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Sonically Calming the Storm: The Story of Sound-Medicine

4/28/2016

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Elizabeth Krasnoff. Courtesy image.
Many a college grad has dashed overseas to satisfy their wanderlust before officially jumping into the workforce.
Homestead Valley resident Elizabeth Krasnoff did both at the same time.

After getting her BA in English with a Russian concentration from Boston College, Krasnoff moved to Moscow to serve as the membership director for the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia, working with and for the American business community in Russia from 1994-1998. You might remember that post-Gorbachev era after the fall of the Soviet Union from the news. Krasnoff remembers it by recalling the time she threw the first Fourth of July party in Moscow for the American expat community in the field of a formerly secret U.S. Air Force base.

“I got spoiled – life was never as interesting at those post-Perestroika days in Russia,” she says with a laugh.

While it might not be able to match those years for drama, Krasnoff’s current professional passion is certainly laden with intrigue.
PictureElizabeth Krasnoff with a client at Sound-Medicine. Courtesy image
​One year ago, she launched Sound-Medicine, a sound healing studio for which she draws on her three loves – music, healing and psychology – to help people heal from stress, trauma, exhaustion and even well-known plights like Alzheimer’s Disease and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

Sound healing itself is not new. In fact, the use of sound, music and chants to heal dates back to ancient Egyptians and even Australian Aborigines. But its use dates back centuries, it’s also “having a moment,” according to a recent story from Quartz, Atlantic Media’s digital longread journalism website. “There are sound healing Meetups in LA, London, and Chicago … more than 5,000 people are listed in the member directory of the Boulder, Colorado-based Sound Healers Association.”

And sound healing has no shortage of high-profile evangelists. The late, renowned neurologist and author Oliver Sacks used sound, in his words, "to arouse movement in paralyzed Parkinson’s patients, to calm the tics of Tourette syndrome, and to vault the neural breaches of autism.” And sound was used to help restore the left brain function of of ex-U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Arizona) and restore her speech.  

According to Quartz, scientists from the National Institutes of Health found that subjects who listened to classical music before a stressful event recovered from the stress faster than those who simply relaxed in quiet. UCLA psychiatry professor Helen Lavretsky, a “fan of sound healing,” told Quartz that sound “has interesting implications for treating chronic stress and memory problems.”

But while there are plenty of compelling anecdotes and no shortage of debates online about the merits and mysteries of sound healing – Krasnoff is not a physician or psychologist but got her MA in Depth Psychology and Mythology from Pacifica Graduate Institute and is a certified energy healer through the Academy of Intuition Medicine in Sausalito – she’s able to break it down quite simply.

“Here’s the bottom line: sound is excellent for a delicate nervous system,” she says. “It really helps us move from fight or flight mode into a calmer state. And if you can get yourself calm, you can address many, many things.” 

Sound has been central to Krasnoff’s life long before she launched Sound-Medicine.

Born in Manhattan and raised in Dobbs Ferry, NY, Krasnoff was half deaf at birth and has re-learned how to hear eight different times as she changed hearing aid models. She’s also been a singer-songwriter for 15 years, releasing five studio albums in the electronic, pop, jazz and adult contemporary genres.

“The power of sound is everything to me,” she says. “Even though I use an extremely gentle treatment approach, which is why it’s good for trauma, it has so much potential and so much power.”
​
The 411: More info on Sound-Medicine.


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Georgia Gibbs Brings 'Transitions' to MV Chamber, First Tuesday Artwalk in May

4/28/2016

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PictureGeorgia Gibbs. Courtesy image.
Painter Georgia Gibbs knows plenty about transitions.

From birth in Utah and childhood in Southern California to college in San Francisco and motherhood in Marin – all the while with a personal and professional focus on the creative arts and technology – she's taken a circuitous journey to her latest work. In a series aptly dubbed "Transitions," Gibbs is exhibiting her artwork at the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce & Visitor Center (85 Throckmorton) throughout May with a wine reception on May 3 (6–8pm) as part of the Mill Valley Arts Commission's First Tuesday Artwalk.

"Living at the edge of a continent, the ground continually in a state of flux, is a running thread in my work," Gibbs says. "The stories in my painting hint at shifting boundaries, their collision and the resulting interplay; a story told in nature and mirrored by the human experience."

