Renowned Mill Valley historian Chuck Oldenburg has teamed up with the Mill Valley Historical Society to publish Mill Valley History Vignettes, a collection of 150 vignettes, serving up an attractive, informative work that'll make the perfect holiday gift for local history buffs. 

Oldenburg will be signing books at the MVHS First Wednesday speaker event on Druid Heights at the Mill Valley Library on December 5 at 6:30pm. One week later on Dec. 12, Oldenburg will do the same at 7pm at the Library. 

You can also buy the book online here. Books are $10 for MVHS members/$15 non-members.

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Chris Wanner has been in the wine industry for nearly 20 years.

​And while the wine business is as global as it comes, with nary a vineyard-free landscape – wines from Ethiopia, anyone? – Wanner makes no bones about his favorite wine region and the vineyards he chooses to highlight at his West Coast Wine • Cheese shop, which opens its second Bay Area location on Friday, Nov. 30 at 31 Sunnyside Ave. in downtown Mill Valley.

“I’m kind of a homer, for sure – it’s all about California, Oregon and Washington,” he says of his Pinot Noir-heavy bottle list of approximately 330 wines. “That’s where my expertise lies, and I really love repping these brands and telling the stories of these winemakers and vineyard owners.”

“And I see us as not being just a place that sells wine, but a space that builds community around our wine and around those stories,” he adds.

The Wanners have planned an extensive opening weekend celebration, where they’ll showcase their inventory and their space, including a chalk-styled mural of the North Bay from ShipsCo. Studio. They’ve already got tasting events on the calendar with Birichino, Carlisle and Law Estate.

The 700-square-foot space is the former home of the Weathered Nest vintage home accessories space adjacent to Kitchen Sunnyside restaurant. It’s set to bring even more liveliness to a street that also boasts Prabh Indian Kitchen, Salvage, The Makery and Alexander’s Artisan Rugs.

​“Mill Valley has always had a downtown that is such a gem,” Wanner says. “This is what every other community in Marin aspires to.”

Wanner and his wife Lindsey, a patent attorney, opened their first West Coast Wine • Cheese shop and gathering spot in San Francisco’s Cow Hollow neighborhood in October 2014. The shop built momentum quickly, and garnered a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence in each of the past three years. The Wanners serve mostly wine from small-production winemakers and a rotating list of wines by the glass. They also serve both draft and bottled beers from the West Coast and an array of cheese and charcuterie plates as well as sandwiches, salads, snacks and appetizers.

“When we opened, no one in San Francisco was focused entirely on domestic wines, it was mostly imports, which was a big disconnect for me since so many of those places were so focused on local and organic sourcing for their food program,” Wanner says. “It frustrated me – people are making fantastic wine here and aren’t getting the representation that they’re due,” he adds. “So while some people might think our focus is unimaginative, this was a very deliberate choice about who we want to be.”

Wanner, who grew up in Stockton, got his start in the business at Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits, the largest wine and spirits distributor in the U.S., and later moved on to work in the tasting room at David Bruce Winery in Los Gatos.  

“That’s where I first learned that sales was for me,” Wanner says. “Once I got behind the bar and got to talking with people about wine, I knew what I wanted to do. And that’s where I fell in love with pinot. It’s the grape that has true elegance and structure and it has chameleon-like qualities that can take it in so many different directions. That’s what makes it so unique and why you never get tired of it because it’s always changing with soil and climate.”

Wanner also worked for Jim Beam’s wine division for a stretch, as well as Geyser Peak in Healdsburg and Wild Horse near Paso Robles. Wanner moved up the food chain into management, developing far-reaching relationships that began giving him the sense that he and Lindsey could launch their own venture.

The couple has a two-year-old son and is moving to San Rafael from their longtime home in San Francisco’s Marina district.
“We’re just really thrilled to be opening here,” Wanner says.

The 411: West Coast Wine • Cheese shop opens its second Bay Area location on Friday, Nov. 30 at 31 Sunnyside Ave. in downtown Mill Valley. Hours are Mon.-Wed., 5-11pm, Thu.-Fri., 4-11pm, Sat., 3-11pm and Sun. 3-10pm. MORE INFO.

