Oakland–based woodworker Aleksandra Zee isn’t intimidated by turning heads when she walks through a lumberyard. “I feel like I’ve gone through such a journey as a female and I don’t have anything to prove, so it takes the pressure off,” says the former Anthropologie display artist, ... More

Hovering above Union Square (think: 360-degree city views) in the Kimpton Sir Francis Drake Hotel, Lizzie’s Starlight is a new city staple. Formerly known as the Starlight Room, the 4,100-square-foot reinvented restaurant and dancing venue is layered with wrought iron and crystal chandeliers and artwork ... More

Interior designer Jeannie Fraise, founder of Lotus Bleu Interior Design Studio and the just-launched Lotus Bleu Market by Jeannie Fraise, travels to such far-flung locations as Turkey, Ethiopia, Oaxaca, and Morocco to source hard-to-find wares for her new 350-square-foot bazaar, situated within her apartment-like Potrero ... More

When paper sculptor Zai Divecha isn’t in her studio in San Francisco’s Dogpatch neighborhood, she’s carefully analyzing and deconstructing bathroom tiles, intricate metal screens, peeling tree bark, and the shapes and shadows in clouds. “I love anything with patterns, and I snap photos of patterns ... More

Set along a storybook creek near downtown Point Reyes Station, rustic-meets-glam Olema House is West Marin’s latest gem. Built in 1988, the revamped woodsy roadside hideaway—situated on four private acres, with bucolic lawns, gardens, and a reconceived 19th-century restaurant and bar named Due West—features 24 guest ... More

The owner and managing partner of Big Night Restaurant Group thrives on pulling off the unthinkable. “I still get such a kick out of it when somebody gets engaged in one of our restaurants,” says Weinberg, whose seven San Francisco establishments include Marlowe, The Cavalier, Park ... More

Attention, NorCal road-trip aficionados: An ideal weekend escape can now be had in Healdsburg, thanks to Joan and Walt Flowers, founders of Flowers Vineyards & Winery. Replete with a hospitality house designed by San Francisco–based firm Walker Warner Architects (of Menlo Park’s Coffeebar), ... More

When Oakland–based interior designer Chloe Redmond Warner landed her first internship at a design firm, she took it upon herself to redo the company’s entire supply closet. “I replaced all the pens and pencils with my preferred brand and style,” says the founder of More

Rubén Cambero, general manager of the newly revamped MacArthur Place Hotel and Spa in Sonoma, ended up doing the one thing his mother told him not to do: hospitality. “My mother always told me, ‘Do anything you want but hospitality,’ due to the major sacrifices my parents had to make,” ... More

Set among 100-year-old heritage olive trees and dotted with massive crystal chandeliers, newcomer RH Yountville is comprised of a five-building campus designed by James Gillam of Backen & Gillam Architects (of Solage Calistoga and Meadowood Napa Valley). The compound features two boutique design galleries, an outdoor wine ... More