Gibbs uses oil and cold wax on cradled panels as her medium of choice. With resin and solvents in its makeup, cold wax is thick and, when combined with paint, "takes on a very buttery quality." As a result, Gibbs has started to add other mediums and treat it like a stain or glaze.

"I am very physical when working and like all of the texture and depth this medium allows, even though the piece is quite flat physically," she says. "Oil and cold wax is a very versatile medium. As I continue to explore, it keeps presenting new possibilities and I keep finding more ways to play."

With an early career as a photo stylist in commercial photography, Gibbs has spent the bulk of her professional career in digital and web design, mostly recently running her own boutique web design firm.

"When you look at a photo of a product or a graphic on the screen, what you are noticing is the space around it," Gibbs says. "The empty space is the magic that reveals all else. This carries over and onto my canvas."

The 411: Georgia Gibbs exhibits her "Transitions" paintings at the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce & Visitor Center, 85 Throckmorton Avenue, throughout May. The First Tuesday Artwalk receptions are Tuesday, May 3, 6–8pm. First Tuesday Artwalk Guide with venues and a map.


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Library Foundation Hosts 'Charlotte's Web'-Themed Storybook Ball on May 22

4/28/2016

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Local vegan food company O Baby Bar will be serving up all sorts of healthy, County Fair-themed foods, including squash sliders rather than pork ones to "do its part to save Wilbur the pig."
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The Mill Valley Library Foundation is planning its annual Storybook Ball to raise money for the Library’s free children and teen programming, and this year it’s dubbed "Charlotte's County Fair."

Set for May 22 (3pm-6pm) at the Mill Valley Community Center, the 'Charlotte's Web'-themed event is inspired by the classic E.B. White story of a pig named Wilbur and his friendship with a barn spider named Charlotte, who creates messages in her web to help Wilbur avoid being slaughtered by the farmer.

Storybook Ball organizers promise a fun-filled afternoon of old-fashioned county fair games, music, dance and craft activities while adults will be treated to delicious local food with beer and wine (and a silent auction). The family-friendly Storybook Ball sells out every year and, in its six years, has raised more than $200,000 to support Mill Valley Library's free public programs for children and teens. 

To align with the Charlotte's Web theme, organizers have turned to local vegan food company O Baby Bar, which will be serving up all sorts of healthy, County Fair-themed foods, including squash sliders rather than pork ones to "do its part to save Wilbur the pig."

Nutritionist and local mom Ilyse W. Petter launched O Baby Bar two years ago "as a way to increase awareness of the benefits of a plant-based diet both for individuals and families with children." Working with her brother, Executive Chef Miles Wassermann, Petter has created a menu of organic, vegan and nutritionally dense items that "appeal to vegans and carnivores alike," Petter says. O Baby Bar, which plans to open in Mil Valley "when we find out perfect home," currently caters local community events, private events and parties and hosts chef centered meals with demonstrations and nutritional lectures.

Storybook Ball tickets are now on sale. Tickets are $50 per person, children ages 3 and under are free. Sponsorships are available.

Click here for more information.

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Office Hours: Things That Make You Go 'Whoa'

4/28/2016

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Patricia Rudd and Heidi Blair have become accustomed to hearing a one-word refrain as people step into their downtown Mill Valley store called Office Hours: “Whoa.”

The utterance comes upon seeing the store’s gorgeous, eye-popping inventory, which takes a few minutes to grasp. Rudd puts it into context: “Office Hours specializes in vintage, antique mid-century modern and industrial office and home furnishings, including desks, chairs, office accessories and accoutrements, leather goods – everything you might need for your office or home office, she says.

That tells you the what, but not exactly the why for the “whoa.”

What makes Office Hours unique, and a welcome addition to the downtown Mill Valley landscape for many residents and visitors, is how different the office furniture and accessories are from the staid, homogenous home and professional office spaces everywhere we look.


That’s the whole point, Rudd says.

“I’ve seen a lot of different things come and go over the years,” she says. “I wanted to create something a little bit different, and something that is a great fit for Mill Valley, and I think we’ve done that.”

