Did you know that the neighborhood around Scout Hall and Pharmaca on East Blithedale Ave. was so full of bars, called “blind pigs” back then, that it was known as “Jagtown” (“jag” being a term for intoxication)?

Much like the draw of the 2am Club on Miller Ave. back then, those bars were located outside of what were then the smaller city limits of the then very "dry" Mill Valley. That made it a prime locations for gathering places like the Louvre Saloon (photo at left) and McInnis’ Tavern.

​The history of Jagtown, as well as that of the 1906 subdivision of nearby Tamalpais Park, are the focus of the the Mill Valley Historical Society's 41st Annual Walk Into History on Sunday, May 27. 

"Barfights, tree-lined lanes, Scouts, schools and medicine play large roles in the personality of this historical walk," walk organizers said in unveiling the event details.

Beginning at the Mill Valley Lumber Yard,  walks leave every half hour starting at 9:30am with the last tour leaving at 3:00pm.

The 411: The Mill Valley Historical Society's 41st Annual Walk Into History is Sunday, May 27. Advance tickets available here or at the door on the day of the event. No dogs. MVHS Members - $15 | Non-members - $20 | Teens with student ID - $10 | Under 10 - FREE.

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When Mill Valley Lumber Yard co-owner Jan Mathews connected with Makers Market owner Suzy Ekman at the latter’s Santana Row store in 2017, the two hit it off and made arrangement to have Ekman visit MVLY and consider taking a space there for a new location of retail brand that showcases and celebrates the products of independent creators, artists and makers.

Upon arrival, Ekman didn’t require an elaborate sales pitch – she knew quickly it was a good match, and took a 900-square-foot space that straddles Arroyo Corte Madera del Presidio Creek at MVLY, located at 129 Miller Avenue.

“My brand is authentic, nostalgic, high quality and it draws upon tradition,” she says. “When I saw the project was an upscale, thoughtful historic restoration of an old lumber yard, it had a huge appeal. The basic nature of it is as a place where people made things was a great fit for us.  That, combined with the natural beauty of the creek and the redwoods, it was quick decision. ”

Fast forward to present day, and Ekman and operations manager Heath Owen opened Makers Market at MVLY this month. Coupled with the opening of Flour Craft Bakery on April 7 – in addition to the long-established Ambatalia, Bloomingayles and Guideboat Co. – the Mill Valley Lumber Yard is abuzz.

“We’re really excited to have a space here and to connect with this community,” Ekman adds.

They’re not wasting any time to do so, as they’ve set an opening celebration event for Saturday, May 5 (10am-5pm), featuring a live bluegrass band, wine, bites and an outdoor market from 20 local artists, including KMW Glass from San Anselmo, Mill Valley’s Heather Soicher Ceramics and fiber artist Zelma Rose from West Marin. A week earlier – on Sunday, April 29, Makers Market kicks off its weekly trunk shows, a showcase of a single artist, starting with Char Maassen Jewelry Design.

The arrival of Makers Market continues the history of the DIY spirit in Mill Valley, from its decades-old craft fairs and arts festivals to creative hubs like Once Around and more recent additions like Pollen + Wool and The Makery.

It also builds on the Lumber Yard’s ever-growing reputation as a community gathering space. The Mathews family bought the 42,500-square-foot property in 2012 from the Cerri family, which had owned and maintained it as a lumber yard and True Value hardware store for the previous 14 years. The property was built by lumber magnate Robert Dollar in 1892 as Dollar Lumber Company.

The Mathews steered their plans to renovate through the Planning Commission and City Council before garnering approval in July 2016. They’re now on the home stretch of that vast renovation.

The concept for Makers Market spawned in Ekman’s vivid memories of helping her father in his workshop as a girl growing up in Huntsville, Alabama. “We just had such great access to so many different kinds of people who made things,” she says. “As a result, I grew up with a great appreciation for that and loved the type of people that do that type of thing for a living, just  - extremely genuine and down to earth, resourceful people.”

Ekman went cross-country to Cal Poly for college, majoring in business before moving into a long career in the tech consulting world.“After 25-30 years of doing that, it became time to do what I was super passionate about, which was the celebration and support of American craft and American makers,” she says.

Ekman originally planned to open a business that provided equipment, technological and marketing support for makers, but as she dug into the business, she realized that retail was a better idea.

She launched in June 2014, and opened a pop-up shop in the Westfield Center in San Francisco five months later. Ekman moved the shop to a larger space within Westfield for one year through late 2015, and then opened a shop in Santana Row in San Jose. In July 2017, she opened another store in Broadway Plaza in Walnut Creek.

