Out and about: Bodega Highway, Bodega

Ever since Alfred Hitchcock  filmed scenes from his 1963 thriller "The Birds" here, the rural hamlet of Bodega has attracted his fans, who stop by the old Potter School and St. Teresa of Avila Church. In rugged and beautiful western Sonoma County, Bodega retains the rustic charm that reminded Hitchcock of his native England.

-Stephanie Wright Hession

All photographs by Stephanie Wright Hession. Copyright 2013.

1. Potter School

17110 Bodega Lane (off Bodega Highway): Opened as a two-room school, multipurpose room and community hall in 1873, the Potter School continues to be known as the setting for one of Hitchcock's most chilling scenes from "The Birds," when screaming schoolchildren flee in terror from attack by a crazed flock of birds.

2. St. Teresa of Avila Church

17242 Bodega Highway: Situated on a grassy hill above Bodega, this Roman Catholic church was the subject of photographer Ansel Adams’ work “Church and Road, Bodega, California” and briefly appeared in "The Birds." Constructed by New England shipbuilders and dedicated in 1861, it’s the oldest, continually operating church in Sonoma County. (707) 874-3812, www.stphilipstteresa.org

3. Bodega Landmark Studio Gallery

17255 Bodega Highway: For almost 30 years, photographer Lorenzo De Santis has exhibited works by regional artists in his gallery, where seascapes and landscapes dot the walls. These include paintings by Philip Buller and etchings by Stephen McMillan. Open 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Fri.-Mon. (707) 876-3477, www.artbodega.com

4. Bodega Country Store

17190 Bodega Highway: Hitchcock fans stop by to see “The Birds” memorbilia here and day trippers, campers and locals stop in at this country store—opened in 1874—for basic groceries, deli items, beer, wine and spirits and more. (707) 377-4056, www.bodegastore.com

5. U.S. Post Office

17160 Bodega Highway: The building's flat, wooden facade appears to be a 19th century structure, but it actually dates to the mid-1970s. It was intended to blend in with the town's buildings dating back to the 1800s. (707) 876-3186.

Of note

The Potter School is a private residence and is not open to the public. www.bodegaschool.com. 

Subterranean Shakespeare presents the world premiere of “Shakespeare: Night at the Blackfriars (London Idol 1610),” October 18-November 17

Subterranean Shakespeare presents the world premiere of “Shakespeare: Night at the Blackfriars (London Idol 1610)” written by George Crowe and directed by Robert Currier.

Geoffrey Pond as Richard Burbage and Debi Durst as Christopher “Kit” Marlowe in "Shakespeare: Night at the Blackfriars (London Idol 1610).” Photo by Kevin Moore.

Between the plague and rumblings of war, impresario and actor Richard Burbage is struggling to keep his Blackfriars Theatre open. 

So he launches a playwriting contest and fuels an intense competition between the most lauded writers of 1610—Will Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Tommy Middleton, Francis Beaumont and the ghost of Christopher “Kit” Marlow. 

As each debuts a one page cover play fashioned after one of Shakespeare’s beloved plays, while vying to be the London Idol of 1610, the results are comedic.

Performance times: 8 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays and 7 p.m., Sundays, October 18-November 17.The Phoenix Arts Association Annex Theatre, 414 Mason St., S.F. (510) 276-3871, www.subshakes.com

Out and about: San Francisco Botanical Garden, Golden Gate Park, S.F.

On a recent summer day, the mist of a thick bank of fog caressed the faces of visitors at the San Francisco Botanical Garden at Strybing Arboretum in Golden Gate Park. On pathways winding through the 55 acres of this living museum, nature enthusiasts explored landscaped gardens and open spaces, lush with more than 8,000 species of plants, from the familiar to the exotic.

All photographs by Stephanie Wright Hession. Copyright 2013.

1. Garden Bookstore

Just inside the Main Gate, you'll find this petite bookstore. Out front, nose through packets of nasturtium, morning glory and other seeds, along with pots of native California plants. Then browse a collection of garden books, field guides and posters, including one with images of matilija poppies and titled "Attack of the 8-Foot Shrub!"

2. Helen Crocker Russell Library of Horticulture

Both newbie gardeners and seasoned horticulturists will relish this library, with its extensive collection devoted to all things flora. The children's section houses 1,600 books and offers a free Story Time and Family Walk at 10:30 a.m. on the first and third Sunday of every month.

