to readily access difficult-to-reach surgical sites. Visualization is more precise and accurate than ever before.

By investing in the da Vinci® Xi, MarinHealth can remain on the leading edge while offering patients the sophisticated, advanced care they need and deserve. Help us keep our commitment to delivering the best care for Marin.

AIN’T NO MOUNTAIN HIGH ENOUGH

MarinHealth Foundation Black Tie Gala

Benefiting surgical advancements at MarinHealth, including the purchase of a new da Vinci® Xi robot

Gala Co-Chairs: the Schultz Family and the Violich Family

Come mingle, dine, waltz, tango, and maybe even do the robot!

Saturday, May 2, 2020 Marinship Park, Sausalito

For event information: mymarinhealth.org/foundation 1-415-925-7770

BY JERRY JAMPOLSKY AND DIANE CIRINCIONE

As Valentine's Day approaches and love is in the air, we asked two experts on the subject to explore it in greater depth. Need

We can speak of di fferent kinds of love like that of a mother or father for a child, the child for the parents, the love of siblings or friends or country or other places and even things. But let’s look, for the moment, at roman tic love and the love that brings us together in intimate relationship with each other. Intimacy has sometimes been translated as “in-to-me-see” — a desire and a request, a per mission and a trust, to look inside oneself and one another to form an emotional union or bond.

Science has attempted to dis sect romantic love into aspects of itself. There are distinct, measur able, biochemical changes in our brain chemistry when we are in love, depending on the stage. We can experience any or all of the three stages of romantic love, which include passion, attraction and, if we are lucky, enduring love in long-term attachment.

Some relationships are fleeting, yet indelible; others last for longer periods, but not for life. And then there is the relationship almost all of us dream of and aspire to. It holds all three stages: pas sion, attraction and long-term commitment. In the best of relationships the love is strong enough that when the thrill is gone, there remains a satisfying and deep friendship and companionship that supports the ebbing of personal strengths and the rise of vulnerabilities too numerous to ever predict.

Changes in the status of love in our lives can be very challenging and have a defi nite effect on the state of our happiness. We want to hold on to the love of those we have,

and yet that may not always be the wisest or healthiest of choices. The Dalai Lama inspires us to “give the ones you love wings to fly, roots to come back, and reasons to stay.”

In long-term relationships we measure our happiness by the distance between where we are now and where our egos want us to be. That is, the only way we can know hap piness is by the choice to love fully and to be in this present moment right here and right now. Any desire, need or imagining that we are elsewhere drives us away and often into the past or future, nei ther of which are accessible in the now. That does not mean we do not make changes in our lives or in our love relationships. But in order for us to do so, it helps to begin by being very present and very honest in each and every moment.

Interpretation Is Everything

Perhaps above and beyond the love relationships we have with others, the most important one, ultimately, is the one we have with our self. The relationship we have with our self is a deeply personal and dynamic one, albeit oftentimes unconscious. Do we know why we do what we do? Why do we say what we say? Why do we act and react in certain ways? If we hope to connect meaning fully with others, we surely need to first connect with ourselves. We are the most important love relationship we will ever have.

If we do not like ourselves, we will undoubtedly not like many other people. If we hold anger within our selves, more than likely we will find ourselves angry with

The Beatles famously tutored us that you “can’t buy me love” and science tells us that you cannot really measure love, only aspects of it. We are told in countless ways that you do not find love, but love finds you. If you cannot buy real love and you cannot actually measure it, and you cannot seek and success fully find it, then what is it that we are talking about when we talk of love?

others. If we find it difficult to trust others even when that lack of trust is unwarranted, there is surely a place within ourselves that we do not trust. If we are guilty about unresolved actions we have or have not taken in the past, we will definitely project out that guilt onto someone else in the present or in the future. And if we refuse to forgive and continue to have even one unhealed relationship from the past, it will surely show itself and interfere wit h our love along the way.

Why is this so?

There is a fascinating and generally unconscious dynamic that rotates within each of our psyches each and every day. All our past experiences and relationships have formed our belief system, what we hold to be real and true. It is from our own unique belief systems that we look out onto the world and interpret what we see. What we are see ing, however, is not necessarily what is really there.

How we actually see the world is filtered through a lens that projects our own beliefs onto a screen of life of sorts, and what we are seeing is what we think is valid and true. So what we “see” in the world outside of ourselves is actually only our perception, not necessarily a fact. This is why two or more peo ple can see the exact same thing, but each experiences it in a slightly dif ferent way. What we perceive in turn reinforces our own belief system and so the cycle goes on and on.

What changes this cycle is the courage to be willing to challenge our own belief system. This is a power ful way to be more successful in the interpersonal dynamics of love and relationships that challenge us in just about all parts of our lives.

Love comes from respecting the fact that each and every individual — whether family, friend or foe — has his or her own, unique belief system, one that person also thinks is real and true. It takes stepping outside our own comfort zone so we can see someone else’s to create a path to being able to love one another, even if we disagree or remain very di fferent from each other.

Personal Perspective

Diane and I have been together nearly 40 years now, working and writing and traveling in over 60 countries on six continents. Being together 95 percent of the time

has brought its challenges and rewards. Needless to say, we have been stretched in myriad ways requiring that we adapt and compromise, forgive ourselves and each other and, ultimately, grow beyond the littleness of our own ego selves. In choosing to do that, we have been able to give and receive love in the most unexpected and exquisite ways. We have embraced so very many cultures and customs that were originally foreign to the experiences that have made up our own individual belief systems. We have been embraced in return with acceptance and love.

When we were thinking about getting married decades ago, we devoted a lot of thought and contemplation to understanding the purpose of our relationship and what our love could be. We decided not only that the depth of love we had for one another could be shared between us, but that each of us could be like a screen of sorts, where our love from one to the other would filter through us and out to all others.

Our purpose was to become messengers of love every where we went. From that moment on, we resolved, the purpose of our lives, individually and as a couple, was to be helpful to others. Regardless of age or circumstance, we strove to help others identify, under stand and let go of the fears that hid or obstructed the love they wanted to express and experience. In order to provide that help, we decided, we would need to see everyone as our brother and sister and with the inten tion to love people unconditionally. This was no easy task, and while we failed at times, we more often than not were able to experience that uncondi tional love for and between ourselves and to give it away.

It is noteworthy that when the purpose for our love became clear, that insight opened the door further to a spiritual life wherein our mind, body and spirit connec tion blossomed. We began to see our relationship with each other and with others in a whole new way. We chose to not see anyone as an enemy

Certainly, there is enough love in the world to go around if our hearts are open to sharing it. m

Dr. Jerry Jampolsky and Diane Cirincione, Ph.D., have authored more than a dozen books, including the bestselling Love Is Letting Go of Fear

Perhaps above and beyond the love relationships we have with others, the most important one, ultimately, is the one we have with our self.

BY KASIA PAWLOWSKA

F R E E Y O U R

M I N D

ILLUSTRATION BY MICHAEL MORGENSTERN

Once taboo, psychedelic drugs are being rethought as possible remedies for PTSD, depression and addiction.

NI C HOLAS SA N D

Orange Sunshine — Timothy Leary’s LSD of choice — often while on the lam, earning him the epithet “clandestine chemist.” The day before his death, he spoke at the Psychedelic Science 2017 conference in Oakland; his last words to the audience were a question he believed LSD could provide answers to: “Who are you, who are we, what are we doing here, are we here to make war or are we here to make love?”

Sand was hardly alone in his thinking. The Bay Area is historically ground zero for the psychedelic movement. From the Summer of Love on, the image of tie-dye-clad kids turning on, tuning in and dropping out is a legendary part of San Francisco history. But the face of psychedelics is no longer a long-haired hippie on Haight Street. Silicon Valley’s Supreme Being Steve Jobs extolled the virtues of LSD and said it helped his cre ativity. He also praised marijuana. Author Michael Pollan has picked up from there in his recent book How to Change Your Mind , arguing that psilocybin “magic mushrooms” and LSD don’t make people crazy, but instead can actually make them more sane. Government entities are taking note: Oakland recently became the second U.S. city to decrimi nalize use of psychedelic mushrooms, as well as of psychoactive plants. And a Santa Cruz–based organization is pursuing the possibilities for therapeutic and even legal use of MDMA. Yes, Ecstasy, aka Molly, the drug embraced by glassy-eyed festivalgoers, may soon appear in a psy chotherapist’s office near you.

when he died in his sleep in his Lagunitas home after a heart attack. These details don’t seem very notable — a heart attack at that age isn’t unusual, and the circumstances surrounding his death weren’t suspicious — yet his obitu ary ran in the Los Angeles Times , The New York Times and countless other publications the world over.

Born in Brooklyn in 1941, Sand was 23 when his life took a pivotal turn. A voice spoke to him, one that didn’t come from the heavens. In the 2015 documentary The Sunshine Makers , he talked about that experience — his first with the drug LSD, back when it was still legal. As he sat naked in front of a fi re, the voice permeated his body and presented him with a mission: “Your job on this planet is to make psychedel ics and turn on the world.”

Sand rose to the challenge with zeal. The numbers are often contested, but it’s safe to say he produced upwards of 250 million hits of

DI S COVERING POTENTI A L BE N EFITS

Originally synthesized in 1912 by the pharmaceutical company Merck, MDMA was not known to have psychoactive properties until more than half a century later, when Berkeley chemist Alexander Shulgin developed a new method of synthesizing it and then tested the drug on himself. MDMA, short for 3,4 methylenedioxymethamphetamine, is derived from safrole oil, a compound found in sassafras. Ingested orally, usually in powder, pill or crystal form, it has effects similar to those of stimu lants and psychedelics but marked by feelings of euphoria, warmth and at-oneness with other people and surroundings. It’s also become famous for an ability to reduce fear and promote a sense of empathy.

After his discovery in 1976, Shulgin gave MDMA to a handful of psychotherapists, and it soon found its way into practices throughout the Bay Area. The joyride came to an end in 1985 when the federal gov ernment classified MDMA as a Schedule I drug, right alongside other substances considered the most dangerous, like heroin. As a result, use and distribution went underground, and the “party drug” became a fi x ture at clubs and music festivals around the world. Meanwhile, scientists kept researching therapeutic benefits.

C U RRENT RESEA R CH

One of the strongest advocates for such research is Santa Cruz–based Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). Started in 1986 by Harvard-educated public policy doctorate Rick Doblin, MAPS helps scientists get regulatory approval and fund ing for studies about the effectiveness of many controlled substances, including MDMA, psilo cybin and LSD. Performed in collaboration with government entities around the world, the work adheres to clinical drug research guidelines. The biggest study now underway is a Phase 3 (the final required step required to prove safety and efficacy before approval for prescription use) human clinical trial of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for treating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

MAPS has been researching MDMA since 1992. In 2015 a team of therapists led by San Anselmo–based psychiatrist Philip Wolfson began a yearlong 18-person study in his cen ter overlooking Mount Tamalpais, combining MDMA with talk therapy to investigate whether the drug could reduce anxiety for people with life-threatening disease. This study was competed in July 2018, results are yet to be pub lished. After this, MAPS shifted focus to PTSD. “PTSD is an epidemic; it is a life-threatening condition,” says Brad Burge, MAPS’ director of strategic communications.

That point is reinforced in a TED talk Doblin gave about the future of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy in July 2019. “According to the Veterans Administration, there’s over a million veterans now disabled with PTSD. And at least 20 veterans a day are committing suicide, many of them from PTSD,” he noted. He described an instance when experimental psychedelic drug treatment helped one veteran overcome PTSD symptoms and opiate addiction. Psychedelic psychotherapy “is an attempt to go after the root causes of the problems,” he emphasized, “with just relatively few administrations, as

contrasted to most of the psychiatric drugs used today that are mostly just reducing symptoms and are meant to be taken on a daily basis.”

In 2017 he gained important recognition when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted MDMA “breakthrough therapy” status for PTSD, paving the way for further study of the drug’s disease-treatment poten tial and affirming there’s clinical evidence it might improve existing therapies. The designation also indicates the FDA will continue to work closely with MAPS on developing Phase 3 research and will help make that program as efficient as possible.

“The Phase 3 trials are going on in two places in San Francisco — UCSF and a private practice in the Castro,” Burge says. When that work is com pleted, MAPS will submit the fi ndings to the FDA, which if approved will

The numbers are often contested, but it’s safe to say he produced upwards of 250 million hits of Orange Sunshine — Timothy Leary’s LSD of choice.

then require additional studies with adolescent subjects who have PTSD. Burge is optimistic that MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD will be approved by the end of 2021.

How, and where, are the research drugs obtained? “MDMA for the studies is made in a lab in the United Kingdom — once you have an FDA license and approval from the DEA, any (medical testing organization) can consult a lab to have it made and shipped legally,” Burge says. MAPS had two kilograms of the substance pro duced for the trials; “lots more will be needed for future treatment after approval.” Postapproval, sourcing, public health care plans and insurance details would also need to be worked out.

MAPS’ ultimate goal is to establish a net work of clinics where psychedelic treatment can be administered alongside other therapies under the guidance of trained and licensed therapists. “These clinics can also evolve into centers where people can come for psychedelic psychotherapy for personal growth, couples therapy or spiritual, mystical experiences,” Doblin says.

and government spending away from investigation or prosecution of cul tivation, noncommercial distribution, use or possession. The prospect of therapeutic value was what guided the Oakland decision: The FDA has declared psilocybin a breakthrough therapy for treatment-resistant depression, and “for millennia, cultures have respected entheogenic plants and fungi for providing healing, knowledge, creativity and spiritual connection,” states a report by the resolution’s sponsor, council member Noel Gallo. “This initiative aims to empower the Oakland community by restoring their relationship to nature.” Similar decriminalization efforts are underway in Oregon and Iowa.

P U BLIC SAF E TY

Meanwhile, ingestion of psychedelic mushrooms and drugs made from psychoactive plants remains illegal under federal and state law. Concerns persist that legalization would encourage more experimen tation with potentially harmful substances, and there’s certainly no shortage of horror stories: last Fourth of July in Bodega Bay, a 32-yearold software engineer took four doses of LSD, became delusional and started punching, choking and stabbing his friends before speeding offin a stolen car. Police shot him in pursuit, and while he survived his injuries, he now faces criminal charges that include attempted murder and carjacking.

CHAN G ING L AWS

Beyond the labs, the legal landscape is shifting. Last May, a ballot measure approved in Denver decriminalized possession of psilocybin mush rooms; the following month, Oakland’s city council ruled similarly for both mushrooms and psychoactive plants, directing law enforcement

It’s undeniable that every year millions of people take unknown psy choactive drugs, often for the first time, which, depending on setting and dosage, can lead to overwhelming, uncomfortable and dangerous experiences. To help address and prevent those hazards, in 2012 MAPS started an outreach effort called the Zendo Project. Trained volunteers, working in collaboration with event promoters, law enforcement and medical sta ff, attend large festivals (such as Burning Man in Nevada) and assist people undergoing a di ffic ult drug-related episode. The idea is to promote a supportive environment for people in those situations, reduce drug-related psychiatric hospitalizations and arrests, and raise aware ness about the possibility of safer, responsible substance use.

MDMA MDMA

Albert

Also being explored is an approach called microdosing — ingesting minuscule amounts of psychedelic or psychoactive drugs to benefit mental health and well-being. Author Michael Pollan discusses the method in his aforemen tioned book How to Change Your Mind ; in the memoir A Really Good Day, Berkeley writer Ayelet Waldman attests that microdosing eased her depression and improved her mar riage; and a growing number of “biohackers” praise the technique. But while it can “be help ful for depression,” Doblin says, “in general, for therapeutic purposes, we prefer macrodosing, to really help people deal with the root causes.” In his view, “microdosing is more for creativity, for artistic inspiration, for focus,” but all the evidence isn’t in. “Media coverage is in front of the fi ndings,” Burge adds.

Beyond facilitating research, MAPS orga nizes conferences, sponsors lectures, and publishes books and a newsletter on scienti fic, legal and educational efforts on the psychedelic front. The process of researching such drugs is complex, costly and often complicated by the politics surrounding narcotics, Doblin points out. “Psychedelics are really just tools, and whether their outcomes are beneficial or harm ful depends on how they’re used.”

