Oct 12: AIM Film Festival at the Arlene Francis

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Now in its fifth year, the American Indian Movement (AIM) International Film Festival once again brings a world of acclaimed films to Santa Rosa, exemplifying the spiritual and self-determining movement of resistance against colonization that is being waged by indigenous people in America and beyond. The 2014 lineup presents five acclaimed feature-length films from Mexico, Australia, Gaza and North America. Flipping the script on our outdated tradition of Columbus Day, the festival educates and offers hope for a future where basic human rights are available for all people. The AIM Film Fest takes place on Sunday, Oct 12, at Arlene Francis Center, 99 Sixth St, Santa Rosa. Noon. $10. 707.528.3009.

Yes on M To Save Sonoma County Libraries

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Yes on M To Save Sonoma County Libraries

Sonoma County’s libraries are in the fourth year of their worst funding crisis ever. Like tens of thousands of youngsters, teens, and seniors, my two young sons used to make Monday our “library day.” But now every one of the 13 libraries in the county is closed Mondays for the first time in history. What does it say about our priorities, as parents, voters and neighbors if we are unable to sustain one of our community’s most cherished and vital public resources?

Closed Mondays and closed evenings are the result of a system-wide 25 percent cutback in hours, from 52 to 40 hours at most branches. During the 1970s, our library was open more than 70 hours per week. Despite ever increasing usage and demand for books, Internet access and multimedia materials, our libraries have been starved for funding.

Sonoma County now spends just $33 per capita for libraries, versus $95 in Marin County and $110 in San Francisco.  

A few years ago, I started the countywide Restore Library Hours Campaign. Thousands of citizens signed our petitions, hundreds called and wrote their supervisors. They heard us, and this summer, they voted unanimously and placed Measure M, a transformative revenue measure, on the Nov. 4 ballot.

Measure M is a tiny 1/8 of 1 percent sales tax. This will cost just 12 cents for every $100 of taxable items, amounting to under 50 cents a month for a family like mine. Yet Measure M will bring $10 million annually to our beloved libraries, allowing them to reopen Mondays and evenings, while adding funds for children, teen and senior programs, improved collections and technology, and facility repairs.

The Press Democrat recently endorsed Measure M, stating, “Sonoma County voters can’t afford to miss this opportunity to support and upgrade its library system.”

I urge everyone to vote for Measure M—and to let friends know about it at schools, workplaces, senior homes, and gatherings. An end to this crisis is within reach, and with it, a bright future for our beloved libraries. 

Jonathan Greenberg is a candidate for Sebastopol City Council and owner of Progressive Source Communications. 

Pinot by the Numbers

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Pinot by the Numbers

It’s three-star scores all the way for this batch of well-made, predictable Pinots from the celebrated, maybe over-lauded 2012 vintage. And that’s nothing to scoff at. It’s good news that for about $25 these days you get a square deal in Pinot Noir. No sous bois and no surprises.

Cuvaison 2012 Carneros Pinot Noir ($38) No surprise that this selection, priced one tier above the others, wins favorite in a blind tasting—I, er, didn’t even look at the tech sheet before assembling the lineup. The hint of smoky, incensey oak has a high-quality savor to it; the fruity potpourri aroma has depth; the plum and cherry flavors are intensified with cola character; and the finish is firm. It’s got a bit extra and it costs that bit extra.

Landmark 2012 Overlook California Pinot Noir ($25) First release of this label, following Landmark’s successful Overlook Chardonnay by a mere 20 years. While the dusty, fine oak aroma doesn’t reveal much besides the faintest cherry perfume, it’s an enticing perfume, and the palate of sweet strawberry jam and allspice is substantial. Also, this wine held up or improved the day after opening.

Benziger 2012 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir ($29) It looks like Pinot, smells like Pinot, and tastes like Pinot—and it’s certified sustainably grown. Not smoky, sweet, heavy or light, having a solid palate of mixed berry fruit, this seems a safe, no-fail dinner party Pinot.

Cherry Tart 2012 California Pinot Noir ($25) From dessert-theme wine baron Jayson Woodbridge of Cherry Pie, a single vineyard wine marketed with colorful whimsy. The only fault I found with Cherry Tart—besides its being called a “Multi-Single-Vineyard” blend, like calling it a fingernails-on-chalkboard blend—is that it’s got a waste-no-time screw cap, but it takes time for a note of lawn clippings to blow off and reveal substantial and enjoyable, if slightly baked, flavors of cherry syrup—halfway to a quality sangria.

Francis Ford Coppola 2012 Director’s Cut Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir ($21) The best of the winery’s 2012 Pinots, and in the middle of their price range. Bearing a similarity to the Landmark in sweet, cherry-berry fruit spiced with vanilla, with a weediness that peeks in and out of the aroma.

Cambria Julia’s Vineyard Santa Maria Valley Pinot Noir ($25) From a Jackson Family Wines property. A handshake of 4-ethylguaiacol (a smoky aroma somewhere between French roast coffee and highway skunk) just never leaves its grip, even a day after opening. It’s unclear if and when the intense, dark fruit might overcome that.

Letters to the Editor Oct. 8, 2014

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Letters to the Editor Oct. 8, 2014

Trimmer Trash

For the downside of creating jobs for pot trimmers (“Spliff Shift” Sept. 24), see the article in the Kenwood Press (Sept. 15, 2014, Volume XXV, No. 16) reporting “Marijuana dump causes problems for fish, neighbors” about someone dumping trimmings into Sonoma Creek.

—S. Martensen

Santa Rosa

Confirmation Bias

Although I favor legalizing marijuana for medical and recreational use, I have strong reservations about legalization.

I’m nearing 60 years old and I have seen marijuana used lightly, responsibly and more often totally irresponsibly for recreational use, occasionally for creative enhancement and more often as an excuse to smoke quite a lot of marijuana with negligible creative results, and responsibly and with necessity for medical problems and without real necessity under the guise of medical problems.

I have also learned enough about statistics to know how easily and frequently they are manipulated.

I am one of the many women who have been raped by men who were high on marijuana at the time. I was 18 years old.

I empathize with Ms. Patterson (“Almost Legal,” Sept. 24), however I would like to see more research by a variety of sources to validate her claim that “cannabis makes for a less violent society.” Currently this smells strongly of confirmation bias.

Any drug, recreational or prescribed, can be misused. Balanced, honest education about all mind-altering drugs is extremely important and desperately needed. I also support extensive social programs to help people improve their lives (perhaps funded by a tax on marijuana sales) and free psychotherapy to help people learn to deal with their unresolved personal issues that can predispose them to addiction. I encourage all psychotherapists (and people in related professions) to donate a few hours per month to help heal our society.

—Barbara Daugherty

Santa Rosa

In Praise of Jaco

You cannot pigeonhole a musician to one style of music (“Metal Movies,” Oct. 1). The musician might prefer a particular style, but can contribute to all styles. Jaco Pastorius could play anything. I really respected his work with Weather Report. Miss him, we will.

—The Father Figure

Via online

Beer and Bikes

In response to Ray Ward’s letter ‘Of Beer and Bikes’ in the October 1 issue, although you make a valid point regarding the role of automobile drivers in financing road construction and maintenance, your overall idea is misguided and wrong. You ask “where in the Bible or anywhere does it say bikers have priority and superiority?” Considering the Bible is a religious text written long before the invention of the automobile or the bicycle, I’m not sure why you’re referring to it as an authoritative text regarding transportation issues.

Automobile drivers fund road maintenance through a gasoline tax. Bicycles require only human power to operate. Your claim that the bicyclists’ safety is not “the responsibility of the motorist” may be true, but does it allow bicyclists to be treated as second-rate citizens or moving targets for your road rage?

Unfortunately, we live in a society dominated by the automobile. Our roads and infrastructure were developed due to the popularity of the automobile and the lobbying efforts of the auto and oil industries who sold us a world where billions of distracted drivers get behind the wheel of a lethal weapon that spews carbon dioxide, contributes to the obesity epidemic through sedentary lifestyles and causes massive amounts of wear and tear to infrastructure that lightweight and pollution-free bicycles do not cause.

As a bicyclist and taxpayer, I would gladly support public spending to develop more bike trails, bike lanes and efficient public transportation. Until then, it looks like we’ll have to “share the road.” Please don’t let your entitlement be the cause of a vehicular manslaughter charge.

—Mark Green

Santa Rosa

Department of Corrections

In last week’s “Paycheck Predators” (Oct. 1) a reporting error misidentified the sponsor of 2011’s AB 1158, which would have increased the limits on individual payday loans. The sponsor of that bill was former state senator and assemblyman Charles Calderon, not current state assemblyman Ian Charles Calderon, D-Los Angeles, who is the former’s son. Because of that error, the story did not note that between 2003 and 2011, Charles Calderon received over $30,000 from the payday lending industry, according to online records available at maplight.org. The story instead highlighted Ian Calderon’s 2011-12 contributions from the industry, which totaled over $16,000. We regret the error.

—The Editor

Cinematic Dining

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Cinematic Dining

The Mill Valley Film Festival runs through Oct. 13. While great indie films are set to unspool through the weekend, here’s where to link a film with a dish from the city’s first-rate restaurant scene.

Kuzu is a Turkish-German film that highlights village life in a poor Turkish community. Kuzu translates as “The Lamb,” which makes for a perfect nearby match: We’re thinking of some India-Mexico neo-fusion. Head to Avatar’s Punjabi Burrito for the curried lamb burrito. 15 Madrona St. 415.381.8293.

Haute couture gets a filmic blowout in the French documentary, Dior and I, which chronicles the Dior empire. Dior is an institution, and ditto Mill Valley legend El Paseo. Dior’s been around since 1946, and the bistro-style chophouse has been around since 1947. You can never go wrong with steak frites (with truffle fries). That same $32 you’ll drop on dinner can get you a Dior sock. One sock. 17 Throckmorton Ave. 415.388.0741.

The Boy and the World is a Brazilian animated feature that follows a boy around as he tries to find his dad. Along the way, many adventures unfurl in this 2013 feature that’s a highlight of the Children’s Fest portion of the festival. Well, if you want to know where the best “kid friendly” restaurants are in Mill Valley—look no further than marinmommies.com, which recommends the Cantina, located at 651 Blithedale Plaza. It’s a Mexican joint and not a Brazilian one—so use the opportunity to teach your kid some South and Central American geography. 415.381.1070.—Tom Gogola

Gone Missing

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Gone Missing

David Fincher’s bitter, would-be decadent mystery Gone Girl is taken from a too-schematic script by author Gillian Flynn. It contains a bounty of gnarly warring between the sexes—Fincher makes sex a cold, mean thing people do to each other. But it’s more interesting when it touches on something more sensitive than sex: money. Set in the Midwest, the film peers over the cliff-steep divide between indebted haves and the wraith-like homeless have-nots. The poor folk are photographed as if they were zombs. Gone Girl’s sourest turn may be the way a formerly trust-funded wife Amy (Rosamund Pike) collides with a working class lady hanging out at an Ozarks cabin resort.

Amy, a super-achiever from New York, has been reduced to backwater idleness in a Missouri mini-mansion. She’s supposed to be a genius, but mostly what she does is write verses for little birthday scavenger hunts. She vanishes, and her husband Nick—the ever-bored Ben Affleck—may have killed her. Police detective Rhonda Boney (Kim Dickens, the movie’s highlight) thinks so. So does the deceased’s wealthy, creepy ex-boyfriend (Neil Patrick Harris, who detects the odor of cheese in this script and goes full-on ratty). So, also, do a pack of vengeful afternoon TV hosts: Missi Pyle is amusing as the loudest of them all, a countrified Valkyrie.

As they say of a football player after a losing game, Pike gave 100 percent, in bloodbath and cold-blooded social scenes alike. There are moments where the horror goes appropriately outsized, as when Amy is stuck, penniless, at a truck stop. The diesel behemoths seem to be roaring back-up vocals to Trent Reznor’s buzz, howl, ticky and scratchy soundtrack. But as the least Missouri-like Missourian ever, Affleck’s deadfaced cool is pure concrete. His limits have never been more obvious. Fincher can’t find a way to wield this A-list, movie-star shaped object.

‘Gone Girl’ is playing in wide release.

Making a Scene

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Making a Scene

Still life Artist Peter Krohn’s work titled, ‘Honeysuckle Melon,’ a scanograph printed with dyes on aluminum,
is part of the Art Trails Mini preview show at the Fulton Crossing gallery.

Walk into the industrial space of Fulton Crossing on a weekend, and you might be greeted by a vibrant young woman in a pencil skirt and high heels.

This atypical sight for a rural crossroad—a fruit stand and a taco truck make for the building’s neighbors—is Sierra Aizer-Keck, the gallery PR and event coordinator. The two phenomena—Aizer-Keck’s style and the fact a Santa Rosa art space has a PR representative—speak for the fact the Fulton Crossing team means business—however you choose to define it.

About a year ago, businessman Rami Batarseh made headlines by purchasing the empty facility on River and Fulton roads, a former chicken slaughterhouse. A brewery, a pottery station and other various possibilities were voiced, but the community response tipped the scale.

“As we were working on the building, local artists kept showing up and asking what the plan was,” says Batarseh.

He turned to Vicky Kumpfer, a local art curator, and asked her to fill the space with artwork. “In three weeks, there were more than 350 works of art hanging. I just told them come one, come all, and they came,” she says.

The fate of the building was determined—Batarseh decided to rent out some studios and keep the rest of the space to display the tenants’ work. Kumpfer sought out additional Sonoma County artists and the first group exhibition was born. After the extensive winter exhibition, called Evolution/Revolution, up went the new sign christening the compound as Fulton Crossing. The exhibition Human/Nature launched in August and concluded a couple of weeks ago, paving the way for new creative events. Additionally, the compound already hosts an antique store, a piano tuner, and a handpan builder, with a coffee shop on the way. The art focus however, remains strong—the space is only open on Saturdays and Sundays and there’s not much other retail.

