When Megan Acio applied for a part-time job as a graphic designer at WIGT Printing on Miller Ave. 10 years ago, co-owners Barry Toranto and Eva Shoshany liked her so much that they brought her on full-time.

A decade later, Acio and fellow WIGT staffer Hendrik Idzerda are buying the business from Toranto and Shoshany, who founded WIGT (pronounced “widget”) in 1983 and whose artistic and martial arts pursuits have grown to consume more and more of their time and attention over the years.

“Barry and Eva have been the kind of bosses that a lot of people would want and that I hope to be,” says Acio, who lives in San Rafael and will be the majority owner of WIGT with Mill Valley resident Idzerda serving as a minority partner. “They’ve allowed me into their life and they’ve become family. For them to hand over the keys to Hendrik and I – it’s just amazing. We’re very excited.”

The pair assumes ownership of WIGT officially on April 1. In doing so, they take the reins of a business that has played a vital role in the success of the arts and entertainment scene in Mill Valley, Marin and beyond the Bay Area. Over the years, they’ve designed and produced posters for some of the biggest events in the Bay Area, as well for some of the biggest names in music history, including Elvis Costello, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, Ry Cooder, John Fogerty, Tracy Chapman, David Grisman, Dan Hicks, Phil Lesh and many more.

Toranto and Shoshany began thinking about selling WIGT about five years ago, with Toranto starting to spend less time at WIGT three years ago and Shoshany running the business since then. The couple met in photography school at Goddard College in Vermont, and WIGT was founded soon after as they began creating postcard art and running a printing press.

Barry’s respective love of and interest in photography has only grown over the more than 30 years they’ve been running WIGT, first in a garden cottage behind 324 Miller Ave. and in the main building there since 1986, Toranto says.

Toranto’s photography has taken off in recent years. His regular inclusion in the Mill Valley Fall Arts Festival and exhibits at places like Bank of Marin has made it nearly a full-time pursuit, and Toranto says he’s excited for the next chapter. He’s participating in Marin Open Studios May 10-11 at his Homestead Valley home.

“Keeping my focus on more of a creative endeavor is going to be really healthy for me,” he says.

One of Toranto’s primary focuses over the past decade has been his “Reflections” series, which uses window reflections and the objects on either side of the window to create “this really interesting depth of color – it’s like a treasure hunt,” he says.

“I really love surprises,” Toranto says, noting that he once took a photo of a window reflection on Columbus Street that ended up containing a billboard from the famed street artist Banksy. “I really don’t want to photograph and document what I’m seeing but rather experiment and see changes in how (the photos) come out. I like to feel connected to what I’m shooting.”

Almost since the time they opened WIGT, both Toranto and Shoshany have been dedicated practitioners of Tai Chi at the Inner Research Institute in San Francisco. In addition to attending classes at IRI, they teach a Tai Chi class at the Mill Valley Golf Course Clubhouse on Thursdays at 10 a.m. ($10 and open to the public).

“We’re very much at peace with it,” Toranto says of WIGT’s transition. “But we still have emotional ties to it – it’s like a kid going off to college.”

Toranto says the transition wouldn’t be possible without Acio, who started at WIGT right out of college at UC-Davis, where she studied graphic design.  

“We were so taken by her – her energy and her work ethic,” he says. "And within a year, it was like, ‘How did we ever do without her?’ She really earned the reins to WIGT.”

And given her decade-long experience at WIGT, customers won’t notice much change, Acio says. She hopes to grow WIGT’s online ordering business, where customers can simply place an order and upload images and documents but still receive personal service as needed. High-quality printing and great service will remain WIGT’s hallmark, she says.

“I want to continue the tradition of WIGT and the legacy of supporting and providing services to our friends and family in Mill Valley and around the world,” she says.

And if she ever has a question, Acio knows that Toranto and Shoshany won’t be hard to find, knowing they live down the street and own the building in which WIGT resides.

“Now they’re my landlords – they can’t get away from me,” she says with a laugh.

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For Mill Valley foodies, few events rival the arrival of the quarterly Edible Marin & Wine Country magazine. The gorgeous publication's special butter- and eggs-themed Spring 2014 issue pays homage to the storied history of farming and ranching in our area, with a special nod to Woolly Egg Ranch on Tennessee Valley Road. 

Marin Open Studios has partnered with Marin County Parks and Open Spaces to host events that invite artists to create art depicting the parks and open spaces. On March 22 artists gathered near McInnis Park to paint. 

Many of the country’s leading plein air painters have joined in to create artwork that supports environmental concerns.  Artists of other medium such as fiber, or ceramics are also invited to create pieces inspired by Marin Open Space.