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Most of us don’t spend a lot of time thinking about gas stations. They tend to be a fleeting transaction – we want it to be easy, quick and relatively cheap, all so that we can be on our way in a flash.

But for members of the Salkhi family, which has lived in Marin for decades, owned the Chevron station on 5 Ashford Ave. at East Blithedale Ave. since 2005 and been in business in Marin since 1983, they’ve long sought deeper ties to the Mill Valley community than being a significant generator of sales tax revenue, which accounts for as much as 8 percent of the City of Mill Valley's budget.

“This is our community, our kids go to school here, and we are always looking for ways to connect with and support our neighbors,” says Ajee Salkhi.

In recent years, the Salkhis turned that quest into action. They began sponsoring the performance stage at the annual Winterfest celebration, which returns to the Downtown Plaza this Sunday, Dec. 2, featuring a massive slide, a visit from Santa in a fire truck, a full day of live entertainment and music, children's activities, amazing local food and Tree Lighting and Menorah lighting ceremonies.

They also began supporting both with the Mill Valley Chamber’s Enjoy Mill Valley Fund, which seeks to support shovel-ready civic and community engagement projects throughout the 94941, as well as Kiddo, the Mill Valley Schools Community Foundation, which supports arts education and other programs throughout the Mill Valley School District.

They’ve done so with unique partnerships that go beyond one-off or even annual donations. The station donates one cent per every gallon of gas sold at the 5 Ashford station to both the EMV Fund and Kiddo, a sum that, in the case of the Enjoy Mill Valley Fund, adds up to approximately $10,000 per year.

“We’ve been thrilled to have the Salkhi family sponsor the performance stage at Winterfest, and our Enjoy Mill Valley Fund partnership has taken our efforts to raise money to support shovel-ready civic and community engagement projects to a whole new level,” says Mike Son, board chair of the Mill Valley Chamber. “To date, with the help of contributions from the Salkhis, the Outdoor Art Club and an array of generous donors, we’ve helped repair the Downtown Clock Tower, supported the restoration of the replica Gravity Car, made the free Movies in the Park series sustainable and bigger and better than ever and spearheaded a number of plantings and beautification efforts around town, with much more on the way.”

"The ongoing contributions from the Salkhi family's Chevron station have been incredibly helpful in our efforts to support arts education and other vital programs within the Mill Valley School District,” adds Kiddo Executive Director Bill Lampl. “These sorts of partnerships are vital cogs in our community, and we're very grateful."

The Salkhis are in the midst of planning for their station’s future and are hoping to modernize the site.

“Structurally, the building hasn’t changed much at all since the 1950s, so we’d like to update it a bit, add a small car wash and make some environmental upgrades like recycled water,” Salkhi says. “There are quite a few nice benefits to the community.”
Salkhi says they also plan to move bathroom access inside, a move specifically driven by safety concerns in the aftermath of an early morning robbery at the station in February.

They’re awaiting a date on the calendar of the Mill Valley Planning Commission, and have been conducting extensive outreach to neighbors and local organizations like the Mill Valley Streamkeepers to inform them of the plans and solicit feedback.

“We’re excited for the next chapter of this station,” Salkhi says.

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When retail industry veteran Amy Lowery took a job in visual merchandising for Serena & Lily in Sausalito two years ago after stepping away for 10 years to raise her four children, she did so with tempered expectations.

“I wasn’t sure what it would be like after having been away for so long,” says Lowery, a 12-year Mill Valley resident who previously worked at Gap Inc. for 11 years, mostly in merchandising and buying. “But that time was instrumental in knowing that I could go back to work full-time, the kids would be fine and everything would be manageable. It allowed me to feel like I had bandwidth to take on something new.”