3. Garden of Fragrance

In this sensory garden, a woman reaches over a low, stone flower bed, pinches off a leaf of pineapple sage, holds it up to her nose, closes her eyes and breathes in. Others rub French lavender or rosemary leaves between their fingers to release aromatic oils or smell the fragrant leaves of rose-scented geraniums.

4. Garden flowers

A favorite garden activity is spying the multitude of flowers, from soft, pastel varieties to those fantastical and brilliantly hued, while wandering through the Australia, Zellerbach Garden of Perennials, Moon-Viewing Garden, California Native Plants and other gardens here. It's also a way to garner some ideas for your own patch of dirt at home.

5. Ancient Plant Garden

Brushing past the massive leaves of Chilean gunnera offers a glimpse of how land plants evolved through time. A pair of diagrams give the basics and walkways branch off into sections devoted to the Eocene, Late Cretaceous, Early Jurassic, Pennsylvanian and Early Devonian periods.

Of Note

Garden hours: 9 a.m.-6 p.m., daily. Library: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Wed.-Mon. Bookstore: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. daily. 

Admission is free to residents of the city and county of San Francisco. Non-S.F. residents: $7 for adults, $15 per family. Admission is free for everyone the second Tuesday of every month and on Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and New Years Day.www.sfbotanicalgarden.org

Group Exhibition: "Evidence: Artistic Responses to the Drug Cartel Wars" at Intersection for the Arts through Aug. 31

Intriguing and powerful, the mixed media group exhibition, "Evidence: Artistic Responses to the Drug Cartel Wars," at Intersection of the Arts presents the reactions of artists to this conflict from the perspective of its victims via painting, photography, printmaking and video by Miguel A. Aragón, Roberto Gomez Hernandez, Fiamma Montezemolo, Ernesto Ortiz, Gianfranco Rosi and Charles Bowden.

 Visitors observing "Evidence: Artistic Responses to the Drug Cartel Wars," at Intersection of the Arts. Photo courtesy of Intersection for the Arts. 

Works by Roberto Gomez Hernandez. Courtesy of Intersection for the Arts.

A work by Fiamma Montezemolo. Courtesy of Intersection for the Arts.

Works by Miguel A. Aragón. Courtesy of Intersection for the Arts.

Through Aug. 31

Noon to 6 p.m., Tuesdays-Saturdays.

Intersection for the Arts 

925 Mission St. S.F.

(415) 626-2787, www.theintersection.org

"Last Light" and "Life Forms" exhibitions opens Friday, August 2 at 111 Minna Gallery

With bronzing powder, earth pigments, resin, acrylic, oil paints and other mixed media on canvas and birch panel, Ivy Jacobsen creates luminescent landscapes for “Last Light,” her solo exhibition in 111 Minna’s Second Street Gallery.

The companion exhibition, “Life Forms,” features paintings by Tobias Tovera in a collaborative show with fashion designer Abbey Glass and musician Tim Carr, which analyzes process and color through painting, fashion and music. 

At the opening reception beginning at 5 p.m. tonight, and during the run of “Life Forms,” Glass premieres seven of her dresses made with textiles informed by Tovera’s paintings from her freshly minted couture dress collection. Carr will also perform songs from his new album, “Through the Color.”

-Stephanie Wright Hession

111 Minna Gallery, (415) 974-1719, www.111minnagallery.com/2013/last-light-life-forms/

Images courtesy of the 111 Minna Gallery.

“Forest Mist” (2013) by Ivy Jacobsen.

“Tropical No. 2” (2013) by Ivy Jacobsen.

“Eventide (Underwater)” (2013) by Ivy Jacobsen.

“Celestial Tide” (2011) by Tobias Tovera.

“Rupture” by Tobias Tovera.

“Nectar” (2011) by Tobias Tovera.

Lamplighters Music Theatre performs Gilbert & Sullivan’s “Iolanthe” opens Friday, August 2

Sonia Gariaeff as the Fairy Queen (double cast with Cary Ann Rosko), William H. Neil as Willis (double cast with Sean Irwin), Molly Mahoney and Michele Schroeder as fairies (double cast as Iolanthe). Photo by David Allen.

