Punch Magazine Dec 2024

SPIRIT OF THE PENINSULA Escape to Olde London at the Dickens Fair holiday appeal DECEMBER 24 Soak and Sip Calistoga Charm Foster Museum Exploring Beauty Vintage Jewelry Heirloom Magic PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM Our Piano Prodigy’s Path to the Grammys

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8 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM 37 {punchline} Peninsula Culture 23 Pursuit of Beauty 32 Perfect Shot 34 Diary of a Dog: Fallon {due west} Travel & Wellness 37 Soak and Sip 46 Ye Olde London IN EVERY ISSUE 12 Editor’s Note 14 Sloane Citron 17 QuickPUNCH PHOTOGRAPHY: PAULETTE PHLIPOT / COURTESY OF: DREAMSIDE DESIGN / JIM FUNG - PENINSULA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA 53 {food coloring} Eats, Drinks & Scoops 53 Buzzy Mazra 58 Crushing It 62 The Beat on Your Eats {home & design} Style and Substance 65 Living Large 72 Heirloom Allure {punchout} Features 100 Piano Man {landmark} 106 Baylands Vignette {december 2024} contents 100 65

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10 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM “For it is in giving that we receive.” —ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI FOUNDER/PUBLISHER Sloane Citron EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Andrea Gemmet CREATIVE DIRECTOR Britt Johnston SENIOR EDITOR Johanna Harlow CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Sheri Baer COPY EDITOR Carrie Lightner PHOTOGRAPHY DIRECTORS Annie Barnett Paulette Phlipot PHOTOGRAPHERS Gino De Grandis Robb Most Irene Searles Robert David Siegel WRI TERS Sophia Markoulakis Sheryl Nonnenberg Elaine Wu EDITORIAL INTERN Margaret Koenig ASSOCIATE PUBLISHERS Sally Randall Georgina Fox CREATIVE SERVICES DIRECTOR Airiel Mulvaney ADVERTISING COORDINATOR Alexa Randall PRINT QUALITY DIRECTOR George Marquez PUNCH is an idea about how to live a life that is more engaging and authentic, from personal adventures, growth and what we feed our bodies and souls to the culture that fulfills us and the traditions and new discoveries offered by the Peninsula. It is about appreciating and exploring the richness of where we live and how that understanding can enhance our lives and make them more fulfilling and happy. PUNCH MAGAZINE ADVERTISING Please call 650.383.3636 or email hello@punchmonthly.com PUBLISHED 1047 El Camino Real, Suite 202 Menlo Park, CA 94025 ©2024 by 36 Media, LLC Members Sloane Citron, David Arfin hello@punchmonthly.com punchmagazine.com PUNCH® is a registered trademark of 36 Media, LLC FOLLOW PUNCH: @punchmonthly PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM FOR EVERYTHING PUNCH, COMPLETE CALENDAR, INSIDE SCOOPS & MORE: punchmagazine.com