What is it, then? Sitting around the table in the vast gallery space, the threesome debates the question, while unintentionally running the whole gamut of a typical art scene—the pragmatic businessman, the curator, the promoter. The term cooperative is mentioned, and so is incubator for local talent. “Sonoma County isn’t known as an art destination,” admits Batarseh, and Kumpfer comments that they’re working on fixing that by teaming up with local tourist institutions and engaging in social media.

They wonder whether to bring in not only tourists and art lovers, but artists from outside the wine-and-dine “bubble” the three describe. While Batarseh is focusing on potential buyers from San Francisco, Aizer-Keck, who came back to Sonoma County after a year of travelling through Mexico and working in a small galley in Oaxaca, stresses the importance of growing “artistic energy” in the area.

“Something needs to happen to re-inspire the younger generation and rejuvenate the older generation here, as it is a bit stagnant—landscapes and grapes.”

“The artist industry here is artists feeding on artists, we’re not getting fresh blood,” says Batarseh.

In fact, the only thing all three agree on is the profile of a typical local artist—a white woman in her late 50s painting her way through retirement, her work lacking the buzzwords of the modern art world—edgy, controversial, radical.

“We’re not a high-end gallery and we do put a call out for the artists,” says Kumpfer. A transplant from Utah, she believes that a “certain poison in your life, something to work against, something suppressed” is important in order to create great art. “Here, it’s so beautiful and relaxed, there’s nothing much to pontificate on,” she laughs.

While the team respects this, there’s a shy intention to dig deeper.

“It’s a very urban space in a very suburban Sonoma County,” says Aizer-Keck. “I’m really inspired by involving a young crowd and creating a larger dialogue with the art community.”

The next exhibition featuring young local artist will open in two months. It will be accompanied by events aimed at local 20-somethings who find the downtown Santa Rosa night scene too young and straightforward. Spoken word events, a blind tour, and engaging with storytelling in relation to art are attractive possibilities.

In the meantime, Batarseh strives for a solid artist-buyer relationship. Aizer-Keck craves a curiosity boost for artists as well as the younger art lovers in the area. Kumpfer lovingly mentions the three’s diverse backgrounds and believes Fulton Crossing is growing organically, while responding to the community. It seems like ‘Crossing’ isn’t just about the unique location, but also very much about the crossroad of innovative ideas and enterprising intentions.

Country Rap

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Country Rap

Eric Earley has bluegrass in his bones. The songwriter and front man of outlaw country rockers Blitzen Trapper was raised in the wilds of Oregon, listening to the traditional folk of Doc Watson and playing banjo alongside his musician father from the time he was 6 years old. After a brief stint at a college in the Georgia mountains, Earley returned to the West Coast and settled in the melting pot musical hub of Portland in 2000.

While Earley’s penchant for playing house shows passed the time easily enough, it was reportedly his father’s dying wish that Earley pursue a real career in music. And so it was that Blitzen Trapper came to be in 2003.

The band began life with a simple, straightforward alternative rock sound, influenced by acts like Smashing Pumpkins and Nirvana—still a powerful force of nature in the Pacific Northwest even then.

Eventually, the bluegrass came out in Earley’s work, and the picked guitars and wandering bass lines soon broke Blitzen Trapper away from the rest of the Portland pack. By 2007, the band’s blending of psychedelic roots and vintage 1970s folk was garnering them wide acclaim and an impassioned fan base.

Now, ten years plus into their life, the band is still evolving, and their latest album, 2013’s VII (their seventh release), is a testament to the eclectic and colorful rhythms that have become the staple of Blitzen Trapper’s scene. This album is a funky, downright groovy record that continually surprises at every turn while still reveling in the group’s signature alternative country rock.

The band still possesses the joyful, effortless fun of those house shows in their sound. They get the party started right with opening track “Feel the Chill,” combining a harmonica drawl and the tell-tale vinyl scratching of a DJ about to lay down the beat.

This trend continues throughout VII, as if Waylon Jennings and Stevie Wonder were both prominent forces in Earley’s subconscious, manifested in the high tempo, yet laid back feel of the record as a whole.

For the last year, Earley, along with band mates Erik Menteer (guitar/keyboard), Brian Adrian Koch (drums/vocals/harmonica), Michael Van Pelt (bass), and Marty Marquis (guitar/keyboards/vocals/melodica) have been touring the country in support of the album, and this week they make their way to the wilds of Sebastopol.

Opening the show is another buzz-worthy artist in Cassorla, an indie rock trio whose members split time between NYC and LA, and whose debut EP, Amigos, is a sunny, fuzzy jam of feel-good tunes with lush, lo-fi dreaminess aplenty. The EP even features appearances by actress Aubrey Plaza and Earley himself, which should lend to some fun onstage collaboration this week.

Blitzen Trapper and Cassorla appear on Thursday, Oct. 9, at HopMonk Tavern, 230 Petaluma Ave, Sebastopol. 9pm. $20. 707.829.7300.

The Messenger Lives

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The Messenger Lives

This one has all the ingredients of a dreamed up Hollywood blockbuster: Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist uncovers a big story involving drugs, the CIA and a guerrilla army. Despite threats and intimidation, he writes an explosive exposé and catches national attention. But the fates shift. Our reporter’s story is torn apart by the country’s leading media, and he is betrayed by his own newspaper. Though the big story turns out to be true, the writer commits suicide and becomes a cautionary tale.

Hold on, though. The above is not fiction.

Kill the Messenger, an actual film coming soon to a theater near you, is the true story of Sacramento-based investigative reporter Gary Webb, who earned both acclaim and notoriety for his 1996 San Jose Mercury News series that revealed the CIA had turned a blind eye to the U.S.-backed Nicaraguan Contras trafficking crack cocaine in South Central Los Angeles and elsewhere in urban America in the 1980s. One of the first-ever newspaper investigations to be published on the Internet, Webb’s story gained a massive readership and stirred up a firestorm of controversy and repudiation.

After being deemed a pariah by media giants like The New York Times, Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post, and being disowned by his own paper, Webb eventually came to work in August 2004 at Sacramento News & Review. Four months later, he committed suicide at age 49. He left behind a grieving family—and some trenchant questions:

Why did the media giants attack him so aggressively, thereby protecting the government secrets he revealed? Why did he decide to end his own life? What, ultimately, is the legacy of Gary Webb?

Like others working at our newsweekly in the brief time he was here, I knew Webb as a colleague and was terribly saddened by his death. Those of us who attended his unhappy memorial service at the Doubletree Hotel in Sacramento a week after he died thought that day surely marked a conclusion to the tragic tale of Gary Webb.

But, no.

Because here comes Kill the Messenger, a Hollywood film starring Jeremy Renner as Webb; Rosemarie DeWitt as Webb’s then wife, Sue Bell (now Stokes); Oliver Platt as Webb’s top editor, Jerry Ceppos; and a litany of other distinguished actors, including Michael K. Williams, Ray Liotta, Andy Garcia and Robert Patrick. Directed by Michael Cuesta (executive producer of the TV series Homeland), the film opens in a “soft launch” Oct. 10.

Members of Webb’s immediate family—including his son Eric, who plans a career in journalism—expect to feel a measure of solace upon the release of Kill the Messenger.

“The movie is going to vindicate my dad,” he said.

For Renner—who grew up in Modesto and is best known for his roles in The Bourne Legacy, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, The Avengers and The Hurt Locker—the film was a chance to explore a part unlike any he’d played before. During a break in filming Mission Impossible 5, he spoke to SN&R about his choice to star in and co-produce Kill the Messenger.

“The story is important,” said Renner. “It resonated with me. It has a David and Goliath aspect.”

“He was brave, he was flawed. . . . I fell in love with Gary Webb.”

‘The first big Internet-age journalism exposé’

There’s a scene in Kill the Messenger that will make every investigative journalist in America break into an insider’s grin. It’s the one where—after a year of tough investigative slogging that had taken him from the halls of power in Washington, D.C., to a moldering jail in Central America to the mean streets of South Central Los Angeles—Renner as Webb begins to actually write the big story. In an absorbing film montage, Renner is at the keyboard as it all comes together—the facts, the settings, the sources. The truth. The Clash provides the soundtrack, with Joe Strummer howling: “Know your rights / these are your rights … You have the right to free speech / as long as you’re not dumb enough to actually try it.“

It took the real Gary Webb a long time to get to this point in his career.

His father, a U.S. Marine, moved Webb around a lot in his youth, from California to Indiana to Kentucky to Ohio. He wound up marrying his high school sweetheart, Sue Bell, with whom he had three children. Inspired by the reporting that uncovered Watergate and in need of income, he left college three units shy of a degree and went to work at The Kentucky Post, then The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, where he rose quickly through the ranks of grunt reporters. Dogged in his pursuit of stories, Webb landed a job at the Mercury News in 1988 and became part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 1989 for reporting on the Loma Prieta earthquake.

It was the summer of 1996 when the lone wolf journalist handed his editors a draft of what would become the three-part, 20,000-word exposé, “Dark Alliance.” The series was exhaustive and complex. But its nugget put human faces on how CIA operatives had been aware that the Contras (who had been recruited and trained by the CIA to topple the leftist Sandinista government in Nicaragua) had smuggled cocaine into the United States and, through drug dealers, fueled an inner-city crack-cocaine epidemic.

When “Dark Alliance” was published on Aug. 18 of that year, it was as if a bomb had exploded at the Mercury News. That’s because it was one of the first stories to go globally viral online on the paper’s then state-of-the-art website. It was 1996; the series attracted an unprecedented 1.3 million hits per day. Webb and his editors were flooded with letters and emails. Requests for appearances piled in from national TV news shows.

“Gary’s story was the first Internet-age big journalism exposé,” said Nick Schou, who wrote the book Kill the Messenger, on which the movie is partially based, along with Webb’s own book version of the series, Dark Alliance. “If the series had happened a year earlier it, Dark Alliance just would have come and gone,” said Schou.

As word of the story spread, black communities across America—especially in South Central—grew outraged and demanded answers. At the time, crack cocaine was swallowing up neighborhoods whole, fueling an epidemic of addiction and crime. Rocked by the revelations, U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, Congresswoman for Los Angeles’ urban core to this day, used her bully pulpit to call for official investigations.

But after a six-week honeymoon period for Webb and his editors, the winds shifted. The attacks began.

On Oct. 4, The Washington Post stunned the Mercury News by publishing five articles assaulting the veracity of Webb’s story, leading the package from page one. A few weeks later, The New York Times joined with similar intent.

The ultimate injury came when the L.A. Times unleashed a veritable army of 17 journalists (known internally as the “Get Gary Webb Team”) on the case, writing a three-part series demolishing “Dark Alliance.” The L.A. paper—which appeared to onlookers to have missed a giant story in its own backyard—was exhaustive in its deconstruction, claiming the series “was vague” and overreached. “Oliver Stone, check your voice mail,” summed Post media columnist Howard Kurtz.

Now, even some of Webb’s supporters admitted that his series could have benefited from more judicious editing. But why were the “big three” so intent on tearing down Webb’s work rather than attempting to further the story, as competing papers had done back in the day when Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein broke the Watergate scandal?

Some say it was the long arm of then President Ronald Reagan and his team’s ability to manipulate the gatekeepers of old media to its purposes. (Reagan had, after all, publicly compared the Contras to “our Founding Fathers” and supported the CIA-led attempt to topple the Sandinista government.)

Others say that editors at the “big three” were simply affronted to have a midsize paper like the Mercury News beat them on such a big story. An article in the Columbia Journalism Review claimed some L.A. Times reporters bragged in the office about denying Webb a Pulitzer.

One of their big criticisms was that the story didn’t include a comment from the CIA. When reporters at the big three asked the agency if Webb’s story was true, they were told no. The denial was printed in the mainstream media as if it were golden truth.

Other issues fueled controversy around Webb’s story. For example: It was falsely reported in some media outlets—and proclaimed by many activists in the black community—that Webb had proven the CIA was directly involved in drug trafficking that targeted blacks. He simply did not make this claim.

In some ways, Webb became the first reporter ever to benefit from, and then become the victim of, a story that went viral online.

After triumphing in the early success of the series, Webb’s editors at the Mercury News became unnerved and eventually backed down under the pressure. Jerry Ceppos, the paper’s executive editor, published an unprecedented column on May 11, 1997, that was widely considered an apology for the series, saying it “fell short” in editing and execution.

When contacted by Sacramento News & Review, Ceppos, now dean of the Manship School of Mass Communication at Louisiana State University, said he was only barely aware of the film coming out and wasn’t familiar with the acting career of Oliver Platt, who plays him in the movie. “I’m the wrong person to ask about popular culture,” he said.

Asked if he would do anything differently today regarding Gary Webb’s series, Ceppos, whose apologia did partially defend the series, responded with an unambiguous “no.”

“It seems to me, 18 years later, that everything still holds up. . . . Everything is not black and white. If you portrayed it that way, then you need to set the record straight.”

“I’m very proud that we were willing to do that.”

Some find irony in the fact that Ceppos, in the wake of the controversy, was given the 1997 Ethics in Journalism Award by the Society of Professional Journalists.

Webb, once heralded as a groundbreaking investigative reporter, was soon banished to the paper’s Cupertino bureau, a spot he considered “the newspaper’s version of Siberia.” In 1997, after additional run-ins with his editors, including their refusal to run his follow-up reporting on the “Dark Alliance” series, he quit the paper altogether.

But a year later, he was redeemed when the CIA’s inspector general, Frederick Hitz, released his 1998 report admitting that the CIA had known all along that the Contras had been trafficking cocaine. Reporter Robert Parry, who covered the Iran-Contra scandal for the Associated Press, called the report “an extraordinary admission of institutional guilt by the CIA.” But the revelation fell on deaf ears. It went basically unnoticed by the newspapers that had attacked Webb’s series. A later internal investigation by the Justice Department echoed the CIA report.

But no apology was forthcoming to Webb, despite the fact that the central finding of his series had been proven correct after all.

