When Jesse Roselin moved from San Francisco to Mill Valley with his family four years ago, he did so knowing that the could operate his business – Tutor Corps, which provides tutoring in all K-12 subjects, including an array of test prep – from just about anywhere.

Roselin's tutors work day-to-day out of their own homes and visit students in their own homes for tutoring sessions, an easier setup for many parents than driving kids to a location. He also knew that while the 17-year-old Tutor Corps had already been providing tutoring services in Mill Valley for 10 years, becoming enmeshed in the 94941 community would strengthen those local relationships. Tutor Corps's 20 teachers in southern Marin now tutor more than 25 students in Mill Valley.

One of the outgrowths of those deeper roots has been the ability to leverage the Tutor Corps Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit, to support student scholarships, community service grants and awards for teachers. In recent months, the foundation has issued grants to support a "Humanity is Kindness" program run by four 6th grade girls at Mill Valley Middle School. The student's goal was to help as many of the homeless population in Marin as possible by operating clothing drives and food drives and, in turn, learning about social justice and how to effectively fundraise. 

Tutor Corps funded an 11th grade Tam High student's The LEAP Dance Program, which supports the Marin Performing Stars after school program in Marin City, Sausalito and San Rafael, allowing girls to create a performance that allowed their families "to see their children in a new light." The foundation also supported a Tam High eleventh grader's Music Together project, which promoted "inclusion, connection and acceptance between the special education students and greater student body through the camaraderie of making music."

"We are very focused on supporting the local education community," Roselin says. "We are Kiddo Business Partners, Schools Rule Silver Sponsors, and support the Tam High Foundation as well."

In addition to community service grants, Tutor Corps also regularly awards Teacher of the Year Awards as well as tutoring scholarships, providing one-on-one tutoring for the academic year, with one scholarship recently going to an eighth grader at Mill Valley Middle School. The Scholarship funds one-on-one tutoring for the academic year. 

The 411: Tutor Corps provides tutoring in all K-12 subjects, including an array of test prep. MORE INFO.

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Growing up in a time when computers and iPhones didn't exist, and now living and raising children in a digital age MIll Valley resident and artist Megan Donnelly draws influence in her work from the fact that her generation will be that last that has viewed the world through a non-digital lens. 

Donnelly showcases those paintings – acylic on wood panels – at the Mill Valley Chamber (85 Throckmorton Ave.) throughout October, as well as for a wine reception on Oct. 2 (5:30-7:30pm) as part of the Mill Valley Arts Commission's First Tuesday Artwalk.

Donnelly's paintings explore the abstract idea of a mood or ambiance of certain places or things, with other inspiration coming from "design and nature, but especially from travel (real or imagined)," she says. "The combinations of memories from places and objects often generate the spark that engage me in using certain colors and shapes – always trying to evoke a certain feeling in the painting."

The 411: Megan Donnelly's paintings exhibit at the Mill Valley Chamber (85 Throckmorton Ave.) throughout October, as well as for a wine reception on Oct. 2 (5:30-7:30pm) as part of the Mill Valley Arts Commission's First Tuesday Artwalk.

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Interactive Enrichment, a multidisciplinary theatre program for kids ages 4-18 based at the Mill Valley Golf Course Clubhouse, has struck a clever partnership with Goodman Building Supply. In exchange for a number of stage performing boxes that they'll use for their production of Annie on Dec. 8-9, Interactive Enrichment staff and students are volunteering to clean up the marsh on the Goodman's property near Hwy. 101.

The cleanup, set for Saturday, Sept. 28 from 11am to 1pm, will have Interactive Enrichment volunteers using gloves, litter pickers and buckets provided by Goodman's and removing trash from within and around the marsh.

"We are truly grateful to give back to such a wonderful community," says Zphyna Caldwell, Interactive Enrichment's artistic director.

Goodman officials invite any other volunteers to join the effort.