That something new is The Edit, “a jewel box of curated women's apparel, handbags and jewelry” within the Mill Valley Lumber Yard at 129 Miller Avenue. Lowery officially opened the shop earlier this month, bringing a long-simmering idea into fruition. She celebrates with a grand opening on Thursday, Nov. 29, 5-8pm as part of the Mill Valley Lumber Yard’s “Enchanted Evenings,” a series of Thursday holiday shopping happy hour events featuring bites and treats from Flour Craft Bakery and the soon-to-open Watershed Restaurant, while MVLY's host of retails tenants, including Ambatalia, Bloomingayles, FarmHouseUrban, Makers Market, Spirited Marin and the newest tenant, Aviator Nation. The series runs through Dec. 20.

“I’m feeling really good – it’s been a wonderful response so far,” says Lowery, who calls her clothing selection a “mix of classics with boho chic vibe with fun prints and colors – East Coast meets West Coast. It seems like the community is excited to have another place to shop.”

So what was the deciding factor in Lowery turning her dream into a reality? As has been the case for many of the Lumber Yard’s ever-growing roster of tenants, it was the vision of Matt and Jan Mathews, and the space they’ve created on the historic property.

“This is a really magical space in the heart of Mill Valley and it feels very tucked away with the gorgeous view of Mount Tam and it’s becoming a great destination for people to come and socialize and be part of the community and shop and dine,” Lowery says. “It just felt like the right place to have a store and I really wanted to be part of that community feeling. I’m excited.”

The 411: Amy Lowery’s The Edit retail shop celebrates its opening on Thursday, 129 Miller Avenue, 5-8pm, as part of the Mill Valley Lumber Yard’s “Enchanted Evenings,” a series of Thursday holiday shopping happy hour events. Free.

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Growing up in the largely middle-class Italian and Jewish neighborhood of Carnarsie in Brooklyn, N.Y. in the 1960s and 70s, Bob Minkin was mesmerized, from some 3,000 miles away, by the explosion of music coming from the Bay Area: Jefferson Airplane, John Cipollina and Quicksilver Messenger Service, Janis Joplin, Santana, the New Riders of the Purple Sage, and of course, Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead.

Like many teens and twenty-somethings of that era, he did something about it. More than 40 years later, Minkin is regarded as one of the Bay Area’s preeminent music photographers. On Dec. 7 at the Depot Bookstore & Cafe, Minkin will present a slideshow of his music photos, sit for a discussion and Q&A and have a meet and greet signing of “The Music Never Stopped,” his latest photography book, which is entirely focused on Marin County’s music scene, particularly the unrelenting live music at Bob Weir’s Sweetwater Music Hall, where he serves as the house photographer, as well as Phil Lesh’s Terrapin Crossroads in San Rafael.

The book also features written contributions and stories by many musicians, including Jorma Kaukonen, Steve Kimock, and Bill Kreutzmann, each adding an intimate perspective.

Minkin's journey began in the summer of 1977, right after high school graduation, when Minkin found a “Summer of Love” 10-year anniversary pull-out map of San Francisco within Rolling Stone magazine, complete with locations where the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane had lived in the Haight-Ashbury area. Minkin was geeked to see it all in person, and he somehow convinced his father to book him a cheap round-trip flight to San Francisco.

“I just said to myself, ‘That’s it, I can’t take it anymore, I gotta get out there,” Minkin says. 

He did just that, without any place to stay or a hotel reservation. Upon his arrival, a patient cab driver took him to a few hotels until he found one in the Marina district. He set off for Haight Street, found the Dead’s house on Ashbury, walked around Golden Gate Park and eventually spotted a flyer on a pole promoting the Jerry Garcia Band’s upcoming show on the Embarcadero, featuring Mill Valley’s Maria Muldaur.

Minkin had long been taking his camera with him to shows in New York and elsewhere, mostly to populate his personal scrapbooks. He did so at the Embarcadero concert as well, and was stunned at the results. “Those pictures I took that day were a monumental moment in my life,” he says.