‘I never really gave
up hope’

Earlier this month, Webb’s son Eric, 26, opened the door to his Sacramento rental home with a swift grab for the collar of his affable pit bull mix, Thomas. Eric—lanky at 6 feet 4 inches, with his father’s shaggy brown hair and easy expression—attended college at American River College and hopes to become a journalist someday. He was happy to sit down and discuss the upcoming film.

To Eric, the idea that a movie was being made about his dad was nothing new. He’d heard it all at least a dozen times before. Paramount Pictures had owned the rights to Dark Alliance for a while before Universal Studios took it on.

“I stopped expecting it,” said Eric.

Webb’s ex-wife, Stokes, now remarried and still living in Sacramento, had heard it all before, too.

“I’d get discouraged,” she said, “but I never really gave up hope.”

Things finally took off about eight years ago, when screenwriter Peter Landesman called author Schou, now managing editor at the OC Weekly, about his not-yet-published book about Webb. Landesman was hot to write a screenplay about Webb’s story, said Schou.

It was years later when Landesman showed the screenplay to Renner, whose own production company, The Combine, decided to co-produce it. Focus Features, which is owned by Universal, now has worldwide rights to the movie.

“When Jeremy Renner got involved,” said Schou, “everything started rolling.”

It was the summer of 2013 when Stokes and Webb’s children—Eric, his older brother Ian and younger sister Christine—flew to Atlanta for three days on the film company’s dime to see a scene being shot.

“The first thing [Renner] did when he saw us was come up and give us hugs and introduce himself,” said Eric. “He called us ‘bud’ and ‘kiddo’ like my dad used to. . . . He even had the tucked in shirt with no belt, like my dad used to wear. And I was like,

‘Man, you nailed that.'”

The scene the family watched being filmed, according to Stokes, was the one where Webb’s Mercury News editors tell him “they were gonna back down from the story.”

“I was sitting there watching and thinking back to the morning before that meeting,” said Stokes. “Gary was getting nervous [that day]. He said, ‘I guess I should wear a tie and jacket’ to this one. He was nervous but hopeful that they would let him move forward with the story.”

Of course, they did not.

After a pause, Stokes said: “It was hard watching that scene and remembering the emotions of that day.”

Just a few months ago, in June, Webb’s family flew to Santa Monica to see the film’s final cut at the Focus Features studio. All were thoroughly impressed with the film and the acting. “Jeremy Renner watched our home videos,” said Eric. “He studied all these little words and gestures that my dad used to do—he did them. I felt like I was watching my dad.”

When asked how playing the role of Gary Webb compared to his usual action-adventure parts (such as in The Bourne Legacy), Renner said it was like “apples and oranges” to compare the two, but then admitted, “I can say this one was more emotionally challenging.”

Renner laughed when asked about the impressive cast he’d managed to round up for a comparatively low-budget movie and how he was “going to be washing a whole lot of people’s cars and doing their laundry.”

Stokes has no regrets about the film.

“Seeing a chapter of your life, with its highs and lows, depicted on the big screen is something you never think is going to happen to you,” she said. “It was all very emotional.”

“But I loved the movie. And the kids were very happy with how it vindicated their father.”

Said Renner, “If [the family gets] closure or anything like that … that’s amazing.”

‘I’ve shot that gun
so I know’

It was an otherwise routine Friday morning in December 2004 when Eric Webb was called out of class at Rio Americano High School. The then 16-year-old was put on the phone with his mother, who told him he needed to leave campus immediately and go straight to his grandmother’s house.

“I told her, ‘I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what happened,'” said Eric. So she told him about his dad.

“He killed himself,” she said.

Eric had the family BMW that day, so he floored it over to his father’s Carmichael home—the one his dad had been scheduled to clear out of that very day. Webb had just sold it with the alleged plan of saving money by moving into his mother’s home nearby.

“I needed a visual confirmation for myself,” said Eric. He pulled up to the house and saw a note in his dad’s handwriting on the door. It read, “Do not enter, please call the police.” Eric went inside and saw the blood, “but his body had already been taken,” he said.

For his children and Stokes, nothing was ever the same. And almost 10 years later, questions still reverberate around Gary Webb’s death.

It’s clear from all who knew him well that he suffered from severe depression. Some—like Stokes—believe in retrospect that Webb was also likely ill with undiagnosed bipolar disorder. Still, why did he do it? What makes a man feel despair enough to take his own life?

After leaving the Mercury News in ’97, Webb couldn’t get hired at a daily. After writing his book, he eventually found a position working for the California Legislature’s task force on government oversight. When he lost that job in February 2004, a depression he’d fought off for a long while settled in, said Stokes.

Though divorced in 2000, the couple remained friendly. On the day that would have been their 25th anniversary, he turned to her, utterly distraught, after hearing he’d lost the job.

“He was crying, ‘I lost my job, what am I gonna do?'” she said. He knew the development would make it tough to stay in Sacramento near his children. She urged him to regroup and apply again at daily newspapers. Surely, she thought, the controversy over his series would have waned by now.

But when Webb applied, not even interviews were offered.

“Nobody would hire him,” she said. “He got more and more depressed. He was on antidepressants, but he stopped taking them in the spring,” said Stokes. “They weren’t making him feel any better.”

It was August when Webb finally got work as a reporter at SN&R. Though he hadn’t set out to work in the world of weekly journalism, with its lesser pay and more hit-and-miss prestige, he was a productive member of the staff until near the end. During his short time with SN&R, he wrote a few searing cover stories, including “The Killing Game,” about the U.S. Army using first-person shooter video games as a recruitment tool.

In fact, Eric edited a book in 2011 for Seven Stories Press, The Killing Game, that included 11 stories his father had written for various publications, including SN&R. “I was always happy to see his covers,” said Eric, attending high school at the time. “We got SN&R on our campus, and I would be like, “Hey, my dad’s on the front page. That’s awesome.'”

It was the morning of Dec. 10 when SN&R‘s editorial assistant Kel Munger entered Editor Tom Walsh’s office with word that Gary’s son had just called saying, “Somebody needs to tell the boss that my dad killed himself.”

Within a few hours, SN&R was fielding press calls from all around the country, said Munger. A week later, it was she who had the thankless job of cleaning out Webb’s work cubicle so as to pass his belongings on to his ex-wife and kids. “There was bundled-up research material, a bunch of Detroit hockey paraphernalia, photos of his kids. . . . I remember he had a 2004 Investigative Reporter’s Handbook with Post-it notes throughout.”

“I was having a hard time keeping it together,” said Munger. “Like everyone else, I’d been looking forward to getting to know him.”

In the days following his death, the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office came out with a preliminary finding that was meant to cease the flood of calls to his office. The report “found no sign of forced entry or struggle” and stated the cause of death as “self-inflicted gunshot wounds to the head.”

But it was too late to stop the conspiracy theorists. The CIA wanted Webb dead, they hypothesized, so the agency must have put a “hit” out on him. To this day, the Internet is full of claims that Webb was murdered. The fact that Webb had fired two shots into his own head didn’t dampen the conjectures.

Said Eric, “The funny part is, never once has anybody from the conspiracy side every contacted us and said, ‘Do you think your dad was murdered?'”

The family knew what Webb had been through; they knew he had been fighting acute depression. They learned he’d purchased cremation services and put his bank account in his ex-wife’s name. They knew that the day before his suicide he had mailed letters, sent to his brother Kurt in San Jose, that contained personal messages to each family member.

Receiving the letters “was actually a big relief for us,” said Eric. “We knew it was him. They were typed by him and in his voice. It was so apparent. The things he knew, nobody else would know. . . . He even recommended books for me to read.”

According to Eric, the “two gunshots” issue is “very explainable,” because the revolver Webb had fired into his head, a .38 Special police edition his Marine father had owned, has double action that doesn’t require a shooter to re-cock to take a second shot. “I’ve shot that gun so I know,” said Eric, who said his father taught him to shoot on a camping trip. “Once you cock the trigger, it goes ‘bang’ real easily. “

In Kill the Messenger, Webb’s death goes unmentioned until after the final scene, when closing words roll onto the screen. Renner said he felt it would have been a disservice to the viewer to “weigh in too heavy” with details of the death. Including Webb’s demise would have “raised a lot of questions and taken away from his legacy,” he said.

‘Stand up and risk
it all’

It was eight days after Webb’s death when a few hundred of us gathered in Sacramento Doubletree Hotel’s downstairs conference room for an afternoon memorial service. Photo collages of Webb were posted on tables as mourners filed into the room. There he was on his prized red, white and blue motorcycle. There he was camping with his children. There he was featured in an Esquire magazine article recounting his saga. Family members and friends, longtime colleagues and SN&R staffers packed into the room.

My own distress at Webb’s passing wasn’t fully realized until my eyes lit on his Pulitzer Prize propped on a table just inside the entryway. It was the first one I’d ever seen. I wondered how many more exceptional stories he could have produced if things had gone differently.

“He wanted to write for one of the big three,” said Webb’s brother Kurt. “Unfortunately, the big three turned [on him].”

Praise for the absent journalist—his smarts, guts and tenacity—flowed from friends, colleagues and VIPs at the event. A statement from now U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, then a senator, had been emailed to SN&R: “Because of [Webb]’s work, the CIA launched an Inspector General’s investigation that found dozens of troubling connections to drug runners. That wouldn’t have happened if Gary Webb hadn’t been willing to stand up and risk it all.”

And Rep. Waters, who spent two years following up on Webb’s findings, wrote a statement calling him “one of the finest investigative journalists our country has ever seen.”

When Hollywood weighs in on the Webb saga, the storm that surrounded him in life will probably be recycled in the media and rebooted on the internet, with old and new media journalists, scholars and conspiracy theorists weighing in from all sides.

But the film itself is an utter vindication of Webb’s work.

Renner was hesitant to say if those who watch Kill the Messenger will leave with any particular take-home lesson. “I want the audience to walk away and debate and argue about it all,” he said of his David and Goliath tale. And then, “I do believe [the film] might help create some awareness and accountability in government and newspapers.”

And what would the real-life protagonist of Kill the Messenger have thought of it all? It’s at least certain he’d have been unrepentant. In the goodbye letter his ex-wife received on the day of his suicide, Gary Webb told her:

“Tell them I never regretted anything I wrote.”

Melinda Welsh is a writer for the Sacramento News & Review where this story was originally published.

Best Of Times

-
0
Best Of Times

Fall has descended on the North Bay. The mornings are crisp, the sky is a deep blue and the ocean is groomed by offshore breezes. Grape vines are turning yellow and the crop is in. Kids are back in school and crowded weekend attractions are now the domain of appreciative locals. Fall is my favorite time of year in the North Bay hands down. But then again, the rest of year is pretty great here, too.

All throughout the year, the North Bay has a lot to offer—good food, good weather, natural beauty, fine wine, and a vibrant and varied economy. It’s hard to single out what makes the North Bay the destination it is, but each week we try. Part of my job at the Bohemian is to tell stories about the experiences, people and places that contribute to the quality of life here. We do that in a big way with our annual Best Of issue by relying on our best source for what’s new and great in the North Bay—you.

We’ve been celebrating the North Bay for nearly 20 years and we’re gearing up for our 2015 Best Of issue now. The Best Of handbook you hold in your hands serves as a reminder of last year’s winners—great independent bookstores, choice eateries, neighborhood boutiques and praiseworthy people that make the North Bay what it is. Read it for inspiration as you select and share your best of picks for this year. —Stett Holbrook

Culture

Best Art Gallery

Marin

Gallery Route One

11101 Hwy. 1, Ste. 101, Pt. Reyes Station.
415.663.1347.

Napa

Slack Art Collective

964 Pearl St., Ste. B., Napa. 707.344.7133

Sonoma

Sebastopol Gallery

150 N. Main St., Sebastopol.
707.829.7200.

Honorable Mention

Sebastopol Center
for the Arts

282 S. High St., Sebastopol.
707.829.4797.

Best Museum

Marin

Bolinas Museum

48 Wharf Road, Bolinas.
415.868.0330.

Napa

Napa Valley Museum

55 President’s Circle, Yountville.
707.944.0500.

Sonoma

Charles M. Schulz Museum

2301 Hardies Lane, Santa Rosa.
707.579.4452.

Honorable Mention

Sonoma County Museum

425 Seventh St., Santa Rosa.
707.579.1500.

Best Outdoor Art Event

Marin

Sausalito Art Festival

www.sausalitoartfestival.org

Napa

Riverfront
Chalk Festival

588 Main St., Napa.

Sonoma

ARTRAILS Open Studios

www.artrails.org

Honorable Mention

Bodega Seafood Art
& Wine Festival

www.winecountryfestivals.com

Best Movie Theater

Marin

Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center

1118 Fourth St., San Rafael.
415.454.1222.

Napa

Cameo Cinema

1340 Main St., St. Helena.
707.963.9779.

Sonoma

Rialto Cinemas

6868 McKinley St., Sebastopol.
707.525.4840.

Honorable Mention

Summerfield Cinemas

551 Summerfield Road, Santa Rosa.
707.522.0719.

Best Film Festival

Marin

Mill Valley
Film Festival

www.mvff.com

Napa

Napa Valley
Film Festival

www.napavalleyfilmfest.org

Sonoma

Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival

www.sebastopolfilmfestival.org

Honorable Mention

Sonoma International Film Festival

www.sonomafilmfest.org

Best Ballet Company

Marin

Marin Ballet Co.

