Marin Magazine November 2014

CORTE MADERA

Town Center

TIM PORTER; COVER PHOTO BY JOEL PULIATTI

JIMMY CHOO

In Marin 29 Currents Winter drinks, new area code, giving back and more. 32 Author Talk Meet poet Anne Lamott. 34 Q&A Mark Pitta, Marin’s funnyman. 36 Style Having fun with fringe. 38 Made by Marin Wild West Ferments. 40 Conversation Writing with Jane Hirsh field.

Destinations

75 Go Seven hot winter beaches. 82 Journey A French epicurean adventure.

Out & About

87 Calendar A roundup of what to do in Marin and beyond. 96 Dine An insider’s guide to restaurants and food in the Bay Area. 108 Flavor Marsala mushroom and squash galette. 116 On the Scene Snapshots from special events in Marin and San Francisco.

Marin Home

Backstory A renovated 1950s home in Belvedere.

ART BY JOHN GRILLO AT ROBERT GREEN (TOP LEFT); TIM PORTER (TOP RIGHT)

Paragon is with you as you move through life’s stages & places.

PUBLISHER / EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Nikki Wood Editorial

EXECUTIVE EDITOR Mimi Towle

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SUBSCRIPTIONS

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BULK ORDERS

SEEK . moments

And then it happens. Everything comes together. Time seems to pause just long enough for you to realize – this is what it’s all about.

SAN FRANCISCO to Sun Valley in under 2 hrs non-stop flights ON UNITED® starting in december

From

WE KICK OFF features this month with a story about holiday entertaining — but this isn’t just any ordinary get-together. Writer Laura Hilgers takes you inside chef Todd Shoberg’s launch party last year for his famed restaurant Molina. In attendance were chefs galore and the local producers who provide the goods that graced the table. We also include a link to the recipes you see in the story.

We continue with a piece by architectural historian Mark Anthony Wilson that reveals new information about the controversy surrounding the building of the Marin County Civic Center. The beautiful and iconic Frank Lloyd Wright–designed structure you see today has a backstory of personal and political attacks as well as in fighting that almost derailed the entire project. Luckily for Marin, the county’s fi rst female supervisor was there to keep things on track.

Wrapping up features are stories about iPhone photography and a special section about the law in Marin. First, San Rafael’s Jerry Downs shares some of his best mobile phone photography and explains how the shots came

to be. Next up, Carrie Kirby has stories on teens and the law, Marin’s biggest criminal cases and how to keep those attorney bills low.

Up front, we offer a fun holiday drink recipe, launch our new books column and introduce you to comedian Mark Pitta, two Inverness fermenters and poet Jane Hirsh field.

In Destinations we invite you to escape the winter blues on one of seven hot beaches or hop on a plane for an epicurean adventure in Southwestern France. Either way, you can’t go wrong.

Then again, hanging out in Marin isn’t a bad way to spend the winter either — and the good news is we’ve got plenty of great ideas for fun close to home.

Writer Laura Hilgers takes you inside chef Todd Shoberg’s launch party last year for his famed restaurant Molina.

Marin Magazine Staff Editors

left: Mimi Towle, Nikki Wood, Dan Jewett

PHOTO: KEN VIALE

Voice on the Vote

A

look at the November 4th ballot.

THE FOLLOWING BALLOT comments result from studying the sample ballot, viewing (and comparing) competing websites and critiquing newspaper articles and editorials. My goal is to help you decide. If a contest is extremely close, I summarize both sides — then you make the call. The following are my predictions and opinions.

First, the easy ones: For California governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general — Jerry Brown, Gavin Newsom (of Marin) and Kamala Harris, respectively, will win decisively and are my picks.

BY JIM WOOD

Torlakson, 65, is a pro-tenure incumbent backed by the teachers’ union, and Marshall Tuck, 41, is an effective Southern California education reformer who opposes tenure. These three races definitely bring intrigue to the ballot.

Regarding state propositions, here is how I will vote:

PROP. 1: Water Bond A $7.5 billion measure to relieve impact of droughts has overwhelming bipartisan support. Yes.

PROP. 2: Budget Stabilization A constitutional amendment to create a “rainy day” fund also has wide support. Yes.

PROP. 45: Health Care Insurance Close and complex; most say intention might be right, but timing is wrong. No.

PROP. 46: Testing of Doctors Several complex health care measures that the Legislature should handle. No.

In Measure A, the Marin Emergency Radio Authority (MERA) wants $29 a year for the next 20 years to update the network connecting police, firefighter and public works agencies.

Relatively close contests involve California’s state treasurer and insurance commissioner and the District 2 seat on the State Board of Equalization. I’m voting for, again respectively, John Chiang, David Jones and Fiona Ma — all are Democrats; Chiang and Jones are incumbents, while Ma has Bay Area roots.

The race for state controller — a powerful yet obscure position — is both fascinating and close. Betty Yee is a seasoned Democrat well known in Sacramento; meanwhile, Ashley Swearengin is the young mayor of Fresno whose Republican star is rising while her stances are moderate. Equally tight is the secretary of state contest between Alex Padilla, an effective Democratic state senator who championed the plastic bag ban, and newcomer Pete Peterson, a talented Republican from academia who says he simply wants to “make the office run better.” Also neck-and-neck is the race for superintendent of public instruction, a nonpartisan office: Tom

PROP. 47: Criminal Sentencing Reduces nonserious and nonviolent crimes from felonies to misdemeanors. Yes.

PROP. 48: Gaming Compacts Complex made simple: If you like the idea of Indian gaming casinos, Yes. If not, No.

As for Marin-centric contests, Jared Huffman deserves a second term in the U.S. House of Representatives; Marc Levine should be returned to the California State Assembly; and it’s a sure thing that Mike McGuire, a 34-year-old former Sonoma County supervisor who’s a Democrat, will be Marin’s new state senator. Easy, all of them.

Also easy are three openings on the Marin Healthcare District board — they should be fi lled by incumbents Jennifer Rienks, Larry Bedard and newcomer Michael Whipple . All are positive, forward-thinking and knowledgeable regarding Marin General Hospital.

In Measure A, the Marin Emergency Radio Authority (MERA) wants $29 a year for the next 20 years to update the network connecting police, firefighter and public works agencies in times of emergency. The method of payment

is questionable, but the need is not. Most are saying Yes, and approval calls for a two-third majority. With Measure R, Marin General Hospital wants approval of a lease arrangement that turns day-to-day management over to a board appointed by the elected Marin Healthcare District board. Again, it’s a Yes.

Let’s close with two matters involving Ross Valley. First, a close race for that area’s seat on the Marin Municipal Water District’s board is between incumbent Liza Crosse, Supervisor Steve Kinsey’s administrative aide, and challenger Larry Bragman, an attorney, staunch environmentalist and current Fairfax town councilman. If I lived there — after reviewing the endorsements — I’d go with Crosse. Also on most Ross Valley ballots are parcel taxes — up to $75 a year for the next four years — to maintain paramedics’ response times. It’s a small amount, sure, and if I lived there I’d vote Yes. But when and where does the taxing stop? Like Marin’s Measure A, approval here calls for a two-thirds majority.

That’s my point of view. What’s yours?

Email pov@marinmagazine.com.

The views and opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Marin Magazine and its staff.

Connect WITH US

• online

More to Make

Attention foodies — chef Todd Shoberg of Molina provides holiday recipes anyone can prepare. Laura Hilgers speaks with Shoberg in this month’s feature “Cold Weather, Warm Hearts” about his journey from photographer to executive chef and restaurant owner. Shoberg elaborates on the uniqueness of Molina’s dishes and his use of farmers’ market ingredients. To see how to make the dishes in the story and more, visit marinmagazine.com/holiday2014/.

Blogger Spotlight

If you have been to the Food and Drink blog on our website, you have seen the mouthwatering recipes food blogger Lynda Balslev has contributed. From vegetarian lasagna to purple potato salad to sweet and savory desserts, Balslev has a recipe for every occasion and palate. An award-winning food writer, she covers culinary and travel topics, wrote the book Almonds: Recipes, History, Culture and authors the blog TasteFood, which contains more than 600 original recipes, photos and stories. Balslev has also written many feature stories for Marin Magazine, including October’s “Vibrance and Spice,” which features fall appetizer recipes. To see more from Balslev visit marinmagazine.com/foodblog/.

Be in the Know

Do you find yourself trying to figure out what to do on weekends? How about trying to find something that’s kid friendly? Our weekly Weekend 101 newsletter has information on all kinds of local activities, dining deals and adventures that you won’t want to miss. To sign up, go to marinmagazine.com/enews/.

• in person

MVFF Guide Launch Party

We are running photos from our Mill Valley Film Festival guide launch party October 2 at El Paseo in the “On the Scene” section of the magazine this month. We had a great time mingling with our guests and sponsors, chatting with director John Korty, comedians Mark Pitta, Johnny Steele, Will Durst and others, and celebrating the 37th annual Mill Valley Film Festival opening night. Be sure to check out all the photos online at marinmagazine.com/mvff37.

Boots and Shoes Handmade in Italy since 1960

• in person

MVFF Guide Launch Party

We are running photos from our Mill Valley Film Festival guide launch party October 2 at El Paseo in the “On the Scene” section of the magazine this month. We had a great time mingling with our guests and sponsors, chatting with director John Korty, comedians Mark Pitta, Johnny Steele, Will Durst and others, and celebrating the 37th annual Mill Valley Film Festival opening night. Be sure to check out all the photos online at marinmagazine.com/mvff37.

Boots and Shoes Handmade in Italy since 1960

Candy Math

I’m sure I won’t be the only one responding to your item in Currents (October 2014) suggesting we substitute natural confections for the usual bulk bags from Safeway. It is beyond embarrassing, from a magazine where, five pages earlier, there is an editorial espousing the need for a ffordable housing in Marin. How do you reconcile that need with the suggestion that families spend between $26.40 and $358 on trick-or-treaters? My figures are based on a possibly low estimate of 40 visitors. How about instead making a donation to a needy family that has no housing at all and skip the candy entirely? Are our children’s teeth really any better off runching down on these politically correct candies? To me it seems like candy is candy, but I’ll let the many Marin dentists who don’t need a ffordable housing weigh in on that one.

LAURA BACHMAN, SAN ANSELMO

Good Job

Hello, people of Marin Magazine. I would like to compliment you on your latest issue — it was just great. There was a ton of wonderful local information, events, restaurants and fabulous places to visit, and all right here in our backyard. Thank you very much. BILLIE GOING, VIA

Public Debate

EMAIL

As a public school teacher, I approach your private school feature each year (“Going Private,” September 2014) with apprehension, like a driver who sees signs of an accident ahead. “I wonder how bad it will be?” I ask myself. I hope for the best but know from experience there will be damage. This year I see in the headline the words “four families who decided to opt out” of our public schools. Why make this a zero-sum game where “going private” must be a putdown of public education? Why do you quote families’ stories of negative experiences with public schools? When you feature a restaurant, you don’t quote diners’ complaints about comparable restaurants. When you feature a family who bought a home in Mill Valley, you don’t quote their complaints about Tiburon. As you say, “Marin is known for its excellent public schools.” But your individual stories in both subtle and overt

DON’T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE.

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Bay Area events you’ll want to attend

Friend us to share RSVP Hot Ticket photos at facebook.com/marinmagazine.

[UPCOMING EVENTS]

HALLECK CREEK

RANCH ANNUAL FUNDRAISER

WHEN WHERE WHY YOU SHOULD GO COST

FIND OUT MORE

November 14, VIP 6 p.m., general 6:30 p.m.

Rancho Nicasio Restaurant, Nicasio

The VIP reception includes a sampling of locally produced cheeses and fine wines. Full dinner includes produce and meats from local ranches and farms. Guests will also enjoy music and dancing as well as silent and live auctions. The Silver Buckle honoree is Michael Pritchard. Halleck Creek Ranch offers therapeutic riding programs to youth and adults at a nominal cost.

General $150, VIP $275, sponsorships available 415.662.2488, halleckcreekranch.org

ICB WINTER OPEN STUDIOS: BEYOND THE MASK

WHEN WHERE WHY YOU SHOULD GO COST

FIND OUT MORE

December 6–7, 11 a.m.–6 p.m. ICB, 480 Gate 5 Road, Sausalito

More than 100 artists at the historic ICB open their studios for this annual, eagerly anticipated Marin holiday art event. This year’s theme is “Beyond the Mask.” Masks are works of art and powerful statements about culture and identity. Participating artists are creating unique masks and Gallery 111 in the ICB Art Center will showcase a mask exhibit during Winter Open Studios. The quest for illumination, selfdiscovery and bold exploration by the ICB artists will be revealed through their creations. Come enter the realm of altered reality and pick up the perfect gift for the holidays.

Free icbartists.com

Want to see all the images from our RSVP Hot Ticket events? Visit marinmagazine.com/hotticket for the latest.

ways build the impression that public schools put standardized testing before authentic learning, do not attend to social-emotional development and do not accommodate special individual needs. Why not leave it at “our public schools are excellent” and feature the wonderful private schools? No one needs to be put down to promote any of the amazing educational opportunities available to the families of Marin. TRISH MANWARING, SAN RAFAEL

Dispensary Dispute

I am glad that someone is finally speaking up about the elephant sitting in the room (“Up in Smoke,” October 2014) regarding medical marijuana. However, I think the Corte Madera councilman should visit a licensed dispensary before making the statements that were quoted in the article. I am confident that if the dispensary is operating within state guidelines (Prop. 215), he would certainly realize that his comments are misguided. Making medical cannabis available does not legitimize it for young people — the medically documented fact is that it helps patients. As far as it being more accessible, I can tell you firsthand, being a medical cannabis cardholder, that a dispensary operates with extremely tight security, much tighter than that of any liquor store or pharmacy. It’s people like the councilman who are continuing to spread the fear about dispensaries and forcing Marin cannabis patients to travel up to two hours to get natural medicines. Anyway, thanks again for the article. BEAU KELLY, VIA EMAIL

Cover Kudos

Good morning. I love reading my magazine as soon as it arrives. This issue (September 2014) cover was absolutely beautiful. I hope that model was local. Marin has so many beautiful women. She resembles Jennifer Lawrence. A real beauty. HELEN HAYES, KENTFIELD

We Get Letters

Thank you very much for having included, in your August Letters section, the insightful letter from Michael Mooney. Mooney points out the crucial omission, in your July 2014 “Shell Games” article, of the fact that the Lunny family bought the Drakes Bay lease knowing it would expire in 2012. I, too, wondered about that omission. As an S.F. native

and lifelong Mill Valley resident (except for undergrad years in Palo Alto), I enjoy your well-researched and balanced reporting on timely issues. I really appreciate your having printed two letters, from Mooney and another reader, mentioning that omission. Thank you. ARIA YOW, VIA EMAIL

Vaccine Choice

I raised three sons, now ages 22, 24 and 26. I agreed to my fi rst child getting the initial injection of the multiple vaccination series and immediately stopped. The two younger kids were not immunized. I decided after extensive research and discussion and based on intuition that vaccinations were not in my children’s best interest. I chose not to tamper with their undeveloped immune systems. I have received considerable judgment from my family, my peers and doctors for this decision; however, it was indeed the best decision I ever made. In the face of several instances of whooping cough at their school they remained healthy. Some vaccinated children were not so fortunate. It is our birthright to do what we want with our bodies — not the right of the American Medical Association.

KERRY KEEGAN, VIA EMAIL

Number Fun

We featured the many styles of house numbers seen around Marin (Details, “By the Numbers”) in our September issue and asked you to send pictures of some of your own. Here’s one from Ron Yeo of San Rafael.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Your comments may be edited for clarity and brevity. Send letters to Marin Magazine , One Harbor Drive, Suite 208, Sausalito, CA 94965, or email us at letters@marinmagazine com . Please include the town where you live and a daytime phone number.

In Marin

CELEBRATING THE PEOPLE, PLACES AND CAUSES OF THIS UNIQUE COUNTY

WARM WINTER NIGHTS

Fight off he cold weather with a toddy version of a familiar drink. BY

LYNDA BALSLEV

THE MARGARITA GETS a winter makeover for a chilly party night, with hot cider and cranberry juice joining the usual suspects in a festive warming drink. Part toddy, part cocktail, and all good. The key to this beverage’s success is to use a decent tequila, but you already knew that.

RECIPE

Cranberry Tequila Toddy

SERVES 6

Ingredients 4 cups apple cider 1 cup cranberry juice cocktail

cup freshly squeezed orange juice ½ cup gold tequila ¼ cup Cointreau Lime wedges Dried cranberries Orange slices 6 cinnamon sticks

To Prepare

Heat the cider, cranberry juice and orange juice in a saucepan until very hot, but not boiling. Remove from heat and stir in the tequila and Cointreau. Serve warm with a squeeze of lime. Garnish with dried cranberries (for extra zing, pre-soak the dried cranberries in Cointreau for at least 30 minutes), orange slices and a cinnamon stick for stirring.

As of August, 415 is no longer Marin’s only numerical telephone prefi x — 628 has joined the game in an area code overlay, meaning there will be two di fferent area codes in the region from here on out. Practice starting your local calls with 1+415 when phoning your preexisting 415 contacts, as beginning in February 2015 calls made with only seven digits will not be completed. Existing phone numbers won’t change, but all new numbers issued in Marin and San Francisco counties will receive the new area code.

CALIN VAN PARIS

Giving Back

The pre-holiday season is the perfect time for a primer in generosity. Fortunately for us, there seem to be a number of givers in Marin, demonstrated by the impressive gifts and donations bestowed on county organizations this past year. We already mentioned the $1 million anonymously contributed to Marin Shakespeare at its May gala — here are three more gifts that are sure to keep on giving. C.V.P.

1 M ALT

Local couple Marcia Barinaga and Corey Goodman (pictured) recently decided to bequeath their MALT-protected home, Barinaga Ranch, to the organization. “Our goal was to ensure that our ranch stays an active part of the West Marin agricultural community long after we are gone,” Goodman says. malt.org

2 Dominican University

Dominican received a recordbreaking boost of $12.5 million this year courtesy of Andrew P. Barowsky, chair of the university’s Board of Trustees. Barowsky, for whom Dominican’s School of Business is now named, was initially encouraged to get involved in the school by professor Francoise Lepage. Barowsky’s business partner, Albert Lepage, also gifted $5 million. dominican.edu

3 M arin Symphony

Marin Symphony, the county’s oldest arts organization, was given $250,000 by an anonymous do-gooder this past summer. “The gift strikes at the heart of the organization and goes far beyond generosity,” says music director Alasdair Neale. “It’s an exciting time to be a part of the Marin Symphony.” marinsymphony.org

HEALTHY EATS, DELIVERED

Life doesn’t stop just because you’re on the baby track, but taking the time to eat healthy, well-balanced meals is paramount. That’s where Fertility FarmBox comes in. “Not everyone has time to plan and cook every meal at home,” says Dr. Christo Zouves of the Zouves Fertility Center in Foster City. “With the Fertility FarmBox, we’ve made it easy to eat most days at home with our simple-to-follow recipes and fresh groceries delivered to your door.” Created in partnership with food-delivery provider FarmBox, the service consists of weekly groceries and recipes for four days of the week, all crafted to boost wellness for women trying to conceive. FarmBox offerings are “farmer’s pick,” meaning you get whatever is freshest from local farms that week — think asparagus from Zuckerman’s, flank steak and king salmon from Marin Sun Farms and organic brown rice from Massa Organics. goivf.com C.V.P.

PICK UP LINE All One Ocean, an ocean advocacy group founded in Marin, wants to help Marin clean up its beaches. The Beach Clean Up Stations you may have noticed throughout the county are equipped with educational signage, children’s art and repurposed bags that make it easy for beachgoers to pick up debris while soaking up the sun. “The stations give community members an opportunity to be part of the solution every time they visit the beach,” says director Lauren Weiner. Here are a few numbers to help you familiarize yourself with the project. alloneocean.org C.V.P.

Robert H. Byers, MD

Elizabeth A. Dailey, MD

Lisa M. Elvin, NP

Jon R. Goff, MD

David H. Goltz, MD

Abbey Kennedy, MD

John C. Keohane, MD

John H. Kim, PA-C

Edward S. Moon, MD

Michael J. Oechsel, MD

Ernest H. Sponzilli, MD

Charles A. Stuart, MD

Brian W. Su, MD

University.

Dr. Dailey’s practice focus is personalized arthritis care and treatment of knee and hip disorders. She has advanced experience in total hip replacement from the anterior or minimally-invasive posterior approach and specialized training in minimally-invasive total and partial knee replacements.

Mt. Tam Orthopedics proudly welcomes our total joint replacement specialist, Dr. Dailey to our community. Dr. Dailey was educated at Notre Dame and the University of Illinois, trained in orthopedic surgery at the prestigious University of Washington/Harborview, and completed a fellowship in Adult Reconstructive Surgery at the renowned total joint program of Rush

Elizabeth A. Dailey, M.D.

Author Talk

MM: What do you hope the reader will gain or learn from this book? AL: I hope this collection of new and old pieces will give people hope during troubling times and help them see that grace and light are all around us, all the time, in surprising forms. We know we’ve been touched by grace — which is akin to spiritual WD-40 — when we get our senses of humor back. I really hope this book makes people laugh out loud and reminds us that life has a tendency to keep working out.

MM: What did you learn from writing this book? AL: I keep learning that life is really a mixed grill: hard and sweet, tough and hilarious, lovely and infuriating, often at the same time. I learned once again that it takes me several drafts to get my pieces as good as I want them to be.

MM: Do you have a writing group or partner? AL: I need total quiet and privacy, but I do have two friends — great writers — who read my final drafts, and give me criticism and suggestions . I w ould be

doomed without their creative input . My editor at Riverhead, Jake Morrissey, is invaluable.

MM: Do you start at the beginning of a story or do you work backwards? AL: I just sort of plunge in, as if I were going to tell a friend some interesting or funny story — I begin at the location, a brief description, the reason I’m there at all . A b etter beginning will reveal itself if I stick with it . T hen I fumble around and lurch forward.

MM: What is your ideal essay length? AL: I love 1,200 to 1,500 words. Long enough to say something of value, or to tell a story that is not bogged down with infinitely too many details . A s the great Jessica Mitford [and many others] said, “Writers must kill their little darlings”; that means removing all of our overwrought, show-offy passages, all the lines we shoehorned in to look more witty or erudite . H alf of writing, as in life, is taking out stuff we don’t need. m

Page Turners

Small Victories: Spotting

Improbable Moments of Grace by Anne Lamott, Riverhead, $22.95. Anne Lamott delivers a very personal collection of essays. Anyone who has mixed feelings about a parent who has died will laugh and cry with Lamott as she writes of moving from anger to forgiveness; she is intimate, wickedly funny and profound. Appearing at Book Passage Corte Madera November 11, 7 p.m.

Tatiana: An Arkady Renko Novel

by Martin Cruz Smith, Simon & Schuster, $16. Tatiana was an intrepid Russian journalist who jumped to her death from a condemned apartment — or did she? In his quest for answers, Renko finds recordings made by Tatiana and soon becomes enchanted.

Citizens Creek by Lalita Tademy, Atria, $26. Cow Tom, born a slave in 1810, was 9 when he was sold to the chief of the Creek Indians. He became fluent in several languages, and his service as a translator enabled him to buy his freedom. A parallel story portrays Rose, Cow Tom’s granddaughter, who, in spite of the racism of her time, inherits Tom’s courage to fight the issues facing her. Appearing at Book Passage Corte Madera November 10, 7 p.m.

Some Luck by Jane Smiley, Knopf, $26.95. The Langdons are Iowa farmers. They have five children and readers get to know each of them as they move from the 1920s through to the 1950s. Readers experience the Great Depression, World War II and the Cold War through their eyes. Smiley’s work (including A Thousand Acres) is both witty and insightful. Some Luck is the first of a trilogy.

Dead Broke in Jarrett Creek by Terry Shames, Seventh Street Books, $15.95. Sam Craddock used to be the police chief in Jarrett Creek, Texas, until the town ran out of money. When the son of the local banker is murdered, Sam soon discovers that the deceased knew of shady dealings that may have led to the town’s financial troubles.

picks by Book Passage president Elaine Petrocelli.

We sat down with author Anne Lamott to discuss her new book, Small Victories: Spotting Improbable Moments of Grace

Book

10 QUESTIONS FOR

Mark Pitta

Ten years of comedy in Mill Valley are being celebrated this month courtesy of “Mark Pitta and Friends.” Getting its start in November 2004 at the then newly renovated and reopened 142 Throckmorton Theatre, the show began drawing crowds right away — thanks in part to frequent unannounced guest sets by Pitta’s friends (and fellow Marin residents) Dana Carvey and the late Robin Williams. Pitta has been the consummate host for the show, having been a stand-up comedian since the early 1980s, a guest star on TV shows like Third Rock From the Sun, and the entertainment reporter for five years on KTVU’s Mornings On 2 program. MARC HERSHON

Comedian MILL VALLEY

1

What gave you the idea to do the “Mark Pitta and Friends” show? Panic. I had just lost my job at Channel 2. I saw that Will Durst was performing at this theater five minutes from my house. So I asked the owner, Lucy Mercer, “Can I do a show here?” She said yes. After I did my show I asked, “Can I do a weekly show?”

2

What is your relationship with Lucy like? I’ve called her my guardian angel because her giving me the opportunity to host a show saved my life. At the time, I’d just bought a house, and I had to pay for it.

3

Why Tuesday night? I did that on purpose. Local comedians are either back from a gig or they haven’t left for a new one yet. Comedians coming into the Bay Area for a gig have to come in a day early, to do radio promotions.

4

What were your expectations for the show? As I have in life: None. And no planning. I’ve ended up here. So be it.

5

In the 10 years you’ve been doing the show, what’s a high point for you? When Albert Brooks walked into our green room, and Robin (Williams) was there, and Mort Sahl. I looked at my wife, Jocelyn, and said, “This is really important!” And I just got to hang with those three guys at the same time.

6

And the low point? The day that Robin died. That next day was a Tuesday and it was the first show I’ve ever canceled that wasn’t a holiday. The first show canceled because of grief.

7

What’s a favorite place in Marin where you like to hang out and unwind? Coyote Coffee in Tam Junction is a place I like to go to have coffee and talk to the locals. I love Greg and Leslie, who run it. And it reminds me, at my age, that wow — I really am living life like Petticoat Junction or Green Acres

8

Is there a place that you and your wife enjoy going to relax? Don’t laugh — this is absolutely true: we bowl. We just head to Country Club Bowl in San Rafael and bowl. We blend right in. I want to go to the pro shop and get her a ball for her birthday but it has to be sized. How do you do that as a surprise gift?

9

You keep who’s going to be on “Mark Pitta and Friends” a secret — why? the audience to be there to see comedy, not to see a famous person who has a TV show. That’s why, whether they see Richard Lewis, or they see funny comedians who aren’t go, “Holy cow — there are a lot of funny people out there.” So you get a pure comedy audience instead of just people who are lured by fame.

10

Is there anything about Marin that is missing? When I see a vacant store in Marin I think, Why didn’t they just combine the places that went out of business? should have Yogurt Yoga. You do an hour of yoga and then get a tasty treat.

In the 30 years since he was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, businessman and philanthropist Bruce Braden has never let the disease slow him down. He struggled at first, but his endocrinologist and care team helped him learn to carefully manage his condition by taking insulin, watching his diet, and getting vital exercise hiking around the local lakes. Bruce wanted to give back to his community by helping others who suffer from diabetes to have access to comprehensive expertise and services – right here in Marin. So he made a significant donation to create the Braden Diabetes Center (BDC) at Marin General Hospital. The BDC provides convenient outpatient education and resources to help prevent the onset and complications of this potentially debilitating disease. Living well with diabetes is a daily challenge, but as Bruce will attest, expert care makes the path much easier.