Born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, Rudd moved to Mill Valley in 1993 with her then-fiancee. He had a conference in San Francisco, and Rudd, a theater major in college, hopped on a bus north, checked out the Marin Theatre Company and fell in love with the 94941. They moved here shortly thereafter.

Save a few detours here and there, Rudd has lived in town ever since, putting her kids through the Greenwood School and in recent years building a new home on Lovell Avenue.

Along the way, Rudd regularly hosted frequent get-togethers in her living room for fellow stay-at-home moms and women entrepreneurs – sort of a “BYO to-do list” to get stuff done in a social, fun environment.

“We actually got to do the things we needed to do rather than get pulled towards everything around the house,” Rudd says.
The popularity of those events got Rudd thinking about workspaces, and how to bring a design flair to them in a retail environment. Blair, her longtime assistant who she first connected with years ago via Craigslist and who’s been her right hand ever since, helped Rudd conceptualize Office Hours and run the shop. Office Hours opened at 18 East Blithedale Ave., Suite 12 – the space formerly occupied by BJ Moore Gallery and Wee Threads before that – in late October 2015.

“Heidi dropped completely into my life and has been such a vital partner in making this happen,” Rudd says. “And once we started down the path of building a retail concept, it was all about, ‘let’s buy some great things that people might want to have to work on.' And we continued on that road of finding things that we wanted to have – just vintage and antique so we’re not adding to the landfills.”

In addition to furniture, there’s plenty to complement it, from wooden keyboards that connect to laptops to desk lamps and clocks you won’t find anywhere else. There’s even the basics: reams of recycled paper, eyeglasses, calendars and pens.
“Everything needs to look good, feel good and do it’s job,” Rudd says.

Over time, Rudd and Blair have connected with Bay Area collectors and craftspeople and learned a ton about the community dedicated to "taking apart these beautiful pieces of furniture to restore them lovingly and bring them to the public.”

Overall, Rudd says she's been thrilled at the community's response to Office Hours and the community that's evolved from it, particularly their informal after-hours wine-and-cheese events.

"It's been incredibly heartwarming to me," she says. "I've lived here a longtime, and to be able to have this community gathering space has been amazing."

The 411: 
Office Hours is at 18 East Blithedale Ave., Suite 12. Open Tuesday-Saturday, 10am-5pm and Sunday, 

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Coffee & Cigarettes: MV Chamber, Clean Mill Valley Host Downtown Cleanup 

4/27/2016

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The Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce & Visitor Center partnered with Clean Mill Valley this week for a Downtown Cleanup, and the results can be summed up succinctly: Coffee & Cigarettes (not the Jim Jarmusch film).  

Smokers and coffee drinkers might need a helping hand to find a trash receptacle for their leftovers, but overall, largely because of the dedicated efforts of Clean Mill Valley's volunteers as well as those of local business owners and employees, downtown Mill Valley was pretty darn clean.

Thanks to Joan Murray, Jim Stephenson, Jeff Conley, Melinda Miller, Lynda Chittenden and Rachel Jeter for showing up to keep downtown Mill Valley clean!

That said, we have a question for smokers and coffee drinkers: what can residents, business owners and our local officials do to make sure those butts and cups go in the trash? Let us know in the comments!


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MV Little League Hosts 'How the Negro Leagues Changed Baseball and America' Event @ Old Mill April 24

4/21/2016

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PictureBob Kendrick. Courtesy image.
For fans of baseball history, Mill Valley Little League is hosting a can't miss event this Sunday April 24.

Bob Kendrick, the president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, is speaking in the Old Mill School gym at 5pm on the subject of 'How the Negro Leagues Changed Baseball and America, Too.' The event's origins date back to last month's MVLL Opening Day Parade, when MVLL minor league team the Kansas City Monarchs held a banner that paid tribute to the legendary Jackie Robinson.

Kendrick will tell the stories of the players who were banned from the white major leagues in the decades prior to Robinson breaking the color barrier in 1947. On Saturday, Kendrick will watch the Monarchs and the Homestead Grays – both teams are named in honor of the Negro Leagues – play at Boyle Park.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, a "one of Kendrick’s favorite topics is the epic 1942 Negro League World Series, a Monarchs sweep over the favored Grays that featured seven Hall of Famers: Satchel Paige, Hilton Smith and Willard Brown of the Monarchs and Josh Gibson, Jud Wilson, Ray Brown and Buck Leonard of the Grays."