100 Elm St., San Rafael.
415.453.6705.

Napa

Napa Valley
Dance Center

950 Pearl St., Napa.
707.255.2701.

Sonoma

Sebastopol Ballet

390 Morris St., Sebastopol.
707.824.8006.

Honorable Mention

Petaluma City Ballet

110 Howard St., Petaluma.
707.765.2660.

Best Performing Dance Company

Marin

Stapleton School
of the Performing Arts

118 Greenfield Ave., San Anselmo.
415.454.5759.

Napa

Napa Valley
Dance Center

950 Pearl St., Napa.
707.255.2701.

Sonoma

Sebastopol
Ballet School

390 Morris St., Sebastopol.
707.824.8006.

Honorable Mention

Risk Dance Company

riskdance.wix.com/risk-dance-company

Best Dance Studio

Marin

Roco Dance
& Fitness

237 Shoreline Hwy., Mill Valley.
415.388.6786.

Napa

Napa Valley
Dance Center

950 Pearl St., Napa.
707.255.2701.

Sonoma

Move2Change

6780 Depot St., Sebastopol.
707.823.1074.

Honorable Mention

The Dance Center

56 W. Sixth St., Santa Rosa.
707.575.8277.

Best Place
to Dance

Marin

George’s Nightclub

842 Fourth St., San Rafael.
415.226.0262.

Napa

Empire Napa

1400 First St., Napa.
707.254.8888.

Sonoma

Hopmonk Tavern

230 Petaluma Ave., Sebastopol.
707.829.7300.

691 Broadway Ave., Sonoma.
707.935.9100.

Honorable Mention

Ellington Hall

3535 Industrial Drive, Santa Rosa.
707.545.6150.

Best Media Personality

Marin

Lyons Filmer,
KWMR 90.5-FM & 89.9-FM

State Route 1, Ste. 1, Pt. Reyes Station.
415.663.8068.

Napa

Bob St. Laurent,
KVYN 99.3-FM

1124 Foster Road, Napa.
707.257.8463.

Sonoma

Brent Farris,
KZST 100.1-FM

3392 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.528.4434.

Honorable Mention

Bill Bowker,
KRSH 95.9-FM

3565 Standish Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.588.0707.

Best Festival

Marin

Fairfax Festival

www.fairfaxfestival.com

Napa

Napa Valley
Film Festival

www.napavalleyfilmfest.org

Sonoma

Sebastopol Apple Blossom Festival

www.sebastopol.org

Honorable Mention

Rivertown Revival

www.rivertownrevival.com

Best Music Festival

Marin

KWMR Far West Fest

State Route 1, Ste. 1, Pt. Reyes Station.
415.663.8068.

Napa

BottleRock

www.bottlerocknapavalley.com

Sonoma

Russian River Jazz
& Blues Festival

www.omegaevents.com

Honorable Mention

Petaluma Music Festival

www.petalumamusicfestival.org

Best Charity Event

Marin

Gallery Route One’s Latino Photography Project

11101 Hwy. 1, Ste. 101, Pt. Reyes Station.
415.663.1347.

Napa

Auction Napa Valley

www.auctionnapavalley.org

Sonoma

Calabash! (Food
for Thought)

PO Box 1608, Forestville.
707.887.1647.

Honorable Mention

Human Race

www.volunteernow.org

Best Performing Arts Center

Marin

Marin Center

10 Avenue of the Flags, San Rafael.
415.473.6800.

Napa

Napa Valley
Opera House

1030 Main St., Napa.
707.226.7372.

Sonoma

Wells Fargo Center
for the Arts

50 Mark West Springs Road, Santa Rosa.
707.546.3600.

Honorable Mention

Green Music Center

1801 E. Cotati Ave., Rohnert Park.
866.955.6040.

Best Theater Troupe

Marin

Marin Shakespeare Co.

890 Belle Ave., San Rafael. 415.499.4488.

Napa

Lucky Penny Productions

www.luckypennynapa.com

Sonoma

6th Street Playhouse

52 W. Sixth St., Santa Rosa.
707.523.4185.

Honorable Mention

The Imaginists

461 Sebastopol Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.528.7554.

Best Band

Marin

Soul Pie Band

www.soulpie.com

Napa

Voltones

www.voltones.com

Sonoma

Wonderbread 5

www.wonderbread5.com

Honorable Mention

Pat Jordan Band

www.patjordanband.com

Best Music Venue

Marin

Sweetwater Music Hall

19 Corte Madera Ave., Mill Valley.
415.388.1100.

Napa

Uptown Theatre

1350 Third St., Napa. 707.259.0123.

Sonoma

Hopmonk Tavern

230 Petaluma Ave., Sebastopol.
707.829.7300.

691 Broadway Ave., Sonoma.
707.935.9100.

Honorable Mention

Mystic Theatre

23 N. Petaluma Blvd., Petaluma.
707.765.9211.

Everyday

Best Antique Shop

Marin

Dove Place Antiques

306 Sir Francis Drake Blvd.,
San Anselmo. 415.453.1490.

Napa

Antiques on Second

1370 Second St., Napa. 707.252.6353.

Sonoma

Whistlestop Antiques

130 Fourth St., Santa Rosa.
707.542.9474.

Honorable Mention

Food for Thought Antiques

2701 Gravenstein Hwy. S., Sebastopol.
707.823.3101.

Best Resale Store

Marin

Yeah Baby!

1830 Sir Francis Drake Blvd.,
Fairfax. 415.459.4493.

Napa

LoLo’s

1120 Main St., St. Helena. 707.963.7972.

Sonoma

Launch

971 Gravenstein Hwy. S., Sebastopol.
707.829.3312.

Honorable Mention

Pine Grove
General Store

149 N. Main St., Sebastopol.
707.829.1138.

Best Pawn Shop

Sonoma

Santa Rosa Pawn Shop

1831 Guerneville Road, Santa Rosa.
707.872.7296.

Honorable Mention

Liberal Loan Pawn

611 Fifth St., Santa Rosa. 707.528.1380.

Best Art Supply Store

Marin

RileyStreet Art Supply

1138 Fourth St., San Rafael.415.457.2787.

Napa

Napa Valley Art Supplies

3250 California Blvd., Napa.
707.224.2775.

Sonoma

Rileystreet
Art Suppy

103 Maxwell Court, Santa Rosa.
707.526.2416.

Honorable Mention

Art & Soul
of Sebastopol

156 N. Main St., Sebastopol.
707.824.4837.

Best Framing Shop

Marin

Ringseis Designs

1824 Sir Frances Drake Blvd., Fairfax.
415.456.8121.

Napa

Fastframe Napa

1346 Trancas St., Napa.
707.226.3422.

Sonoma

My Daughter
the Framer

637 Fourth St., Santa Rosa.
707.542.3599.

Honorable Mention

Frame of Mind

6671 Front St., Forestville.
707.887.8530.

Best Gift Shop

Marin

Herban Garden

15 Bolinas Road, Fairfax.
415.453.7109.

Napa

Napa Valley
Traditions

1202 Main St., Napa.
707.226.2044.

Sonoma

Milk & Honey

123 N. Main St., Sebastopol.
707.824.1155.

Honorable Mention

Kindred Fair Trade Handcrafts

605 Fourth St., Santa Rosa.
707.579.1459.

Best Bookstore-New

Marin

Book Passage

51 Tamal Vista Blvd., Corte Madera.
415.927.0960.

Napa

Copperfield’s Books

3740 Bel Aire Plaza, Napa.
707.252.8002.

1330 Lincoln St., Calistoga.
707.942.1616.

Sonoma

Copperfield’s Books

140 Kentucky St., Petaluma.
707.762.0563.

775 Village Court, Santa Rosa.
707.578.8938.

138 N. Main St., Sebastopol. 707.823.2618.

Honorable Mention

Levin & Company

306 Center St., Healdsburg. 707.433.1118.

Best Bookstore-Used

Marin

Rebound Bookstore

1611 Fourth St., San Rafael.
415.482.0550.

Napa

Napa Bookmine

964 Pearl St., Napa. 707.733.3199.

Sonoma

Copperfield’s Books

140 Kentucky St., Petaluma.
707.762.0563.

Honorable Mention

Treehorn Books

625 Fourth St., Santa Rosa.
707.525.1782.

Best Musical Instruments Store

Marin

Bananas at Large

1504 Fourth St., San Rafael. 415.457.7600.

Napa

Napa Music Supply

2026 Redwood Road, Napa.
707.265.8275.

Sonoma

People’s Music

122 N. Main St., Sebastopol.
707.823.7664.

Honorable Mention

Tall Toad Music

43 Petaluma Blvd. N., Petaluma.
707.765.6807.

Best Record/
CD Store

Marin

Red Devil Records

894 Fourth St., San Rafael. 415.457.8999.

Sonoma

Last Record Store

1899 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.525.1963.

Best Jewelry Store

Marin

Point Reyes Jeweler

11101 Hwy. 1, Pt. Reyes Station.
415.663.1936.

Napa

Napa Valley Jewelers

1317 Napa Town Center, Napa.
707.224.0997.

Sonoma

Artisana

146 N. Main St., Sebastopol. 707.829.3036.

Honorable Mention

E.R. Sawyer Jewelers

638 Fourth St., Santa Rosa.
707.657.4004.

Best Knitting/Craft Shop

Marin

Dharma Trading Company

1604 Fourth St., San Rafael. 415.456.1211.

Napa

Yarns on First

1305 First St., Napa. 707.257.1363.

Sonoma

Cast Away & Folk

100 Fourth St., Santa Rosa. 707.546.9276.

Honorable Mention

Yarnitudes

3598 Gravenstein Hwy., Sebastopol. .707.827.3618.

Best Clothing Store-Men’s

Marin

Louis Thomas
Fine Men’s Apparel

211 Corte Madera Town Center, Corte Madera.
415.924.1715.

Napa

Mario’s

1223 Main St., St Helena.
707.963.1603.

Sonoma

Kaliber

315 D St., Santa Rosa.
707.528.0182.

Honorable Mention

Louis Thomas
Fine Men’s Apparel

150 Kentucky St., Petaluma.
707.765.1715.

Best Clothing Store-Women’s

Marin

Susan Hayes Handwovens

80 Fourth St., Pt. Reyes Station.
415.663.8057.

Napa

Miyamo

1128 First St., Napa.
707.251.9058.

Sonoma

Punch

711 Fourth St., Santa Rosa.
707.526.4766.

Honorable Mention

Dressers

145 N. Main St., Sebastopol.
707.829.8757.

Best Vintage Clothing Store

Marin

Stella’s Fine Consignments

224 Greenfield Ave. #3,
San Anselmo. 415.453.6191.

Napa

Wildcat Vintage Clothing

1210 First St., Napa.
707.224.3162.

Sonoma

Aubergine

755 Petaluma Ave., Sebastopol.
707.827.3460.

Honorable Mention

Haute Couture

101 Third St., Santa Rosa.
707.528.7247.

Best Shoe Store

Marin

Sole Desire

184 Bon Air Center, Greenbrae.
415.419.8130.

5800 Northgate Mall, San Rafael.
415.472.1202.

Napa

Shoes on First

1209 First St., Napa. 707.252.7280.

Sonoma

Sole Desire

710 Farmers Lane, Santa Rosa.
707.571.8643.

2411 Magowan Drive, Santa Rosa.
707.542.1690.

176 N. Main St., Sebastopol. 707.634.7401.

11 E. Napa St., Sonoma. 707.931.0357.

500 W. Napa St., Sonoma. 707.933.1702.

Honorable Mention

Santa Rosa Shoes

2255 Cleveland Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.546.1083.

Best Appliance/Kitchen Design

Marin

Martin & Harris Appliances

2158 Fourth St., San Rafael. 415.454.2021.

Napa

Spice Islands Marketplace

2555 Main St., St. Helena. 707.967.1100.

Sonoma

TeeVax

422 Wilson St., Santa Rosa.
707.545.1195.

Honorable Mention

Asien’s Appliance

1801 Piner Road, Santa Rosa.
707.546.3749.

Best Furniture/Home Furnishings

Marin

Sunrise Home

831 B St., San Rafael. 415.456.3939.

Napa

Definitely Different

2977 Solano Ave., Napa. 707.252.8015.

Sonoma

Cokas Diko

529 Fourth St., Santa Rosa. 707.568.4044.

Honorable Mention

Pedersen’s Furniture

707 Fifth St., Santa Rosa.
707.542.1855.

Best Home Improvement

Marin

Pini Hardware

1535 S. Novato Ave., Novato.
415.892.1577.

Napa

Silverado Ace Hardware

1450 Lincoln Ave., Calistoga.
707.942.4396.

Sonoma

Friedman’s Home Improvement

4055 Santa Rosa Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.584.7811.

1360 Broadway Ave., Sonoma.
707.939.8811.

Honorable Mention

Sebastopol Ace Hardware

660 Gravenstein Hwy. N., Sebastopol.
707.823.7688.

Best Solar Retail

Marin

Sun First!

3060 Kerner Blvd., San Rafael.
415.458.5870.

Sonoma

Solar Works

400 Morris St., Sebastopol. 707.829.8282.

Honorable Mention

Gaia Energy Systems

716 College Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.272.8136.

Best Wi-fi
Hot Spot

Marin

Equator Coffee

115 Jordan St., San Rafael. 415.485.2213.

244 & 254 Shoreline Hwy.,
Mill Valley. 415.380.8900.

Napa

Molinaris

815 Main St., Napa. 707.927.3623.

Sonoma

Taylor Maid Farms

6790 McKinley St., Ste 130, Sebastopol.
707.634.7129.

Honorable Mention

Infusions Tea House

6988 McKinley St., Sebastopol.
707.829.1181.

Best Auto Dealer-New

Marin

Toyota of Marin

445 Francisco Blvd. E., San Rafael.
415.456.7071.

Napa

Jimmy Vasser Toyota
& Chevrolet of Napa

466 & 583 Soscol Ave., Napa. 707.927.4466.