What happens when the House of Lords and a group of gutsy fairies get into a tussle? Find out when Lamplighters Music Theatre performs Gilbert & Sullivan’s “Iolanthe,” opening Friday, August 2 at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek. Stage directing by Barbara Heroux; musical direction and conducting by Baker Peeples and choreography by F. Lawrence Ewing. www.lamplighters.org.

-Stephanie Wright Hession

Cary Ann Rosko as the Fairy Queen (double cast with Sonia Gariaeff). Photo by David Allen.

Michele Schroeder as Iolanthe (double cast with Molly Mahoney) and Rick Williams as the Lord Chancellor (double cast with F. Lawrence Ewing). Photo by David Allen.

Performances:

8 p.m., Friday, August 2 and 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., Saturday, August 3 and 2 p.m., Sunday August 4 at the Lesher Center for the Arts, 1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek. (925) 943-7469, www.lesherartscenter.org.

8 p.m., Saturday, August 10 and 2 p.m., Sunday, August 11 at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro St., Mountain View. (650) 903-6000, www.mvcpa.com.

8 p.m., Friday, August 16, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., Saturday, August 17 and 2 p.m., Sunday, August 18 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission St., S.F. (415) 978-2787, www.ybca.org.

8 p.m., Saturday, August 24 and 2 p.m., Sunday, August 25 at the Bankhead Theatre, Livermore Valley Performing Arts Center, 2400 First St., Livermore. (925) 373-6800, www.bankheadtheater.org.

Sonia Gariaeff as the Fairy Queen (double cast with Cary Ann Rosko), Molly Mahoney and Michele Schroeder as fairies (cast together as Iolanthe). Photo by David Allen.

Bodytraffic performs the Bay Area premiere of Barak Marshall’s “And at midnight, the green bride floated through the village square…,” Richard Siegel’s “o2Joy” and a preview of “Kollide,”a new work by Kyle Abraham,  at the ODC Theater, Thursday, September 26 through Sunday, September 29.

Barak Marshall’s “And at midnight, the green bride floated through the village square…” Photo by Christopher Duggen.

Founded in 2007 by Lillian Rose Barbeito and Tina Finkelman Berkett, Bodytraffic is a nonprofit dance company based in Los Angeles.

Performance times: 8 p.m., Thursday, September 26; 8 p.m., Friday, September 27; 8 p.m., Saturday, September 28 and 7 p.m., Sunday, September 29. $20-$35.

ODC Theater, 3153 17^th St., S.F. (415) 863-9834, www.odcdance.org, www.bodytraffic.com

Out and About: Shoreline Highway, Stinson Beach

On the way to this small beach community in Marin County, the road twists past verdant hills caressed by drifting fog and affords panoramic vistas of the Pacific Ocean. In town, urban dwellers stroll barefoot along the white sand shore, breathing in the sea air and winding down - if only for a few precious and fleeting days of summer.

Stephanie Wright Hession

All photographs by Stephanie Wright Hession copyright 2013.

1. Stinson Beach

Shoreline Highway: At this popular spot, beachgoers picnic beneath umbrellas. Signs warn swimmers of dangerous rip currents and the possibility of great white sharks, including in shallow water and along the shoreline. Attacks have occurred here. (415) 868-1922. 1.usa.gov/nVXrB3.

2. Parkside Café

43 Arenal Ave.: The outdoor patio makes for a pleasing lunch spot with its picnic tables and petite garden blooming with salvia, rose and lilies. The best bet is the burger - in Niman Ranch beef or turkey versions - accompanied by mixed greens, tomatoes, rustic mustard aioli and a side of fries. (415) 868-1272.

3. Village Green Park

Arenal Avenue and Calle Del Mar: Just past the wooden and stone archway at this 2-acre neighborhood park, children scamper onto the play structure while people relax on the lawn or a shaded bench. Others walk their leashed pooches, and around the corner, older kids shoot hoops in the basketball court.

4. Stinson Beach Market

101 Calle del Mar: From deli sandwiches and high-quality groceries - including meats, locally caught fish and mostly organic area produce - to beach, barbecue and fishing supplies, there's a lot to choose from at this corner market. (415) 868-1923.www.stinsonbeachmarket.net.