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I’m Bruce, and this is my healing place.

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MADE BY MARIN

Wild West Ferments

INVERNESS NATIVE MAGGIE Levinger met Luke Regalbuto when he came to work at a cafe she managed in Humboldt County. Soon, common interests that included food, nutrition and travel took them on a long journey ranging from Ireland to the Balkans, Romania and Ukraine, during which the couple explored old methods of food production and preservation. “When we got back to West Marin we were more inspired than ever and began experimenting with fermentation in our home kitchen,” Regalbuto says. Before long, word had spread and Wild West Ferments was born. The two ferment locally grown organic produce with wild indigenous yeasts and bacteria to create healthy — and flavorful — food and beverages. PHILOSOPHY For Wild West Ferments, integrity and quality are paramount. “All of our vegetable products are fermented in traditional ceramic crocks for six weeks or longer to ensure maximum nutrition and flavor,” says Levinger of the process. “Other companies ferment in plastic for as little as 10 days.” The company also reduced its environmental footprint by using a deposit system to encourage recycling of its glass. THE SCOOP Wild West Ferments aims to create products that make friends, family and community happy while keeping them healthy. As such, the small company is slow growing, paying much more attention to quality than quantity. If you’re not sure where to start in your sampling of the fermented goodies, Levinger and Regalbuto recommend the Signature Sauerkraut; made with cumin and coriander seeds, it’s still their most popular product. BEYOND MARIN Aside from Marin-based purveyors, Wild West Ferments can also be found at Bi-Rite Market, Rainbow Grocery and Real Food Co. in San Francisco; and Petaluma Seed Back, Oliver’s Market, Community Market and Thistle Meats in Sonoma County — leaving locals with no excuse not to sample the wares. Levinger and Regalbuto have also taught courses in food preservation and fermentation throughout Northern California, inspiring others to pay more attention to food production. WHAT THEY SAY “Wild West Ferments was born through the encouragement and support of our community and continues to grow as a company that strives to be the best it can be — for our friends and family who work to create the products, for the farmers we support and for the health of our customers, community and planet.” wildwestferments.com CALIN VAN PARIS

has grown collection My print collection of here. So has my friends.

Jim McCauley, a retired English professor who collects botanical prints, loves being surrounded by nature and gardens at The Tamalpais. He also loves being around the close friends he has made here. Jim spends his time with them instead of cooking, cleaning, and doing yard work. Perhaps you could give up some chores and start enjoying life, too. Just call Dusty Bricker, Director of Sales, at (415) 464-1754 to learn how.

Jane Hirshfield

Mill Valley poet has international following and close-to-home interests.

BY JIM WOOD • PHOTOS BY TIM PORTER

JANE HIRSHFIELD IS your classic poet. She writes for hours in solitude; her poems appear regularly in The New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly and The Best American Poems series; and she loves to futz in the garden surrounding her Mill Valley cottage.

However, Jane Hirshfield doesn’t fit the dark brooding reputation of a typical poet. She’s an energetic talker who laughs often; she rides an Arabian trail horse in Mount Tamalpais State Park, doing Volunteer Mounted Patrol; and she belongs to a local book club whose members are mostly scientists. Born in New York City, Hirshfield was writing in big block letters by the age of 8: “When I grow up, I want to be a writer.” After attending both public and private schools, she joined Princeton University’s first graduating class that included women. Hirshfield, now 61, came to Marin County in 1979 to live at the Green Gulch Farm Zen Center in Muir Beach. She’s lived in Mill Valley since 1982.

While still in college, Hirsh field had her fi rst poem published in The Nation. Her third published poem appeared in The New Yorker and, in 1982, while she was working as a cook at Greens at Fort Mason in San Francisco, her fi rst collection of poems was published. Six years later, Hirsh field’s poetry collection Of Gravity & Angels won the California Book Award. Since then, she’s authored seven poetry collections and two collections of essays. In March 2015, Knopf will release both The Beauty, Hirsh field’s eighth book of poems, and Ten Windows, How Great Poems Transform the World, essays she has written over the past 17 years — the fi rst time Knopf has published two books by the same author at the same time. Hirsh field’s honors include fellowship grants from the Rockefeller and Guggenheim foundations, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Academy of American Poets — and Mill Valley’s Milley Award in the Arts.

Describe a typical day in the life of a widely published poet. Typical doesn’t really exist. This past weekend I was in Bemidji, Minnesota, at their Headwaters Poetry Festival. Soon, I’ll go to a book festival in Virginia, and then to New York for the Academy of American Poets, with whom I’m now a chancellor. My life’s closer to that of a traveling folksinger than I’d ever have imagined. I’m an introvert, I love silence and solitude — how did it happen that poetry taught me to talk with strangers and brought me to China, Japan, Poland, Lithuania, Greece, Syria, Turkey, Ireland, England and Scotland? Writing is what matters most to me — yet I spend a fair bit of my life bringing what I’ve written to people’s ears. That’s become my day job, along with some short-term teaching. Before that, I used to edit other people’s nonfiction books. Four sold over a million copies each — two by Jack Kornfield, two by Thomas Moore.

Before that, I cooked, briefly drove an 18-wheel truck, did the work Zen monks do. When I’m home, though, writing is the first thing I want to do. I make a cup of coffee, turn inward and listen. I can see Mount Tam from my bedroom window. When I began writing in the morning — I haven’t always — the mountain entered a lot of my poems. Here’s a short one, from After, a book of mine that came out in 2006. The title is the capital of Lithuania, “Vilnius.”

For a long time I keep the guidebooks out on the table. In the morning, drinking coffee, I see the spines: St. Petersburg, Vilnius, Vienna. Choices pondered but not finally taken. Behind them — sometimes behind thick fog — the mountain.

If you lived higher up on the mountain, I find myself thinking, what you would see is more of everything else, but not the mountain.

Let’s imagine we’re at a reading where someone says they’re unsure of the meaning of those last four lines. How would you respond? First, I’d explain where I live in relation to Mount Tam: on its hem. Then I’d ask them to think about those lines in literal terms: I can only see Mount Tam because I don’t live on it, I live below it. If I lived on Mount Tam, I’d see the bay. That’s all those lines are saying. Pretty simple. Yet when I offer this at a poetry reading, people always laugh.

Why is that? They recognize that it’s talking about the human condition, our fallibility. The poem shows that we’re always looking from some limited perspective, that whatever we see, there’s always something we can’t, because it’s behind our head, or we’re looking in the wrong place. That’s something human beings like to be reminded of. We like being kept a bit humble, if it’s done gently. The poem punctures sureness and pride. It also says something obvious you’d never think about unless it’s put in front of you — how blind we are to most things most of the time. Jokes and poems both often work like that. They let you see what you already know but always forget. That somehow delights us, the way playing peek-a-boo delights a toddler.

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Do poems come to you quickly and get written quickly? Or are they the result of labored rewrites and revisions? I usually have a good sense of the full poem by the end of the fi rst draft, but they all get some rewriting, and asked if they might be made better. “Vilnius,” the poem we just discussed, came rather quickly, and stayed fairly close to the words it arrived in. Others go through as many as 85 revisions. (I do use both sides of the paper, to respect the trees.) But it’s rare for me to struggle with a single poem for months. I can think of only one, a poem in which I was trying to fi nd some adequate response to the 1989 Velvet Revolution in Eastern Europe. For a time it seemed as if enormous political change might occur almost entirely without violence, and yet, given the history of su ffering and bloodshed in those countries, simple happiness seemed an insu fficient and super ficial response. My unease proved prescient — later came the enormous horror of Bosnia.

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Please talk more about how you begin to write a poem. Sometimes poems come of what feels like their own accord — a line begins to say itself in my ear, I listen, I write, another line arrives. Other times, I’m shaken in some way, by an event in my life or the larger world’s life, by a thought, a fear, a grief. Finding a poem is what lets me fi nd a way through what feels like an impenetrable thicket. Poems are answers to the questions that can’t be answered.

For someone missing the poetry gene, what can be done to appreciate poetry? It helps if you enter a poem with your ears and your heart, not just your mind. The text on the page, the shape of the lines, is a score for conducting inside yourself a piece of experience that needs your voice, your life’s own experience and knowledge and response, to be played. Poems hover between inner and outer worlds. They’re messages holding the kinds of thinking and feeling we’re often too shy to speak aloud. The most powerful moments of our lives cry out for the deepening and acknowledgment that hard-to-fi nd words can bring them. Poems let you enter those moments more fully, and they also stop them from fading. They set the colors of your inner life the way fi xatives set a dye, and they

enlarge the range of what you can see and feel. One more thing is important: if a poem doesn’t speak to you, set it aside. Find one that does. No one will like all poems any more than one person will like all pieces of music.

Speaking of music, are song lyrics often considered poetry? Absolutely. Leonard Cohen’s lyrics, Bob Dylan’s, the Grateful Dead’s, have all been published as poetry. The kind of poem I write is called lyric poetry — originally, all poems were sung to some strummed lyre, or koto, or drum.

Looking back on your life, was there a poem or a book of poems that strongly affected you? The first book I bought as a young girl was a book of Japanese haiku, one of those small, onedollar books from Peter Pauper Press. In fifth grade, I fell in love with Walter de la Mare’s “The Listeners.” It’s a marvelous evocation of the mysterious life all around us, the life we can’t ever know but feel is there. That poem raised in me a sense of vastness I still turn to poems to find.

Regarding the future, is technology threatening poetry? I’m not worried. As long as poetry is read at weddings and funerals, poetry is fine. When young people fall in love and write poetry to one another, poetry is fine. In our darkest moments, poetry still is what tells us we’re not alone. Over 10 years ago, a poem of mine appeared in The New Yorker — which has a circulation of around a million readers. I still get letters about it. One came from a woman who found the poem on her late mother’s refrigerator door and read it at her memorial service. And there are ways that technology helps keep poetry alive. Technology’s a stamp, not a rival letter. One line I wrote has been tweeted all over the world, mostly it seems by young people, and it just keeps going. It’s a line I’d never have guessed would have a life of its own, “How fragile we are between the few good moments.” I’ve tried to imagine what note it strikes. I think it allows space for a person to acknowledge the harder patches of a life. If one person admits they feel fragile, others can feel less solitary in their own fears or grief. Even in happiness, poems keep us company; knowing you aren’t alone in itself helps people. It tells us our fates and blows are shared by all. m

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LOC D WEATHER WARM HE A STR

BY LAURA HILGERS • PHOTOS BY TIM PORTER

Farmers’ market holiday entertaining made easy.

N HIS BOOK Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation , Michael Pollan writes, “For is there any practice less selfish, any labor less alienated, any time less wasted, than preparing something delicious and nourishing for people you love?” To which we’d add this footnote: Especially during the holidays?

If food is love, then it was warmth all around on a rainy night last November when chef Todd Shoberg assembled a crowd of chefs, farmers, cattle ranchers and foodies to celebrate the winter harvest and the imminent opening of his Mill Valley restaurant, Molina. It was a small taste, if you’ll forgive the pun, of things to come. Molina, a 42-seat restaurant that opened in March, has since become known for its creative seasonal dishes, garnering raves from the San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Magazine

Last winter, though, Shoberg was simply cooking for a group of friends, many of whom arrived bearing gifts. Jesse Kuhn of Marin Roots Farm came with freshly picked greens. Emila Heller and her daughter brought pea shoots and onions from Green Gulch Farm. Loren and Lisa Poncia, of Stemple Creek Ranch, provided a mouthwatering cut of grass-fed beef.

They were joined by people like Ged Robertson, former owner of Small Shed Flatbreads (where Molina now stands), chef/restaurateur Gordon Drysdale, chef Chris Fernandez, who preceded Shoberg as culinary director at Moana Group, and Sebastian Lowrey, who took over for Shoberg at Piatti Ristorante and Bar Mill Valley. It was a veritable who’s who of the Marin foodie scene.

The group gathered in a modernist KentWoodlands home, the center of which was a long table adorned with gold chargers, white plates and simple silver holiday decorations from the newly opened West Elm in Strawberry Village. To complement the rustic feel, drinks were served in Lagunitas Brewing Company mason jars.

Nothing, however, shone more brightly than the food. Shoberg and fellow chefs — aforementioned Lowrey, Sebastian Miller and Jenna Pool — created a feast combining the best of Northern California’s harvest with the hearty sensibility of winter in Michigan, where Shoberg grew up. As guests arrived, they were offered a crostini of beef tartare topped with a raw quail-egg yolk. And when they sat down to dinner, it was to a saltcrusted standing rib roast, game hens stuffed with root vegetables, sweet potato gnocchi, and a risotto of butternut squash and pea shoots.

It’s typical of Shoberg — and now Molina — to create an entirely original meal from what’s

been picked that day. “You won’t ever eat the same meal at Molina,” says Robertson, owner of Shoreline Coffee Shop. A typical dish at Molina, for example, might be Manila clams with English and snap peas, cream, bacon and chili oil. The flavors fairly pop offthe taste buds.

If Shoberg’s cuisine is a refreshing departure from that of other restaurants, it may be because he took an unconventional route to the head chef spot. He started his career as a photographer and mountain bike racer and, to support himself, started working in restaurants at 13, washing dishes and waiting tables. While traveling around the country for races, he also

learned to cook healthy meals for himself. But the travels themselves were also an education. “I went to every corner of the U.S. to race,” says Shoberg, “and was exposed to a lot of di fferent cultures and growing seasons and foods.”

He only moved into professional cooking after an iconic Chicago chef, Michael Lachowicz, recognized his gifts and asked him to work in the kitchen instead of in the waiter’s job for which he’d applied. From there, it was a pretty meteoric rise, from Scalo in Albuquerque, where he tutored under chef Jonathan Perno, eventually to the Bay Area, where he became executive chef at Piatti Mill

Opener: Todd Shoberg toasts to his new venture. Opposite: West Elm decorations, including candles and holders, warm the room. This page, clockwise from top left: Cooking the greens; meal preparation made easy with a handy master prep list; roasted game hens stuffed with root vegetables.

This page, clockwise from top left: Quail eggs; separating the yolk from the quail egg is a delicate process; beef tartare with quail egg; roasted game hens; sweet potato gnocchi with duck confit and pomegranate. Opposite, clockwise from top left: Castelvetrano olives with black mint and sofrito; grass-fed beef from Stemple Creek Ranch; Brussels sprouts and bacon.

• For these holiday treats and more from Todd Shoberg that you can make at home, check out the online recipe page at marinmagazine.com/holiday2014/.

If food is love, then it was warmth all around on a rainy night last November when chef Todd Shoberg assembled a crowd of chefs, farmers, cattle ranchers and foodies to celebrate.

This page, clockwise from top left: Guests enjoy wine; chefs (from left) Sebastian Miller, Chris Fernandez, Gordan Drysdale, Todd Shoberg and Sebastian Lowrey; table setting; Shoberg; chickweed from Marin Roots Farm; Loren Ponicia. Opposite page, from top: chefs Sebastian Miller and Jenna Pool; (from left) Jesse Kuhn, Emila Heller and Qayyum Johnson; enjoying the bounty.

Valley. But it was Lachowicz and Perno, he says, who taught him “that you can be in love with this process and carry out your vision and create beautiful food that people like to eat and love your job and have a lot of fun with it.”

It was with this outlook that Molina was created. About a year-and-a-half ago, Robertson, who owned Small Shed Flatbreads in Mill Valley, was at a small dinner party and started talking to a restaurant executive who wanted to create a showcase for Shoberg’s talents. Robertson was tired of running three restaurants and so they discussed the idea of turning Small Shed — and its incredible woodburning oven — over to this young and talented chef.

“The vision for the restaurant,” says Shoberg, “was that we were going to do something that no one else was doing, and we were going to write a menu every day and cook from whatever was available at that time.” To do this, Shoberg and his fellow chefs go to the San Francisco and Marin farmers’ markets at least five days a week. “I see him at the farmers’ market all the time,” says Kuhn,” just checking out what’s seasonal, what’s come in that particular day.”

Robertson believes that’s the key to Shoberg’s ingenuity: “If you limit yourself to only what’s available at the farmers’ market on that day, that’s where the creativity kicks in,” he says. “And that’s where Todd is amazing because he’s only working with what’s there. How do you make that great? You have to be a real artist.”

To do that with the winter harvest, however, is especially artful. “I love winter produce,” says Shoberg. “After growing up in Michigan, it was really exciting for me to come to California and see all the things that grow in winter. I love the heartiness of them, like root vegetables that are growing under the ground to stay warm.”

Warmth. That’s what the winter harvest — and the holidays — are all about: eating satisfying foods and getting together to make it through the longer, colder nights. When Shoberg talks about Molina, he says, “It’s as comfortable as having dinner in my home or your home.” For the holiday get-together on a rainy night last year, that description could not have rung more true. m

NEW DETAILS,

Old Controversy

Exploring the untold story of an iconic Marin building.

BY MARK ANTHONY WILSON • PHOTOS BY JOEL PULIATTI

THE MARIN COUNTY Civic Center is the most distinctive government complex in the United States, and it’s the only government project designed by Frank Lloyd Wright ever built. The story of how it came to be, and the heated controversy created when Wright fi rst proposed his design, is a memorable chapter in the history of American architecture.

In the early 1950s Marin County’s rapidly growing population was served by an antiquated courthouse in downtown San Rafael, along with various county offices scattered around 12 locations. So in 1953 the Board of

Supervisors began seeking a site for a new courthouse and county offices. On April 27, 1956, the county purchased a private ranch in San Venetia just east of Highway 101 for $426,000. During the following year, a committee interviewed dozens of architects, providing 26 names to the Board of Supervisors, one name being Frank Lloyd Wright. In April 1957 four of the five supervisors met with Wright in his San Francisco office to discuss the project. Finally, on June 26, 1957, four of the supervisors voted to begin negotiations with Wright after recommending him as the architect. And that’s when the trouble began.

“In Marin County you have one of the most beautiful landscapes I have seen, and I am proud to make the buildings of this county characteristic of the beauty of the county.”

— Frank Lloyd Wright, in comments to a public meeting in San Rafael, July 1957

Marin County’s government was dominated by an old-boy network until the election in 1955, when a more progressive group took office. The new board consisted of four men and one woman, Vera Schultz. She had been elected to the board in 1952 and, as the first woman ever to serve on that body, acquired the moniker “First Lady of Marin.” Schultz was the most ardent backer of Frank Lloyd Wright as prospective civic center architect. She had the support of three of the men on the board, but the fourth, William Fusselman, and his ally County Clerk George Jones, did everything they could to prevent Wright from getting the commission. They would come very close, more than once, in a sustained effort to derail Wright’s plans and force the board to pick another

architect. If not for Schultz’s unwavering support and ironclad determination in the face of heated opposition, Wright’s version of the center would never have been built.

Fusselman attributed his opposition to several factors. At the June 26 board meeting he accused fellow supervisors of “crawling to Wright at the bidding of one of his vassals to bow and kiss his hand,” mainly because he felt they had not given adequate consideration to architects based in California. He also protested that Wright’s fee was too high, since Wright was asking 10 percent of the total construction costs when most other architects were charging 8 percent. In response, Planning Director Mary Summers pointed out that Wright’s tally was “really quite inexpensive when you consider it includes the costs of a master plan for the site,” usually paid separately in large government projects. And Schultz reminded Fusselman that he’d chosen not to even accompany board members when they went to visit Wright.

But Fusselman’s most aggressive objections had to do with Wright’s purported political reputation. When four of the board members signed a contract with Wright on July 30, 1957, Fusselman refused to sign. He would soon launch a whole new line of attack including an array of bitter, vitriolic personal accusations that nearly made Wright decide to withdraw from the deal.

The day after the four board members signed the contract, Wright appeared before a crowded room in a public meeting at San Rafael High School. He told the audience they would be getting a “fresh, convenient and beautiful civic center,” with plenty of parking. The Marin Independent Journal reported the next day that “Wright’s sharp wit and caustic observations kept the audience of about 600 applauding and laughing during a one-hour show.” In his opening remarks he declared, “Civilization without a culture is like a man or woman without a soul. Culture consists of the love of beauty in the human spirit.” Then he took questions from the audience. One man asked how he would halt the “cancerous growth of present building developments that are ruining Marin County.” Wright replied, “Well, there’s the atom bomb,” then launched into a tirade about utility poles and wires and “tiny lots” that were jamming homes side by side, adding, “We’ve got to go out and abolish the realtor. I’ve hated him since the inception of my architectural career.” Next he took citizens to task for their apathy in not demanding higher-quality development. “If you are up for something better, you are going to get it,” he said, adding with characteristic arrogance that “when people go for an architect, they should go on their hands and knees as far as they can go to get the best, because the best isn’t good enough.” Supervisor Fusselman was conspicuously absent from this meeting.

PERSONAL AND POLITICAL ATTACKS

Political objections to Wright fi rst surfaced on July 25, 1957, when a Marin County Veterans Service officer said the architect was not fit to design the veterans’ memorial component

This page from top: A Civic Center site meeting in 1957 that included (from right) Aaron Green, Frank Lloyd Wright and Vera Schultz; Green and Wright.

of the civic center complex. “We don’t like his war record, and we don’t want his name on our Veterans’ Memorial Building,” W.P. Duhamel said at a supervisor meeting. “We think Wright is a paci fi st. From what I’ve heard, during World War II, he had several conscientious objectors among his men [sta ff ]. His name was mentioned in the 1948 report of the House Un-American Activities Committee and I would say unfavorably.” The supervisors ignored Duhamel and passed a resolution restating their decision to draw up a contract with Wright. Once again, Fusselman was the lone dissenter — an opening salvo in an ugly campaign to impugn Wright’s patriotism and loyalty as an American citizen.

At the next supervisor meeting, on August 2, Fusselman brought out his big guns. The meeting was supposed to finalize the decision to proceed with Wright’s plans and be followed by a site inspection with Wright. Instead, it turned into a three-ring circus. Bryson Reinhardt, an American Legion member from Mill Valley, demanded to fi le a seven-page report into the meeting record, accusing Wright of having “a record of active and extensive support of Communist views and enterprises.” The gathering erupted into acrimonious debate. The report had been prepared by J.B. Mathews, a former HUAC staffmember and investigator for Sen. Joseph McCarthy.

The fi rst person to respond was the architect himself. He labeled the charges “ridiculous, and an unjustified insult that had been buried long ago. There’s no substance in that. I’m a loyal American, everybody knows it — I am what I am. If you don’t like it, you can lump it. To hell with it all.” Then he stood up and stalked toward the exit. Supervisor Castro asked him, “Do you mind?” Wright responded angrily, “Yes, I do mind being insulted like this!” He continued to the exit doors, then paused, turned around, and waved his cane toward the audience. “This is an absolute and utter insult — and I won’t be subject to it!” he thundered and disappeared through the chamber doors.

After Wright left, Schultz declared that Marin County had been “humiliated” by the accusations: “This county does not look into the political beliefs of any of its employees. It is certainly inappropriate that we should subject a man of Mr. Wright’s caliber to the reading of such unfounded and unsubstantiated charges.” Only Fusselman demanded that the report be read into the record, so it never was. When the meeting adjourned, the other four supervisors drove to Santa Venetia to join Wright in inspecting the site. The architect was already walking briskly up and down the hillsides despite his 90 years, scurrying all over the hilly terrain, ducking between the strands of a barbed-wire fence and climbing over another. When the supervisors caught up with him he was on one of the hilltops talking to several reporters and local citizens.

“Splendid!” Wright declared to the assembled group. “It’s as beautiful as California can have.” Two 15-year-old girls asked him to pose for a picture, and he obliged.

“Are you going to knock down these hills?” one of them asked.

“Not a single hill,” he replied, smiling enthusiastically.

Another citizen asked him if he planned to make any further site visits before drawing his plans.

“I don’t have to drink a tub of dye to know what color it is,” he replied.

Two hours later, Wright returned to the courthouse to sign the contract as the new civic center designer. It called for a projected budget of $8 million. (In the end the final cost for the entire project, including the Veterans’ Memorial Auditorium and the fairgrounds, came to $19,532,000.) Wright had to sign a carbon copy because clerk Jones had failed to show up with the contract

A True Pioneer

Marin’s first female supervisor’s impact went even beyond creation of one of the area’s most important buildings.

Schultz moved from Nevada to Marin in 1928, became the first female Mill Valley City Council member in 1946, and in 1952 was the first woman elected to the county Board of Supervisors. As supervisor Schultz advocated for a modern hospital, which led to the opening of Marin General. Schultz is also credited with pioneering a development agency in the late ’50s responsible for the low-cost housing in Marin City and with helping to establish several parks, the county public health department, and the Parks and Recreation Department in Mill Valley. And her efforts helped open Marin’s first school for disabled children. These activities predictably drew severe criticism from the mostly male, affluent members of government at the time. In one famous incident at a supervisors’ association meeting, Schultz was advised to honor the “No Women Allowed” sign on the door and consider attending the wives’ fashion luncheon instead. She tore the sign in half and took her seat.

“When I came to Marin in 1928, I just loved this place, so full of the beauty that I used to long for when I was growing up in the desert,” Schultz said of Marin. “I thought I was in heaven here. I have been in heaven here.” RHEANNA BAGLEY

Vera “Bobbie” Schultz, Marin’s first female supervisor, was a visionary ahead of her time. Her fervent and successful effort to enlist Frank Lloyd Wright as civic center designer was only one of many achievements still directly affecting today’s residents.

This page, clockwise from top: Wright in his S.F. field office; a scale model showing the blue roof; an early design showing the gold roof.

(Supervisor Castro found a carbon copy in his pocket). So Wright finally was designated the architect of the Marin County Civic Center, although Fusselman would continue to try to thwart its construction over the next few years. His efforts were in vain, since the majority of Marin County’s population clearly supported the project.

THE SHOW MUST GO ON

Frank Lloyd Wright died on April 9, 1959. The Board of Supervisors voted a few days later to continue the project with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, with Wes Peters as chief architect and Aaron Green as supervising architect (both men Wright protégés and associates), who worked from Wright’s detailed drawings to carry out his plan essentially as he had designed it. One alteration they did make was to change the color of the roofs from gold, as Wright had desired, to sky blue after it was determined that the gold paint would quickly tarnish into a dirty brown. Construction on the Administration Building began February 15, 1960. The post office, the fi rst building to be completed, opened in May 1962, and the Administration Building was dedicated on October 13, 1962. The previous year, Fusselman had made a final effort to halt construction via a stop order from a newly elected board (two more of his allies now had seats) but the order only lasted one week. Construction resumed on January 17, 1961, after the Marin Independent Journal polled its readers; 8,152 favored the project and only 1,225 opposed.

In November 1963, the board voted to commission the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation to draw up plans for the Hall of Justice. Aaron Green designed a series of circular courtrooms, as well as movable walls in some offices, which were not part of Wright’s plans, but his detailed drawings for the jail did conform to Wright’s concept. Groundbreaking came in 1966, with construction, supervised by Taliesen Associated Architects, completed in December 1969. The building opened to the public in January 1970.

The dedication brochure for the Administration Building contained this statement from Wright: “We will never have a culture of our own until we have an architecture of our own. We will have it only when we know what constitutes a good building — the good building is not one that hurts the landscape, but is one that makes the landscape more beautiful t han it was before the building was built.”

Anyone who doubts the Civic Center meets this criteria need only engage in a very simple exercise: Imagine Marin County without it. m

ARCHIVES OF AARON GREEN ASSOCIATES INC. (WRIGHT); ANNE T. KENT CALIFORNIA ROOM (GOLD ROOF)

• LEARN MORE

Mark Anthony Wilson, a Berkeley architectural historian, has been writing and teaching about American architecture for more than 35 years. His new book Frank Lloyd Wright on the West Coast (Gibbs Smith, $50 hardcover, 224 pages) recounts the Civic Center saga and many other stories of Wright’s work in the region.