One of the distinctive elements of Makers Market are the regular events that step beyond the confines of the retail space. Ekman hosts monthly outdoor markets, providing an opportunity for artists whose work is not yet on Makers Market shelves to showcase their work in that setting. The typical event hosts between 20-50 artists, featuring live music and drinks. The MVLY location will host at least six outdoor markets a year, Ekman says.

“It’s a great opportunity to learn what products are well-received that marketplace,” she says. “That’s a big way that we learn what will end up in Makers Market. We are all about letting local makers get exposure.”

Ekman is steeped in the world of makers and craftspeople. She’s a national curator for the American Craft Council, the oldest nonprofit supporting American crafts in the country.

“That means that I get to review thousands of artisans across the country every year,” Ekman says. “A lot of those products end up being in our stores and at our markets.”

For the past several years, Ekman has also served on a panel of experts that also includes reps from Etsy and Kickstarter to determine USA Today’s annual “10Best Makers in the USA.”

The key to Makers Market, Ekman says, is that each location features local makers.

“A big thing for us is to have it be as local as possible,” she says.

The 411: Makers Market, which is open in the Mill Valley Lumber Yard at 129 Miller Ave., hosts an opening celebration event for Saturday, May 5 (10am-5pm), featuring a live bluegrass band, wine, bites and an outdoor market from 20 local artists, including KMW Glass from San Anselmo, Mill Valley’s Heather Soicher Ceramics and Carmen Q Jewelry from Novato. Registration requested. MORE INFO.

NOTE: Due to parking limitations, there will be an all-day FREE shuttle service running from Mt. Tamalpais High School (700 Miller Avenue) to the Lumber Yard. Attendees are asked to park at the high school and use the shuttle to get to and from the Lumber Yard, and NOT to park in the surrounding neighborhoods.

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Over the past five years, Sara Wasserman's Music Heals International has hung its hat on two certainties: the organization brings music and musicians to the children of Haiti and globally to inspire achievement, resiliency, and creativity – and they throw one heck of a benefit party

For the fifth anniversary benefit show at the Sweetwater Music Hall on May 9, Wasserman and MHI have landed another star-studded lineup, featuring a who's who of Bay Area jam band talent, including David Nelson, Jeff Pehrson, Lebo, Jay Lane, Jason Crosby, Sunshine Becker, DJ Logic and Melvin Seals. 

In addition to a raucous concert, the event will have a silent auction and a brief live auction. Organizers are on the hunt for donations to the silent and live auction, from fashion and music to skin care, yoga classes, restaurant gift certificates and travel-related items. Email here to offer to donate.

The 411: Music Heals International's fifth anniversary benefit show at the Sweetwater Music Hall is on Wednesday, May 9, featuring David Nelson, Jeff Pehrson, Lebo, Jay Lane, Jason Crosby, Sunshine Becker, DJ Logic and Melvin Seals.  If you have a silent or live auction item to donate, email them here.

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For many Marin residents, the natural environment that surrounds us is a refuge of calm and wonder from the technology-centric rhythm of most of our days.

Count Marin photographer Kimberley Carr Harmon among those who seek that refuge – and she's got some gorgeous photos to show for it. Carr Harmon showcases those photos throughout May at the Mill Valley Chamber under the title, "In this world of busy-ness, I choose to wander." The exhibit runs throughout May, including a wine reception on Tuesday, May 1 as part of the Mill Valley Arts Commission's First Tuesday Artwalk (5:30-7:30pm).

Carr Harmon says she draws inspiration from nature, composition, and an emotional connection to the earth, and that her photographs are realized visions of her spiritual relationship with nature. All images are Archival Pigment Prints.

Some of Carr Harmon's photos are abstract, others are traditionally composed, each hoping to adapt to the environment they are placed in, as well as keeping a strong force of nature in the rooms they occupy.
"I try to bring a calm to interior spaces, and a place to breathe and take in nature’s beauty," she says.

The 411: Photographer Kimberley Carr Harmon showcases her photos throughout May and for the Mill Valley Arts Commission's First Tuesday Artwalk on May 1, (5:30-7:30pm) at the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce & Visitor Center, 85 Throckmorton Avenue.

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After 25 years in technology sector in Silicon Valley and for tech giants Seibel Systems and Salesforce in Asia, Homestead Valley resident Stephen Morse came to a sharp realization over the past year.

“I realized I was working longer and harder and I wasn’t serving a higher purpose, to be in service of the well being of people and the planet,” Morse says. “Most of the work I’d done in my career was related to profit-driven capitalism, and I wanted to have the last third of my working career be of service to people – that really motivates me.”

