The Mill Valley Lumber Yard is readying a pre-Valentine's Day event that promises offers and discounts, new products, refreshments, Valentine's-themed activities and much more from each of the retailers at the 129 Miller Ave. hub. The "Love Is in the Air" event is set for Saturday, February 8th, 10-5pm. 

Here's what you can expect:

Ambatalia and Caitlin Hubel celebrate nondisposable love – for ourselves, the community and Mother Earth – on a day of thoughtful reuse and togetherness. Craft a paper valentine, sew a heart banner, and make seed paper. All ages welcome.

Bloomingayles showcases its curated collection of treasures and gifts, including candles, crystals, art, and Parisan flea market finds.

There will be a Valentine Cookie Decorating station at Once Around with gluten free sugar cookies, donated by Flour Craft Bakery. 10:30-3:30pm, $5 per person, sign up at Once Around. Kids under 12 years old must be accompanied by an adult.

The Edit is offering 15 percent off fine jewelry, with cold brews for the boys (or girls!) while you browse.

MakeShop, which regularly rotates its theme-centric displays and activities, is building around a “New Year, New You” theme, allowing attendees to get creative with new Make Stations, including Valentines Make Station, Cranberry Sugar Lip Scrub Make Station, and Essential Oil Mist Make Station.

BŌL celebrates Valentine's Day with Supah Star chocolate covered strawberries and a new beetroot coconut latte, as well as with a "love your BŌL" Goldmine gift bag of all their favorite superfoods, snacks and plant based treats. Stay tuned to @boloflovemarin for a Valentine's Day giveaway.

Flour Craft Bakery will have Valentine’s Goodies Galore, gluten free and made with love, while Mad Dogs & Englishmen is offering a 2 for 1: Book an ebike guided tour or rental by mentioning this offer when booking your rental or tour; valid Feb 14-16th at either Mill Valley or Carmel-by-the-Sea locations.

Maker's Market hosts a Maya Bauman Trunk Show, along with light Refreshments.

The 411: Mill Valley Lumber Yard hosts a pre-Valentine's Day event that promises offers and discounts, new products, refreshments, Valentine's-themed activities and much more from each of the retailers at the 129 Miller Ave. hub. The "Love Is in the Air" event is set for Saturday, February 8th, 10-5pm. Details above. MORE INFO.

Throughout 2019, aspiring photographers from all over the age spectrum took subject-specific classes and workshops at The Image Flow, the Miller Avenue-based creative hub and photography center. Those workshops ran the gamut from Photography Basics to a hands-on Tintype Workshop.

Now the folks at The Image Flow are set to unveil their 2019 Group Exhibition, a show that opens with a reception (7-9pm) on Feb. 1 and runs through April 10. The collection provides a unique chance to see the world from the perspective of a diverse set of photographers. Some of the images were the result of specific assignments, but most are from what they to refer to as “self-directed projects" in which instructors guide and push the students to see more, observe more and realize their vision through the camera.

"A great big thank you to all the students who have put their trust in The Flow to help them become the photographers they aspire to be," says The Image Flow founder Stuart Schwartz.

The 411: The Image Flow unveils its 2019 Group Exhibition, a show that opens with a reception (7-9pm) on Feb. 1. RSVP Catering will be serving light appetizers and wine. The exhibition runs through April 10. MORE INFO.

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There are dozens of Mill Valley businesses that have been certified under the California Green Business Network, including stalwarts like Acqua Hotel, Sage Educators, Goodman Building Supply, Bank of Marin, Body Kinetics, Grilly's, Mill Valley Car Wash, the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce & Visitor Center, Mill Valley Inn, Mill Valley Market, Mountain Home Inn, Proof Lab and WIGT Printing, among others.

Now there's one more, as The Redwoods, the community of seniors, has been designated as a California Green Business.

"We, the residents, families, staff and board of The Redwoods are proud of this accomplishment and designation," the nonprofit said in a statement.

The program recognizes and promotes local businesses that work to reduce their environmental footprints in the areas of water and energy use, waste management, pollution prevention, and more. It's a free program, and there are often rebates and other incentives for businesses to join.