Ironically, one new application being explored for currently illegal drugs is undo ing the damage wrought by legal ones, such as prescription opiates. For instance, some

MAPS-assisted research is examining the efficacy of treating opiate addiction with ibogaine, a psychoactive substance derived from the root of the iboga tree. Two clinical trials underway in Mexico and New Zealand suggest some effectiveness, Burge says, but “we want to study it more and are looking for a place to fi nd a consistent product.” MAPS research is also investigating the potential of ayahuasca, the traditional ceremonial medicine of Amazon basin tribes (and trendy North American “retreat” drug) for treating drug addiction and PTSD. The FDA approved ketamine, typically an anesthesia medication, as an ingredient in a nasal spray targeting depression last March. San Anselmo psychiatrist Wolfson, who conducted MAPS research on MDMA and PTSD, now uses ketamine-assisted psychotherapy for some depression clients.

Psychedelic potential, to an extent, is still a wide-open frontier. Yet today it’s being explored in a new light, aimed at uncovering benefits that could relieve human su ffering. It’s an enlightened new world Nicholas Sand sensed was coming, but would even he recognize the advances now blazing di fferent trails for the years ahead? m

The U.S. government classified ketamine as a Schedule III controlled substance

MDMA deemed a breakthrough therapy by the FDA

Psilocybin deemed a breakthrough therapy by the FDA

These clinics can also evolve into centers where people can come for psychedelic psychotherapy for personal growth, couples therapy or spiritual, mystical experiences.

N EW METH O DS AND U SES

Ketamine-derivative  esketamine deemed a breakthrough therapy by the FDA

From a bulging belly to sleepless nights, the health

effects of stress are even more serious than you might think.

The Silent Enemy

By Christina Mueller and Mimi Towle Illustration by Laura Liedo

Stress is waiting for the results from a med ical test, watching your kids go through the college admission process, ending a relationship or even beginning one. It’s the gnawing unresolved debt you’ve been meaning to pay off , but don’t know how. It’s the fact that people who are annoying will never know how annoying they are. It’s waiting in line at Starbucks watching baristas goof around behind the counter. It’s planning a vacation. It’s realiz ing your investment just hit the jackpot, but now what? It’s a million little things, good and bad, that when viewed over the span of time are part of life. It seems innocuous. It’s not.

“When the body is confronted with a stressful event, the hypothalamus, one of the brain’s control centers, signals the nervous system to release our ‘flight-or-flight’ stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol,” notes Allison Quistgard-Scherer, an integrative nutrition health coach based in Marin. “Breathing quickens, heart rate increases, muscles tighten and blood pressure spikes. The continual release of these hormones due to today’s lifestyle stressors take their toll on the body.”

Over time, cumulative stress has long-term consequences that encompass both physical and emotional symptoms. The long list includes anxiety and depression, agitation, more colds and infections, headaches, insomnia and even a loss of libido. Stress can also manifest as cognitive symptoms, including forgetfulness, disorganization and worry.

New research indicates the effects of stress go far beyond irritation or stomachaches, lodging deep in our physical and mental selves, and can even lead to life-threatening conditions like car diovascular disease, high blood pressure, stroke and heart attack. To explore the manifestations of stress, we queried medical experts and thera pists from the Bay Area and beyond, digging into the latest research in pursuit of solutions to some of the trickiest, most stressful scenarios modern humans endure.

KNOW YOUR TERMS

These definitions from the American Institute of Stress can help you better understand mental and emotional pressures.

ACUTE STRESS

Situations that trigger the fight-orflight response, in which the body physi ologically prepares to defend itself. It takes about 90 minutes for metabolism to return to normal.

CHRONIC STRESS

The toll of daily living: bills, kids, jobs. This is the stress we tend to ignore or push down. Left uncon trolled, it affects your health, body and immune system.

EUSTRESS

Exciting stress from situations or occasions with positive effects: a wedding, promotion, having a baby, winning money, new friends, graduation.

DISTRESS Stress from situations that cause negative feelings: divorce, punishment, injury, financial crises, work conflicts.

BONE HEALTH

Last July, researchers at the University of Arizona reported in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health that in a study of 11,000 post menopausal women, those who cited high levels of social stress had lower bone density six years later. The subjects were asked to rate their social stress levels (from everyday interactions, con flicts and difficult life challenges) upon enrollment in the study; bone density measurements were taken both then and at the six-year mark. Women reporting high stress levels in the fi rst interview showed a bigger decline in bone density compared with women who initially cited lower stress levels. This was true even after the researchers adjusted for other factors that may a ffect bone health, such as age, weight, smoking, alcohol use and education. The authors theorized that stress may harm bone health because it leads to higher blood levels of the hormone cortisol, a well-established reason for lower bone density.

WORK AND WELL-BEING

From a boss who doesn’t respect the need for work-life balance to unexpected changes in job responsibilities, work can load stress onto any given day. According to the American Institute of Stress, workplace stress is having a major impact on our lives. While 83 percent of U.S. workers suf fer from such stress, it causes around one million workers to miss work every day, results in 120,000 deaths and costs $190 billion annually in health care expense. And staying away from work can make the workload pile up even more, adding more stress to the equation.

American Institute of Stress research also found workplace stress has tripled in recent years and that women and men respond to it similarly, by consuming more ca ffeine, smoking more and exercising more often. Women, however, are also more likely to manage stress by talking with fam ily and friends, which experts view as a healthy outlet, whereas men turned to increased sexual activity and illegal drug use.

If you have ever found yourself eating a bowl (or container) of ice cream at the end of a particularly hard day, you already know that how much and when you eat isn’t always driven by hunger.

BODY WEIGHT

If you have ever found yourself eating a bowl (or container) of ice cream at the end of a particularly hard day, you already know that how much and when you eat isn’t always driven by hunger. Stress can drive you not only to eat more, but to dispro portionately crave high-fat comfort foods, leading to weight gain. Stress also triggers the adrenal glands to produce more cortisol. While this hor mone helps regulate metabolism and a ffects blood sugar management and memory, when blood levels of cortisol rise, it can promote in fl ammation and may spur the body to start stockpiling fat around the midsection.

The research of Elissa Epel, a Ph.D. in the UCSF Department of Psychology, takes a deeper dive into possible interconnections between stress, addiction, eating and metabolic health. High stress “shifts our behavior and our appe tite, stimulates overeating, and is related to insulin resistance, the metabolic syndrome and general obesity,” she says in “A Fast-Paced, Fast Food Life,” episode six of The Skinny on Obesity, a University of California Television educational series. “Stress turns on the brain pathways that make us crave dense calories, and when you have a ‘stress brain,’ the food is even more rewarding.”

Recently Epel conducted clinical trials to explore whether dramatically reducing psychological stress might change the body’s hormonal balance, lower cortisol levels and reduce abdominal fat.

In a program called mindfulness-based stress reduction, her team trained research subjects to “pay attention to the moment and notice those thoughts when [people] start worrying, to recognize where they keep tension in their body and notice when they are hungry so they are really in tune with their physical state.” Findings showed that reducing anxiety and cortisol could indeed change a participant’s relationship to food: “The more they decreased their anxiety and chronic stress, the more abdominal fat they lost,” Epel says.

REPRODUCTIVE WELLNESS

Other research is exploring how a link between stress and ghrelin, known as the hunger-triggering hormone, might affect reproduction and fertility. A preclinical study at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) in Australia suggested that high levels of ghrelin, which is released during stress and stimulates appetite, could be harmful to some aspects of reproductive function. The team found that by blocking the ghrelin receptor in female mice, they were able to reduce the negative effect of chronic stress on the body’s ovarian primordial follicle reserve, a source of early-stage eggs.

The study, published in the Journal of Endocrinology, pointed to a need for further research on the long-term impact of chronic stress on fertility and a possible role for ghrelin in regulat ing such effects. (High or low levels of the hormone can reduce the total number of follicles and prevent them from maturing, limiting the quantity that can release an egg cell for fertilization.)

“The current fi ndings could have implications for those with underlying fertility issues,” the study’s senior co-author Luba Sominsky, Ph.D. noted in a ScienceDaily online article last May. “Stress is an inseparable part of our lives, and most of us deal with it quite efficiently, without major health problems,” she added. But while “young and otherwise healthy women may expe rience only temporary and probably reversible effects of stress on their reproductive function, for women already su ffering from fertility problems, even a minor impact on their ovarian function may inflence the chance and timing of conception.”

Although the RMIT study subjects were mice, humans and mice have certain aspects of stress response and reproductive function and develop ment in common. “Getting a better understanding of the role of ghrelin in all of this brings us an important step closer to developing interventions that can keep these critical parts of the reproduc tive system healthy,” Sominsky wrote. m

WAYS TO DE-STRESS

Get a handle on stress and find your calmer moments with these tips.

EMBRACE SOME STRESS

“Once you appreciate that going through stress makes you better at it, it can be easier to face each new challenge,” says Kelly McGonigal, a Stanford University psychology lecturer and program developer for the Stanford Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education, in a 2015 article for Stanford News. By viewing some stress as helpful rather than harmful, she suggests, you can boost your overall health as well as your emotional well-being and productivity at work.

GET OUTSIDE

Spending just 20 minutes con necting with nature can help lower stress hormone levels, according to a study described in Frontiers in Psychology. Three days a week, head to any outdoor place — your yard, a public park, a green area near your office. Then walk or sit with the grass and trees and feel your cortisol levels drop.

DE-CODE EMOTIONS

“Emotional energies” become “trapped within our bodies, wreaking havoc in our lives,” says Sarah Strizzi, a certified body code and emotion code practitioner who offers stressmanagement assistance through her Nurture Light program. “The average person has between 200 and 300 trapped emotions that exert a dramatic effect on how they think and feel on a daily basis,” she says, resulting in anxiety, panic, depression and other symptoms of imbalance. In her practice, Strizzi helps clients identify and release emotional energies in an effort to relieve symptoms and improve ability to handle stress.

BY CARRIE KIRBY

GAME CHANGERS

The Bay Area is a place renowned for new developments in technology, from the latest iPhone to self-driving cars. Less ballyhooed, but at least as important, is local prowess in medical research. Scientists and doctors at hospitals here are pursuing new ways to save lives, improve quality of life, and get to the bottom of medical mysteries on conditions ranging from Parkinson’s disease to everyday backache. We checked in with four Bay Area institutions to learn about their newest accomplishments and works in progress.

STANFORD A Potential Test and Treatment for Parkinson’s

When a patient exhibits symptoms such as trem ors, slowed movements or rigid muscles, a doctor may deduce that the cause is Parkinson’s disease, but there’s currently no test that definitively con firms that diagnosis. There’s also no cure.

Groundbreaking work from a Stanford University School of Medicine scientist could change that scenario on both counts.

Xinnan Wang, associate professor of neuro surgery, pinpointed a molecular defect common in nearly all Parkinson’s patients and found a compound that appears to reverse that defect. Wang co-founded a startup to develop a drug that could possibly stop the progression of the dis ease or, for patients diagnosed early, even prevent symptoms from developing at all.

“If we can use this to detect early-stage or at-risk populations, that will be a huge benefit,” Wang says. “If our strategy can even slow down the disability for a few years, it would be a huge relief to the burden on society and an improve ment in quality of life for the patients.”

Parkinson’s, a progressive disorder that gradually saps patients’ ability to move freely, happens when a group of neurons in the brain that regulate motion start dying. By the time patients start having symptoms, they may have already lost half of these important neurons. Scientists have known for a while that worn-out mitochondria, the “power plants” of cells, might be responsible for these cells dying. If not cleared away, disabled mitochondria can release toxins.

What Wang’s group discovered was why mitochondria were lingering in these cells after they had become defective and started releasing toxins. It turns out that Parkinson’s patients’ cells are unable to remove a tiny mol ecule called Miro that hitches mitochondria to a cell’s power grid. Wang’s team discovered that among a small group of Parkinsons’s patients, 94 percent had the Miro-removal defect.

Now, Wang hopes clinicians will use her test, which can be performed with a simple skin biopsy, to test their own Parkinson’s patients for the Miro-removal defect. In the meantime, her startup, CuraX, is working hard to prepare for clinical trials of its potential Parkinson’s treatment, which, if approved, would be the first disease-modifying drug for Parkinson’s ever to reach the market.

“I want to get this translated as fast as pos sible from my lab to clinic,” Wang says.

THE BUCK INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH ON AGING An Evolutionary Technique for Studying Alzheimer’s and Stroke

Man may be mightier than a mouse in most respects, but an obscure rodent from Southeast Asia has a trait that humans can only dream of: it can regenerate damaged neuron components. Mus castaneus ’ unusual ability could offer hope to victims of stroke, the leading cause of longterm disability in the United States. If only we could figure out how the mouse does it.

That’s exactly the plan of evolutionary biologist Rachel Brem, a professor at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging in Novato.

“In the spinal cord and brain in laboratory mice and in humans, if the axons — those long arms that connect a nerve to another cell — are damaged, they usually don’t grow back. This is part of the reason for poor prognosis among stroke patients,” Brem says.

But if Mus castaneus ’ axons get damaged or destroyed? They grow back. No one knows why or how.

“The hope is that we discover how nature engineered the ability to regenerate these com ponents of the nervous system in this mouse. If we can learn how nature built it, maybe we can use that insight to help resolve similar problems [for patients] in the clinic,” Brem says.

For instance, Brem, collaborating with other Buck researchers and Diana Bautista, a UC Berkeley associate professor of cell and developmental biology, may fi nd that Mus cas taneus, unlike the everyday house mouse, has one or more proteins that make the regenera tion possible. That could lead to production of a drug to help stroke victims restore lost speech or motor abilities.

Brem developed a revolutionary technique for pinpointing a single gene that causes one species to differ from another. She recently received a $3.8 million Transformative

Research Award from the National Institutes of Health to use her method, which involves breeding Mus castaneus with an ordinary lab rat to create a hybrid mouse with DNA from both species. Like all organisms, the hybrid mouse will have two copies of each gene, one from its mother and one from its father. The researchers will work methodically through the mouse’s whole genome, blocking the mother’s gene, then the father’s gene, until they fi nd the gene that confers the ability to regenerate the vital neuron component.

In another project, Brem’s lab will use the same technique to pursue advances in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease by pinpointing genes, present in two related worm species, that might confer resistance to neurodegeneration.

UCSF Understanding Back Pain and Aiming to Make Treatment Opioid-Free

If this hasn’t happened to you, ask around your office; chances are that it’s happened to the per son who works to the right or left of you.

You wake up with almost unbearable pain in your lower back. You make your way to the doctor with di fficulty, only to be told there is no clear cause and you should do some stretches or wait it out.

In the U.S., low back pain is the most common cause of disability in young adults, according to the World Health Organization. For many patients, not knowing what to do about it signifi cantly compounds the agony.

“It’s a complex condition; there’s no one-sizefits-all solution,” says Jeff rey C. Lotz, professor and vice chair of research at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine.

“Some of the data suggest it’s only 10 percent of the patients who ever really understand or can figure out why [they’re in pain]. Clinicians kind of throw up their hands.”

Figuring out individualized, effective and non addictive treatments for low back pain is the aim of the new UCSF Core Center for Patient-centric, Mechanistic Phenotyping in Chronic Low Back Pain, aka UCSF REACH, which Lotz is leading. The center will be established with an almost $30 million National Institutes of Health grant.

For doctors, what causes low back pain and how best to treat it are topics of confusion and controversy. Some focus on psychosocial aspects — as when patients are so afraid of aggravating the pain that they limit activity, weakening muscles and making the problem worse. Some

doctors look more for signs of physical injury. The new center will assemble researchers and practitioners of di fferent medical backgrounds and persuasions who will delve into data, using machine learning to discern patterns among thousands of back patients followed by UCSF, seen either remotely or on site.

As well as being a major cause of missed work, back pain is the second leading rea son for opiate prescriptions, after cancer. Reducing need for opioids is another priority for researchers both at UCSF and nationwide, and the center may test methods such as combining virtual reality goggles or antidepressants with cognitive behavior therapy to address pain from the psychological angle.

KAISER PERMANENTE

A New Way to Categorize Sepsis and Target Treatment

Kaiser Permanente began focusing on sepsis — a life-threatening inflammatory response to severe infection that affects the whole body — more than a decade ago, when experts became aware that sepsis was a factor in as many as one in two hos pital deaths. Worldwide, an estimated 5 million or more people die of sepsis each year.

“The global impact is pretty staggering,” says Vincent Liu, a critical care physician and research scientist at Kaiser Permanente’s Division of Research. “The frustrating thing is that despite 50 years and probably hundreds of millions in investment, we have zero targeted drugs for sepsis.”

Liu led a team of researchers who posited that what may be holding back the discovery of novel treatments for this age-old menace was medicine’s failure to differentiate differ ent groups of sepsis patients. An elderly patient with infected bedsores and a young adult with pneumonia are very di fferent patients, but both could develop infections labeled as sepsis. The team used machine learning to identify 42 sub types of treatment groups in sepsis patients, which Liu hopes will help make future clinical trials more targeted.

