Live and let live
It’s not like the teens are not using now [‘Legalization realization,’ Sept. 23]. Mr. Sabet is completely wrong on this issue. The best way to control teen use is to legalize. Also adults that do enjoy a causal toke should not be seen as criminals. These folks do not belong in jail or prison but have the option to enjoy their lives in the best manner they enjoy without nosy people interfering in their lives. Legalize live and let live.
—Elelo, via pacificsun.com
Too big
Stewart Parnell, CEO of a Georgia peanut plant knowingly delivers tainted peanut butter to 46 states, sickening hundreds and killing nine. A Federal court sentences Parnell to 28 years.
General Motors hides defective ignition systems for 10 years killing 124. The U.S. government fines GM chump change.
Too big to fail, too big to jail.
—Alfred Auger
This week in the Pacific Sun, you’ll find our ‘Consignment chic’ cover story, in which Flora Tsapovsky investigates the secondhand stores of the North Bay to find the best ones. On top of that, Joseph Mayton reports on Kaiser’s $22 million dollar purchase in San Rafael, Tanya Henry checks out San Anselmo’s new Farm Burger, Charles Brousse reviews RVP’s production of ‘Glorious!’ and Charlie Swanson unveils the winners of this year’s NorBays Music Awards. All that and more on stands and online today!
by Richard von Busack
Epic and oddly playful, Ridley Scott’s adaptation of Mountain View author Andy Weir’s bestseller The Martian combines the vastness of space with the intimacy of a podcast.
Speared by flotsam during a Martian windstorm, astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is presumed dead by his fellow crew members and left behind. This Robinson Crusoe on Mars is left to ingeniously kluge together a farm with duct tape and tarps, literally dig up energy sources and cook up a communication system to get in touch with home.
Back on earth, Watney’s marooning is a public relations mess. The cantankerous NASA chief (Jeff Daniels) seeks spin control. His head of PR is a worried Kristen Wiig. Meanwhile, a group of rebels within the organization, led by the mission controller (Chiwetel Ejiofor), concoct a plan to extract the astronaut. The rebels include a geeky punkette (Mackenzie Davis), a half-cracked student (Donald Glover) and an indomitable scientist (Sean Bean).
You don’t expect an adventure like this to be funny. Scott is usually a brooder, and when he goes comedic, as in A Good Year, he can be leaden. Yet screenwriter Drew Goddard (Cabin in the Woods) keeps the tone light and free of the philosophical blather that bloated Scott’s Prometheus.
The music of David Bowie, from his spaceman period, also helps lighten the tone, and is a good complement to the retro-electronic score by Harry Gregson-Williams.
The role of Watney brings out all of Damon’s best features: His solitude, strength and hard-bitten humor. His how-to videos and addresses to the camera have the fun of a good reality show. The endgame gets a little predictable, despite Jessica Chastain’s grace as the commander of the spaceship that left Watney behind.
The Martian is a real pleasure and quite unique—a spirited, sweet-tempered movie about survival.
by Charlie Swanson
Our annual appreciation of North Bay bands, the NorBays Music Awards, is taking a break from hosting a live concert and ceremony this year. We’re retooling the show to make it bigger and better, but in the meantime, we’ve still got awards to hand out to nine of the best bands and musicians in the North Bay, in categories that range from jazz to folk to hip-hop. Without further ado, the winners of the 2015 NorBays, as voted on by readers (that means you):
Blues/R&B: Volker Strifler
Santa Rosa guitarist and North Bay fixture Volker Strifler dazzles as a bandleader and solo act with superb blues licks and funky, breezy arrangements. His talent as a guitarist got him a gig as a member of the Ford Brothers Blues Band and his sound is often compared to Duane Allman.
Country/Americana: McKenna Faith
Technically, McKenna Faith is not from the North Bay, but we’re going to let it slide on account of her stunning songwriting ability and sublime voice. At 20 years old, Faith is a newcomer to the country music scene, but she’s already making a lot of noise in Nashville recording studios and touring nonstop all over the country. Her next show is on Oct. 10 at Wild Flowers Saloon in Healdsburg.
DJ: DJ Beset
The Petaluma-based DJ Beset makes the rounds between Sonoma and Marin County parties and clubs, spinning an eclectic array of reggae, dancehall, hip-hop, soul and mainstream hits. He’s been heard on Wild
94.9 and he’s been getting shout-outs most recently for his sizzling remix of Janet Jackson’s “No Sleeep.” A resident DJ at Flatiron in San Rafael, DJ Beset will be spinning there next on Friday, Oct. 2.