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12 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM can dance, drink and be merry with The Great Dickens Christmas Fair’s lively literary characters. (Page 46) And if you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to sell Christmas trees, Brian Thom takes us behind the scenes at a popular tree lot in this month’s Q&A. (Page 20) Palo Alto native Alisa Eagleston-Cieslewicz shares how her childhood fascination with art led to a career caring for beautiful objects, first as a conservator and now as executive director of The Foster Museum, a hidden gem in an unlikely location. (Page 23) Family-run Domenico Winery and Osteria is another gem in an unusual locale. Find out how this sophisticated Italian restaurant ended up in the industrial section of San Carlos. (Page 58) Maybe you’ve seen the lines outside Mazra, Redwood City’s buzzy Mediterranean eatery? Meet the aimable brothers working hard to earn all the adulation. (Page 53) If you’ve heard one Christmas carol too many and are ready to shout, “Bah, humbug!” check out Grammy-winning jazz pianist Taylor Eigsti’s albums for a change of pace. The former child prodigy from Menlo Park reveals how his painful past helped forge his distinctive musical voice. (Page 100) Or get away to Calistoga for some self-care. We’ve got tips on finding delightful hot springs for a relaxing soak—followed by some wine, of course! (Page 37) Find all this and more in the pages of our year-end issue. Whether you’re lighting candles or rolling out gingerbread, frying up latkes or planning a New Year’s Eve bash, I wish you a joyful holiday and a healthy, happy 2025! Andrea Gemmet andrea@punchmonthly.com {editor’s note} don’t think of myself as an overly trusting child but in the face of holiday magic, not even a hint of suspicion clouded my mind. As a parent, I tried to recreate that same sense of wonder for my daughter, finding out first-hand why my parents always seemed so tired as they stumbled through Christmas Day. There’s a lot of late-night effort that goes into stuffing stockings and assembling toys. I can’t go back to my unworldly nine-year-old self, but experiencing a bit of that magical joy through a child’s eyes is definitely the next best thing. My mom made sure that all three kids got a new ornament every year, usually adding a small, dated tag. When I moved out, I carefully collected mine and brought them to my first apartment. The slightly chaotic assortment grows a little every year and is more of a stroll down memory lane than a decorating scheme. From the Hungarian Baby Jesus sleeping in a walnut shell to the black-and-white cat that resembled my family’s feisty feline, each one represents an experience, a passion, a moment in my life. It’s possible that when my daughter moves out, she’ll choose to have a beautifully turned-out tree, maybe with a color palette or theme that changes regularly. If she turns out to be a nostalgic softy like her mom, I think we’ve gotten her off to a good start. Her own history shares the branches of our family tree, from the tacky Tinker Bell my husband surreptitiously bought during her first Disneyland trip to a blown-glass version of Doctor Who’s Tardis and a beaded hummingbird in honor of the flashy creatures that frequent our backyard. In this month’s issue, we’re all about finding a bit of sparkle to brighten December’s long winter nights, from exploring the allure of vintage jewelry with a couple of Peninsula experts (Page 72) to frolicking in a festive recreation of Victorian London, where you Every December, you’ll find a slightly wonky fir tree in my living room, and hanging somewhere on its branches will be a brightly colored little girl made of yarn. She hails from Mexico and serves as my annual reminder of the awesome power of childhood naivete. When I was nine, my parents enjoyed a kid-free trip to Mexico City for an education conference. A few months later, my siblings and I were delighted to find yarn-covered ornaments made in Mexico for each of us under the Christmas tree. Rather than connect the obvious dots, we marveled at Santa’s thoughtfulness in choosing gifts from the very same place Mom and Dad went on their wonderful trip. I

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14 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM {sloane citron} light of the candles. It was wondrous to watch my children open their gifts each night, the quiet light illuminating their efforts to unwrap them. A book didn’t get the same response as a new baseball glove, but the kids were always grateful and happy. After the gifts were opened and the wrapping paper lay strewn across our kitchen floor, we would have a delicious family dinner with latkes, applesauce and sour cream. After the meal, the kids would play dreidel with golden foil-covered chocolate coins. Today, life is different. My children now have children of their own, blossoming into a group of 14, with more little ones expected to join our tribe in 2025. And, of course, these grown-up kids have their own homes and are eager to celebrate Hanukkah there, diligently teaching their children the prayers and songs we taught them. There is no way to get them all eight gifts each, since that would be 112 presents. I think I’d need to hire an assistant for that chore. Instead, I do my best to find one gift for each of them. We all get together in our family home for at least one of the nights, and it is a true joy to see the new additions singing the prayers and songs with a gusto that I certainly didn’t have at that age. And, with the lights out and the room dark, there’s happiness in my heart as I watch them, just as I had watched their parents, open their gifts against the dim light of the briskly burning candles. Happy Christmas and Hanukkah to you and your family. Growing up in Amarillo, Texas, my family’s Hanukkah celebrations were subdued and uneventful. We would light the candles without much fanfare, and I was given one gift from my grandmother and one from my parents. Usually, my grandmother gave me something of substance, like a bicycle or a musical instrument. She was always good for something up to $75, which would be a large number in today’s money. She was a generous woman, not just with her family but with everyone, and I learned from her. When I had my own family of four children, I felt compelled to give them the full treatment. There are several prayers and songs that accompany the lighting of the eight candles (one candle the first night leading to eight on the last night), so doing the liturgy and songs every night is the best way for children to learn them. Besides the poetic experience of lighting the candles, I felt compelled to provide plenty of materialistic things for my children. In what would seem an effort to make up for the muted holidays of my youth, I decided to shower my kids with delight. So, I took on the responsibility of finding eight presents for each child, a total of 32 gifts. On the face of it, this seems like a ridiculous idea. But I was committed and so I set about doing the best job that I possibly could—these were my kids after all. The first step was to get each of them things I knew that they wanted, from a telescope to a party dress to flying lessons. Each child was unique with very different interests and desires. Finding four such presents made a good start. But that hardly covered the goal of getting them each eight gifts. I would wander the aisles of Target and the stores at Stanford Shopping Center looking for presents I thought they might like. I would usually find a few choice things this way, narrowing down the number left to find. Some of the gifts were truly small gestures, though not quite as bad as giving them an orange, like in days past. I would go to local bookstores and buy up a dozen books, maybe head over to Big 5 for some baseballs or hats or sunglasses. Eventually, the job got done. Each night of Hanukkah we would summon all the kids (and often their friends) into our kitchen. We would gather around the large island where we had placed all of our Hanukkiahs (eight-branched menorahs), a collection that continually grew as we found new ones that we liked. We would place tin foil below each of them to keep the wax from spilling all over the granite surface. Then we would turn off all the lights and, in the darkness, we would find the magic of the holiday. As the prayers and songs were recited, we slowly lit the candle the first night, adding one more each night. By the fourth day, the Hanukkiahs shone brightly, and the room was filled with the flickering brightly burning