To do just that, Morse, a San Rafael native and graduate of Marin Country Day School and Marin Academy, launched The Kenja Project, a pair of ventures that build on his background and complement one another and seek to reach “both the mind and the heart,” Morse says.

One piece is the SE Leadership Institute (SELI), which leans on Morse’s experience in building Sales Engineering teams, ranging from startups to large teams that span multiple hundred SEs, a wide range of customer segments and geographies. SELI offers “a unique and highly effective bootcamp training for Sales Engineering leaders, launched under the market-leading SaaSy Sales Management platform,” Morse says. “I leverage previous experiences to build highly performant, engaged, and retained teams that achieve consistent results through proven programs, practices, and discipline.”

That venture also seeks to build on his work as a teacher in training at the Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute (SIYLI), a Google-born program to help individuals or businesses achieve more mindful focus, resilience, and emotional intelligence. “This is secular mindfulness in emotional intelligence,” he says.

To that end, Morse is set to join Jonathan Reynolds’ team at Mindful Life, Mindful Work, which offers “business coaching, executive career coaching, mindfulness consulting, corporate mindfulness trainings, and leadership development tools to individuals and organizations.”

While those efforts reach the mind, Morse is drawing on his familial connections to reach the heart. His Japanese wife Ritsuko creates tougei pottery, and will be apprenticing with a master artist this summer in Japan, bringing the style to the U.S. “but also with a personal touch for people who want to make these unique, beautiful pieces their own,” Morse says.

The 411: MORE INFO on the Kenja Project and the SE Leadership Institute.

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The Julie Zener Gallery is on the move, as the art industry veteran heads in May to a larger space around the corner at 18 East Blithedale Ave. #12, most recently the home of the Office Hours store, which closed last month.

Zener, who has been in the art industry since 1997 as a gallery owner, dealer, curator and manager and co-founder of Zener Art Group, says she was looking for a space that could be an event venue for exclusive pop up/trunk shows for local designers and independent business owners, as well as a place where she can continue showcasing innovative art and offering onsite art consulting, custom printing and framing.

"I am very happy to be moving and really love the new space as I hope it will generate more foot traffic and visibility!" Zener says.

The move comes eight months after Zener opened her own gallery in the space at 23 Sunnyside Ave., where she opened the Zener Schon Contemporary Art with Tara Schon in 2014, and a bit more than a year after they decided to go "beyond the walls" and close the gallery to focus on other facets of their business.

Zener is hosting an opening celebration party on Thursday, May 10, from 6-8pm. Her gallery at 23 Sunnyside currently features the work of Francisco Valverde (as seen above right), whose eight new works are "oozing with color. Using resin and pigment, the background is first created and then each drip is skillfully poured on top of the background creating a vibrant and dramatic drip foreground which appear like colorful icicles," Zener says. That show runs through April 25.

The 411: Julie Zener Gallery is moving from 23 Sunnyside Ave. to 18 East Blithedale Ave., Suite 12 – the former home of Office Hours. An opening celebration party is set for Thursday, May 10, from 6-8pm. MORE INFO.

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In the span of just eight years – driven by an incredibly eclectic slate of films from all over the world and an almost eery ability to showcase films that end up garnering Academy Awards – the Mill Valley Film Festival has nearly doubled its audience, up to more than 75,000 attendees in 2017.

So when MVFF organizers at the California Film Institute made the leap in 2017 to launch the inaugural Doclands, a noncompetitive, five-day documentary festival, it did so with plenty of momentum, and that event is gspreading its wings in its second year. The 2nd Annual Doclands runs from May 3-6 and its lineup spans 43 films from 10 countries, with the first DocLands Honors award presentation to award-winning filmmaker and photographer Louie Psihoyos  (The Cove, Racing Extinction, The Game Changers), over 50 filmmakers in attendance, and an interactive industry forum geared towards invigorating the business and art of nonfiction filmmaking. All screenings are at the CineArts Sequoia in Mill Valley and the Rafael Film Center in San Rafael.

Here are some of the highlights:
 
Opening Night
ANOTE’S ARK – California Premiere
Thursday, May 3 | 7pm | Smith Rafael Film Center 
Former president of Kiribati and film subject Anote Tong joins director Martthieu Rytz for the Festival’s Opening Night film Anote's Ark. Climate change is no abstraction to the people of Kiribati, a series of low-lying atolls in the central Pacific Ocean that are being swallowed by the rising sea. Photographer-ethnologist Matthieu Rytz’s exquisitely shot film portrays the slow, dignified demise of an entire culture—soon to be global refugees. Rytz and Tong will take part in an on-stage conversation and audience Q&A following the screening.