Sonoma

Hansel Auto Group

www.hanselauto.com

Honorable Mention

Freeman Toyota

2875 Corby Ave., Santa Rosa.
800.225.3055.

Best Auto Dealer-
Pre-Owned

Marin

Toyota of Marin

445 Francisco Blvd. East., San Rafael.
415.456.7071.

Napa

Greenberg’s

784 Soscol Ave., Napa. 707.257.1565.

Sonoma

Hansel Auto Group

www.hanselauto.com

Honorable Mention

Manly Automotive Group

www.manlyauto.com

Best Motorcycle Shop

Marin

Hattar Motorsports

137 Front St., San Rafael.
415.456.3345.

Napa

Cross Town Cycles

1739 Action Ave., Napa.
707.251.9622.

Sonoma

Michael’s Harley-Davidson

7601 Redwood Drive, Cotati.
707.793.9180.

Honorable Mention

The Motorcycle Shop

3383 Airway Drive, Santa Rosa.
707.578.6686.

Best Scooter Shop

Sonoma

Revolution Moto

518 College Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.523.2371.

Honorable Mention

G & B Motorsports

326 Petaluma Blvd. N., Petaluma.
707.763.4658.

Best Auto Detailing

Marin

Royal Coach Carwash

990 Francisco Blvd. E., San Rafael.
415.454.5660.

Napa

Rico’s Auto Detailing

1538 Third St., Napa. 707.252.8366.

Sonoma

Advanced Auto
Glass & Detail

2460 Santa Rosa Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.876.7434.

Honorable Mention

Autosport Detailing

1945 Cleveland Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.579.3710.

Best Auto Repair

Marin

Codoni’s
Auto Service

46 Hamilton Drive, Novato.
415.883.4448.

Napa

Zeller’s Auto Repair

17320 Yajome St., Napa.
707.252.6567.

Sonoma

Out West Garage

321 Second St., Petaluma.
707.769.0162.

Honorable Mention

Green Tech Automotive

501 Barham Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.545.7076.

Best Nursery

Marin

Sunnyside Nursery

130 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., San Anselmo.
415.453.2701.

Napa

Van Winden’s

1805 Pueblo Ave., Napa.
707.255.8400.

Sonoma

Harmony
Farm Supply

3244 Gravenstein Hwy. N., Sebastopol.
707.823.9125.

Honorable Mention

King’s Nursery

1212 13th St., Santa Rosa.
707.542.4782.

Best Hydroponic Supply Store

Marin

Marin Hydroponics

55 Frosty Lane, Novato.
415.233.4104.

721 Francisco Blvd. E., San Rafael.
415.482.8802.

Napa

Endless Green

55 Enterprise Court, Ste. 2, Napa.
707.254.0200.

Sonoma

Santa Rosa Hydroponics

4880 Sonoma Hwy., Santa Rosa.
707.595.1340.

4130 S. Moorland Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.584.9370.

Honorable Mention

Hydro Depot

13 W. Third St., Santa Rosa.
707.542.3866.

5665 Redwood Drive, Rohnert Park.
707.584.2384.

6731 Sebastopol Ave., Sebastopol.
707.829.1510.

Best Grocery Store

Marin

Good Earth Natural Foods

720 Center Blvd., Fairfax.
415.454.0123.

Napa

Vallerga’s Market

3385 Solono Ave., Napa.
707.253.2621.

Sonoma

Oliver’s Market

546 E. Cotati Ave., Cotati.
707.950.9501.

560 Montecito Center, Santa Rosa.
707.537.7123.

461 Stony Point Road, Santa Rosa.
707.284.3530.

Honorable Mention

Community Market

1899 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.546.1806.

6762 Sebastopol Ave. #100, Sebastopol.
707.407.4020.

Best Ethnic Market

Marin

Mi Pueblo Food Center

330 Bellam Blvd., San Rafael.
415.578.3971.

Napa

Morenita

2434 Jefferson St., Napa.
707.255.9068.

Sonoma

Lola’s Market

www.lolasmarkets.com

Honorable Mention

Asia Mart

2481 Guerneville Road, Santa Rosa.
707.542.3513.

Best Natural Foods Store

Marin

Good Earth Natural Foods

720 Center Blvd., Fairfax.
415.454.0123.

Napa

Golden Carrot
Natural Foods

1621 W. Imola Ave., Napa.
707.224.3117.

Sonoma

Community Market

1899 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.546.1806.

6762 Sebastopol Ave. #100, Sebastopol.
707.407.4020.

Honorable Mention

Oliver’s Market

546 E. Cotati Ave., Cotati.
707.950.9501.

560 Montecito Center, Santa Rosa.
707.537.7123.

461 Stony Point Road, Santa Rosa.
707.284.3530.

Best
Culinary Store

Marin

Tyler Florence

59 Throckmorton Ave., Mill Valley.
415.380.9200.

Napa

Shackford’s
Kitchen Store

1350 Main St., Napa.
707.226.2132.

Sonoma

Cultivate

186 N. Main St., Sebastopol.
707.824.1400.

Honorable Mention

i Leoni

120 Kentucky Ave., Petaluma.
707.762.9611.

Best Pipe Shop

Marin

The Mighty Quinn

1099 Fourth St. #G, San Rafael.
415.457.2420.

Napa

The Mighty Quinn

110 Soscol Ave., Napa.
707.226.7420.

Sonoma

Peacepipe

622 Santa Rosa Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.541.7016.

8492 Gravenstein Hwy., Ste. C, Cotati.
707.795.6420.

Honorable Mention

The Mighty Quinn

3372 Santa Rosa Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.545.4975.

16 Western Ave., Petaluma.
707.762.9420.

Best Hair Salon

Marin

Elements Salon

447 Miller Ave., Mill Valley.
415.381.4247.

Napa

Vanity for Guys & Dolls

920 Franklin St., Napa.
707.258.8537.

Sonoma

Daredevils & Queens

122 Fourth St., Santa Rosa.
707.575.5123.

Honorable Mention

Brush the Salon

322 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg.
707.431.1400.

Best Nail Salon

Marin

Three Sisters

963 Grand Ave., San Rafael.
415.454.9662.

Napa

Napa Nails

1415 Second St., Napa.
707.224.4599.

Sonoma

Zen Nails & Day Spa

2330 Midway Drive, Santa Rosa.
707.545.5341.

Honorable Mention

Bella Mia Nail Studio

410 Petaluma Blvd. S., Petaluma.
707.778.8959.

Best Skin
Care Services

Marin

EVO Spa

800 Redwood Hwy., Ste. 216,
Mill Valley. 415.383.3223.

Napa

Pure Skin Spa

1401 Lincoln Ave., Napa.
707.738.9511.

Sonoma

Bliss Organic Day Spa

186 N. Main St. #230, Sebastopol.
707.861.3434.

Honorable Mention

Kokeshi—
A Zen Facial Spa

1311 W. Steele Lane, Ste. B, Santa Rosa.
707.591.6732.

Best Body-
Art Place

Marin

Spider Murphy’s

1006 Lincoln Ave., San Rafael. 415.460.6979.

Napa

The Golden Owl Tattoo

926 Franklin St., Napa. 707.266.2454.

Sonoma

Buddha’s Palm
Tattoo Gallery

313 Main St., Sebastopol. 707.829.7256.

Honorable Mention

Faith Tattoo

600 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.566.9955.

Best Day Spa

Marin

EVO Spa

800 Redwood Hwy., Ste. 216, Mill Valley.
415.383.3223.

Napa

Spa Solage

755 Silverado Trail, Calistoga. 707.226.0800.

Sonoma

Osmosis Day Spa Sanctuary

209 Bohemian Hwy., Freestone. 707.823.8231.

Honorable Mention

Bliss Organic Day Spa

186 N. Main St. #230, Sebastopol.
707.861.3434.

Best Resort
& Spa

Napa

Bardessono

6526 Yount St., Yountville. 707.204.6000.

Sonoma

Flamingo Conference Resort & Spa

2777 Fourth St., Santa Rosa.
707.545.8530.

Honorable Mention

Hotel Healdsburg

25 Matheson St., Healdsburg. 707.431.2800.

Best Acupuncturist

Marin

Community Acupuncture of Marin

7075 Redwood Blvd., Ste. H, Novato. 415.250.4009.

Napa

Concordia
Natural Medicine

1834 First St., Napa.
707.260.4794.

Sonoma

The Saxena Clinic

633 Fourth St., Santa Rosa.
707.575.4826.

Honorable Mention

Sebastopol Community Acupuncture

876 Gravenstein Hwy. S., Sebastopol.
707.823.2217.

Best Herbal Clinic

Marin

Community Acupuncture of Marin

7075 Redwood Blvd., Ste. H, Novato.
415.250.4009.

Napa

Chinese Acupuncture
& Herbal Clinic

3091 Solano Ave., Napa.
707.255.5152.

Sonoma

Farmacopia

95 Montgomery Drive, Ste. 90,
Santa Rosa. 707.528.4372.

Honorable Mention

dhyana Center

186 N. Main St., Sebastopol.
707.823.8818.

Best Medical Dispensary

Marin

Delta Delivery

www.freemedicalcannabisdelivery.org

Napa

Sunshine Vitality

su******************@***il.com

Sonoma

Peace in Medicine

6771 Sebastopol Ave., Sebastopol.
707.823.4206.

1061 N. Dutton Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.843.3227.

Honorable Mention

Green Light Alternatives

www.greenlightalternatives.com

Best Chiropractor

Marin

Schillinger Chiropractic

1050 Northgate Drive, Ste. 1, San Rafael.
415.491.0959.

Napa

Ryan Lazarus,
Lazarus Chiropractic Inc.

1734 Jefferson St., Napa. 707.224.2283.

Sonoma

Jake Quihuis,
the Chiropractic Center

1819 Fourth St., Santa Rosa.
707.523.9850.

Honorable Mention

Ben Spencer,
Wellness Chiropractic

635 Fifth St., Santa Rosa.
707.575.8988.

Best Orthodontist

Marin

Don Wilson,
Wilson Orthodontics

7250 Redwood Blvd. #107, Novato.
415.878.0240.

Napa

Napa Valley Orthodontics

3303 Villa Lane, Napa. 707.254.0404.

Sonoma

Bernstein Orthodontics

2245 Montgomery Drive, Santa Rosa.
707.575.0600.

3835 Cypress Drive, Ste. 210, Petaluma.
707.559.2166.

8741 Brooks Road S., Windsor.
707.836.8360.

Honorable Mention

John Woo & Marc DeBerardinis, Petaluma Orthodontics

301 Washington St., Petaluma.
707.762.0211.

Best Esthetic Dentist

Marin

Holly Downes

7 N. Knoll Road, Mill Valley.
415.388.5151.

Napa

Vineyard Dental Napa

1103 Trancas St., Napa. 707.255.1172.

Sonoma

Sean Wilson

98 Montgomery Drive, Santa Rosa.
707.579.1555.

Honorable Mention

Lorraine Gock

3910 Princeton Drive, Santa Rosa.
707.546.9882.

Best Hospital/Health Care Clinic

Marin

Marin General Hospital

250 Bon Air Road, Greenbrae.
415.925.7000.

Napa

St. Helena Hospital

10 Woodland Road, St. Helena.
707.963.3611.

Sonoma

Kaiser Permanente

401 Bicentennial Way, Santa Rosa.
707.393.4000.

Honorable Mention

Sutter Medical Center

3325 Chanate Road, Santa Rosa.
707.576.4000.

Best Optical Store

Marin

20/20 Optical

1127 Fourth St., San Rafael.
415.453.2020.

Napa

The Eyeworks

1328 Pearl St., Napa. 707.254.2020.

Sonoma

Sonoma Eyeworks

534 Larkfield Center, Santa Rosa.
707.578.2020.

Honorable Mention

Les Shipley & Associates

1430 Guerneville Road, Ste. 3, Santa Rosa.
707.525.9920.

Best Laser Surgery Center

Marin

Mt. Tam Laser & Skin Care

350 Bon Air Road #120, Greenbrae.
415.482.3888.

Sonoma

Walter Tom, Aesthetic Laser & Vein

70 Stony Point Road, Santa Rosa.
707.542.8346.

Honorable Mention

Victor Lacombe, Artemisia

1002 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.577.8292.

Best Plastic Surgeon

Marin

Kimberly Henry

350 Bon Air Road, Ste. 1, Greenbrae.
415.924.1313.

Napa

William J. McClure, Napa Valley Plastic Surgery

1175 Trancas St., Napa.
707.258.6053.

Sonoma

David E. Marcus

1128 Sonoma Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.575.1626.

Honorable Mention

Victor Lacombe, Artemedica

1002 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.577.8292.

Best Bank

Marin

Bank of Marin

1101 Fourth St., San Rafael.
415.485.2265.

Napa

Bank of Napa

2007 Redwood Road, Ste. 101, Napa.
707.257.7777.

Sonoma

Exchange Bank

www.exchangebank.com

Honorable Mention

Summit State Bank

500 Bicentennial Way, Santa Rosa.
707.568.6100.

Best Credit Union

Marin

Redwood Credit Union

209 Third St., San Rafael.
800.479.7928.

1010 Grant Ave., Novato.
800.479.7928.

Napa

Redwood
Credit Union

1705 First St., Napa. 707.545.4000.

Sonoma

Redwood
Credit Union

1205 N. Dutton Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.545.4000.

2763 Fourth St., Santa Rosa.
707.545.4000.

2360 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.545.4000.

Honorable Mention

Community First Credit Union

www.comfirstcu.org

Best Real Estate Agent/Company

Marin

W Real Estate

www.wrealestate.net

Napa

Gary K. Rose, Southeby’s

780 Trancas St., Napa.
707.256.2147.

Sonoma

Debbie Hegardt, Century 21 Alliance

1057 College Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.577.7777.

Honorable Mention

Meaghan Creedon, Bradley Real Estate

1401 Fourth St., Santa Rosa.
707.280.4772.

Best Attorney

Marin

Howard Martha Attorney at Law

12783 Sir Frances Drake Blvd., Inverness.
415.669.1685.

Napa

Mary & Jason Luros, Hudson & Luros

1436 Second St., Napa.
707.418.5118.

Sonoma

Hansen & Miller
Law Firm

415 Russell Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.575.1040.

Honorable Mention

Law Offices of
Omar Figueroa

7770 Healdsburg Ave., Sebastopol.
707.829.0215.

Best Locally Made Retail Product

Marin

Cowgirl Creamery

80 Fourth St., Pt. Reyes Station.
415.663.9335.

Napa

Napa Soap Company

651 Main St., St. Helena. 707.963.5010.

Sonoma

Kozlowski Farms

5566 Gravenstein Hwy. N., Forestville.
800.473.2767.

Honorable Mention

Traditional
Medicinals Teas

4515 Ross Road, Sebastopol.
800.543.4372.

Best Nonprofit

Marin

CLAM of West Marin

www.clam-ptreyes.org

Napa

Feast It Forward

www.feastitforward.com

Sonoma

Ceres Community Project

7351 Bodega Ave., Sebastopol.
707.829.5833.

Honorable Mention

Food for Thought
Food Bank

PO Box 1608, Forestville. 707.887.1647.