“Right now in sepsis we’re at a similar era to what we once labeled as just ‘cancer’ or perhaps ‘lung cancer’ or ‘breast cancer,’ ” he notes. “But the treatments in oncology today have become highly targeted, such that a broad term like ‘lung cancer’ tells them almost nothing about progno sis or treatment. By unpacking these treatment patterns, our hope is to understand how we can treat sepsis patients differently.” m

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 930, 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 2019 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.

THE HIGHEST LEVEL OF ORTHOPEDIC AND SPINE CARE IN THE NORTH BAY

CALIFORNIA ORTHOPEDICS & SPINE is Marin’s largest orthopedic and spine practice. We provide leading edge care through fellowship trained physicians and surgeons specializing in sports medicine, shoulder, hand and wrist, foot and ankle, knee and hip joint replacement, fracture care, pain management, and spinal surgery.

With 24/7 appointment requests and two convenient locations in Larkspur and Novato, we’ve made it simple to visit our specialists. We offer seamless integration of clinical care, digital X-Ray, MRI, durable medical equipment, injection therapy, and physical therapy. Our mission continues to focus on “excellence in motion,” which begins with exploring all conservative options before pursuing invasive procedures.

If surgery is necessary, we use the most innovative and minimally invasive techniques available to get you back to your personal goals as quickly as possible.

Appointment inquiries can be made online 24/7 at www.caorthospine.com or by contacting our call center at 415-927-5300 any time of day.

Fellowship trained orthopedic trauma surgeon, Dr. Nathan Ehmer (not pictured in group photo), joined the COS family in September 2019.

18 Bon Air Road

2 Bon Air Road, Suite 120 Larkspur, CA 94939

7100 Redwood Blvd, Suite 200 Novato, CA 94945 415.927.5300 caorthospine.com

Pictured (seated from left):

Jonathan Goff, M.D.*, Jamal Shillingford, M.D., Brian Su, M.D.*, Thomas Kim, M.D., Ramo Naidu, M.D.

Pictured (standing from left):

Holly Kelly, M.D.*, Michael Oechsel, M.D.*, Daniel Solomon, M.D.*, David Goltz, M.D.*, Mark Lawler, M.D.*, Elizabeth Dailey, M.D.*, Ernest Sponzilli, M.D.*, Paul Kim, M.D.*

* Recognized on the [415] Top Doctors 2020 list.

Nathan Ehmer, D.O.

CARDIOVASCULAR ASSOCIATES OF MARIN

SINCE 1962, OUR PRACTICE HAS PROUDLY DELIVERED world class cardiovascular service and care. Our 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. Last 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 250 Novato, CA 94945 415.878.2910

Ancillary Testing 415.927.0666

Staff Doctors:

651 First Street West, Ste. L, 3rd Flr., Underground Prkng Sonoma, CA 95476 707.935.1470

www.mymarinhealth.org

Mark P. Wexman, M.D., FACC*

Brian L. Strunk, M.D., FACC*

Joel Sklar, 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., FACC

Benedict Ancock, M.D., MPH, FACC

Anand Soni, M.D., FACC

Kent N. Gershengorn, M.D., FACC

Ramon Partida, M.D., FACC, FSCAI

Ann K. Kao, M.D., FACC*

Anita D. Szady, M.D., FACC

Vivek Iyer, M.D.

Alex Rainow, M.D.

Ines Sherifi, M.D., MSc

David C. Sperling, M.D., FACC* (retired)

Jerald A. Young, M.D., FACC* (retired)

James R. Adams, M.D., FACC* (retired)

* Recognized on the [415] Top Doctors 2020 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

1100 Van Ness, Ste 1040, San Francisco, CA 94109 415.923.3020

1580 Valencia St, Ste 607, San Francisco, CA 94115 415.213.7971

sfsurgery.com

Pictured:

Michelle Li, M.D., FACS*

T. Philip Chung, M.D., FASCRS

Vanessa Talbott, M.D., FACS

Laurence Yee, M.D., FASCRS*

Yanek Chiu, M.D., FASCRS

Michael Abel, M.D., FASCRS

*Recognized on the [415] Top Doctors 2020 list.

12 YEARS AGO DRS. POULOS AND HVISTENDAHL PARTNERED to found the largest plastic surgery/aesthetic medicine practice in the North Bay. While we’re known for excellence in plastic surgery, much of our growth is due to the increasing demand for non-surgical services, with no down time. Recently our Medspa added the Hydrafacial, Accent Prime RF skin tightening device, PRP hair restoration, Geneveve treatments for womens’ intimate health, the fastest hair removal laser available, and Cellfina for cellulite treatment. The introduction of Orbera gastric balloons created one of the most successful weight loss programs in the country. In addition, the PSS Beauty Plan provides a subscription program offering great savings to our loyal customers.

We start the new year by introducing Dr. Trent. Douglas, Board certi fied plastic surgeon, who brings great talent to our surgical team. Our team is devoted to providing the best possible patient experience for every patient, every day.

Pictured (from left): Yngvar Hvistendahl, M.D.* Stanley G. Poulos, M.D.* Trent D. Douglas, M.D.

350 Bon Air Road, Suite 300 Greenbrae, CA 94904 415.925.2880 psspecialists.com

*Recognized on the [415] Top Doctors 2020 list.

SAN FRANCISCO SURGICAL MEDICAL GROUP

EXPERTISE IN THE TREATMENT OF SPINAL AND INTRACRANIAL DISORDERS

KEITH B QUATTROCCHI IS A BOARD-CERTIFIED PROFESSOR OF NEUROSURGERY WITH UCSF, WORKING EXCLUSIVELY AT UCSF NEUROSURGERY IN MARIN. Dr. Quattrocchi treats patients with spinal and intracranial disorders. He works in Marin with Dr. Tarun Arora and Dr. Catherine Miller. Dr. Quattrocchi is a native of Marin, having grown up in Larkspur and Ross, later graduating from Lowell High School in San Francisco and then UC Berkeley before entering and completing medical school at George Washington University. He completed his Neurosurgical residency training and PhD in Immunology at UC Davis, then becoming the Director of Neuro-Oncology for the Division of Neurosurgery at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. While at UNC he published novel clinical research on cellular immunotherapy for the treatment of malignant brain tumors. Dr. Quattrocchi later entered private practice where he focused on spine surgery for more than a decade before returning to Marin in 2011. He currently has a practice which involves minimally invasive and complex spine surgery as well as adult intracranial surgery. He brings to the community his experience in both academic and private practice neurosurgical care.

UCSF Neurosurgery in Marin has offices in both Greenbrae and Novato. Dr. Quattrocchi is accepting patients with spinal and intracranial disorders.

UCSF Neurosurgery in Marin 1100 South Eliseo Drive, Suite 1 Greenbrae, CA 94904 415.514.6868

Pictured: Keith B Quattrocchi, MD, PhD, FACS [415]

SERVING MARIN COUNTY AND SAN FRANCISCO FOR NEARLY 50 YEARS

WHEN IT COMES TO ORTHOPEDIC AND SPORTS-RELATED INJURIES, there’s only one name you can trust – California Pacific Orthopaedics. Whether you’re a weekend warrior, seasoned professional athlete or su ffer from everyday joint pain, our experienced team is here to get you feeling like new. After all, it’s what we’ve been doing for nearly 50 years.

At California Pacific Orthopaedics, we want our patients to get back to enjoying normal life as quickly as possible. That’s why we have in-house X-ray and MRI – including a state-of-the-art wide-bore 3 Tesla MRI. Our wide-bore MRI allows for a quicker scan and a roomier experience for patients. And, we are now offering evening and weekend appointments! We accept most major insurance plans. We look forward to serving you at one of our four offices. Visit calpacortho.com for more information.

1099 D Street, Suite 105 San Rafael, CA 94901 3838 California Street, Suites 108, 516, 715 San Francisco, CA 94118 415.668.8010 calpacortho.com

Back row:

Keith C. Donatto, MD*, John P. Belzer, MD*, Mark A. Schrumpf, MD*, Frank H. Valone, III, MD*, Jon A. Dickinson, MD*, Christopher V. Cox, MD*

Front row: Lindsey C. Valone, MD*, James D. Kelly, II, MD*, Keith W. Chan, MD*, Peter W. Callander, MD*, Robert E. Mayle, Jr, MD*, W. Scott Green, MD*, Mark I. Ignatius, DO*, Rowan V. Paul, MD

Not pictured: H. Relton McCarroll, MD*, Tom R. Norris, MD, Adrian J. Rawlinson, MD

* Recognized on the [415] Top Doctors 2020 list.

EVAN RANSOM, MD SAN FRANCISCO • MILL VALLEY RANSOM-MD.COM

Welcome to a different type of cosmtic surgical experience.

Feel educated, empowered and totally supported through your entire journey - regardless of the path you choose. We specialize in facial cosmetic and reconstructive surgery, while also performing the most innovative non-surgical procedures like NeoGraft hair restoration, BOTOX, injectible filler, laser resurfacing and microneedling.

Giving back is important to us. Dr. Ransom leads Healing the Children Northern California whose mission is to bring high-level specialty care pro bono to pediatric patients abroad. Past mission sites have included Colombia, Thailand, Ecuador and most recently Peru. We are proud of the work we do here, and abroad. When you are ready, please join us for a consultation. We welcome you.

LAUB DERMATOLOGY & AESTHETICS

DAVID A. LAUB, M.D., F.A.A.D.

LAUB DERMATOLOGY & AESTHETICS LOCATED IN MILL VALLEY, has been serving the North Bay for many years. David A. Laub, M.D., is a Harvard trained, Board Certified Dermatologist specializing in medical, surgical and aesthetic dermatology.

Dr. Laub’s expertise is based on extensive training, experience, artistry and attention to detail. Asked why he became a dermatologist, his response was simple. “Having dealt with skin issues personally, I can understand and relate to my patients.” His compassion is what drives his practice today: “We want everyone who comes to our office to feel comfortable and cared for. I feel fortunate to be a dermatologist and love what I do”.

Dr. Laub is a nationally recognized expert in rosacea, pigmentation, psoriasis and skin cancer. Also, an innovative leader in reversing sun damage and aging with lasers, botox and dermal fillers resulting in amazing natural results for his clients.

591 Redwood Hwy, Suite 2210 Mill Valley, CA 94941 415.381.6661 laubdermatology.com

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 differentl, modifying my technique to enhance natural beauty.” The board-certified platic 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 30 years in practice, he is considered a leader in his field y his colleagues and patients. Dr. Aycock specializes in face and neck lifts with facial fat grafting, the Mommy Makeover including breast augmentation and reduction, tummy tuck and laser assisted 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, filler, and other noninvasive protocols,” says Dr. Aycock, who is an international speaker and trainer for the various laser procedures he offer.

CHRISTINA LISAC, L.AC., DIPL. O.M.

Apricot Forest Chinese Medicine

244 MILLER AVENUE, MILL VALLEY, CA 510.927.8480 APRICOTFOREST.COM

Sleep expert Christina Lisac, of Apricot Forest, specializes in helping her patients overcome insomnia and other sleep disorders. In addition to restoring sleep, Christina uses the ancient healing power of Chinese medicine to integrate whole body wellness - peace of mind, good digestion and a strong immunity. Christina offers a full rane of acupuncture treatments, including Moxibustion, Cupping and GuaSha.

DR. HEIDE NIELSEN, DAIM Tongbu Wellness Center

1500 GRANT AVE, NOVATO, CA 415.8955871 TONGBUWELLNESSCENTER.COM

Tongbu Wellness specializes in an alternative approach to mind-body wellness. Our philosophy is to identify the core issue and customize an individual health plan.

Dr. Heide Nielsen specializes in Acupuncture and Integrative Medicine. She is a graduate of Berkeley as well as studied in Beijing and Tianjin China. Dr. Nielsen specializes in autoimmune disorders and other chronic illness.

JENNIFER B. DRAGONETTE, PSYD Newport Academy’s Executive Director in Northern California NEWPORTACADEMY.COM 888.641.8451

Dr. Dragonette spearheaded the establishment of Newport Academy’s Northern California locations, providing the highest-quality mental health treatment to teens and young adults struggling with depression, anxiety, trauma, and co-occurring disorders. She is one of our 350+ professionals including psychiatrists, licensed therapists, medical professionals, and more—all dedicated to bringing teens from self-destruction to selfesteem by treating the underlying causes of maladaptive behaviors. Driven by outcomes, Newport Academy’s healing centers in northern California and across the country offer an integrated, evidence-based approach that encompasses clinical therapy, academic support, and experiential modalities. Our mission is to empower teens and restore families.

Female and Male Residential Treatment, Outpatient Programs, and Day Schools – Insurance Accepted

TRACY EVANS MD, MPH, FAAD, FACMS BOARD CERTIFIED DERMATOLOGIST AND FELLOWSHIP TRAINED MOHS AND DERMATOLOGIC SURGEON PACIFICSKIN.COM, 415.924.2055 CORTE MADERA, 415.202.1540 SAN FRANCISCO

Dr. Tracy Evans specializes in innovative anti-aging techniques and personalized treatments that create healthy, glowing skin. She believes that people should always prioritize healthy lifestyles and skin cancer prevention.

Dr. Evans and her team take a holistic approach to restore patients’ natural beauty and self-confidence. She maintains tat “the radiance of a patient’s skin is a reflection of the health of their bod,” and recommends regular skin checks to monitor for signs of skin cancer.

Dr. Evans is a master aesthetic injector, laser specialist, and body contouring guru. She founded her private dermatology practice in San Francisco in 2008 and in 2016 she crossed the Golden Gate to serve the health and aesthetic needs of her Marin County Community.

Call to make an appointment to reveal the healthiest, most radiant skin of your life!

Destinations

THE LATEST LOCAL TRAVEL DEALS AND GETAWAYS PLUS JOURNEYS AROUND THE GLOBE

GO COASTAL

Monterey County offers some of the most beautiful and relaxing destinations in Northern California.

A view of Gibson Beach at Point Lobos State Natural Reserve in Carmel.

TANK OF GAS

DESTINATION Carmel-by-the-Sea DISTANCE FROM MARIN 130 miles south

A preferred getaway spot for decades, Carmel is a reliable mix of tried-and-true favorites and notable newcomers — whether your interest is restaurants, lodging, activities or all three. Live out your Big Little Lies sweater-swaddled wine-drinking fantasies close to shore or go on rugged yet luxe adventures on the sunnier inland side. Here you can have it all. KASIA PAWLOWSKA

Clockwise from left: Hit the open road at the Land Rover Experience Driving Center; ranchstyle rooms at Quail Lodge; explore 850acres at the Quail Lodge property or just opt for the heated pool.

EAT Fried chicken can be elegant. Looking for proof? See La Balena’s pollo fritto. Half of a Fogline Farm chicken is crusted with arborio (aka Italian short-grain rice) and served with a small side salad. Supremely crispy, the chicken used to only be served certain days but is now available almost daily. Other standouts at this unassuming, hospita ble spot include bruschetta, topped with Séka Hills olive oil, and a robust wine list. labalenacarmel.com

DO Most cars are capable of so much more than what everyday roads allow. For the ultimate test drive, take a new Land Rover out and off the road via the Land Rover Experience Driving Center. One of only three official Land Rover driving schools in the country and the only one this side of the Mississippi, the Carmel property boasts 180 acres covered with hand-hewn trails to explore. Open all seasons, the courses are designed to improve

your skills behind the wheel. With an expert at your side, you’ll tackle steep inclines and declines, sharp turns, side tilts and water crossings if weather allows. experience.landroverusa.com

STAY On an 850-acre property dotted with vibrant gardens and sprawling meadows is Quail Lodge. Situated inland beyond the fog bank, it offers all the trappings of resort life, including on-site din ing, comfortable ranch-style accommodations, an award-winning Robert Muir Graves–designed golf course, heated pool and more. While the hotel hosts a variety of auto-centric events and activities like vintage car rallies, it also provides a fleet of e-bikes for guests to use. Hills are no problem with electric assist; you can easily avoid Highway 1 by using a path behind the Barnyard shops; and a 20-minute cruise brings you to wine tasting and dining in town. quaillodge.com

Savor the Seaside

Ten reasons to visit Carmel and Monterey and many more reasons to return. JEANNE COOPER

For such a relatively small slice of Northern California, the coastal towns of Monterey and Carmel and neighboring enclaves hold a surprisingly diverse array of attractions. You’d be hard-pressed to cover all the following activities in one long weekend, but every season here has its charms, so you’ll have several excuses to come back.