Sunday's event is free and open to the public. Old Mill is at 352 Throckmorton Ave.


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Change.org President Dulski Dives into 'Empowering Change' at May 3rd Speak to Me Event

4/21/2016

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Compelled by the tragic shooting of Trayvon Martin a petition created by his parents in its aftermath, Silicon Valley veteran Jennifer Dulski became the president and chief operating officer of Change.org in 2013.

In doing so, Dulski left the lauded confines of Google, which had acquired her startup, The Dealmap, a moved that made her the first female entrepreneur to ever have her company bought by the the tech behemoth.

Dulski will talk about that leap at "Empowering Change: Using Your Talents for Good," a Speak to Me event on May 3 at the Mill Valley Community Center, where she'll "discuss the importance of pursuing work aligned with your natural talents, and why doing so will give everyone, everywhere the power and opportunity to change the world around them."

The 411: Change.org COO Jennifer Dulski speaks at a Speak to Me event on May 3 at the Mill Valley Community Church. More info and tickets.


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Equator Owners to Be Feted for SBA Award at Tam Junction Shop on May 20

4/20/2016

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Equator Coffees & Teas co-founders Brooke McDonnell and Helen Russell. Photo by Alex Salkever.
Mill Valley residents Helen Russell and Brooke McDonnell, the co-founders of Equator Coffees & Teas, are heading to Washington, D.C. in early May to be honored as the 2016 Small Business Persons of the Year for California, the first time in the U.S. Small Business Administration's 63-year history that it has selected lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) business owners. In addition to that, Equator was also named SBA San Francisco District Office’s Small Business of the Year for 2016.

When they return, Russell and McDonnell are hosting a celebration with officials from the SBA, the Golden Gate Business Association and Capital Access Group, which nominated the duo for the award. The event, set for May 20 from 5:30-8pm at Equator's Tam Junction shop at 244 Shoreline Hwy., is open to Equator customers.

“It is such an incredible honor to be recognized by the SBA as Small Business of the Year for the state of California, and we are grateful to Capital Access Group for nominating us for this prestigious award,” Russell told the North Bay Business Journal. “As an entrepreneur, a women-owned business and a LGBT-certified business, I am proud to say that the SBA has been there for Equator at all stages of our growth over the last 21 years. The SBA knows that small businesses like Equator are creating quality jobs and driving our economy. The SBA has had our back at important milestones in our evolution. We celebrate this achievement with our employees, our partners and our collective communities.”

Go here for the full story.

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PAASS Readies 2nd Annual Challenger Day May 15 @ Boyle Park

4/20/2016

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Organization pairs local young athletes and kids with special needs for organized baseball and basketball games.
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Photos from PAASS events and Challenger Days. Courtesy images.
If you're looking for a reason to smile on May 15, Boyle Park is the place to be.

That's where Project Awareness and Special Sports (PAASS), which pairs local young athletes and kids with special needs for organized baseball and basketball games, is hosting its 2nd Annual Challenger Day.

PAASS, originally known as Challenger Baseball and Basketball, is "hoping to take this day as an opportunity to raise awareness and support among the Mill Valley community for our program and players," according to Tyler Barbee, a Tam High grad and the organization's founder. The main event is a pair of games played by the Mill Valley Challenger Red Sox, one of the program's baseball teams. 

Barbee founded PAASS in 2014 as an outgrowth of the Challenger League, an organized program started in 2009 by longtime local resident Janet Miller, Barbee's mom, through Mill Valley Little League. The program pairs kids with special needs and a desire to play organized sports with “buddies” – primarily high school and middle school athletes – to assist them. The idea, Miller said, was quite simple: give kids with special needs the same chance to participate in organized sports. Miller and Barbee have also worked with San Rafael-based Autistry Studios, a pre-vocational program, to spread the word about the potential benefits of hiring someone with special needs.

The games themselves put smiles on the faces of all involved, from the children with special needs getting a chance to play sports and the volunteer athletes giving back to their community to attendees who get to revel in the heartwarming interactions.