This page, from top: Front cover of a 1962 dedication brochure; construction as it looked in 1961; how the building looks today.

iSPY

A local photographer uses the smartphone’s limitations and strengths to create beautiful images.

THESE DAYS “PHOTOGRAPHER” is a relative term — in addition to artists who make a living looking through the lens, it can also apply to those with iPhones who snap and edit wide-angle shots and share them with the world just by clicking a button. One such iPhotographer is San Rafael’s Jerry Downs, who recently published Why You Were Born, a selection of imagery (including some iPhone photography) focused on the everyday beauty of the county. “It’s so casual and as a result I end up not taking shooting so seriously; I try things with the iPhone that might not even occur to me with a DSLR,” he says. As the holidays approach, we hope his pictures inspire you to capture impromptu, classic and seasonal moments you’ll want to show off now and revisit later. Check out more of Downs’ work at jerrydownsphoto.com.

Opening from left to right: Downs took these 100 selfportraits in the raindrops on a hood of a car the first day he got his iPhone; a fall leaf, after the rain in Larkspur.

Opposite: After setting up the shot outside Double Rainbow Ice Cream in San Rafael, Downs handed the phone to a passing stranger and lay down on the sidewalk. This page, clockwise from left: Landscaping at Marin Country Mart; an individual “beaming up” into another world at the Civic Center; the tones and textures of a leaf and a cardboard box.

This page, top to bottom: Ginkgo leaves holding the morning dew in Sausalito; a woman and a pink house catching a few rays off C Street in San Rafael. Opposite, clockwise from top left: Colors and shadows on C Street; a weed on the bike path in Corte Madera; selfportrait on the side of a lunch wagon at the Larkspur Landing farmers’ market; a shadow climbing a set of stairs on the west end of Fourth Street in San Rafael.

Truth and Consequences

An innovative program helps teens think through their actions before it’s too late.

BY CARRIE KIRBY

ANNAPURNA HOLTZAPPLE WILL never forget watching her friend get sentenced.

“She walked away in handcu ffs. This one night interrupted everything she’d been planning for her future and her education,” says Holtzapple, 17.

What’s worse, Holtzapple was the victim, having been hit by her friend’s car in a drunk driving escapade.

Fortunately, Holtzapple was not really injured and her friend not truly prosecuted. The hearing happened onstage during Teens & the Law, a community outreach program that the Marin County Bar Association puts together each year with the Marin County Office of Education.

A year after she participated in the dramatization, though, the images remain imprinted in Holtzapple’s mind. The message that small decisions can snowball into catastrophes has also stuck with her.

“That was eye-opening,” the Tamalpais High School senior says.

That is just the sort of epiphany organizers Dorothy Chou Proudfoot and Charlie D. Dresow are going for. This year, Proudfoot, a Marin County deputy district attorney, and Dresow, a defense attorney, are involving more teens in the one- to-two-hour session because kids seem to pay more attention when their peers are involved. The first session was presented at Tamalpais High School in October, and the organizers plan to create similar programs with students at Novato High School and San Rafael High School later in the academic year.

This year the program again focuses on the consequences of underage drinking and substance abuse, because this is an area that consistently lands Marin teens in court, the organizers say.

“Marin County has a really acute drug and alcohol problem. It’s rampant,” Proudfoot says. “The teenage drinking problem has been among the worst in the state for years.”

This year, the program’s plot revolves around a house party where things get out of

hand — something that happened repeatedly last summer in Marin.

“At certain key points of this evening we show where things go south and let the kids know how easily things can slide down to felony charges,” Dresow says.

Students who participate or attend receive credit toward the community service hours required by schools to graduate. In addition to the live vignettes, which culminate in a sentencing, student-made videos are also featured.

One myth that the organizers strive to debunk is that Marin kids — many of them high achievers — are immune from running afoul of the law. These dramatizations show the audience that good kids like them can ruin their lives without intending to do anything wrong. “It’s more like, you got a scholarship to an Ivy League school, but you start drinking and steal something at a party and push someone,” Dresow says. “Will you go to prison? Probably not. But will your plan to go to college and play in a sport be totally derailed? Yes.”

TRUE CRIME:

Five of the biggest criminal cases ever in Marin County.

MARIN COUNTY ENJOYS the lowest violent crime rate in the Bay Area, but even our neck of the woods has its notorious incidents. We spoke with District Attorney Ed Berberian and reviewed media reports to compile this recollection of the five biggest cases of recent years:

A HIT FROM THE INSIDE Crime September 2008 Conviction April 2013

TONG VAN LE was gunned down in his Novato garage while his wife and children slept in the house.

He was the victim of a hit ordered to prevent him from testifying against a suspect in a robbery at his San Francisco liquor store. Larry Blay Jr. arranged the execution from jail with the help of fellow members of a neighborhood gang, Berberian says.

Novato police used Golden Gate Bridge license plate photos, text messages, jail phone recordings and cellphone tower records to piece together the case.

“There were thousands of pages of text messages that they went through line by line,” Berberian says.

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON Crime July 2009

Conviction July 2011

THE SON OF a successful businessman and convicted killer, James Mitchell followed his father’s darker footsteps. Mitchell, one of the heirs to the Mitchell Brothers porn empire, clubbed his ex-girlfriend to death on her Novato lawn while their baby daughter cried nearby. It was their child’s fi rst birthday.

Back in 1991, Mitchell’s father, Jim, shot his brother and was convicted of manslaughter.

The younger Mitchell was sentenced to 35 years to life in prison for murder.

MOUNTIES GET MARIN MAN Crime February 1999

Conviction February 2013

WHEN POLICE RESPONDED to a Corte Madera burglar alarm, suspect Michael Lena pointed a gun at them and ran. Authorities caught up with Lena in Canada, where a shootout with Royal Canadian Mounted Police landed him in prison for 12 years.

Lena was extradited in 2012 to stand trial in Marin, where he represented himself, spewed insults at court officials and generally made a spectacle of himself.

Berberian says he worried Lena might intimidate the jury, but they stood fi rm, fi nding him guilty of assault with a fi rearm against police, residential burglary and possessing a gun as a felon. He is serving a 51-year sentence.

Blay and three conspirators were convicted of murder and given long sentences. Driver Sean Washington took a plea deal for manslaughter.

“FAMILY” NIGHTMARE Crime 2001 and before Conviction December 2002

NEIGHBORS WERE SURPRISED to learn that 13 children had lived in the heavily curtained Marinwood home, because the property was always quiet. Surprise turned to shock when the occupants’ dark deeds and bizarre lifestyle were exposed.

After toddler Ndigo Campisi-NyahWright died of malnutrition, authorities found that Winnfred Wright had fathered all the kids with several women, with whom he lived in a cultlike group that called itself The Family. The children were whipped and fed a diet so restrictive that many of them had bone deformities caused by rickets.

The DA charged Wright and the mothers with second-degree murder, manslaughter and felony child endangerment; they ended up all pleading guilty to the child endangerment charge.

Berberian says the plea deal saved the weak and traumatized children from having to take the stand.

“[Requiring that testimony] was one of the things we did not want to do,” Berberian says.

Wright was sentenced to 16 years. Mary Campbell got 10 years and Deirdre Hart Wilson seven years and four months.

In 2010, Wright was scheduled for unsupervised parole, but Berberian successfully convinced state prison officials to keep him on supervised parole.

SERIAL KILLER REVEALED

Crimes 1977–1994

Conviction August 2013

DECADES BEFORE HE was caught, he was known as the “Alphabet Killer,” because his victims had fi rst and last names starting with the same letter. The identity of the serial killer was a mystery until 2010, when journals and photographs describing decades of horrific crimes turned up in the Reno home of elderly photographer Joseph Naso.

Naso stood trial in Marin, because one of his victims was found strangled near a Fairfax road. Prosecutors charged him with four murders and presented evidence implicating him in two more.

There are probably more victims, Berberian says.

“We believe he killed 10 people, at least, based on the evidence,” the DA says.

The trial was challenging not only because of the age of the evidence but also because Naso represented himself, Berberian says.

“He’s very narcissistic … He did not make it a pleasant experience for our trial attorneys,” the district attorney adds.

Nevertheless, prosecutors prevailed, and Naso received Marin’s first death sentence since 1990. C.K.

Anatomy of a Bill

YOU HIRE A lawyer to write up complex documents containing abstruse legal syntax. But an attorney’s bill should be easy reading.

There are two main ways attorneys charge for their services: by the hour or by contingency. The latter, common in personal injury and workers compensation cases, means the attorney receives a portion of the settlement if you win.

Some attorneys charge a flat fee for a defined task such as drafting a document or a set monthly fee for regular consultations.

Nothing in your bill should be a surprise, because when you fi rst hire a lawyer, you’ll sign an agreement laying out the terms.

“The engagement letter should spell out not only the rates, but how time is billed, what the

expectations are in terms of payments, and what happens if payment is not made in a timely manner,” says Katherine Dulany, a Bay Area employment lawyer and litigator.

Answers to common billing questions:

What is a retainer fee? Paid at the outset of a case and held in a client trust account, this is a prepayment or deposit for the services your attorney will render. The attorney can draw on this account instead of asking you to pay each month, draw on the account only when bills aren’t paid on time or just hold the fee as security.

This setup is different from having a lawyer “on retainer,” which means that you pay a monthly fee to ensure the attorney’s availability.

How can I save on attorney fees? Anything you can do to save your attorney time should lower your bill.

“Provide the attorney with all the necessary documents at the beginning,” advises San Rafael attorney Dotty LeMieux. In the tree law cases LeMieux frequently handles, those documents might be surveys or property deeds. In a divorce, it might be a spreadsheet showing assets or a parenting schedule.

What if I can’t afford it? If you can’t afford an attorney’s rate, it never hurts to ask for a discount. Even if he won’t lower his rate, an attorney might refer you to a less expensive colleague or a legal clinic.

Marin County Superior Court’s Family Law Facilitator answers questions and helps people fi le paperwork without a lawyer.

What else should I consider when it comes to billing? Probably the biggest thing clients can do to cut costs is to minimize conflict. When

two opposing parties work together, they can get through court quickly or even avoid court and settle matters through alternative dispute resolution.

“If you keep the level of acrimony [with the other party] down, your bill will be lower,” says San Rafael family law attorney Rachel Castrejon.

What recourse do I have if I feel my bill is unfair? The Marin County Bar Association runs a fee arbitration program to help clients and attorneys settle billing disputes. For a fee, a committee of volunteer lawyers takes the client and lawyer through binding or nonbinding arbitration.

“They will look at the documents, review the fees and see whether or not they’re in line with what is customary for that type of case,” says Mee Mee Wong, executive director of the Marin County Bar Association. C.K.

What you need to know about legal fees before you hire an attorney.

There are two main ways attorneys charge for their services: by the hour or by contingency.

A breakfast benefit celebrating LAM’s advocacy work for Marin’s older adults

As a pioneering flight attendant with Trans World Airlines, Audrey McNamara Nevis dedicated more than 40 years of her life to serving and helping others. But when she reached retirement, Audrey (pictured here throughout her life, and with actor Tyrone Power above right) became a victim of financial elder abuse through predatory lending. Her Lucas Valley home was refinanced 15 times. Without any family and facing homelessness at age 81, Audrey came to Legal Aid of Marin for help.

Representing Audrey for nearly six years up until she passed away in 2013, LAM helped reach a settlement that secured housing for the remainder of Audrey’s life, restoring her dignity and respect at a time when she needed it most.

If someone you know or love is a victim of financial elder abuse, know that our community has an ally in LEGAL AID OF MARIN . Please “Tip

ATTORNEY PROFILES

THE VEEN FIRM, P.C.

711 Van Ness Ave., #220 • San Francisco, CA 94102 415.673.4800 • www.VeenFirm.com

FOUNDED IN 1975, THE VEEN FIRM began as a one-man operation assisting victims of catastrophic events. In the nearly four decades since then, the fi rm has grown to more than 30 members, while still retaining its focus on complex plainti ffs’ personal injury cases.

Injury cases are often very challenging for plaintiffs, and because of that, The Veen Firm strives to be a source of emotional support—as well as a powerful advocate in the courtroom—for its clients. By bringing a unique trial team approach to bear on its clients’ cases, The Veen Firm has been able to both stand up to large opponents and provide clients with the customized attention of a smaller boutique fi rm.

There are three trial teams at The Veen Firm. Each team is made-up of a diverse group of highly talented attorneys, paralegals, and assistants. A number of attorneys at the fi rm have been practicing together for decades. The trial teams collaborate with each other and draw on the experience of all the attorneys in the office to ensure clients are receiving the best representation possible. Many of the fi rm’s case referrals come from other attorneys and former clients, which the fi rm sees as the highest compliment and vote of con fidence.

The trial teams are managed by Anthony Label, Craig Peters and Eustace de Saint Phalle. Overseeing these three trial teams is Bill Veen, winner of the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association’s (SFTLA) Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008 and Trial Lawyer of the Year Award in 2003. In 2014, Veen was selected by his peers as Best Lawyers’ 2014 San Francisco Lawyer of the Year for plainti ff s’ personal injury litigation. In addition to providing strategy and guidance to the fi rm’s three trial teams, he continues to distinguish himself in complex trials. For example, in 2010 he achieved the largest injury verdict in Marin County history for the case Travis v. Bison Builders. Because of its approach, The Veen Firm was recently voted the Best San Francisco Personal Injury Law Firm in the Recorder, one of California’s leading legal newspapers. The firm has also been ranked Tier 1 in San Francisco for plainti ffs’ personal injury litigation by U.S. News – Best Lawyers “Best Law Firms.” Several of the fi rm’s attorneys have been listed in The Best Lawyers in America and Super Lawyers and accepted to invitation-only trial organizations such as the American Board of Trial Advocates.

Pictured (from left): Kimberly Wong, Jeremy Cloyd, Eustace de Saint Phalle, Steven Kronenberg, Anthony Label, Andje Medina, Katherine Higgins, Alison Karp, David Winnett, Craig Peters, Michael Gatto, Kevin Lancaster, Elinor Leary, William Veen.

ATTORNEY PROFILES

ROUDA FEDER TIETJEN & MCGUINN

44 Montgomery Street, Suite 4000 • San Francisco, CA 94104 415.398.53980 • www.rftmlaw.com

THE AWARD-WINNING TRIAL ATTORNEYS AT ROUDA FEDER TIETJEN & MCGUINN have provided their clients with skillful advocacy and heartfelt compassion since 1980. The fi rm has resolved many cases in Marin and throughout California. Three of the firm’s five attorneys are North Bay residents. Firm founder Ron Rouda and his family are longtime residents of Belvedere, where Ron swims the lagoon daily. John Feder raised his children in San Rafael and volunteers at the Marin County Superior Court. When not in trial, Cynthia McGuinn spends her free time hiking Mt. Tam or gardening at her home on the back side of Tiburon. As leaders in their field, RFTM attorneys have served on the executive boards of a number of prestigious attorney organizations and have taught courses at U.C. Berkeley School of Law, U.C. Hastings College of the Law and Harvard Law School. Though the fi rm has garnered national recognition for securing signi ficant recoveries on behalf of their clients in personal injury, wrongful death and medical malpractice cases, they take even greater pride when their cases trigger changes that promote community safety, in addition to positively impacting the lives of their clients.

CASES WE BELIEVE IN. PEOPLE WE CARE ABOUT.

Pictured (from left): John M. Feder, June P. Bashant, Ronald H. Rouda, Cynthia B. McGuinn, Timothy G. Tietjen

KEEGIN HARRISON

1000 Fourth Street, Suite 600 • San Rafael, CA 94901 415.456.4000 • www.keeginharrison.com

KEEGIN HARRISON | SCHOPPERT SMITH & KARNER LLP—PROVIDING EXCEPTIONAL LEGAL REPRESENTATION

FOR OVER 50 YEARS. Large -fi rm sophistication in a smaller, more responsive package. Keegin Harrison’s clients include businesses, individuals, public agencies and nonprofit organizations throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. While many of Keegin Harrison’s lawyers have benefitted from large -fi rm experience, the fi rm’s size and Marin County location allow it to provide services more cost-effectively and responsively than its larger competitors. Keegin Harrison is known for its expertise in real estate and land-use planning, business law, and employment law. The firm’s estate planning group has decades of experience helping families plan for the future. Its mergers and acquisitions group represents both buyers and sellers in transactions of all sizes ranging from basic to complex, and has successfully closed countless deals. The fi rm’s litigation attorneys have expertise in all stages of commercial litigation and have an established track record of concluding disputes efficiently and favorably. All of Keegin Harrison’s attorneys deeply value professionalism and client service, and they have been repeatedly recognized by peers and clients for the high quality of their legal services.

The Keegin Harrison lawyers routinely donate their time to the Marin community—volunteering, holding elected and appointed positions in local government, and serving in leadership roles in community nonprofit organizations and the local bar association.

Pictured (from left): Nicole M. Çabalette, Jeffrey S. Schoppert, Wendy Wyse, Paul C. Smith, Stafford W. Keegin, Annie Reilly, Robert L. Harrison, Jessica Karner, Deborah M. Black

ATTORNEY PROFILES

“AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION OR A POUND OF CURE”: HELPING BUILDERS AND OWNERS OBTAIN, PLAN, BUILD, MANAGE, MAINTAIN, AND REPAIR RESIDENTIAL, COMMERCIAL AND PUBLIC PROJECTS … and with the litigation/ disputes they can trigger. For 31 years Kate Warner has built solid, top industry relationships which allows her to assemble targeted teams of experts to navigate AND achieve the best possible Real Estate and Construction/ Project results

Firm in the belief that resources should go to construction, not the legal process, she quickly and candidly provides practical and efficient solution options, from pre-project feasibility to the fi nal sign-off. With skill and unique contacts, she and her teams can manage and resolve your construction disputes before, during or long after the last nail is driven. She’s an invited member of: Associated General Contractors; Marin Builders Exchange; Construction Specifications Institute; Forensic Expert Witness Association AND WestCon, California’s leading construction consultant’s organization.

Project Tips: Contracts: They should clearly defi ne the mutual goals and benefits, and how all parties will obtain them. Don’t be intimidated, think about how it will work in the real world or revise the contract if it won’t. Ask questions and talk about expectations BEFORE you sign. Insurance: It’s not a warranty. Send the contract(s) to the broker to assure the project is covered, and ask for the insurer’s claims handling reputation.

BY ANN WYCOFF

Paddling

WINTER CAN BE a relative term in California, but as the days get shorter and our circadian rhythms slow, something shifts inside, causing us to hibernate a bit, or pack on a few pounds despite our good intentions to not overindulge during the holidays. But then there’s the soul-stirring beacon of a winter escape — that electrifying vision of soft white sand and cerulean seas, of stepping off a lane into the warm embrace of tropical air, and that devilish feeling of freedom in shedding the winter armor of fleece and Uggs and dipping your toes into gin-clear oceanic bathwater. Whether you seek an adrenaline-punched adventure or alpha-wave bliss with a splash of culture, these seven spots will recharge the spirit, and the only winter blues in sight will be an ombré of sea and sky from your room with a view.

Trips for the Adventurer

• Bora Bora Liquid Festival and IronMana

Each December, water sports enthusiasts outnumber the cocooned honeymoon crowd and gather in the bucket-list paradise of Bora Bora for a weeklong event that features world-class competitions such as long-distance OC-1 outrigger, stand-up paddleboard, prone paddle and swim races, along with beach parties, water-skills clinics and island adventures. Honoring Tahitian traditions, the festival kicks off ith the postcard-perfect arrival of several Polynesian sailing canoes that have

traveled from Tahiti to Bora Bora via celestial navigation instead of GPS. Daily races are a mash-up of long-distance and sprint events, followed by evening dance parties, sprawling bu ffets and nights on the town in Vaitape. For the hard core, an IronMana elite event — a grueling 50k (34 mile) OC-1 outrigger race, 45k SUP race and 12k long-distance swim — caps the week, while anyone can enter the fi nal 40k solo or team-relay SUP race circumnavigating the island. And everyone including

world-class athletes, amateurs and spectators mixes it up with the a ffable local Tahitians, while enjoying the mind-bending colorscape of the teal-and-turquoise lagoon fringed by white sand and looming jade green volcanic mountains. At base camp, Sofitel Bora Bora Marara Beach Resort, Liquid Festers can retreat to the lush garden or over-the-water bungalows where an evening swim means a dive from your private deck. December 3–6. easytahiti.com/noa/bora-bora-ironmana.html

• Healey Water Ops (HWO)

Nihiwatu Resort

Charismatic big-wave surfer and professional waterman Mark Healey is offering oceancentric “trips of a lifetime” on the pristine island of Sumba, east of Bali. At Nihiwatu Resort, guest s fi nd compelling extremes like luxe seaside villas and an intact authentic indigenous culture. Nihiwatu’s one-and-ahalf-mile stretch of beach hosts more water bu ffaloes and wild horses than people, not to

Opposite, from top: Learning to SUP in Bora Bora; SUP World Series at Turtle Bay. This page, from top: Wildlife and crashing waves in Nihiwatu.

mention an epic wave out front deemed “God’s Left” that fi lls the daydreams of the world’s best surfers. Healey and his highly trained team guide guests through this untouched aquatic paradise whether they want to snorkel its reefs, scuba around massive boulders and pinnacles, free-dive into the depths, spear fi sh for bigeye tuna and mahimahi, line-fi sh with the locals, swim under 100-foot waterfalls, or charge off-the-charts empty waves. “There’s no other place like this on

the planet,” says Healey, who’s trodden the planet the better part of the last 15 years chasing swells and adventures. “You come for the perfect wave, fall in love with the raw beauty, and return for the local people and culture. The indigenous Sumbanese are one of the last remaining intact animistic societies on the planet. It’s defi nitely one of the most unique places I have ever been.” Nihiwatu is the initial stepping-stone of HWO’s plans for global one-of-a-kind ocean adventures. nihiwatu.com/the-experience/by-sea

• Turtle Bay Resort

Ah, the North Shore of Oahu, home to 26

miles of golden sand and thundering waves, surf shacks, Matsumoto Shave Ice, shrimp trucks and hula pie at Ted’s Bakery. And yes, that was crooner Jack Johnson you just saw in the Sunset Market talking to shredder Kelly Slater. It’s a world away from Waikiki, and a bubble of bohemian surf culture. Down the Kam Highway, Turtle Bay Resort awaits with 880 acres of prime beachfront splendor and amenities: 36 holes of shoreline golf, a stable full of horses, 12 miles of oceanfront trails, a sweet surf break and the Hans Hedemann Surf Center for barrel lessons or SUP rentals. Kuilima Cove calls for snorkeling with the hotel’s aumakua or spirit animal:

the sea turtle, tai chi master of the ocean. While the guest room s a nd s uites in the main hotel have been renovated and deliver a luxe landing spot with ocean views, it’s the 40-plus private cottages with butler-style service, lanais, hammocks and sunken tubs that pique the senses. Turtle Bay is home to the Stand Up World Serie s fi nals and will host the Sunset Beach Pro and Turtle Bay Women’s Pro SUP competitions in February 2015. Women interested in the sport can sign up for SUP clinics, then witness some of the world’s best in action either from a board or on land with a mai tai in hand. Alohaaaaaa. turtlebayresort.com

Clockwise from top left: FieldSpa at GoldenEye; kayaking to FieldSpa; enjoying the porch at a GoldenEye lagoon cottage; Lumeria’s hidden hammocks.

Realign and Recharge

•

GoldenEye

The former private residence of Ian Fleming and the setting where he penned all 14 James Bond novels, GoldenEye is Jamaica’s raddest resort, owned by arbiter of cool Chris Blackwell — the Island Records legend who launched Bob Marley, U2 and Zero 7, just to name a few. Whether you wish to luxuriate in Fleming’s Villa with a dedicated staff r check into a beachfront cottage, GoldenEye provides a halcyon gated oasis in Oracabessa (near Ocho Rios), where the fresh–lime juice mai tais come spiked with Blackwell’s own line of dark rum and the greens on your plate are plucked at his local farm. An international crowd enjoys snorkeling the reefs out front or stand-up-paddling the emerald green lagoon out back. Guests can swim or kayak over to the FieldSpa on the edge of the lagoon — one of the

prettiest in the world — and enjoy salt scrubs, massages and facials in the open-air treatment rooms. The more spiritual set can do sound meditation and sunset yoga on the deck. Full moon parties include jerk barbecues, James Bond fl icks under the stars and bon fi res on the beach. The main bar and dining area’s walls and ceiling are plastered with rock ’n’ roll memorabilia and often Mr. Blackwell himself can be spotted mingling with guests in his Jamaican paradise. goldeneye.com

• Lumeria Maui

If your iPhone is attached to your ear and you spend more time with your laptop than your mate, this stylin’ hideaway on Maui is the place to unplug. Lumeria’s elegantly restored sugarcane plantation with wraparound porch sits high on the hill above bohemianchic Paia and the cresting waves of the Hookipa Beach. Yoga on the lawn starts the

day, followed by time floating in the in fi nity pool, lomilomi massage in an outdoor hale tucked into the Whispering Pine Forest, a walk through the labyrinth, aromatherapy and essential oil classes, meditation and chill time in the hidden hammocks scattered throughout the impressive gardens. After getting your om on, head to Paia for boutique shopping, cafe hopping, sashimi at Mama’s Fish House and live music at Charley’s Restaurant & Saloon, where big names often drop in to jam. When it’s time to get wet, Lumeria will arrange for private surf, SUP or windsur fi ng lessons with elite trainer and badass waterwoman Suzie Cooney. Back at the estate, founder Xorin Balbes is an architectural conservator with an eye for beauty and a heart for preservation, so high design abounds, with four-poster beds, river rock showers, and giant Buddhas and antique urns dotting the Eden-like garden that honors the

PIECE OF PARADISE

local indigenou s flora and the island ancestors. Paradise found. lumeriamaui.com

• Matlali

Designed by famed beach architect Jaime Barba, this spanking-new 40-villa hideaway and spa perches above Banderas Bay, just north of Puerto Vallarta in Mexico. The spacious digs sport teal, cream and natural tones, ocean views, and plunge pools on shaded decks for lazy lounge-y afternoons serenaded by the jungle’s birdsong. After a day of catamaran sailing, hiking, kayaking, sur fi ng or fi shing, slip into the resort’s in fi nity pools or drift over to the Makawé Spa, which nods to the healing rituals of the Huichol culture with treatments like the “Huaxe” — a traditional massage with gourds that begins with the burning of ceremonial aura-cleansing copal incense. Guests of Matlali have an open invitation to the colorful Eva Mandarina Beach

Club — think seaside retreat meets art installation with paint-spackled VW bug, hanging white bicycles and yellow rubber duckies, a whimsical vision of famed Guadalajarabased artist Abel Galvan. A stroll through the nearby cobblestoned fi shing village of La Cruz de Huanacaxtle delivers the chance to explore the mercado, interact with local artisans and take in live music in the plaza. matlali.com

• Rancho Pescadero

This adobe-style-meets-Balinese-chic, 26-room boutique hotel in Baja California Sur is the antidote to the mega hotels and madness of Cabo. Leave the kids at home: Rancho Pescadero is a mighty tasteful oceanfront playground for adults, whether you want to decompress while floating in the pool clutching a fruity elixir, downwarddog to the sound of waves, elevate your surf technique or gallop along the shore. Thirty

Every Prince is oceanfront. Most every room is oceanview.

FREE NIGHTS, resort credits and breakfast buffets — Fall Into Winter inclusions vary per resort for stays through mid-December. Some restrictions apply. No mandatory resort fees.