While there have been no shortage of hot button topics during the past few years, few have struck a nerve more than immigration. From the would-be wall to family detention and separation and the ever-changing immigration landscape, Lucia Martel-Dow, the director of immigration legal services for the Canal Alliance in San Rafael, is in the thick of all of it.

Martel-Dow, who lives in San Rafael and was honored as the North Bay Woman of the Year earlier this year, speaks at a free "On Immigration in America and Marin" event at the Community Church of Mill Valley on Sunday, October 7, (4-5:30pm).

Born and raised in Venezuela, the bilingual Martel-Dow was a member of the Venezuelan Foreign Service before moving to Madrid, Spain, where she worked on human rights and immigration policy issues in an international organization serving Spain, Portugal and Latin America. She moved to San Francisco in 2007, garnering her masters in law from University of California, Hastings College of the Law and a Master of Laws in International Law and International Relations from the Complutense University, Madrid.

Martel-Dow joined the Canal Alliance in 2015, leading the organization's effort to help residents navigate immigration system. 
Come and be part of a lively discussion of issues important to our community, nation, and world.

The 411: Lucia Martel-Dow of the Canal Alliance in San Rafael discusses immigration at the Community Church of Mill Valley (8 Olive Street) on Sunday, October 7, (4-5:30pm). Free. Donations welcome. MORE INFO.

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The Marin Theatre Company kicks off its 2018-19 season with a bang this week, rolling out the Bay Area premiere of Oslo, the “darkly comic and fast-paced” Tony-winning play from J.T. Rogers (at left). The political thriller tells the true and widely unknown story of how a couple of young Norwegian academics, diplomat Mona Juul, and her husband, social scientist Terje Rød-Larsen, orchestrated top-secret meetings between the State of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization. Those meetings ultimately led to the 1993 Oslo Accords. 

MTC calls Oslo "a deeply personal story set against a complex historical canvas, a story about the individuals behind world history and their all too human ambitions."

Oslo, which won a 2017 Tony Award for Best Play, premiered in 2016, at a time when America itself seemed divided and polarized more than ever before, recalls that our most powerful tool in any process toward peace, is hope. Despite its clear inspiration from documented events and real-life political players, Rogers says this play is not a docudrama. “It’s the first play I’ve written where everyone is a version of a living or formerly living person,” he says.


MTC Artistic Director Jasson Minadakis directed this production of Oslo, with a cast of 14 actors, including many new faces joining familiar MTC favorites. Sean Fanning created the set and the play is underscored by original music from composer Chris Houston.

The 411: Marin Theatre Company's production of Oslo opens Sept. 27, and runs through Oct. 21. 397 Miller Ave. Tix $25-$60. MORE INFO & TIX. 

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In 2011, the United Nations declared October 11 as International Day of the Girl with the goal “to help galvanize worldwide enthusiasm for goals to better girls’ lives, providing an opportunity for them to show leadership and reach their full potential.”

The youth-led event has grown since its debut in 2012, each year focusing on a theme like gender inequality, child marriage, violence against women and access to education. The 2018 edition's theme is "With Her: a Skilled GirlForce," focusing today's generation of girls preparing to enter a world of work that is being transformed by innovation and automation. While educated and skilled workers are in great demand, roughly a quarter of young people – most of them female – are currently neither employed or in education or training.

International Day of the Girl events are happening all over the world, including right here in the 94941, as Mill Valley Recreation is hosting one on Thursday, Oct. 11 from 5:30pm to 8:30pm.

The free event kicks off with the opportunity to meet a variety of local women- and girl-centric organizations, followed by a 6:30pm screening of Girl Rising (PG13), the 2014 film that "spotlights the unforgettable stories of girls living in the developing world, striving beyond circumstance and overcoming nearly insurmountable odds to achieve their dreams." The film is voiced by acclaimed actresses including Meryl Streep, Kerry Washington, Anne Hathaway and more.