Marin Open Studios artists will exhibit these works in the council chambers at the Mill Valley City Hall at 26 Corte Madera Ave., during the month of April. The opening reception will be during the First Tuesday Art walk sponsored by the Mill Valley Art Commission on April 1st between 6-8 pm.

A portion of the proceeds of sales will be donated to Marin Parks. For more information, visit marinopenstudios.com. Click here for the First Tuesday Artwalk program.

The co-founder of the San Rafael-based specialty coffee company, which has one shop at the Proof Lab Surf Shop in Tam Valley and one on the way in downtown Mill Valley, talks about Equator's history, its philosophy and her undying love of coffee.

Less than a year ago, Equator Coffees & Teas was a much-loved specialty coffee business, farming and roasting their own beans in San Rafael and selling them at markets and cafes throughout California and as far-flung as Boston and New York City. While Equator, which launched in a garage in Corte Madera in 1995 and later moved to a 5,400-square-foot warehouse near Davidson Middle School in San Rafael, had more than 250 customers that include chef Thomas Keller’s French Laundry and Tyler Florence’s El Paseo in Mill Valley, it was looking to rise above the noise of the explosion of coffee companies in the Bay Area.

To do so, the company founded by Helen Russell and Brook McDonnell doubled down on its roots in Marin, opening up their first retail coffee shop – at the Proof Lab Surf Shop in Tam Junction – and taking over one of the Bay Area's hallowed coffeehouses, the former LaCoppa Coffee space at 12 Miller Ave. in downtown Mill Valley.

As she awaits the green light from City Hall to begin renovating the former LaCoppa space, Russell spoke to Williams-Sonoma, whose stores carry Equator's coffee and which hosts a "Meet the Maker" series on its blog, to discuss Equator's history, its philosophy and her undying love of coffee.

Here's a taste:

Williams-Sonoma: Were you always interested in coffee? What’s the story behind Equator?

Helen Russell: I’ve always been interested in coffee, even since I was a little girl. The first cup I ever had was instant Sanka; my father would let me have some, I’d add cream and sugar, and I thought it was great. We grew up on instant coffee, and I loved the smell of it when he opened the lid.
As for Equator, you could say it was founded by co-founder Brooke McDonnell and me out of a love for the café experience — hanging out in the Castro and North Beach and world travels as a child, soaking in the café life. The actual back of the napkin writing of a business plan took place at a Starbucks in Pioneer Square in downtown Portland, in 1992. Brooke and I sat there musing about the future. I was drinking a mocha and she had her usual double espresso shot. We saw everything that was happening to the Portland coffee scene, and we decided then that we would go back to the Bay Area and start up very our own business. We were flipping houses and working in real estate at the time, but we loved coffee and saw how important the world of specialty coffee was becoming. Then, in 1995, we started roasting in a garage. Brooke wanted it to be a mail order business, but I saw fairly early that we needed to start to selling more coffee to less people – 100 pounds to one person as opposed to one pound to 100 people — or we would starve. So we changed the business to wholesale roasting.

Click here for the full Q&A with Helen Russell, and keep your fingers crossed that Equator gets the green light soon to renovate its space at 2 Miller Ave. and expand its coffee cart into a full-blown cafe!

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Former pro mountain biker’s 11-year-old fitness studio invites rock band to perform during spin class, with raucous results.

Sara Ellis, former pro mountain biker and owner of Ultimate Fitness on Miller Ave., has hit a plethora of peaks, both literal and figurative, in her career.

The highlights include having mountain biking icon Tinker Juarez take her under his wing in the early 1990s, signing with the juggernaut Volvo-Cannondale team a few years later, winning the Volkswagen Challenge stage race and placing third in the cross-country stage of the Tour of Hawaii, capped by an interview with legendary cycling commentator Phil Liggett.

But the adrenaline rush of those achievements was matched earlier this year when a trio of stalwart musicians performed a raucous set of Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix covers during one of Ellis’ spin classes, providing a riotous soundtrack and an inimitable moment for all involved.

Sara conceived of the idea with her brother Atom Ellis, a bassist who was a founding member of the thrash funk band Psychefunkapus and played with the Tubes, the New Cars and famed songwriter Linda Perry. Ellis reached out to his former Psychefunkapus guitarist Jon Axtell. The linchpin was drummer Prairie Prince, a member of the Tubes, a founding member of Journey and whose resume includes work with a who’s who of rock legends: David Byrne, George Harrison, Glenn Frey, John Fogerty, Tom Waits, Brian Eno and Todd Rundgren, among others.