Best Digital Creative Services

Sonoma

Zack Darling
Creative Associates

1049 Fourth St., Ste. B, Santa Rosa.
800.985.9322.

Sonoma

Honorable Mention

Net Visibility Solutions

5150 Commerce Blvd., Rohnert Park.
707.595.0450.

family

Best Baby
Gift Store

Marin

A Child’s Delight

190 Northgate One Shopping Center,
San Rafael. 415.499.0736.

105 Corte Madera Town Center,
Corte Madera. 415.945.9221.

Napa

Freckles Children’s Boutique

1309 Main St., St. Helena.
707.963.1201.

Sonoma

Cupcake Children
& Maternity

641 Fourth St., Santa Rosa.
707.579.2165.

107 Plaza St., Healdsburg.
707.433.3800.

Honorable Mention

Reverie Baby

2417 Magowan Drive, Santa Rosa.
707.544.4630.

Best Toy Store

Marin

Five Little Monkeys

852 Grant Ave., Novato.
415.898.4411.

Napa

Toy B Ville

1343 Main St., Napa.
707.253.1024.

Sonoma

The Toyworks

531 College Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.526.2099.

6940 Sebastopol Ave., Sebastopol.
707.829.2003.

Honorable Mention

Kaleidoscope Toys

2421 Magowan Drive, Santa Rosa.
707.545.8697.

Best Kids’ Clothing Store

Napa

Freckles Children’s Boutique

1309 Main St., St. Helena.
707.963.1201.

Sonoma

Cupcake Children
& Maternity

641 Fourth St., Santa Rosa.
707.579.2165.

107 Plaza St., Healdsburg.
707.433.3800.

Honorable Mention

Wee Three
Children’s Store

1007 W. College Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.525.9333.

Best Kids’ Consignment Store

Marin

Outgrown

1417 Fourth St., San Rafael.
415.457.2219.

Napa

Anew Beginning

2475 Solano Ave., Napa.
707.226.3979.

Sonoma

Pixie Stix Kids Consignment

200 S. Main St., Ste. 120, Sebastopol.
707.824.1048.

Honorable Mention

Sweet Pea Children’s Boutique

70 W. Cotati Ave., Cotati.
707.794.1215.

Best Birthday Party Place

Marin

Revolution 9

14 Bolinas Road, Fairfax.
415.459.7999.

Napa

Rockzilla

849 Jackson St., Napa.
707.255.1500.

Sonoma

Pump It Up

3360 Coffey Lane, Santa Rosa.
707.545.3140.

Honorable Mention

Scandia Family
Fun Center

5301 Redwood Drive, Rohnert Park.
707.584.7298.

Best Imagination Center

Marin

Bay Area Discovery Museum

557 McReynolds Road, Sausalito.
415.339.3900.

Napa

Nimbus Arts

649 Main St., St Helena.
707.963.5278.

Sonoma

Children’s Museum
of Sonoma County

1835 W. Steele Lane, Santa Rosa.
707.546.4069.

Honorable Mention

Charles M. Schulz Museum

2301 Hardies Lane, Santa Rosa.
707.579.4452.

Best Summer Day Camp

Marin

Dance Palace

503 B St., Pt. Reyes Station.
415.663.1075.

Napa

Way Off Broadway,
Nimbus Arts

649 Main St., St. Helena.
707.963.5278.

Sonoma

Camp Wa-Tam

630 Summerfield Road, Santa Rosa.
707.888.5267.

Honorable Mention

Cloverleaf Ranch

3892 Old Redwood Hwy., Santa Rosa.
707.545.5906.

Best Dog Obedience School

Marin

Marin Humane Society

171 Bel Marin Keys Blvd., Novato.
415.883.4621.

Sonoma

Olivet Kennel & Dog Training Resort

2404 Olivet Road, Santa Rosa.
707.542.2066.

Honorable Mention

Paradise Pet Resort

2120 Bluebell Drive, Santa Rosa.
707.595.3834.

5800 Commerce Blvd., Rohnert Park.
707.206.9000.

Best Doggie Day Care

Marin

Bed & Biscuits

4240 Redwood Hwy., San Rafael.
415.499.0199.

Napa

Ruff Dog Daycare
& Hotel

49 Enterprise Court, Napa.
707.258.2020.

Sonoma

Fit ‘N’ Furry
Pet Resort

860 Lindberg Lane, Petaluma.
707.769.7387.

Honorable Mention

Four Paws Pet Ranch

3410 Guerneville Road, Santa Rosa.
707.542.3766.

Best Groomer

Marin

Shampooch

223 Caledonia St., Sausalito.
415.331.3647.

Napa

Tails of the City

2205 Main St. #A, Napa.
707.254.7877.

Sonoma

Fit ‘N’ Furry
Pet Resort

860 Lindberg Lane, Petaluma.
707.769.7387.

Honorable Mention

Four Paws Pet Ranch

3410 Guerneville Road, Santa Rosa.
707.542.3766.

Best Pet Boutique

Marin

For Paws

69 Bolinas Road, Fairfax.
415.456.4685.

Napa

Fideaux

1312 Main St., St. Helena.
707.433.9935.

Sonoma

Debbie’s Pet Boutique

10333 Old Redwood Hwy., Windsor.
707.838.1896.

Honorable Mention

Bennett Valley
Pet Center

2700 Yulupa Ave. #19, Santa Rosa.
707.577.0663.

Best Animal Shelter

Marin

Marin Humane Society

171 Bel Marin Keys Blvd., Novato.
415.883.4621.

Napa

Napa County
Animal Shelter

942 Hartle Court, Napa.
707.253.4382.

Sonoma

Sonoma Humane Society

5345 Hwy. 12 W., Santa Rosa.
707.542.0882.

Honorable Mention

Petaluma Animal Services Foundation

800 Hopper St., Petaluma.
707.778.4396.

Best Kennel

Marin

Park-A-Pup

58 Gary Place, San Rafael.
415.453.5234.

Napa

Ruff Dog Daycare
& Hotel

49 Enterprise Court, Napa.
707.258.2020.

Sonoma

Four Paws Pet Ranch

3410 Guerneville Road, Santa Rosa.
707.542.3766.

Honorable Mention

Fit ‘N’ Furry Pet Resort

860 Lindberg Lane, Petaluma.
707.769.7387.

Best Veterinarian

Marin

Jerry Moore,
East San Rafael Veterinary Clinic

820 D St., San Rafael.
415.456.4463.

Napa

Mara Bleviss, Silverado Veterinary Hospital

2035 Silverado Trail, Napa.
707.224.7953.

Sonoma

Animal Hospital
of Sebastopol

1010 Gravenstein Hwy., Sebastopol.
707.823.3250.

Honorable Mention

PetCare

2425 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.579.3900.

1370 Fulton Road, Santa Rosa.
707.579.5900.

Best Dog Park

Marin

Dogbone Meadow

www.ci.novato.ca.us

Napa

Alston Dog Park

www.cityofnapa.org

Sonoma

Ragle Ranch
Dog Park

500 Ragle Road, Sebastopol.
707.823.7262.

Honorable Mention

Rincon Valley Community Park

5108 Badger Road, Santa Rosa.
707.543.3292.

Best Feed Store

Marin

Toby’s Feed Barn

11250 Hwy. 1, Pt. Reyes Station.
415.663.1223.

Napa

Wilson’s Feed & Supply

1700 Yajome St., Napa.
707.252.0316.

Sonoma

Western Farm Center

21 W. Seventh St., Santa Rosa.
707.545.0721.

Honorable Mention

Frizelle Enos Feeds

10035 Main St., Penngrove.
707.992.0144.

Recreation

Best Bike Shop

Marin

Mike’s Bikes

836 Fourth St., San Rafael.
415.454.3747.

Napa

The Hub

2500 Jefferson St., Napa.
707.253.2453.

Sonoma

The Trek Bicycle Store of Santa Rosa

512 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.546.8735.

Honorable Mention

The Bike Peddler

605 College Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.571.2428.

Best Independent Bike Frame Builder

Marin

Cameron Falconer

fa************@***il.com

Napa

Curtis Inglis, Retrotec

www.ingliscycles.com

Sonoma

Sycip Bicycles

111 Fifth St., Santa Rosa.
707.542.6359.

Honorable Mention

Soulcraft

www.soulcraftbikes.com

Best Gym

Marin

Marin YMCA

1500 Los Gamos Drive, San Rafael.
415.492.YMCA.

Napa

Healthquest

3175 California Blvd., Napa.
707.254.7200.

Sonoma

Coaches Corner

420 Morris St., Sebastopol.
707.829.5180.

Honorable Mention

Powerhouse Gym

515 Fifth St., Santa Rosa.
707.284.4664.

Best Health Club

Marin

Bay Club Marin

220 Corte Madera Town Center,
Corte Madera 415.945.3000.

Napa

Synergy

3421 Villa Lane, Napa.
707.251.1395.

Sonoma

Airport Club

432 Aviation Blvd., Santa Rosa.
707.528.2582.

Honorable Mention

Parkpoint Health Club

1200 N. Dutton Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.578.1640.

Best Pilates Studio

Marin

Novato Pilates

1769 Grant Ave., Novato.
415.898.3499.

Napa

Downtown Pilates

1338 Pearl St., Napa.
707.257.7382.

Sonoma

Tone

545 Ross St., Santa Rosa.
707.526.3100.

Honorable Mention

Pilates
Collective

132 Weeks Way, Sebastopol.
707.829.8746.

Best Yoga Studio

Marin

Red Dragon Yoga

438 Miller Ave., Mill Valley.
415.381.3724.

1701 Fourth St., San Rafael.
415.306.7904.

Napa

Bikram Yoga
Napa Valley

1950 Jefferson St., Napa.
707.254.9545.

Sonoma

Bikram Yoga
of Santa Rosa

522 Wilson St., Santa Rosa.
707.545.9642.

Honorable Mention

dhyana Center

186 N. Main St., Sebastopol.
707.823.8818.

Best Martial Arts School

Marin

Goju Karate

622 Lindaro St., San Rafael.
415.413.0930.

Napa

Red Dragon
Karate

2000 W. Pueblo Ave., Napa.
707.255.5470.

Sonoma

New School Aikido

880 Piner Road, Santa Rosa.
707.571.2013.

Honorable Mention

PHAS3 Training Center

575 Summerfield Road, Santa Rosa.
707.538.2950.

Best Park

Marin

Pt. Reyes
National Park

www.nps.gov/pore/index.htm

Napa

Skyline Park

www.skylinepark.org

Sonoma

Howarth Park

630 Summerfield Road, Santa Rosa.
707.543.3425.

Honorable Mention

Spring Lake Park

5585 Newanga Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.539.8092.

Best Public Golf Course

Marin

McInnis Park
Golf Center

310 Smith Ranch Road, San Rafael.
415.492.1800.

Napa

Napa Golf Course
at Kennedy Park

2295 Streblow Drive, Napa.
707.255.4333.

Sonoma

Bennett Valley
Golf Course

3330 Yulupa Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.528.3673.

Honorable Mention

Windsor Golf Club

1340 19th Hole Drive, Windsor.
707.838.7888.

Best Snow/Skate/Board Shop

Marin

Triumph

907 Fourth St., San Rafael.
415.457.1625.

Napa

Boardgarden

2740 Jefferson St., Napa.
707.253.7949.

Sonoma

Brotherhood

1240 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.546.0660.

Honorable Mention

Santa Rosa
Ski & Sports

1125 W. Steele Lane, Santa Rosa.
707.578.4754.

Best Surf Shop

Marin

Point Reyes Surf Shop

11101 Hwy. 1, Pt. Reyes Station.
415.663.1072.

Napa

Boardgarden

2740 Jefferson St., Napa.
707.253.7949.

Sonoma

Northern Light
Surf Shop

17191 Bodega Hwy., Bodega.
707.876.3032.

Honorable Mention

Brotherhood

1240 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.546.0660.

Romance

Best Bike Shop

Marin

Mike’s Bikes

836 Fourth St., San Rafael.
415.454.3747.

Napa

The Hub

2500 Jefferson St., Napa.
707.253.2453.

Sonoma

The Trek Bicycle Store of Santa Rosa

512 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.546.8735.

Honorable Mention

The Bike Peddler

605 College Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.571.2428.

Best Independent Bike Frame Builder

Marin

Cameron Falconer

fa************@***il.com

Napa

Curtis Inglis, Retrotec

www.ingliscycles.com

Sonoma

Sycip Bicycles

111 Fifth St., Santa Rosa.
707.542.6359.

Honorable Mention

Soulcraft

www.soulcraftbikes.com

Best Gym

Marin

Marin YMCA

1500 Los Gamos Drive, San Rafael.
415.492.YMCA.

Napa

Healthquest

3175 California Blvd., Napa.
707.254.7200.

Sonoma

Coaches Corner

420 Morris St., Sebastopol.
707.829.5180.

Honorable Mention

Powerhouse Gym

515 Fifth St., Santa Rosa.
707.284.4664.

Best Health Club

Marin

Bay Club Marin

220 Corte Madera Town Center,
Corte Madera 415.945.3000.

Napa

Synergy

3421 Villa Lane, Napa.
707.251.1395.

Sonoma

Airport Club

432 Aviation Blvd., Santa Rosa.
707.528.2582.

Honorable Mention

Parkpoint
Health Club

1200 N. Dutton Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.578.1640.

Best Pilates Studio

Marin

Novato Pilates

1769 Grant Ave., Novato.
415.898.3499.

Napa

Downtown Pilates

1338 Pearl St., Napa.
707.257.7382.

Sonoma

Tone

545 Ross St., Santa Rosa.
707.526.3100.

Honorable Mention

Pilates
Collective

132 Weeks Way, Sebastopol.
707.829.8746.

Best Yoga Studio

Marin

Red Dragon Yoga

438 Miller Ave., Mill Valley.
415.381.3724.

1701 Fourth St., San Rafael.
415.306.7904.

Napa

Bikram Yoga
Napa Valley

1950 Jefferson St., Napa.
707.254.9545.

Sonoma

Bikram Yoga
of Santa Rosa

522 Wilson St., Santa Rosa.
707.545.9642.

Honorable Mention

dhyana Center

186 N. Main St., Sebastopol.
707.823.8818.

Best Martial Arts School

Marin

Goju Karate

622 Lindaro St., San Rafael.
415.413.0930.

Napa

Red Dragon
Karate

2000 W. Pueblo Ave., Napa.
707.255.5470.

Sonoma

New School Aikido

880 Piner Road, Santa Rosa.
707.571.2013.

Honorable Mention

PHAS3 Training Center

575 Summerfield Road, Santa Rosa.
707.538.2950.

Best Park

Marin

Pt. Reyes National Park

www.nps.gov/pore/index.htm

Napa

Skyline Park

www.skylinepark.org

Sonoma

Howarth Park

630 Summerfield Road, Santa Rosa.
707.543.3425.

Honorable Mention

Spring Lake Park

5585 Newanga Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.539.8092.

Best Public Golf Course

Marin

McInnis Park
Golf Center

310 Smith Ranch Road, San Rafael.
415.492.1800.

Napa

Napa Golf Course
at Kennedy Park

2295 Streblow Drive, Napa.
707.255.4333.

Sonoma

Bennett Valley
Golf Course

3330 Yulupa Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.528.3673.

Honorable Mention

Windsor Golf Club

1340 19th Hole Drive, Windsor.
707.838.7888.