The 411: Mill Valley Recreation hosts an International Day of the Girl event on Thursday, Oct. 11, 5:30pm-8:30pm, featuring local girl- and women-centric organizations and a screening of of Girl Rising. Mill Valley Community Center, 180 Camino Alto. Free. MORE INFO & REGISTER.

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Art Coppola, CEO of Macerich Co., the Santa Monica-based property development company that owns the Village at Corte Madera mall on the east side of Highway 101, kicks of the series of talks. 

From Toys "R" Us and Gymboree to Macy's and Sears, there are no shortage of examples of the downward spiral of traditional retail that some media outlets have dubbed a "retail apocalypse."

Behind $39 million of funding from venture capital firms and some of those traditional retailers searching for retail's next chapter, b8ta, a Palo Alto-based company founded in late 2015, has stepped into the void. B8ta operates a nationwide network of tech-centric stores – think Sharper Image for the modern age – that borrow some of the minimalist look and feel of Apple stores.

But instead of relying of the traditional retail business model, b8ta inks contracts with product manufacturers big and small to showcase those, this generating revenue regardless of where the customer ends up buying the products. B8ta co-founder and CEO Vibhu Norby calls it "retail as a service," allowing brands to use b8ta’s software to manage checkout, point of sale, inventory management, staff scheduling and more.

"We believe that this approach is what's going to save physical retail, which is built around the old model of retail that requires the customer to just buy from you," Norby sais. "The reality is that today when people go into stores, they're in research and learning mode – and a lot of the purchases are happening somewhere else."

B8ta has a network of 11 standalone stores as well as 70 smaller shops within Lowe's around the U.S., all designed to allow customers to test and try products. The network of shops includes a store that opened in the Village at Corte Madera in 2017. That location, operated by general manager Jonathan Burns, is launching a "Founders Series" of talks designed to "connect with the leaders of companies that are pioneering innovative products and new tech worldwide."

The series kicks off Tuesday, Oct. 16 with Art Coppola, the CEO of Macerich, the Santa Monica-based property development  company that owns the Village at Corte Madera mall on the east side of Hwy. 101. Norby will lead the conversation. Coppola will discuss "his journey in the world of retail and where he sees the industry going" in a "casual evening of networking and discussion, complete with drinks and snacks."

Coppola, Macerich's CEO for more than 20 years, is a long-standing member of the International Council of Shopping Centers and a current member of The National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT). In 2009, Coppola garnered NAREIT's Leader in the Light award, recognizing his significant and lasting contributions to the industry.

The 411: B8ta Corte Madera launches its Founders Series on Tuesday, Oct. 16, 6:30-9pm, with b8ta CEO Vibhu Norby leading a conversation with Macerich CEO Art Coppola at b8ta's store at the Village at Corte Madera. Free.

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After a three-year hiatus, Pascal Rigo’s beloved French patisserie concept is returning to Mill Valley, this time in a new, larger location with an expansive menu that goes beyond breakfast and lunch, promises to be “really affordable” and allows for app-based online ordering.

Rigo says he hopes to open La Boulangerie, the slightly renamed rebirth of La Boulange, at 590 East Blithedale Ave., the former home of Gira Polli, and a Der Wienerschnitzel and Burger Chef before that, by the end of 2018. The prominent location at the corner of East Blithedale and Camino Alto will also serve as a test site for a number of new initiatives for La Boulangerie.

“We had a number of opportunities in Marin, but Mill Valley is just the cutest little place we could hope to be,” says Rigo. “It has everything that we could want, and the new, larger footprint gives us the ability to try some things that are brand new for us and that we think people are going to love.”

Those things include extended hours well into the dinner hour and a menu that reflects that, along with longtime favorites like sweet and savory pastries, quiches, sandwiches and salads. “It’s going to be really fun, and really, really affordable,” Rigo says. “This is the perfect location to try it and test it out. And if it works, we’ll bring it to more locations.”