PrinceResortsHawaii.com/Fall 866.774.6236

minutes north of Cabo with no other hotel in sight, Rancho Pescadero stands out for dependably perfect moments — a toes-inthe-sand private dinner for two by a fi re pit, a nap on the cushy beachfront daybeds, kayaking with gray whales, watching baby turtles migrate out to sea. Massages take place in the cozy low-fi pa shacks on the beach, and moonlight suppers are served in the vegetable garden, where guests can sit at the counter and watch chef wizardry in the outdoor kitchen. Housemade tequila spills from petite wooden barrels and the talented bartenders shake up endless nectars. Translucent netting envelops the suites’ plush beds, and swinging chairs and comfy lounger s fi ll the decks for ocean views and stargazing. Artsy Todos Santos sits 10 minutes away with galleries, groovy restaurants and rooftop bars for margaritas and more magic. ranchopescadero.com m

Opposite: Eva Mandarina Beach Club. This page: Rancho Pescadero.

Southwestern FR A NCE

After ditching the kids, a local couple travel to where slow food isn’t a movement; it’s a way of life. STORY BY CARRIE KIRBY

THE 60-SOMETHING MAN, dressed in khaki shorts and a wide-brimmed hat, pulled the purple bulb neatly apart and handed me half. “The fruit still has the freshness of last night’s chill,” he said, smiling. Indeed, despite the sunshine warming my shoulders, the fig’s seedy pulp was cool as Jell-O in my mouth, with just a hint of sweetness.

The man and his wife told us they were visiting from Catalonia, the border region to our south where French and Spanish cultures merge. They were in the Dordogne River valley to see the sights just like us, but while we were in a hurry to climb the steep village path and get a look at our fi rst medieval castle, they were blocking our way, taking their time to select the ripest figs.

“See? This one is no good,” he said, showing u s a fig whose pulp was whitish instead of pink orange.

My husband and I decided that touring the Château de Castelnaud could wait a few minutes. These figs were the best thing we’d eaten since arriving in the tiny French town in the southwestern village of Vezac the day before.

On the plane, our Parisienne seatmate nodded in approval as she traced her fi nger over our planned route from the Dordogne River valley in the Périgord Noir to a farmette in the Midi-Pyrénées.

“You will eat well,” she told us.

That was part of our goal for this trip, a 40th birthday present I gave myself. After 10 years of rarely traveling without our three children, my husband and I hoped to luxuriate in the grown-up pleasures of restaurant meals and extra glasses of wine. We wanted to learn about the culture of this region far from the bustle of Paris, where both food and life moved at the leisurely pace of the Dordogne River. We ended up understanding that farm-to-table isn’t a trend here; it’s a way of life — and not just for adults.

We knew our road trip would take us through a region of duck and goose farms, cheese production and a viticulture established long before the vineyards of Bordeaux. But on the first evening of our trip, we ate at a restaurant where the menu boasted mai tais and piña coladas. Surely this wasn’t right.

After touring the castle, we walked down to a canoe out fitter and found it closed for a two-hour lunch break. So instead of paddling past castles and villages on the Dordogne, we wandered the cobblestone paths of La Roque-Gageac, a cliffside village designated as one of the “most beautiful villages of France,” and listened to the sounds of forks and knives clinking on plates inside homes and restaurants. What was it, I asked my husband, that made the local people so entranced with lunch that they needed two full hours to eat?

Like many bed-and-breakfasts in the region, the house where we stayed was owned by an Englishwoman. The next morning, over croissants our hostess Anne had fetched from the local bakery while we slept in, she suggested we seek culinary answers at the weekly outdoor market in nearby Sarlat.

Market Fresh

It took us only 20 minutes to drive our rental car to Sarlat-laCanéda, a 14th-century village that is on France’s tentative nomination list for UNESCO World Heritage sites, thanks to the loving restoration by author and de Gaulle cabinet member André Malraux in the 1960s. We wandered through a crowd of shoppers toting straw market baskets, welcomed by the smell of freshly baked baguettes, strong cheeses and peppery carrot greens. We approached a cheese case filled with rounds the size of pocket watches and others as big as hubcaps. My husband pointed to a small dark circle and asked to try it.

“That one is too strong for you,” laughed the proprietress — a large-bosomed woman wearing a white apron, a small plastic cup of wine in hand at 10 a.m. — who instead handed us each a slice from a cream-colored round labeled Rocamadour. It was a tangy and smooth goat’s cheese, and we eagerly handed over a few coins for a round. The dark ones, she said, were the same variety, but aged longer.

We considered arguing that we could handle a pungent cheese, but lost our nerve and moved on to the duck vendors.

These were the grandest displays, with foie gras — both fresh and canned — thin slices of smoked duck breast, duck con fit, duck gizzards and many parts and preparations we couldn’t begin to identify. We spotted the familiar shape of purple figs and bought some. They were stu ffed with foie

“Try this. It’s a figue.”

Opposite: A delicious French snack. Above: Chateau de Beynac as seen from the Dordogne River.

gras. Once my teeth broke through the chewy fruit, the fi lling burst into my mouth like meat whipped cream. I was beginning to understand why this was not a place where one rushes through lunch.

Looking for a lunch treat for my husband, we stopped at a display of long saucissons secs, dried sausages. I translated their labels as best I could for my husband, but I got stuck on the word cèpes.

The vendor leaned forward and said, in English, “Cèpes are a kind of mushroom.”

We left the market fortified not only with our stu ffed figs, dry sausage, cheese and a loaf of dense brown bread, but also with the sense that the locals were happy to share the secrets of their earthy cuisine, if only we put down our guidebooks and listened. No matter how many customers jostled at the market tables, no vendor had allowed himself to be rushed as he answered our questions and proffered samples. This was not a slow food movement; for the people who laid their tables from this market, slow food was the only food.

Lessons From Milo

During the rest of the trip we passed up museum tours for market days any chance we got. Our food lessons weren’t limited to markets: Outside Lascaux II, the impressive replica of the closed-to-the-public Neolithic painted cave, we noticed French visitors picking things up off he path and stashing them in plastic grocery bags.

“What are those?” I asked, and learned that people were gathering chestnuts to take home and roast.

Later we got to taste that treat ourselves. We arrived at our trip’s main destination, an ancient limestone farmhouse where an American friend had settled with her French husband, their two small sons, and the boys’ grand-mère and grand-père. After dinner, Grand-mère brought out a warm, fragrant paper bag of chestnuts and showed us how to peel.

“Milo collected these outside his school,” she told us, nodding with pride at her 5-year-old grandson, who was born in San Jose but was quickly putting down roots here on his grandparents’ property outside Villefranche-deRouergue, in the Aveyron department.

“He comes home with so many chestnuts in his pockets, his pants are hanging low,” Milo’s mother said with a laugh. As I peeled and tasted the chewy nuts, I wondered what I would say if my own children picked up things offthe ground to eat. Probably, “Don’t touch!” Would my kids be willing to try the nuts that Milo was popping into his mouth? Despite living just a few miles from Alice Waters and her efforts to teach children where their food comes from, we were not giving our kids anything like the food education that Milo was getting through everyday life in the French countryside.

Our hosts had asked us to bring a fresh fattened duck liver from one of the Périgord Noir’s farm shops. Now it sat in the

refrigerator in the old farmhouse’s modern kitchen, while Grand-mère and Grand-père debated how best to prepare it.

The fate of the foie gras entier had not been settled when we all drove into the village to dine at l’Univers, a hotelrestaurant run by Quentin Bourdy. Bourdy was one of the most popular contestants on the 2013 season of Top Chef France, but was eliminated halfway through the competition. Now he had returned to Villefranche to renovate and run his family restaurant.

After an unforgettable meal of mussels in butter sauce and duck breast edged with sumptuous fat, we saw France’s wouldbe top chef pass the table. Grand-mère seized her chance.

“What is the best way to prepare a foie gras entier?” she asked, pen poised to transcribe his instructions.

That night, we ate the slowly roasted foie gras with sauteed apples from our hosts’ orchard, and Grand-père pulled a special bottle of red Gaillac wine out of his cave on the farmhouse’s ground floor. We finished with tiny glasses of eau de vie, distilled from the property’s plums, toasting the last night of our visit and the success of the famous chef’s recipe. It cheered me to think that it wasn’t just us Americans who were still learning how to enjoy food. After living in France all her life, our hostess was still learning too.

Five-year-old Milo would not let us leave without giving us a tour of the property. In the morning, we opened the farmhouse’s double wooden doors and followed him down the broad stone steps. Milo showed us a heavy cluster of grapes, but then held up his hand.

“Those aren’t ripe,” he warned. “I’ll show you where the ripe ones are.”

Milo’s 2-year-old brother Liam hurried behind us, rain boots protecting his pajama-clad legs from the dewy grass. We passed through the perfume of the flower garden, then the dank barn cellar, to the main garden, where Milo plucked and distributed fat grapes that stained the boys’ faces purple. They spat out the seeds and grabbed more, while my husband and I admired the garden and looked out over the rolling fields of neighbors’ farms, dotted by grazing cows. We could hear the family’s chickens clucking softly as they picked through the grass nearby.

Milo led us to the bee box and asked us to lift some heavy stones off he top so he could open the lid and show us the furry undulating sheet of bees.

Then I spotted something I didn’t need Milo’s help to identify.

“Oh, a figuier!” I said, pointing to a squat fig tree.

Milo grabbed a leathery bulb and pulled off ne end, squirting the pulp into his mouth. I did the same, savoring the coolness from the night air preserved in the fruit. m

Clockwise from top left: A barn door on an ancient limestone farmhouse; gathering chestnuts; Grandmère and Grand-père; dried fruit at the market; Milo at the Villefranche riverfront; tarts at the market.

Saturday, November 15th, 2014

Sausalito Film Series at Cavallo Point

Out & About

CALENDAR / ON THE SCENE / DINE

Warren Miller's No Turning Back

MUSEUM

Calendar

NOV 7–16 Seussical the Musical All of your favorite Dr. Seuss characters, including the Cat in the Hat, Gertrude McFuzz and many more, gather in places like the Jungle of Nool and Circus McGurkus for this musical re-creation of well-loved Seussical tales. Throckmorton Theatre (Mill Valley). 415.383.9600, throck mortontheatre.org

NOV 28–DEC 21 The Complete History of Comedy Reduced Shakespeare Company aims to make audiences laugh with this 90-minute deconstruction of the history of comedy. Prepare for some serious joking around. Marin Theatre Company (Mill Valley). 415.388.5208, marintheatre.org

DANCE

THEATER

THRU NOV 2 Arguendo

New York–based company Elevator Repair Service presents Arguendo, a staging of the 1991 Supreme Court oral argument in Barnes v. Glen Theatre, where a group of exotic dancers used the First Amendment to challenge a ban on public nudity. Z Space (SF). 866.811.4111, zspace.org

THRU NOV 17 The Boy Friend This 1920s-era spoof follows a group of English young ladies as they transform into flappers on the French Riviera. Music, lyrics and book by Sandy Wilson. Eureka Theatre (SF). 415.255.8207, 42ndstmoon.org

NOV 2 Mummenschanz

This eclectic mix of theater, dance, mime and magic has been

captivating audiences for more than 40 years. Mummenschanz takes ordinary items like toilet paper, white sheets and balloons and transforms them into strange creatures that fi nd themselves in amusing situations. Marin Center (San Rafael). 415.473.6800, marincenter.org

NOV 6–9 James and the Giant Peach Roald Dahl’s classic tale about an orphan who escapes from his evil aunts in an unexpected way comes to life in this musical rendition. With the help of big bugs and a very big peach, James is able to embark on the adventure of his dreams. Marin Theatre Company (Mill Valley). 415.388.5208, marintheatre.org

NOV 13–23 Puppet Up! Uncensored This improv production features Henson puppetry in a two-shows-in-one format. Puppets will be projected on large screens and accompanied by live music; audiences will have the opportunity to see a few re-creations of neverbefore-seen pieces by Jim and Jane Henson and Frank Oz. Marines’ Memorial Theatre (SF). 888.746.1799, shnsf.com

NOV 26–DEC 14 Something for the Boys Three cousins come together to create a boardinghouse for soldier’s wives from an inherited San Antonio plantation. With music and lyrics by Cole Porter. Eureka Theatre (SF). 415.255.8207, 42ndstmoon.org

NOV 14–23 Fall Home Season Enjoy new choreography from Alonzo King featuring Rasa, set to an original score by tabla player Zakir Hussain and violinist Kala Ramnath, as well as an original premiere set to three Shostakovich string quartets. YBCA (SF). 415.978.2787, ybca.org

COMEDY

TUESDAYS Mark Pitta and Friends The comic hosts an evening for up-and-comers and established headliners to work on new material. 142 Throckmorton Theatre (Mill Valley). 415.383.9600, 142throckmorton theatre.com

THEATER / COMEDY / MUSIC / GALLERIES / MUSEUMS / EVENTS / FILM EDITED BY CALIN VAN PARIS

NOV 6 Mort Sahl Social satirist Mort Sahl — the fi rst entertainer ever to appear on the cover of Time — shares his brand of politically motivated comedy. Throckmorton Theatre (Mill Valley). 415.383.9600, throck mortontheatre.org

NOV 7 Whose Live Anyway? Laugh along to 90 minutes of improvised comedy and song, all based on audience suggestion — a live action version of the popular television show Whose Line Is It Anyway? Marin Center (San Rafael). 415.473.6400, marin center.org

NOV 28 Jay Alexander’s Mind

Tricks Live magic meets comedy as Jay Alexander — who was honored with the Society of American Magicians Gold Medal of Honor at just 14 — takes the stage with his unique live show. Throckmorton Theatre (Mill Valley). 415.383.9600, throck mortontheatre.org

MUSIC

TUESDAYS Swing Fever

The band pays tribute to jazz artists and composers with selections from its roster of more than 1,000 tunes, every fi rst and third Tuesday. Panama Hotel (San Rafael). 415.457.3993, panamahotel.com

NOV 2 Marin Golden Gate Barbershop Chorus Join the Marin Barbershop Chorus in celebrating 60 years of harmony in Marin. With special guest Artistic License.

Marin Center (San Rafael). 415.473.6400, marincenter.org

NOV 2 Classic Uggams Leslie Uggams comes to the Bay Area for the fi rst time in more than 20 years to celebrate 60 years in show business. Enjoy favorites from her more than 15 albums in this cabaret performance. Fairmont (SF). 415.392.4400, bayareacabaret.org

NOV 7–9 Russian Festival The Mill Valley Philharmonic performs pieces from RimskyKorsakov, Glazunov and more as part of its 15th season. Various locations (Marin County). 415.383.0930, mill valleyphilharmonic.org

NOV 8–9 Madama Butterfly Set in 1890s Japan, Madama Butter fly is a tragic love story and Giacomo Puccini’s most popular opera. Golden Gate Opera performs its rendition, sung in Italian with English subtitles. Veterans’ Memorial Auditorium (San Rafael). 415.473.6800, goldengateopera.org

NOV 11 Bella Gaia Music ensemble Bella Gaia performs music from its debut fulllength album, Bella Gaia: Beautiful Earth. The group’s blends of world music and immersive theater make this show unique. Veterans’ Memorial Auditorium (San Rafael). 415.473.6400, marincenter.org

Celebrate with your friends and family at our second annual Holiday Pops Concert! Enjoy music from favorite holiday movies including Home Alone and Polar Express , plus holiday classics— The Hanukkah Overture, T’was the Night Before Christmas, White Christmas, Joy to the World, Deck the Halls, Silent Night —and more!

Startingat$35Adult,$20Youth6-17.

The program includes Stephen Paulus’ “Three Nativity Carols,” Morten Lauridsen’s “Sure on this Shining Night,” Kevin Memley’s “Ave Maria,” plus three new pieces for chorus, string quartet, and piano by Ola Gjeilo. Share the glow and spirit of the season with us!

15. 3075 Sacramento St, 415.931.7233, marchsf.com

NOV 12

Acoustic Guitar

Showcase Local acoustic guitar masters show off heir skills in this special jam session. Sleeping Lady (Fairfax). 415.485.1182, sleeping ladyfairfax.com

NOV

15 David Lindley

The self-titled string instrument wizard performs his brand of world music, with in fluences from Jamaica, Mississippi, Madagascar, Turkey and Cuba. Osher Marin JCC (San Rafael). murphy productions.com

NOV 19 Ernie Watts

Quartet Two-time Grammy Award winner Ernie Watts brings his saxophone skills to the Throckmorton.

Throckmorton Theatre (Mill Valley). 415.383.9600, throck mortontheatre.org

NOV 19 Jon Anderson

The lead vocalist of Yes strikes out on his own to perform classic favorites and new songs from his recent solo album, Survival and Other Stories. The Regency Ballroom (SF). 415.673.5716, the regencyballroom.com

NOV 22 Gaelic Storm

This Celtic-rock group fronted by Patrick Murphy and guitarist/ vocalist Steve Twigger performs selections from its nine albums, including the most recent, Chicken Boxer, which was recorded after a trip home to

Ireland. Sweetwater Music Hall (Mill Valley). 415.388.1100, sweetwater musichall.com

NOV 22 Cheap Trick

The band — currently made up of Robin Zander, Rick Nielsen, Tom Petersson and Dax Nielsen — performs favorite rock hits. The War field (SF). 415.345.0900, thewar fieldtheatre.com

NOV 23 East of the River This unique and internationally recognized group of musicians makes its West Coast debut. The program features songs from the 2013 album Levantera. St. Mark’s Lutheran Church (SF). sfems.org

GALLERIES

MARIN

Art Abloom Studio and Gallery Classes for artists. 751 Sir Francis Drake Blvd, San Anselmo. 415.256.1112, artabloom.com

Art Works Downtown Sculpture as Metaphor A juried exhibition, through November 14. 1337 Fourth St, San Rafael. 415.451.8119, artworksdowntown.org

Atrium Gallery The American Car: A Family Portrait Works by Gale McKee, through January 2. 1350 South Eliseo Dr, Ste. 140, Greenbrae. 415.454.1411,

Bubble St Featuring genres of fantastic art, imaginary realism, neo-Victorian and steampunk. 565 Bridgeway, Sausalito. 415.339.0506

Claudia Chapline Gallery and Sculpture Garden Amie Lute Abstract figure painings and drawings by the artist. 3445 Shoreline Hwy, Stinson Beach. 415.868.2308, cchapline.com

Falkirk Cultural Center

Three Ways of Seeing Paintings by Will Noble, Mary Wagstaff and Nelson Hee, November 14–December 27. 1408 Mission Ave, San Rafael. 415.485.3328, falkirk culturalcenter.org

Fine Art Etc. Featuring a collection of sculptures and paintings by artists from Northern California and around the world. 686 Bridgeway, Sausalito. 415.332.1107, finearttc.com

Gallery Bergelli Attraction New paintings by Greg Ragland, through November 20. 483 Magnolia Ave, Larkspur. 415.945.9454, bergelli.com

Gallery Route One Works by Mimi Abers, through December 14. 11101 Hwy One, Point Reyes. 415.663.1347, galleryrouteone.org

Headlands Center for the Arts Setlists for a Setting Sun Works by Dario Robleto, November 16–March 29. 944 Simmonds Rd, Sausalito. 415.331.2787, headlands.org

Marin Society of Artists 87th annual members show with music

accompaniment by Kash Killion, November 16–December 13. 30 Sir Francis Drake Blvd, Ross. 415.454.9561, marinsocietyof artists.org

Mine Gallery Original contemporary art. 1820 Sir Francis Drake Blvd, Fairfax. 415.755.4472, gallerymine.com

O’Hanlon Center for the Arts The Art of Food A juried show, through November 20. 616 Throckmorton Ave, Mill Valley. 415.388.4331, ohanloncenter.org

Petri’s Fine Arts

Featuring contemporary works in various mediums. 690 Bridgeway, Sausalito. 415.332.2626, petrisfineart.com

Robert Allen Fine Art Color and Abstraction

A group exhibition of works on canvas and panel, through November 28. 301 Caledonia St, Sausalito. 415.331.2800, robert allenfineart.co

Robert Beck Gallery

Early California and contemporary plein air paintings. 222 Sir Francis Drake Blvd, San Anselmo. 415.456.7898, beckgallery.org

Robert Green Fine Arts John Grillo: Now and Then Works from 1946 to 2006. 154 Throckmorton Ave, Mill Valley. 415.381.8776, rgfineart.com

Roberta English Art by Cheung Lee, Mayumi Oda, Li Huayi, Ju Ming and Toko Shinoda. 1615 Bridgeway, Sausalito. 415.331.2975, robertaenglish.com

Room Art Gallery Works by both Bay Area artists and major masters,

• March The Bodegon Series Works by Paulette Tavormina, through December

Still Life with Figs and Apricots by Paulette Tavormina

housing the largest collection of Picasso, Chagall and others in Marin County. 86 Throckmorton Ave, Mill Valley. 415.380.7940, roomartgallery.com

Seager Gray Gallery Ongoing work. 108 Throckmorton Ave, Mill Valley. 415.384.8288, seagergray.com

Smith Andersen North Work juried by William Wegman. 20 Greenfield Ave, San Anselmo. 415.455.9733, smith andersennorth.com

Studio 333 Why There Are Words Literary series featuring New York Times best-selling authors and awardwinning writers. 333A Caledonia St, Sausalito. 415.331.8272, studio333.info

Studio 4 Art Work by local artists, classes and workshops with materials included. 1133 Grant Ave, Novato. 415.596.5546, studio4art.net

The Blissful Gallery

3-D works by local artists. 3415 Shoreline Hwy, Stinson Beach, 415.868.2787, theblissfulgallery.com

SAN FRANCISCO

ArtHaus An intimate presentation of diverse works in various styles and mediums by New York and Bay Area artists. 411 Brannan St, 415.977.0223, arthaus-sf.com

Electric Works Works by David Schubert. 1360 Mission St, 415.626.5496, sfelectricworks.com

Fouladi Projects Work by Pip Culbert, through December 6. 1803 Market St, 415.621.2535, fouladiprojects.com

Gregory Lind Gallery

Cary Smith and Don Voisine Works by the artists, through December. 49 Geary St, 415.296.9661, gregorylindgallery.com

Hackett-Mill Rare pieces from the 1950s and 1960s. 201 Post St, 415.362.3377, hackettmill.com

John Berggruen Gallery

Somewhere Else, Somewhere Good Art by Isca GreenfieldSanders, through November 1. 228 Grant Ave, 415.781.4629, berggruen.com

Meyerovich Gallery

Pat Steir: Waterfalls Monoprints and silk screens of dripping dreamscapes. 251 Post St, 415.421.7171, meyerovich.com

Pier 24 Photography Works from the Pilara Foundation Collection. Pier 24, 415.512.7424, pier24.org

Rena Bransten Projects

Ongoing work. 1639 Market St, 415.982.3292, renabransten gallery.com

Thomas Reynolds Gallery Works by contemporary artists. 2291 Pine St, 415.441.4093, thomasreynolds.com

MUSEUMS

MARIN

Bolinas Museum A collection of works in various mediums by J.B. Blunk, Harry Bowden, Linda Connor and more (Bolinas). 415.868.0330, bolinas museum.org

Marin History Museum

An Afternoon in a Victorian Parlor An old-fashioned sitting room in the historic Boyd Gate House (San Rafael). 415.454.8538, marinhistory.org

Marin Museum of the American Indian Explore Native American history, languages, art and traditions (Novato). 415.897.4064, marinindian.com

Marin Museum of Contemporary Art Legends of the Bay Area: Squeak Carnwath, November 1–29 (Novato). 415.506.0137, marinmoca.org

BAY AREA

Asian Art Museum Roads of Arabia Archaeology and history of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, through January 18 (SF). 415.581.3711, asianart.org

California Academy of Sciences Skulls Check out an exhibit featuring more than 640 animal skulls and learn the physiology, science and history behind them, through November 30. (SF). 415.379.8000, calacademy.org

HOLIDAY HAPPENINGS in HEALDSBURG

DINE AROUND (a 4-course, progressive feast) Dec. 3, 4 & 10, 11

HISTORIC INNS TOUR Sunday, Dec. 14 2-4:30pm

In the famed Sonoma County wine country. Local hospitality meets San Francisco chic. Bakeries, bistros, tasting rooms and 5-star restaurants. Stylish boutiques, art galleries and antique shops. Picnic baskets brimming with local farmers’ market delicacies. Taste the wine country the way Northern Californians do. And like everyone who visits, you’ll fall head over Healdsburg. www.healdsburg.com

Conservatory of Flowers Aquascapes

The art of underwater gardening, November 13–April 12 (SF). 415.831.2090, conser vatoryofflowers.org

Contemporary Jewish Museum J. Otto Seibold and Mr. Lunch A history and drafts from Seibold’s Mr. Lunch books, November 20–March 8 (SF). 415.655.7800, thecjm.org

de Young Keith Haring: The Political Line Works by Keith Haring in a variety of mediums, November 8–February 8 (SF). 415.750.3600, deyoung.famsf.org

Exploratorium Ongoing interactive exhibits exploring science and

Legion of Honor Houghton Hall: Portrait of an English Country House, through January 18 (SF). 415.750.3600, legionofhonor.org

Museum of Craft and Design Wendy Maruyama: Executive Order 9066 The fi nal stop of this traveling exhibition, through January 4 (SF). 415.773.0303, sfmcd.org

Oakland Museum of California Judy Chicago: A Butter fly for Oakland, through November 30 (Oakland). 510.318.8400, museumca.org

San Francisco Botanical Garden Cloud Forest A colorful jungle

typical cloud forest plant communities in southern Mexico and throughout Central America, through December 31 (SF). sfb otanicalgarden.org

Sonoma Valley Museum of Art Eleanor Coppola: Quiet, Creative Force Works by Eleanor Coppola, November 8–January 25 (Sonoma). svma.org

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Landscape: the virtual, the actual, the possible? An examination of the intersection of nature and technology, through January 25 (SF).

EVENTS

NOV 1 North Bay Science Discovery Day

As part of the Bay Area Science Festival, North Bay Science Discovery Day offers kids a chance to partake in fun and exciting activities focusing on a array of questions: How is ice cream made? What is a Ph.D., and what do they do? What is solar energy? And many more. Buck Institute (Novato). north bayscience.org

NOV 1 Stinson Beach Marathon Take part in the 24th annual Stinson Beach Marathon with half marathon and 7-mile course options on the legendary Dipsea Trail to Steep Ravine.

participants. Stinson Beach Park (Stinson Beach). envirosports.com

NOV 1–2 Marin County Triathlon and Duathlon

This family-friendly event offers an opportunity for everyone, including sprint, Olympic and kids’ distances. Proceeds from the race benefit low-income families by providing access to swim classes and water safety education. McNears Beach (San Rafael). 415.497.103, marintriathlon.com

NOV 7 Fur Ball 2014: The Great Catsby Dress in your best Gatsbythemed attire for this fundraising gala for the San Francisco Zoo.

a silent auction, dancing and live music from Notorious. San Francisco Zoo (SF). sfzoo.org

NOV 7 YMCA Marin County Youth Court The Marin County Youth Court — an alternative to the traditional juvenile justice system that empowers youth to take an active role in supporting their peers — celebrates 10 years with a luncheon featuring a keynote speech from the chief justice of California Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye. YMCA (SF). 415.446.2101, ymcasf.org

NOV 9 San Francisco 49ers Enjoy a San Francisco 49ers game on a theater-size screen

A World of Opportunities

We offer a unique opportunity for young children to learn about and share cultural and linguistic perspectives, to grow as curious and motivated learners, to become fluent French speakers and scholars, and to thrive as tomorrow’s global citizens.