1 Visit Monterey Bay

Aquarium The nation’s premier aquarium since it opened in 1984, this all-ages, always-bustling destination at the edge of historic Cannery Row showcases the fascinating flora and fauna of waters shallow and deep: sea otters, kelp forests, jellies, sharks, turtles, penguins and many other creatures. montereybayaquarium.org

2 Bike the Monterey Bay Coastal Recreation Trail Bicycle or pedal in a six-person surrey (both rentable at various sites) along 18 impressively scenic miles from Castroville to Pacific Grove. Originally a railroad line that served Cannery Row’s sardine factories, the paved trail passes the Monterey Bay

Aquarium, Fisherman’s Wharf, beaches and Monterey’s adobe historic sites. monterey.org

3 Shop and Dine in Downtown Carmel

The distinctive boutiques, shops and art galleries in the one-square-mile village of Carmel-by-theSea stand side by side with cozy restaurants and cafes, many serving fresh-caught local seafood, produce from nearby farms and the region’s outstanding wines. Charming passages and stairways connecting the hillside streets make it fun to wander. carmelcalifornia.com

4 Explore the Coastline

While the sandy beaches, craggy cliffs and windswept cypresses

along Pebble Beach’s 17-Mile Drive justify paying admission ($10.50 per vehicle), it’s free to wend your way elsewhere along the Monterey Peninsula. Follow Ocean View Boulevard from Pacific Grove to Sunset Drive at Asilomar State Beach for exhilarating views. pebble beach.com/17-mile-drive

5 Golf in Spectacular Settings Pebble Beach Golf Links, Spyglass Hill Golf Course and the Links at Spanish Bay, all at the Pebble Beach resort, are internationally renowned and priced accordingly. For players on a budget, the Pacific Grove Golf Links shares much of the same scenery at a fraction of the cost. pebblebeach.com/golf, playpacificgrove.com

6 Paddle on the Bay

Whether you kayak or stand-up paddle (SUP), Monterey Bay offers several launch points for excellent wildlife watch ing, including sea otters, harbor seals and sea lions, not to mention glorious views of sand dunes, bus tling wharves, and distant fields and forests. Take a guided tour for more insights and safety tips. adventuresbythesea.com, montereybaykayaks.com

7 Tour a Lighthouse

The oldest continually operating lighthouse on the West Coast is sweetly stubby Point Pinos in Pacific Grove, built in 1855. Tours (1 to 4 p.m. Thursday–Monday) illu minate the hardy lifestyle of former keepers as well as the impressive original lens. pointpinos lighthouse.org

8 Admire Migratory

Wildlife A variety of whales and dolphins migrate around and through Monterey Bay throughout the year; look

for humpback whales mid-April through midDecember. Thousands of monarch butterflies spend the winter, typically mid-October through mid-February, clustered on trees in the Monarch Grove Sanctuary in Pacific Grove, where docents help explain their behavior. discoverywhalewatch. com, cityofpacificgrove.org

9 Taste Fine Wines

Monterey County is home to numerous microclimates and soils, creating a cornucopia of terroirs. You can sample the wares at the many wineries along River

or Carmel Valley road or walk from one tasting room to the next in downtown Carmel. winewalkcarmel.com

10Visit a Mission

The lives of California’s native peoples were irrevocably altered by the arrival of Spanish explorers and Catholic monks, who forced them to live and work on compounds such as the Carmel Mission. Beauty, tragedy, faith and sacrifice intermingle in the history of its lovely grounds and the restored, still-active church. carmelmission.org

From left: Enjoy a champagne fest at Brennan's in the French Quarter; there's a Banksy in the lobby and good eats at Rockrose in the International House hotel.

DAY ONE MORNING You’re not in Larkspur anymore. Start in the French Quarter with a (red) eye-opener at Brennan’s. The famed Creole restaurant’s Roost bar hosts a 9 a.m.-to-7 p.m. Friday champagne fest with half-price bubbly bottles and fizzy pink drinks. The bananas Foster and eggs Sardou may keep you guzzling till lunch. Next, wander down Royal Street to the Historic New Orleans Collection. The newly expanded exhibit space interprets

Mélange à Trois

Famous for music, New Orleans also has shopping, cosmopolitan dining and other fun not to be missed.

BY ANDREW NELSON

People assume they know New Orleans. But the Big Easy is much more than beads, beer and Bourbon Street — which locals seek out about as much as they would the city’s pitiless tra ffic cameras. There’s a percolating energy here, with a brand-new $1.3 billion airport terminal, expanding bikeways and newly ascendant neighborhoods. The food, as always, is insanely delicious. But sophisticated dishes from new, interna tionally inflected restaurants such as Sa ffron (Indian) and Saba (Israeli) are now as big a draw as red beans and rice. Like San Francisco, New Orleans is a historically Catholic city perched on the edge of disaster, and it also resembles the Bay Area in another way. While the state of Louisiana is MAGA-hat red, its famed cultural oasis has a decid edly diverse, gender-fluid accent. “Three days in New Orleans is like a perfectly fun dinner party,” recent visitor Joannie Ericson of San Anselmo says. “There’s a deep sense of hospitality at every turn.” So be like Blanche DuBois and lean on the kindness of strangers. Clamber aboard the Marin Airporter — United and Alaska offer direct flights from SFO — and head out for a three-day tour of the City That Care Forgot.

the city’s storied past. AFTERNOON Cross Canal Street to the CBD (not cannabis oil, Central Business District). There, just-opened Greek-inspired Rockrose serves up tasty lamb burgers and lemon potatoes in the International House hotel, where there’s a Banksy in the lobby. Check out the National WWII Museum in the Warehouse District. Its sprawling sevenacre campus has exhibits devoted to the European and Pacific operations as well as life on the home front. You can even bivouac on-site at the Higgins, the museum’s

new 230-room hotel, part of the Hilton Curio collection, with suites named for Eisenhower and Patton. Or look into Maison de la Luz, a boutique luxury hotel on Carondelet Street from the Ace Hotel Group. Its guest-only lobby has a speakeasy bar. NIGHT Walk the Warehouse District to Gianna for Italian wood-fired rustic fare by chef Rebecca Wilcomb. Then return to the Quarter for a nightcap at Jewel of the South, recently opened by acclaimed bartender Chris Hannah.

DAY TWO

MORNING Carbs are abundant and Pilates scarce in a city that sleeps in later than most. Give up. Gobble breakfast beignets at Cafe Du Monde by Jackson Square. Make them guilt-free by plonk ing your bottom on a rental from Blue Bikes. The sky-blue conveyances pep per this pancake-flat town. Pedal north from the Mississippi along Esplanade Avenue, a tree-lined treasure that some locals declare even prettier than famed St. Charles Avenue. Your destination is City Park, the city’s emerald 1,300-acre green space, dotted with ancient live oaks and ponds (some occupied by alliga tors). There’s a freebie here: the recently expanded Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden at the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA).

AFTERNOON

If kids are along, the just-opened Louisiana Children’s Museum, adjacent to the statu ary, is a great bet. It’s built over a lagoon and packed with hands-on exhibits on Louisiana’s watery environment. Bonus: Acorn, a Brennan-run restaurant, where lunch hits include honey-broiled Brussels sprouts and mushroom and arugula pizza slices. An insider secret is Rosedale, a cozy Lakeview neighborhood bistro featuring star chef Susan Spicer. Her French Quarter Bayona may be packed, but this local joint is a great place to linger over bowls of shrimp and cheddar stone-ground grits. Bike back downtown via the 2.6-mile-long Lafitte Greenway, a trail that cuts through a New Orleans most visitors miss. NIGHT Explore downriver. Have dinner at Nina Compton’s Bywater American Bistro, then head for raucous Frenchmen Street and its late-night jazz joints. If you need a place to crash, hotels in the ’hood include Peter and Paul, a charming dazzler in the restored convent and rectory of a historic Catholic church. Another option is the Melrose Mansion, a Victorian B&B close to the clubs but quiet enough for slumber.

DAY THREE MORNING A brisk walk will shake off last night’s fun. With a cafe au lait and morning roll from The Orange Couch, stride to Crescent Park for a promenade along the Mississippi with terrific views

of the river and downtown. Meander back through streets filled with densely packed gingerbread-trimmed cottages. Feeling more adventurous? Take the ferry at the foot of Canal Street across the river to Algiers. This little-known NOLA neighborhood is composed of shotgun doubles (single-story duplexes) and Mardi Gras dens, secret warehouses where krewes construct their Carnival floats. Enjoy huevos rancheros at Tout de Suite and call on Doorman, a by-appointment furniture company crafting contempo rary pieces from salvaged cypress wood.

AFTERNOON Uber to Magazine Street, one of the country’s longest contiguous shopping streets. Past Louisiana Avenue, Magazine becomes like San Francisco’s Fillmore Street with Spanish moss, replete with upmarket boutiques. Discover

evocative 19th-century antiques at Dunn & Sonnier; farther uptown, Pilot and Powell features bright and cheerful women’s clothing and accessories designed with a New Orleans eye for celebration and color. Down the street is Tasc, a local brand with a loyal following for its stylish workout and yoga wear designed to breathe in warm weather. NIGHT Surely a Sazerac with dinner is in order, which dictates a visit to old-school Clancy’s or La Petite Grocery, a Justin Devillier restaurant where bar seating is usually available (order the blue crab beignets) and that, like New Orleans itself, always entertains. “I want magic,” Miss DuBois demanded upon stepping down from her streetcar. This town supplies it.

Clockwise from top: Outdoor adventures at the Louisiana Children’s Museum; Magazine Street; blue crab beignets at La Petite Grocery.

THEATER

THRU FEB 1 Mystery

Science Theater The original host and cre ative visionary behind the beloved TV and Net fl ix comedy series for more than three decades, Joel Hodgson (as Joel Robinson) will don the red jumpsuit one last time, complete with wisecracking

robots, silly sketches and cheesiness. Golden Gate Theatre (SF). broadwaysf.com

THRU FEB 2 Noura After fleeing Iraq, the title character and her family are celebrating Christmas and their new life in New York when a visitor arrives, stirs up long-forgotten memories and forces

the family to con front the cost of their choices. Marin Theatre Company (Mill Valley). marintheatre.org

THRU FEB 9 Silent Sky

In the early 1900s, three female astronomers are hired by the Harvard University Observatory to undertake an explo ration of where we fit in space, but without

permission to peer into the telescopes — that role is only for men. Barn Theatre (Ross). rossvalleyplayers.com

THRU FEB 9 Ways to Leave a Body What happens when your time is up? In a rare collaboration, four artists co-create an “out-of-body” theater experience exploring

the idea of disassocia tion, the detachment of the “you” you feel and the “you” every one else sees. Cutting Ball Theater (SF). cuttingball.com

THRU FEB 16 Wakey, Wakey Featuring twotime Emmy Award winner Tony Hale (Veep, Arrested Development), this dramedy takes audiences on a journey by asking “what would you do if you only had a few minutes left to live?” Geary Theater (SF). act-sf.org

THRU JULY 12 Harry Potter and the Cursed Child The eighth story in the Harry Potter series is presented in two parts. Curran Theatre (SF). harry potteronstage.com

FEB 2–MARCH 22 The Last Ship Inspired by Sting’s 1991 album The Soul Cages and his experiences as a youth, this show tells the tale of a community amid the demise of the shipbuilding industry in northeast England’s county Tyne and Wear, with Sting starring as shipyard foreman Jackie White. Golden Gate Theatre (SF). broadwaysf.com

FEB 26–MARCH 15 A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder Part comedy, part music hall romp, this is the story of a commoner who, when he fi nds he is eighth in line for an earldom, develops a fiendish plot to cut the line. Gateway Theatre (SF). 42ndstreetmoon.org

THEATER / DANCE / COMEDY / MUSIC / MUSEUMS / EVENTS / FILM EDITED BY CHRISTINA MUELLER

THRU MARCH 7 Tiny Beautiful Things Based on the book by Cheryl Strayed (Wild ) and adapted for the stage by Nia Vardalos (My Big Fat Greek Wedding), this tearjerker follows an online advice columnist who uses her personal experiences to help the real-life readers who pour their hearts out to her. San Francisco Playhouse (SF). sfplayhouse.org

DANCE

THRU FEB 2 Cinderella Christopher Wheeldon updates the classic tale of a young woman, talking mice and an all-important fairy godmother, accompanied by Prokofiev’s score and puppetry from Basil Twist. War Memorial Opera House (SF). sfballet.org

FEB 7–9 Just Ahead of Darkness Six perform ers and four musicians draw on Japanese and American traditions of remembering the dead to explore ideas of family, love, loss and the eternal return of ghosts. Z Space (SF). sharpand fi ne.com

FEB 20–22 Concertiana

The Paul Taylor Dance Company presents the West Coast premiere of Taylor’s fi nal piece, a work that defi nes the company style. Blue Shield Theater (SF). ybca.org

FEB 21–23 AI Sensorium

Kintech Arts invites viewers to consider for themselves how bodies and minds are transformed, exploited and manipulated by machine learning and arti ficial intelligence. ODC Theater (SF). odc.dance

FEB 27–MARCH 1 Incivility An inquiry into the sudden rise of highly publicized acts of racism, sexism and xenophobia, this perfor mance is the third and fi nal section of the company’s series A Seat at the Table. ODC Theater (SF). odc.dance

COMEDY

FEB 4, 11, 18, 25 Comedy Blast This “secret” pop-up comedy club is a showcase for San Francisco’s upand-coming comedians. Neck of the Woods (SF). neckofthewoodssf.com

FEB 13, 15 Jo Koy The comedian known as much for his explosive onstage energy as his Net fl ix special Comin’ In Hot drops by on his “Just Kidding” world tour. Chase Center (SF). chasecenter.com

FEB 14 Whose Live Anyway? With sug gestions sourced from the audience, cast members Ryan Stiles, Greg Proops, Jeff . Davis and Joel Murray invent scenes and witty repartee right before your eyes. Marin Veterans’ Auditorium (San Rafael). marincenter.org

FEB 15 Ali Wong The San Francisco native and star of the Net fl ix stand-up comedy special Baby Cobra returns with the “Milk & Money Tour.” Luther Burbank Center (Santa Rosa). lutherburbank center.org

FEB 21–22 Idiocracy

The irreverent off Broadway hit written by and starring Robert Dubac looks at why we are brainwashed by a culture that worships

Kardashians over character, delusion over truth and sel fies over self-effacement. Marines’ Memorial Theatre (SF). broadwaysf.com

FEB 23 Steve Budd

As part of the Best of SF Solo Series, Budd presents What They Said About Love, examining what brings people together and keeps the proverbial knot tied. Marin Center (San Rafael). marincenter.org

MUSIC

FEB 1 Lunar New Year Celebrate the arrival of the Year of the Rat with a festive reception, music that draws from Eastern and Western repertoire and a postconcert banquet. Davies Symphony Hall (SF). sfsymphony.org

FEB 7–9 Beethoven250

The San Francisco Symphony continues its celebration of the 250th anniversary of the great composer’s birth with his Symphony No. 2 and Brahms’ Symphony No. 4, conducted by Herbert Blomstedt. Davies Symphony Hall (SF). sfsymphony.org

FEB 8 Mill Valley Music All-Stars In honor of Mill Valley Music’s 12th anniversary, the All-Stars, including Cole Tate, Mikaele Tate, Jesse Lee Kincaid, Neal McDonald, Mari Mack, Gary Scheuenstuhl and others, is perform ing the Rolling Stones’ album Beggar’s Banquet plus selections from other Rolling Stones albums. Throckmorton Theatre (Mill Valley). 415.383.9600, throck mortontheatre.org

FEB 9 Glen Phillips You know him for the hon est, soul-tugging lyrics he sang as lead singer of Toad the Wet Sprocket, and he brings the same emotional depth to his solo work. HopMonk Tavern (Novato). hopmonk.com

FEB 10–12 Van Morrison

The Northern Irish singer-songwriter, instrumentalist and record producer comes to Oakland. Yoshi’s (Oakland). yoshis.com

FEB 10–15 Bob Weir and Wolf Bros Joined by bassist Don Was and drummer Jay West, the trio plays songs from the Grateful Dead and more. Sweetwater Music Hall (Mill Valley). sweetwater musichall.com

FEB 13 Chamber Music The Mill Valley Philharmonic performs music with a Valentine’s Day theme. Community Center (Mill Valley). millvalley philharmonic.org

FEB 14 Travis Tritt

The Southern rocker and Grammy-winning country music sensa tion presents an evening of solo acoustic music. Luther Burbank Center (Santa Rosa). luther burbankcenter.org

FEB 16 Johnny Mathis

Beloved for his romantic ballads, San Francisco’s very own crooner swings by to perform with a live orches tra on the “Voice of Romance Tour.” Marin Veterans’ Auditorium (San Rafael). marincenter.org

FEB 21 Jason Mraz The two-time Grammy winner, known for his positive message and soulful folk-pop sound,

Jennifer Wechsler

Bringing the latest installment of FAULTline to the Civic Center.