Interested in becoming a Certified Green Business? GO HERE or contact the County of Marin Green Business Coordinator at mchhabria@marincounty.org or (415) 473-3069.
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Mill Valley native Zio Ziegler returned home from college nearly a decade ago with a whirlwind of energy, opening his Art Sempre pop-up art and clothing shop and showcasing his burgeoning artistic style with murals all over town, from the Throckmorton Theatre and Proof Lab to Tam Bikes and even turning a Sycamore Park family’s Porsche of into a mobile mural.

He also became an internationally acclaimed artist, with murals far afield (London, Tokyo, Paris, Ukraine and Mexico, to name a few) and closer to home in San Francisco’s Mission, Tenderloin and Outer Sunset neighborhoods, on the Federal Realty Building in Oakland and on the campuses of tech giants like Facebook, Uber and Google. And then of course there's the jaw-dropping mural he created on the side of the building that houses the Sequoia Theatre overlooking the dining deck of Playa. 

One can imagine that Ziegler's global emergence has exposed him to all manner of art industry characters, and now he's added filmmaker to his ever-growing credentials with Bad Art, a 65-minute ensemble comedy "about the slippery nature of art (and badness)," Ziegler says. Ziegler co-directed the film with Tania Raymonde, an actress whose credits include a recurring role in the TV series Malcolm in the Middle between 2000 and 2002, followed by the role of Alex Rousseau in the ABC series Lost from 2006 to 2010.

Ziegler describes the film as a farce about the art world that tackles "the role of the artist in contemporary culture in which five art world archetypes show up to an artist's studio to buy a hyped painting no one's ever seen, that may or may not exist, engaging in a hilarious debate about commerce, value, and identity."

In a recent Instagram post, Ziegler writes that Bad Art "looks at how a 'post-truth' era could occur, and debates the veracity of past scions of 'objectivity.' But rather than being revisionist, it looks forward, addressing the challenges of a new truth supposedly democratized by the internet."

"Bad Art, an allegory, is one woman’s journey against definition, against gatekeepers, standards built on falsities and against an “objectivity” which was not reflective of truth itself," he writes. "The title itself depicts subjective definition, now almost humorous in it’s simplicity. But we use these judgements daily- working our way through our lives, in a binary fashion, defining that which is impossible to universally define."

The 411: Bad Art, an ensemble comedy directed by Zio Ziegler and Tania Raymonde, screens at SF Indiefest on Feb. 8. MORE INFO & TIX. Here's the trailer:

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Having tackled The Wizard of Oz, Annie, Sound of Music and High School Musical over the past four years, the Mill Valley Middle School’s Cabaret explores the world of Peter Pan, the wildly successful theatrical adaptation of J.M. Barrie’s 1902 book about the free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and never grows up. Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood having adventures on the mythical island of Neverland as the leader of the Lost Boys, interacting with fairies, pirates, and occasionally ordinary children from the world, all while facing the villainous Captain Hook and the dreaded tick-tock of the crocodile.
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The 411: The Mill Valley Middle School Cabaret takes on Peter Pan with a trio of performances on Feb. 28 (7:30pm), Feb. 29 (7:30pm) and March 1 (1pm). Tix are $20 for adults and $10 for kids. MVMS Gym, 425 Sycamore Ave. Tix available on the day of each performance 30 minutes prior to show time (cash or check only). MORE INFO & BUY TIX.

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​When former San Francisco Chronicle reporter Meredith May was a young child, she moved with her mother and younger brother from Rhode Island to Carmel Valley to stay with their grandparents "as their mother descended into depression," according to the Chronicle. 

The years that followed, during which May grew extremely close with E. Franklin Peace, an eccentric plumber and beekeeper and May's step-grandfather "who made honey in an old military bus in Carmel Valley in the 1970s. There she found refuge from her turbulent childhood home and a model for benevolent human relationships in the magical world of bees." That relationship serves as the foundation of The Honey Bus: A Memoir of Loss, Courage and a Girl Saved by Bees, May's 2019 memoir, which she'll discuss at a free event at the Outdoor Art Club on Thursday, Feb. 20 at 1pm.