​Closing Night 
16 BARS – World Premiere
Saturday, May 5 | 6:30pm | Smith Rafael Film Center 
In Sam Bathrick’s transformative film, Todd “Speech” Thomas of hip-hop group Arrested Development is involved with a unique rehabilitation program in Richmond, Virginia, helping prisoners write and record their own songs. The filmmaker lovingly follows four inmates battling cycles of incarceration and addiction. Through superbly produced recording sessions, the men reach out from behind bars to bring their poignant stories to life through music. Bathrick will be joined on-stage by film subjects Todd “Speech” Thomas of hip-hop group Arrested Development (Tennessee, Mr. Wendell), Teddy Kane and Loretta Simmons-Jackson following the premiere of 16 Bars for an on-stage Q&A and special performance featuring Speech and Kane. MORE INFO.

DocLands Honors Award – Louie Psihoyos
Friday, May 4  | 6:30pm  |  CinéArts Sequoia
Presented to a filmmakerin recognition of exceptional storytelling within the documentary genre, an artist whose films resonate universally, emphasizing our common humanity – no matter the subject. The inaugural DocLands Honors Award is presented to iconic photographer and award-winning filmmaker Louie Psihoyos (The Cove, Racing Extinction, The Game Changers) for his dogged determination and tenacity in exposing wrongs and expanding awareness. We also show our appreciation for his astounding efforts in outreach, bringing some of our most pressing environmental and social issues to a worldwide audience. 

Olompali: A Hippie Odyssey (dir. Gregg Gibbs) – “Turning on, tuning in, and dropping out, a group of kindred spirits calling itself the “Chosen Family” in the late ’60s built its base camp 30 miles north of San Francisco. Clothing was optional, authority disdained, and weed widely distributed. Peter Coyote narrates this warmly reflective story, which crosses paths with tragedy–as well as the Grateful Dead, Hells Angels, and the Diggers–as it celebrates the spirit of invention.
Preceded by Spark Plug Cowboys (dirs. S. Kramer Herzog, L. Marcel)

Additional films premiering at the Festival include the US Premiere of DugOut; the North American Premiere of Have You Heard from Johannesburg: Oliver Tambo with director Connie Field in attendance; and the California Premieres of Anote’s Ark with director Matthieu Rytz and former president of Kiribati/film subject Anote Tong;The Guardianswith directors Tessa Moran and Ben Crosbie attending; Into Twin Galaxies: A Greenland Epic; and Shinerswith director Stacey Tenebaum and film subject Kealani Lada attending.

The 411: Doclands runs May 3-6 at the CineArts Sequoia in Mill Valley and the Rafael Film Center in San Rafael. GO HERE for more info on the films above and the full slate of documentaries.

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Soon after El Paseo owner Sammy Hagar brought in acclaimed local chef Todd Shoberg in mid-2017 to give the legendary Mill Valley restaurant a makeover of sorts, Shoberg started having visions of bringing brunch service to the spaces gorgeous, exposed brick-laden patio.

Now he's making that happen, launching brunch service on Sunday from 11am-2:30pm.

"We are just so thrilled to finally, after 70 years, bring this space to life for Sunday brunch," Shoberg says. "It’s pure magic, sitting on the patio on a warm sunny Sunday morning authentically takes you away to a special and unique place: from the food, curated cocktails and ambiance/aesthetic – brunch at El Paseo is beautiful and special!"

The brunch menu ranges from Nutella-stuffed donuts and avocado toast to Pozole & eggs and El Paseo's burger with an "obligatory fried egg," as well as cocktails and Bloody Marys. El Paseo's brunch will be first come, first served, except on special holidays like the upcoming Mother's Day on Sunday May 13, from 10am-3pm, when brunch reservations will be required. 

The 411: El Paseo is open for dinner from 5 to 9 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays; 5 to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and is now open 11am-2:30 for brunch. BRUNCH MENU. RESERVATIONS & MORE INFO.
​
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At their meeting on Monday evening, the Mill Valley City Council approved a Resolution approving the plans and specifications for the long-awaited Sycamore Park Restroom and authorizing the City Manager to award and execute a construction contract.

"I grew up next to Sycamore Park and I can tell you there were years of kids knocking on our door to use our bathroom," Councilmember Jessica Sloan said. "It is a long awaited project and will make the park so much better." 