Minkin reached out to a friend whose boyfriend was the publisher of Relix magazine, which published the photos and continues to publish Minkin’s work 40 years later. Minkin came back to San Francisco for the Grateful Dead’s New Year’s Eve shows at Winterland a few months later, this time with a better camera. Those shots convinced him that his concert photography could be more than just a hobby. Those shots occupy 10 pages of his first photography book, “Live Dead,” which came out in 2014.

Minkin didn’t immediately move to the Bay Area back then, as he attended the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, where he met his eventual wife, Anne Minkin, a wine ambassador for the Boissett Collection. They moved to the Bay Area in 1990, and the couple lives in Novato. Minkin has been as rooted in the Marin and Bay Area-wide music scene as any photographer over the past 40 years.

“I have thousands and thousands of photos going back more than 40 years now,” Minkin says. “It’s pretty overwhelming and you need to frame it to put it into context.”

In searching for a way to do so, Minkin kept coming back to those years after Garcia died in 1995, how the other members of the Grateful Dead moved onto other iterations and also spawned a legion of other bands that “didn’t necessarily play exactly like them but played with their same mentality and vibe,” Minkin says.

Minkin also thought hard about the fact that two Grateful Dead legends, Bob Weir and phil Lesh, opened their own music venues in Marin, the Sweetwater Music Hall and Terrapin Crossroads, respectively, around the same time five years ago. Along with an array of other venues, and the post-Garcia bloom of bands inspired by the Dead, Minkin kept coming back to the Grateful Dead song “The Music Never Stopped,” from their 1975 album Blues for Allah.

“The music really never stopped after Jerry’s death, and especially here in Marin,” Minkin says. “So I framed it around geography, and all of the venues in Marin that have hosted so many great concerts over the years.” 

Marin is the thread, and the medium is the onslaught of great concerts from both Bay Area bands and those from all over the country. "It was a fantastic experience going through these thousands of photos – there have just been so many amazing shows here in Marin over the past 40 years,” Minkin says. “It’s just incredible.”

The 411: Rock photographer Bob Minkin brings his latest book, “The Music Never Stopped,” to the Depot Bookstore & Cafe, 87 Throckmorton Ave., on Friday, Dec. 7 at 7pm. Minkin will present a slideshow of his music photos, sit for a discussion and Q&A and have a meet and greet signing of the book. Free. MORE INFO.

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Make your New Year's Even plans yet?

Murphy Productions and Famous4 Productions have landed one heck of a NYE bash, nabbing Bay Area favorite Petty Theft to perform a New Year's Eve tribute to Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers at the Mill Valley Community Center. The Dec. 31st show kicks off at 9pm with a set from DJ Richard Habib.

Petty Theft is comprised of six Bay Area musicians that came together in 2003 to pay tribute to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. They deliver Petty’s songs true to the originals and in the spirit of his legendary band's live shows, performing everything from his revered classics to his most current hits. The band has always been a major draw, but their popularity has skyrocketed in the wake of Petty's tragic passing in 2017.
 
The band features Adam bagel Berkowitz on drums, Dan Durkin on lead vocals, guitar & harmonica, Django Bayless on bass & vocals, Michael Papenburg on guitar, Mike Emerson on keyboards, and Monroe Grisman on lead guitar & vocals. 

The 411: In a show from Murphy Productions and Famous4 Productions, Petty Theft performs a New Year's Eve tribute to Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers at the Mill Valley Community Center, 180 Camino Alto. Tix $55-$65. Tix available online and at Famous4, 96 Throckmorton Avenue. MORE INFO & TIX.

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Looking for a different slice of holiday musical fare?

The Community Church of Mill Valley has you covered. On Friday, Dec. 7 at 7pm, the church is hosting Legends of the Celtic Harp as they perform "A Winter Gift," a concert and storytelling event featuring premier Celtic harpists Patrick Ball, Aryeh Frankfurter and Lisa Lynne. The performance, features a number of Celtic legends along with Irish and English literature woven together with beloved and rare pieces of holiday music. 
 