May is a fifth-generation beekeeper who keeps six hives in San Francisco’s Connecticut Friendship Garden. She also previously spent 16 years as a reporter and feature writer for the Chronicle, for which she was shortlisted for a Pulitzer Prize for her Operation Lion Heart series that documented a 10-year-old boy’s recovery from a devastating explosion in Iraq.

After completing a draft of The Honey Bus in 2015, May left the Chronicle and "had a few nibbles, no bites” from agents. Over time and through another writing experience, she realized The Honey Bus was essentially a “monster-mom memoir" that needed a higher calling.

"My story’s more about the unusual, lovely way I was rescued by my grandfather and the bees," she told the Chronicle in 2019. “He spoke in metaphors, using the bees as examples of the proper way to behave. What he found noble and admirable in the way bees lived translated into his moral code for humankind.”

The 411: Beekeeper and former San Francisco Chronicle reporter Meredith May discusses her 2019 memoir The Honey Bus: A Memoir of Loss, Courage and a Girl Saved by Bees at the Outdoor Art Club on Thursday, Feb. 20 at 1pm. Free. One West Blithedale Avenue, Mill Valley.

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The Mill Valley Philharmonic continues its blockbuster season-long 20th anniversary celebration on Sunday, March 15 with a Gala Concert at the Mill Valley Community Center featuring artistic director Dana Sadava and SF Conservatory of Music faculty member and renowned cellist Jean-Michel Fonteneau.

The gala features a special concert by MVP, followed by a party with complimentary fine wine, craft beer, sweet and savory nibbles, and a silent auction. The orchestra is set to perform Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s popular and virtuosic Scheherazade, Op. 35, with Fonteneau performing Édouard Lalo’s Cello Concerto in D Minor. MVP previews the program at a Free Preview Performance on Wednesday, March 11 at 7pm, with a full concert on Friday, March 13 at 7:30pm – both at Mt. Tamalpais United Methodist Church in Mill Valley. Subsequent performances run through May 2020.

The 2019-20 season of the nonprofit organization, whose mission of MVP is "to enrich the cultural life of the Bay Area by offering orchestral programs to people of all ages and means in their own communities," comes on the heels of the retirement of its founder and artistic director Laurie Cohen in 2018, the arrival of a new executive director in Richard Aldag and the subsequent selection of Sadava to be its artistic director.

The 411: Mill Valley Philharmonic continues its blockbuster season-long 20th anniversary celebration on Sunday, March 15 with a Gala Concert at the Mill Valley Community Center. Two concerts precede the gala concert. MORE INFO & TIX. 

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With Noura, which runs through Feb. 9, Marin Theatre Company has once again cooked up a thought-provoking production laced with issues like identity crisis, motherhood, marriage and the fragile architecture of what we call home.

For Noura and her family, a Christmas celebration at their home in New York City begins as a toast to their eight years in the United States after fleeing Mosul, Iraq, but then becomes something else entirely, largely driven by the arrival of a visitor who stirs up long-buried memories.

The play is drawing great reviews, with the Marin Independent Journal theater critic Sam Hurwitt noting the characters grappling "with what to keep of their traditions and cultural attitudes from a home that is completely destroyed and never coming back." Hurwitt lauds Kate Boyd’s lighting and Nihan Yesil’s sound design in punctuating provocative lines with "flickering lights and bursts of sound — talking, tense music — a literal audiovisual representation of post-traumatic stress disorder."

​In the Pacific Sun, Harry Duke notes that Heather Raffo "packs a lot into her 90-minute examination of a woman on the edge" and serves up "an interesting take on the modern émigré experience."


The 411: Marin Theatre Co., 397 Miller Ave. Tix $10-$40. MORE INFO.

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​Equator Coffees is no stranger to plaudits, but co-founder Helen Russell says they're over the moon about their latest honor: a 2020 Good Food Award, one of less than two dozen doled out in the coffee division, which had more than 250 entries across the United States. 

Equator won for its submission of Hacienda La Esmeralda’s Gesha grown in the highlands of Boquete, Panama. Equator officials received the award from the legendary Chez Panisse founder Alice Waters.