Rigo was mum on specific new menu items for now – “I can’t wait until I can talk about it,” he says.

The updates also include “a much more current digital customer experience,” as the Mill Valley location will be the first La Boulangerie to integrate mobile phone app-based ordering and an app-based loyalty program, according to Leah Donnelly, the company’s marketing director.  

“This will also be the first iteration of La Boulangerie kind of grown up,” she says. “It’s definitely going to have an updated look and feel. It will have a great flow for the best customer experience. And there will be lots of bike parking.”

The news of the Mill Valley location and the burst of new initiatives being tested here comes on the heels of the July announcement that James Park and Michael Staenberg, co-owners of Denver-based fast casual restaurant Garbanzo Mediterranean Fresh, “made a substantial investment and acquired an equity interest in” La Boulangerie. Donnelly says Park and Staenberg bring strong operational expertise to complement the product quality and branding expertise of Rigo and longtime partner Nicholas Bernadi. “It felt like a natural pairing,” she says.

The Garbanzo investment will propel the chain’s “even broader expansion, at an accelerated clip” that will go beyond the Bay Area, Donnelly says. Mill Valley will be La Boulangerie’s ninth location since Rigo began reopening the patisseries under the new moniker.

It’s the latest chapter in a whirlwind journey for the Bordeaux-born Rigo, who worked as a baker in a number of restaurants in Paris before moving to Los Angeles in 1989, first baking bread for an old friend, the chef Michel Richard, and later for some of the best restaurants in LA, according to the New York Times.

Rigo’s quest for the perfect flour for his bread brought him north to the Bay Area, as he met the family who owned Giusto’s, a milling business, and ended up buying not only their flour, but also their commercial bakery, the Times reported. Baking gluten-free breads and baked goods at the former Giusto’s facility for about 40 grocery stores in California, Rigo’s Bay Bread Group opened the La Boulange chain soon after, starting in 1998 with a location on Pine Street in San Francisco.

The business grew to 23 La Boulange locations when Rigo sold it to Starbucks in 2013 for $100 million, as the Seattle coffee conglomerate sought to use Rigo’s baked goods expertise to improve its offering. Within two years, Rigo left the company and Starbucks closed all La Boulange locations, reversing its announced intention to open hundreds of La Boulange locations around the country.

In a twist, La Boulange’s sale to Starbucks also gave birth to the growing retail side of Equator Coffees’ business. Equator had been the coffee roaster for La Boulange’s 19 locations for 13 years, so the Starbucks takeover gutted 12 percent of Equator’s revenue and inspired founders Helen Russell and Brooke McDonnell to begin opening their own cafe, starting at Proof Lab in Tam Junction and now a thriving chain that spans seven cafes in the Bay Area and a robust catering business. La Linea is La Boulangerie’s coffee roaster.

Donnelly says Rigo hatched his plans to relaunch his chain of patisseries soon after the Starbucks sale – “he never stopped the conversation with Starbucks about that,” she says. “To have this brand come back was good for everyone involved. And what’s a better end to that story than Pascal going back to the roots of the brand and making it a real success again.”

La Boulangerie started with the original Pine Street location in September 2015, followed by spots on Fillmore Street, Union Street and in Cole Valley, Hayes Valley and Noe Valley. A pair of locations in SF’s Financial District followed, and then in the Rockridge section of Oakland, a first in that neighborhood for Rigo.

Mill Valley’s up next, a crosstown revival of the La Boulange that opened in the Strawberry Village shopping center in 2006.

“The reopening of the Boulange concept is heart-warning for everybody,” says Rigo, who is also in the midst of building a growing network of small bakeries he calls microboulangeries in his native France. “We had a kick doing it, for sure, and we sort of triggered a lot of similar concepts that have popped since we we went away, which is a good thing. We’ve been super humble to start again and see what people think of us again, and we’re thrilled at the response – it’s better than we could ever have imagined.”