Folk/Acoustic: Misner & Smith
There’s something exceedingly timeless about folk-revival duo Misner & Smith, as if they stepped out of another era. In fact, Megan Smith and Sam Misner—who are also thespians, it turns out—met at a Shakespeare festival where they continue to perform, a testament to their old-timey enthusiasm and theatrical presentation. This fall, Misner & Smith are journeying through Europe on a cultural exchange trip. Their next North Bay show is on Nov. 22 at the Big Easy in Petaluma.
Hip-Hop/Electronica: Broiler
Santa Rosa underground rapper Broiler just dropped his ultra-dope LP Someone’s Thunder last June, and it’s packed with guest stars and sick beats. Look no further than the chill opening track, “Minivan Cruisin’,” a song about rolling down Mendocino Avenue in a Ford Aerostar.
Jazz: Hot Club Beelzebub
Hot Club Beelzebub is an infernally entertaining five-piece formed in Santa Rosa in 2010. The longtime friends who make up the band have their hands in several North Bay music projects, yet when it comes to cabaret-style jazz, there’s nothing like the bawdy and brash sound they make as the Hot Club.
Indie/Punk: The Velvet Teen
This has been a landmark year for Sonoma County indie rock trio the Velvet Teen. We’ve already fawned over their new record, All Is Illusory, released this summer; and we rocked at their blowout Phoenix Theater show in Petaluma last month. If you’ve not heard the new tunes from these North Bay favorites, now is the time.
Rock: Frobeck
There’s nothing low key about the funk rock of Frobeck. Led by keyboardist and vocalist Spencer Burrows, the band, which includes a full horn section and a tight rhythm foundation, has been cranking out feel-good grooves since 2005. Frobeck has amassed a dedicated North Bay fan base that enjoys the band’s high-energy live shows and top-notch musicianship. Frobeck’s next show is an album-release concert, where the band will unveil their new record, Sea of Truth, on Oct. 24 at HopMonk Tavern in Novato.
World/Reggae: Arcane Dimension
Most of us live in a world of three dimensions. And then there’s Arcane Dimension, the avant-garde, world music collective. With a melding of bowed guitar melodies, belly dancing, performance art and tribal drums, the edgy and envelope-pushing Arcane Dimension are highly influenced by main man Jarek Tatarek’s metal and industrial background. This month, as the votes came in for the NorBays, Arcane Dimension announced they were going on hiatus for the fall. But when they decide to return to the tribe, the band will have plenty of fans ready to welcome them back.
by Charles Brousse
Whatever its shortcomings, Peter Quilter’s play Glorious!, currently on view on weekends in the Ross Valley Players’ Barn Theater, may provide some insights on the unexpected popularity of presidential candidate Donald Trump. In a minute I’ll tell you why.
First, to the event itself. Glorious! is the first offering in RVP’s seven-play 2015-16 season, the 86th for this venerable company, whose members toil for love of what they do rather than fame or riches. For the RVP play selection committee it probably seemed a safe choice, the kind of frothy, small cast, easy-to-stage comedy that has traditionally been the bread and butter of community theaters around the country. Actors who fit the role descriptions were available and a comedy about someone billed as “the worst singer in the world” promised plenty of laughs.
Turns out, Glorious! is essentially a one-joke script that eventually collapses under the sheer weight of its repetitions. Ellen Brooks, an RVP regular capable of singing beautifully when the occasion warrants, brings a gutsy energy to the role of Florence Foster Jenkins, a real-life wealthy would-be diva who entertained invited audiences at soirees in her opulent New York hotel suite during the closing years of World War II. When she announced that to cap her career she would do a solo concert at 3,000-seat Carnegie Hall, her detractors predicted a disaster, pointing out that she had no sense of pitch, no phrasing, no vocal control and couldn’t carry a tune. Who would pay to see her? While all of these observations were accurate, to their chagrin she filled the hall with jubilant supporters.
Having listened to Jenkins’ original recordings, I can confirm that Brooks’ singing (if you can call it that) is at least as awful as the woman she is mimicking, and her portrayal of Jenkins as a rich eccentric is right on the mark. However, after a half-dozen full-throated screeches, the butchering of a Mozart aria and an endless stream of misguided self-promotion, the joke wears thin.