The coffee is from Panama’s renowned Hacienda La Esmeralda, a farm owned and operated by the Peterson family since 1967. Esmeralda has become famous for its production of the Gesha variety.

​This fame resulted from a trial conducted on the farm in 2002 to isolate Gesha cherries from fruit of those of other varieties. The result was the discovery of the exceptional cup quality found in this low yielding cultivar. 

Equator Coffees has been buying coffee from Hacienda La Esmeralda for more than 10 years, both directly and through their private auction. This washed processed lot comes from the Bosque plot of Finca Jaramillo, one of the Peterson's several farms.

Due to limited availability and to maintain freshness, Equator will be roasting this coffee once a week on Wednesday. Order now and they will roast and ship the following Wednesday. MORE INFO.

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To hear Ed Hardy tell it, when he was growing up in the 1950s, most kids his age dreamt of growing up to be firemen or jet pilots – there weren't even astronauts yet. But Hardy had the wild idea of becoming a tattoo artist, seeing skin art as his calling in the mystical images of pierced hearts, flaming eyeballs and bloody skulls. Hardy's incredible career saw him grow from tattoo artist to fashion brand and cultural icon.

Bay Area filmmaker Wendy Slick decided to make a film about Hardy's journey a few years ago, and the folks at the O'Hanlon Center for the Arts are featuring the documentary at its regular Art Film Fridays series on Friday, Jan. 24 at 6:30pm. 616 Throckmorton Avenue. $10. MORE INFO.

Here's a short trailer:

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There’s no shortage of business owners in Mill Valley for whom their current professional pursuit is a second or even third chapter. Many of them put their careers on pause to raise their children and then dipped their toes back into the business world as their kids got older.

Some of that arc describes the journey of Quynh Nguyen, owner of Wink Optics on Throckmorton Ave. downtown – except for the part of the toe dipping.

“I didn’t just dabble – I have thrown myself completely into this business,” she says about Wink, whose state board certified opticians play a similar role as a pharmacist in relation to a doctor. “We style and adjust to make sure the prescription fits the frame.”

Nguyen’s first career was in supply chain management for a major pharmaceutical company in San Diego. Nguyen says and her husband, who is in commercial construction management for DPR Construction, chose to move to Mill Valley for a variety of reasons.

“We wanted to live in an area where we didn’t have to move every few years every time a project was finished,” says Nguyen, who also has a brother in Sunnyvale and sister-in-law in San Rafael. “And obviously Mill Valley is such a great place to live  and the school system is exceptional.

She took some time off after she had her twin daughters, and later took a job with an eyeglasses frame sales company job so she could have more flexibility with her daughters. 

Through that role, Nguyen met Michael Quinn, who owned an eponymous optician shop at 70 Throckmorton Ave. downtown that he’d operated since 1989. Quinn eventually sought to sell the shop, and Nguyen and her business partner Frank Gomez, who also owns Wink locations in San Anselmo and Ukiah, bought the business from him in July 2009.

While Nguyen is deeply involved in the day-to-day at Wink, she’s just as involved in raising her twin 8th grade daughters Grace and Lauren, who play both CYO basketball and competitive volleyball, the latter through the Firebolts Volleyball Club, which Nguyen created. “There was definitely a need for an avenue for these girls to continue their volleyball.”

Nguyen seems to have struck the perfect balance between operating her own small business, playing a vital role in Marin's youth sports programs and 

The 411: Wink Optics is at 70 Throckmorton Avenue. MORE INFO. ​

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Terra Marin School and the Terra Mandarin Preschool & TK, which opened in late 2018 in the former Ring Mountain Day School space on Lomita Drive in Mill Valley, is ready to celebrate the Chinese New Year with a multi-faceted event on Saturday, Jan. 25 (10am-2pm) featuring an array of food and activities, including authentic dragon dance, martial arts demonstrations and classes, arts and crafts and noodle making, raffle prizes and more.

The community-wide event is open to the public with all ages are welcome. Tix are $5 in advance and $7 at the door. Fee covers entrance and activities. Food and raffle sold separately.