Design Farm Productions founder Jennifer Wechsler was appointed to Marin’s Cultural Services Commission in the spring of 2019 for a two-year term. With a mandate to promote art and public art in Marin, the designer and independent curator, who splits her time between Sausalito and Inverness, organized the third installment of FAULTline Art Show: The County Experience Marin Center’s Bartolini Gallery, February 1–March 31. marincenter.org CHRISTINA MUELLER

What was the SS Vallejo houseboat residency in Sausalito and why was it important to art in Marin?

In the 1940s the SS Vallejo ferryboat boat housed many famous painters and was known as a hotbed of creative and intellectual collaborations in Sausalito. Over the last few years the historic ferryboat has been resurrected as a creative artist residency. In The County Experience , I have artistic representation both from the SS Vallejo in the 1940s and from today.

This is the third installation of FAULTline. How did you choose the theme of “the county experience”? It was very important to me to celebrate the history and depth of the Marin County art culture. Through this show, attendees can “experience” the fertile ground of creativity and ideas fostered in Marin County over the last 80 years.

How is this installation different from the first two FAULTline shows? The first two FAULTline art shows, at Toby’s Barn in Point Reyes Station and Timbuk2 in the Mission District in San Francisco, displayed artists who worked and created art along the California coastal fault lines. This upcoming FAULTline Art Show: The County Experience includes Marin artists who have been in my previous shows in addition to new names who have lived and practiced in Marin.

SPOTLIGHT

pairs up with his long time collaborators, Los Angeles–based quartet Raining Jane. Luther Burbank Center (Santa Rosa). lutherburbank center.org

FEB 21 One Found Sound Balancing well-known and lesserknown works with a relaxed style in unique performance spaces, this chamber music group presents a pro gram for full orchestra. Heron Arts (SF). onefoundsound.org

FEB 23 Lyle Lovett

With his Acoustic Group, the Texas crooner fuses blues, jazz, folk and gospel into his very own style of Americana. Marin Veterans’ Auditorium (San Rafael). marincenter.org

FEB 24 Joshua Radin

As part of the NoisePop Festival, the singer strums his guitar with special guests Ben Kweller and William Fitzsimmons. Great

American Music Hall (SF). slimspresents.com

FEB 24 Sarah McLachlan The Grammy Award–win ning singer known for emotionally resonant ballads drops by to tell a few stories and sing a few songs. Fox Theater (Oakland). thefox oakland.com

MUSEUMS

MARIN Bay Area Discovery Museum Wobbleland

This new exhibit takes children inside the kitchen sink, where they can set sail on a watermelon boat or crawl through a slice of cheese (Sausalito). bayarea discoverymuseum.org

Bolinas Museum

The Golden Decade: Photography at the California School of Fine Arts, 1945–1955 Explore the program established by Ansel Adams that raised the dialogue around photographic

practice, through March 22 (Bolinas). bolinas museum.org

Marin Museum of Contemporary Art Beneath the Surface Artists share their visions and the twists and turns of their creative journeys, through February 23 (Novato). marinmoca.org

The Museum of the American Indian Thousands of Native American regional and cultural items are displayed, with a focus on Marin and Sonoma (Novato). marinindian.com

BAY AREA Asian Art Museum Awaken: A Tibetan Buddhist Journey Toward Enlightenment Buddhist artworks from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the Asian Art Museum invite you to investigate from the perspective of a practi tioner, through May 3 (SF). asianart.org

Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive Lands of Promise and Peril: Geographies of California A studentcurated exhibit examines California as equal parts elusive dream and cruel illusion, through April 26 (Berkeley). bampfa.org

California Academy of Sciences The natural history museum boasts a multilevel aquarium, a tropical rainforest and a planetarium, but kids of all ages come just for the daily penguin feedings (SF). calacademy.org

Charles M. Schulz Museum Hidden Treasures: Unseen Originals from the Collection Enjoy a new look at classic drawings, including new acquisi tions and treasures not previously displayed, through May 25 (Santa Rosa). schulz museum.org

Contemporary Jewish Museum Levi Strauss: A History of American Style Featuring over

150 items, including vintage apparel and advertising materials, this show looks at the very American life of the Bavarian Jewish dry goods merchant who changed the face of American apparel, February 13–August 9 (SF). thecjm.org

de Young Uncanny Valley: Being Human in the Age of AI Unpacking the tropes of artificia intelligence, this exhibit begins in 1970 when Japanese engineer Masahiro Mori intro duced a novel concept, a place where humans confronted autonomous machines that mimicked their physical and men tal properties, February 22–October 25 (SF). deyoung.famsf.org

di Rosa Core Reflections Davina Semo explores tensions between nature, society and the self, through June 28 (Napa). dirosaart.org

Exploratorium This hands-on learning lab explores the world through science, art and human perception with hundreds of discoverfor-yourself exhibits (SF). exploratorium.edu

Legion of Honor Selections from the Achenbach Vault Culled mainly from the collec tion of artist-illustrated books, some of the 115,000 works on paper kept at the museum are presented, through March 15 (SF). legion ofhono.famsf.org

Museum of the African Diaspora Black Is Beautiful With over 40 photographs from Kwame Brathwaite, this exhibit features men and women with natural hair and clothes that reclaim

their African roots, through March 1 (SF). moadsf.org

Museum of Craft and Design Survival Architecture and the Art of Resilience Both large and portable interactive architectural installations, mod els, photography and drawings look at how we might retrofit ou built world to adapt to increased uncertainty, through May 3 (SF). sfmcd.org

Oakland Museum of California You Are Here: California Stories on the Map From environ mental surroundings and health conditions to community perspectives and creative artworks, experience how maps can be a powerful tool to share unique points of view and imagine a better future, February 14–28 (Oakland). museumca.org

SFMOMA Modern Cinema: Agnès Varda An exclusive retrospective of films y the French New Wave filmmaer who died last year delves into the major themes of her storytelling phi losophy: discovery and provocation. Organized in partnership with Berkeley Art Museum Pacific Film Archie, through March 21 (SF). sfmoma.org

Sonoma Valley Museum of Art Valentin Popov: Modern Mixmaster

The Ukraine native known for his portraits gets a retrospective that features works from his best-known series, through April 5 (Sonoma). svma.org

The Walt Disney Family Museum With lectures, exhibits, classes and, of course, film, this

Basket from Michael Smith Gallery, Tribal and Textile Art Show, S.F.

museum is dedicated to the life and works of the man who built Disney (SF). waltdisney.org

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Spanning contemporary and performance art, civic engagement and public life, the works on view at this museum embrace the local community. (SF). ybca.org

EVENTS

FEB 1 Miss Chinatown USA Pageant The win ner of this competition and her court become goodwill ambassadors for the Chinese com munity for the coming year. Palace of Fine Arts Theater (SF). chineseparade.com

FEB 1 Sonoma Salmon Stewards Dinner The Golden State Salmon Association’s annual fun draiser features dinner from the team at William Tell House and vintner delights from the region. Viansa Sonoma Winery (Sonoma). goldenstate salmonassociation.org

FEB 3 Ocean Vuong The author of the poetry col lection Night Sky with Exit Wounds sits down for a chat with Tommy Orange, the author of There, There. Sydney Goldstein Theater (SF). cityarts.net

FEB 4 Mapping of the Mind Poems and stories about mental illness read as salon-style theater. Osher Marin JCC (San Rafael). marinjcc.org

FEB 6 Ezra Klein The editor and author of Why We Are Polarized sits down with Anna Sale to discuss why he doesn’t believe America’s politi cal system is broken, but is working exactly

as designed. Taube Family Auditorium (SF). commwealthclub.com

FEB 6 Link Link Circus Transforming into Aristotle, Descartes, a medieval theologian, and other thinkers, Isabella Rossellini performs in a comedic yet scien tifically informed loo at the links between humans and animals via Darwin’s theory of evolu tion, using short comic films and home mvies, with help from her dog, Pan. The Chapel (SF). thechapelsf.com

FEB 7 The Science of Cocktails Explore a won derland of more than 650 exhibits and 20-plus open bars to learn what makes a great adult bev erage, and savor boozy science demonstrations, bites and live music at this fundraiser for sci ence. Exploratorium (SF). exploratorium.edu

FEB 7–16 SF Beer Week

From an opening night gala to myriad tasting events, educational seminars and plenty of eating, it takes a mere seven days to honor the many joys of craftily made suds. Pier 35 (SF). sfbeerweek.or

FEB 8 Chinese New Year Parade Dating to the 1860s, this parade and festival for the Lunar New Year features float, elaborate costumes, fero cious lions and plenty of dancers. Chinatown (SF). chineseparade.com

FEB 8 Marin Valentine’s Ball An elegant dinner and live entertainment from Wonder Bread 5 help support local organizations that serve vulnerable young people in the community. Civic Center Hall (San Rafael). marinvalentinesball.org

FEB 8 Zydeco Flames

The sizzling roots rhythms of the West Coast’s premier Mardi Gras band will have you on your feet, especially after the two-step dance class. Osher Marin JCC (San Rafael). marinjcc.org

FEB 16 The Bachelor Fan favorites Becca Kufrin and Ben Higgins co-host this romance reality series live onstage to help you find lve while the audience makes suggestions. Luther Burbank Center (Santa Rosa). bachelorlive onstage.com

FEB 19–20 Overexposed

The actor known to many for his work as Beverley Leslie on NBC’s Will & Grace looks back at his youth and his Southern Baptist upbringing and shares anecdotes from his storied stage and screen career. Feinstein’s at the Nikko (SF). feinsteinssf.com

FEB 20–23 Pacific

Orchid Expo More than 150,000 orchids are dis played at this exhibition and sale. Hall of Flowers, Golden Gate Park (SF). orchidsanfrancisco.org

FEB 21–23 Tribal and Textile Art Show & American Indian Art Show For those inter ested in the world’s many cultures, a showcase from the world’s top gal leries brings together textiles and rugs from Africa, Asia and North America along with pre-Columbian, Spanish Colonial and contempo rary American Indian art under one roof. Fort Mason Center (SF). san franciscotribaland textileartshow.com: marinshow.com

2020 Vision

Robert Green Fine Arts begins the decade by looking back.

Mill Valley’s Robert Green Fine Arts has been a showcase for America’s so-called homegrown art form, abstract expressionism, since the gallery was founded in 1969. Owner Robert “Bob” Green, deciding these early days of the 2020s are a fitting time to pay homage to the artists he and his team have represented from the start, designed a show to reflect the painters’ impact on art history. Featuring art by Sam Francis, Ed Moses, Paul Jenkins, Willy Heeks, John Grillo, Jim Bird, Charlotte Bernström and Mark Erickson, the show includes works from post–World War II to the present. Through March 1, 154 Throckmorton Avenue, Mill Valley. rg finearts.com CHRISTINA MUELLER

FEB 22 Minds Matter Gala Don your Gatsby best and indulge in a world of jazz, glamour, and mystery with a casino and magic perfor mances at this event to support high school stu dents as they prepare for college. City Hall (SF). mindsmattersf.org

FEB 23 Black Joy Parade A celebration of black influence and diersity in cultures past, present and future, the proces sion includes marching bands and dance plus a performance stage and craft and food vendors. blackjoyparade.org

FILM

THRU FEB 13 SF IndieFest Works on film from By Area fil makers, screenwriters, directors, sound design ers, animators and more are showcased at this event. Roxie and Victoria Theaters (SF). sfindie.co

FEB 1–29 The Muppet Movie Puppeteered and voiced by legendary Muppets creator Jim Henson, the story fol lows Kermit the Frog on a cross-country trip to Los Angeles, where he just may discover his very own rainbow con nection. Walt Disney Museum (SF). waltdisney.org

FEB 9 The Oscars Bring your betting cards and your friends for a stroll down the red carpet in this come-as-you-are simulcast event. The Rafael (San Rafael). rafaelfilm.cafilm.o

FEB 13–20 Mostly British Film Festival Featuring 26 films fro English-speaking coun tries outside the United States. Vogue Theatre (SF). mostlybritish.org

FEB 14 Wild at Heart

The author of the book that inspired the movie, Barry Gifford, will be o hand to introduce the film y David Lynch. Berkeley Art Museum (Berkeley). bampfa.org

FEB 17 New York Cat and Dog Film Festival A series of animated, docu mentary and narrative short film, themed for felines and canines, cel ebrates the love between people and their furry friends. Lark Theater (Larkspur). lark theater.net

All listings are correct at the time of printing. Please be aware that events may occasionally be canceled or postponed. We always suggest contacting the promoter or venue to confirm details haven’t changed since publication.

DO THIS

Eat & Drink Hot

Floodwater

With atmospheric rivers and king tides as Marin’s new normal, the name Floodwater seems apro pos. The new tavern from renowned Marin restaurateur Bill Higgins (Buckeye Roadhouse, Picco, Bar Bocce, Bungalow 44) and his sons Tyler and Henry Higgins is adjacent to the Holiday Inn in Tam Junction, where Floodwater’s brightly lighted sign shines like a beacon in heavy rain or dense fog. Step into the foyer to see Mount Tamalpais inlaid in the wood floor. Look right for a TV-free room with banquette seating in the booths. Turn left to see the room-length bar, oyster shells and sea glass peeking out from the poured-concrete counter and TVs set high enough to watch the game or ignore. Uplighting draws your eye to the vaulted ceiling; a roaring fire in the pizza oven is a sweet carryover from the former Frantoio days. Open the sliding barn door to a private dining room or grab a seat in the opposing nook, where dark brown tufted leather couches are designed for rearranging. As for what to eat, the Vietnamese chicken wings, pork belly steamed buns and vegetarian cassoulet already have ardent admirers. A limited late-night menu is served until midnight, a boon for weary travelers and everyone else in southern Marin.

WHO Owners Bill Higgins and sons Tyler and Henry Higgins WHAT Floodwater offers a new take on a favorite Marin dining spot WHERE 152 Shoreline Highway, 415.843.4545 , floodwatermv.com s $$ S Í C D BR

CHRISTINA MUELLER

AN INSIDER’S GUIDE TO RESTAURANTS

AND GOOD FOOD IN THE BAY AREA EDITED BY CHRISTINA MUELLER

CORTE MADERA

BOCA PIZZERIA Italian

The Italian-inspired pizzeria utilizes Northern California’s bounty of seasonal ingredients and showcases local microbreweries and wine country’s boutique varietals. The menu includes appetizers, sal ads of organic produce when available, pastas, local free-range poultry and meats, desserts and Neapolitan-style pizzas with house-made mozzarella. Wine half off n Mondays. 1544 Redwood Highway, 415.924.3021, bocapizzeria.com

s $$ Í C LD º

FLORES Mexican With an emphasis on regional Mexican dishes and fl avors sourced from family recipes, the menu is based on California seasonality and revolves around masa. The daily-made tortillas are featured in dishes such as duck con fit enchiladas, Dungeness crab tostadas, and chili-braised beef short ribs. There’s a full bar to boot. 301

Corte Madera Town Center, Corte Madera, 415.500.5145, floressf.com

s $$$ S C LD BR º

LA MAISON DE LA REINE Vietnamese

Dine on family-style Vietnamese fare in the Town Center. The crunchy cabbage chicken salad with peanuts, fresh spring rolls and pho options are popular picks. 346 Corte Madera Town Center, 415.927.0288, lamaisondelareine.com

b $$ S Í C LD

PIG IN A PICKLE

American Fresh and locally sourced brisket,

pork, ribs and chicken get star billing at this Town Center eatery. Sauces are crafted to represent various American barbecue regions, including Memphis and South Carolina. House-made pickles, buns and sausages will keep you coming back. 341 Corte Madera Town Center, 415.891.3265, piginapicklebbq.com

b $$ S Í BLD

ZINZ WINE BAR

California Zinz is an upscale wine bar, retail store and art gallery with a cozy, sophisticated atmosphere, an eclectic array of boutique wines and craft beer, and light appetizers. The quaint neighborhood space also holds events and happy hours. 207

Corte Madera Ave, 415.927.9466, zinzwinebar.com

b $$ Í º

FAIRFAX

BAREFOOT CAFE

American Chef Tony Senehi prepares fresh California dishes with local organic ingredients from sustainable sources. A popular brunch spot, this quaint restaurant serves everything from eggs Benedict to panna cotta dessert. 1900 Sir Francis Drake Blvd, 415.460.2160, barefootcafe.com b $$ S BLD

GRILLY’S Mexican

Looking for a quick, fresh meal? Grilly’s is an easy stop. Pick up a couple burritos and the much-loved chicken taco salad to please the whole family. 1 Bolinas Ave, 415.457.6171, grillys.com

$ S Í C BLD

MAS MASA Mexican Chef and owner Patrick Sheehy focuses on the ancient technique of corn nixtamalization, using organic, non-GMO blue corn to make its handmade tortillas. The beer and wine lists highlight local California microbreweries and wineries. 31 Bolinas Road, 415.529.5444, eatmasmasa.com

s $$ S Í LD

TAMAL Mexican The regional cuisine here highlights coastal regions of Oaxaca and the Yucatán Peninsula. Dine inside or on the patio and enjoy craft Mexican cocktails or some of the Bay Area’s best craft beer. 23 Broadway, 415.524.8478, tamalfairfax.com

s $$$ LD

THE LODGE American From the owners of S.F.’s Big Swingin’

Cycles comes this rider-friendly stop along Fairfax’s main drag. With a menu designed to power you up, The Lodge features all-American eats like a breakfast burrito stu ffed with eggs, spinach and salsa; share plates like a sausage board served with Lodge tots and slaw; and pour-over coffee and draft beer for riders and hikers alike. 1573 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., Fairfax, 415.991.5625, thelodgefairfax.com

b $$ BLD

VILLAGE SAKE Japanese Lucky for Fairfax, beloved former Sushi Ran chef Scott Whitman has opened an izakaya, a Japanesestyle community pub, on Bolinas Road. In the compact space, you’ll fi nd sushi and skewers, salads and small plates, plus great sake and craft beers. The daily wait list opens online at

5 p.m. 19 Bolinas Road, 415.521.5790, villagesake.com

b $$$ Í D

LARKSPUR

DJ’S CHINESE CUISINE

Chinese A great place to satisfy a craving for wonton soup before a show at the Lark Theater; the outdoor patio is a scene-stealer in itself. Lunch and takeout are popular here, too. 435 Magnolia Ave, 415.924.0717, djchinesecuisine.com b $$ S Í LD

BELCAMPO MEAT CO.