RVP’s supporting cast do generate occasional comic sparks. Mitchell Field, who looks and sounds like a typical semi-retired New York “man about town,” is well cast as Jenkins’ consort. Dependent on her largesse, he’s generous with his public praise, less so in private. Her faithful accompanist, Cosme McMoon, played by Dan Morgan, whose gay lifestyle is financially supported by their close working relationship, is another associate who sustains an awkward balance between his employer’s reality and her obvious fantasy. Maria (Maureen O’Donoghue), Jenkins’ non-English-speaking housemaid, has some funny moments when their communication breaks down, and Eileen Fisher, her flighty young neighbor at the hotel, tries hard to give her cartoonish character some dimensionality, but is defeated by Quilter’s script.
It’s all very lightweight stuff—good for a chuckle or two, but not much beyond that. As for the linkage with Trump, I see a strong parallel between Jenkins’ popularity (despite her absolute lack of talent), and the passionate support currently being given this clownish aspirant for the presidency. Part of the explanation (described in Glorious! director Billie Cox’s program note) is a widespread tendency to value action over inaction, even if it’s misguided. Part may be antiestablishment protest, and part a belief that to embrace inexplicable public lunacy is one way of asserting a “cool” individualism. In Jenkins’ case, the infatuation quickly ran its course. Hopefully, that will also be the case with The Donald.
NOW PLAYING: Glorious! runs through October 18 at Ross Valley Players’ Barn Theater, Marin Art & Garden Center, 30 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., Ross; 415/456-9555; rossvalleyplayers.com.
by David Templeton
“I can think of many real-life visits that were more pleasant than M. Night Shyamalan’s The Visit,” says author Nicole Cushing, referring to the notoriously inconsistent horror director’s latest cinematic effort. “The last visit I got from the Jehovah’s Witnesses,” she goes on, “was more pleasant than M. Night Shyamalan’s The Visit. My last visit to the Department of Motor Vehicles was more pleasant than M. Night Shyamalan’s The Visit. My last visit to the dentist was more pleasant than M. Night Shyamalan’s The Visit.”
“I think I can infer from this that you did not enjoy The Visit,” I reply.
“You’d be right,” she says with a laugh, adding, “I think it pretty much blowed.”
Cushing is the author of several short story collections and novellas, and the critically acclaimed new novel Mr. Suicide. A master of creep-your-skin-off horror, Cushing knows her way around scary scenarios, and isn’t afraid to take readers into dark corners of their own pattered psyches. In Mr. Suicide, she takes them a bit further than usual in the tale of a damaged child who does very bad things. It has been called one of those most disturbing horror novels to arrive in years.
As for The Visit, which some critics have actually liked, the story of a teenage brother and sister who finally get to visit their grandparents at a remote farm in Pennsylvania—and for some reason videotape everything even when things go a little bit crazy—the occasionally jarring moments of shock and horror are frequently softened by some ridiculous plotting and some characters who are less than convincingly real.
“Maybe I’m just jaded,” Cushing says, “but I kept waiting for something to happen that I thought was actually disturbing or creepy. At the very least, I wanted a payoff of some kind. If you are going to give me a second act that is filled with a lot of jump scares and fake outs, then at least give me a powerful payoff in the end.”
“This one did scare me, in places,” I confess. “But there were too many moments where I thought it was going to get really good—and then it didn’t.”
“I was reading a book by Ray Bradbury yesterday,” Cushing says. “It’s called Zen in the Art of Writing. In it, Bradbury says you really shouldn’t incite a reader’s sentiment toward any emotion without being willing to have that sentiment fulfilled. You shouldn’t tap into your audience’s sense of dread or sadness unless you are prepared to follow through and give them something to be frightened of, or a really good reason to cry. I think, in The Visit, the big plot twist at the end didn’t do it for me. There were suggestions of something far more interesting going on, but M. Night Shyamalan didn’t follow through and take us there, after dangling some interesting possibilities.
“As someone who loves disturbing stories,” she says, “it just didn’t work for me.”
“Was there anything about it that you did think worked?” I ask.
“There were a couple of moments that hinted at the possibility that something really special might be going on,” Cushing says. “As the film progresses, and as the situation becomes more and more clear, the actual setting of the story becomes literally more clear. When we first come onto the farm, it’s covered in snow, and there’s a thick mist all around. Then, as the story progresses, the mist gradually dissipates and the snow begins to melt—which is, I think, a kind of interesting metaphor for the truth of the situation being revealed.”