SAUSALITO CAMPUS Preschool to 5th grade

lelycee.org

the company of other fans. Sweetwater Music Hall (Mill Valley). 415.388.100, sweet watermusichall.com

NOV 22–DEC 21 Great Dickens Christmas Fair Step back in time with this Dickens-era Christmas celebration complete with tearooms, shops, pubs, dancing, actors and recreations of old London streets. Cow Palace (SF). dickensfair.com

NOV 28–30 Bolinas and Stinson Beach Open Studios Celebrate Thanksgiving weekend with the work of 21 artists in di fferent mediums, including painting, photography and mixed-media. Various locations (Bolinas). coastal marinartists.com

NOV 30 Winterfest

The Depot Plaza is transformed into a winter wonderland at this annual event. Enjoy holiday music, seasonal drink and a giant snow slide, culminating in a festive tree-lighting ceremony. Depot Plaza (Mill Valley). 415.388.9700, enjoymillvalley.com

FILM

NOV 12–16 Napa Valley Film Festival Film, food and wine converge at this autumnal Wine Country festival event with more than 100 independent fi lms and a slew of visiting fi lmmakers and celebrities. Various locations (Wine Country). 707.226.7500, napavalley fi lmfest.org

NOV 15 No Turning Back Warren Miller Entertainment kicks off ts 65th anniversary with No Turning Back, featuring scenes shot worldwide with the world’s best skiers and snowboarders. Marin Center (San Rafael). warrenmiller.com

NATURE WALKS & TALKS

THRU NOV 16 Tiburon Art Walk A self guided, public art exhibition featuring over 30 works on display in shops and restaurants throughout Tiburon, including Art by the Bay, a sculpture exhibit stretching from Blackie’s Pasture to Shoreline Park. 415.435.1132, tiburon chamber.org

Untitled, 1982 by Keith Haring at the de Young, S.F.

NOV 1 Mario Batali

World-renowned chef Mario Batali discusses his newest book, America — Farm to Table: Simple, Delicious Recipes Celebrating Local Farmers, which highlights American farmer culture and product. Dominican University (San Rafael). 415.927.0960, bookpassage.com

NOV 6 Whisk(e)y Distilled Whiskey expert Heather Greene talk about her new authoritative guide, Whisk(e)y Distilled: A Populist Guide to the Water of Life, in which she introduces audiences to the popular dark liquor. Book Passage (Corte Madera). 415.927.0960, bookpassage.com

NOV 8 Great Minds Talk: Ocean Wellness Stiv Wilson of ocean conservation nonprofit 5 Gyres discusses ocean pollution and possible solutions for a better future with artists Richard and Judith Selby Lang, as well as marine debris researcher Kate Bimrose. Community Center (Bolinas). bolinasmuseum.org

NOV 8 Visit to the Marin Sanitary Service Recycle and Transfer Station Learn about what happens to your trash and recyclables, as well as how to get rid of household items and toxic materials, during this field trip to Marin Sanitary Service. Marin Sanitary Service (San Rafael). 415.456.7283, wildcarebayarea.org

NOV 9 Nature Prepares for Winter: Indian Valley Nature prepares for winter through a variety of adaptations. Search for evidence of the seasonal shift on this hike for ages 15 and up. Indian Valley (Novato). marin countyparks.org

NOV 10–16 California Naturalist 7-Day Training Immersive The University of California Cooperative Extension and Point Reyes National Seashore Association team up to provide an opportunity for nature and science lovers to experience Point Reyes National Seashore in a whole new way. Work with park staff o learn about operations, natural resource management and more. Various

locations (Point Reyes). 415.663.1200, ptreyes.org

NOV 13 Breast Cancer in Marin: The Myths, the Facts and the Science Breast and gynecologic surgeon Leah Kelley helps Marin residents separate fact from fiction about the risks of breast cancer in the county and provides proactive tips for staying healthy. Piatti Ristorante & Bar (Mill Valley). 415.888.2329, speaktomeevents.com

NOV 15 Saturday Morning Art Workshop Recycle plastic and learn about its impact by creating repurposed plastic art with the help of local artists and educators Janis Yerington and Tess Felix. Bolinas

Museum (Bolinas). bolinasmuseum.org

NOV 15 Birds at Bolinas Lagoon Observe the waterfowl and shorebirds that visit this overwintering area each year — the important ecosystem houses a variety of habitats. Stinson Beach School (Stinson Beach). marincountyparks.org

NOX 22 Thanksgiving

Floral Arrangement

Workshop Join ranger staff o create your own mini pumpki n floral centerpiece for the Thanksgiving table. Snacks and supplies provided at this festive event for ages seven and up. RSVP required. marincounty.org

NOV 29 Fitness Hike Work off ome of that Turkey Day weight with this fast-paced hike from Hoo Koo E Koo to Huckleberry Trail, led by Ranger Ian McLorg. Dress in layers and bring plenty of water. Crown Road Gate (Kent field). marin countyparks.org

NOV 29–30 Treasure Island Flea More than 400 local vendors converge at the monthly flea market featuring antiques, up-cycled items, furniture and more. Enjoy food from 25 food trucks and stands, live music and more. Treasure Island (San Francisco). 415.898.0245, treasure islandfla.com

Sarah GODSEY

Dine

AN INSIDER’S GUIDE TO RESTAURANTS AND GOOD FOOD IN THE BAY AREA

CORTE MADERA

BENISSIMO Italian “Benissimo” means “really, really good” in Italian. Aside from the daily 4 to 6:30 p.m. happy hour, when drinks are $3 to $5 and small plates $5 to $7, the menu offers a large selection of pizza, pasta and large plates, like grilled pork loin and pollo alla marsala. 18 Tamalpais Dr, 415.927.2316, benissimos.com

BLUE BARN GOURMET

American The first Marin outpost of the S.F.–based Sustainable Restaurant Group, Blue Barn Gourmet has proven to be very popular. The menu consists of customizable salads, toasted sandwiches, soups and more, prepared with locally harvested produce and proteins. 335 Corte Madera Town Ctr, 415.927.1104, bluebarngourmet.com

CALIFORNIA PIZZA

KITCHEN California/ Eclectic An easy place to bring the kids — Mom and Dad can enjoy a tasty Thai crunch salad and a glass of wine while the little ones feast on basic, child-size portions of pasta and pizza. 347 Corte Madera Town Ctr, 415.945.0401, cpk.com

IL FORNAIO Italian

Sausalito’s Larry Mindel hit a home run with this upscale Italian restaurant franchise. Aside from the pizzas and pastas, the menu offers a variety of salads and carb-free entrées. 223 Corte Madera Town Ctr, 415.927.4400, ilfornaio.com

LA MAISON DE LA REINE Vietnamese

• BOO KOO Asian Authentic Asian street food is now available for $10 or less. The restaurant offers options for every eater—vegans, gluten-frees, vegetarians and carnivores alike. Menu items include chicken pho, vegan summer rolls, pad thai and five-spice pork satay, all made with organic, locally sourced veggies and proteins. 25 Miller Ave, 415.888.8303, eatbookoo.com

BOCA PIZZERIA Italian Owners Shah Bahreyni and Sam Ramadan’s 142-seat eatery features Neapolitan-style pizza topped with imported San Marzano tomatoes and fresh, house-made mozzarella. Other menu items (all made with local ingredients) include roasted leg of lamb salad, beet salad, a grilled eggplant sandwich and portobello and porcini mushroom ravioli. 1544 Redwood Hwy, 415.924.3021, bocapizzeria.com

Enjoy family-style Vietnamese dishes at this lovely restaurant, located in the Town Center. The crunchy cabbage chicken salad with peanuts, fresh spring rolls and combinations of pho are popular picks. 346 Corte Madera Town Ctr, 415.927.0288

MARIN JOE’S Italian

This Marin mainstay has been around for over 50 years. Choose from a menu of soups, salads, seafood, mesquite-grilled or sautéed meats and a plethora of pasta options guaranteed to satisfy. For a fun addition to your dining experience, order the table-prepared Caesar salad. 585 Casa Buena Dr, 415.924.2081, marinjoesrestaurant.com

Rooted Red Curry with Tiger Prawns

EDITED BY MIMI TOWLE

Pan-Asian The wellpriced menu features a bounty of freshly caught items and Paci fic Rim–inspired small or main plates, including generously portioned wasabi bowls fi lled with white or brown rice, veggies and your choice of chicken, beef or fi sh (cooked or raw). Paci fic Catch is successfully modeled after the Paia Fish House on Maui, down to the chalkboard menu and Hawaiian music. 133 Corte Madera Town Ctr, 415.927.3474, pacificcatch.co

P.F. CHANG’S CHINA

BISTRO Chinese The combination of attentive staff, lively atmosphere and consistently delicious meals make for a reliably pleasant dining experience. Favorites like the lettuce wraps, Mongolian beef and a bevy of gluten-free choices keep the customers loyal. 301 Corte Madera Town Ctr, 415.413.9890, pfchangs.com

THE COUNTER California/American

The folks at the Counter have taken the “have it your way” motto to a whole new level. Known for all-natural Angus beef, turkey, chicken and veggie burgers, the restaurant also offers a burger bowl (all the ingredients without the bun). And if you want a martini with your burger, no problem—there’s a full bar. 201 Corte Madera Town Ctr 415.924.7000, thecounterburger.com

THREE BIRDS WINE

BAR California This oneroom bar and wine shop features more than 20 options by the glass, and a nice selection of bottles to take home. Enjoy

free corkage for your Three Birds bottles at select local restaurants and an all day happy hour every Monday. 207 Corte Madera Ave, 415.927.9466, threebirdswinebar.com

FAIRFAX

123 BOLINAS California

This Fairfax spot was created by four friends who aimed to showcase seasonal fare in a relaxing, intimate environment. Enjoy locally brewed beer, smallproduction wines and one of the many cheese boards as you take in the view of Bolinas Park through the floor-toceiling windows. 123 Bolinas St, 415.488.5123, 123bolinas.com

FRADELIZIO’S Italian Family-owned for 15 years, Fradelizio’s blends Northern Italian cuisine with Californiainspired healthy fare using the freshest ingredients possible. The homemade gnocchi is a crowd-pleasing favorite. 35 Broadway Blvd, 415.459.1618, fradelizios.com

GRILLY’S Mexican

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

IRON SPRINGS PUB & BREWERY American

Choose from an extensive beer list, and enjoy your selection with an ale-braised BBQ pork sandwich, prawn tacos or the house-ground chicken bacon cheeseburger. 765 Center Blvd, 415.485.1005, ironspringspub.com

Eat American. Dream French.

• Open for Brunch at 10:00AM

• Lunch, Dinner

• Full Bar

• Holiday Parties

• Catering

39 Caledonia Street, Sausalito (415) 887-9047 • eatf3.com

Mon-Fri 11:30AM - 10:00PM Sat-Sun 10:00AM - 10:00PM

Join us for Thanksgiving!

85 Liberty Ship Way, Ste 109, Sausalito (415) 332- 5625 legaragebistrosausalito.com

lunch: Mon-Fri | 11:30am - 3:00pm dinner: Mon-Sat | 5:30 - 9:30pm weekend brunch: Sat & Sun | 10am - 2:30pm

PANCHO VILLA’S

Mexican Chef Francisco has been turning out treats, like pollo relleno (stu ffed with cream cheese, sautéed spinach and red peppers) and grilled fi sh tacos with chipotle, since 1976. Enjoy happy hour specials all week from 4 to 7 p.m. 1625 Sir Francis Drake Blvd, 415.459.0975, panchosfairfax.com

SORELLA CAFFE Italian

Run by sisters Sonia and Soyara, Sorella — which means “sister” in Italian — serves up fresh Italian food with a northern in fluence. Customer favorites include the cioppino, butternut squash ravioli and Pollo alla Sorella. Another highlight is the giant wheel of Grana Padana cheese, which is passed around from table to table. 107 Bolinas

Rd, 415.258.4520, sorellacaffe.co

STEAKHOUSE GRILL & BAR American This steakhouse at Deer Park Villa has been around nearly a century, making it more than your typical steak spot. The longtime gathering place features a daily happy hour, live entertainment and a large, heated deck. Events include Draft Beer Night, Prime Rib Weekends and a champagne brunch on Sunday. 367 Bolinas Rd, 415.456.8084, deerpark steakhousegrill.com

GREENBRAE

BISTRO VIS À VIS

California This little bistro features the cooking of Soo Young Kim, who previously acted as owner, chef and sommelier at Petaluma’s Sooze Wine

Bar. The neighborhood spot boasts outdoor seating for casually fi ne dining, a wine bar and a menu including duck con fit and wine-braised short ribs. 282 Bon Air Ctr, 415.925.4370, bistrovisavis.com

JASON’S California

Head to Jason’s for seafood dishes with an Asian and Italia n fl air. Try the bacon-wrapped scallops, miso-glazed Chilean sea bass or the brandy chicken. 300 Drakes Landing Rd, 415.925.0808, jasonsrestaurant.com

WIPEOUT BAR &

GRILL American The family-friendly spot has sur fb oards hanging from the ceiling, funin-the-sun music, large televisions displaying surfers riding waves, a full bar and a menu that includes fi sh tacos, salads and burgers.

The only thing missing is the sand at this upbeat eatery. 302 Bon Air Ctr, 415.461.7400, wipeoutbarandgrill.com

KENTFIELD

AMBROSIA Italian This family friendly Italian joint serves traditional pizzas and homemade pastas, with one of the best wine-by-the-glass programs in Marin. Owner Mark Leslie is bringing his pizza, pasta and passion for good wines by the glass to Kent field— check Facebook for details. 800 College Ave, 415.454.9292

HALF DAY CAFE American Tucked away in a setting of intertwining ivy and large open windows, this Cafe is the perfect breakfast nook and is also open for brunch and lunch. The menu includes coffee drinks, exceptional pastries and much more. Enjoy a casual meal inside or on the outdoor patio. 848 College Ave, 415.459.0291, halfdaycafe.com

LARKSPUR

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 classic grilled items, like the roasted tri-tip sandwich or the sloppy joe. Marin Country Mart, 2405 Larkspur Landing Circle, 415.448.5810, belcampomeatco.com

DJ CHINESE CUISINE

Chinese A great place to satisfy a craving for

wonton soup before catching a show at the Lark Theater; the outdoor patio is a scenestealer in itself. Lunch and takeout are popular here, too. 435 Magnolia Ave, 415.924.0717, djchinesecuisine.com

EL HUARACHE LOCO Mexican Chef Veronica Salazar’s menu has gained quite a following by way of the authentic Mexico City dishes. From mini huaraches (fi lled corn masa cakes) to the foot-long huarache with two salsas, crema, queso fresco and two toppings of your choice, you’re sure to get a true taste of a homemade Mexican meal. Marin Country Mart, 1803 Larkspur Landing Circle, 415.925.1403, huaracheloco.com

EMPORIO RULLI Italian Pastry chef Gary Rulli is renowned for his Northern Italian specialties and treats. The Larkspur location (there are three others) is a favored spot for lunch as well as coffee and a sweet treat. 464 Magnolia Ave, 415.924.7478, rulli.com

FABRIZIO RISTORANTE

Italian Swing by for traditional Italian dishes and an extensive wine list featuring bottles from all over Italy. Outdoor seating makes the experience even more special. 455 Magnolia Ave, 415.924.3332, fabrizioristorante.com

FARM HOUSE LOCAL

California Downtown Larkspur’s newest gem is sure to please with simple, healthy food in a warm, cozy atmosphere — both inside and outside on their covered patio. With a seasonal

menu that follows what is fresh and local, chef David Monson creates dishes such a s flu ff y omelets stu ffed with local meats, cheeses and vegetables, and made with Glaum eggs from the South Bay. 25 Ward St, 415.891.8577, farmhouselocal.com

FARMSHOP California

Originally based in L.A., Farmshop Marin has customers clamoring for cocktails and a delicious assortment of California-centric cuisine. Call ahead for a reservation — this place is always packed. Marin Country Mart, 2233 Larkspur Landing Circle, 415.755.6700, farmshopla.com

LEFT BANK RESTAURANT French Known for awardwinning French cuisine and a lively brasserie ambience, this corner spot on Magnolia Avenue rates high with locals. Those with a small appetite (or budget) can opt for happy hour (4 to 6:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. to close, M–F) appetizers, most priced under $6. 507 Magnolia Ave, 415.927.3331, leftbank.com

MARIN BREWING

CO American Grab a cold beer made on site and pair it wit h fi sh ‘n’ chips — fresh cod dipped in Mt. Tam pale ale batter, served with steak fries and homemade tartar sauce — or another item from the all-American menu.

Marin Country Mart, 1809 Larkspur Landing Circle, 415.461.4677, marinbrewing.com

PICCO California

Popular since its inception, dishes like mini-burgers , seasonally driven menu items,

Enchiladas at Salito’s in Sausalito

and risotto made every half hour, keep patrons coming back. The Picco Pizzeria and Wine Bar next door is cozy (not many seats) and famous for its wood-fi red pizzas, great wine selection and soft-serve Straus Family Creamery ice cream. 320 Magnolia Ave, 415.924.0300, restaurantpicco.com

RUSTIC BAKERY

California Try a large house-made pastry, an artisanal salad or a mouthwatering sandwich at this Marin favorite.

Two Larkspur locations: Marin Country Mart, 415.461.9900; 1139 Magnolia Ave, 415.925.1556, rusticbakery.com

SUSHI-KO Japanese

Choose from a large selection of maki, nigiri and sashimi before catching a movie right across the street.

Marin Country Mart, 1819 Larkspur Landing Circle, 415.461.8400, sushi-ko.com

TABLE CAFE Indian/ American This Indianinspired cafe’s unique menu features entirely organic ingredients. Dishes include seasonal salads, incredible soups and fresh juices. The specialty of the house is dosa , fi lled with a variety of ingredients and served with savory homemade chutneys. 1167 Magnolia Ave, 415.461.6787, table-cafe.com

THA SIAM Thai Tha Siam — conveniently located in the Marin Country Mart — specializes in authentic Thai cuisine. Try the famous pad Thai, or choose from a lengthy list of chef-suggested dishes including zesty tilapia

and basil lamb. 1813 Larkspur Landing Cir, 415.461.0198, thasiam.net

THE MELTING POT French This round brick haven for fondue fans is just across the street from the Larkspur Ferry terminal. Share the “Big Night Out” feast featuring chef’s specialties, or design your own meal with cheese fondue, salad, meat entrée and chocolate fondue dessert. 125 E. Sir Francis Drake Blvd, 415.461.6358, themeltingpot.com

THE TAVERN AT LARK

CREEK American The next chapter in the 1888 Victorian Murphy House, formerly known as Lark Creek Inn, is being written by chef Aaron Wright. Try menu items such as lamb fusilli, Alaskan halibut and vegetable rigatoni a la carte, or opt for the pri x fi xe menu. 234 Magnolia Ave, 415.924.7766, tavernatlarkcreek.com

YANKEE PIER American

This family-friendly, casual clam shack is harbored in a quaint house built in 1924. Known for beer-battered fi sh ‘n’ chips, clam chowder and tasty salads, Yankee Pier serves fresh seafood delivered daily from both coasts. 286 Magnolia Ave, 415.924.7676, yankeepier.com

MILL VALLEY

AVATAR’S PUNJABI

BURRITOS Indian A small and friendly place with only a few tables, but myriad Indian-inspired burrito dishes to choose from. Try the curry chicken or Jamaican jerk wrapped in warm

naan. Cash only, but well worth the trip to the ATM. 15 Madrona St, 415.381.8293, enjoyavatars.com

BALBOA CAFE MILL VALLEY California The San Francisco institution has already become a place to see and be seen in Mill Valley, especially after the 142 Throckmorton comedy nights. Menu items include Niman Ranch fl at iron steak, braised beef brisket risotto and classic burgers. 38 Miller Ave, 415.381.7321, balboacafe.com

BUCKEYE ROADHOUSE

American Oysters Bingo, baby back ribs and the Chili-Lime “Brick” Chicken are a few of the satisfying, comfort-food-style menu items that have

made this classic roadhouse a favorite since the ’30s. The warm, dark-wood bar with red leather booths is a popular spot for cocktails, conversations or a light meal. 15 Shoreline Hwy, 415.331.2600, buckeyeroadhouse.com

BUNGALOW 44

American Much like sister restaurant Buckeye Roadhouse, Bungalow 44 offers a mean dose of homey carbo- and lipid-laden dishes, such as the burger and the fried chicken with tru ffle fries. The bar is a neighborhood favorite, known for tasty spirits and eye candy. 44 E. Blithedale Ave, 415.381.2500, bungalow44.com

CAFE DEL SOUL California Healthy options become addicting ones at this Tam Valley eatery. Once you stop in for the deliciously fresh Hummus Yummus wrap, you’ll have to return to sample the Chipotle Sunrise Rice Bowl. A casual lunch spot and great for takeout, Cafe del Soul now offers a selection of quinoa options. 247 Shoreline Hwy, 415.388.1852, cafedelsoul.net

CANTINA Mexican

The popular family restaurant offers traditional Mexican fare including soups, salads, sandwiches and sizzling fajitas at lunch portions and prices. An outdoor fi re pit provides the option of alfresco dining, while the lively

atmosphere indoors makes for a fun outing. Stop by for happy hour from 4 to 7 p.m. M-F for drinks and appetizers $5 and under. 651 E. Blithedale, 415.381.1070, thecantina.com

DIPSEA CAFE Comfort

This longtime breakfast spot has been serving up tasty pancakes and egg dishes with homemade biscuits since 1986. Try a biscuit with a poached egg and sausage — or just plain butter. Lunch specialties include BLTs, tuna melts and generous Cobb salads; enjoy Greek-inspired dinners in the later hours. 200 Shoreline Hwy, 415.381.0298, dipseacafe.com

EL PASEO American

This Marin chophouse continues to impress as the years pass — the restaurant itself has been around since 1947. The menu speaks to the restaurant’s elegance, with offerings like roasted bone marrow, crispy duck wings and the El Paseo short rib. 17 Throckmorton Ave, 415.388.0741, elpaseomillvalley.com

EXTREME PIZZA

American Pizza by the slice or pie — including gluten-free options. Come up with your own creation or choose one of the restaurant’s favorites, like the Mr. Pestato Head: homemade pesto sauce, potatoes, onions and fresh basil. 393 Miller Ave, 415.569.4134, extremepizza.com

FRANTOIO RISTORANTE

ITALIANO Italian

Known for its in-house olive press, superior olive oil and excellent Italian cuisine, this spot is a great choice for an intimate dinner, celebration and anything in bewteen. For special occasions and private parties, reserve the olive-press room. The popular weekday happy hour starts at 4:30 p.m. 152 Shoreline Hwy, 415.289.5777, frantoio.com

HARMONY Chinese

Enjoy a lighter take on Chinese at this restaurant, nestled in the Strawberry Village.

The barbecue pork bun is fi lled with housemade roasted meat in a savory sauce, and fresh mussels are accented

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with red chili and Thai basil. Pair your pick with wine, beer or tea. Be sure to check out the weekday lunch special for an excellent deal. Strawberry Village, 415.381.5300, harmonyrestaurant group.com

INDIA PALACE Indian

Known as “that great restaurant in the Travelodge,” India Palace is a favorite among the takeout crowd; eating on site is also a treat. 707 Redwood Hwy, 415.388.3350, india palacemillvalley.com

JOE’S TACO LOUNGE

Mexican Joe’s serves up tast y fi sh tacos, burritos and enchiladas as well as more unusual items like Mexican pizza, tofu salad and crab tostadas.

Colorful interior and quick service make this a fun, easy stop. If there are too many unsupervised kids for a peaceful meal, takeout is easy too. If you stay, grab a selection of hot sauce bottles from the wall and fi nd your perfect match. 382 Miller Ave, 415.383.8164, joestacolounge.com

LA GINESTRA Italian

A favorite family spot for over 30 years; getting a table or booth here can take awhile. While this old-school Italian eatery is known for traditional pastas, veal dishes, pizzas and dry martinis, the familiar waitstaff s also part of the attraction. 127 Throckmorton Ave, 415.388.0224, laginestramv.com

MAMA’S ROYAL CAFE American Locals love this fabulous kitschdecorated breakfast spot. The menu offers crepes, brioche French toast and other a.m. specialties served all day; stay awhile and try the sandwiches for lunch. 393 Miller Ave, 415.388.3261

MILL VALLEY BEERWORKS American Known for handcrafted beers, imported and local microbrews and house-made kombucha and root beer, this popular downtown Mill Valley neighborhood brewery recently doubled its space and expanded its food and beverage menu. Choose from a large selection of small plates, including king oyster mushrooms, roasted potatoes and

grilled squid, and a small list of large portions like rabbit con fit. 173 Throckmorton Ave, 415.888.8218, mill valleybeerworks.com

NOURISH GRILL American This restaurant for the Club at Harbor Point is situated on the waterfront and open to the public. Open for brunch, lunch and dinner, it serves classics like grilled shrimp, and an all-American clubhouse burger. 475 E Strawberry Dr, 415.381.4400, nourish.harbor-point.com

PEARL’S PHAT BURGERS American Dubbed a silver-spoon alternative to a greasyspoon diner by The New York Times, Pearl’s has a loyal following for the

big juicy all-natural patties (vegetarian, turkey, beef, bu ffalo or grilled chicken) served up with tasty sides such as garlic or sweet potato fries, shakes and seasonal smoothies. Take out or eat in, if you can get a seat. 8 E. Blithedale Ave, 415.381.6010, pearlsdeluxe.com

PIAZZA D’ANGELO

Italian It’s always a party at this longstanding hot spot. A great place to meet up with friends for a fresh plate of pasta, or to make some new friends at the bar. Chef Andrea Guilini, originally from Venice, is known for his creative, seasonal dishes like the stu ffed veal loin with wild mushrooms and house-made mozzarella. 22 Miller

Ave, 415.388.2000, piazzadangelo.com

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 Hwy, 415.380.2525, piatti.com

PIZZA ANTICA Italian

This Strawberry Shopping Center spot boasts amazing thincrust pizza along with an array of antipasti and hearty salads. Wine is served by the glass, half carafe or

bottle. 800 Redwood Hwy, 415.383.0600, pizzaantica.com

THE PLANT CAFE California One of San Francisco’s favorite organic cafes has found a home north of the Golden Gate. The Plant offrs affrdable, delicious and healthy food made from local, organic ingredients. Stop by for the California-inspired meal, raw organic juice, a diet-supplementing smoothie or a delicious dessert. Strawberry Village Shopping Center, 415.388.8658, theplantcafe.com

PRABH INDIAN KITCHEN Indian Owned and operated by the Singh family, this restaurant is dedicated to serving healthy, organic and sustainable food with gluten-free and vegan options. Dishes include chicken pakora, vegetable biryani and basil garlic naan. Try the Thali menu (offered at lunch), a selection of several Indian dishes served at once. 24 Sunnyside Ave, 415.384.8241, prabh indiankitchen.com

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 entrée from the menu. 591 Redwood Hwy, 415.381.8400, robatagrill.com

SHORELINE COFFEE

SHOP American Tucked away in a parking lot at Tam Junction, this coffee shop is a funky diner with a smalltown feel. Enjoy the

mix of Mexican and traditional breakfast fare. 221 Shoreline Hwy, 415.388.9085

SOL FOOD Puerto Rican

This Marin favorite has opened doors in Mill Valley, where they continue to serve 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, solfoodrestaurant.com

SUPER DUPER BURGER

American “Fast food burgers, slow food values” is this burger joint’s motto. Prepared with 100 percent allnatural beef that’s ground fresh daily, these patties will make your mouth water. Pies and cookies are baked in-house, and shakes, wit h fl avors like cookies & cream and double chocolate and chips, are made with organic Straus Creamery soft-serve from Petaluma. Sit at one of 20 indoor or outdoor tables or take away in environmentally friendly, compostable containers. 430 Miller Ave, 415.380.8555, superdupersf.com

SWEETWATER MUSIC

HALL CAFE American Located at the entrance of Sweetwater Music Hall, the cafe is a small oasis of calm, dedicated to the F.L.O.S.S. 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 chicken sliders with gingery

cabbage slaw and vegan Thai spring rolls with sweet and sour sauce. 19 Corte Madera Ave, 415.388.3850, sweet watermusichall.com