The 411: La Boulangerie plans to open at 590 East Blithedale Avenue before the end of 2018. It will be La Boulangerie's ninth location. Initial hours will likely be 7am-5pm, with an expected extension to 9pm soon after. MORE INFO.

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Six years ago, Mill Valley Recreation decided to create a pre-Halloween event that built on the tradition of trick-or-treating – with a twist. Now it's a multi-faceted celebration on Friday, Oct. 26, spanning three events and encompassing both Halloween and Dia De Los Muertos.

Trunk or Treat, a free family event in which businesses, local organizations and residents are invited to promote themselves by welcoming families to "trick-or-treat" from their decorated car trunks, has grown in scope every year, taking over more and more of the Mill Valley Community Center parking lot. Vendors, local organizations and families distribute free air brush tattoos and treats and kids engage in activities and face-painting, among festivities.​

Organizers are on the hunt for vendors for the 6th Annual Trunk or Treat, set for 4:30-6pm. Applications, available here, are due by Oct. 16 at 5pm.

Trunk or Treat is preceded on Oct. 26 by a pair of related events. At 4pm, the annual family Halloween Magic Show combines Halloween, comedy, audience participation and amazing magic to create a "spooktacular," 45-minute show for goblins of all ages. Attendees should wear their Halloween costumes.

At 5pm, a Dia De Los Muertos Celebration of dearly departed family, friends and pets kicks off with arts and crafts followed by a screening of the celebrated Pixar film Coco at 6:30pm. 

The 411: Trunk or Treat, the Halloween Magic Show and Dia De Los Muertos Celebration are Friday, October 26, 4-8:30pm at the Community Center, 180 Camino Alto. MORE INFO. Vendors for Trunk or Treat can apply here.

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Charismatic cult leader Charles Manson has fascinated readers for decades, and earlier this year, author Nikki Meredith became the latest scribe to dive into the Manson universe. The Outdoor Art Club will shine a light on Meredith's book, The Manson Women and Me: Monsters, Morality & Murder, at a free event on Wednesday, October 3 at 7pm.

Part memoir and part true-crime narrative, the book explores how Leslie Van Houten and Patricia Krenwinkel, seemingly a pair of bright, promising girls, carried out horrific acts of butchery on the Manson's orders in the summer of 1969. At their murder trial the following year, lead prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi described the two so-called Manson Women as “human monsters.” But to anyone who knew them growing up, Meredith finds that they seemed incapable of such an unfathomable crime.

Meredith sits down for a Q&A about the book with her daughter Caitlin Meredith. Both women are award-winning journalists  whose work has appeared in The Pacific Sun, The 

Marin Independent Journal, Psychology Today and the The San Francisco Examiner, among others. Both women are former probation officers.

The 411: The Outdoor Art Club host author Nikki Meredith in a Q&A with her daughter Caitlin Meredith about her book, The Manson Women and Me: Monsters, Morality & Murder, at a free event on Wednesday, October 3 at 7pm. 1 West Blithedale Avenue. Free and open to the public. 

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Do you want the good news or the not-as-good news?

The good: Tony Tutto Pizza is back!

The not-as-good: It’s in Ross.

Tony Tutto Pizza, which drew a rabidly devoted customer base over the course of its nine kid-, dog- and outdoor patio-centric years at 250 East Blithedale Avenue in Mill Valley, is set to open October 3 at 16 Ross Common in Ross.

The move comes 20 months after owner Greg DiGiovine closed the restaurant due to the sale and redevelopment of the site, which is now the future home of Le Marais Bakery, Belle Marine Aesthetic Medicine and Pacific Union Real Estate.

DiGiovine, who goes by his adopted nom de plume of Tony Tutto, says the move to Ross came after an exhaustive, heart-wrenching search for space in Mill Valley that had him talking to nearly every landlord, restaurateur and commercial real estate broker in the 94941, a search that spanned every Mill Valley neighborhood and any scenario that would allow him to stay in town.