This trio is well known for their first show "Legends of the Celtic Harp," which tells stories and legends of the harp through time. In their new show “A Winter Gift,” storyteller and wire-strung harpist Patrick Ball along with harpers and multi-instrumentalists Lisa Lynne & Aryeh Frankfurter step into the world of Irish and English literature. The trio presents a heartwarming collection of tales and music from Celtic legend and traditional folk stories. They perform a  Child’s Christmas in Wales, a chapter from The Wind in the Willows, and passages from Shakespeare, William Butler Yeats, and Thomas Hardy, and mingle them with beloved and original pieces of seasonal music. Audiences will hear three Celtic Harps, Swedish Nyckelharpa, Fiddle, Bandura, Bouzouki and more.

The 411: The Legends of the Celtic Harp perform "A Winter Gift" at the Community Church of Mill Valley, 8 Olive Street on Friday, Dec. 7 at 7pm. Tix $10-$20. MORE INFO & TIX.

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A Bay Area tradition for 23 years, Singers Marin's uplifting “Tis the Season, Sing Joy!” holiday concert offers a chance to celebrate the season with family and friends. The latest edition, at which seven youth and adult choral ensembles sing seasonal favorites from around the world and fill the room with the holiday spirit, hits the stage at the Marin Veterans’ Memorial Auditorium in San Rafael on Sunday, Dec. 16.

Join Singers Marin founder and artistic director Jan Pedersen Schiff (at left) and her team and sing and tap along with the many cherished seasonal favorites including the traditions of Christmas, Hanukkah, and songs of peace. Guest Artists include the male professional a cappella ensemble, Chorum.  Special visual and lighting effects create an enchanting holiday concert. 

The 411: Singers Marin's “Tis the Season, Sing Joy!” holiday concert hits the stage at the Marin Veterans’ Memorial Auditorium, 10 Ave of the Flags in San Rafael, on Sunday, Dec. 16 at 4pm. Tix $25-$40. MORE INFO & TIX.

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Food insecurity is not an "over there" problem. It's right here, in Mill Valley, and throughout our largely affluent county.

From now through Dec. 28, the Mill Valley Chamber is joining hundreds or organizations across Marin to host a food drive to combat food insecurity, pledging to raise 400 pounds of mostly canned food for the SF-Marin Food Bank. Donations can be made at the Chamber's office at 85 Throckmorton Ave. on the Throckmorton side of the Depot building downtown.

The San Francisco Chronicle's "Hidden Hunger" series seeks to document the plight of individuals and families in the Bay Area, where one in 10 residents earns too little to cover the cost of living, with 62 percent of those, earning too much to qualify for food stamps. As part of the series, the Chronicle recently profiled former Mill Valley preschool director Sheryl Boucher, who used to donate to the SF-Marin Food Bank and now picks up groceries from two of the organization's nearby food pantries – inside the community room at the Hilarita Apartments in Tiburon and at Holy Innocents Episcopal Church in Corte Madera – each week, which she says has saved her hundreds of dollars.

Boucher also goes to a free lunch for Marin seniors every Friday. According to SF Marin Food Bank officials, even in one of the wealthiest U.S. counties, Boucher's situation is not unique. One-third of seniors in Marin County live below the self-sufficiency standard of $27,000 per year to cover basic costs of living.

How can you help? Drop off your food donations at the Chamber, with an emphasis on pop-top cans and tear-open pouches of tune, chicken and salmon, as well as canned, low-sodium stews and chilis and nut butters. No pet food, glass containers or opened packages.  

PLEASE DONATE WHAT YOU CAN!

The 411: From now through Dec. 28, the Mill Valley Chamber is hosting a food drive for the SF-Marin Food Bank, pledging to raise 400 pounds of mostly canned food. Donations can be made at the Chamber's office at 85 Throckmorton Ave. on the Throckmorton side of the Depot building downtown. Questions? Call 415.388.9700 or email info@millvalley.org.

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The Mill Valley film festival customized for adrenaline junkies, outdoor lovers and documentary film buffs arrives once again at the Throckmorton Theatre this month with the 7th Annual MountainFilm adventure and environmental documentary festival. The event kicks off on Nov. 30 and runs through Dec. 2, with more than "30 visceral, inspiring, and gripping tales from the edge of the believable," according to festival organizers.