TAMALPIE Italian

Pizzas are crafted from a 1,500-year-old recipe, with organic ingredients gathered from the farmers’ market twice weekly. Sit indoors or out and enjoy starters like creamy polenta, salads and pies with names like Hoo-kooE-koo and Railroad Grade. 477 Miller Ave, 415.388.7437, tamalpiepizza.com

THAILAND RESTAURANT Thai

This cozy spot next to Whole Foods caters to diners with all kinds of dietary needs and restrictions such as gluten-free, lactose intolerant and peanut allergies. It is open for lunch and dinner and the menu incorporates free-range chicken and organic, locally grown produce. 721 E. Blithedale Ave, 415.381.1800, millvalleythailand.com

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

TOAST American Take the kids out familystyle breakfast at this cozy venue; Toast is on the small side, so be sure to allot time for a wait. Lunch and dinner are served, too. 31 Sunnyside Ave, 415.388.2500, toastmillvalley.com

TONY TUTTO PIZZA

Italian Tony has been pouring his passion for pizza into his daily dishes for two decades and his menu now includes family recipes. Expect creative, artisan-style pizza featuring the best imported, natural and local organic ingredients. Take out or dine in; mostly outdoor seating. 246 E. Blithedale Ave, 415.383.8646, tonytuttopizza.com

VASCO Italian Whether you’re at a table, the bar or the back counter, you can expect an intimate and tasty dining experience in this one-room trattoria. Try one of the pasta dishes or thincrust wood fi red pizzas. 106 Throckmorton Ave, 415.381.3343, vascomillvalley.com

WEEZY’S GRASS

FED SHED American Weezy’s has come to Mill Valley, adding to the already extensive array of burgers in the area. The slidersized offerings make sampling two patties a perfectly acceptable option. 507 Miller Ave, weezys-shed.com

NOVATO

BOCA PIZZERIA Italian

Enjoy authentic pizza prepared with fresh mozzarella made in-house daily and tomatoes imported from Italy. Other menu items include grilled rosemary chicken sandwiches and braised beef short rib pappardelle. Enjoy weekly specials, such as 50 percent off all wines by the bottle on Wednesdays and half off raft beers on Thursdays. 454 Ignacio Blvd, 415.883.2302, bocapizzeria.com

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BOCA TAVERN American Bring a date or celebrate a special event at this classic steak house, which features wholesome American fare. Favorites include the mac & cheese croquettes, hanger steak and duckfat fries. 340 Ignacio Blvd, 415.883.0901, bocasteak.com

CHIANTI CUCINA

Italian This cozy eatery features an array of Italian and American choices, including a long list of pasta options; try the house-made ravioli cooked up by chef Chris Harman. 7416 Redwood Hwy, 415.878.0314, chiantinovato.com

EXTREME PIZZA American Pizza by the slice or pie — including gluten-free options. Come up with your own creation or choose one of the restaurant’s favorites, like the Mr. Pestato Head: homemade pesto sauce, potatoes, red onions, feta, fresh basil and mozzarella. 104 Vintage Way, 415.898.6575, extremepizza.com

FINNEGAN’S MARIN

ghanoush, pita, tomato tahini and cucumber yogurt mint dipping sauce. 333 Enfrente Rd, 415.883.9277, garden medrestaurant.com

HILLTOP 1892 California Situated on a historic estate in Novato with sweeping views, Hilltop 1892 offers classic favorites with a California flair. Open lunch through dinner, as well as Sunday brunch. 850 Lamont Ave, 415.893.1892, hilltop1892.com

JENNIE LOW’S CHINESE CUISINE Chinese Traditional dishes including Cantonese, Mandarin, Szechuan and Hunan delicacies. If you don’t see your favorite, let the restaurant know; whenever possible, they’re happy to try and prepare dishes off enu. The pot stickers are the best around. 120 Vintage Way, 415.892.8838, jennielow.com

The kids’ menu ensures the whole family will enjoy an evening at Muscio’s. 1200 Grant Ave, 415.898.2234, muscios.com

RICKEY’S RESTAURANT & BAR American Besides a full-service restaurant and bar (with banquet and meeting rooms), this comfort food bastion offers poolside dining and a garden patio overlooking green lawns. Visit during the summer from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. for live jazz to accompany your meal. 250 Entrada Dr, 415.883.9477, rickeysrestaurant.com

RUSTIC BAKERY

original Sonoma location. In keeping with the unprocessed theme, tortillas are made by hand with natural and organic whole grains. 5800 Nave Dr, Ste D, 415.883.2662, sonomalatinagrill.com

TOAST American Sister to the popular Mill Valley location, Toast Novato features outdoor dining and contemporary architechture by Stanley Saitowitz. The spacious restaurant is ideal for large parties and families looking for a large plate of comfort food. 5800 Nave Dr, 415.382.1144, toastnovato.com

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American This restaurant — self-described as an “American bar and grill meets Irish pub” — features tasty appetizers, grilled fl atbread pizzas, entrées such as New York steak and garlic herb chicken and a full bar. 877 Grant Ave, 415.899.1516, finnegansmarin.co

THE GARDEN BISTRO Mediterranean Fresh, local ingredients combine in dishes that are a tasty representation of Greek cuisine. The appetizer sampler includes dolmas, falafel, hummus, baba

LEFT COAST DEPOT American Located in Old Town Novato, this eatery serves breakfast, lunch and dinner prepared by chef Mike Garcia, formerly of Toast. Menu items include sticky ribs, roasted beet and cauli flower salad and old-fashioned meatloaf. Ask your server about the nightly three-course Depot Dinner Meal. 807 Grant Ave, 415.897.7707, leftcoastdepot.com

MUSCIO’S Italian Largeplate Italian food, inspired by the tradition of family dinners. Meals include Mom’s Fettuccine with Prawns (gluten-free rigatoni available), My Sister’s Minestrone Soup and pesto chicken pizza.

California Organic mouthwatering pastries, breads and sandwiches are on the menu here. Try the Marin Melt — Cowgirl Creamery’s Mt. Tam and Point Reyes’ Toma cheeses grilled on honey whole wheat bread, served with dressed baby greens and crisp apple slices. 1407 Grant Ave, 415.878.4952, rusticbakery.com

SMASHBURGER

American This burger joint invented, and makes use of, a patented tool that smashes a meatball into a burger patty while it’s on the grill. Enjoy with a Häagen-Dazs milkshake and a side of haystack onion rings. 7320 Redwood Blvd, 415.408.6560, smashburger.com

SONOMA LATINA

GRILL Mexican The menu includes standbys like tacos, burritos and enchiladas (all prepared with local and organic ingredients) plus a list of favorites from the

WEEZY’S GRASS FED SHED American Stop by Weezy’s for a slidersize all-organic burger sourced from Prather Ranch. We recommend the White Trash Burger, topped with Thousand Island dressing, but be sure to check out the other specials as well. 621 Del Ganado Rd, 415.479.7433, weezys-shed.com

WILDFOX American Perched on the hillside off ighway 101, this rustic eatery with a mesquite grill features a menu full of comfort dishes, like seafood risotto with butternut squash. In the mood for a cigar? The restaurant has a lengthy list of options. 225 Alameda del Prado, 415.883.9125, wildfoxrestaurant.com

ROSS

CAFE ON THE COMMON French This quaint one-room coffeehouse is centrally situated near Ross Common. Get there early to choose from the full selection of

Monty, Chairman with Peter Rubens, Owner

pastries, and enjoy with fresh-squeezed orange juice. 22 Ross Common, 415.461.2205

MARCHÉ AUX FLEURS

French A local gem known for cuisine showcasing locally farmed produce, wild and fresh seafood and free-range meats prepared with an artisan’s touch, accompanied by a lengthy wine and beer list. 23 Ross Common, 415.925.9200, marcheauxfleur restaurant.com

TRATTORIA FRESCO

Italian Every neighborhood deserves a one-room trattoria like this one. The service is friendly and the farmers’-market-fresh food is fabulous — especially the gnocchi. 13 Ross Common, 415.464.0915, frescotrattoria.com

SAN ANSELMO

BISTRO 330 French Bistro 330 features simple French cuisine — think steak frites, mussels and crème brûlée — in the heart of San Anselmo. 330 San Anselmo Ave, 415.460.6330

BUBBA’S DINER

American Kids and adults will be begging for seconds at this hopping local hangout that offers burgers, shakes, fries and homemade apple pie. 566 San Anselmo Ave, 415.459.6862, bubbas-diner.net

COMFORTS CAFE

American This cozy spot features local favorites made with local ingredients. Stop in for breakfast, lunch, weekend brunch and offerings from the delicious deli selection. Be sure to try the

Philly cheesesteak and Chinese chicken salad, both classics. 335 San Anselmo Ave, 415.454.9840, comfortscafe.com

CUCINA RESTAURANT AND WINE BAR Italian

Relax with a glass of wine and have a slice of the savory thin crust pizza , fi nished with toppings like tru ffle oil and fontina cheese. 510 San Anselmo Ave, 415.454.2942, cucinarestaurantand winebar.com

FLOUR CRAFT BAKERY

California Flour Craft is San Anselmo’s answer to local gluten-free needs: Artisan pastries, fresh bread, desserts, special occasion cakes and lunch items are all gluten- and peanutfree. Customer favorites include the Earl Grey Chocolate Tea Cake and Flourless Hazelnut Fudge. 702 San Anselmo Ave, 415.453.3100, flourcraftbakery.co

INSALATA’S Mediterranean Award-winning chef Heidi Krahling offers Mediterranean and Middle Eastern dishes prepared with local organic produce and artisan meats. 120 Sir Francis Drake Blvd, 415.457.7700, insalatas.com

L’APPART RESTO

French Owners Bruno Denis and Olivier Souvestre of Le Garage fame offer a menu most Francophiles would be proud of, complete with items like roasted bone marrow and cassoulet. 636 San Anselmo Ave, 415.256.9884, lappartresto.com

LA LOGGIA Italian

Inspired by an Italian culture that celebrates

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• FENIX California An intimate live-music venue in the heart of downtown San Rafael. Fenix features globally inspired California cuisine with a Southern French twist. Dishes like fried green tomatoes or 72-hours sous-vide short ribs — accompanied by a glass from the extensive wine list — define the experience. 919 Fourth Street, 415.813.5600, fenixlive.com

there, or enjoy takeout in eco-friendly containers. 194 Northgate One, 415.499.3501

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 outdoor patio. 405 North San Pedro Rd, 415.479.1070, chaletbasquemarin.com

local, artisanal food and wine, this cafe and vinoteca is a community gathering place serving delicious, fresh food. Dishes include ragu Bolognese on polenta and braised pork shoulder sliders. 500 San Anselmo Ave, 415.234.8698, laloggiasa.com

LINCOLN PARK WINE BAR American Choose between an intimate setting at the marble bar with vintage stools or a lively atmosphere in the lounge room with built-in banquettes. Adhering to a farm-totable and grape-to-glass philosophy, the Lincoln Park Wine Bar serves locally sourced and organic food and wine. 198 Sir Francis Drake Blvd, 415.453.9898, lincolnparkwine.com

MARINITAS Mexican

The sister restaurant of Insalata’s, Marinitas continues to flourish as a bastion of creative

Latin cuisine in Marin. This is not your typical south-of-the-border spot. The festive atmosphere and funky decor complement the excellent food for a classy, lively experience. This place gets packed, so make reservations. 218 Sir Francis Drake Blvd, 415.454.8900, marinitas.net

MH BREAD & BUTTER

California This one-stop shop offers everything from coffee and pastries to artisan bread and braised meats. Highquality ingredients and a comfortable atmosphere make MH worth checking out. 101 San Anselmo Ave, 415.755.4575, mhbreadandbutter.com

PIZZALINA Italian

Pizzalina is the perfect place to relax and unwind with friends, family and neighbors. Pizzas are handmade and cooked in a wood oven; other classic

Italian items include shrimp risotto and a burrata antipasto dish. Menus change daily according to the seasonal markets. 914 Sir Francis Drake Blvd, 415.256.9780, pizzalina.com

TACO JANE’S Mexican Named after the owner’s mother, this casual, colorful place welcomes the whole family. Don’t miss out on Jane’s handmade agave margarita or grilled plantains with crema. 21 Tamalpais Ave, 415.454.6562, tacojanes.com

VALENTI & CO. Italian

This bright and cozy space is the ideal environment for a sampling of authentic Italian cuisine from Chef Valenti, a Milanese transplant. Though Valenti sticks to his culinary roots, the dishes at his Marin restaurant make use of local ingredients. A seat at the vinobar

offers a prime view of the open kitchen. 337 San Anselmo Ave, 415.454.7800, valentico.com

SAN GERONIMO

TWO BIRD CAFE

California This roadside cafe has it all, including fresh fi sh and goodies from the garden. These guys were doing local and sustainable before it was cool. Enjoy breakfast, lunch, dinner and live music. 625 San Geronimo Valley Dr, 415.488.0105, twobirdcafe.com

SAN RAFAEL

ARIZMENDI BAKERY

California A workerowned bakery, Arzimendi prides itself on using the freshest, most local ingredients available. Besides the famous wolverines and cheese rolls, it also offers an assortment of morning pastries, artisan breads and

sourdough pizzas. 1002 Fourth St, 415. 456.4093, arizmendibakery.org

BROKEN DRUM BREWERY & WOOD GRILL American O ffering a wide array of eats, handcrafted and local beers and live music, the Broken Drum is a hot spot for Rafael Theater patrons (10 percent off entire bill with your ticket stub), passersby and regulars. You’ll fi nd live music Friday and Saturday nights, tacos on Tuesdays and Bloody Marys all day on Sundays. 1132 Fourth St, 415.456.4677, brokendrum.com

CALGANG KITCHEN

Thai Owned and operated by the family that used to run Jhan Thong of Northgate food court fame, Calgang Kitchen is now a sit-down restaurant, offering delectable Thai dishes, along with organic beers and wines. Eat

CREPEVINE American Bistro/Creperie Choose from a diverse menu of savory crepes, with favorites like the Italian crepe, fi lled with roasted peppers, eggplant, onions, artichoke hearts, tomato sauce and mozzarella. Sweet and savory crepes are available all day long, as are all breakfast items. 908 Fourth St, 415.257.8822, crepevine.com

IL DAVIDE Italian A large selection of both Italian and California wines by the glass, along with the tiramisu, have kept locals coming back for years. Don’t leave without sampling the limoncello. 901 A St, 415.454.8080, ildavide.net

JOHNNY DOUGHNUTS

Breakfast These fresh doughnuts are handmade in small batches using dairy from local farms to create both the dough and fi llings. Stop by the shop or have the food truck come to you. 1617 Fourth Street, 415.450.1866, johnnydoughnuts.com

Roast Squash Soup

LOTUS RESTAURANT

Indian Family-owned and operated, Lotus serves up North Indian cuisine with vegan and vegetarian options in a casual pink-tablecloth setting with an energy efficient kitchen. The reasonably priced dishes are made with local organic ingredients. 704 Fourth St, 415.456.5808, lotusrestaurant.com

MICHAEL’S SOURDOUGH American

Nearly two decades of gourmet sandwiches have earned Michael’s the reputation of being Marin’s best sandwich shop. The secret is the sourdough, which is fresh-baked daily and serves as the foundation for each of the 26 delicious choices on the menu. Be sure to get there early — Michael’s usually runs out of rolls by 2 p.m. 3095 Kerner Blvd, Ste L, 415.485.0964, michaelssourdough.com

MCINNIS PARK GOLF CLUB RESTAURANT

American Grab a meal prepared by chef Tim Harmon before or after hitting the driving range (or even without picking up a club). Outdoor seating is popular, as is the full bar, with a selection of premium Scotches, small-batch bourbons and more than 50 wines from California vineyards. McInnis Park, 415.491.5990, mcinispark golfcenter.com

MI PUEBLO Latin An authentic, a ffordable place for food-shoppers to buy unusual ingredients such as epazote, fresh tomatillos and cactus and grab lunch (to take out or eat there). The prices can’t be beat: think

two veggie tacos for under two dollars, and a two-enchilada plate with rice and beans for only $5.95. No wonder this restaurant has reached county cult status. 330 Bellam Blvd, 415.578.3971, mipueblofoods.com

MULBERRY STREET

PIZZERIA Italian Chef Ted Rowe won fi rst place in the Food Network Television Pizza Challenge with his For the Love of Mushroom pizza — sautéed mushrooms in a creamy garlic sauce and a red wine reduction atop a fresh pizza crust. Be sure to try other unique pies, like the spicy Three Beer pizza. 101 Smith Ranch Rd, 415.472.7272, mulberry-streetpizzeria.com

NAPOLI Italian This family-owned-andrun restaurant boasts a special craft beer program: They keep the prices down and the libation s flowing, and about 45 wines and 25 beers (including some from Marin) are on the list at any given time. The pizza and pasta are East Coast Italian, with Marin and Bay Area accents. Gluten-free pizza and pasta available. 869 Fourth St, 415.459.3315, napolirestaurant.biz

ODALISQUE CAFE

Mediterranean This casual art cafe was inspired by La Grande Odalisque, an 1814 oil painting by JeanAuguste-Dominque Ingres. Menu items are built from seasonal items available at farmers’ markets and include pan-seared scallops, roasted butternut squash risotto and a variety of

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AWINE BAR ENTHUSIAST’S dream, Fairfax’s 123 Bolinas features cheese and charcuterie boards, small plates, large plates and pizza — all made of ingredients from local markets and artisans — expertly paired with selections from a lengthy list of small-batch sustainably made wine and local beer. In the kitchen is Brittney Adamo, a chef who grew up toeing the line between “helping” and “pestering” in her family’s restaurants in Northern California, New Zealand and Hawaii. “My family shares my passion for food, and if we aren’t cooking or eating, we’re talking about either our next culinar y endeavor or our other passion, which is traveling,” she says. After moving back to California to get her degree in film and marketing, Adamo found she could not ignore her inner chef, a calling made more compelling by the abundance of fresh produce available in Marin. Soon, she found herself at 123 Bolinas, a restaurant she says reflects her desire to create sustainable, seasonal local fare. “Northern California is an excellent place to be a chef,” she says. “Some days in the restaurant a re too easy, other days rough — it’s a very emotional practice for me — but then stone fruit, fungi or a new allium comes into season and excitement refuels my passion all over again.” Here, Adamo shares a recipe for an indulgent autumnal treat. 123bolinas.com CALIN VAN PARIS

Marsala Mushroom and Squash Galette

SERVES 2

Ingredients

1 ¼ cups flour

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup cold butter, diced

V cup ice-cold water

4 tablespoons olive oil

½ medium onion, diced

1 tablespoon garlic, chopped

½ pound fresh mushrooms, chopped

1 teaspoon each chopped sage and thyme

Salt and pepper

1 tablespoon flour for filling

O cup Marsala wine

1 cup vegetable stock

1 delicata or other winter squash

1 egg

To Prepare

1 Combine flour and salt in food processor. Add butter and pulse 10 times or until crumbly. Add water and continue pulsing until mixture holds together when pressed. If too dry, add more water.

2 Remove onto a clean surface and shape dough into ball or disc. Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least an hour. 3 Meanwhile, add 3 tablespoons olive oil to a hot saucepan or pot on medium-high heat. Add onions, garlic and mushrooms and sauté until tender. Add herbs, salt, pepper and flour.

4 Stir for a minute, then deglaze (scrape off the browned bits) the pan with Marsala wine until bubbling. Add vegetable stock and cook until thickened. 5 During this time, remove seeds from squash and slice it into thin rounds.

Place on baking pan with 1 tablespoon olive oil and bake in oven at 450°F for 10 minutes or until golden. 6 Roll out dough onto flour-dusted surface into a circle about V inch thick. Transfer to baking sheet and add layer of squash, a large spoonful of mushroom mixture and another layer of squash on top, leaving about an inch of a dough border. Carefully fold the dough around the filling, making little pleats at the edges.

7 Lightly beat the egg and brush on the pastry. 8 Place galette in oven and bake until golden, about 50 minutes.

Chef Brittney Adamo discovered her culinary path in Fairfax.

pizzettas. 1335 Fourth St, 415.460.1335, odalisquecafe.com

PANAMA HOTEL RESTAURANT

American The dinner menu offers a large selection of options — from tortilla soup to wild mushroom raviolis — but it’s the Sunday brunch menu that will keep the kids happy; try the Panama Wa ffle served with bananas, warm chocolate sauce and whipped cream, along with a pitcher of “make-your-own” mimosas for the adults. The tropical garden is a prime spot for people watching. 4 Bayview St, 415.457.3993, panamahotel.com

PHO VIET Vietnamese

This family-owned restaurant features food from the former chef of Le Cheval in Oakland. The large menu offers a wide variety of traditional Vietnamese dishes at a ffordable prices. 555 E. Francisco Blvd, 415.455.8063, phovietmarin.com

PIZZA ORGASMICA

American Enjoy indulgent favorites like the Serpent’s Kiss or Inspiration Point pies with a crisp beer, Orgasmica style. Eat in or order a halfbaked pizza to cook and enjoy at home. 812 Fourth St, 415.457.2337, pizzaorgasmica.com

RANGE CAFE American

With floor-to-ceiling windows positioned overlooking the grand Peacock Gap lawns, the Range Cafe is the perfect place to enjoy comforting American classics with an elegant twist. This inviting lunchtime cafe makes a great dinner

spot once the sun sets. 333 Biscayne Dr, 415.454.6450, rangecafe.net

RISTORANTE LA TOSCANA Italian Family owned and operated since 1985, La Toscana Ristorante & Bar has completed an extensive interior and exterior renovation, transforming this already popular San Rafael restaurant and bar into an environment for any gathering or occasion. The menu features classics like gnocchi and carbonara, as well as a selection of wine. 3751 Redwood Hwy, 415.492.9100, ristorantelatoscana.com

SAN RAFAEL JOE’S

Italian Guido and Theresa Farina run this Marin institution, famous for sophisticated yet casual Italian fare since 1947. The dining room boasts a friendly atmosphere and seating for 240, making it great for large parties. The roast sirloin of beef and Fettuccine Joe’s are sure to please. 931 Fourth St, 415.456.2425, srjoes.com

SOL FOOD Puerto Rican Fast becoming a Marin legend, Sol Food whips up traditional Puerto Rican dishes just like the ones owner Sol Hernandez grew up eating. Favorites include the bistec sandwich, mofongo and fried plantains, but anything tastes good with a dash of the eatery’s signature hot sauce, which is for sale by the bottle (as is the lemon-garlic salad dressing). 901 Lincoln Ave, 415.451.4765, solfoodrestaurant.com

Beauty. Simplicity. Creativity. The elegance of clean, modern design. Free gift-wrapping. Attentive, experienced sales staff. All this plus thousands of handcrafted designer gifts for your home and tabletop, wearable art, jewelry, and much more await you at Terrestra in downtown Mill Valley. Featuring the largest-in-USA selection of fine leather goods from Mywalit of Lucca, Italy.

SUSHI TO DAI FOR

Japanese Snagging a seat in this popular Fourth Street sushi spot can be a challenge, but patience is rewarded with tasty and fresh sashimi, unique sushi rolls and great prices. 816 Fourth St, 415.721.0392

TAJ OF MARIN Indian Delicious North and South Indian cuisine, from the $8.95 lunch special to dinners that include goat curry, spinach, lentils and tandoori. Gluten-free, vegan and vegetarian options available. 909 Fourth St, 415.459.9555, tajofmarin.com

TERRAPIN CROSSROADS

American This waterfront restaurant and music venue — opened by local musician Phil Lesh — houses fresh food and local talent. The menu includes salads, savory dishes and wood-fi red pizzas to go with a wide selection of beers, wines and cocktails. Come for the food, stay for the music.

100 Yacht Club Dr, 415.524.2773, terrapin crossroads.net

THERESA & JOHNNY’S COMFORT FOOD

American A favorite of everyone from kids to the foodie set, this charming eatery serves up food like Mom used to make. Drop by for eggs Benedict, tuna melts, coffee and some of the best milk shakes around. 817 Fourth St, 415.259.0182, theresa-and-johnnys.com

TOMATINA Italian Inspired by the La Tomatina festival in Bunol, Spain, Tomatina offers fresh pizza, pastas and more. For a classic Italian dish, try meatball calzone, or think outside the box with a hummus piadina. 5800 Northgate Mall, 52, 415.479.3200, tomatina.com

VIN ANTICO American

This resurrected restaurant offers seasonal market-inspired cuisine like stone oven-baked fl atbreads, handmade pasta and

organic salads. The kitchen is open to the dining room, so try to snag a seat at the chef’s counter. 881 Fourth St, 415.721.0600, vinantico.com

WHIPPER SNAPPER RESTAURANT California/Caribbean Owner and chef Bill Higgins serves reasonably priced and delicious tapas. Save room for deliciou s fi sh tacos and yummy chocolate bread pudding. On Sundays, try the $3 glasses of sangria. 1613 Fourth St, 415.256.1818, whipsnap.biz

SAUSALITO

AURORA RISTORANTE & PIZZERIA Italian Novato’s Auror a fi nally has a counterpart in southern Marin. Aurora offers traditional Italian food, a full bar and friendly service, making it a great option for families, groups, dates and sports enthusiasts. 300 Valley St, 415.339.8930, aurora-sausalito.com

• GRAZIE CAFE

Italian Locals visit this family-ownedand-run restaurant for delicious paninis, salads and the unbeatable homemade cookies. Soak in the sun on the outdoor patio or revel in some people-watching inside the always-bustling cafe. 823 Grant Ave, Ste E, 415.879.5181

BAR BOCCE American

Food just tastes better when you’re dining on a bayside patio with fi re pits and a bocce ball court. Order one of the sourdough bread pizzas and a glass of wine, and you’ll see why this casual eatery, overseen by Robert Price of Buckeye and Bungalow 44, has become a local favorite. 1250 Bridgeway, 415.331.0555, barbocce.com

BARREL HOUSE TAVERN California

Stop by Barrel House for great local food enhanced by fantastic bay and city views. The relaxed urban envrionment is ideal for enjoying one of the restaurant’s barrel-aged cocktails. 660 Bridgeway, 415.729.9593, barrelhousetavern.com

BIO French Enjoy fresh crepes and a bevy of fresh, glutenfree options at this casual eatery. Stop by for breakfast, lunch or dinner to sample

omelets, galettes, duck con fit or beef bourguignon. 2633 Bridgeway, 415.324.7080, biologiquesf.com

CIBO Cafe Located in a historic brick building on Sausalito’s main drag, Cibo is a great place to a sip a quick cup of coffee outdoors. Husband-and-wife team Alfredo and Tera Ancona offer a menu of tarts, croissants, cookies, paninis and soups. Every dish is made from scratch with local and seasonal products. 1201 Bridgeway, 415.331.2426, cibosausalito.com

COPITA Mexican Chef Joanne Weir serves up fresh Mexican fare in the heart of downtown Sausalito. The ever-changing menu is always 100% glutenfree, and the in-house tequila bar offers over 30 varieties, available blanco, reposado or añejo. 739 Bridgeway, 415.331.7400, copita restaurant.com

DARIO’S PIZZA Italian Founded in 1972, Dario’s continues to dish up classic Italian calzones, pasta and pizza. Have a pie delivered, or munch on cheesy garlic bread at one of the restaurant’s cozy wooden tables. 2829 Bridgeway, 415.332.6636. dariosrestaurant.net

DAVEY JONES DELI

American Stationed in the New Bait Shop Market, Davey Jones Deli boasts houseroasted sandwich meats, healthy condiments and local, organic vegetables. The deli offers sandwiches, veggiewiches, wraps and salads with vegetarian, vegan and meat-lover options. 1 Gate 6 Rd, 415.331.2282, daveyjonesdeli.com

FAST FOOD FRANCAIS

French Owned and operated by the owners of Le Garage and L’Appart Resto, F3 serves brunch, lunch and dinner, all featuring “Frenchi fied” American comfort food. Sample a rotating menu including items like the Luxe burger (Diestel turkey, brie, lettuce and a fried egg topped with tru ffle aioli). Enjoy with a side of Brussels sprout chips or pomme dauphines (tater tots). 39 Caledonia St, 415.887.9047, eatf3.com

FENG NIAN Chinese

This spacious hangout has been a popular spot for wonton soup, pot stickers and daily specials for nearly two decades. For an indulgent treat, order the Szechwan crispy calamari, honey-glazed walnut prawn or lemon chicken. Staying in?