“Leaving Mill Valley was always my last choice,” he says. “I exhausted every single opportunity in Mill Valley. You name it – I thought of it. I looked at more than 100 places, all over the North Bay and the Bay Area, but none as intensely as I did in Mill Valley.”

“But this space – with lots of light from tall windows and plenty of green space surrounding us – it reminds me of Mill Valley more than anything else has, and I’m excited to start making pizza again.”

Tutto’s new home also boasts quite a bit of local history, as Pop Mordecai opened the Ross Grocery there nearly 90 years ago, and for decades after Eddie Ahrens bought in 1946, it was widely referred to as Eddie’s. Don Ahrens, Eddie’s son, sold the store in 2010 to Woodlands Market owner Don Santa. In 2016, Ross Residents Matt Nemer and Nick Mettler bought the store, tweaked the product selection and named it Ross Landing.

Longtime Tony Tutto Pizza fans can expect a similarly creative, farmers market-driven selection of vegetarian and vegan pizzas, along with an eclectic beer and wine selection and the addition of ice cream. Oh, and with nary an ATM in sight, Tutto is adding credit card transactions for the first time.

Oh, and there’s more good news for longtime customers: Tutto, who had a decades-long career in the music industry under his pre-pizza given name as the manager for the likes of Carlos Santana and Narada Michael Walden, is getting the proverbial band back together. Several of his former employees, including familiar faces Sammy and William who worked for him for all nine of his years in Mill Valley, are returning, as will Tutto's wife and scene-setter, Lynn.

"It's been a long journey, but I'm excited to start making pizzas again!" he says.

The 411: Tony Tutto Pizza is at 16 Ross Common. Open Wednesday through Sunday for lunch and dinner. 415.383.8646. For those that want to eat at home but don't want a cold pizza, Tutto can make half-baked, uncut pizzas for to-go orders. MORE INFO.

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​Larry “the Hat" Lautzker created the Mill Valley Community Block Party 21 years ago as a grand opening celebration for his Famous4 downtown clothing shop in downtown. The longtime music promoter continues to wrangle some of the best local musicians around for the annual event, this time lining up Marble Party, Michael LaMacchia and Friends and the Kenneth Brian Band with special guest Jason Crosby – along with some "very special guests."

The event, set for Sunday, Sept. 30 (1-5:30pm), takes over Throckmorton Avenue downtown between Bernard Street and Corte Madera Avenue. It benefits Kiddo!, the Mill Valley Schools Community Foundation that raises upwards of $3 million annually for programs and teachers in the arts, elementary physical education, classroom and library aides, technology and innovative teaching grants from transitional kindergarten through 8th grade in the Mill Valley School District.

It also features a fashion show showcasing clothing from some of the top boutiques in town, as well a beer garden, a Kids Zone from Steve & Kate's Camp, face painting and plenty of food.

The 411: The Mill Valley Community Block Party is Sunday September 30, 1-5:30pm at Lytton Square, 96 Throckmorton Ave. Mill Valley. MORE INFO.

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Melinda Neal gave birth to her daughter Leilani at the age of 15.

A junior at Fairfield High School at the time, that fact radically changed the course of her life.

But instead of a story about unmet personal and professional potential, Neal’s story, through a combination of determination, vision and unwavering family support, is one of unabashed success.

The longtime professional ballet dancer and revered Bay Area ballet instructor opened the Marin Conservatory of Dance on Miller Ave. earlier this year. In doing so, she sought to fill a void for a solely classical ballet-focused conservatory in southern Marin.

And if Neal ever needs a reminder of how far she and her family have come, she just needs to look across the studio at 448 Miller Ave. as her 25-year-old daughter, a professional dancer and model in her own right, teaches classes at MCD. Or watch her dance in a new music video. Or perform for the Oakland Ballet Company as she once did.