In addition to the film screenings, which include The Dawn Wall on opening night, Into the Okavango on Dec. 1 and Mind the Gap and Science Fair on Dec. 2, the event features an array of Q&As and guest speakers, discussion panels and parties. It also includes a kid-centric Kids Kino series of short film screenings on Dec. 2

The 411: Throckmorton Theatre's 7th Annual MountainFilm Fest is Nov. 30-Dec. 2. 142 Throckmorton Avenue. MORE INFO & TIX.​ Three-day passes available here. Sponsorship opportunities available here.

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When longtime Los Angeles film and television production designer Floyd Albee took a job in the Bay Area for Subaru in January, he had no idea the gig would change the lives of him and his family.

Like many before him, he didn’t anticipate the irresistible impact of Northern California’s redwood trees. On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, during a break in production from shooting the Subaru commercial, which was filmed all over Marin County, from GGNRA land to Nicasio, Albee took a stroll from the Mill Valley Inn where he was staying.

“I walked into Old Mill Park, looked around in awe and said to myself, ‘this is a city park?’” he says. “It looked nothing like the city parks I’m used to seeing in Los Angeles. It was just incredible. Then I set off down Cascade Drive, and I was just bowled over by the homes in that neighborhood. I even took a photo of a house I loved.”

Fast forward 10 months, and Albee, his wife Julia and their two sons live in Mill Valley, in a cabin they rented on Cascade Drive – the exact same home he took a photo off on that January jaunt. And they’ve just opened Prevalent Projects, a home decor shop at 61 Throckmorton Ave., half of the long-empty space that was vacated by the Tyler Florence Shop in 2014. It’s geared toward interior designers looking for the perfect items for their next home design project, as well as people on the hunt for a special addition to their home.

“Initially it seemed daunting, but then we realized that as you come down the hill towards it, the far wall seems like an entire billboard for the store – we could just envision the whole thing and it felt like the best location we could possibly ask for,” Albee says of the store, which the couple had been considering for the past few years, drawing on their own design backgrounds, with inspiration from friends who have done the same.

The Albees see their home decor selections as modern, clean and minimalist with an Japanese and Scandinavian aesthetic. The space boasts an array of products, from unique pieces of furniture to state of the art record players and sound systems and incense from Japan.

More than anything, they want the shop to fit the community they’ve fallen for.

“We’re trying to make this a really personal experience,” Julia Albee says.

“With what Amazon and the internet have done to traditional retail, if you’re going to get anyone out of their house and their pajamas, it’s got to be fun and nice and a pleasant experience,” Floyd Albee adds.

The Albees say that they’d been thinking of moving out of Los Angeles for some time – ready for a new experience, tired of the crazy LA traffic, particularly with two children. But their life change, they say, has been more about how much Mill Valley has been a revelation than simply their desire to leave LA.

Beyond the parks, the infrastructure and the sense of community, they’ve been taken by the breadth and depth of fundraising for local schools, as their sons attend Old Mill and Mill Valley Middle.

Measure J, the $149 per parcel Tamalpais Union High School District tax, which garnered support form more than 73 percent of voters, “was like watching democracy in action,” Floyd Albee says. “This is how you were told government works as a kid. This is not how things happen in Los Angeles.”

“The nature, the community, the school's – all of it – it's just absolutely incredible,” he adds, noting that all four Albees chuckle when friends complain about local traffic. “We’re so enamored with what’s happening here.”

A fourth generation Californian born in Carmel, Floyd Albee was something of a nomad as the son of a General Motors employee, having lived in Monterey, San Ramon, San Jose and New York over the years. The family moved back to California in 1987 and he lived there until the family’s move to Mill Valley.

Albee studied architecture in college and landed a role at the firm of legendary architect Frank Gehry, later opening his own firm. In the midst of working on a home remodel for a film director, his client taught him what a production designer did and suggested he explore it.