American The goods at this meatery are delivered from the certi fied-organic Belcampo Farms near Mount Shasta, dedicated to practicing a holistic approach to pasture management. Try the lamb burger banh mi or the daily meat board.

Marin Country Mart, 2405 Larkspur Landing

Circle, 415.448.5810, belcampomeatco.com b $$ Í LD BR

FARMSHOP American Located in the Marin Country Mart since 2013, Farmshop Marin has quickly become a top spot here in the county. Indoor and out door seating available. Marin Country Mart, 2233 Larkspur Landing Circle, 415.755.6700, farmshopca.com s $$$ S Í C LD BR

LEFT BANK RESTAURANT French

This authentically classic brasserie has been serving the Larkspur community for more than two decades. Whether on the patio, at the European-style bar or in the casually elegant main dining room, it’s a fun and French experience. 507 Magnolia Ave, 415.927.3331, leftbank.com s $$$ S Í C LD BR

PERRY’S American Perry’s on Magnolia has the quintesssentially American fare, bustling bar and warm personality the San Fancisco original has always been famous for. Along with three separate dining rooms in a historic building, there’ss outdoor dining on the patio and in the redwood grove. Lunch and dinner daily, brunch on weekends and holidays; valet parking in the evenings. 234 Magnolia Ave, 415.927.1877, perryssf.com s $$$ Í LD BR º

ROMA SF Italian Ovalshaped pizza, fried rice balls, burrata with artichoke hearts, and pasta with fresh pear and Gorgonzola are just a few of the dishes that reflect the regional Roman ingredients and style of this sister restaurant to the San Francisco original. In Marin, look for fresh seafood pastas on the day’s specials menu, too. 286 Magnolia Ave, 415.896.4002, romasf.com b $$ LD

MILL VALLEY

BOO KOO Asian This locally owned restaurant creates healthy meals that blend equal parts California fresh with Southeast Asian–inspired street food. Boo Koo offers a vibrant bar with wines and kombucha on tap as well as one of the best craft beer offerings in town. Vegan, GF and vegetarian-friendly menu. 25 Miller Ave, 415.888.8303, eatbookoo.com b $ Í LD

BUCKEYE ROADHOUSE American Oysters Bingo, baby back ribs and ChiliLime “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, conversa tions or a light meal. 15 Shoreline Highway, 415.331.2600, buck eyeroadhouse.com s $$ C LD BR

CAFE DEL SOUL California Healthy options become addictive at this eatery that now has locations in both Tam Valley and San Rafael. Once you stop in for the deliciously fresh quinoa wrap, you’ll want to return to try the chipotle rice bowl. A casual lunch spot and great for takeout, Cafe del Soul also serves smoothies and pressed juices. 247 Shoreline Highway, 415.388.1852, cafedelsoul.net

$ S Í LD

FLOODWATER

California Sip “The Obligatory Vodka Drink” at the roomlength bar while you nosh on scallop crudo or dive into a housemade veggie burger in the TV-free front room. Up the coziness factor in the back room as you tuck into a margherita pizza cooked in the wood-fi red oven at this spacious Tam Valley tavern. 152 Shoreline Hwy, 415.843.4545, floodwatermv.com s $$ S Í C D BR

GRAVITY TAVERN

American Updated with ingredients to reflect modern tastes, American classics like

Godzilla Beef Pho at Boo Koo, Mill Valley

grilled chicken Waldorf salad with pickled grapes, lobster roll with toasted challah and veggie slaw, and a land and sea pasta with house made egg pasta, pork belly and crab may have also been familiar fare for passengers of the gravity car for which this saloon was named. 38 Miller Ave, 415.888.2108, gravity tavern.com

s $$$ Í LD

HOOK FISH CO.

Seafood The indoor, wood-ceilinged din ing room feels like a boat’s galley and the spot’s outdoor beer garden adjacent to Mill Valley’s Proof Lab has 13 taps, but the draw at this counter-service joint is the seafood. The transparent supply chain means you can enjoy the poke, fi sh and chips or fi sh tacos secure in the knowledge of exactly where and on what boat your meal came from. 254 Shoreline Highway, hookfihco.com

b $$ S Í D

JOE’S TACO LOUNGE

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. A 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 place for over 30 years; getting a table or booth can take

awhile. While this oldschool eatery is known for traditional pastas, veal dishes, pizzas and dry martinis, the familiar waitstaffis also part of the attraction. 127 Throckmorton Ave, 415.388.0224, laginestramv.com

s $$ S D

PARRANGA TAQUERIA & CERVECERIA

Mexican A blend of the Spanish words for “party” and “enjoy” inspired the name “Parranga,” and Mill Valley’s Parranga does just that as a gathering spot for a ffordable south-of-the-border bites and beverages in the heart of Strawberry Village. The eat-in or takeout menu offers standouts such as rotisserie chicken and an extensive taco selection, along with made-to-order tortillas, ceviche and churros, washed down with whole-fruit juices, aqua frescas, Mexican craft beer or a margarita. Strawberry Village, 800 Redwood Hwy, Ste 801, 415.569.5009, parranga.com

b $$ S Í LD º

PIATTI RISTORANTE

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 Highway, 415.380.2525, piatti.com

s $$ S Í C LD BR

PIZZA ANTICA Italian

Besides its popular thin-crust pizzas, this Strawberry Village restaurant serves seasonal dishes like Tuscan fried chicken with spicy honey, burrata with crushed sweet peas and toasted focaccia, and ricotta gnocchi with sun-dried tomato cream. 800 Redwood Highway, 415.383.0600, pizzaantica.com

b $$ S LD BR º

PRABH INDIAN KITCHEN Indian

Owned and operated by the Dhindsa family, this restaurant emphasizes healthy, organic,sustainable eating in choices like chicken pakora, vegetable biryani and basil garlic naan foods, with options for the vegan and gluten-free. At lunch, the thali menu lets you try several Indian dishes at once. 24 Sunnyside Ave, 415.384.8241, prabhindian kitchen.com

b $$ S Í LD

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

VASCO Italian Whether at a table, the bar or the back counter, you can expect an intimate dining experience in this one-room trattoria. Try one of the pasta dishes or thin-crust wood-fi red pizzas. 106 Throckmorton Ave, 415.381.3343, vasco millvalley.com s $$ S D

than 50 by the bottle. 502 S Palm Drive, besobistro.com b $$ Í LD

BOCA TAVERN American Bring a date here or celebrate a special event. Favorites at this classic restaurant include bigeye tuna poke, Dungeness crab cakes, mac ’n’ cheese croquettes and duck-fat fries. From the woodburning grill there’s fresh fi sh, shrimp and dry-aged ribeye. On Tuesdays wine is half off 340 Ignacio Blvd, 415.883.0901, bocasteak.com s $$$ S Í C LD º

they’re happy to try and prepare dishes off menu. The pot stickers are the best around. 120 Vintage Way, 415.892.8838, jennielow.com b $ S LD

RUSTIC BAKERY

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 Highway, 415.381.8400, robatagrill.com

b $$ S LD

SOL FOOD Puerto Rican

This Marin favorite has opened in Mill Valley, still serving up everyone’s favorite Puerto Rican cuisine. The line can get long, but the food is well worth it. 401 Miller Ave, 415.380.1986, solfood restaurant.com

$$ S BLD

SWEETWATER

MUSIC HALL CAFE

American Located at the entrance of Sweetwater Music Hall, the cafe is dedicated to the FLOSS philosophy: Fresh, Local, Organic, Seasonal and

Sustainable. O ffering breakfast, lunch, dinner and weekend brunch, the menu includes brown-butter scrambled eggs on avocado toast, crispy potatoricotta gnocchi and vegan Thai spring rolls with sweet-and-sour sauce. 19 Corte Madera Ave, 415.388.3850, sweetwater musichall.com s $$ S Í BLD BR º

TAMALPIE Italian Owner Karen Goldberg designed this restaurant with a large group seating area, indoor and outdoor fi replaces, and a small casual bar. The food is Italian home cooking with the daily modern inspiration of locally sourced seasonal ingredients found in the salads, house-made pastas and crispy Neapolitan-style pizza, with a selection of beer and wine to match. 477 Miller Ave, 415.388.7437, tamalpie pizza.com s $$ S Í C LD º

WEST COAST WINE CHEESE California

Focused on small production winemakers, the wine menu features a bottle list with over 300 selections, wines by the glass that change weekly as well as California, Oregon and Washington beers on draft and by the bottle. A rotating cheese and charcuterie menu, served with bread from San Francisco’s Jane Bakery, is also offered. 31 Sunnyside Ave, 415.758.3408, westcoastsf.com b $$ D

NOVATO

BESO BISTRO AND WINE BAR California

This Hamiton Field bistro highlights locally sourced organic produce, fresh sustainable seafood, and pastureraised and free-range meat. Wine lovers can embrace their inner Dionysus — Beso offers more than 20 selections by the glass and more

DR. INSOMNIAC’S American Holding down a lively corner of Grant Ave since 1993, this morning hot spot got its name from the house brand of supercharged coffee beans. The expansive menu features everything from breakfast burritos to shakes, smoothies and coffee drinks including soup, sandwiches and salads at lunch. 800 Grant Ave, 415.246.7347, drinsomniacs.com $ S Í BL BR

HILLTOP 1892 California In a historic country estate in Novato with sweep ing views, enjoy classic favorites with a California fl air. There’s a private banquet room for special events. 850 Lamont Ave, 415.893.1892, hilltop1892.com s $$$ S Í C LD BR º

JENNIE LOW’S Chinese Choose from Cantonese, Mandarin, Szechuan and Hunan cuisines, and if you don’t see your favorite, let the restaurant know; whenever possible,

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

TOAST American With outdoor dining and spacious inside seating, Toast Novato is ideal for large parties and families craving ample plates of comfort food. 5800 Nave Drive, 415.382.1144, toast novato.com b $$ S BLD

SAN ANSELMO

COMFORTS CAFE

American Comforts has a cozy sit-down patio and serves breakfast, lunch and weekend brunch. A large takeout section offers fresh bakery items, seasonal salads, soups, sandwiches and even entrees for dinner at home. Besides the famous 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

Pineapple Cake at Craftsman and Wolves, S.F.

CUCINA SA Italian

Cucina SA recently ren ovated and expanded its space to include a full bar that seats 30 with an upstairs mezzanine area that will eventually become a lounge. Along with two dining rooms, a private dining option and outdoor tables on the adjacent bridge, the restaurant is a solid bet for casual after-work drinks or hosting large parties. The menu has woodfi red pizzas, homemade pastas, modern takes on Italian classics and lots of vegetarian, gluten-free options and now a full bar.

510 San Anselmo Ave, 415.454.2942, cucina-sa.com

s $$ S Í LD º

INSALATA’S Mediterranean Awardwinning chef Heidi Krahling’s restaurant features delicious, soulful Mediterranean fare, as well as food-to-go at a counter inside. 120 Sir Francis Drake Blvd, 415.457.7700, insalatas.com

s $$$ S C LD BR

MADCAP California

Chef Ron Siegel has opened his fi rst solo venture in a contemporary art-fi lled space with an urban edge. The vegetable-centric menu incorporates seafood and local ingredients, fusing California and Japanese cuisines in colorful dishes that are bold, balanced and bright. 198 Sir Francis Drake Blvd, 415.453.9898, madcapmarin.com

b $$$ D

M.H. BREAD AND BUTTER California

A one-stop shop for everything from coffee and pastries to artisan bread, with a seasonal

brunch menu. Highquality ingredients and a comfortable atmosphere make MH worth checking out. 101 San Anselmo Ave, 415.755.4575, mhbreadandbutter.com b $$ 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 of no-frills sushi. The owner hails from Japan and has created an extensive menu featur ing 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

THE HUB American

The delicious burgers and fries, like the #1 Hub Burger with white cheddar and special sauce, and seasonal focus at the former Farm Burger in the Red Hill Shopping Center haven’t changed, but the addition of an array of big salads like Thai spinach and keto cobb necessitated a rebrand ing. The chicken burger with sriracha-chile mayo is a new fave. 882 Sir Francis Drake Blvd, 415.785.4802, hubsananselmo.com b $$ Í LD

VALENTI & CO. Italian

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 of the open kitchen. 337 San Anselmo Ave, 415.454.7800, valentico.com b $$$ D

SAN RAFAEL

ARIZMENDI BAKERY

California A workerowned bakery cafe, Arzimendi prides itself on high-quality local ingredients. Visit any time of day for coffee and pastries, breakfast and lunch sandwiches, and thin-crust artisan sourdough pizza. 1002 Fourth St, 415.456.4093, arizmendisan rafael.com $ S Í BLD BR

BOIADEIRUS STEAK

Brazilian The picanha is the signature cut at this Brazilian-style steak house where gauchos carrying grilled meats on long swords cruise the room, offering portions of up to 10 meats. A huge salad bar offers everything from fei joada and potato salad to yucca and deviled

eggs. 925 Fourth St, 628.253.5854, boiadeirus.com s $$$ S LD

IL DAVIDE Italian

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 accommo dates up to 45. 901 A St, 415.454.8080, ildavide.net s $$$ S Í C LD

LA TOSCANA

RISTORANTE & BAR

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 Highway, 415.492.9100, ristorante latoscana.com s $$$ S Í C LD º

LE CHALET BASQUE

French This familystyle place features dishes inspired by the Basque regions of France and Spain, like frog legs in a garlic butter and lemon sauce, a veal calf liver sauté and sweetbreads with port wine sauce and mushrooms. On a warm night, enjoy alfresco dining on the patio. 405 North San Pedro Road, 415.479.1070, chaletbasque.com s $$$ S Í C LD

LOS MOLES Mexican Nestled centrally on Lincoln Avenue, Los Moles offers traditional pueblo Mexican cuisine, with — you guessed it — a variety of di fferent moles to enhance your dish. O ffering brunch, lunch, dinner and party options, Los Moles’ menu includes enmo ladas, tacos, pollo al horno, carne asada , fl an and much more. Don’t miss Taco Tuesday night for all-you-caneat tacos. 912 Lincoln Ave, 415.453.5850, losmoles.com s $$ LD BR º

MAGNOLIA PARK KITCHEN American

This American bistro features lots of farm-fresh salads and sandwiches to choose from. The outdoor patio is well suited to 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