Ellis’ friend Mike Duffy brought in local photographer and documentary filmmaker Gary Yost, and the rocking, 14-minute video below is the result. Yost, who previously made a short film about the late Russ Kerr's Mill Valley Barber Shop, calls the experience “so incredibly strange and endearing… it's probably the only time a power trio like that has ever played at a spin class, so in that respect alone it's in a class by itself.”

Ellis, born and raised in San Geronimo Valley, started racing in 1990, entering local events and becoming a specialist in tortuous hill climbs. She eventually connected with Juarez, who holds a place on the Mount Rushmore of BMX and mountain biking legends, on the Klein Bicycles team. 

By the time she moved to Volvo-Cannondale – it “was like getting on the Lakers of the NBA, where all you had to do was focus on results and everything else was taken care of” – Ellis was climbing 4,000 feet a day and winning a slew of races, all despite seriously impaired vision in her left eye from a freak accident as a toddler. Ellis’ pinnacle on the mountain biking scene serendipitously paralleled the high point of the sport’s popularity, as ESPN broadcast major events and a bevy of top-notch brands competed to sponsor teams.

As the coverage and sponsorships began to erode in the late 1990s, Ellis started thinking about the next phase of her life. A successful four-year run on the road cycling circuit, including a win at the Copperopolis Road Race, delayed that next phase for a bit.

But 11 years ago, with the backing of a group of investors, Ellis opened Ultimate Fitness, offering spin classes and slow-motion strength training. 

“It became the reality of what are you going to do next,” she says. “I always wanted to have my own gym. Now I can’t believe I’m still here.”

Over the years, she expanded her offerings to include a Pilates practice, weathered the economic swoon of the late 2000s and says her business is “definitely doing well.”

“You never know with fitness because people have a mentality of seasonal fitness, but you don’t do strength training because the summer is coming up and you want to show off your shoulders, you do it for the impact on bone density and long-term health,” Ellis says. “People come to Ultimate because there is a real structured environment.”

Ellis says her clients are a diverse lot, from skilled cyclists and weekend warriors to people simply trying to use strength training to improve their day-to-day health. That includes a pair of 83-year-old women who are using resistance training to stave off the impact of their age on things like balance and mobility.

“It’s amazing to watch them,” Ellis says.

The 411: Ultimate Fitness is at 457 Miller Ave. Click here for more info.

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Throckmorton Theatre founder Lucy Mercer knew that her decision to create a free weekly concert series as part of her venue's anniversary celebration was a good idea when she saw a busload of residents from the Redwoods arriving one Wednesday afternoon.
Having Redwoods' residents show up in droves for an event isn't a complete anomaly, however, as the senior community's transportation service allows residents to shop, dine, volunteer, keep appointments, and enjoy cultural events seven days a week. 
The Redwoods’ 10th Annual CrabFest Fundraiser – the major fundraiser for that transportation service – is set for Saturday, March 29 at the Mill Valley Community Center. A reception and no-host bar starts at 5 p.m. followed by one dinner seating at 6 p.m. that includes all-you-can-eat fresh Dungeness crab, green salad, pasta, bread and dessert. Dinner tickets for residents are $50 and non-resident tickets are $75.
In addition to the tasty dinner, CrabFest features live bluegrass music from Belle Monroe and Her Brewglass Boys and a performance by Rock the Ages, the popular contemporary rock chorus composed of 25 Redwoods residents.
The Rockin' Raffle Grand Prize is a Holland America Line cruise for two to the Caribbean or Mexico. Silent auction and raffle items include a weekend in Tahoe, theater and symphony tickets, gift certificates, wine, gift baskets, and unique fashion accessories. Raffle tickets are $5 each, five for $20, and can be purchased in advance and up until the drawing at CrabFest. You do not need to be present to win the raffle prizes.
The 411: Click here for more info or to buy tickets, or call Patti Flynn-Boston at 415-383-2741 ext. 295 or email crabfest@theredwoods.org to buy tickets.

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The deluge of information that lands in the lap of would-be and expecting parents incites all manner of confusion and anxiety.

Rarely does that deluge spark the creation of an emerging national brand.

But that’s the story of Sprout San Francisco, an eco-friendly baby product retailer that opened a store in downtown Mill Valley last month, and is holding a day-long Grand Opening party on March 22. The store, which took over from Baby & Kids Co. at 12 Miller Ave., is the company’s fourth store and first outside a major city.

Sprout is the brainchild of Suzanne Price, who credits its inception with the moment when she and her husband Matt began planning to have kids and realized that there simply didn’t exist a one-stop shop for parents hoping to build a nursery around organic, sustainable and chemical-free products. While plenty of baby product retailers carried some of the products she sought, the lack of that one hub only added to the confusing maze.