“A lot of these stories don’t get told,” she says. “I was an extremely young mother, but I learned that it’s something that you can overcome. It became a huge positive for our us. It doesn’t always happen that way.”

"To be honest, if it wasn’t for my family, I don’t know where i would be at this point," she adds.

Neal, a fourth generation San Franciscan whose family moved to Fairfield when she was young, did her early ballet training from Yanina Cwyinska and furthered that training under the tutelage of Oakland Ballet Company founder Ronn Guidi when she was 18. After earning her BA from St. Mary's College of California LEAP program for professional dancers, Neal danced professionally for 16 years with companies like Oakland Ballet Company and Peninsula Ballet Theatre and was a founding member of Napoles Ballet Theatre and Bay Pointe Ballet.

Neal co-owned "The Dance Network" for nine years in Fairfield and was the artistic director for the organization’s nonprofit youth ballet company. She's taught in the Bay Area for 19 years at places like Alonzo King Lines Dance Center, Alameda Civic Ballet, SF Arts Education Project, Peninsula Ballet Conservatory and Bay Pointe Ballet.

For more than seven years, Neal was the ballet director at Roco Dance’s studios in Tam Junction and Fairfax.

In 2017, Neal decided to retire after 16 years as a professional dancer. Although she still had a ton going on in terms of her work at Roco and her private coaching sessions and other ventures, she decided to get her real estate license. The plan was to teach two days a week and focus on being a real estate agent.

“But the idea of creating my own space – I just couldn’t get it out of my head,” she says. 

In December 2017, Neal decided to heed the requests of parents who’d encouraged her to open a school focused on classical ballet. She put real estate on hold and opened Marin Conservatory of Dance in the small shopping center between Red Dragon Yoga and the 24-7 Fuel station on April 23. MCD offers classes six days a week for both children and adults.

“I made the leap,” she says. “I feel like this is my calling.”

The 411: Marin Conservatory of Dance is at 448 Miller Avenue. MORE INFO. Here's a video of Melinda Neal teaching some of her students:

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Mill Valley resident Paula Purcell has spent the bulk of her career in real estate, from running her own property management company in Denver, Colo. and managing a wide portfolio of assets for Bermant Development Company in Santa Barbara to her current role as an asset manager for TDA Investment in San Mateo.

But Purcell’s also got a playful side that belies her career choices, and she’s ready to show that off here in Mill Valley. Purcell, who moved to the Bay Area 11 years ago, is set to open Paula James, a new retail shop at 365 Miller Ave. in the space formerly occupied by Anne Taylor’s Sienna Rose store. The shops opens in the first week of October.

“I’m 62 and I’m looking to do something that pleases my creative side,” says Purcell, who lives in Blithedale Canyon. “I have a fun, quirky side to me. People think I’m sophisticated but I also have a part of me that’s out there. I’m excited to show off that side of me.”

Purcell, originally from Ashland, Ore., says the shop’s moniker is drawn from her own and her grandfather’s first name, which she adopted as her own middle name many years ago.

Purcell says Taylor told her that she’d been planning to retire, and thought the time was right to make the leap. She says Paula James’ style and inventory will encompass some of what Sienna Rose had, with her own tastes mixed in as well.  

“I’ll have clothing that has good lines that are tasteful, that look good and allow people to express themselves either with the clothing or with accessories like jewelry and scarves,” she says. “And I would like to carry a lot of local products, and we’re developing those relationships.”

Purcell also plans to make art a central component of the shop, and has brought on a friend, local artist and jewelry maker Alison Brown, to work in the store. Art will grace the walls and shelves, along with some hand-woven goods, home goods, table linens, napkins, pillows, a grandmother gift section for infants, a section of books by local authors, a book exchange and much more.

“And places to sit,” Purcells adds. “I’m really looking to create the kind of store that would please me but that I could never find.”

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Jeffrey Levin, a master jeweler and the co-founder of Poet and/the Bench on Locust Ave., designs his signature jewelry collection and custom jewelry commissions under the eponymous  brand.