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PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM 17 DECEMBER 2024 + 31 DAYS + JOLLINESS + OUR 77TH ISSUE {quickpunch} Start Up + The bowl season starts with college football’s Celebration Bowl on December 14. + Stop the shopping—time’s up! Christmas is on Wednesday, December 25. + What a coincidence! Light the first Hanukkah candle on December 25. + Don’t miss the 49ers’ last game of 2024, hosting the Lions on December 30. Venture Out + CHEER ON sea captains who deck out their boats with holiday lights and decor at the Pillar Point Harbor Lighted Boat Festival on December 14 from 4 to 8PM. smharbor.com + DROP IT like it’s hot at the Hip Hop Nutcracker at Redwood City’s Fox Theatre. Toy soldiers and rats go head-to-head on December 21 and 22. peninsulalivelyarts.org + LIGHT UP the night at the Glow in the Dark Hanukkah Celebration with menorah lighting, glow-in-the-dark crafts, latkes, live music and selfies with a dreidel mascot on December 29 at 5:30PM in downtown Burlingame. chabadnp.com/chanukah When polled, most people will say that December is their favorite month of the year. And why not? Whatever you believe, wherever you are from, Americans know how to put on wonderful holidays with a joyful spirit, memorable music and above-board kindness permeating the crisp air. Kids, of course, treasure this time, with homes transformed by sweet-smelling trees and lively decorations. Or with the beauty of eight nights of candlelight and spinning dreidels with the tempting aroma of latkes frying in the kitchen. From all of us at PUNCH, have a bright and cheerful celebration! “There are those who give with joy, and that joy is their reward.” —Kahlil Gibran welcome back

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20 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM {quickpunch} What’s something people might not know about Nativity’s Christmas trees? All the trees you see in our lot have been unloaded by our eighth and seventh grade classes, with the support of our adult volunteers. Who’s the most dedicated volunteer? It really takes a village. The Nativity Christmas Tree Lot is made up of parents, staff, grandparents, parishioners, alumni families and many more who dedicate their time every season. Is there a task you look forward to the most? Walking the lot with families in our community and hearing their stories and their holiday plans. Where do you get your trees? Our trees are sourced from three different growers in the state of Oregon. Some use old-school, manual labor to cut and bundle trees. Some use modern technology such as helicopters to transport trees. What’s your favorite holiday tradition? Spending time at our family cabin on the Oregon coast, with our close family. What’s your favorite kind of Christmas tree? My number one is the noble fir—they have the most character. Native to the Pacific Northwest, they’re celebrated for their vibrant blue-green needles, which can sometimes appear silver. Their THE Q & A BRIAN THOM sturdy branches are perfect for holding even the heaviest ornaments, and they boast impressive longevity. Have you ever encountered a real-life Charlie Brown tree? We offer many real-life Charlie Brown trees on the lot! These are made from tree stumps and Christmas tree cut-offs. What’s the biggest tree you have available? We have the unique opportunity of stocking 16-foot-plus trees. And we can fabricate an oversized tree stand in the tree lot shop. Do you have fond memories of getting Christmas trees as a kid? We would visit our family cabin and cut down our own tree in the Oregon National Forest. Walking around with my siblings and parents was always an adventure. Often we would travel for miles to find the perfect tree, deep in the forest. What is your go-to Christmas movie? My six-year-old son and I enjoy watching The Polar Express and The Grinch. Best version of “I’ll Be Home For Christmas”— Frank Sinatra or Michael Bublé? Frank Sinatra, for sure. Should you start playing Christmas music before Thanksgiving? Why not? Christmas every day! A volunteer from the Nativity School Christmas Tree Lot shares the dirt on flying evergreens, Charlie Brown trees and the communal effort behind Menlo Park’s local lot.