Price, who grew up in Manhattan and now lives in San Francisco, wasn’t your average would-be mom dealing with the confusion. Having spent three years at (now-defunct) boutique investment bank ThinkEquity as a senior research analyst focusing on the Green Living Consumer product sector, Price spent most of her time looking at growing, eco-friendly companies like Whole Foods, Hain Celestial and Chipotle. She drew on her knowledge of and experience in that sector, as well as the countless stories from friends who had kids and relayed their struggles.

“A light bulb went off,” Price says. “I realized there should be a place like Whole Foods specifically for new parents to go and know that every product has been vetted to be healthy for their children. It can be so overwhelming.”

Price quit her job in January 2009 and began to lay the foundation for what would become Sprout San Francisco. They opened their first store – on Union Street in the Marina district – in April 2009, just a few months before the birth of their eldest daughter Hannah. Two years later, pregnant with her daughter Amber, Price opened a second store, this time on the Upper East Side in Manhattan. A Chicago store followed in April 2012.

Price says each Sprout store distinguishes itself in a couple of ways, most importantly with its products, which are thoroughly vetted as green and clean.

“We do the research so you don’t have to,” Price says.

Secondly, the stores look to deepen their roots in the community via playrooms, classes and workshops. Music, story time and dance and creative movement sessions already litter Sprout’s calendar of events.

The Mill Valley store marks a new chapter for Sprout as Price eyes future growth. She’s already hit her goal of having five stores in the first five years – the online store accounts for 20 percent of sales – and now she's thinking big, with the possibility of opening a store on the Peninsula and in the NYC suburbs in the near future.

“Maybe two years ago, we wouldn’t have been as quick to do jump on this opportunity in Mill Valley, but our San Francisco store has been doing really well,” Price says. “We’re doing it to have this company one day become a national brand. People want to go a place they trust, and we have a very loyal clientele.”

The 411: Sprout San Francisco is at 12 Miller Ave. in downtown Mill Valley. Its March 22 Grand Opening party features a Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce Ribbon Cutting at 10 a.m., with live music, story time, face painting and balloon animals to follow. Click here for more details.


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Having first opened its doors in 1964, Shoreline Coffee Shop is among the oldest restaurants in southern Marin.

After a pair of small fires incited a an extensive overhaul of its infrastructure and systems, the Tam Junction hub reopened this week, and owner Ged Robertson says the place “is ready for another 50 years.”

The Mexican-American diner was closed for just over two weeks to accommodate upgrades of its electrical, plumbing, ventilation and mechanical systems, as well as a new blue floor. “It was time to rebuild the infrastructure of the place,” he says.

While regular customers won’t likely notice much of a gigantic aesthetic shift – “it still looks like a Winnebago from 1971,” Robertson says – the overhaul did provide the ability for the restaurant to increase production, a change that could spur some menu additions.

A new bathroom, improved outdoor landscaping and the addition of a beer and wine license will follow later this year.

Robertson, one of the major investors in the Sweetwater Music Hall whose popular downtown restaurant Small Shed Flatbreads is morphing into Molina from chef Todd Shoberg, bought Shoreline in late 2011 from Tam Valley resident and longtime owner Santiago Ojeda. Along with Luis Lagos, the former executive chef at the Haramara Retreat in Sayulita, Mexico, Robertson shifted the menu with an eye on local and organic ingredients like eggs from Woolly Egg Ranch on Tennessee Valley Road and bread from Green Gulch Farm off Hwy. 1.

Robertson now oversees the menu with help from kitchen stalwart Olga Camacho, who has worked at Shoreline for 16 years. Although longtime waitress Alice Cannistraci passed away last September at the age of 79, her compatriot Bonnie Coleman is celebrating her 34th year at Shoreline this month.

“This place is an important part of the community, and it’s something that we wanted to preserve for the next 50 years,” Robertson says.

The 411: Shoreline Coffee Shop is at 221 Shoreline Highway in Tam Junction (behind Walgreens), (415) 388-9085. It is open from 6:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. weekdays; 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. weekends.

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Former Second Breakfast owner Kevin Ries is heading up a new monthly Dishcrawl in Marin, starting with a March 18 event featuring three downtown Mill Valley restaurants. The “Dishcrawling Under the Mountain" event kicks off at 7 p.m. at the Sweetwater Music Hall & Café. The event is $45 excluding drinks. Click here for more information or to buy tickets.

“Locals and visitors alike will appreciate this true culinary adventure, a mouthwatering multi-plate tour featuring three chefs in Mill Valley showing off their talents,” says Dishcrawl Founder Tracy Lee. “Dishcrawling is a fantastic way to bring the community together with local chefs who are bringing exciting new things to our culinary scene.” Dishcrawl spans 250 cities across the US, Canada, and soon the UK.

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