If you recall this photo you’ve been around Marin for at least 20 years. At left is Lisa Shanower, I’m in the middle and my wife, Nikki, is on the right. Nikki and I met Lisa through a party in the fall of 2004 and — after months of dreaming and scheming — a version of this photo appeared in Marin Magazine’s first issue in April of 2005 and every issue thereafter for the next seven years. It ran alongside “The View From Mount Tam” which previewed each issue’s features.
About now you might be wondering, why? Why the three of us? Why Mount Tamalpais? And why the same shot of the same people for 80 issues? The easy one to answer is “Why us?” We were the co-founders of Marin Magazine; Lisa was “Publisher,” which meant she managed ad sales; Nikki was “Editorial Director,” meaning she put every issue together; and I was “Executive Editor,” which had me driving Bolinas to Belvedere digging up stories (the one fun job!). More involved is answering why a Mount Tam hillside? That’s because we thought long and hard about what it is that all Marin residents have in common? Is it Frank Lloyd Wright’s iconic civic center? Or that Highway 101 is our “Main Street”? Finally, after agreeing no one specific shopping center brought us together, we settled on Mount Tam as Marin’s unifying entity. Nearly everyone in Marin sees it every day; and from its summit you can see all of Marin. As to why that particular hillside, it was pure chance.
As our first issue deadline was getting dangerously close, we piled in photographer Barb Ries’ SUV and headed out Panoramic Highway to “somewhere, anywhere on Mount Tam, the higher the better.” After turning right on Pan Toll Road heading to Mountain Theater, we spotted a gentle slope with good sun and pulled over. Barb got the shot in 15 minutes and it lasted for 12 years. Evidently we had placed ourselves at “the heart” of Marin and have never looked back. So far, so good; really good. And on Sunday, April 6, starting at 3 p.m. at the bucolic Marin Art and Garden Center on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, the staff of Marin Magazine will celebrate our publication’s 20th Anniversary and we want you, dear reader, to join us. For details please go to 270media.com/events.