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ART pursuit of beauty words by ANDREA GEMMET • photography by ANNIE BARNETT PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM 23 {punchline} PENINSULA CULTURE

24 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM {punchline} If you ask Alisa EaglestonCieslewicz to name her favorite painting at The Foster Museum in Palo Alto, there’s no hesitation. It’s Fall Colour, part of British artist Tony Foster’s series of watercolor works called Exploring Beauty. “I love how it captures the beautiful colors of fall. I think that autumn trees are exceptionally beautiful,” she says. When the California native was earning a master’s degree in art history at New York University, she was stunned by the sheer magnitude of the East Coast’s fall display. “One of my favorite things people” who love autumn. “I also really love the individual leaves at the bottom of the work, because I think the larger landscape at the top … captures the overall feel of the season and of the color. But those individual leaves show you the building blocks for that overall impression.” Alisa, the new executive director of The Foster, has been drawn to art since she was a precocious preschooler fascinated by the expressive works of the Rodin PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF: TREVOR BURROWS - THE FOSTER MUSEUM ABOVE: Fall Colour in Great Meadow, Concord, 2012, by Tony Foster is part of Exploring Beauty: Watercolour Diaries from the Wild, and is on display at The Foster Musem in Palo Alto. about living in New York was how Central Park became this amazing wash of different reds and oranges and yellows.” The vibrant landscape, like many of Tony’s plein air watercolor paintings, includes a bit of bonus material at the bottom— in this case a color-coded row of detailed paintings of different leaves. “I think Tony captures that variety of color and the intensity of it so well,” says Alisa, who admits to being “one of those

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26 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM {punchline} ABOVE: After 16 years at the SFO Museum, Alisa Eagleston-Cieslewicz is back in her native Palo Alto as the new executive director of The Foster Museum. displayed collection of his watercolor landscapes that celebrate some of earth’s most wild, beautiful—and usually hard-toreach—locations. Tony documents his artistic journeys, some taking years to complete, in a series of paintings large and small, accompanied by handwritten journal entries, sketches made in the field and small “souvenirs” (like dried leaves, shells, rocks) from the site. The Foster Museum boasts a broad overview of Tony’s artistic output, called “Journeys,” from his first one in 1982, following Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1879 path through France, called Travels without a Donkey in the Cévennes. The collection includes Rainforest Diaries from Costa Rica and views of volcanoes with Ice and Fire in the 1990s to more recent journeys: Secret Sites in Idaho, Sacred Places in the American Southwest and the The peaceful vibe of The Foster Museum couldn’t be more different from San Francisco International, which has the nation’s only accredited museum in an airport. There, the luggage-toting visitors are more likely to be rushing past the museum exhibits than to pause in quiet reflection while waiting for their planes. From weather delays to construction work, “something is always happening at the airport,” Alisa laughs. The Foster, a large, vine-covered building incongruously located off of busy San Antonio Road, is an oasis of contemplative calm by comparison. Solely dedicated to the work of Tony Foster, the eponymous museum houses a beautifully Sculpture Garden at Stanford University. Alisa traces her career path back to Stanford’s Cantor Art Center, which she often explored with her alumni parents. Later, as a Stanford undergraduate, Alisa joined the museum crew and helped maintain that same collection of Rodin statues. Fast-forward to internships at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the De Young Museum in San Francisco, a contract job with the SF Fine Arts Museums, an MBA from UC Berkeley. Most recently, Alisa served as the acting director of the SFO Museum, where she held various roles for 16 years, before landing at The Foster in October.

