Easy escape
Love Potion Library, Hotel Kissel, Equator Coffees, Paso Robles hotels, Tamalpie, MORE
REAL ESTATE • On the Market
Three homes between $2M-$3M that came to market in San Francisco in the last 30 days.
→ 39 Seal Rock Dr (Outer Richmond) • 3BR/3.1BA • 2040 SF • Ask: $2.395M • beach-adjacent 1941 build w/ two walk-out decks • Days on market: 6 • Agent: Rachel Kwok, Vanguard.
→ 482 Frederick St (Cole Valley) • 8BR/4BA • 2371 SF • Ask: $2.695M • four-story Victorian w/ option for legal ADU • Days on market: 7 • Agent: Andrew de Vries, Berkshire Hathaway-Franciscan.
→ 11 Topaz Wy (Diamond Heights, above) • 6BR/4BA • 3496 SF • Ask: $2.999M • hilltop 1968 build w/ panoramic views • Days on market: 6 • Agent: Daniel Cheng, Coldwell Banker.
REAL ESTATE LINKS: SF’s summertime rent surge • One Market Plaza approaches commercial lease capacity • Four-story mixed-use development proposed for Ingleside Terrace.
WORK • Friday Routine
Hot topic
HELEN RUSSELL • co-founder & executive chair • Equator Coffees
Neighborhood you live in: Mill Valley
It’s Friday morning. What’s the scene at your workplace?
My day usually starts quietly, with a cup of pourover coffee, and a walk with our rescue dog Coco. My role is a blend of in-person and on-the-go. I start the morning in a café, then move into Zoom calls with our national accounts.
What’s on the agenda for today?
I’m reviewing our 2025 Impact Report, making sure we’re clearly capturing not just what we’ve accomplished, but how we’re holding ourselves accountable as we grow. I’m also working through the final steps to get our new casita at Finca Sophia in Panama permitted for occupancy, which is an important milestone as we begin to host more partners and guests on our farm.
We’re opening a new café at CreekHaus in Orinda this summer, so I’m reviewing mural concepts for the space, thinking about how the design reflects both the community and our brand. I’m also preparing for our annual business review with the Thomas Keller Restaurant Group, a 23-year partnership.
Any restaurant plans today, tonight, this weekend?
On the weekends, you’ll almost always find me at Tamalpie. It’s our go-to, hands down the best gluten-free pizza. We also love Picco, Farmshop, and Guesthouse. If we’re feeling a little adventurous, we’ll head up to Yountville for lunch at Ad Hoc. It’s one of Thomas Keller’s restaurants that we love and visit often.
How about a little leisure or culture?
Leisure for me sometimes has to be scheduled, but when it happens, it always starts outdoors. Places like Muir Woods and Old Mill Park are regulars for us – quiet, beautiful, and a complete reset among the redwoods. If I’m looking for a little more exercise, I’ll get on my bike and ride out to Hawk Hill – the views are incredible – and then bomb down to Rodeo Beach. And then there’s a completely different kind of energy I love – we’ll take the ferry from Sausalito into the city to see the Golden State Valkyries at Chase Center.
What was your last great vacation?
My last truly memorable trip took me back to Panama. We own a farm there called Finca Sophia in the highlands of Volcan, one of the highest coffee farms in Central America. Walking the paths on our farm, you’re surrounded by Geisha trees, shifting microclimates, incredible biodiversity, and this profound sense of fragility and resilience all at once. At the very top, Finca Sophia sits right up against La Amistad National Forest. It’s a massive, transboundary protected forest that stretches into Costa Rica. It’s the largest nature reserve in Central America, and you feel that wild, untouched energy.
I always recommend a stay in the Boquete region for its stunning volcanic landscapes and cooler mountain air. One of my favorite places in the world is the Panamonte Inn, built in 1914. It’s known for its historic charm, intimate restaurant and a truly charming bar with a sense of old-world elegance.
Where are you donating your time or money?
I just gave the keynote speech at the International Women’s Coffee Alliance Breakfast at World of Coffee in San Diego. Over the years, I’ve watched the IWCA grow into a powerful global network, one that’s extending its reach and deepening its impact across the global coffee ecosystem.
Photo: Jordan Rosen Photography
STAYCATIONS • Oakland
Uptown funk
Get this: Mark Twain never actually said “the coldest winter I ever spent was summer in San Francisco,” but the apocryphal quote persists in sticking around, owing maybe to the fact that it’s a tidy way to sum up the season accurately. Every year, when June gloom gets to be too much, all I can think about is getting out of dodge, stat. The easiest solution: a short trip across the bridge to the (slightly) sunnier East Bay, where Uptown Oakland’s still-buzzing arts and restaurant scene makes it a staycation destination du jour. And Kissel Uptown Oakland answers the call as the exclusive boutique hotel for a posh urban getaway, especially after the nearby Moxy abruptly closed earlier this year.
GOODS & SERVICES • FOUND Shop
Heart beat
San Francisco has niche bookstores dedicated to sci fi and fantasy, architecture and design, cookbooks, even anarchy. But the city finally got its first dedicated romance bookstore when The Love Potion Library blew open in the Castro this April.
Right next door to La Mediterranee, the burgundy and white storefront has tall windows and a dreamy typeface. Wooden bookshelves line the interior, and titles are organized by genre and mood, from romantasy and historical to “grumpy sunshine” and “fated mates.”
Wandering in on a weeknight, the space was already buzzing with shoppers browsing for books, with others arriving for a flower-arranging workshop. Owner Veena Patel, a geophysicist by training who quit her day job in alternative energy to turn her book club into a brick-and-mortar shop, says events will be an important aspect of her business, with book clubs, trivia, and craft nights on the calendar.
Settle in and read for a while on the green velvet couches, or sip a cup of tea at a few bistro tables (I instantly recognized the rose-patterned tea sets from Williams Sonoma). Aroma Tea Shop supplies the Earl Grey, rose, and lychee teas, and Elaichi Co. bakes the jaggery cookies, cardamom buns, and pistachio cake. They’re still waiting on a liquor license, but plan to start pouring wine next month.
Romance is now a billion-dollar genre, and this is the place to bag your next beach read. Attend an event, and you might also find your new best friend — or more. –Becky Duffett
→ The Love Potion Library (Castro) • 284 Noe St • Daily 11a-8p.
GETAWAYS LINKS: Marshall Store team opens high-end seafood spot Bar Auklet in Point Reyes Station•ReconsideringRoute 66• Tour operator Andeanreframes Peru for new generation of visitors.
GETAWAYS •The Nines
Hotels, Paso Robles
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