Best Snow/Skate/Board Shop

Marin

Triumph

907 Fourth St., San Rafael.
415.457.1625.

Napa

Boardgarden

2740 Jefferson St., Napa.
707.253.7949.

Sonoma

Brotherhood

1240 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.546.0660.

Honorable Mention

Santa Rosa
Ski & Sports

1125 W. Steele Lane, Santa Rosa.
707.578.4754.

Best Surf Shop

Marin

Point Reyes Surf Shop

11101 Hwy. 1, Pt. Reyes Station.
415.663.1072.

Napa

Boardgarden

2740 Jefferson St., Napa.
707.253.7949.

Sonoma

Northern Light
Surf Shop

17191 Bodega Hwy., Bodega.
707.876.3032.

Honorable Mention

Brotherhood

1240 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.546.0660.

Food &
Drink

Best Farmers Market

Marin

Farmers Market at Marin Civic Center

Civic Center Drive, San Rafael.
415.472.6100.

Napa

Napa Farmers Market at Oxbow Public Market

500 First St., Napa.
707.501.3087.

Sonoma

Santa Rosa Original Certified Farmers Market

50 Mark West Springs Road, Santa Rosa.
707.522.8629.

Honorable Mention

Sebastopol Farmers Market

Downtown Plaza, Sebastopol.
707.522.9305.

Best Organic Farm

Marin

Green Gulch Farm

www.sfzc.org/ggf

Napa

Boca Farm

www.bocafarm.org

Sonoma

Laguna Farms

1764 Cooper Road, Sebastopol.
707.823.0823.

Honorable Mention

Green String Farm

3571 Old Adobe Road, Petaluma.
707.778.7500.

Best Bakery

Marin

Bovine Bakery

11312 Hwy. 1, Pt. Reyes Station.
415.663.9420.

Napa

Model Bakery

1357 Main St., St. Helena.
707.819.8192.

Sonoma

Village Bakery

1445 Town & Country Drive, Santa Rosa.
707.527.7654.

7225 Healdsburg Ave., Sebastopol.
707.829.8101.

Honorable Mention

Wild Flour Bread Bakery

1409 Bohemian Hwy., Freestone.
707.874.2938.

Best Barbecue

Marin

Roadside BBQ

5000 Northgate Mall, San Rafael.
415.479.7200.

Napa

Smoakville

1755 Industrial Way, Napa.
707.363.3447.

Sonoma

BBQ Smokehouse

6811 Laguna Park Way, Sebastopol.
707.575.3277.

Honorable Mention

The BBQ Spot

3448 Santa Rosa Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.585.2616.

Best Burger

Marin

Phyllis’ Giant Burgers

2202 Fourth St., San Rafael.
415.456.0866.

Napa

Gott’s Roadside

933 Main St., Napa.
707.963.3486.

644 First St., Napa.
707.224.6900.

Sonoma

SuperBurger

1501 Fourth St., Santa Rosa.
707.546.4016.

10070 Main St., Penngrove.
707.665.9790.

Honorable Mention

Phyllis’ Giant Burgers

4910 Sonoma Hwy., Santa Rosa.
707.538.4000.

1774 Piner Road., Santa Rosa.
707.521.0890.

Best Pizza

Marin

Ghiringhelli’s Pizzeria

45 Broadway Blvd., Fairfax.
415.453.7472.

Napa

Ca’ Momi

610 First St., Napa.
707.257.4992.

Sonoma

Mombo’s Pizza

1880 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.528.3278.

560 Gravenstein Hwy. N., Sebastopol.
707.823.7492.

Honorable Mention

Rosso Pizzeria
& Wine Bar

53 Montgomery Drive, Santa Rosa.
707.544.3221.

151 Petaluma Blvd., Petaluma.
707.772.5177.

Best Frozen Dessert Shop

Marin

Swirl

417 Miller Ave., Mill Valley.
415.388.2636.

Napa

Frati Gelato

670 Main St., Napa.
707.265.0265.

Sonoma

Screamin’ Mimi’s

6902 Sebastopol Ave., Sebastopol.
707.823.5902.

Honorable Mention

Yogurt Farms

1224 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.576.0737.

Best Cupcakes

Marin

Susie Cakes

310 Bon Air Center, Greenbrae.
415.461.2253.

Napa

Sift

3816 Bel Aire Plaza, Napa.
707.240.4004.

Sonoma

Moustache Baked Goods

381 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg.
707.395.4111.

Honorable Mention

Sift

404-A Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.703.4228.

7582 Commerce Blvd., Cotati.
707.792.1681.

401 Kenilworth Drive #920, Petaluma.
707.200.2202.

Best Candy/Chocolate Shop

Marin

Powell’s Sweet Shoppe

879 Grant Ave., Novato.
415.898.6160.

Napa

Anette’s Chocolate Factory

1321 First St., Napa.
707.252.4228.

Sonoma

Powell’s Sweet Shoppe

151 Petaluma Blvd., Petaluma.
707.765.9866.

Honorable Mention

Viva Cocolat

110 Petaluma Blvd. N., Petaluma.
707.778.9888.

Best Chocolatier

Napa

Anette’s Chocolate Factory

1321 First St., Napa.
707.252.4228.

Sonoma

Sonoma Chocolatiers

6988 McKinley St., Sebastopol.
707.829.1181.

Honorable Mention

Recherche du Plaisir

3401 Cleveland Ave. Ste. 9, Santa Rosa.
707.843.3551.

Best Cafe/Coffeehouse

Marin

Dr. Insomniac’s

800 Grant Ave., Novato.
415.897.9500.

Napa

Ritual Coffee

610 First St., Napa.
707.253.1190.

Sonoma

Flying Goat Coffee

324 Center St., Healdsburg.
707.433.9081.

419 Center St., Healdsburg.
707.433.8003.

10 Fourth St., Santa Rosa.
707.575.1202.

Honorable Mention

Taylor Maid Farms

6790 McKinely St., Ste. 170, Sebastopol.
707.634.7129.

Best Breakfast

Marin

Half Day Cafe

848 College Ave., Kentfield.
415.459.0291.

Napa

ABC Bakery

1517 Third St., Napa. 707.258.1827.

Sonoma

Howard Station Cafe

3611 Bohemian Hwy., Occidental.
707.874.2838.

Honorable Mention

Dierk’s Parkside Cafe

404 Santa Rosa Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.573.5955.

1422 Fourth St., Santa Rosa.
707.545.2233.

Best Brunch

Marin

Crepevine

908 Fourth St., San Rafael. 415.257.8822.

Napa

Napa General Store

540 Main St. #100, Napa.
707.259.0762.

Sonoma

Willow Wood
Market Cafe

9020 Graton Road, Graton.
707.823.0233.

Honorable Mention

Flamingo Conference Resort & Spa

2777 Fourth St., Santa Rosa.
707.545.8530.

Best Diner

Marin

Pine Cone Diner

60 Fourth St., Pt. Reyes Station.
415.663.1536.

Napa

Buttercream Bakery

2297 Jefferson St., Napa. 707.255.6700.

Sonoma

D’s Diner

7260 Healdsburg Ave., Sebastopol.
707.829.8080.

Honorable Mention

Hallie’s Diner

125 Keller St., Petaluma.
707.773.1143.

Best
Sandwich Shop

Marin

Perry’s Deli

1916 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., Fairfax.
415.456.3580.

Napa

Genova Delicatessen

1550 Trancas St., Napa.
707.253.8686.

Sonoma

Ike’s Place

1780 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.293.9814.

Honorable Mention

Mac’s Deli

630 Fourth St., Santa Rosa.
707.6545.3785.

Best
Outdoor Dining

Marin

Station House Cafe

11180 Hwy. 1, Pt. Reyes Station.
415.663.1515.

Napa

Angèle

540 Main St., Napa. 707.252.8115.

Sonoma

Rustic

300 Via Archimedes, Geyserville.
707.857.1485.

Honorable Mention

Campo Fina

330 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg.
707.395.4640.

Best Dining After 10pm

Marin

Sol food

901 & 903 Lincoln Ave., San Rafael.
415.451.4765.

811 Fourth St., San Rafael.
415.451.4765.

401 Miller Ave., Mill Valley.
415.380.1986.

Napa

Morimoto Napa

610 Main St., Napa.
707.252.1600.

Sonoma

Underwood Bar & Bistro

9113 Graton Road, Graton.
707.823.7023.

Honorable Mention

Mary’s Pizza Shack

www.maryspizzashack.com

Best Spot
to Dine Solo

Marin

Sol Food

901 & 903 Lincoln Ave., San Rafael.
415.451.4765.

811 Fourth St., San Rafael.
415.451.4765.

401 Miller Ave., Mill Valley.
415.380.1986.

Napa

Carpe Diem Wine Bar

1001 Second St., Napa.
707.224.0800.

Sonoma

Peter Lowell’s

7385 Healdsburg Ave., Sebastopol.
707.829.1077.

Honorable Mention

Willow Wood
Market Cafe

9020 Graton Road, Graton.
707.823.0233.

Best Caterer

Marin

Deer Park Villa

367 Bolinas Road, Fairfax.
415.456.8084.

Napa

Smoke

2766 Old Sonoma Road, Napa.
707.927.5070.

Sonoma

Preferred Sonoma Caterers

416 East D St., Petaluma.
707.769.7208.

Honorable Mention

Park Avenue
Catering Co

591 Mercantile Drive, Cotati.
707.793.9645.

Best Server

Marin

Steve Schaefer,
Nickel Rose

848 B. St. , San Rafael.
415.454.5551.

Napa

Allison McDow,
Carpe Diem Wine Bar

1001 Second St., Napa.
707.224.0800.

Sonoma

Alan Luzmoor,
John Ash & Co.

4330 Barnes Road, Santa Rosa.
707.527.7687.

Honorable Mention

Jessica McMillan, Underwood Bar & Bistro

9113 Graton Road, Graton.
707.823.7023.

Best Chef

Marin

David Haydon,
Il Davide

901 A St., San Rafael.
415.454.8080.

Napa

Ken Frank,
La Toque Restaurant

1314 McKinstry St., Napa.
707.257.5157.

Sonoma

Duskie Estes & Doug Richey, Zazu Kitchen
& Farm

6770 McKinley St., Sebastopol.
707.523.4814.

Honorable Mention

Mark Stark, Stark’s Steak & Seafood

521 Adams St., Santa Rosa.
707.546.5100.

Best Sommelier

Marin

Eric Grasser,
123 Bolinas

123 Bolinas St., Fairfax.
415.488.5123.

Napa

Jordan Nova,
1313 Main

1313 Main St., Napa. 707.258.1313.

Sonoma

Christopher Sawyer, Carneros Bistro

1325 Broadway, Sonoma.
707.931.2042.

Honorable Mention

Stuart Morris, Hana Japanese Restaurant

101 Golf Course Drive, Rohnert Park.
707.586.0270.

Best Restaurant

Marin

Buckeye Roadhouse

15 Shoreline Hwy., Mill Valley.
415.331.2600.

Napa

Celadon

500 Main St., Napa.
707.254.9690.

Sonoma

Stark’s Steak & Seafood

521 Adams St., Santa Rosa.
707.546.5100.

Honorable Mention

Underwood Bar & Bistro

9113 Graton Road, Graton.
707.823.7023.

Best New Restaurant

Marin

Saltwater Oyster Depot

12781 Sir Francis Drake, Inverness.
415.669.1244.

Napa

LuLu’s Kitchen
at 1313 Main

1313 Main St., Napa.
707.258.1313.

Sonoma

Woodfour Brewing Company

6780 Depot St., Sebastopol.
707.823.3144.

Honorable Mention

Belly Left Coast Kitchen & Tap Room

523 Fourth St., Santa Rosa.
707.526.5787.

Best Chinese

Marin

Jennie Low’s Chinese Cuisine

120 Vintage Way, Novato.
415.892.8838.

Napa

China House

2940 Jefferson St., Napa.
707.226.8881.

Sonoma

Gary Chu’s Chinese Cuisine

611 Fifth St., Santa Rosa. 707.526.5840.

Honorable Mention

Kirin Restaurant

2700 Yulupa Ave., Ste. 3, Santa Rosa.
707.525.1957.

Best French

Marin

Left Bank

507 Magnolia Ave., Larkspur.
415.927.3331.

Napa

Bistro Jeanty

6510 Washington St., Yountville.
707.944.0103.

Sonoma

Bistro 29

620 Fifth St., Santa Rosa.
707.546.2929.

Honorable Mention

Chloe’s French Cafe

3883 Airway Drive #145, Santa Rosa.
707.528.3095.

Best Indian

Marin

Lotus Cuisine of India

704 Fourth St., San Rafael. 415.456.5808.

Napa

Taste of the Himalayas

376 Soscol Ave., Napa. 707.251.3840.

Sonoma

House of Curry & Grill

(formerly sizzling tandoor of santa rosa)

409 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.579.5999.

