As a kid growing up in Nebraska, Kate Barrengos took lots of road trips with her family in their Volkswagen bus, traversing the crop-filled flat lands of the Midwest. When she starting traveling by air, she was enamored by the aerial views, particularly the complex, repetitive patterns of the agricultural landscape below and how the textures and colors played off of one another.
In recent years, that fascination has grown even more with the invention of technologies like Google Earth, which provide a bird's eye view of, well, basically anywhere.
"We can be everywhere at anytime," says Barrengos, who has a background in biological sciences from the University of Nebraska and turned to a formal education in fine arts in 1993. She's been painting professionally out of her home Mill Valley studio for years, with dozens of exhibitions since 2008. 
That vantage point – an aerial view of the rural landscapes of places like Nebraska, West Marin and Tulare County using synthetic polymer paint on linen – is the heart of Barrengos' most recent work, "You Are Here," which she is showcasing at the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce & Visitor Center throughout July. The work will be on display for a wine reception on July 7 (6–8pm) as part of the Mill Valley Arts Commission's First Tuesday Artwalk.
Mill Valley's monthly celebration of local art features a host of venues, including the O’Hanlon Center for the Arts, Seager Gray Gallery, the Mill Valley Public Library, Zener Schon Contemporary Art, Gelateria Noci, Julie Tuton Boutique, Terrestra, the Depot Bookstore & Café, City Hall, Famous4, the Mill Valley Community Center and the Throckmorton Theatre. Receptions at each venue are Tuesday from 6–8pm. First Tuesday Artwalk Guide with venues and a map.
The 411: Kate Barrengos is exhibiting "You Are Here" at the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce & Visitor Center, 85 Throckmorton Avenue, throughout July. The First Tuesday Artwalk receptions are Tuesday, July 7, 6–8pm. First Tuesday Artwalk Guide with venues and a map.

From a Netflix co-founder to the woman overseeing Google Glass and myriad leaders in between, Mill Valley is home to an array of innovators.

The 94941’s ties to innovation also includes interplanetary endeavors, as the B612 Foundation, a 13-year-old organization founded to build awareness about the problems posed by asteroids “and the solutions that can be employed to stop future asteroid impacts,” has an office in downtown Mill Valley. 

“We are part of a group of folks who have created a effort to begin a global dialogue to educate the world about science and scientists who study asteroids,” says Danica Remy, B612’s chief operating officer, a fourth generation Marinite and a 40-year Mill Valley resident who works out of B612’s Mill Valley office (the foundation also has an office on Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park).

Founded by Apollo 9 astronaut Russell “Rusty” Schweickart in 2002 and named after the asteroid in Antoine de St. Exupéry’s story The Little Prince, the B612 Foundation has been getting lots of attention from Newsweek and science media outlets recently. On Tuesday, June 30 the foundation is co-hosting a day-long event at the California Academy of Sciences for Asteroid Day, designed to raise awareness of the potentially catastrophic risk of an impact. The group is looking for volunteers to participate in the event – email heather@b612foundation.org if you’re interested.

Three years ago, soon after Remy join her longtime friend Schweickart at B612, the foundation launched Sentinel Mission, a campaign to raise $450 million to launch a space telescope dedicated to finding hundreds of thousands of near-Earth objects as the first major step in planning to prevent their collision with Earth. Although NASA signed an agreement in 2012 with the B612 Foundation to provide analytical support and, once the spacecraft is in orbit, a data downlink, the agency is considering funding an alternative mission, the Near-Earth Object Camera (NEOCam), initially proposed to the agency in 2006, according to Nature magazine.

Remy and the B612 Foundation are agnostic about who funds the effort – just that it happens.

“Whether it’s NASA or the European Space Agency or us or someone else, someone has to pay for it – our goal is simply that it happens,” she says. “We have the technology to solve this problem – we just need to get it done.”

Asteroid Day is timed to harken back to June 30, 1908, the day an asteroid struck the Tunguska region of Russia, devastating a forested area the size of a large city. Asteroid Day's backers, including science heavy hitters Chris Hadfield, Brian Cox and Richard Dawkins, are calling for a 100-fold acceleration of efforts to detect near-Earth asteroids in the next decade and increased funding to achieve this goal.

A meteor that exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia (pictured below), in 2013 illustrated the potential risk. Although the rock was only around 20 meters across, it was the most energetic impact recorded since Tunguska. No one died, but about 1,500 people were injured as the blast blew out windows and damaged buildings.