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28 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM {punchline} PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF: TREVOR BURROWS - THE FOSTER MUSEUM ABOVE: Tony Foster made the pencil sketch (below) while underwater in scuba gear, then used it to paint Dive 132 Little Cayman, 2013, from the Journey Exploring Beauty. instead of his usual sketchpad. While he normally makes his watercolors in situ, Tony relied on those waterproof sketches to recreate the multicolored wonderland of fish and corals he witnessed in a large-scale painting done on dry land. “That’s so challenging, because watercolors are obviously not going to work underwater,” Alisa notes. At The Foster, Tony’s lovely pictures serve as an invitation for viewers to connect with nature and think about the need to protect these wonderful wild places. Opposite his luminous reef painting is a table set with coloring sheets on clipboards, a tray of seashells, colored pencils, a magnifying glass and laminated photos of sea creatures, an opportunity for young viewers to create underwater scenes of their own. Community outreach is a priority at The Foster, Alisa says, serving both its mission of environmental stewardship and acknowledging its out-of-the-way location. Alisa has long been interested in conservation of a different kind. She started out as a conservator, with a vital behind-the-scenes role caring for objects in museum collections, doing everything from polishing antique silver to repainting damaged porcelain. Over the years, she’s worked on Greek and Roman antiquities and restored a damaged 1950s scale model of a United Airlines DC-8, fabricating replacements for a slew of missing hands, feet and accessories for the plane’s diminutive passengers and crew. She says conservators might spend an entire day up close and personal with a single object. “It allowed me to interact with artworks in a way I really love,” Alisa shares. For someone with a conservaglobe-spanning Exploring Beauty. “I think one of the really wonderful things is that The Foster Museum has free admission. This is for everyone,” says Alisa. “It’s a resource for anybody who wants to come experience it, enjoy it, learn from it.” She walks through a gallery of works from the Exploring Beauty series and exclaims, “Oh, I have to show you the fish!” She explains that Tony solicited recommendations for the most beautiful places from notable scientists, explorers, writers and environmentalists. Sir David Attenborough’s chosen location sent Tony to a reef in the Cayman Islands. An underwater photo shows the artist at work, suited up in scuba gear and sketching with pencils on a sheet of plastic

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30 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM The Foster Museum in Palo Alto hosts children’s story times, public lectures and events like nature journaling and art making. Go to thefoster.org for more information or a free reservation. tion background, having ready access to the artist for questions about how to preserve their work is a boon. Not only is Tony transparent about his materials and methods—his palm-sized paint box, hiking boots and collection of paintbrushes are on display in The Foster—there’s no need to speculate when he’s just a phone call away. Alisa notes that a few of his paintings include marginalia, like an image of Chaco Canyon in New Mexico from Sacred Places. “These works are just so beautiful,” Alisa says, and then points out a series of small, quick brushstrokes outside the picture’s margins where Tony tested various colors in search of the right one. It’s clear Alisa relishes being part of her hometown community, where she’s also the chair of Palo Alto’s Historic Resources Board. “It’s a really wonderful time to be coming to this museum because the museum is so new,” she says of The Foster, which opened in 2016. After a pandemic closure, it’s definitely starting to hit its stride, she adds. “Being from Palo Alto, it’s a very special thing to be able to be a part of an institution like this, that can really reach out to the community, and can serve as a place of education and as a gathering place.” She notes the positive messages transmitted by Tony’s work: slowing down, taking a closer look at beautiful places around the world and cultivating the desire to preserve them. “I think those are really powerful concepts,” Alisa reflects, “and I’m really looking forward to helping people engage with them.” {punchline}

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32 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM {punchline} PERFECT SHOT ice caps On a chilly day, photographer friends Robb Most and Bob Siegel were hiking on the Brook Trail in Pescadero Creek Park. Robb was captivated by a plucky little patch of mushrooms poking up from the trailside weeds and glittering with ice crystals. Using a tripod, he used his camera’s “focus shift” to achieve depth of field by taking many shots, each with a different focus, and then combined the images using software. Image by Robb Most

PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM 33 Calling all shutterbugs: If you’ve captured a unique perspective of the Peninsula, we’d love to see your Perfect Shot. Email us at hello@punchmonthly.com to be considered for publication. calling all shutterbugs