“It never occurred to me that that was a job,” Albee says of the person charged with identifying a design style for sets, locations, graphics, props, lighting, camera angles and costumes in a film, television or commercial shoot.

His first big production design job was on Tombstone, the 1993 Western starring Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer. “I drove out to Arizona, and on the first day of filming, there were 300 extras in western attire – it was like being in 1885,” he says.

Albee enjoyed a long, illustrious career as a production designer that sent him all over the world for film, television and commercial work. At the same time, Julia Albee was an established commercial photographer in LA, having studied at Santa Monica College and landed jobs working with a celebrity photographer and shooting for a number of brands, including Kelly Cole and Le Swim.

She later worked with her husband on his production design projects, and as they navigated the ebbs and flows of an ever-changing media industry, the couple launched their own interior design business, Prevalent Projects, partnering with a former designer who previously worked at Commune Design in West Hollywood, best known in the Bay Area for its work with Heath Ceramics, Tartine and Farmshop.

In crafting the aesthetic for their home decor shop, they also drew inspiration from Wilder, a design shop created by some friends in Nashville Tennessee. The model as they see it, is straightforward: you curate and handpick products that show your tastes and sensibility, and designers and homeowners come to select pieces to include in their projects.

“Those conversations with friends were so inspiring to us, and we decided to make the leap,” Floyd Albee says.

In less than a year, the Albees have found community in Mill Valley, and they say they’re thrilled to have their new friends and those they haven’t met yet into their downtown Mill Valley shop.

“Everything is coming up roses,” Floyd Albee says.

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In the first few days after the fires ignited throughout the North Bay and seemed to be spreading everywhere, Ambatalia owner Molly de Vries and her friend, designer Jess Brown, like many of us, found themselves overwhelmed with the desire to help but feeling lost as to exactly how to do so effectively.

The pair, along with friend Dana Weitzenberg of Lobstervine Web Design, came up with the idea of creating California Fire Help, a web pop-up shop featuring artwork and products donated by the artists and designers they know throughout Mill Valley and the North Bay, with 100 percent of proceeds beyond taxes and shipping going to the North Bay Fire Relief Fund. The trio raised more than $38,000 for fire victims.

Now, with fires ravaging communities of Malibu and Paradise and beyond, they're back at it. 

"So many artists and designers have jumped in and, honestly, with the website platform we can take as many as want to participate," de Vries says. "The outpouring of support from this community has been beautiful."

The 411: GO TO CALIFORNIA FIRE HELP. Learn more about each artist/designer.

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The Mill Valley Lumber Yard has increasingly become one of Mill Valley's premier destinations, with an ever-growing roster of tenants.

Owners Matt and Jan Mathews are seizing that momentum at the end of of 2018 by launching 'Enchanted Evenings,' a series of holiday shopping happy hour events designed as "a great way for folks to shop for the holidays and have fun at the same time!" Jan Mathews says.

The events, which promise to be "sparkling with lights and levity," are set for Thursday evenings, 5pm-7pm, starting Nov. 29 and running through Dec. 20, at the Lumber Yard, 129 Miller Avenue.

Flour Craft Bakery and the soon-to-open Watershed Restaurant will provide "delectable baked goods" and appetizers, respectively, while MVLY's host of retails tenants, including Ambatalia, Bloomingayles, The Edit, FarmHouseUrban, Makers Market, Spirited Marin and the newest tenant, Aviator Nation, will be open for business. Artists Victoria Mimiaga, Francis Whitnall and Guy Chambers will also have their MVLY studios open during these events.

The 411: The Mill Valley Lumber Yard's 'Enchanted Evenings,' a series of holiday shopping happy hour events, are set for Thursday evenings, 5pm-7pm, starting Nov. 29 and running through Dec. 20, at the Lumber Yard, 129 Miller Avenue. MORE INFO.

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"Shop Local. Shop Mill Valley."

We say, write and post these words on social media all the time. 

But what do they really mean? 