While ground-based surveys have located roughly 90 percent of the large asteroids that might be a concern — think those larger than one kilometer that were the antagonists of 1990s films like Armageddon and Deep Impact – Sentinel and its ilk are primarily worried about asteroids of up to a few hundred meters in diameter, about which much less is known. They often cite the object that exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia, in February 2013 was estimated to have been about 20 meters in diameter. The explosion injured more than 1,500 people.

Former astronaut and B612 Foundation chief executive Edward Lu told Nature that even if NASA terminates its agreement with the foundation, he vows to keep the project going. “This is pretty darn exciting work,” Remy says.

The 411: More info on the B612 Foundation, Sentinel Mission and Asteroid Day. List of Asteroid Day events around the world.

Yolo Yogurt Lounge announced this week that it is closing its doors on June 30. In a post to the store's Facebook page, owner Karen Kauh wrote, "Yolo will be closing its doors at the end of business on Tuesday, June 30th. We have come to the end of our five-year lease and have decided not to renew. We truly appreciate your business and support for the past five years! We hope you will visit often through our final day of business ... Thank you again! It's been a fun and rewarding five years in our Mill Valley community and we will miss being here."
While the likes of Noci, Woody's, Swirl and the soon-to-debut Bonbon still have Mill Valley swimming in summertime treats, downtown Asian street food and community hangout BooKoo is looking to fill some of the void Yolo's departure creates by launching its own pop-up line of "artisan handmade popsicles."
Boo Koo owner Matt Holmes says the Boo Koo Pops are the creation of his wife Megan Vinson as a limited summertime offering. The homemade popsicles with locally sourced organic ingredients include Spallas Farms Roasted Plum with Organic Yogurt and Tarragon, Burnt Caramel and Apricot, Frog Hollow Peaches and Strauss Family Organic Cream, Vietnamese Coffee and the vegan-friendly Strawberries and Balsamic. 
"Having a popsicle and enjoying a warm summers night in the town square before hitting a movie is what childhood and summer is all about," Vinson says.
The 411: Until June 30, Yolo Yogurt Lounge is at 505 Miller Ave, 415-381-9656. Boo Koo is at 25 Miller Ave., (415) 888-8303. 

Mill Valley's Bob Weir and his fellow Grateful Dead bandmates – with Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio subbing in for the late Jerry Garcia – are getting revved up for a string of massive "Fare Thee Well" shows that will mark the ultimate end to the Grateful Dead as an active entity. The band is set to play two Bay Area gigs at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara on June 27 and 28, followed by a three-night stand at Soldier Field in Chicago on July 3, 4 and 5.

The hotly anticipated “Fare Thee Well” shows are sold out, but if you're looking to watch the shows without leaving the 94941, you're in luck. The band is broadcasting the shows live via a pay-per-view broadcast, with devout Deadhead and CNBC reporter Steve Liesman and Bill Walton, a Basketball Hall of Famer and fellow Deadhead serving as hosts. The live stream of all three concerts, spanning more than 15 hours, will also include a short documentary, live interviews with fans and taped interviews with band members.

Those streams come with a pricey price tag – all five nights for $110 or the Chicago run for $80 – but both the Sweetwater Music Hall and the CineArts at Sequoia Theatre are showing each of the Chicago shows for $20 and $25, respectively.

“Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of Grateful Dead” will feature the four surviving original members of the Grateful Dead – Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzman, Phil Lesh and Weir – reuniting for their last-ever performances together. The concerts will take place nearly 20 years to the day after the last Grateful Dead concert with Jerry Garcia, and the band will be joined by Anastasio, Jeff Chimenti (keyboards) and Bruce Hornsby (piano).

The 411: More info on the Sweetwater events and the Sequoia events.

From the start line excitement and the final finisher hitting the line to winner Brian Pilcher and the thrills and spills in between, check out this fantastic video recap of the 105th edition of the Dipsea Race by Mill Valley video guru Tim Amyx.

Want to know what's happening around town? Click here to subscribe to the Enjoy Mill Valley Blog by Email!

The Mill Valley Arts Commission's annual free Comedy Night on the Plaza, always one of the most popular events of the year in the 94941, didn't disappoint. Headliner W. Kamau Bell, whose former late-night comedy show “Totally Biased” was produced by Chris Rock on FX, gave a master class on how to make the uncomfortable mind-blowingly funny, delving into life as an African-American man in 2015 with the twist of being in a mixed-race marriage. Fellow Bay Area native Tony Dijamco had the packed house in stitches with his self-deprecating tales, while Emily Epstein White navigated similar terrain to Bell and drawing plenty of laughs. Local comedy stalwart Mark Pitta served as MC.