The 411: Terra Marin School and the Terra Mandarin Preschool & TK hosts a Chinese New Year Community Celebration on Saturday, Jan. 25 (10am-2pm) featuring an array of food and activities, including authentic dragon dance, martial arts demonstrations and classes, arts and crafts and noodle making, raffle prizes and more. The event is open to the public with all ages are welcome. Tix are $5 in advance and $7 at the door. Fee covers entrance and activities. Food and raffle sold separately. MORE INFO & BUY TIX.

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Redwood Credit Union, which opened a full-service branch in the Alto Plaza Shopping Center in late 2016, is celebrating 70 years in business in 2020. The credit union, which was originally formed by seven County of Sonoma employees as an affordable means to make bridge loans to fellow employees between paychecks, has grown to offer full service personal and business banking, as well as financial services beyond banking such as financial planning, insurance, and even an auto sales center.

Founded in 1950 as Sonoma County Employees Credit Union, that entity merged  in 1982 with Santa Rosa Public Employees Credit Union and rebranded as Redwood Credit Union to reflect its growing presence in the Redwood Empire. In 1997, RCU expanded its field of membership to serve anyone living or working in the five North Bay counties of Sonoma, Marin, Mendocino, Lake, and Napa. And in 2000, RCU received approval to serve residents and businesses in the three additional counties of San Francisco, Solano, and Contra Costa.

RCU now has 19 locations throughout the North Bay and San Francisco, and is the 43rd largest credit union in the U.S. and 8th largest in California.

“Though we’ve grown and added many services and locations over the past 70 years, helping people has always been at the heart of what we do,” said Brett Martinez, RCU President & CEO. “We’re thankful for our 353,000 members, and through their loyalty and participation—as well as the dedication of our 700 employees—we have a solid foundation to continue providing affordable financial services and support to our communities for many more decades to come.”

The 411: Redwood Credit Union Is located at 695 East Blithedale Ave. in the Alto Plaza shopping center that contains Whole Foods Market. MORE INFO.

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Mill Valley resident Chelsea Hutchison, owner of the BŌL superfood cafe in the Mill Valley Lumber Yard, is a realist.
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"With two kids, a partner and a healthy coffee obsession we are far from a 100 percent reusable family, but by golly, we are trying," she says of her desire to make a positive impact on the climate crisis. "Some days I imagine my girls asking me why we didn't do more for the environment when we had the chance. Why a single use container for a coffee, a water, a soup, a salad was more important than their future."

Hutchison says she chats regularly with Molly de Vries’ Ambatalia, the MVLY-based designer and maker of "modern ecological textiles to support a non-disposable life," about the complicated compost and recycling landscape. Those chats helped her arrive at some clarity: "You know what isn't complicated? Reusables," she says.

For the past few months, BŌL has been participating in an international movement called #plasticfreefridays and providing mason jars for all beverages leaving BŌL. No plastic leaves the premises. Everything is either 100 percent compostable in Marin or reusable. BŌL charges a $2 deposit for the glass and have UKonserve stainless steel bowls for purchase, with customers getting a 50-cent discount off a beverage or $1 off a bol if they bring their own reusable container (they must be clean). 

"So far it's been a great success and having Molly's blessing gives us great hope for the future of #zerowastemarin!" Hutchison says. "Small steps. Big impact."

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Mill Valley Music owner Gary Scheuenstuhl never lets an anniversary for his fabled Miller Avenue record shop go by without gathering his stable of all-star musician friends for a raucous concert at the Throckmorton Theatre to celebrate the occasion. The 2020 edition – for Mill Valley Music's 12th anniversary – is set for Saturday, Feb. 8 and looks to be another star-studded doozy.

Scheuenstuhl and friends, including local stalwarts Cole Tate, Mikaele Tate, Jesse Lee Kincaid, Neal McDonald, Mari Mack, will perform the Rolling Stones' Beggar's Banquet album in full, plus selections from the Stones' Sticky Fingers” and Let It Bleed albums. 

"Join us this year to celebrate 12 incredible years of business!" Scheuenstuhl says.

The 411: Mill Valley Music owner Gary Scheuenstuhl hosts a concert at the Throckmorton Theatre to celebrate his shops 12th anniversary on Saturday, Feb. 8. 8pm. $25-$35. MORE INFO & TIX.

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