34 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM {punchline} calling all dogs If you’ve got quirky habits or a funny tale (or tail) to tell, email hello@punchmonthly.com for a chance to share a page from your Diary of a Dog in PUNCH. fallon DIARY OF A DOG photography by ROBB MOST If you think that Jimmy Fallon is the friendliest late-night host, then I’m just like my namesake. Actually, I’m #jimmyfallon (it’s a long story), but I answer to Fallon and I firmly believe that every stranger is just a friend I haven’t met yet. I was the runt of a litter of ShiPorkis (Shi Tzu, poodle and Yorkshire terrier mix) when I was brought to the Stanford Faculty Club and adopted by Diane just before Christmas 2015. She says that my eyelashes go on for days and make women jealous. She used to fret about my “lack of boundaries” when meeting new people, but if everyone adores me, what is there to worry about? On Christmas Eve last year, I had an accident that left my hind legs paralyzed, but thanks to a great surgeon at UC Davis and intensive rehab at Scout’s House, I’m back on all four feet. I still wake up every day happy and ready to befriend anyone who will give me a scratch behind the ears in exchange for a little kiss. Diane wants me to take it easy, so she got a stroller for our longer daily walks around San Mateo. When I’m not hopping in and out, I sit like a captain on the prow of his ship, offering a friendly greeting to everyone we meet.

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PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM 37 CALISTOGA GETAWAY soak and sip {due west} words by SOPHIA MARKOULAKIS TRAVEL & WELLNESS PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF: CHRIS SCHUSTER

38 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF: ALEXANDER RUBIN / (FOUR SEASONS NAPA VALLEY) SOPHIA MARKOULAKIS Napa County city as you travel north on Highway 29. While California’s first millionaire Sam Brannan put Calistoga on the map in the 1860s, prior settlers and indigenous people had long benefited from its geysers and underground springs. In 1905, a historic electric train carried affluent San Franciscans to Calistoga where they could soak in pools at properties like the Mountain View Hotel and Indian Springs Resort. Today, the electric train has been replaced by electric vehicles that transport people like me who are eager to enjoy both the area’s spas and its wine industry. I checked into the Calistoga Springs Resort and immediately sensed that I had found a local gem, where hotel guests and locals alike make themselves at home at the property’s outdoor pool area. My spacious room with a sitting area and kitchenette had a separate bedroom and large bath. As soon as I unpacked, I donned my robe and headed out the door to explore the first of four pools. The largest and coolest of the bunch was a tepid 85 degrees, perfect for some laps. The other two pools were heated to temperatures between 90 and 100 degrees. The giant whirlpool, situated under a massive gazebo, registered a toasty 104. After a couple of hours submerged in various pools, I felt relaxed yet refreshed. The hotel’s no-frills charm is a bonus for families and large groups. Outdoor barbecues and plenty of patio furniture provide the perfect setup for dining and socializing on-premises. People were friendly, and the large fire pit situated between the pools kept me and my fellow guests cozy late into the evening. Tectonic activity is common in this part of Northern California as the earth lets off a little steam. A small jolt in the middle of the Having grown up in Sacramento, it’s no surprise that I never met a pool I didn’t want to plunge into, feet first. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve become allergic to pool water below 85 degrees. Seeking warm water to soothe my joints, I recently headed to Napa Valley’s Calistoga for hydrotherapy and relaxation. Often referred to as the “end of the road,” it’s the last {due west}