Cushing also thought that there were interesting things being done with mirror imagery.
“When the girl, who we learn does not like to look at herself in the mirror, becomes involved in an act of violence in which a mirror plays a part, I thought that was maybe building toward something kind of profound. I would have liked that, but it didn’t pay off. Instead, we just had these endlessly annoying kids, who I would have wanted to kill myself if I were locked in a farmhouse with them.”
“M. Night clearly thought that scenes filled with old people acting weird would incite some sort of primal fear of old people, or the inevitability of aging and death, or the unpredictability of Alzheimer’s,” I point out. “Is that a bad idea for a horror film?”
“Old people acting weird isn’t really that terrifying,” Cushing says. “I live in Southern Indiana. I see that on my sidewalk every day.”
“But there is a kind of fear of old folks that some people have,” I point out, mentioning the convalescent home across from my elementary school, where kids coming and going would cross the street to avoid encountering any of the elderly patients parked near the sidewalk in front of the facility. “I think Shyamalan was counting on tapping into that kind of nervous fear we sometimes have of elderly strangers. I think he believed he was doing for old people what Jaws did for sharks.”
“I only have my own experience,” Cushing says. “I remember my own grandparents, when I was little, and … grandparents are grandparents. Most people aren’t that scared of their own grandparents.”
Not that there isn’t a kind of natural fear of aging that some of us experience. Cushing allows that our culture often makes the physical decline of the human body into something to be repulsed by.
“I think a good horror movie could do something with that,” she says. “There’s something very freeing about addressing those kinds of fears in our art. It is a very normal, instinctive fear that some people have, especially children. My mother-in-law had a very severe case of arthritis, and I can remember her talking about going to the doctor, and having some little kid there in the office say that she must be a witch, because of her gnarled hands. It hurt her feelings when that happened.”
“Do you really think the fear of the old is an instinctive fear?” I ask.
“In a lot of cases, yes,” she says. “Some fears are taught. Racism—the fear of other kinds of people—that has to be taught. It’s not natural. It’s not instinctive. But a fear of the elderly is there in human nature. We don’t like seeing the human form changing and appearing to alter itself. By exploring that in our stories, we can find a way to talk about it and understand it.
“But not in this case,” she says with a laugh. “This movie is one visit that doesn’t do any good for anyone.”
by Tanya Henry
Trying to conjure up memories of the long-running Easy Street Café in San Anselmo’s Red Hill Shopping Center is now nearly impossible. Even after the short-lived Ross Valley Kitchen moved into the space at 882 Sir Francis Drake, the memory of a kid’s corner playhouse, friendly waitstaff and shabby dark carpet and tables still lingered. But now that the Southern-based Farm Burger has ridden into town and completely refurbished the 800-square-foot room in a modern barn-like motif, all vestiges of the longtime tenant are gone.
Barely two weeks old, the sixth outpost of this burger-focused restaurant chain that was founded by Jason Mann and George Frangos in Decatur, Georgia, has folks lining up for a seat at one of the two picnic tables, six-seat bar or the smattering of tables indoors and out.
With its carefully crafted brand, complete with three large images of grazing bovines, an orange and red cow logo, multiple blackboards and recycled wood everywhere, Farm Burger feels a bit concepted and gimmick-y. However, when it comes to the food—specifically the burgers and sweet potato fries, there is nothing disingenuous about them.
As expected, burgers are the stars here. At a price of $7.75, the choice of 100 percent grass-fed beef, chicken, pork or vegan is available and includes a handful of condiments. Additional items can be selected to “build” a custom version with such items as bacon, a fried farm egg, pork belly, Point Reyes blue cheese and more. The add-ons come at a charge of either $1 or $2 each.
Pic Walker, one of the local partners and San Rafael resident who has spent most of his career working on issues of sustainability, is thrilled to have the second West Coast outpost (the first is in Berkeley) right here in his backyard. “Part of the ethos here is to be as waste-free as possible,” he says.
I tried my first-ever chicken pot pie fritter that amazingly captured the inimitable flavor experience of that favorite Americana classic. A sherry date barbecue sauce accompanied the tasty nuggets, and for a moment I was transported to Grandma’s kitchen. The salads need more attention, though. A heavy tarragon-based dressing couldn’t elevate a seasonal market version.