The founders of Soul Coughing and the Modern Lovers, respectively, Doughty and Richman bring their deep songbooks to the stage of downtown Mill Valley music venue.

One of them created a band that was a 90s indie favorite and managed to cram improvisational jazz grooves, oddball samples, hip-hop, and noisy experimentalism into a sound he described as "deep slacker jazz."
The other managed to squeeze being a progenitor in the UK punk rock scene and playing a vital role in the film There's Something About Mary into the same career. 
Other than their deep songbooks and resumes, the respectively aforementioned Mike Doughty and Jonathan Richman have long shared little in common – until now. They'll both take the stage at the storied Sweetwater Music Hall in the next week – Doughty on Sunday night and Richman next Tuesday.
Richman founded the Velvet Underground-influenced Modern Lovers, a band that in turn influenced the later punk, new wave and indie rock scenes in the 1970s and 80s. The original Modern Lovers included Talking Heads multi-instrumentalist (and longtime Mill Valley resident) Jerry Harrison. 
Doughty's Soul Coughing was best known for its unique, oddly funky sound and his own often off-the-wall lyrics.
Get a taste of each below, and head to the Sweetwater site for more info and tickets.

And here's a great Modern Lovers track:

Since he debuted his Brother/Sister Plays at three Bay Area theaters including Mill Valley's Marin Theatre Company in 2010, Tarell Alvin McCraney has been one of the most acclaimed playwrights in the business. He's garnered a MacArthur Genius Grant, served as the Royal Shakespeare Company International Playwright in Residence and was featured in the PBS series Independent Lens.
McCraney's latest MTC production, Choir Boy, hasn't disappointed, drawing rave reviews and standing ovations since it opened June 4. "Rare is the theatre that can encompass it all and do it well. Such is Tarell Alvin McCraney’s Choir Boy, an emotionally devastating yet ultimately life affirming “play with music” … If you love great theatre, Choir Boy will sing to you.," raved the Sonoma County Gazette.
Choir Boy has been such a smash success that MTC has extended its run through July 5. Check out the TV spot for the production below. More info and buy tickets.

Want to know what's happening around town? Click here to subscribe to the Enjoy Mill Valley Blog by Email!

Event takes place in the parking lot next to Bank of Marin and the Zener Schon Contemporary Art gallery at 19 & 23 Sunnyside, event is set for 5–6:30pm, just prior to the Arts Commission's Comedy in the Plaza event.

Looking for some music and laughter this week? Downtown Mill Valley is home to a pair of fantastic events Wednesday evening (June 17) that has just what the doctor ordered.

The Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce​ kicks off the fun at 5pm with its inaugural Sunnyside Soiree, a mini block party of sorts hosted by Bank of Marin​ and celebrating all of the businesses on Sunnyside Ave. The event features live music from local favorites Steep Ravine​, food from Prabh Indian Kitchen, great wine, tasty beers from Beerworks​ and raffle prizes from the likes of Weathered Nest, Mill Valley Personal Fitness, Sewn and Kitchen Sunnyside. 
Here's a taste of Steep Ravine:

When that event ends at 6:30pm, head down to the Depot Plaza for an evening of hilarity under the stars. The Mill Valley Arts Commission's annual free Comedy Night on the Plaza looks to be another blockbuster. This year's headliner is longtime Bay Area comic W. Kamau Bell, whose former late-night comedy show “Totally Biased” was produced by Chris Rock on FX. The bill also includes Joe Klocek and Emily Epstein White, with local comedy stalwart Mark Pitta serving as MC. Bring a chair and pick up a picnic dinner from one of the local shops or restaurants.

Want to know what's happening around town? Click here to subscribe to the Enjoy Mill Valley Blog by Email!

Longtime Mill Valley resident Roy Forest is best known as a mixed media artist extraordinaire, creating sculptures made of metal, neon, glass and wood. But Forest is also a singer-songwriter, and local filmmaker Gary Yost has crafted a gorgeous music video of Forest performing his song "I Thought About You" near the Muir Woods Park Community Association Clubhouse off Ridge Avenue above Muir Woods. 

Check it out:

Want to know what's happening around town? Click here to subscribe to the Enjoy Mill Valley Blog by Email!

One of Mill Valley’s oldest retail storefronts is getting ready to close its doors for good.

Frame-O-Rama, the art and photo framing store that has spent the past 12 years on Miller Avenue, is shutting down on June 27, citing a “corporate decision to reallocate more of our resources to our growing Cheap Pete's Frame Factory Outlet division,” Peter V. Gumina, CEO of Frame-O-Rama parent company National Picture Framing Centers, Inc. wrote in a note to Frame-O-Rama customers. “It has been our privilege and pleasure to serve you and your picture framing needs for the past four decades.”