"There is nothing sweeter and richer than to experience the joy of the players hitting the ball and running the bases or the interaction between the "buddies" and players as they both work to learn from each other and create a community," Miller says.

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Mill Valley Children's Garden at Edna Maguire Turns 25, Celebrates with Garden Faire May 1

4/20/2016

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Free event to raise money for Edna Maguire's "living textbook" features the annual Edna Maguire Bake-Off, a pie-eating contest, a Maypole dance, fairy house building, bobbing for apples, face painting, music, crafts and much more.
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Mill Valley Children's Garden. Courtesy image.
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One of the many gems of Mill Valley turns 25 years old this year, and Edna Maguire Elementary School families and volunteers are throwing one heck of a party to celebrate.

The Mill Valley Children's Garden, which officially opened in 1991 after teachers, spearheaded by Susan Reynolds, staved off a proposal to pave over open space on the school's campus, is a nearly half-acre "outdoor classroom laboratory" for Edna Maguire's more than 600 students. Garden supporters are hosting the annual Garden Faire on May 1, 12-4pm, to allow the garden to continue to be an essential part of Edna Maguire's curriculum.

"It's like having a living textbook," says Lee Budish, a former active Edna Maguire parent who is widely credited as one of the people who helped transform the Mill Valley Children's Garden into what it is today. "Since 1990, kids at Edna Maguire haven't just had to read about plants, fruits, vegetables and nature in a textbook. You cannot connect with a book the way you do with the land, and the Children's Garden is so vitally important."

Budish worked closely in the mid-2000s with then-Principal Lisa Zimmer to reinvigorate the Children's Garden, raising money for garden beds, equipment and, eventually, the funding for a garden teacher. Outdoor Educator Kristy Studnicki, teaches children botany, ecology, math, language arts, nutrition and cooking, stewardship of the land, community service, and much more. 

The Garden Faire is a multi-faceted event, featuring the Edna Maguire Bake-Off, with a panel of celebrity judges choosing the winners, who will score prizes, such as a gift certificate from Vasco Restaurant. It also includes the ever-popular pie-eating contest, with an adult competition and a kids competition (13 and under). 

In addition, since the faire takes place on May Day, it will feature a Maypole dance. "Garden fairies" will be on hand to help guests enjoy favorite crafts and games, such as fairy house building, creating potions, wreath making, hunting for golden eggs, nibbling on donut trees and bobbing for apples. Other activities will include face painting, hair extensions, and henna tattoos. DJ Jason will fill the garden with toe-tapping music while an array of eateries will serve up fresh, delicious local food. 

The 411: The Garden Faire at Edna Maguire Elementary School is Sunday, May 1, from 12 to 4 p.m. Parking and admission for the annual fundraiser for the Mill Valley Children’s Garden are free. Tickets for activities and food can be purchased at the event, credit cards accepted – 100 percent of the proceeds go to the Mill Valley Children’s Garden. For festival information, visit ednamaguire.org. Volunteers needed!

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Mill Valley Children's Garden. Courtesy image.

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Hirshfield, Yost Headline One Tam's 'The Mountain Calls' Event at Throckmorton May 5

4/14/2016

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On the heels of 2015's weekend-long Celebrate Tam! event on Mount Tamalpais and at the Community Center comes another moment to get informed about and inspired by the Sleeping Lady.
"The Mountain Calls," a special One Tam evening hosted by Tomales Bay Miwok descendent Sky Road Webb and television host Doug McConnell at the Throckmorton Theatre in Mill Valley, is set for Thursday, May 5 at the Throckmorton Theatre and features:

  • Short films by Mill Valley visual storytelling artist Gary Yost, including the premiere of Song of the Last Place (There Is Nowhere Else to Go), a film about the West Peak of Mt. Tam, featuring musicians Jimmy Dillon and Katy Boyd.
  • Poetry reading by Jane Hirshfield, set before a stunning time-lapse of Mt. Tam.
  • ​Sneak peeks of upcoming projects and events from One Tam partners.
Yost's new short film will be the centerpiece of the evening and continues his ongoing work to celebrate the history and stunning beauty of Mount Tam. From his widely lauded film "The Invisible Peak" to a chronicle of the creation of making of a Mt. Tam mural and his viral time lapse from the Mount Tamalpais fire lookout, with a bevy of films throughout the 94941 in between, Yost has shown boundless creativity in casting his lens from and upon the Sleeping Lady.