Farm Burger has chosen its Marin locale wisely. Not only will kids flock to the rustic/modern burger joint, but adults will be equally enticed by the handful of reasonably priced wines by the glass and local beer offerings on tap and by the bottle.
Farm Burger, 882 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., San Anselmo; 415/785-4802.
by Joseph Mayton
Editor’s note: This story is under review following reports of challenges to the veracity of Joseph Mayton’s reporting for other publications.
Kaiser Foundation Health Plan’s purchase of a 148,000-square-foot office building in San Rafael has highlighted the growing interest of companies to move to the North Bay in an effort to acquire more space and avoid the high prices of San Francisco. With a $22 million price tag, the purchase may appear high, but Kaiser says it will give them more opportunities to serve the local communities of Marin and Sonoma counties.
Judy Coffey, senior vice president and area manager at Kaiser Permanente Marin-Sonoma, says that the new building will “allow us to serve our members and patients” in the region. The building at 1650 Los Gamos Drive in San Rafael is part of Kaiser’s continued expansion and goals of reaching more patients and clients.
“Over the next two years, we’ll be working with the city of San Rafael and our physicians and staff to plan and provide medical services in this newest medical office building,” Coffey says.
Kaiser told the Pacific Sun that the company was in the preliminary stages of development of the space, and would not provide any details on how the health provider will rework and redesign it.
With some 70 percent of the building available for lease when Kaiser made the purchase, it should allow the company to manage the space without being forced to evict, if necessary, any current lessees. At present, Genworth Financial and the education nonprofit 10,000 Degrees call 1650 Los Gamos Drive home.
It is unclear what will happen to those two entities.
This is not the first time that Los Gamos Drive has experienced an expensive turnover. According to Marin County officials, the office building at 1600 Los Gamos Drive was purchased for $28.4 million in 2011 and nearby BioMarin Pharmaceutical purchased the San Rafael Corporate Center for $116.5 million in early 2014.
Local reports say that the total cost of the county’s acquisition and improvement of 1600 Los Gamos was $82 million.
The vacancy rate for Class A office space—such as at 1650 Los Gamos—was about 20 percent countywide at the end of June. This is good news for many companies who are looking to keep infrastructure costs low, but are struggling to make it work in nearby San Francisco, where both commercial and residential prices have skyrocketed to unprecedented levels in the past few years.
The tech boom in Silicon Valley has resulted in the price increases that have disrupted the status quo for many across the Bay Area. Recent exoduses of the Cartoon Art Museum and the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine, a stem cell research agency, have highlighted the struggles of nonprofits and businesses alike in maintaining their San Francisco addresses.
The Institute had been in San Francisco for a decade, but announced that it was leaving for Oakland following the expiration of its 10-year free rent deal with the city, which expires in November. Spokesman Kevin McCormack says that to rent a comparable space would cost around $1.5 million each year, but in Oakland rent drops by half.
He added that when the Institute was looking to relocate, Marin was a contender, but Oakland eventually won out due to proximity to central urban areas.
Statistics published by The Information show that commercial rent per square-foot in San Francisco has nearly doubled in four years, from $34.02 in 2010 to $64.45 presently. In the third quarter of 2000, at the peak of the dot-com bubble, per square-foot commercial rent hit $67.20.
San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee’s office has pushed forward on initiatives to assist nonprofits to remain in the city, but it is proving difficult. His office says that they are doing “all that we can at the moment to assist the many requests for assistance that are coming in as rent prices soar.”
The Kaiser purchase may be the latest big deal to go through in Marin, but another prime location is currently on the market and has already sparked interest from San Francisco investors. The north San Rafael hilltop landmark building at 1 Thorndale Drive is reportedly set to be bought by a commercial investor from San Francisco, although details of the deal are only slowly emerging.
It is an interesting time for Marin’s most affluent office space, with some 40 percent changing ownership in the past three years alone, says San Rafael-based Newmark Cornish & Carey. The North Bay Business Journal reports that 1.8 million square feet has also been sold off in the same time period, “potentially expanding to two million square feet should the pending sales of 1 Thorndale and 100 Wood Hollow in Novato go forward.”
According to Marin officials, who were not authorized to speak to the media due to the purchase by Otto Finlay Investments being in escrow for $15.5 million, the deal is expected to be finalized by the end of the year.