Frame-O-Rama has been in Mill Valley for nearly 40 years, the past three of which were at 421 Miller in the complex that includes Swirl and the Taylor Kraft hair salon. The store was previously located at 487 Miller for nine years and prior to that was on Sunnyside Ave. and elsewhere downtown.

Gumina told customers to pick up Frame-O-Rama orders after June 27 at its sister store, Cheap Pete's, which specializes in ready-made frames, at 221 3rd Street, in Montecito Plaza in San Rafael.

Kentfield resident Brian Pilcher won the 105th edition of the Dipsea Race from Mill Valley to Stinson Beach on Sunday. It was the second Dipsea Race victory for Pilcher – he also won the race in 2009 – and a marked gain from 22nd place in the 2014 Dipsea Race.

The 7.4-mile run traverses from downtown Mill Valley, up the 688 Dipsea Steps and the eventual peak at the summit of Cardiac Hill – 1,360 feet above sea level – and then down the narrow Dipsea trail through Steep Ravine, across the panoramic Moors toward the finish line at Stinson Beach. The race uses staggered starts determined by age, gender and past performances, allowing runners both young and old a legitimate chance to win the historic event.

Anchorage's Matias Saari finished second, while fellow pre-race favorite Rickey Gates of San Francisco, who finished second behind Diana Fitzpatrick in 2014, finished third.

For the first time in its history, the Dipsea Race was streamed live online, via UltraSportsLive.tv.

Less than four years ago, laid up while recovering from a motorcycle accident that left his shoulder shredded, Leo Vassershteyn made the leap of a lifetime.

The longtime San Francisco personal trainer was on Craigslist, looking to buy some fitness equipment, and saw real estate agent and trainer Gary Ferroni’s listing to sell his Mill Valley Personal Fitness business at 34 Sunnyside Avenue.

After some due diligence, Vassershteyn decided that was the moment to launch his own business in a brand new market.

“It was scary, “Vassershteyn says. “I had no clients. I didn’t know anybody here. I left my business in the city, and with the exception of a few clients, most weren’t able to come across the bridge with me.”

Born in Odessa, Ukraine, Vassershteyn moved with his family as a child to the Bay Area in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union. He attended Sequoia High School in Redwood City and, like many grads, wasn’t sure exactly what his next step was. He was a gym rat and began doing some personal training, a job that brought a good wage and provided the flexibility he needed to start taking college classes at the same time.

Along the way, he realized that the way he’d been earning a living while he figured out a long-term was that long-term plan.

“I have an exceptional talent and passion for this, so I decided to go for it,” Vassershteyn says.

As he built up his practice, Vassershteyn transferred to UC-Davis, garnering a degree in psychology and exercise biology. He moved to San Francisco and spent several years at Crunch Fitness and as an independent personal trainer.

When he made that leap to Mill Valley, those first few months were harrowing. But Vassershteyn stuck to his mantra: no gimmicks. He refused to offer clients the promise of a quick road to fitness.

“I’m really well trained in all modalities and I will adjust your program so that you get the most optimal results for the time that you out in – but you have to be ready to put the time in,” he says.

Like the fitness programs he espouses, Vassershteyn's own work building his business paid off, as Mill Valley Personal Fitness was in the black within four months. Now Vassershteyn is looking for a new space that can accommodate his growth.

“It’s been a fantastic run so far,” he says.

The 411: Mill Valley Personal Fitness is at 34 Sunnyside. More info.

Three years after Mill Valley filmmaker Gary Yost made a viral video time lapse from the Mount Tamalpais fire lookout, he's turned his lens onto another aspect of firefight: the critical need for our first responders to always be ready. The 13-minute Always Prepared documentary looks at the Marin County Firefighters at the Throckmorton Ridge Fire Station at in the Marin Headlands, as well as Southern Marin Fire District's station in Strawberry.

"We're in the business of readiness," Marin County Fire Senior Captain Chris Martinelli says in the short film. "Many people produce a product. Our product is being ready. It's being ready to go into action at the drop of a hat, any time of the day, no matter what the situation."

The film chronicles a number of firefighters' day-to-day duties to maintain that high level of readiness, from meticulous examinations of their equipment and fire trucks to drills like cliff rescues and creating roof ventilations.

"Although we all conceptually know that this is what first responders are supposed to do, here is a visual document honoring the men and women who are ready to help us, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year," Yost says. 

Watch Yost's film below:

Want to know what's happening around town? Click here to subscribe to the Enjoy Mill Valley Blog by Email!