One Tam is a community campaign of the Tamalpais Lands Collaborative to "raise awareness about the need to maintain the long-term health of Mt. Tam, engage more volunteers in caring for its treasured resources, and renew the spirit of philanthropy that has been so fundamental to the preservation of Mt. Tam over the past century." The Tamalpais Lands Collaborative includes California State Parks, Marin County Parks, Marin Municipal Water District, and the National Park Service along with the nonprofit Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy.

Tickets for "The Mountain Calls" are available for $30 at throckmortontheatre.org, with proceeds benefiting restoration projects and volunteer programs on Mt. Tam.

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Celebrate Record Store Day at Mill Valley Music Saturday April 16

4/13/2016

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Gary Scheuenstuhl is getting ready for one of his busiest days of the year for his Mill Valley Music shop on Miller Avenue. 

Record Store Day 2016 – a celebration of independent record stores like Scheuenstuhl’s – is set for Saturday, April 16, and Mill Valley Music will have some of the hundreds of Record Store Day limited edition vinyl records on hand.  Scheuenstuhl is also having a storewide sale on non-RSD records: 20% off all new items and 30% off all used items. 

Record Store Day started as a grassroots campaign in 2007 to support independent record stores that were facing extinction in an increasingly digital music business. The event features hundreds of musicians appearing and performing at independent stores across the country, and issuing special vinyl and CD releases to mark the occasion. It has grown immensely over the years. 

Scheuenstuhl, who opened his store after his former boss John Goddard closed his downtown Village Music shop in 2007, said Record Store Day remains a great way to celebrate stores like his that are forever trying to retain their longtime customers in a world where Amazon Prime makes anything and everything available at customers’ fingertips with near-instant gratification.

The 411: Record Store Day 2016 is Saturday, April 16. Mill Valley Music is located at 320 Miller Ave., (415) 389-9090. Click here for more details, and click here for a full list of Record Store Day releases nationwide. ​


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Toxin-Free Dolls & Dandy Salon Settles into Historic Downtown Space

4/10/2016

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PictureKatie Ezzeddine. Courtesy image.
Katie Ezzeddine came up with the idea behind the newest nail salon in town for a very simple reason: the relatively new Mill Valley resident couldn’t find a place that had what she was looking for.

Ezzeddine, who moved to Mill Valley with her husband Saied and their three young daughters more than a year ago, said she sought a salon where she could bring her children and know that both she they wouldn’t be exposed to the chemicals traditionally found at most nail salons.

But rather than lobby existing salons and search elsewhere, Ezzeddine drew on her own business background – she owns the popular 8-year-old Natural Maidens, a “green cleaning service” focusing on residential and commercial properties in San Francisco, primarily in high-rise buildings – and decided to launch her own salon.

The result is Dolls & Dandy Nail Lounge, which opened in late January at 67 Throckmorton Ave., the former home of Richard Leland’s Vintage Wine & Spirits, which moved across the street to 82 Throckmorton Ave. in January 2014.

“We’re thrilled to be here in this gorgeous space, and the community has really taken to what we’ve created,” Ezzeddine says.
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What she’s created is a gorgeous, high design environment, featuring velvet chairs and foot rests and iPads at each station for magazine browsing. It’s also free of that traditional nail polish smell, a move that Ezzeddine says was essential to creating a family-oriented, toxin-free environment.


Dolls & Dandy is a “five- and seven-free” nail lounge, she says. “Five free” essentially refers to polishes that do not contain three common chemicals found in most polishes (Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP), Formaldehyde), as well as two chemicals (Formaldehyde Resin and Camphor). “Seven free” goes a step further, avoiding the ingredients Ethyl Tosylamide and Andxylene. Ezzeddine also invested in chemical-free equipment like autoclave machines, which sterilize equipment and supplies using high pressure and steam.