MICHAEL’S SOURDOUGH

American The bread is made on site and is said to have magical qualities. It better as it is the only holder for the overstu ffed wonders served at this Best of the County winner. Fans return over and over to the San Rafael and Novato locations for their faves, ordered by number, then swoon over the huge sandos piled with meat, cheese and enough shredded lettuce to ooze out the sides and onto your lap,. 999 Andersen Drive, Ste. 165, 415.485.0964, michaelssourdough sanrafael.com $$ S Í BL

PANAMA HOTEL RESTAURANT

American The dinner menu has a large selection — tortilla soup to pumpkin and ricotta raviolis — but it’s the Sunday brunch that will please the kids. Try the Panama Wa ffle with Grand Marnier–infused strawberries, topped with mascarpone, plus a pitcher of “makeyour-own” mimosas for the adults. The tropical garden is a prime spot for peoplewatching. 4 Bayview St, 415.457.3993, panamahotel.com b $$$ Í C LD BR º

POND FARM BREWING

American The new microbrewery in the West End from husband and wife team Trevor and Stephanie Martens has a rotating list of beers on tap from brewer Trevor, pop-up food from local businesses in the beer garden, and snacks at the bar. Stein parking is available. 1848 Fourth St, 415.524.8709, pond farmbrewing.com b $ Í D

REVEL & ROOST

Californian The sunflower-bedecked tables hint at the Spanish and French flavors to come from the seasonally driven, locally sourced menu at this corner spot in downtown San Rafael. Artichoke salad with grilled radicchio casts an eye to Italy while a diver scallop with red curry and Thai basil looks far beyond the Mediterranean. 901 B St, San Rafael, 415.870.9946, revel roostkitchen.com b $$ S LD

SAN RAFAEL JOE’S Italian A Marin institution famous for sophisticated yet casual

Italian fare since 1947. The dining room, with a friendly atmosphere and seating for 240, is great for large parties, and the roast sirloin of beef and Fettuccine Joe’s are sure to please. 931 Fourth St, 415.456.2425, sanrafaeljoe.com s $$ S C LD º

S OL FOOD Puerto Rican Fast becoming a Marin legend, Sol Food whips up traditional Puerto Rican dishes just like the ones owners Sol Hernandez grew up eating. Favorites include the bistec sandwich, mofongo and other fried plantain dishes, but anything tastes good with a dash of the signature hot sauce, also for sale by the bottle (as is the lemon-garlic salad dressing). 901 Lincoln Ave, 415.451.4765, sol foodrestaurant.com $$ S BLD

SUSHI TO DAI FOR Japanese Snagging a seat in this popular Fourth Street 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, sushi todaifor.net b $$ S LD

TAM COMMONS TAP ROOM & KITCHEN American Pub grub like karaage “popcorn” chicken, French bread pizza, and big meaty plates of ribs and tritip with all the fi xin’s defi ne the menu from chef Chris Lyon at this brewpub in a National Historic Landmark building in downtown San Rafael. A pull from one of the 34 taps yields a hand-crafted beer, cider or kombucha from local and global

Nachos at Flores, Corte Madera

brought the cake with him when he opened San Anselmo’s Valenti & Co. a few years ago with his wife, updating its look yet maintaining the tower’s ephemeral quali ties. The chocolate cake is olive oil based, which gives the dessert a silky feel that’s enhanced by the chocolate mousse filling. Topped with chocolate sauce and chocolate shavings, it’s actually a tower of quadruple chocolate love, “but quadruple doesn’t roll of the tongue very easy [sic] so I stick with triple,” Valenti jokes . 337 San Anselmo Ave, San Anselmo. valentico.com

— molasses, ginger and cardamom — fuse with Valrhona cocoa, the cocoa note a subtle undertone tempering the boldness. Fresh tangerines steeped in vanilla-scented syrup add acidity, and a scoop of creamsicle ice cream, flecked with bits of freeze-dried mandarin orange, harmonizes the seemingly disparate elements. It is a chocolate creamsicle dream come true. 399 The Embarcadero, San Francisco. waterbarsf.com

• Chocolate Hazelnut Bomb, Lord Stanley When the chocolate

Sweet Somethings

It’s February, when thoughts turn to chocolate in honor of the Feast of St. Valentine. The mythical aphrodisiac, now known to stimulate production of endorphins and serotonin (a double-whammy natural antidepressant and happiness creator), has been on nutritionists’ yes lists for years as a mood-boosting, high-antioxidant food. This month chocolate has prominence on some restaurant menus in wine country, San Francisco and Marin, proof that local chefs understand not only the sensual pleasure of chocolate melting on your tongue but the thrill of a well-crafted dessert. BY CHRISTINA MUELLER

• Fiery Salted Chocolate Caramel Tarte, Morimoto

There is something retro-cool about desserts lighted tableside. At Morimoto in downtown Napa, a chocolate sphere filled with crème Chantilly and dark choc olate sorbet appears demure, its smooth exterior a ruse for the pending show. In a tiny saucepan, chocolate

ganache is set alight, its blue glow courtesy of high-proof rum drizzled atop the chocolate orb. Crumbly sable cook ies are filled with even more chocolate caramel ganache, making this confection a wonder of gooey warm delicious ness 610 Main St, Napa. morimotonapa.com

• S’more Pie, Buckeye Roadhouse The most famous pie in Marin earned its reputation

with plenty of oldfashioned yum. Buckeye Roadhouse chef Robert Price layers a honeyinfused graham cracker crust with semisweet chocolate and toasted almonds, then tops it with meringue and more chocolate. The chocolate oozes from its meringue nest, a dark eye in a storm of fluffy white. The top layer of meringue is teased and toasted to look like

waves cresting or a porcupine’s needles. 15 Shoreline Hwy, Mill Valley. buckeyeroadhouse.com

• Tower o f Triple Chocolate Love, Valenti & Co. Do you remember th e torre di cioccolate that won hearts of diners at now-closed Frantoio? Chef Duilio Valenti, who ran the kitchen there,

•  Chocolate Gingerbread Cake, Waterbar Erica Land, executive pastry chef at San Francisco’s Waterbar, designed her chocolate gingerbread cake to highlight her love of cardamom. “It’s my favorite spice. It brings a unique warmth to any dish,” she says. In this seasonal dessert, big flavors

hazelnut bomb that wraps up a nine-course tasting menu at San Francisco’s Lord Stanley arrives, the caramel lol lipop perched atop the white chocolate orb is radiant, a golden Venus on a pearlescent shell. The almond genoise cake, a classic pâtisserie

Fiery Salted Chocolate Caramel Tarte, Morimoto

S’more Pie, Buckeye Roadhouse

from the French culinary canon, is delicate, its character matched by a bed of praline mousse and a stuffing of black cocoa sorbet. The white chocolate shell serves as a reminder that chocolate need not overwhelm to be grand. 2065 Polk St, San Francisco. lordstanleysf.com

• Chocolate Pyramid, Michael Mina The choc olate pyramid at Michael Mina in San Francisco is shaped like the famous crypts of Mina’s

ancestral homeland. Tap the soft chocolate struc ture with a spoon and warm sunflower praline gracefully emerges, a gift of an eternal pharaoh. Executive pastry chef Nick Muncy bedecks his polyhedron with sunflower praline tuile, a ladder to the stars, and garnishes with luminous blackberry sorbet; the gold-crusted blackberries could be the jewels of any of the

kings of Giza. Could it be a coincidence that Muncy is also both a food photographer and creator of the indie food magazine Toothache? 252 California St, San Francisco. michaelmina.net

• Chocolate Mousse Bomb, Napa Valley Wine Train Of course there is wine on the Napa Valley Wine Train, but a meal aboard this rolling restaurant is not complete without dessert. Pastry chef

Chloe Rials created a chocolate mousse bomb with Valentine’s Day in mind. To reach the red “heart” of pomegran ate gelée ensnared in swirls of white and dark chocolate mousse, crack open the dark chocolate shell that tops a dense chocolate torte. Equal parts fun and whimsical, this dessert comes with a warning: hearts, like chocolate, are easily broken. 1275 Mckinstry St, Napa. winetrain.com

Chocolate Hazelnut Bomb, Lord Stanley

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Out

breweries. 1300 Fourth St, 415.521.5770, tam commons.com b $$ LD º

TERRAPIN CROSSROADS

American This water front restaurant and music venue presents fresh food and local talent. The menu offers salads, savory dishes and wood-fi red pizzas plus a wide selection of beer, wine and cocktails. Come for the food, stay for the music. 100 Yacht Club Drive, 415.524.2773, terrapin crossroads.net s $$ Í C D BR º

and reasonably priced organic dishes. The California-Caribbean lunch and dinner cuisine blends local farm-fresh ingredients with Lati n fl avors. Be sure to try the popula r fi sh tacos, Cuban “cigars” and chocolate bread pudding. Available for parties and special gatherings, plus a back patio for alfresco dining. 1613 Fourth St, 415.256.1818, whipsnap.biz

b $$ S Í C LD º

SAUSALITO

2 Fifer Ave, Ste 130 Corte Madera, CA 94925 (925) 287-1256

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Dr. Ruben Kalra, M.D. Interventional Pain and Spine Specialist CA

UCHIWA RAMEN Japanese When own ers Benson Yang and Kevin Fong decided to open Marin’s fi rst ramen shop in 2014, they weren’t sure what to expect. Three years later, Uchiwa remains loved by ramen enthusiasts for its rich broths, fresh noodles and wide assortment of appetizers. Vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options available. 821 B St, 415.991.3693, uchiwaramen.com b $$ LD

VIN ANTICO American Vin Antico, “where passion meets the plate,” serves seasonal marketinspired cuisine like stone-oven-baked fl atbreads, handmade pastas and organic salads, all innovatively prepared. The kitchen is open to the dining room and there’s a full bar with artisan cocktails. 881 Fourth St, 415.721.0600, vinantico.com s $$ S C LD º

WHIPPER SNAPPER RESTAURANT Caribbean Owner/ chef Bill Higgins serves tapas, sangria

ARAWAN THAI Thai This Sausalito favorite serves up popular dishes like prawn arawan with yellow curry as well as $10 lunch specials. 47 Caledonia St, 415.729.9395 b $$ LD

AVATAR’S Indian If you’re on the hunt for innovative Indian fare, head to Avatar’s. Sip masala chai sweetened with brown sugar in this casual one-room restaurant, ideal for a quick lunch or dinner. 2656 Bridgeway, 415.332.8083, enjoyavatars.com b $$ S LD

BUMP BAR Seafood The Sausalito bar and cafe boasts an intimate 12 seats facing the kitchen and an array of sustainably sourced caviar and roe and a seafood-cen tric menu that makes the most of the sea’s briniest delight. Plates like binchotan grilled lobster with herbs or black cod topped with tru ffles round out the menu. 1403 Bridgeway, 415.332.0826, california caviar.com b $$$ D

DARIO’S RESTAURANT

Italian Dario’s, a 40-year-old pizza joint in Sausalito, is shaking things up by updating the menu with a Mediterranean fl air. In addition to the thincrust pizzas, you can now order items like lamb meatballs, chicken shawarma and falafel wraps. 2829 Bridgeway, 415.332.6636, darios sausalito.com b $$ Í LD

DAVEY JONES DELI

American Stationed in the New Bait Shop Market, Davey Jones Deli offers houseroasted sandwich meats, healthy condi ments and local, organic vegetables; the deli serves sandwiches, veggie-wiches, wraps and salads with vegetarian, vegan and meat-lover options. Because the sandwiches are so generous, this easy stop is great during a day of boating, biking, hiking, and general adventur ing around Marin. Gate 6 Road, 415.331.2282, daveyjonesdeli.com b $$ S Í L

FENG NIAN Chinese

This popular hangout has served up wonton soup, pot stickers and daily specials for nearly two decades. For an indulgent treat, order the Szechwan crispy calamari, honeyglazed walnut prawn or lemon chicken. 2650 Bridgeway, 415.331.5300, fengnian.com b $$ S LD

JOINERY American

This waterfront res taurant features craft beer, burgers, rotisserie chicken and other hearty, seasonal fare in a communal setting, with outdoor seating and great

views. 300 Turney St, 415.766.8999, joineryca.com b $$ 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

OSTERIA DIVINO Italian Osteria Divino offers authentic Florentine cooking inspired by the fi nest local, organic, seasonal produce, meat and fi sh available, along with an extensive artisan pasta selection. Live music Tue-Sun. 37 Caledonia St, 415.331.9355, osteriadivino.com

b $$ S Í C BLD BR º

SALITO’S CRAB HOUSE & PRIME RIB Seafood

Large decks overlooking the water, with an all-day menu, located in the historic Zack’s by the Bay old spot. Ability to accommodate large parties; parking on site. 1200 Bridgeway, 415.331.3226, salitos crabhouse.com s $$$ S Í C LD º

SAYLOR’S RESTAURANT AND BAR Mexican Chef/ owner Sean Saylor uses fresh local ingredients and seafood to create a distinctively Cabo combination of California and Mexican cuisine. Choose from more than 200 varieties of tequilas that are even better when enjoyed in the private Cabo Wabo room, named for (and approved by) Mill Valley’s own tequila master, Sammy Hagar. 2009 Bridgeway, 415.332.1512, saylors restaurantandbar.com s $$ S Í C LD º

SCOMA’S OF SAUSALITO Italian Sausalito’s oldest seafood house. Scoma’s boat, berthed at Pier 47, fi shes seasonally and is approved for salmon and Dungeness crab, resulting in fresh catches year-round. The menu regularly features whole crabs, chowders and grilled fih. 588 Bridgeway, 415.332.9551, scomas sausalito.com s $$ C LD

SEAHORSE Italian

The spacious dining area, accompanied by a dance floor and stage, make Seahorse ideal for celebrations large and small. Enjoy a modern twist on classic Tuscan coastal cooking while grooving to the nightly live music and entertainment in a historic building. 305 Harbor Drive, 415.331.2899, sausalitoseahorse.com b $$$ Í C LD BR º

TASTE OF THE HIMALAYAS

Himalayan Popular for lunch and dinner, serving authentic food from a faraway region. 2633 Bridgeway, 415.331.1335,

sausalitotasteofthe himalayas.com b $$ S LD

TOMMY’S WOK

Chinese Fresh ingredi ents, free-range chicken and traditional dishes ful fi ll the Chinese food craving with a nice atmosphere for dining in and great takeout for a night at home. 3001 Bridgeway, 415.332.5818, tommyswok.com b $$ S Í LD

VITALITY BOWLS

California Hydrating acai, graviola (a.k.a. soursop fruit) and other nutritional powerhouses are at the heart of this superfood cafe in Sausalito’s Gateway Center. Look for bowls and smoothies like The Hulk (powered by broccoli, naturally) and an organic coffee bar with pour-over coffee, kombucha and drinks like a pitaya latte. 100 Donahue St, 415.729.9795, vitality bowls.com

$$ S BLD

TIBURON

DON ANTONIO

TRATTORIA Italian

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, don antoniotrattoria.com b $$ D

MILANO Italian

Located in the Cove Shopping Center, this family-owned neighborhood spot is known for its pasta and friendly service. Favorites like the cheesy garlic bread

Concierge Match Making

and pesto keep customers coming back. 1 Blackfield Drive, 415.388.9100, italian restaurantin tiburonca.com

s $$ S Í LD

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 its extensive 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

WAYPOINT PIZZA

Pizza Family-friendly, with cooked-to-order gourmet pies, slices, fresh salads and, for sports fans, a largescreen TV. Order online for quick pickup or delivery. 15 Main St, 415.435.3440, waypointpizza.com

b $$ S C LD BR

WEST MARIN

NICK’S COVE American

This coastal escape is now famous for barbecued local oys ters, Dungeness crab mac ’n’ cheese and cocktails incorpo rating homegrown ingredients. Large windows in the 120seat restaurant provide picturesque views of Tomales Bay and Hog Island (Marshall). 23240 Highway 1, 415.663.1033, nickscove.com

s $$$ S Í C LD BR

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 cafe 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

SALTWATER OYSTER

DEPOT Seafood A seat at the room-length bar or on the patio at this snug spot on Tomales Bay’s west shore can be tough to snag on a busy summer weekend but oysters pulled straight from the bay moments before, served broiled and on the half shell, are worth the wait. Locally-sourced ingredients get equal billing in dishes like halibut crudo and a lamb burger. 12781 Sir Francis Drake Blvd, Inverness, 415.669.1244, saltwateroyster depot.com

b $$ S Í LD

SIDE STREET KITCHEN

American Sheryl Cahill, owner of the Station House Cafe, opened her next venture a few blocks down in the former Pine Cone Diner. The fast-casual eatery led by chef Aaron Wright (formerly of Tavern at Lark Creek) serves favorites like rotisserie chicken, smoked oysters and pork-belly BLTs as well as wholesome vegetarian fare (Point Reyes Station). 60 Fourth St,

Perfect for the New Year

415.663.0303, sidestreet-prs.com

b $$ S Í LD º

TONY’S SEAFOOD Seafood The crowds still come on sunny weekends for the barbecue oysters and amazing views of Tomales Bay but the recent purchase by the Hog Island Oyster Co team meant a refresh of the interior and a spi ffed-up menu of salads and seafood pulled from the bay’s waters. 18863 Shoreline Hwy, Marshall, 415.663.1107, tonysseafood restaurant.com

b $$$ S Í C LD

SAN FRANCISCO /EAST BAY

AUGUST 1 FIVE Indian A seasonal menu inspired by the regional cooking of northern and central India breaks away from staples like curry. The interior makes an inviting atmosphere for modern interpretations of Indian cuisine. 524 Van Ness Ave, 415.771.5900, august1five.com s $$ LD º

CRAFTSMAN AND WOLVES American At this contemporary pâtisserie in the Mission District, pastry whiz William Werner serves egg-fi lled muffi ns known as the Rebel

Within, bonbons, cof fee and many other sweet and savory baked goods. 746 Valencia St, 415.913.7713, craftsman-wolves.com b $$ Í BL

DAILY DRIVER

American The team that owns Toluma Farms and Tomales Farmstead Creamery in West Marin brings cheesemaking to the city at this all-in-one creamery, bagel shop and coffee roastery in San Francisco’s Dogpatch neighborhood. 2535 Third St, 415.852.3535, dailydriver.com b $$$ S BL

KEY TO SYMBOLS

Full bar Wine and beer Inexpensive (entrees $10 or less) Moderate (up to $20) Expensive ($20 and over) Kid-friendly

s b $ $$ $$$ S Í C BLD BR º

Outdoor seating Private party room Breakfast, lunch, dinner Brunch

Happy hour

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.