“It should happen by mid-December if all goes well,” one official with knowledge of the deal says.
Marin has experienced an economic resurgence of late, largely as a result of the tech push-out spillover. It is also bringing with that same economic boom middle-class San Franciscans who have been pushed out by soaring rental prices. In many ways it’s a win-win for Marin and the North Bay, where rents are lower than the big city and allow for companies like Kaiser to draw a workforce from the area.
Martin Ghosin, a 29-year-old developer who works three days a week in Santa Clara, says that he left his home closer to work so he could help the company look for office space in Marin. “We are still looking, but we have a number of options and hopefully soon so I can stop commuting those three days, but I will say I have more space and the rent is much less than it would have been if I stayed down south.”
For him and others, the move to Marin means warmer weather and larger spaces. And now with the growing influx of companies like Kaiser and investment firms putting large sums of cash toward developing properties, the economic opportunities and jobs on tap are helping to re-establish Marin as a potential alternative to the exorbitant costs of staying in San Francisco and Silicon Valley.
By Flora Tsapovsky
Fashion lovers are divided into two groups: The secondhand lovers, and the ones who shy away from ‘someone else’s clothes.’ The latter usually go for well-known chains and predictable designer attire, but if you belong to the first group—well, things can get pretty confusing. Where do you shop in order to score? First, there are endless Goodwills, the go-to for cheap, gently used clothes. These can be hit or miss, and especially good Goodwill branches are usually kept in secret by those in the know. Then, there are vintage stores—think records hanging on the wall, a corset-clad salesgirl, lots of tulle and polyester. And last but not least, there are consignment stores, ranging from ‘luxury consignment’ to just your average consignment spot, to established chains like Buffalo Exchange and Crossroads.
Pricier than Goodwill and on the contemporary side of things, they often look like unassuming boutiques and may cost you the embarrassment of accidentally mistaking the clothes for new. Unlike cash-and-carry Goodwill, consignment stores can be places where deals are made; many offer store credit or cash for quality clothes you’ll bring in. The selection gets better as real estate prices in the neighborhood escalate, and given the price of real estate in certain Northern California counties, you can rest assured that the consignment market here is pretty much unbeatable.
I love secondhand, mainly for thrills and giggles, but also for the added value—always expect the unexpected, and if you don’t dwell on the previous life of a skirt or a blouse, you can end up with a very expensive find, having paid a very modest price. Consignment stores, especially in wealthy towns, are delightful treasure chests, and can offer an excellent taste map to the area’s demographic, history and style sensibilities. Equipped with this sentiment and a sharp eye, I set out to find the best stores in Marin, Sonoma and Napa counties. It wasn’t easy, but I imagine that those awesome dresses and handbags that readers will score thanks to this quest will be totally worth it.
Larkspur: What Poppy Wants
A true Marin County gem, this magical shop is a circus tent and a boudoir rolled into one. Owner Laura McGibben gathered an enviable collection of ’50s and ’60s gowns, elegant hats, vintage jewelry and designer finds, including Yamamoto and Elie Tahari, for a fraction of the original price. On a random visit, a lady was spotted shopping for a beach wedding-appropriate dress, and the options were plentiful. Alternatively, there’s a great selection of cowboy boots that McGibben brings from trips to her home state of Montana.1106
Magnolia Ave., Larkspur; 415/925-1145; whatpoppywants.com.
Mill Valley: Diamonds in the Rough
“You know how, when you visit a business and the owner is there, you get better service? Well, we’re here all the time,” says Sybil Mayfield, the owner of Diamonds. Mayfield and her husband Zach purchased the store
and rebranded it in 2006. The humble location, next to a thrift store, is a fashion magnet. On a random visit, a Chanel suit and a McQueen dress were witnessed, as well as Sam Edelman shoes, designer bags and moderately priced, hand-picked basics and accessories that passed Mayfield’s careful selection. “Our style is very modern,” she says. “I call it contemporary classics.”
448 Miller Ave., Mill Valley; 415/388-7773.
Point Reyes: Bloom Boutique
Point Reyes has cute atmosphere to spare, and Bloom, a two-year-old boutique, fits in perfectly. What singles Bloom out is the crisp, modern feel and the vacation vibes, with Cuban music in the background and smiling owner Diane Phillips behind the counter. “The name of my store, Bloom, was inspired by this beautiful poem by Anais Nin: ‘And then the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was greater than the risk it took to Bloom,’” says Phillips, who collects clothes from women from Bolinas to Inverness, and often travels to Santa Barbara, where her son goes to school, to bring in chic finds. Due to its coastal location, Bloom has a good selection of coats and boots, as well as elegant dresses and stylish shoes for every occasion.