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40 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM {due west} night woke me up, a reminder that the therapeutic waters I was enjoying wouldn’t be accessible without contractions between rock and steam, linked to past volcanic activity and a fault zone. Most say that Calistoga wouldn’t be what it is today without Brannan commercializing the area’s most prized natural resource—mineral-rich water originating 4,000 feet below the earth’s surface near one of the world’s largest geothermal fields. Indian Springs Resort, which Brannan founded in 1862, has four geysers on its 17 acres. There’s a large one that releases steam behind the Olympic-size pool, and watching it mesmerized me while I floated the next morning away. I fueled up on poke at the poolside grill and bar, The Chaise Lounge, and maintained my elevated internal temperature by PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF: VISIT CALISTOGA sitting next to the large fire. With a full belly and an Aperol spritz, I was back in the pool until late in the day. The resort’s spa utilizes water from the geysers and volcanic ash mined on-site in many of its treatments. I was intrigued by the Himalayan Salt Therapy Room, which is purported to help with respiratory conditions, and the Binaural Beats Therapy that delivers synchronized sound therapy and is said to aid sleep and harmony. Anyone booked for a treatment can experience the Buddha Pond, a refuge with palm trees and greenery surrounding the geyser-fed pond. Other hotels that tap into local geysers include Dr. Wilkinson’s Backyard Resort and Mineral Springs, Calistoga Motor Lodge and Spa and Roman Spa Hot Springs Resort. Each property has its own retro vibe and exemplifies the laid-back Calistoga mineral pool experience. DINE & DRINK DOWNTOWN Several decades of architecture are on view within six blocks of downtown along and around Lincoln Avenue. From the post-Gold Rush era Mission-style buildings to ornate Victorian structures and stately Neo-Classical commercial buildings, walking around offered me a lesson in California history. Housed in many of these historic buildings are restaurants, wine tasting rooms and brewer-

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42 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM {due west} ies. Dining and drinking options include Evangeline, Bricco Osteria and Calistoga Brewery. Sam’s Social Club, part of Indian Springs Resort, has a lively outdoor scene and an eclectic menu. Head to the Four Seasons Resort and Residences Napa Valley for amazing views of the surrounding vineyards. Top Chef alum and rising star Rogelio Garcia helms the property’s Michelin-star restaurant, Auro. If you can’t snag a reservation there, you’ll still be well fed at the property’s all-day restaurant, Truss. Pop into Calistoga Roastery or Sam’s General Store for morning coffee and a pastry. PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF: MARIA CONCETTO WINERY / VISIT CALISTOGA For an old-world experience, Romeo Vineyards’ tasting room is located at one of Calistoga’s oldest buildings—an 1880s-era carriage house. Tastings take place outdoors surrounded by greenery and roses. Other noteworthy tasting rooms include Picayune Vineyards, Calistoga Depot and Tank Garage Winery. Whether sipping or splashing, you’re sure to leave Calistoga feeling renewed. take the plunge visitcalistoga.com WINE COUNTRY WINTER The Christmas season is a special time in Calistoga. The downtown district gets into the spirit with its annual Lighted Tractor Parade the first weekend of December, plus a Christmas Faire and post-parade celebration in Pioneer Park. If you can’t make it out for the parade, celebrate the season with wine. Visit Calistoga hosts Winter in the Wineries Passport every year from early December through the first week of February. For $75, it covers free tastings at over two dozen Calistoga-area wineries and offers discounts at resorts and retailers. I couldn’t leave without tasting some legendary Napa Valley wine and there are several in-town tasting rooms, each with its own flair. Maria Concetto Winery is known for RobinoVino, the robotic sommelier that assists with your tasting experiences. But the wine doesn’t need gimmicks. Owner Maria Reznikova is sourcing impeccable grapes and employs veteran winemakers like Patrick Saboe to craft delicious pinots and sparklings.

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46 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM {due west} DICKENS FAIR ye olde london words by JOHANNA HARLOW lot and you enter Victoria Station. You can even ride a steam train this year!” But what’s a world without people? A small army of actors populate the fair, portraying all strata of society from sooty chimney sweeps to the regal Queen Victoria. Beyond riffraff and royalty, visitors encounter characters fresh off the pages of Charles Dickens’ novels. You’ll find plucky Tiny Tim and scowling Scrooge—and get to interact with them, too. The immersive nature of the experience means that visitors are also players on this 143,000foot stage. “It’s a two-way street,” says Kevin. “The audience comes in and Keen on visiting Victorian London, but can’t afford the plane ticket or the time machine? Not a problem. Traveling back to the era of toshers, telegraphs and top hats is only a short drive away. At The Great Dickens Christmas Fair— an entire little London erected within Daly City’s Cow Palace each winter—you’ll discover seven “neighborhoods” of lamplit shops, eateries, pubs, music halls and theaters to explore. In celebration of the fair’s 40th anniversary, it’s expanded to include an upper hall. That “allows us to transition from the 21st century to the 19th century of the fair,” says executive producer Kevin Patterson, who oversees the event alongside his wife Leslie. “So you get out of your horseless carriage in the parking PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF: DENISE LAMOTT adds their piece.” In fact, it’s often difficult to discern actor from attendee since quite a few diehards come dressed in full Victorian regalia. Kevin doesn’t hesitate to name his favorite character at the fair: “The Spirit of Christmas Present,” from A Christmas Carol. “He reminds me of both Falstaff and Bacchus. He is the embodiment of conviviality!” Both his parents embodied this spirit in spades. Kevin was born to “ambitious theater people,” Ron and Phyllis, who not only founded the Dickens Fair, but also produced the first Renaissance fair in the U.S. They “were actively attempting to recreate history, but doing it with a wink,” Kevin describes. Both had big personalities. Phyllis gleefully answered to the role of “Chief