Feng Nian offers free delivery. Free delivery.

Vegetarian Benedict

2650 Bridgeway, 415.331.5300, fengnian.com

FISH. Seafood The ultimate place to head for freshly caught fare. Order the fi sh tacos, ceviche and a bottle of wine and take in bay views and air on the deck. Casual; bring cash (lots of it!). 350 Harbor Dr, 415.331.3474, 331fish.co

KITTI’S PLACE Thai/ California Owner Kitti Suthipipiat was the cook at Comforts in San Anselmo for many years and brings a certain knack for delicious Chinese chicken salad to her own endeavor. The regular menu items are sure to please, but try the weekly specials as well. 3001 Bridgeway, 415.331.0390, kittisplace.com

LE GARAGE French

Escape tourist-fi lled Sausalito for an indulgent brunch right on the water. The atmosphere is animated with light French music (á la Amélie), and the much-adored croquemonsieur is under $10. Opt for indoor or outdoor seating. 85 Liberty Ship Way, 415.332.5625, legaragebistro sausalito.com

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. Don’t forget to visit Farley Bar for cocktails with a view. 601 Murray Circle, 415.339.4750, cavallopoint.com

NAPA VALLEY BURGER COMPANY American Incorporating local, all-natural and organic produce and meats, this burger joint serves up classic and inventive gourmet patties (gluten-free buns available), fries, root beer floats and more. With outdoor and indoor tables, the space can accommodate up to 100 people. 670 Bridgeway, 415.332.1454, napavalleyburgercom pany.com

POGGIO Italian A classic trattoria with comfortable neighborhood charm and destination-caliber cuisine. Executive chef Benjamin Balesteri creates delicious Northern Italian fare using fresh and local ingredients, including produce from the nearby Poggio chef garden. 777 Bridgeway, 415.332.7771, poggiotratoria.com

SALITO’S Seafood Enjoy a cocktail or a signature dishes like whole roasted Dungeness crab, housemade kettle bread served with Straus butter and sizzling iron skillets of mussels in a casual, whimsical ambience 1200 Bridgeway, 415.331.3226, salitoscrabhouse.com

SAYLOR’S RESTAURANT AND BAR Mexican Marin’s fi rst tequila bar offers more than 100 varieties. Enjoy the festive atmosphere with a margarita, grilled snapper tacos or an avocado stu ffed with Dungeness crab salad. Happy hour M-F from 4 to 7 p.m. 2009 Bridgeway, 415.332.1512, saylorsrestaurantand bar.com

info@webberstudio.com

SEAFOOD PEDDLER

Seafood A great place to seek out fresh seafood in a warm and inviting environment. East and West Coast fi sh are flown in daily, and the recipes are adjusted to accommodate the freshest options. 303 Johnson St, 415.332.1492, seafoodpeddler.com

SUSHI RAN Japanese Sample innovative small plates just big enough to share before enjoying some of the best sushi the Bay Area has to offer; the prices don’t deter the herd of enthusiasts who line up nightly to partake. Just stopping by? The wine, cocktail and sake lists keep even the pickiest bar fly satisfied. Reservations are required in the main room. 107 Caledonia St, 415.332.3620, sushiran.com

SWEET GINGER

Japanese Owners and chefs Edna and Wayne Ching know their way around good sushi. Try fresh sashimi, the classic dragon roll, 49ers Roll or Rock ’N’ Roll, or be adventurous and have Wayne whip you up something off he menu. Good sake and a comfortable setting round out the reasonably priced meal. 400 Caledonia St, 415.332.1683, sweet gingersausalito.com

THE TRIDENT Seafood Set in a turn-of-thecentury building constructed in 1898 for the San Francisco Yacht Club, this waterfront restaurant is a shoe-in for date night. Executive chef James Montejano — known for supporting local farmers, fi shermen and organic food producers — prepares dishes

•

BRICK & BOTTLE

California From private parties to catered events, chef Bob Simontacchi’s menu offers seasonal selections made with local ingredients. Enjoy signature dishes like orzo mac ‘n’ cheese with smoked Gouda and local favorites like saffron fettucine and tomato braised short ribs. The restaurant also hosts one of the best happy hours in town. 55 Tamal Vista Blvd, 415.924.3366, brickandbottle.com

like Sugar Spice Grilled Loch Duart Salmon and Trident Cioppino. 558 Bridgeway, 415.331.3232, thetridentsausalito.com

TIBURON

CAPRICE California Book the private party room for large groups, or just relax in this romantic dinner spot. Take advantage of the restaurant’s well-priced three-course dinners for less than $25, and don’t miss Prime Rib Mondays. 2000 Paradise Dr, 415.435.3400, thecaprice.com

DON ANTONIO TRATTORIA Italian

Located in Tiburon’s historic Ark Row, this trattoria offers authentic Italian cuisine in a quaint setting. The menu includes traditional courses with selections such

as chicken piccata, organic roasted rack of lamb and housemade pesto. 114 Main St, 415.435.0400, donantoniotrattoria.com

GUAYMAS Mexican Situated right next to the Tiburon ferry terminal on the waterfront, the seating make it a great place to bring visitors on a warm summer night. Happy hour is 4 to 7 p.m. M-F. 5 Main St, 415.435.6300, guaymasrestaurant.com

MILANO Italian Located in the Cove Shopping Center, this familyowned neighborhood spot is known for its pasta and friendly service. Favorites like the cheesy garlic bread and pesto pasta keep customers coming back. 1 Blackfield Dr, 415.388.9100, tiburonmilano.com

NEW MORNING CAFE

American Sit outside or indoors at this casual cafe. On a sunny morning, tables will be fi lled with locals enjoying the sun and extensive breakfast menu; lunch served as well. 1696 Tiburon Blvd, 415.435.4315

SALT & PEPPER American This sunfi lled, one-room restaurant, featuring hardwood floors and blue-checkered tablecloths, is a local favorite. Popular items include scallops, ribeye steak, a beef burger and traditional crab cakes with jalapeño dipping sauce. 38 Main St, 415.435.3594

SAM’S ANCHOR CAFE American Everyone knows Sam’s deck is the prime spot for brunch on a lazy sunny Sunday, and its bar is the town’s historic watering hole, but Sam’s is also a great place for lunch or dinner. Enjoy transfat-free calamari, fresh fi sh, seasonal salads and pastas. 27 Main St, 415.435.4527, samscafe.com

TIBURON TAVERN California The atmosphere here is truly enchanting, with two outdoor patios, two indoor fi replaces and candlelit tables at dinner. No item is more than $25, including the steak, with entrées falling in the $14 to $18 range. Happy hour is 4 to 6:30 p.m. M–F. 1651 Tiburon Blvd, 415.435.5996, tiburontavern.com

WEST MARIN

THE LUNCH BOX

American Spending the day on the coast? Stop by this modern

day mom and pop deli for some beach bites. In addition to deli offerings, Lunch Box offers a full Mexican menu on Thursday and Friday evenings, with recipes from the chef’s hometown of Colima (Stinson). 15 Calle del Mar, Ste 2, 415.868.8884, lunchboxmarin.com

NICK’S COVE American

Large windows provide picturesque views of Tomales Bay and Hog Island. The 130seat eatery’s menu consists of fresh local seafood, oysters and bounty from nearby West Marin farms (Marshall). 23240 Hwy 1, 415.663.1033, nickscove.com

OSTERIA STELLINA

California Whether it’s to cap off a ay of hiking or celebrate a romantic anniversary, Osteria Stellina suits any occasion. The menu is Italian-inspired and features local, organic ingredients. If you’re looking for something unusual try the goat shoulder, a favorite of tourists and locals alike (Point Reyes). 11285 Hwy 1, 415.663.9988, osteriastellina.com

PARKSIDE CAFE

American Perfect for a sit down, alfresco meal or for grabbing a burger to enjoy on the beach. Choose from an array of organic, locally grown produce, artisan meats and wild seafood (Stinson). 43 Arenal Ave, 415.868.1272, parksidecafe.com

PINE CONE DINER

American You can fi nd this ultimate neighborhood diner just off he main road. Vintage china and homemade curtains

Ricotta Ravioli

complement the eclectic but homey menu featuring local fare. A favorite for locals as well as tourists (Point Reyes Station). 60 Fourth St, 415.663.1536, pineconediner.com

RANCHO NICASIO

American Known for live music and an extensive menu featuring everything from Dungeness crab cakes to the Garlic and Rosemary Lamb Medallions dish, Rancho Nicasio is open seven days a week. Be sure to stop by for happy hour, 4 to 6 p.m. M–F. 1 Old Rancheria (Nicasio) Rd, 415.662.2219, ranchonicasio.com

SAND DOLLAR

American Originally built from three barges in Tiburon in 1921, the Sand Dollar Restaurant wa s floated to Stinson that same year. Enjoy live music along with barbecued local oysters and New England clam chowder. The sunny deck is great in the afternoon (Stinson). 3458 Shoreline Hwy, 415.868.0434, stinson beachrestaurant.com

SIR & STAR AT THE OLEMA California

The historic inn has reopened as a roadhouse-style restaurant featuring rustic decor and a delicious yet a ffordable menu. Try the housemade bread and honey butter, the kale Caesar and the stu ffed quail, or take the plunge and sample the entire menu — the majority of items are $20 or less (Olema). 10000 Sir Francis Drake Blvd, 415.663.1034, sirandstar.com

STATION HOUSE CAFE

American Fresh local homegrown foods, served when available, are showcased on the chef’s menu. Stop in on weekends for live music and enticing wine and beer lists (Point Reyes Station). 11180 State Rte One, 415.663.1515, stationhousecafe.com

SAN FRANCISCO

AQ RESTAURANT & BAR California AQ takes seasonal to a new level, not only adapting the menu but also transforming the decor of the entire venue to match the weather outside. This summer the warmly lit space parallels the dishes made with fresh veggies, nuts and fi sh. 1085 Mission St, 415.341.9000, aq-sf.com

BENU Asian/French Plan an evening at Benu for a formal and sophisticated meal. The breathtaking compositions are offered on a tasting menu that gives you the full experience of this restaurant’s unique Asian fusion cuisine. 22 Hawthorne St, 415.685.4860, benusf.com

BOULI BAR American/ Mediterranean Head to Boulettes Larder’s new bar and dining room for the savor y fl avors of spicy lamb, feta and mint or the bittersweetness of salad topped with barberries, bulgur and pomegranate, all in a setting of handsome wood tables and an open kitchen. 1 Ferry Building, 415.399.1155, bouletteslarder.com

BOXING ROOM Cajun

The Southern comfort of Louisiana, updated to fit the polished elegance of the city. Indulge

ArtistryandCraftsmanship ArtistryandCraftsmanship

Strawberry Village 800 Redwood Hwy Frontage Rd, #614 Mill Valley, CA 94941 (415) 389-9300

Strawberry Village 800 Redwood Hwy Frontage Rd, #614 Mill Valley, CA 94941 (415) 389-9300

Strawberry Village 800 Redwood Hwy Frontage Rd, #614 Mill Valley, CA 94941 (415) 389-9300

Out & About / DINE

in authentic Cajunstyle eats and fresh California seafood. 399 Grove St, 415.430.6590, boxingroom.com

BUN MEE Vietnamese

The Southern comfort A fun and casual lunch spot that put s a fl avorful twist on classic Vietnamese. Sit back in this playful space with a salad, bowl or sandwich and enjoy the stylish San Francisco vibes. 2015 Fillmore St, 415.800.7696, bunmee.com

CAPO’S CHICAGO

Italian If you’re craving classic Chicago-style Italian and a venue to match, the endless pizza choices and fl avorful pasta and meat selections here will more than satisfy your appetite and take you back in time to the mobster days of the 1920s. 641 Vallejo St, 415.986.8998, sfcapos.com

FRANCES California

San Francisco elegance meets comfort food. The local, seasonal menu is a must-try on any trip to the city. Beware of the wait, however; make a reservation. 3870 17th St, 415.621.3870, frances-sf.com

HAKKASAN Chinese

The sleek, streamlined design is in sync with the delicate composition of the dishes, making this a grand S.F. destination. The rich-fl avored slowbraised beef and the hot-and-sour soup are essentials. 1 Kearny St, 415.829.8148, hakkasan.com

KIN KHAO Thai Fullfl avored Thai: From spicy curries to crab sen chan (a fresh seafood pad thai) to off-the-wall

cocktails designed by Bon Vivants, this new San Francisco eatery is sure to impress. 55 Cyril Magnin St, 415.362.7456, kinkhao.com

LOLÓ Mexican Fashionable San Francisco–style Mexican cuisine fuses market-fresh ingredients with traditional dishes. The whole atmosphere is bright, colorful and festive, a reflection of Loló’s fl avor-blasted menu. 974 Valencia St, 415.643.5656, lolosf.com

MICHAEL MINA

Japanese/French Michael Mina has clearly mastered the fi ne line between award-winning art and Alaskan halibut. Each brilliantly crafted dish gives diners a delicate blend of fl avors that add up to a distinctive, luxurious dining experience. 252 California St, 415.397.9222, michaelmina.net

NAMU GAJI Korean

A clean and natural design in a streamlined setting, where a shiitake mushroom dumpling and an eightounce Korean-accented burger are among the many options to discover. 499 Dolores St, 415.431.6268, namusf.com

NOPA California The easy California menu shows off oasted chicken and pork chops, with a bouquet of appetizers to set the mood. Although this S.F. destination is busy almost every night (a good sign), the wait at the legendary bar is half the fun. 560 Divisadero St, 415.864.8643, nopasf.com

PADRECITO

Mexican

Authentic Mexican cooking with the variety and individuality of San Francisco. The tacos feature meat from the likes of Mary’s, Marin Sun Farms and Niman and Meyer ranch that go perfect with the spicy and original cocktails. 901 Cole St, 415.742.5505, padrecitosf.com

RICE, PAPER, SCISSORS Vietnamese

Don’t be fooled by the casual setting in this Vietnamese pop-up cafe — the grilled steak bahn mi is five-star-worthy. Take a seat on one of the bright red stools on Mission Street and stay warm with a pot of jasmine tea. 1710 Mission St, 415.878.6657, ricepaperscissors.com

RICH TABLE California

A bright, relaxed environment, fresh ingredients grown only feet from the kitchen, creative and quirky cocktails and California wine. 199 Gough St, 415.355.9085, richtablesf.com

ROKA AKOR Japanese

With a grand open grill as the centerpiece of the space, this is a destination for anyone who appreciates charcoal-fi red red meat or mint-adorned plates of fresh sashimi. The sultry subterranean Roka Bar is perfect for a before- or after-dinner drink. 801 Montgomery St, 415.362.8887, rokaakor.com

STATE BIRD PROVISIONS American

With an overwhelming variety of choices, from seafood to spicy kimchi to pancakes, not to mention a full range of poultry, this uncommon dim sum–style setup features a little bit of everything. 1529 Fillmore St, 415.795.1272, statebirdsf.com

TOWN HALL American

The exposed brick and warm, unconventional lighting turn Town Hall’s large space into an intimate yet elegant environment. With a more-than-adequate wine list and savory American classics like pork tenderloin with honey grits, a visit here should be on everyone’s list. 342 Howard St, 415.908.3900, townhallsf.com

VERBENA

California

This lofted-ceilinged, dimly lit space has a relaxing atmosphere that is only furthered by the artistic manipulation of local veggies and rich meat and poultry dishes. Pair with a cold beer or a fi ne French wine. 2323 Polk St, 415.441.2323, verbena restaurant.com

For more local restaurant listings, visit us online at marinmagazine. com/dine

fertility care. reimagined.

Peter Uzelac, MD 415.925.9404 marinfertility.com

• FÊTE FANTASTIQUE

On the Scene

The

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

MO DELONG (WHISTLESTOCK, FETE FANTASTIQUE); DEBRA TARRANT (MV FALL ARTS FESTIVAL)

• MILL VALLEY FALL ARTS FESTIVAL The work of 150 fine artists was on display in the redwoods at the 58th annual fall arts festival. Attendees took in the art and enjoyed music from Tim Weed and Dirt Cello.

Marin Symphony and guests celebrated the Love It Live! 14/15 season with a gala September 27 at Osher Marin JCC in San Rafael.

Zuill Bailey and Alasdair Neale

Steve Bajor, Erma Murphy and Thomas Roedoc

• WHISTLESTOCK Big Brother and the Holding Company, Country Joe McDonald and others entertained guests September 28 at Rancho Nicasio as part of Whistlestop’s 60th anniversary celebration.

Becky and Amanda Denny and Sarah Percell

Bob Brown

MVFF FILM GUIDE LAUNCH PARTY

Guests and Marin Magazine staffers enjoyed drinks and small bites and mingled with celebrities at El Paseo October 2 to celebrate the launch of the festival and the magazine’s first-ever Mill Valley Film Festival guide.

Angelo Consentino, Liz McCarthy, Dierk Herbermann, Caroline Nelson, Lotte and Charles Moore, Sharon Faccinto and Mark Vasquez

Peter and Elizabeth Schumacher

John Korty

Bill Cullison, Karin Conn, Ginny Snook Scott, Paul Zabierek and Butzi and Stuart Zimmerman

Jackie Mazza and Marisa Urquides

Allison Hatcher and Jocelyn and Mark Pitta

Will and Debi Durst

LaTonya Lawson and Rebecca Moore

Lucy Mercer and Marc Hershon

Jennifer MacCready and Hilary Swank

Mark Fishkin and Jason Reitman

Mimi Towle, David Sturno and Leigh Walker

MARIN ADVERTISERS SPEAK UP

Briefly describe your business philosophy.

ad lib

Doran and Kate Blinderman, owners of Three Birds Wine Bar

Located in the heart of Marin County, Three Birds Wine Bar is a relaxed and inviting wine bar and retail shop. Three Birds specializes in boutique wines and offers artisan cheeses and charcuterie to complement the wine.

We strive to make Three Birds a relaxing place to visit. Explore our wine list, chat with a date or enjoy a glass with some friends — Three Birds is the perfect place to unwind and find a new favorite wine.

Dr. Karron L. Power, founder of PowerMD

PowerMD is the first and only clinic of its kind in Marin, offering a full array of laser treatments, facial fillers, Botox, hormone and testosterone replacement, medical peels, weight loss, supplements, skin care, and IV nutritional boosts in one new location. Combing these treatments yields faster, better and longer-lasting results.

Briefly describe your business philosophy.

People want to look and feel their best, so I offer antiaging solutions that are more than skin deep. Beauty and vitality are most apparent when coming from the inside out.

What makes you excel at what you do?

The most impressive and long-lasting aesthetic treatment results are seen in our patients who have their hormone and nutrition levels optimized first. I see faster recovery times and increased collagen production following laser, Botox or filler treatments and better weight loss results.

What makes your work worthwhile?

PowerMD is more than a clinic — it’s a community for those who choose

What is your competitive edge?

As a true wine bar, we are able to offer great prices on our wines by the glass and we pour varietals not found at larger bars and restaurants.

Your thoughts regarding working with a spouse, family or partner?

We obviously enjoy each other’s company and enjoy drinking wine, so this is ideal for us.

What (or who) were you going to be when you grew up?

Doran was a technology consultant and I spent my career in small business marketing. Drinking wine and visiting wineries was always a hobby and we dreamed of owning a wine bar one day.

Which product or service (that you offer) is your favorite?

We feature several monthly wine clubs that vary in price and wine options. Our clubs are unique because you’ll receive wine from different wineries every month. Traditional wine clubs only offer wines from a single winery.

How did you come up with the name for the wine bar?

We were inspired by the Bob Marley song “Three Little Birds.” The song is about happiness and loving life and that’s what having a wine bar is all about for us.

THREE BIRDS WINE BAR, 207 CORTE MADERA AVENUE, CORTE MADERA, 415.927.9466, CONTACT@THREEBIRDSWINEBAR.COM, THREEBIRDSWINEBAR.COM

to thrive rather than just survive. In fact, patients tell me they feel and look better than they did 10 years ago.

What techniques have you used to build your business?

I’m always working to increase awareness of just how effective currently available treatments are. I do this by giving seminars and writing articles. Happy patients also spread the word.

POWERMD, 206 BON AIR CENTER ROAD, GREENBRAE, 415.785.7995, INFO@POWERMD.COM, POWERMD.COM

Bio 2633 Bridgeway 415.324.7080 Sausalito, CA biologiquesf.com

Celebrate the Season! From Private Parties to Catered Events, Executive Chef Bob Simontacchi creates delicious seasonal menu items like Harvest Red Squash Curry, Chanterelle Mushroom Risotto, and Cauliflower Gratin with Herbed Brioche Crust. Daily Happy Hour from 4:30-7pm. Join us for Thanksgiving Dinner!

Brick & Bottle 55 Tamal Vista Blvd 415.924.3366 Corte Madera, CA brickandbottle.com

Consistently rated “Best of Marin,” , Comforts offers fine city and home-style food. Our menus change regularly to reflect what is fresh and in season, using only the best quality ingredients. The holiday season is fast approaching and we can provide fabulous new and traditional dishes for your holiday gatherings. Contact our catering department for details.

Comforts Cafe 335 San Anselmo Ave 415.454.9840 San Anselmo, CA comfortscafe.com

Il Fornaio 223 Corte Madera Town Ctr 415.927.4400 Corte Madera, CA ilfornaio.com

Seafood Peddler 303 Johnson Street 415.332.1492 Sausalito, CA seafoodpeddler.com

The Counter offers all-natural, humanely-raised beef and 312,120+ combinations to build your own burger. The Counter is a great place for family, friends, great music and a full bar. Voted best burger in Bay Area by SFGate.com readers on Bay Area A-List 2010-2014. ‘LIKE’ us on www.facebook.com/TheCounterCorteMadera !

The Counter 201 Town Center 415.924.7000 Corte Madera, CA thecounterburger.com

Il Fornaio award-winning specialties include housemade pastas, wood-fired pizza, authentic risotto, and rotisserie meats, along with artisan cocktails and a Wine Spectator award-winning wine list. Recently awarded the “Marchio Q” by the Italian Chambers of Commerce in Italy, Il Fornaio provides you with the best Italian dining experience outside of Italy.

TH INK STRAT EGIC & PROACTIV E

Think Zephyr.

Highly competitive and famously complex, the San Francisco real estate market can be both challenging and rewarding. Zephyr turns savvy, informed Bay Area urbanites into successful homeowners, investors and sellers.

ZephyrSF.com

Marin Home

FROM TOURS AND MAKEOVERS TO DECORATIVE DETAILS AND REALTOR INSIGHTS

NEVER SAY NEVER

A San Francisco couple finds the perfect home in a Marin community that was not on the wish list.

BY LAURA HILGERS • PHOTOS BY TIM PORTER

The view of the Belvedere Lagoon from the couple’s terrace-top fire pit.

Iwasaki started looking for a home in August 2013, they were, says Steele, “a little schizophrenic” in their search. They were moving out of Steele’s Russian Hill Victorian, where they’d lived since marrying in 2009, in order to make room for more of Iwasaki’s belongings and to fi nd a place with fewer steps. But they didn’t really know what they wanted.

home located just across the street from the Belvedere Lagoon. It was one story, had a great kitchen (Iwasaki is also an avid baker), a place for an art studio (she’s also a very talented sculptor), and plenty of room for Tom’s kids, grandchildren and other friends to visit. “As we started checking, it had all of the things on the list,” says Zolezzi. “All of the things kind of fit.”

Iwasaki was taken with the home immediately. “It was really open and airy,” she says, “and I thought, ‘Oh, good, you can move your arms around without hitting anything.’ ”

As we started checking, it had all of the things on the list.

They looked at homes in San Anselmo and Larkspur. They looked at three-story homes. They considered buying a family compound, so people could come for extended visits. There was only one thing they knew they didn’t want: a home in Ross or Belvedere. “We’re kind of working people,” say Steele, a lawyer (Iwasaki is a hairstylist), “and we thought these places would be too expensive.”

So, of course — welcome home, Belvedere. Shortly into their search, their realtor, Sylvie Zolezzi, brought them to see a mid-century

For Steele, who loved his cozy Victorian, the airiness was less appealing. But the couple remedied that quickly, fi lling the living room (which has wood-planked, Eichler-like ceilings) with the possessions that express their personalities. Steele’s Persian rugs cover the floor and his bold paintings by the Belgian artist Cole Morgan cover the walls. Iwasaki’s smallish sculptures of nude women sit on the built-in bookcases. Toys for Tom’s grandchildren fi ll the hidden cabinets that flank the fi replace. And the home’s four bedrooms are often fi lled with the people they love.

The pièce de résistance of the property, though, is the yard. After Steele and Iwasaki

moved in, they set to work — with the help of landscape architect Hilde Simon and gardener Barry Cohen of Molivar Landscape Company — ripping out ivy and creating a California-native drought-tolerant garden. They placed modern Corten steel planters on the deck and, at the top of the terraced garden, a cement fire pit. It’s a great place to watch waterfowl fly by and enjoy the views of the lagoon — views that, yes, can only be found in a place like Belvedere. m

WHEN TOM STEELE and Kris

THE DETAILS

WHERE THEY PURCHASED

Belvedere

WHAT THEY BOUGHT A renovated 1955 home

LISTING AGENT Timothy Hachman, Hachman Properties Inc.

SELLING AGENT Sylvie Zolezzi, Decker Bullock Sotheby’s International Realty

STATS Price per square foot for homes in the neighborhood: $1,000

Opposite page: Living room; Iwasaki’s art; the backyard. This page, clockwise from top: The dining area; kitchen; master bath; backyard; front entrance; the owners.

Pillow Power

Decorative and functional pieces that can spice up any room.

BY PJ BREMIER

TOSS THEM AROUND the house and watch these small accessories pack a punch when it comes to color and style. And if you need a cushion under your head as you recline to read a good book or watch the latest movie, it’s the pillow you’ll want. If you can’t quite reach the back in a deep chair, the pillow again comes to the rescue. Finally, if the kids need to blow off ome rst thing they’ll grab. Let’s hear it for the pillow.

1 Chevron embroidered lumbar pillow cover, $60, Pottery Barn, 888.779.5176, potterybarn.com

2 Starfish in indigo, Garnish Home Decor, $160, 415.435.5472, garnishhomedecor.com 3 Mouse Tooth Fairy by Coral and Tusk, $44, Columbine, 415.927.8884 4 Rambagh Tile pillow in rust, $30, Pier 1 Imports, 415.256.9853, pier1.com 5 Chroma Dream in light blue and milk, $60, Bliss Home and Design, 866.312.5610, blisshomeanddesign.com

Marinwood

Marin’s diverse geography includes everything from urban area to seashore, freeways to mountains. Many of the towns, cities and unincorporated areas are so different from one another, they even have their own weather patterns. This month we look at Marinwood. DEBRA TARRANT

Marin Home /

WHERE THEY LIVE

SQUARE MILEAGE 3.09 POPULATION 4,800

WALKABILITY SCORE This location has a walk score of 20 out of 100 — almost all errands require a car.

HIGHEST PRICE HOME SALE WITHIN THE LAST SIX MONTHS $1 million

LOWEST PRICE HOME SALE WITHIN THE LAST SIX MONTHS $639,000

SCHOOL DISTRICT Dixie School District: Dixie Elementary School, Mary E. Silveira Elementary School, Miller Creek Middle School. Marin Waldorf (private). Teenage students attend Terra Linda High School.