Here in Mill Valley, particularly among retailers, those words mean resisting the urge to use your local stores to comparison shop before doing the seemingly inevitable: heading to Amazon.com, finding the product you spotted in your favorite local shop and buying it with one-click, knowing it'll show up at your door within two days. It's magic – a completely friction-less transaction, right?

While the purchase may seem like the pillar of tech-driven efficiency, it has its costs. Store owners in town say they see it every day: a potential customer walks in the door, finds just the product they're looking for, hovers for a bit, whips out their phone and snaps a pic of the item and its price tag. Amazon.com (or its big box brethren), here we come.

Let's be clear: saving a few bucks is always important, but doing so runs the risk of losing some of what makes Mill Valley the truly special place we love. Local shop owners say that while the economy is doing well, competing on price with the likes of behemoth Amazon and the big box stores is nearly impossible, all while their fixed costs, particularly rent, utilities and the difficulty of hiring in a saturated employment market with skyrocketing home prices, continue to climb.

On top of that, the vast majority of businesses in Mill Valley are mom-and-pop shops. That means that the people who own it are likely your kid's baseball or soccer coach, the dad who donates burritos for the end of season party or the mom who organizes the car pool to school.

And here's one more for you: When you buy a product at a Mill Valley shop, you walk out the door with that product. Even Prime can't beat that! You also skip the massive amounts of packaging waste – seriously, does a pair of shoes for your toddler need to arrive in a box that could fit a 55-inch TV in it? – that comes with ordering products online.

This is not an admonishment. It's also not an all-or-nothing exercise. It's just a challenge. And we're here to help!

Know a local store that sells the product you want? Support them as often as possible. Not sure if anyone in Mill Valley carries the product you want? Lean on us – we can help be your Mill Valley shopping concierge! Email us at info@millvalley.org or call 415.388.9700 and we'll set you straight.

​If you need any more incentive, there's the City of Mill Valley's annual tradition of waiving metered parking for the time allowed during the holidays. From Friday, Nov. 23 to Sunday, Dec. 31, skip feeding the meter for allowable time. 

#SHOPMV! GO HERE FOR MORE DETAILS.

Addendum:

Mill Valley Chamber Co-Director Paula Reynolds, as she often does, practiced what we preach this week, doing her holiday shopping exclusively in the 94941. We thought you might get some great ideas from the list below:

• From Woodland Pets, nutritious “Orijen” cat treats and a “Jackson Galaxy” toy for my daughter's new kitten, as well as a “Kurgo” dog camping/hiking harness for my son's new german shepherd.
• From The Goods, a cashmere poncho, a cashmere scarf for my husband, a cashmere scarf for my son, and a lightweight cotton scarf from Nepal. Also several boxes of 20 Copper LED string lights for my sister in law, who will use them to decorate her holiday table.
• From Spot Pet Care, two bone treats for my son's dog. (They directed me to Woodlands Pets for the harness. Nice “locals helping locals”.)

• From Proof Lab, $10 Board shorts on sale for my son, as well a copy of Yvon Chouinard’s “Let my People go Surfing.” I also bought him a $40 Excel rash guard on sale for $10, and surfer boxer shorts for my sons' stockings. They also make amazing signs out of cut up license plates. I bought one that just had the letters “Marin," pictured at right. They have other great ones like Stinson Beach, Mount Tam etc.
• From Once Around, a leather pencil/brush bag and Johanna Bashford adult coloring book for my daughter, who has taken up drawing as a hobby in the evenings after work.
• From Terrestra, a hair clip wrapped in Japanese Obi material for people with thick long hair and a wooden salt and pepper shaker.
• From Two Neat, doggie patterned socks for Peter and Carrie.
• At the MV Lumber Yard, our Thanksgiving center piece from Bloomingayles and a namesake “Charles” chocolate bar from Makers Market for my son stocking. 

Between this list and our Winter Must Haves feature in the 2018-19 Enjoy Mill Valley Winter Guide, you've got plenty to choose from! Have other recommendations? Let your neighbors know in the comments below. And again, if you aren't sure where to go in town for that special item you need, email us at info@millvalley.org or call 415.388.9700 and we'll set you straight.

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