5. Live Water Surf Shop

3448 Shoreline Highway: In 1978, Kirby Ferris opened a surf shop that became a local landmark, especially after he created the no-shark logo that first appeared on bumper stickers. Since sold, the shop rents and sells boards and wetsuits. (415) 868-0333.www.livewatersurfshop.com.

Of Note:

Portions of the Shoreline Highway to Stinson Beach are very winding, steep, narrow and used by cyclists. It can also be obscured by dense fog, especially in the early morning and evening.

Out and about: John Muir National Historic Site, Martinez

The Victorian gracing a hill in the Alhambra Valley became the final home of naturalist John Muir, who lived there for 24 years. His pioneering efforts to preserve America's natural lands garnered the Sierra Club co-founder the nickname "The Father of our National Park System." Take a self-guided tour through his home, and the next time you visit a national park, thank Muir.

All photographs by Stephanie Wright Hession copyright 2013.

1. Muir Home

John Muir's father-in-law, Dr. John Strentzel, had this home constructed in 1882. After Strentzel's death in 1890, Muir's mother-in-law asked him, his wife and their daughters to reside with her in the 17-room, two-story mansion designed by San Francisco architects Wolfe and Son.

2. East and west parlors

To the right of the home's foyer, the formal west parlor is decorated with red wallpaper, an elegant chandelier, a gilded mirror and a piano. Accomplished pianist Louie Muir, John's wife, enjoyed playing there. John Muir had this rustic, brick fireplace built in the east parlor after the 1906 earthquake.

3. Dining room and conservatory

To encourage his daughters to dine with him, Muir would delight them with stories. Today, historical photographs, books and booklets adorn the dining table, and a nearby shelf holds framed photographs and profiles of artist William Keith, a fellow Scotsman, and other Muir friends. Adjacent to the dining room is a petite conservatory.

4. Muir's study and bedroom

From inside his study, which he referred to as his "scribble den," Muir penned some of the 12 books and more than 300 magazine articles he wrote during his lifetime. In his bedroom across the hall, he preferred to wake up with the sun, and so no curtains covered its large windows.

5. Attic and bell tower

Inside an attic, next to an assortment of antique furniture, you'll find a display of historic photographs related to Muir and the national parks. But the real fun is climbing the steep stairway to the bell tower and surveying the view from its rows of windows. And, yes, there's still a bell.

6. Orchards and grounds

After visiting the house, stroll the paved path through the grounds and past some of the orchards, remnants from Muir's fruit ranch. Here, he grew fruit trees, including Astrachan and Gravenstein apples, elderberry and quince. Visit the Martinez Adobe, built in 1849 and also open to the public.

Of Note:

Stop at the visitor center first (next to the parking lot) to learn more about John Muir including watching "A Glorious Journey," a short film about him, then take a ranger led or self guided tour of his home and grounds. John Muir National Historic Site, 4202 Alhambra Ave., Martinez. (925) 228-8860.

www.nps.gov/jomu/index.htm. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wed.-Sun. Admission is free.

Sculptor Peter Anton's solo exhibition, "Random Acts of Indulgence," closes at Scott Richards Contemporary Art tomorrow, Saturday, July 27

I'm writing a post about Peter Anton's wonderfully, whimsical show again since it closes tomorrow, Saturday, July 27:

The condensation on the bitten ice cream bar, the crimson cherry revealed through dome of chocolate and the sheen of a glazed donut all appear amazingly real. However, they're actually large scale, mixed media works by sculptor Peter Anton. Treat yourself with a visit to his solo exhibition, "Random Acts of Indulgence," at Scott Richards Contemporary Art through July 27.

“Dark Bar,” (2012) mixed media sculpture by Peter Anton. Photo courtesy of Scott Richards Contemporary Art.

“Special Assortment Round 0440,” (2013) by Peter Anton. Photo courtesy of Scott Richards Contemporary Art.

“Lustful Selection,” (2013) by Peter Anton. Photo courtesy of Scott Richards Contemporary Art.

“Donut Selection,” (2012) by Peter Anton. Photo courtesy of Scott Richards Contemporary Art.

Scott Richards Contemporary Art gallery

251 Post St., Suite 425

San Francisco

(415) 788-5588

www.srcart.com

10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesday through Friday

11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday

Open Sunday and Monday by appointment