Levin and his wife and co-founder, Bonnie Powers, build on their passion for discovery through co-curation of an elevated mix of artists and mid century modern found goods. Their focus is on emerging and independent designers of jewelry, home goods, pantry, fragrance, paper goods and accessories. The Poet and/the Bench edit reflects a considered fascination with narrative, taste and a devotion to craft. Levin himself sat down for an edition of the shop's ongoing "Conversations with an Artist" series earlier this month:
​
Q: Describe the moment you realized art fed your soul.
A: It was in high school when I struggled with finding the elusive balance between concept and perception. I wanted to make it easier for people who looked at what I created to see that. Then, it was poster art; today it is metal, gems and forms.

Q: What themes do you pursue in your jewelry collections?
A: Simple complexity and comforting tactility that is perfectly imperfect.

Q: Tell us about what influences the direction for your jewelry.
A: I gravitate toward designing minimal, elegant and a bit edgy designs, mostly for women, and using precious metals and gems mixed with sterling and semi-precious gems. I love working with rose gold especially, as well as cognac and black diamonds because they add an unexpected drama to a piece. A new collection is typically inspired by a particular stone that I want to design around, or a shape or form that finds it way into my imagination.
Diamonds have generally played a big role in my work and I have pursued bezel and burnish settings more so than pronged settings. ​

I love how the bezel frames and brings a certain attention to the stone and the freedom from channels that allows a burnish setting to direct attention in both subtle and dramatic ways. But I’ve been working lately on a new prong setting—something unusual for me, and I’m excited to bring it to life.
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For men, I design the things I want to wear. I think there’s a new adornment focus that is making its way into men’s fashion and I’m really excited about expanding my work and inspiring others to take a bit of risk in this area.

Q: How has your work developed over time?
A: I went from being classically trained in a 3-½ year formal apprenticeship in South Africa to deconstructing my knowledge of filigree, wire work and precision to one of flow and letting my senses speak to my pieces.
Working in wax as opposed to directly in metal shifted the options dramatically to a more encompassing sense of possibilities. There’s a delicacy and precision, too, to wax. I prescribe to the practice that your piece is only as good as the wax. There’s a craft to not only sculpting jewelry but to producing the waxes.
​I’m good, but I also work with an incredibly talented caster who makes some of the best waxes in the business. Watching Chef’s Table on Netflix recently, I heard chef Magnus Nilsson of Fäviken in Sweden say, “Your food is only as good as your produce.” Magnus makes inspired and inventive food in the New Nordic Cuisine style and I love that we share a similar appreciation of the fundamentals in our craft but our applications are vastly different. ​

Q: What’s the most inspiring thing you’ve seen, read and listened to recently?
A: We visited the Designmuseum Danmark in Copenhagen and immediately became immersed in the depth of influence all of these creators brought to everything from home goods and furniture to posters and kitchen accessories and fashion. Reading about the makers, watching films that documented their process and even for some, their struggles, nudges me to be sharper and also my attitude, humbler. And to continue to look outside for references. The shape of the Finn Juhl 45 chair for example was a radical departure for armchairs because it freed the upholstered areas from the wooden frame. The end result was still bold and strong but also elegant. I want to push myself to explore those kinds of leaps in my own work.

Q: What advice would you give your younger self about your artistic journey?
A: Focus more on learning different techniques and don’t limit yourself. Listen to your instincts about the paths you choose, as with your art, you do know best.
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The 411: Check out the selection of jewelry by Poet and/the Bench goldsmith and co-curator Jeffrey Levin in the shop or set up an appointment to chat about designing a bespoke piece with Levin. Poet and/the Bench recently unveiled a new "hard & soft" theme, showcasing the work of designers who explore textural dichotomies, including Nan Collymore, Austyn Taylor, Shimoda Ceramics and Blanc Creative. MORE INFO.

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