Those two factors – design and comfort and being free of toxins – along with top-notch service, have drawn rave reviews: “The atmosphere was so stylish like I've never seen in any nail salons and the most important thing, I couldn't smell any harsh chemical nail polish when i was there,” wrote Dew T. on Yelp.

Born and raised in southern Thailand, Abou-Ezzeddine moved to the Bay Area more than 15 years ago, first attending City College of San Francisco and later San Francisco State University, garnering a degree in marketing and business management. She married Saied Ezzeddine, a vice president with Fisher Investments, and launched Natural Maidens in 2008. They have three daughters ages nine months, three years and six years.

When the family moved to the Almonte neighborhood in Mill Valley, Ezzeddine moved quickly to create the concept behind Dolls & Dandy. “I was looking for a place to get my nails done and I just couldn’t find a place where it was comfortable to bring your children and relax and know that they weren’t using toxic chemicals,” she says.

Once she found the space at 67 Throckmorton, one of the most prominent buildings in the 94941, Ezzeddine says she was sold. She connected with Evan Cross, whose Pahana known architectural firm designed the Aloha Lofts on the second floor of the building that also contains the long-vacant Tyler Florence Shop, helped Ezzeddine create the look she sought.

The building Dolls & Dandy occupies has a deep history in Mill Valley. It was built by Michael O’Shaughnessy, the noted engineer of the Hetch-Hetchy Dam & Reservoir who also helped create the found City plan for Mill Valley. O’Shaughnessy owned the building until he died in 1934, according to Barbara Ford of the Mill Valley Historical Society. It is widely known as the O’Shaughnessy Building, she said.
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The 411: Dolls & Dandy Nail Lounge is at 67 Throckmorton Avenue. Open Monday-Saturday, 9am-5pm, Sunday 10am-5pm. More info.


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Eighteen Years On, Woody’s Yogurt Place Is Thriving in Strawberry

4/7/2016

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During the final week of the school year in June, there aren’t likely two more popular people in Southern Marin than Michael “Woody” Woodson and his son Brian.

That’s when their Woody’s Yogurt Place in Strawberry Village hosts “ice cream socials” at Strawberry Point, Edna and Reed elementary schools as well as St. Hilary School and Ring Mountain Day School. For the uninitiated, Woody’s provides enough free ice cream for the entire student body of each school, which runs the gamut from a few dozen at Ring Mountain to more than 600 at Edna Maguire, and parent volunteer scoopers serve it up.

​Needless to say, for many of those kids, Woody’s then becomes the must-visit spot for frozen treats for the rest of the summer and beyond.


“It’s a mad deluge of kids descending upon the parents scooping the ice cream, and every drop is gone by the end,” Brian Woodson says.

While the ice cream socials began seven years ago, Woody’s has been a fixture in Strawberry for 16 years in a space that has been home to ice cream and sweet treats for more than 50 years.

Michael Woodson had work in the financial and real estate industries over the years, and in the late 1990s, he was looking for a way to work closer to his aging mother, who lived in Tiburon. Woodson’s mother suggested he fill the void of ice cream shops in Tiburon, and he opened Woody’s in 1998 in the Main Street building that houses Waypoint Pizza right near the ferry dock.

Woody’s moved to Strawberry two years later, spurred by Tiburon’s then-quiet downtown and the Angel Island Cafe’s decision to start selling ice cream and frozen yogurt. “They saw how many people who were getting off the ferry with our frozen yogurt and ice cream,” Brian Woodson says with a laugh.

The move was also spurred by an impromptu chat Woodson had at Marin Joe’s with the then-owners of Ultimate Yogurt & More in the Strawberry Village space Woody’s later occupied. “They wanted to get out of the business, and over a few months, we agreed to buy them out, and changed the name to Woody’s,” Woodson says, noting that while Ultimate Yogurt & More preceded them in the space for 11 years, Village Sweet Shop (1964-1977), Bud’s Ice Cream (1977-1982) and Barbary Coast Ice Cream (1982-1989) came before them.

In a crowded marketplace of frozen treat shops in the 94941, Woody’s boasts a diverse array of products, from Dannon Yo Cream Frozen Yogurt and Dreyers Ice Cream to Mr. Smith’s Frozen Custard and Wow Cow low calorie dessert.