NEAREST SHOPPING CENTER

Northgate mall is three miles away and features Macy’s, Kohl’s, Sears, Century Theatres multiplex, specialty stores, services and restaurants, as well as a popular food court.

Home prices provided by Stephanie Lamarre at Alain Pinel Realtors in Ross. Additional information provided by Shane DeMarta, recreation director at the Marinwood Community Center.

I love the park across the street and the hills in my backyard.

Marinwood

DEBRA TARRANT; BILL HANSELL (TOP)

is a great community and a great place to raise kids.

Brian Burkhard, resident

Terry Algeo, 45-year resident and owner of San Rafael Laundry

Marinwood has a really good community of people.

RJ Williams, community center pool lifeguard

RESIDENTS SAY ...

Restored quintessential 1913 classic home with 4 bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms located on beautiful Throckmorton Avenue a short distance to the highly coveted downtown village square of Mill Valley. It’s an extraordinary property that has been through major restoration in recent years with periodic detail that has been preserved with top-of-the-line finishes of a newly constructed home. Walk-up a stone pathway that will lead you through a special park like setting with mature landscaped grounds surrounding the expansive parcel. The property is on a street-to-street lot between sought after Throckmorton and Lovell Avenues. There is a two car garage located on Throckmorton and direct access to the property from Lovell affording the opportunity of future possibilities for the next owner. Bask in the sunshine on a variety of decks and patio spaces and take in a gorgeous view of Mt Tam.

Offered at $2,695,000 | 516Throckmorton.com

exciting

“I believe in straight talk and honest dialog. As a Marin native with extensive experience in the title and escrow business, I offer my clients the knowledge of our local market, and the unique ability to help guide them through the complicated process of buying or selling a home. My goal is to make the process as seamless and straight-forward as possible.“

Kelly Valadez direct 415.519.0885 kelly@vanguardmarin.com BRE# 01916640

innovative

“What attracts you to your favorite restaurant? Best place to find that perfect piece of art? How about a Realtor ® ? My approach is based on an age-old principle of great customer service, a sincere respect of my clients and years of experience. I hear what you want, and I follow up to make sure your real estate dreams happen. Think outside of the box. Let’s go!“

Hannah Tai direct 415.706.9654 hannah@vanguardmarin.com BRE# 01812794

“Whether flipping burgers at a neighborhood barbeque or sitting on a the board of a local non-profit, I’m passionate about helping people. My job as a real estate professional has been no different. I’ve sold more than 200 homes in the past 12 years with incredible success. I hope you’ll think of me when it comes time to sell your home, or buy a new one. I’ll take good care of you.“

Kevin Kearney direct 415.297.3874 kevin@vanguardproperties.com BRE# 01355515

“Lynn has represented me in multiple real estate transactions. She is extremely reliable and trustworthy. With her keen sense of priority, she has the uncanny ability to close a transaction quickly and effectively. I highly recommend Lynn Reid.” -Michelle

65 Bedford Cove | Offered at $899,000

Sitting just above the nature preserve with sparkling views of the bay, this turn-key home is a birder’s paradise and a gardener’s delight! It is also the most quiet & private waterfront location in the area, as there are no adjacent pathways & no public use of the wetlands. Warm, sunny, friendly neighborhood kept in beautiful condition. HOA dues of appx. $85/month include pool, tennis & walking paths and security. Extensively improved & impeccably maintained: everything from the roof to the windows, floors, heating, lighting, landscaping, kitchen & more have been replaced with high quality work. Bonus: a fabulous aerie space (appx 320 unwarranted s.f.) perched above it all! Miles of bay shore paths just a few level blocks away beckon runners, dog walkers and those who love a daily stroll to Starbucks! Sold -

Realtor® 415.559.2814 lreid@mcguire.com

Home, the Ultimate Luxury Address.

McGuire

l ocal Knowledge + Personalized Strategies + Global e xecution = the

McGuire Difference

As Marin’s leading luxury real estate boutique McGuire offers an exemplary level of service and an exceptional team of professionals dedicated to helping our clients achieve their real estate and investment goals. We pair local knowledge with the use of forward thinking marketing technologies and a global reach enhanced by our exclusive international association with Savills, one of the world largest and most premier real estate companies, providing our clients and our properties unparalleled international exposure.

1040 Redwood Hwy, Mill Valley, CA 415.838.8500

Real Estate would like to welcome Michael Schoback

Tiburon offered at $1,999,000

This well-loved home offers style and comfort. The spacious lot provides privacy and commanding bay views. With plenty of natural light, four bedrooms and three-and-one-half baths, family room, dining room, fireplace, laundry room, pantry, attached garage with workbench, this house has everything you need inside. Outside, you will find gardens, entertaining deck and patios just waiting for a barbecue or hot tub.

A not-to-be-missed opportunity!

belvedere

This is a very special property situated on an exclusive cul-de sac with only four other houses. The attention to detail is evident throughout the home and the spectacular location features expansive views from the Bay Bridge and Alcatraz, across the city front, the Golden Gate Bridge, to Sausalito and Mount Tamalpais. This is a true sanctuary. Please call agent for more details.

240 HigHland avenue San rafael offered at $3,129,000

In exclusive Country Club, this four-bedroom, three-and-one-half bath home offers more than 4,500 square feet on approx. 1.5-plus acres. Nearly all rooms face the bay and two bridges. Spacious chef’s kitchen/great room, office, au pair/guest suite, media room, three-car garage, solar, sound and security systems. Secluded, gated and surrounded by natural beauty, minutes from 101 and the Golden Gate Bridge.

Elizabeth Green Kilgore

415.517.1577 egk415@mac.com CalBRE #01441531

BRo KER Ex CL u SIVE IN B ELVEDERE LuxuRIou

Janey Kaplan 415.272.0726 jkaplan@cbnorcal.com CalBRE #01451424

233 Woodland road, KenT WoodlandS | Price uPon requeST

Built in 1939, this colonial estate is ideally located on almost two acres. The manicured grounds include English style gardens, meandering brick pathways, greenhouse, putting green, pool and a guesthouse with full kitchen and living room. The four bedroom, three-and-one-half bath home was recently remodeled and offers an ideal indoor-outdoor lifestyle.

170 rancHeria, KenT WoodlandS | offered at $2,795,000

This contemporary home features four bedrooms, three-and-one-half baths. Nestled amongst the trees, it provides an indoor-outdoor lifestyle with pool, spa, and oversized deck. The private master suite is on the main level; three additional bedrooms are downstairs with the family room. The gourmet kitchen has a professional Wolf range and center island.

Margo E. Schein

415.257.2048 mschein@cbnorcal.com CalBRE #01203978

VIEWS f RoM ALM oS t EVERy R oo M

916 valley vieW lane

Mill valley offered at $2,595,000 916ValleyViewLn.com

Situated at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac, this spacious home and large lot epitomize indoor/ outdoor living at its finest. Pride of ownership is evident from the formal entry, to the big eat-in kitchen/family room, to the living room opening to a large patio with fabulous views, to the lovely grounds and play areas. This home has been beautifully remodeled. The flexible floor plan offers a fifth bedroom/second master suite/au pair.

Candace Nordstrom

415.302.7404 candacenordstrom@gmail.com CandaceNordstrom.com CalBRE #01320089

70 Marin vieW ave.

Mill valley offered at $1,099,000 70MarinViewAve.CBrB.COM

Escape the concrete jungle, up towards Mt. Tam, just steps to the many trails off Panoramic Highway and take in nature. This beautiful craftsman-style cottage was updated with amazing attention to detail and is only approx. 10 minutes to Downtown Mill Valley. Suspended among the trees with stunning redwood views, this retreat calls you to come home, light a roaring fire, and relax.

Buena Vista

Toyon,

New Luxury Homes at Marina’s Edge

TIBURON Three new homes of intelligent design and casual elegance have just been com pleted in this peaceful waterside community. New homes of this quality are rarely available. All of the homes have high ceilings, hardwood fl oors, and air conditioning. Ownership includes rights to a boat slip in Paradise Cay. Call today for a private tour.

HOME ONE Four bedrooms, three and one-half baths plus an office, family room and a large bonus room. In this expansive open floor plan, the light and bright living room is surrounded by glass with doors opening to a large front porch. The dream kitchen features a six burner Wolf range and a Sub-Zero refrigerator, and is dominated by a magnificent Calacatta Oro marble island.

Enjoy the luxurious master bath with a free standing tub, huge shower and marble counters. The large bonus room is a great escape for kids (or adults). It has space for your big-screen television, a pool table and a gym! It opens to a sunny deck to relax and enjoy the view. The home is 3,927 sq. ft per tax records.

Offered at $2,725,000

HOME TWO Four bedrooms, three and one-half baths plus study, family room and third floor bonus room. The expansive great room features hardwood floors, huge dining room and designer light fixtures. The kitchen is equipped with Thermador Professional appliances, marble counters and a home management nook. The master suite has beautiful views a dramatic bathroom and a huge walk-in closet. The home is 3,592 sq. ft. per tax records. Offered at $2,595,000

HOME THREE Four bedrooms, three full baths. A large covered porch welcomes you to this fine home. With an open great room design, the house is perfect for entertaining. Designer light fixtures reflect the thought that went into every detail. There is a full prep kitchen with a second dishwasher and a large walk-in pantry. Escape to the incredible master suite. Sit out on your terrace to enjoy the harbor view or settle into the freestanding bath to just relax.There is a walk-in closet that is big enough it may be mistaken for another bedroom! An elevator takes you from the three car garage to the main level and the bedroom level.The home is 3,259 sq. ft. per tax records.

Offered at $2,495,000

Exquisite Modern Farmhouse Estate

343 Haverfield Lane, Petaluma Offered at $2,595,000

This exquisite Modern Farmhouse Estate has a Colonial flair and is a feast for the senses. Located on a private lane in West Petaluma it is perfectly situated on 2+ acres of level land. There are three structures—the main house, a three-car garage with a carriage house above it, and a second custom-built garage with an adjacent dog-grooming studio. Gorgeous wood floors lead to a large den, a formal living room with a wood-burning fireplace and an adjacent dining room. The kitchen is a work of art and features gorgeous cabinetry with tons of storage,

high-end appliances, and a spacious adjacent dining area. There are wonderful views and access from the kitchen/dining area out the yard. An adjacent mudroom also offers access to the yard. An elegant staircase leads you up to three spacious bedrooms, a laundry room, and an incredible finished attic. The master bedroom features a fireplace, a huge walk-in closet with built-ins, and a well-designed master bath with both a shower and a standalone bathtub. A truly spectacular property of this nature rarely becomes available.

343Haverfield.com

Russian Hill Gem

1034 Filbert Street — Unit 246, San Francisco Offered at $1,495,000

This extremely stylish Russian Hill condo will take your breath away! Tastefully renovated with exceptional views of the San Francisco Bay and a serene setting next to Michaelangelo Park. This property features two bedrooms, two full baths, and a fantastic living area. The fabulous kitchen looks out to the dining/ living room with a fireplace and out to the knock-out views. The balcony off the living room is the perfect place to watch the activity on the Bay. You can close off the kitchen with two large pocket doors for more formal entertaining.

There is also an adjacent casual dining area and another small deck right off of the kitchen. Private elevator from the garage enters onto the patio off the living room. High ceilings, laundry closet in the unit, deeded one-car parking and storage, and a fabulous shared garden. Small building. Wonderful light. Close proximity to San Francisco’s lively restaurants, shopping, and all of the wonderful urban chic that San Francisco has to offer. The perfect place to call home or a chic pied-à-terre, this jewel is not to be missed.

RussianHillGem.com

Sea Arches on the Mendocino Coast

Sea Arches is a stunning modern architectural masterpiece, perched atop an eleven-acre peninsular promontory rising 160 feet above the Pacific Ocean on northern California’s spectacular Mendocino coast. Surrounded by the ocean on three sides and presiding over unparalleled vistas of sea and surf, Sea Arches includes 2,000 feet of ocean frontage, as well as beaches that extend some 1,300 feet. This one-of-a-kind property also includes one of the famous Elk Sea Stacks, a grouping of remarkable ancient rock outcroppings that tower above the Pacific, and add a powerful and dramatic element to the coastal scenery.

Integrated gracefully into its spectacular setting, Sea Arches is set back 500 feet from the Pacific Coast Highway and is completely screened from public view. The main house and guesthouse include over 4,200 square feet of modern living space with 4 bedrooms and 5 full bathrooms. Walls of glass invite views of the spectacular coastal scenery in every direction.

While completely private and secluded, Sea Arches is just a twominute drive from the charming village of Elk and a scenic seventeen mile drive to picturesque and historic seaside village of Mendocino. Just a three hour drive from San Francisco or, if you choose to fly, Little River Airport, with its mile long runway, is only 16 miles north of Sea Arches.

Truly a special and unique property, Sea Arches commands some of the most dramatic coastal views in the world, and offers superb design, construction, and high-end finishes throughout, along with unparalleled beauty, tranquility, and privacy.

Judy LeMarr, S

Luxury Home Marketing Specialist ® 415.793.5030 judy @ marindreamhome.com marindreamhome.com

Magnificent Mt. Tam Views

This iconic 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath mid-century home, (think Rob and Laura Petrie in the Dick Van Dyke Show), offers sweeping southern views with all day sun. Enjoy world class full-on Mt. Tam views in one direction and views of the Bay in the other. Perched on the north side of Kent Woodlands, this home is sited on a tranquil, quiet street to street lot.

Step down to the wood paneled living room with a high, open beamed ceiling and floor to ceiling windows capturing the magnificent views from every seat. A contemporary cement fireplace is a focal point of this spacious room. A step up brings you to the adjoining dining room with sliding door to the deck for a closer view to the beauty of Kent Woodlands.

Wake up with the morning sun filtering into the master bedroom. An additional bathroom and bedroom with outside deck access completes the main level living. The lower level has an additional half bath, bedroom with a fireplace, bonus space and laundry.

28 Spring Road, Kentfield

Vicki Buckle-Clark

Licensed Associate Broker 415.497.0044 vickibc@sothebysrealty.com

Sophisticated Bay View Residence Offered at $3,295,000

• Four bedrooms all en-suite

• Four bathrooms

• Powder room

• Kitchen and family room with garden and patio access

• Breakfast room with water views

• Living room and dining room with water views

• Large billiard room/library with French doors to gardens

• Sensational master suite with water views and balcony

• Three fireplaces

• Laundry room

• Attached garage with additional parking

• Approximately 4,036 square feet

• Lot approximately 15,000 square feet

• Fruit trees, lawns, stone walkways, and patios

The ultimate in indoor/outdoor living! Enjoy beautiful Bay views coupled with level lawns and patios. A stone walkway, with fountain and koi pond lead to the beautiful entrance. It all begins at the grand two-level entry with formal staircase and skylights. All bedrooms are en-suite, and have French doors opening to either a balcony or a patio. There are two bedrooms and two baths on each level, making the floor plan extremely functional. Surround yourself with privacy and lush landscaping, including apple, pear, and fig trees.

SALE PENDING

QUINTESSENTIAL KENT WOODLANDS

Gated estate with stunning views, pool, large private lot and 3,200 square feet of wonderfully laid out living space

Sylvie Zolezzi 415.505.4789 sylvie.zolezzi@sothebysrealty.com

BUYER REPRESENTATION

141UplandRd.com $2,495,000

MAGICAL ZEN LIKE RETREAT

What an opportunity to purchase a unique compound. 2 stunning homes, an apartment and a detached 2 room studio on 2/3 acre. The attention to detail and design is unparalleled. Stroll to downtown San Anselmo, Ross Valley Schools. 200-202Saunders.com $1,899,000

Lori Saia Odisio 415.747.6707 lori.odisio@sothebysrealty.com

SOLD

WONDERFUL KENTFIELD

Wonderful 4BD/2BA remodeled home in Kentfi eld. Level yard with Mt Tam views, large living room, and formal dining room. Easy commute and near Bacich Schools!

Matthew MacPhee 415.816.2269 matt.macphee@sothebysrealty.com

SOLD

MatthewMacPhee.com Listed at $1,395,000

CAPE MARIN GREENBRAE

Beautifully maintained 4BR/2.5BA home in great community with resort-like pool, clubhouse and waterfront walking paths. Sold in one week with multiple offers.

23Elizabeth.com $1,330,000 Alisa Knobbe Wynd 415.298.4037 alisa.wynd@sothebysrealty.com

SALE PENDING

SERENITY AT RUSH CREEK

Imagine being in a park enveloped by uninterrupted ambience. Lovely single level former model home on 1/2 acre in the Rush Creek subdivision.

Sherry Ramzi 415.902.7344 sherry.ramzi@sothebysrealty.com

60OakShade.com $1,145,000

STINSON BEACH GEM

Quaint cottage and artist studio on a beautiful sun drenched parcel close to Stinson Beach Village and surf. Views of the Pacifi c Ocean and mountain ridge.

Val Rogers 415.264.8058 v.rogers@deckerbullocksir.com

Price Upon Request

Architectural Rendering. No Building Plans Included.

4320 Paradise Drive, Tiburon

$1,195,000

Fabulous opportunity to improve or expand a mid-century 3 bedroom and 2 bathroom home on a 30,210 sq ft lot. Located on Paradise Drive with entrance on coveted Old Landing Road. Improved it could be a starter home in Tiburon or there is significant expansion potential to

Architecturally Stunning Peacock Gap Home

63 San Marino Drive, San Rafael

$1,221,000

Located atop Peacock Gap in San Rafael, this one level home is one of a kind. The main living area offers an open floor plan with high cathedral ceilings, stone fireplace, and beautiful Anderson sliding doors that lead to a private deck and backyard with Mt. Tam and hillside views. The kitchen with a separate pantry has high end stainless steel appliances and opens to the great room. The highly desirable floorplan includes a master suite, with sliding doors leading to the backyard, and is completely separate from the other 4 bedrooms and 2 baths.

63SanMarino.com

build a dream home. The property has ample light, open space, a pool, orchard and some views of the San Francisco Bay. The privacy and sun this property affords makes it truly a piece of land! Existing home can be improved up to 5,000 sq ft. The architectural rendering does not include any plans.

4320ParadiseDrive.com

Christine Christiansen, MBA 415.259.7133

christine @ sothebysrealty.com christinechristiansen.com

to • day [tuh-dey] adjective ; 1.fresh; 2.modern, contemporary; 3.state-of-the-art. vintage farm • house [vin-tij fahrm-hous] noun ; 1.warm inviting; 2.Time-honored, established; 3. family home.

Gated Ross compound with grand residence of French Normandy stature, paved circular drive, and ±2 acres of large level lawns and gardens, terraces, patios and sparkling pool and spa. In the main residence, stunning sunlit kitchen, butler’s pantry, breakfast room and adjacent family room, majestic living room with curved balcony, palatial dining room, and beautiful master suite with fireplace, stunning bath and spiral staircase to the private study with full bath. Six en-suite bedrooms, including the master suite, on the upper levels. Gym and basketball court, theater, cabana, elevator, five enclosed garages and two separate outdoor kitchen and BBQ areas. Six bedrooms, seven and one-half baths in the main residence, separate two-story guest quarters with kitchen, separate one-bedroom garage apartment and separate studio, in the heart of Ross… $11,995,000

Long,

and

– on approximately 3 acres and with over 9,000

feet

center isle and family area adjacent to the level

pool.

walk-in closet/dressing area

beautiful bath

tub and steam shower. Wonderful outdoor living with level

gated, circular drive to this stately manor – built circa 1917 and now extensively remodeled

upgraded

square

of exquisitely finished interior space. Formal entry, living and dining rooms, large marble kitchen with

lawn and

Luxurious master suite with fireplace, large

and

with

lawns, terraces, gardens and the private, sunny pool. Billiards/media room with arched ceiling; large study with fireplace and adjacent covered patio; one-bedroom guest suite with its own kitchen and a separate two-bedroom apartment above the three-car garage. Seven bedrooms, six and one-half baths, gated, private and impressive stature… $9,800,000

All-star pitcher Barry Zito’s spectacular, gated, Mediterranean estate with inspiring panoramic views of Mt Tam and Phoenix Lake. Located on over 2 acres, the over 7,000 square foot home is grand in scale, with a circular entrance and foyer with high ceilings and large formal living, dining and family rooms with French doors opening to stone terraces and gardens, offering gracious indoor/outdoor living with an outdoor fireplace, barbecue, pool and spa that share the stunning views. Meticulously constructed with the finest finishes and a masterful design. Three en-suite bedrooms, three full and two half baths in the main residence plus one bedroom, one bath guest house, 3 car garage, and truly incomparable views… $8,995,000

Blazing sunrises, golden sunsets and perfect moonrises reflecting on the Bay waters, the calls of the seals and sea gulls, the graceful, eye-level pelicans gliding by your windows, and the ever-changing living-mural of sea life from your living room, this private and stunning contemporary, designed by award-winning architects generations apart, in its park-like resort setting, and sited on possibly the best water-level parcel in Belvedere, embodies everything you imagine about waterfront living. 1.2 acres, nearly 8,000 sf of exquisitely finished and view-oriented interior, over 200 water-level frontage feet and up close, riveting views of the Golden Gate Bridge and the entire San Francisco skyline. The main residence comprises five large bedrooms and five and one-half baths, and the separate guest house offers an additional two bedrooms and one bath. Once this lifetime… $14,695,000

Sited on the western-most promontory of Belvedere Island with the Bay directly below & unobstructed views from Mt. Tam through Sausalito, the Golden Gate Bridge & the entire San Francisco skyline, this property truly exemplifies the “belvedere.” Warren Callister designed, westside waterfront with 5 bedrooms, four full & three half-baths in the main residence & separate one-bedroom, one-bath guest apartment. Large formal living & dining rooms with French door access to view-side terraces & three level lawn areas, intimate library with fireplace, & top-floor master suite with his & her baths and dressing areas & private view-side terrace. Approx. 9,500 sq. ft. of covered space, including the main residence, garage & guest quarters, & six bedrooms, five full & three halfbaths, Belvedere prominence & world-coveted views… $15,500,000

Relax and enjoy the San Francisco skyline from this four bedroom, six bath masterpiece just minutes from the Golden Gate Bridge. Designed by prominent San Francisco architects, Porter & Steinwedell. The 6,093± sq.ft. elegant property sits on two hillside parcels providing unobstructed, breathtaking vistas. Corner luxurious master suite features his and her master-bathrooms. Other features include 2700 bottle wine cellar, gym, secluded patio, terrace, two 2--car garages + detached house with kitchen & half bath. www.54LowerCrescent.com

offered at $5,750,000

Julia Bernardini (415) 225-0468

Brand new, contemporary home with stunning views of Mount Tamalpais boasts elegance and style! Expansive main living space with open floor plan bordered by 40 feet of retractable glass. 1600 ± sq. ft. terrace with outdoor kitchen & multiple entertaining spaces. The spacious kitchen has a large island with bar seating & breakfast nook with modern dining booth. Other features include a large office (or 5th bedroom), 10 ft. ceilings throughout, oversized two-car garage & elevator!

offered at $4,400,000

Paul Cingolani (415) 726-9630

Exquisitely designed to capture the panoramic views of the San Francisco Bay, San RafaelRichmond Bridge, Mt. Tam and the wooded hills from practically every room of this custom home. Almost 2700 sq.ft. with three bedrooms, three full baths and recently remodeled with modern high-end kitchen and designer finishes. Exclusive quarter-sawn oak floors throughout the living area. The flexible floor plan offers an open design and allows for separate or unified living areas. Numerous closets, great storage and wine cellar, plus 2-car garage and new driveway complete this stunning home.

offered at $1,850,000

deBorah SolvaSon (415) 519-3555

Breathtaking panoramic hillside views from nearly every room of this spacious contemporary home located in Tam Valley. With 3,000± sq.ft., this five bedroom, three and one-half bath home is perfect for those who appreciate the best schools, parks, shops & restaurants. Features include: Gourmet kitchen with stainless steel appliances, a large master suite with adjoining study & a private office with its own separate entrance. The property is extensively landscaped with lawns, lush gardens, meandering paths, waterfall, hot tub and garden studio. www.728MarinDrive.com

offered at $1,599,000

(415) 944-0632

Sausalito Masterpiece with Breathtaking Views

Jonathan Smith

The Contemporary Mill Valley Lifestyle

Stunning Contemporary View Home in Kentfield

Custom-Designed View Home in Larkspur

Early 20th Century ‘First Bay Area Tradition’ built in 1906 and lovingly restored. This desirable Mission Dolores home features 1678± sq. ft. of living space, three bedrooms and two baths. Entry Level is drenched in sunlight from casement windows, stained glass and skylights. High ceilings and the original hardwood floors. Beautifully remodeled kitchen with breakfast area, remodeled baths, dining room, living room with vintage fireplace, and family room. French doors to private patio. A short walk to Dolores Park, Gourmet Ghetto, G-bus, Muni & Metro. www.5DoloresTerrace.com

offered at $1,400,000

Sondra oczkuS (415) 806-6064

Sited adjacent to GGNRA open land, this recently transformed contemporary home features the quintessential elements of form and function. Soaring ceilings and abundant natural light filter the sights of meadow, valley and bay views. A spacious great room, with updated kitchen, living room and French doors leading to the deck. Featuring: Two master bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms; updated kitchen with quartz counters, SS appliances; bay view deck; newly landscaped yard with huge lawn, mature trees and room for a garden; detached outbuilding perfect for home office/art studio/ guest quarters.

offered at $1,399,000

Julia BErnardini (415) 225-0468

Gated, light-filled, large home in the flats, ideally situated close to both Fairfax & San Anselmo downtown areas. South-facing main entry deck has hill views and a retractable awning. Inside includes; a formal living room with gas fireplace, formal dining room, updated eat-in kitchen with island seating & a large pantry. Grilling deck off kitchen also opens to in-law/au pair. Street level boasts four bedrooms, full bath, Master Suite and private deck with hot tub and large family room with fireplace and a cool, shady deck. Backyard has another deck, mature landscaping, vegetable garden and play structure.

offered at $1,388,000

roBErt BradlEy (415) 314-1314

Come Home to Corte Madera

Located in one of Corte Madera’s best neighborhoods, this delightful three bedroom and two bath home features an idyllic setting with spectacular Mt. Tam views from 8 foot floor to ceiling windows in the living room, a large master suite, chef’s kitchen with gas and beautiful wood floors. Plus a detached office/studio, garage with storage, a spacious slate patio with gardens, view deck and level backyard area. Just blocks to great schools and parks. Easy SF commute.

offered at $1,195,000

Eric GElman (415) 686-1855

Charming 1906 Craftsman ~ San Francisco

Magical Gated Mini-Estate in Marin

Classic San Anselmo Gated Home

Boxer’s Big Night

Former Marin County supervisor goes to the U.S. Senate with improbable victory.

BY JIM WOOD

NOVEMBER 3, 1992. Not a long time back on the calendar — but aeons ago when it comes to political careers. That was the night a diminutive former Marin County supervisor named Barbara Boxer, after five terms as Marin’s delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives, remarkably became a U.S. Senator from California. Remarkable? How so? Also on that ballot asking to be sent to the U.S. Senate for a first time was San Francisco’s former mayor, Dianne Feinstein. “No way,” wrote reporter Beth Ashley in a special election-night

edition of the Marin Independent Journal , “would voters elect two women, two Jewish women, two Jewish women from the same part of the state.” But, Ashley concluded, “Boxer, cool and apparently con fident, won decisively, as did Feinstein.” Twenty-two years later, both still represent California in the U.S. Senate. Sen. Boxer, who no longer lives in Marin, turns 74 this month and is rumored not to be planning to seek a fi fth six-year term when she faces reelection in 2016. Senator Feinstein, now 81, won’t be up for reelection until 2018. She is the oldest currently serving member of the U.S. Senate. m