PROMOTION

Consistently rated “Best of Marin,” Comforts offers fine city and home-style food. Our menus change regularly to reflet what is fresh, local and in season. We offer breakfast, lunch and weekend brunch, in addition to take-out and catering services. Open 7 days a week.

COMFORTS 335 San Anselmo Ave, San Anselmo, CA 415.454.9840 comfortscafe.com

Marin Matters

LOCAL PEOPLE MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Pain Point

There is no doubt the opioid crisis is one of the United States’ most urgent epidemics. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, between 1999 and 2017 almost 400,000 people died from an opioid over dose. Drug overdose is the leading cause of injury-related death in the United States.

At the root of this crisis is how people are managing often punish ing pain, most significantly, low back pain. In 2016, an estimated 50 million U.S. adults su ffered from chronic pain, primarily involv ing the lower back. Yet there are no consistently effective, durable pharmacologic interventions available to deal with this issue.

Opioids remain one of the most commonly used treatments.

Now, researchers at University of California San Francisco have been given the opportunity to tackle this problem more effec tively thanks to a landmark grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The agency awarded 10 grants this year total ing more than $40 million to university researchers as part of the NIH Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) Initiative. Almost $30 million of it is going toward creating the Core Center for Patient-centric Mechanistic Phenotyping in Chronic Low Back Pain (REACH), made up of an interdisciplinary con sortium of scientists.

We spoke to Sigurd Berven, an orthopedic surgeon chief of the Spine Service at the UCSF Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, and one of the clinical investigators on the team, about the grant.

This is the biggest grant that your department has ever received. Can you explain what makes it so extraordinary? This is a special interdisci plinary grant. It explores both nonoperative and operative care in order

BY JESSICA GLIDDON

to understand chronic low back pain. The priority this study was given was determined by both prevalence and impact. According to the Global Burden of Disease 2010 Study, low back pain ranked highest in terms of years lived with disability, making this the most common reason for pri mary care. Also, surgery for this condition is one of the most expensive.

This problem has a larger impact than most common global respira tory, heart disease, osteo, or spinal disorders, even more than mental health. Eighty percent of U.S. adults will have a disability episode in their lifetime due to low back pain.

How will the grant help address the issue of opioid addiction? Opioid addiction is what makes this grant a priority. For a large number of people, their fi rst introduction to opioids is when being treated for mus culoskeletal disorders. One out of four chronic opioid users who are taking these medicines for non-cancer reasons are su fferers of addiction. Also, opioids are often an entry point on the pathway to heroin use. Drug overdose has become the leading cause of death overall, and more of these deaths relate to prescriptions than to heroin.

Is there a specific part of the population that will be most affected by this grant? Low back pain is ubiquitous. It crosses racial, social and demographic lines, so this research really could have a great impact on wider society.

How will the research for this grant be conducted? This grant is a com bined effort; it’s part of a multidisciplinary approach. We will develop models, take fi ndings and try to figure out ways to apply these so we can develop diagnostics as well as therapeutic interventions. We are hoping to develop a more appropriate and precise approach to the broader problem of low back pain.

What do you and your colleagues hope to learn from this study? We want to understand the biological, anatomical, pathophysiological, psychologi ca l and biosocial physiological model of this issue. If we understand this, we have an opportunity to make an impact and understand why people are using opioids. I’m optimistic about this — it’s really [addressing] an important issue and there is a great need for it. m

Dr. Sigurd H. Berven explains how an unprecedented new grant is helping to tackle the problem of low back pain and in turn, the opioid crisis.

• THE RACCOONS

The 11th Annual Raccoons fashion show and luncheon at the St. Francis Yacht Club was a fundraiser benefiting MarinHealth.

On the Scene

RICHARD WHEELER (ICB); CINDY GOODMAN

Bob Green and Douglas Sandberg

Eugenia Jesberg, Sharon Paster and Julie Zanze

• ICB WINTER OPEN STUDIOS More than 90 artists in various mediums including photography, film, fiber, painting, printmaking, animation, jewelry, drawing, sculpture and new media opened their doors to the public for the holidays.

Don McCartney, Kathleen Lipinski, Kay Carlson and Joe Grenn

Claire Slaymaker, Jean Fair, Marla Kelly, Mimi Breck, Sara Fondreist, Diane Kahn, Abbe Harle, Kim Draeger and Pat Montag

SNAPSHOTS FROM SPECIAL EVENTS IN MARIN AND SAN FRANCISCO EDITED BY DANIEL JEWETT

DREW ALTIZER

• HALL OF FAME Maya Angelou, RuPaul Charles and Tony Hawk were among those inducted into the California Hall of Fame in Sacramento on December 10. Gov. Gavin Newsom and Jennifer Siebel Newsom hosted the event.

RuPaul Charles and Georges LeBar

Jennifer and Gavin Newsom, Dolores Huerta, and Christa and Arik Armstead

• DREAMFEST Fleetwood Mac and Beck were the featured artists at Oracle Park for the annual Salesforce conference and fundraiser. The event raised more than $11 million for UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals.

Shanna Frati, Martha and Phillip Moore, and Chris Anderson

Lynne and Marc Benioff

Mark Laret, Arline Prieto, Carlos Prieto, Carlos Prieto Sr. and Michael Anderson VISIT

FROM TOURS AND MAKEOVERS TO DECORATIVE DETAILS AND REALTOR INSIGHTS

FAMILY AFFAIR

Parents and a brother lure a sister and her daughter to Marin.

BY DAWN MARGOLIS DENBERG PHOTOS BY VIVIAN JOHNSON

THE PRESIDIO HEIGHTS neighbor hood that Jacquie Dara and her daughter, Mia, called home for six years suited them fi ne, though Jacquie periodically toyed with the idea of relocating to Marin to be closer to her brother and his family. Her parents loved the idea and ran with it. “Unbeknownst to me, they decided to take my vision a step further,” she says with a laugh.

The real estate intervention began when Jacquie’s dad and stepmother came to visit her in the fall of 2017. “I dropped them off t my brother’s house so I could take my daughter to the doctor,” Jacquie recalls. While she was gone, her parents and brother perused the MLS, found what they perceived to be the perfect place and did a quick drive-by. “I got back from the doctor and they were all staring at me and I was like, ‘What’s up?’ And that’s when they said, ‘We found your house.’ ”

The property they’d identi fied was a fourbedroom, two-bath bungalow a stone’s throw from her brother Ken’s place in Strawberry. Ken, who as it happens is a realtor by trade, had already booked an appointment for his sister to go see the house. An hour later the family piled into the car to check it out as a group. “The minute I walked in, I just loved the feel of it,” Jacquie says. “I didn’t look at other places. It was one and done.”

She closed on the property in November 2017. The place was in great shape; the previ ous owners had already gutted the kitchen and expanded the home’s footprint to include a spa cious new master suite. Still, she wanted to make the space her own while honoring the existing design. That entailed expanding the footprint by another 100 square feet, allowing her to carve out space for a powder room, entry vestibule and dining area and “to create a space for our piano,” she says. “I also remodeled the guest bathroom,

flip-flopped the position of the living room windows and sliding door, and added a fireplace as well as built-ins.” The home’s exterior got a refresh too, including new paint, siding and doors. She extended a perimeter fence, added a bluestone patio, re-landscaped and revamped a side yard retaining wall.

As for furnishings, Jacquie was able to incor porate most of her old pieces into the new space with only a few additional purchases. “I got my outdoor furniture from Terra in Mill Valley and a new round dining table and living room sec tional from Ethan Allen.”

It’s been just over two years since Jacquie and Mia traded city living for a quieter life in Marin, and they couldn’t be happier. “It’s nice having family around for extra help,” Jacquie admits. “We swap kids and dogs all the time.” m

For column consideration, please send photos and a description to dawn@marinmagazine.com.

Opener: Expanding the home’s footprint left room for a piano.

Opposite: The window position was flipped in the living room. This page from the top left: A sun-drenched yard; the master suite; an open-concept kitchen; a fresh coat of paint and a new front door add curb appeal; Jacquie Dara and Teo; the new powder room.

HANDS ON

Instead of using a tiller or other machines, prepare beds by hand, and maintain them with little or no tilling to minimize soil disturbance. Choosing hand tools over gas-powered means less air pollution.

START AT THE BOTTOM

A healthy garden always starts with healthy soil. Amend with organic compost and grow winter cover crops such as beans and peas to enrich soil and help it store carbon.

Friendly Earth

A garden that’s nice to our surroundings.

You may have a garden in Marin, but is it a Marin-friendly garden? That’s a term adopted by UC Cooperative Extension and the Marin Municipal Water District. It means, for starters, a garden that reflects a sustainable, environmentally aware approach to design, construction and maintenance. And it has benefits: helps fight global warming, conserves valuable resources, prevents waste and pollution, promotes wildlife habitats and supports the health of the San Francisco Bay watershed. That may seem a tall order, but some of the practices involved are actually simple and can translate to fewer chores. Here are friendly pointers to steer you in the right direction. BY KIER HOLMES

KNOW YOUR H20 Install an efficient irrigation system and water according to your plants’ needs. Also consider a rainwater collection system.

MULCH TO DO

When you use mulch, you build healthy soil, reduce waste, conserve water and encourage wildlife habitats, and you spend less time watering and weeding. Use leaves, homemade compost and chipped plant debris. Sheet mulching (laying down cardboard) works as natural weed control.

MIX IT UP

Create wildlife habitats by planting a variety of plants that flower and produce fruit and seeds at different times of year. Use California natives and avoid plants considered invasive. BRIGHT IDEA

Choose outdoor lights that are energy efficient or solar powered.

HARD CHOICES

Choose permeable materials for surfaces so water can soak in rather than become runoff and pollute waterways. Terrace steep slopes to prevent soil erosion.

ON SITE

Reduce yard waste in landfills by keeping plant debris on site. Try grasscycling (leaving grass clippings on the lawn after mowing) or composting the material.

FEELING GREEN

Avoid synthetic fertilizers and toxic pesticides and herbicides.

OVER IT

Reduce plant and water waste by not overfertilizing, overwatering or overplanting.

SKILLED NURSING

Contact: Janey Dobson, MPH Director of Health Services Business VALLEY Portola Valley,

SAN FRANCISCO Geary Boulevard Francisco,

OPPORTUNITIES ARE IN BLOOM.

WE ARE ENGEL & VÖLKERS

Whether buying or selling a home, Engel & Völkers ensures an experience of the highest caliber. While we have sophisticated systems and smarter strategies, they’re just starting points. It’s our standard of service exhibited by all of our local real estate professionals across the globe that truly set us apart, a network that lives and breathes exceptional client service.

The same is true in our Marin County shops... and our standards are high. It’s about providing comfort, convenience and confidence as clients make one of the biggest decisions of their lives.

Engel & Völkers can only be as good and successful as its advisors. We concentrate our efforts on hiring the best and fostering their development on an ongoing basis. We are extremely proud that our managers and advisors give rise to such an open, pleasant, warm and respectful culture. We live by our core values: passion, competence and exclusivity.

We are proud to be a part of the large Engel & Völkers family. Licensed partners are invited to apply.

SAUSALITO BRIDGEWAY SAUSALITO, CA 94965 +1 415 887-9925

KENTFIELD COLLEGE AVE KENTFIELD, CA 94904 +1 415 847-4904

SAN ANSELMO 850 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE BLVD SAN ANSELMO, CA 94960 +1 415 675-1263

FAIRFAX 44 BOLINAS ROAD FAIRFAX, CA 94930 +1 415 870-4411

MILL VALLEY E BLITHEDALE AVE VALLEY, CA 94941 415 634-5577

SOPHISTICATION & VIEWS

Our highest recommendation!

“Jennifer and Elliott are an incredible team. They asked all the right questions to make sure they got to know us, including asking about our childhood homes. They found our dream home at our first meeting and their longstanding relationships in the Marin real estate community were integral to the process. They are incredibly kind. We can’t imagine having purchased our home without them. We give them our highest recommendation!”

— Mike and Morgan C

Top Teams by Volume

Bill

Max Applegarth

Kara Warrin

Paul Warrin

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Karin

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Casady

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Applegarth + Warrin Team Narodny Team

Susan + C.J.

Falla Associates

Patricia

Top Agents

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Top Agents & Teams by Transaction Sides 2019

Lisa

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EFFECT the Lamarre

Golden Gate Sotheby’s International Realty

In San Francisco in 20191 #1 Agent in Marin

By Sales Volume in 2019

Highest Sale Price

An analytical natural with a background in law, Stephanie Lamarre has risen to the top of her game in the real estate world. With an eye for design, strategic guidance, and passion for what she does, Lamarre is behind many of Marin County’s record sales prices, as well as the highest sale price in San Francisco in 2019.

Stunning urban retreat with spectacular views of the Sausalito Harbor, Angel Island and beyond. Featuring an open floor plan, big windows and lots of natural light. Wideplank oak floors, vaulted ceilings and custom lighting throughout. The updated and open chef’s kitchen features high-end appliances, and an outdoor entertaining area that is idyllic thanks to large decks and a completely private outdoor kitchen. Located on a sunny hillside, just minutes from Caledonia Street, local schools, parks, waterfront and the ferry.

Lyford’s Tower

Once the gateway to the utopian dream of a Civil War embalmer. BY JIM WOOD 1910

THE ABOVE TOWER and archway were built in about 1889, on what is now Paradise Drive, east of downtown Tiburon overlooking San Francisco Bay. At the time, Paradise Drive was Tiburon Boulevard and the direct way into Tiburon . The structure was to be the entranceway into a proposed utopian village of healthful living named Lyford’s Hygeia, for the Greek goddess of health. Such was the dream of Dr. Benjamin Lyford, a retired Civil War embalmer who had the good fortune of marrying Hilarita Reed, whose father, John Reed, owned much of the Tiburon Peninsula thanks to a Spanish land grant. Lyford was nothing if not a dreamer; it was in the follow-through that he came up short. His descriptions were inspiring: “This marvelous spot, where even now events are shaping it to become

The structure was to be the entranceway into Hygeia, a proposed utopian village of healthful living.

the most far-famed health resort the world has known, is free from elements which retard growth and destroy life.” Designs for Lyford’s Hygeia called for an innova tive sewer system, well-ventilated homes and the privacy a fforded by its natural setting. Lyford was the arbiter of who would be allowed to live in his village: “Only those of unimpeachable character will be given [read purchase] deeds to lots,” he decreed. According to sources, he fur ther stipulated there’d be “no dancing or gambling in Hygeia, but you could drink and smoke in your own home if you are quiet about it.” Needless to say, Hygeia failed to hit its marks and, in fact, was never developed. Lyford died in 1906; in 1926, the archway was destroyed so the road could be widened. Today, only the tower remains; it is item No. 76000497 on the National Register of Historic Places. m