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{due west} 48 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF: RICH YEE / DON CARSON CREATIVE old in a police constable costume, “wearing a Bobby’s hat with hair down to my shoulders!” But he also remembers when the fair got canceled when the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake damaged Pier 45, their venue that year. “We were a week away from having people on ladders,” he shivers. The following year— referred to as the Freezer Fair of 1990—wasn’t much better. “It happened to be the coldest winter in generations,” Kevin says, and the Cal Expo venue had to be evacuated due to frozen and breaking fire sprinklers. After that, the fair went dark for a time. “My wife and I brought it back from mothballs because so many people would tell us that they missed it,” Kevin says. From 2000 to the present, they’ve hosted at the Cow Palace, which allows them on-site storage (a good thing, since moving all the sets and decorations would require 24 semi trucks). A diligent crew of world builders sets up and tears down each season. “The ‘many hands’ approach,” Kevin quips. “They put their heart and their art into it!” Instigator.” And a friend of Ron’s described him as “simultaneously shrewd, lewd, elegant, exuberant, funny, touching, mule-stubborn, refined, bawdy, wildly creative, exasperating and lovable—all within the same damn minute.” When they hosted the first Dickens Fair in San Francisco’s old Anchor Works warehouse in 1970, Kevin was 10. “My parents put me in the costume of a street urchin,” he recalls. “I had this theatrical world to run around in.” Those early years he performed alongside wicked Mr. Fagin, an Oliver Twist villain who runs a pickpocketing operation. “We were able to really pick pockets,” Kevin reminisces. “We’d hand them off to Mr. Fagin on stage.” The actor would hold up the pilfered items for sheepish audience members to come collect. “We don’t do that particular bit anymore,” he chuckles. Kevin continues to dust off old memories, recalling when he graduated from pickpocket to peeler as a tall, skinny, 17-year-

50 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM {due west} A lot of thought goes into keeping the modern world out of this immersive 19th-century experience. There are no windows with glimpses of the outside world. Theater curtains transition from one neighborhood to the next, subconsciously making guests feel like they’re a “part of the show.” All the food and craft vendors must keep to the Victorian theme. And if you bring out your smartphone, the characters will puzzle over your strange glowing rectangle. “They would not know anything about such whirligigs and doodads,” Kevin chuckles. amateur sleuths to help hunt down clues around London for his latest mystery. If you help him catch the culprit, you might just earn yourself a key and an open invitation to 221B Baker Street. “Every year there is a new puzzle to solve—a new Sherlock case to crack,” Kevin says. So come wander the Dickens Fair’s winding lanes. Learn to waltz at Fezziwig’s dance hall and brave the sketchier neighborhoods where the disreputable lurk. Munch on roasted chestnuts, cheer on the can-can dancers at Mad Sal’s and sing shanties with rum-swilling sailors at the London Docks. “Come and play!” Kevin invites. PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF: FADTKE - ZOART PHOTO / JOHANNA HARLOW / RICH YEE yuletide spirit dickensfair.com A recent expansion outside the Dickens universe includes the Jekyll and Hyde pub crawl. For an additional fee, guests wander through the five pubs around town seeking a concoction that will cure poor Dr. Jekyll of his violent alter ego. But “to think like a madman, you may have to drink like one.” For the last three years, Sherlock Holmes has also taken up residence at the fair and is seeking sharp-witted BY THE NUMBERS + 3-week setup + 6 stages + 14,000 participants + 129 buildings + 2,000 light fixtures + 12,000 feet of cables + 36 boxes of fake snow + 800 feet of garlands + 11 Christmas Eves

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