"This is a very exciting project, one that has been in the planning stages on the City's to-do list for a number of years," City Manager Jim McCann said. "There has been a great need for a restroom in the Sycamore Park and the Council and the Parks and Recreation Commission, almost 10 years ago, explored it, made decisions, provided direction, and we are now ready to bring this project home." 

The restroom will be a compact, single unit, ADA compliant structure with a natural wooden exterior and an ADA compliant drinking fountain. The bid opening for the project is scheduled for late May. Construction is expected to begin in July and be completed in August 2018. Estimated cost is $250,000, funded by the City's Capitol Improvement Project budget.

MORE INFO.

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Huey Lewis & the News, the legendary band with deep Mill Valley ties that was seemingly unable to write a song in the 1980s that didn’t dominate the Billboard charts, has canceled its remaining 2018 tour dates, citing Lewis' loss of "most of my hearing," according to a statement from the band. More than a dozen shows in California, Texas, Oklahoma, New York, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey are affected.

Lewis explained in the statement, "Two and a half months ago, just before a show in Dallas, I lost most of my hearing. Although I can still hear a little, one on one and on the phone, I can't hear music well enough to sing. The lower frequencies distort violently making it impossible to find pitch... The doctors believe I have Meniere's Disease and have agreed that I can't perform until I improve."

Meniere's Disease "is a disorder of the inner ear that causes episodes in which you feel as if you're spinning (vertigo), and you have fluctuating hearing loss with a progressive, ultimately permanent loss of hearing, ringing in the ear (tinnitus), and sometimes a feeling of fullness or pressure in your ear," according to the Mayo Clinic's website.

The cancellation likely disappoints local fans of the band who were excited to see the hometown heroes perform right in their backyard at Outside Lands in San Francisco in August. Lewis and his longtime bandmates have deep connections to Mill Valley, most notably with 1983's multi-platinum Sports featuring the band at the 2am Clu.

Lewis was born in New York and moved to Mill Valley at age four. He attended Tamalpais Valley Elementary for a year and then Strawberry Point Elementary before moving on to Edna Maguire, which was a junior high school at the time. In an expansive Q&A with with author and columnist Joan Ryan at the Throckmorton Theatre in 2010, Lewis recalled that his mother Magda was a regular at Sausalito's famous no name bar, a gathering place in the 60s for beat poets, writers, jazz musicians and an array of free spirits.

"I woke up at the age of nine with Allen Ginsberg in my living room," he said. "She would bring the no name bar home with her every once in a while."

After Edna Maguire, Lewis shipped off to the Lawrenceville School, an all-boys boarding school in New Jersey, where he graduated a year early, scored a perfect 800 on the math portion of the SAT and got into Cornell University. Before going to Cornell, he took a year to travel Europe, hitchhiking all over and developed a love for the harmonica.

After a year and a half at Cornell, Lewis dropped out and came back to the Bay Area. He started a landscaping company and a natural foods distribution business, but kept playing music. He eventually became a member of Clover, a jazz-funk-rock fusion group that developed a following in England in the mid-1970s. Before Clover broke up in 1978, the band played its last gig at the Throckmorton.

Lewis then started a Monday jam session at Uncle Charley's on Paradise Drive in Corte Madera, inviting future News members to join him in his Monday Night Live house band. They eventually recorded a song called "Exo-Disco," a disco version of the theme from the film Exodus, featuring Pee Wee Ellis on saxophone.

The group's debut album garnered no attention. Its next three were just the opposite, riding a wave of MTV hits, from "Do You Believe in Love," and "I Want a New Drug" to "The Heart of Rock & Roll" and "If This is It," to massive success. The band sold tens of millions of albums, and 1983's Sports sold 10 million copies alone. Along the way, they powered the Back to the Future soundtrack, collaborated with some San Francisco 49ers on "Hip to be Square" and Lewis landed a slot on the hit charity single "We Are the World." That moment had Lewis standing shoulder to shoulder with the some of the biggest names in the history of recorded music, including Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and others.

Though he's lived elsewhere, Lewis has remained connected to the 94941. In 2015, the band played a benefit for The Redwoods senior living community, and two years later, they performed a pair of shows on the closing night of the 40th Mill Valley Film Festival as a fundraiser for festival producer California Film Institute’s plans to eventually renovate the Sequoia Theatre, which has long been the centerpiece of MVFF and which CFI bought for $2.5 million in 2008 after an expansive community fundraising campaign. 

“Needless to say, I feel horrible about this, and wish to sincerely apologize to all the fans who’ve already bought tickets and were planning to come see us,” Lewis added in his statement. “I’m going to concentrate on getting better, and hope that one day soon I’ll be able to perform again.”

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