Honorable Mention

Pamposh Restaurant

52 Mission Circle, Santa Rosa.
707.538.3367.

Best Italian

Marin

Fradelizio’s Ristorante

35 Broadway Blvd., Fairfax.
415.459.1618.

Napa

Oenotri

1425 First St., Napa. 707.252.1022.

Sonoma

Lo Coco’s Cucina rustica

117 Fourth St., Santa Rosa.
707.523.2227.

Honorable Mention

Riviera Ristorante

75 Montgomery Drive, Santa Rosa.
707.579.2682.

Best Japanese/Sushi

Marin

Sushi Ran

107 Caledonia St., Sausalito.
415.332.3620.

Napa

Morimoto

610 Main St., Napa. 707.252.1600.

Sonoma

Hana Japanese
Restaurant

101 Golf Course Drive, Rohnert Park.
707.586.0270.

Honorable Mention

Osake

2446 Patio Court, Santa Rosa.
707.542.8282.

Best Mediterranean

Marin

Insalata’s

120 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., San Anselmo.
415.457.7700.

Napa

Tarla Mediterranean
Grill

1480 First St., Napa. 707.255.5599.

Sonoma

East West Restaurant

557 Summerfield Road, Santa Rosa.
707.546.6142.

Honorable Mention

East West Cafe

128 N. Main St., Sebastopol.
707.829.2822.

Best Mexican

Marin

Celia’s

1 Vivian St., San Rafael. 415.456.8190.

Napa

Tanya’s Taqueria

1601 Jefferson St., Napa.
707.224.9000.

Sonoma

Mi Pueblo Taqueria

800 Petaluma Blvd. N., Petaluma.
707.762.8192.

108 Kentucky St., Petaluma.
707.769.9066.

Honorable Mention

Martha’s Old Mexico

305 N. Main St., Sebastopol.
707.823.4458.

Best Seafood

Marin

Fish

350 Harbor Drive, Sausalito.
415.331.3474.

Napa

Morimoto Napa

610 Main St., Napa.
707.252.1600.

Willi’s Seafood & Raw Bar

403 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg.
707.433.9191.

Honorable Mention

The Tides Wharf

800 Hwy. 1, Bodega Bay.
707.875.3652.

Best Thai

Marin

My Thai Restaurant

1230 Fourth St., San Rafael.
415.456.4455.

Napa

Mini Mango Thai Bistro

1408 Clay St., Napa. 707.226.8884.

Sonoma

Sea Thai Bistro

2323 Sonoma Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.528.8333.

Honorable Mention

Thai House

525 Fourth St. #2, Santa Rosa.
707.526.3939.

Best Vietnamese

Marin

Saigon Village

720 B St., San Rafael.
415.453.3505.

Napa

Bui Bistro

976 Pearl St., Napa.
707.255.5417.

Sonoma

Simply Vietnam

966 N. Dutton Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.566.8910.

Honorable Mention

Goji Kitchen

1965 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.523.3888.

Best Vegetarian

Marin

Radiance

923 C St., San Rafael. 415.686.3442.

Napa

Small World Cafe

928 Coombs St., Napa. 707.224.7743.

Sonoma

Gaia’s Garden

1899 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.544.2491.

Honorable Mention

The Sunflower Center

1435 N. McDowell Blvd., Petaluma.
707.792.5300.

Best Bartender

Marin

Steve Schaefer,
Nickel Rose

848 B St., San Rafael. 415.454.5551.

Napa

Nick Hammond,
Carpe Diem Wine Bar

1001 Second St., Napa.
707.224.0800.

Sonoma

Frank Dice,
Underwood Bar & Bistro

9113 Graton Road, Graton.
707.823.7023.

Honorable Mention

Chrysti Kehr,
John Ash & Co.

4330 Barnes Road, Santa Rosa.
707.527.7687.

Best Bar

Marin

Mayflower Pub

1533 Fourth St., San Rafael.
415.456.1011.

Napa

Norman Rose Tavern

1401 First St., Napa. 707.258.1516.

Sonoma

Underwood Bar & Bistro

9113 Graton Road, Graton.
707.823.7023.

Honorable Mention

Stark’s Steak & Seafood

521 Adams St., Santa Rosa.
707.546.5100.

Best Dive Bar

Marin

Nickel Rose

848 B St., San Rafael.
415.454.5551.

Napa

Henry’s

823 Main St., Napa.
707.257.3008.

Sonoma

Wagon Wheel

3320 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.546.1958.

Honorable Mention

440 Club

434 College Ave., Santa Rosa.
707.542.2550.

Best Happy Hour

Marin

Flatiron

724 B St., San Rafael.
415.453.4318.

Napa

Barolo

1374 Lincoln Ave., Calistoga.
707.942.2233.

Sonoma

Stark’s Steak & Seafood

521 Adams St., Santa Rosa.
707.546.5100.

Honorable Mention

Jackson’s Bar & Oven

135 Fourth St., Santa Rosa.
707.545.6900.

Best Cocktails

Marin

Hilltop 1892

850 Lamont Ave., Novato.
415.893.1892.

Napa

Goose & Gander

1245 Spring St., St. Helena.
707.967.8779.

Sonoma

Underwood
Bar & Bistro

9113 Graton Road, Graton.
707.823.7023.

Honorable Mention

Spoonbar

219 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg.
707.433.7222.

Best Brewpub

Marin

Moylan’s Brewery
& Restaurant

15 Rowland Way, Novato.
415.898.4677.

Napa

Downtown Joe’s
Brewery & Restaurant

902 Main St., Napa.
707.258.2337.

Sonoma

Russian River
Brewing Co.

725 Fourth St., Santa Rosa.
707.545.2337.

Honorable Mention

LaGunitas Brewing Company

1280 N. McDowell Blvd., Petaluma.
707.769.4495.

Best Microbrew

Marin

Moylan’s Brewery
& Restaurant

15 Rowland Way, Novato.
415.898.4677.

Napa

Napa Smith Brewery

1 Executive Way, Napa. 707.254.7167.

Sonoma

Pliny the Elder, Russian River Brewing Co.

725 Fourth St., Santa Rosa.
707.545.2337.

Sonoma

Honorable Mention

Little Sumpin’, LaGunitas Brewing Company

1280 N. McDowell Blvd., Petaluma.
707.769.4495.

Best Micro Distillery

Napa

Charbay Distillery
& Winery

4001 Spring Mountain Road, St. Helena.
707.963.9327.

Sonoma

Spirit Works Distillery

679 McKinley St. #100, Sebastopol.
707.634.4793.

Honorable Mention

HelloCello

21877 Eighth St., Sonoma.
707.721.6390.

Best Wine List

Marin

123 Bolinas

123 Bolinas St., Fairfax.
415.488.5123.

Napa

1313 Main

1313 Main St., Napa.
707.258.1313.

Sonoma

Willi’s Wine Bar

4404 Old Redwood Hwy., Santa Rosa.
707.526.3096.

Honorable Mention

John Ash & Co.

4330 Barnes Road, Santa Rosa.
707.527.7687.

Best Winetasting Room

Marin

Trek Winery

1026 Machin Ave., Novato.
415.899.9883.

Napa

Palmaz Vineyards

4029 Hagan Road, Napa.
707.226.5587.

Sonoma

Kendall-Jackson Wine Estate & Gardens

5007 Fulton Road, Fulton.
866.287.9818.

Honorable Mention

Francis Ford
Coppola Winery

300 Via Archimedes, Geyserville.
707.857.1471.

Best Sauvignon Blanc

Napa

Cakebread Cellars

8300 St. Helena Hwy., Rutherford.
707.963.5221.

Sonoma

Merry Edwards Wines

2959 Gravenstein Hwy. N., Sebastopol.
707.823.7466.

Honorable Mention

Matanzas Creek Winery

6097 Bennett Valley Road, Santa Rosa.
707.528.6464.

Best Chardonnay

Napa

Grgich Hills Estate

1829 St. Helena Hwy., Rutherford.
707.963.2784.

Sonoma

La Crema

235 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg.
800.314.1762.

Honorable Mention

Kendall-Jackson Wine Estate & Gardens

5007 Fulton Road, Fulton.
866.287.9818.

Best Sparkling Wine

Marin

Heidrun Meadery

11925 Hwy. 1, Pt. Reyes Station.
415.663.9122.

Napa

Schramsberg Vineyards

1400 Schramsberg Road, Calistoga.
707.942.4558.

Sonoma

J Vineyards & Winery

11447 Old Redwood Hwy., Healdsburg.
707.431.5479.

Honorable Mention

Korbel Champagne Cellars

13250 River Road, Guerneville. 707.824.7000.

Best Rosé

Napa

Azur

www.azurwines.com

Sonoma

Kokomo Winery

4791 Dry Creek Road, Healdsburg.
707.433.0200.

Honorable Mention

Unti Vineyards

www.untivineyards.com

Best Cabernet

Marin

Trek Winery

1026 Machin Ave., Novato.
415.899.9883.

Napa

Ca’ Momi

610 First St., Napa. 707.257.4992.

Sonoma

Silver Oak

24625 Chianti Road, Geyserville.
707.942.7082.

Honorable Mention

Jordan

1474 Alexander Valley Road, Healdsburg.
800.654.1213.

Best Syrah

Marin

Trek Winery

1026 Machin Ave., Novato.
415.899.9883.

Napa

Four Cairn Wines

www.fourcairn.com

Sonoma

Longboard Vineyards

5 Fitch St., Healdsburg. 707.433.3473.

Honorable Mention

Radio Coteau

www.radiocoteau.com

Best Pinot Noir

Marin

Easkoot Cellars

1115 San Anselmo Ave., San Anselmo.

Napa

Hill Wine Company

1001 Silverado Trail, St. Helena.
707.963.7000.

Sonoma

La Crema

235 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg.
707.525.6244.

Honorable Mention

Kosta Browne Winery

www.kostabrowne.com

Best Zinfandel

Napa

Turley Wine Cellars

www.turleywinecellars.com

Sonoma

Seghesio Family Vineyards

700 Grove St., Healdsburg.
707.433.3579.

Honorable Mention

Carol Shelton Wines

3354 Coffey Lane, Santa Rosa.
707.575.3441.

Oct 12: AIM Film Festival at the Arlene Francis

Now in its fifth year, the American Indian Movement (AIM) International Film Festival once again brings a world of acclaimed films to Santa Rosa, exemplifying the spiritual and self-determining movement of resistance against colonization that is being waged by indigenous people in America and beyond. The 2014 lineup presents five acclaimed feature-length films from Mexico, Australia, Gaza and North...
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Yes on M To Save Sonoma County Libraries

Sonoma County's libraries are in the fourth year of their worst funding crisis ever. Like tens of thousands of youngsters, teens, and seniors, my two young sons used to make Monday our "library day." But now every one of the 13 libraries in the county is closed Mondays for the first time in history. What does it say about...
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Pinot by the Numbers

It's three-star scores all the way for this batch of well-made, predictable Pinots from the celebrated, maybe over-lauded 2012 vintage. And that's nothing to scoff at. It's good news that for about $25 these days you get a square deal in Pinot Noir. No sous bois and no surprises. Cuvaison 2012 Carneros Pinot Noir ($38) No surprise that this selection,...
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Letters to the Editor Oct. 8, 2014

Trimmer Trash For the downside of creating jobs for pot trimmers ("Spliff Shift" Sept. 24), see the article in the Kenwood Press (Sept. 15, 2014, Volume XXV, No. 16) reporting "Marijuana dump causes problems for fish, neighbors" about someone dumping trimmings into Sonoma Creek. —S. Martensen Santa Rosa Confirmation Bias Although I favor legalizing marijuana for medical and recreational use, I have strong reservations...
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Cinematic Dining

The Mill Valley Film Festival runs through Oct. 13. While great indie films are set to unspool through the weekend, here's where to link a film with a dish from the city's first-rate restaurant scene. Kuzu is a Turkish-German film that highlights village life in a poor Turkish community. Kuzu translates as "The Lamb," which makes for a perfect nearby...
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Gone Missing

David Fincher's bitter, would-be decadent mystery Gone Girl is taken from a too-schematic script by author Gillian Flynn. It contains a bounty of gnarly warring between the sexes—Fincher makes sex a cold, mean thing people do to each other. But it's more interesting when it touches on something more sensitive than sex: money. Set in the Midwest, the film...
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Making a Scene

Still life Artist Peter Krohn's work titled, 'Honeysuckle Melon,' a scanograph printed with dyes on aluminum, is part of the Art Trails Mini preview show at the Fulton Crossing gallery. Walk into the industrial space of Fulton Crossing on a weekend, and you might be greeted by a vibrant young woman in a pencil skirt and high heels. This atypical sight...
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Country Rap

Eric Earley has bluegrass in his bones. The songwriter and front man of outlaw country rockers Blitzen Trapper was raised in the wilds of Oregon, listening to the traditional folk of Doc Watson and playing banjo alongside his musician father from the time he was 6 years old. After a brief stint at a college in the Georgia mountains,...
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The Messenger Lives

This one has all the ingredients of a dreamed up Hollywood blockbuster: Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist uncovers a big story involving drugs, the CIA and a guerrilla army. Despite threats and intimidation, he writes an explosive exposé and catches national attention. But the fates shift. Our reporter's story is torn apart by the country's leading media, and he is betrayed...
Read more

Best Of Times

Fall has descended on the North Bay. The mornings are crisp, the sky is a deep blue and the ocean is groomed by offshore breezes. Grape vines are turning yellow and the crop is in. Kids are back in school and crowded weekend attractions are now the domain of appreciative locals. Fall is my favorite time of year in...
Read more
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