For Brian and Michael Woodson, the ice cream socials perfectly reflect Woody’s connection to the community via school and sports team fundraisers and having employed more than 250 local students over the years.

“It’s the best idea my dad has ever come up with, and everybody loves it,” Woodson says.

The 411: Woody’s Yogurt Place is at 802 Strawberry Village, on the back side of the building that contains The Plant Cafe Organic. It’s open Sunday-Thursday, 11:30am–9pm, Friday-Saturday, 11:30am–10pm. More info.

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Toy Story: Mill Valley’s ToyHouse Nears 6th Anniversary

4/6/2016

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Mike and Kristen House and their four children. Courtesy image.
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​Nearly six years ago, Kristen House took the leap of a lifetime, opening a local toy store that sought to keep Mill Valley families shopping locally.

And while opening Toyhouse Mill Valley in June 2010 was House’s maiden voyage into the retail world – “It was all new territory for me, so there was a giant learning curve,” she says – she had just the right shop to emulate: Hopscotch Kids, the much-loved store that had a decade-long run in the 352 Miller Avenue space where Once Around is now.

House knew Hopscotch Kids owner Claudia Sutton, both because she was a regular Hopscotch shopper and because their daughters were the same age and attended Park School. Sutton closed her store in 2006, right around the time that House’s husband Mike was laying the early groundwork for Tamalpais Commons, the prominent mixed-used development at 505 Miller Ave. that his House Properties opened in 2010. House Properties, which has its offices downtown, has acquired, managed and/or developed an array of residential and commercial properties in California and Hawaii, including the Miller Avenue building containing Grilly’s and Malugani Tues, which it bought in 2005.

Kristen House had long been leading finance and investor relations for House Properties, and the debut of Tamalpais Commons created an opportunity to launch her own business. She leaned on Sutton, who now owns Weathered Nest at 31 Sunnyside Ave., in two ways. First, Sutton helped House navigate the toy business: “Sourcing products, connecting with sales reps and vendors, going to toy industry shows,” House says.

Secondly, she connected House with her former ace Hopscotch Kids employees, Rosane Nunes and Lucy Hoeber, both of whom were with ToyHouse since its inception. Longtime manager Nunes recently moved to Florida, and Hoeber is now the manager.

“They worked for me for 10 years and they really know the business,” Sutton says.

But while House gained industry knowledge from Sutton, Nunes and Hoeber, she also relied on her instincts as a mom of four kids, having opened the store with 1-, 3 and 5-year-old girls at home and a son on the way. Given the 1,500-square-foot space she was occupying in Tamalpais Commons, House knew that she couldn’t be all things to all people and that she wouldn’t be competing with the likes of Toys R Us.

“We primarily focused on old-fashioned imaginative play with high quality toys – no Barbie, nothing too Spongebobbish,” House says with a laugh. “We primarily have non-mass market toys except hands-on brands like Lego and Playmobile, no video games.”

Because House has three daughters, over the years she’s added tween-focused products like hair accessories and jewelry. “Now we run the gamut, from baby rattles and blankets all the way up to jewelry for teenagers,” she says.

Born and raised in West Hartford, Conn., House went to Colby College in Maine and later moved to Boston. Her older sister was living in the Bay Area at the time, and like many college grads, she decided to give San Francisco a try. Other than a stint to get her MBA at the Darden School at the University of Virginia, House has lived in the Bay Area ever since.
In 1995 at the Advantage Fitness gym in San Francisco’s Marina district, she met Mike House, and the couple got married and moved to Mill Valley in 1998.

House has made ToyHouse a must-stop visit for parent volunteers raising money for school-related projects, whether it’s gift card donations for school auctions or holiday shopping nights with portion of proceeds going to local schools. “That has been a major part of who we are since the beginning,” she says. “It’s really important for us to be active in the community.”

Ten years after she closed Hopscotch Kids, Sutton says ToyHouse has filled the void.

“She’s done a really nice job,” she says.
​

The 411: ToyHouse Mill Valley is at 515 Miller Avenue. Hours are Monday–Friday, 10am–6pm, Saturday 10am–5pm and Sunday 10am–3pm. More info. Here are some photos of Toyhouse:

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