Enjoy Mill Valley Blog

Outdoor dining at Vasco. For restaurant owners, their employees and patrons, the past two months was a rollercoaster ride you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy. ​Outdoor dining was banned as part of the state’s stay at home order (indoor dining shut down in November), they were forced to rely entirely on takeout and delivery throughout…

Outdoor dining at Bungalow 44. For the first time in seven weeks, the vast majority of Mill Valley’s consumer-facing businesses are on the receiving end of a dose of good news. Citing new projections for the Bay Area’s ICU capacity above the state’s minimum of 15 percent four weeks from now, Gov. Gavin Newsom and the California…

Scenes from the 2019 Milley Awards. Photos by Jim Block. Like just about all of Mill Valley’s landmark events, the Milley Awards took a pause in 2020 due to the COVID-19 crisis.  In a letter to Milley Award supporters and friends, Amy Torrano, the chair of the program’s executive committee, said that organizers “held tight and…

The Outdoor Art Club continues its series of engaging virtual speaker events with ​licensed marriage and family therapist Gail Weiner, who has helped individuals, couples, and families improve their relationship skills for over three decades, with particular expertise in guiding mid-life women to successful dating and helping couples connect more deeply. Weiner will share clinical research,…

Ramon “CZ” Colon-Lopez receives a COVID-19 vaccine at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, Md., Dec. 21, 2020. (DOD Photo by Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Carlos M. Vazquez II). Despite a federal goal of 20 million Americans receiving the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine by the end of 2020, the government fell well…

Among the many sectors that got a key dose of good news this week with the end of the stay-at-home order was youth sports. Among those youth sports organizations was Dave Fromer Soccer, which is ready to launch After School Soccer Classes on Feb. 1. Fromer’s outdoor soccer classes provide kids with physical exercise and…

UPDATE 1.25.21: With the end of the state’s stay-at-home order, downtown Mill Valley eatery is serving to-go food with outdoor seating. Depot Cafe & Bookstore’s Mark Martini, Mary Pult and Paul Lazzareschi. Photo by Gary Ferber. In the words of the late rock legend Tom Petty, “You take it on faith, you take it to…

The new public bathrooms within the Depot building at 87 Throckmorton Avenue. The location of the public bathrooms within the Depot building. In 1984, then-Mill Valley Mayor Richard “Dick” Jessup, who designed the Depot Plaza, first sketched out a downtown public bathroom location on the plaza. Over the following 37 years, loo seekers had options in…

Since his arrival in Mill Valley in 1974, Larry “the Hat” Lautzker, purveyor of hip apparel, producer of an array of live concerts (remember those?) as well as some of the 94941’s most cherished events, including the Mill Valley Memorial Day Parade and the Community Block Party for more than 15 years, has been a force…

The Sweetwater Music Hall crew. For the first time since, well, March, the Mill Valley arts community – largely unable to function because of their inability to gather people in a room to celebrate art in all its splendor – has gotten a few doses of good news on the relief front. Gov. Gavin Newsom…

The future home of the Marin Conservatory of Dance at 365-367 Miller Avenue. Marin Conservatory of Dance founder Melinda Neal, at top right, with her daughter Leilani, along with scenes from classes at the current studio at 448 Miller Avenue. Courtesy images. While there has been plenty of innovation, pivoting and amazing feats of resiliency…

The play, which gets a digital world premiere from Jan. 26 through Feb. 28, originated from playwright Lauren Gunderson’s realization that she was “waking up every day next to someone who specializes in pandemics when we’re in the middle of a pandemic.” Nathan Wolfe on the cover of the July 2020 issue of Wired magazine.…