60 4th St., Point Reyes Station; 415/663-8277.
San Anselmo: Georgi and Willow
Truth be told, this is the smarter, more chic and upscale venture by mighty Goodwill—and an interesting social experiment in consumer behavior and branding. While holding onto its nonprofit premise, the corner store is bigger, brighter and better looking than your average Goodwill. Accordingly, the selection is priced at a $20 average and carefully curated with everything from H&M to Trina Turk. Three racks of almost-designer dresses, an excellent shoe selection, enough sweaters and coats to dress a stylish, all-women book club and—gasp—a well-stocked men’s section, make this inviting store a worthy destination for stylish couples and budding fashionistas on a budget. A side note: The styles tend to cater to the younger crowd, as in sheer paneling, bold prints and sky-high heels.
649 San Anselmo Ave., San Anselmo; 415/721-7917; georgiandwillow.org.
Corte Madera: Swan Dive
A local institution of sorts, the cleverly named store promises—and delivers—high-quality designer consignment with Givenchy bags and Burberry trenches on the regular. While owner Jeannie Perry is a well-loved community member, clients rave about store manager Gabrielle Manchester, who functions as a stylist and a friend. “Ultimately, it’s a neighborhood store and we have regulars,” Manchester says. “In consignment, you really do rely on the community for the merchandise, since you can’t go and just buy a collection.” Unlike many consignment stores, Swan Dive maintains active Facebook and Instagram accounts, which inform eager customers about new arrivals.
One First St., Corte Madera; 415/927-3033; swandivestyle.com.
Santa Rosa: Paper Dolls Consignment
Tucked away in a remote strip mall, Paper Dolls is a tasteful gem and the best consignment store in Santa Rosa by a long shot. Owners Debbie and Laurel McCormick, a mother-and-daughter duo, don’t settle for staples like Talbots and Target. Instead, you can find an occasional esoteric European label, cool shoes by small indie brands and smart jewelry guaranteed to attract compliments. The modern vibe is completed by a website, where the owners gush over new arrivals.
748 Montecito Center, Santa Rosa; 707/539-2727; paperdollsconsignment.com.
Healdsburg: Favorites
Every store worth shopping at is hidden in a strip mall (see: Paper Dolls Consignment). Favorites, a Healdsburg staple off of the main street, modestly awaits. Inside, Anthropologie and Banana Republic coexist with the occasional designer dress. The helpful staff is crazy about their work, and it shows.
Mitchell Center, 435 Center St., Healdsburg; 707/433-2660.
Petaluma: Red Umbrella Consignment
Arguably the best store in the area, Red Umbrella has a number of things going for it: It’s big, bright and spacious, and it always has a number of discounted racks. And if you happen to bring an anti-consignment friend, there’s a small yet tasteful selection of new clothes. Don’t miss the awesome shoe selection!
120 A Kentucky St., Petaluma; 707/778-3499; redumbrellaconsignment.com.
Calistoga: Ella Blu Resale
This four-year-old consignment boutique has an upscale, classy feel, and not by accident: “I tell my consignors to bring Banana Republic and up,” says owner Kate Buck. The cozy, multi-room space is situated in an old building on a picturesque street, and indeed contains everything from J.Crew to Nordstrom. Wandering between the rooms is a pleasant treasure hunt. Buck, who calls the store’s style ‘Napa Valley casual,’ wants her customers to feel comfortable, and testifies that customers and loyal consignors come from as far as Sacramento.
1125 Lincoln Ave., Calistoga; 707/942-5600.
Sonoma: SISTERS Consignment Couture
Not too far from the bustling Sonoma Plaza, SISTERS always has your back, whether it’s a festive dress you’re looking for, or a casual striped shirt. Owner Chris Johnson named the store with affection to her own sisters, and the shopping experience isn’t unlike browsing a sister’s or a best friend’s closet—exciting, but thanks to the friendly prices, guilt-free.
117 W. Napa St., Sonoma; 707/933-8422; sonomaconsignmnet.com.
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