"Larkspur is 20 minutes from San Francisco, half an hour on a bad day, surrounded by restaurants, trails and easy parking." That's Josh Costello, the new executive artistic director of the Lark Theater, describing his own venue's neighborhood. It's an odd thing for a theater director to lead with. Most people running a single-screen cinema talk about the screen. Costello is talking about the parking.
He has reason to. The Lark spent December without a leader after Ellie Mednick, who ran the theater for more than a decade, died unexpectedly. Mednick had turned a nearly demolished 1936 movie house into what regulars call the town's civic living room, adding Met Opera broadcasts, National Theatre Live, and a partnership with the Mill Valley Film Festival on top of the regular film slate. When the Lark's board named Costello her successor in early January, the announcement carried more than the usual weight of a staffing change. It was a decision about what happens to a building that anchors the north end of a National Register historic district, sitting at 549 Magnolia Avenue, right where Larkspur's downtown starts.
Costello's answer, so far, is to point at everything around the building rather than just the building itself. That's worth understanding if you live here, because it changes what the Lark is actually for this fall and it says something about which half of Larkspur is getting the attention.
What Changed, and What Didn't
Costello isn't new to Marin theater. He was the founding artistic director of Impact Theatre in Berkeley, built new programs at Marin Theatre Company, and revised the mission at Aurora Theatre before landing at the Lark. His pitch to longtime patrons has been explicitly about continuity first.
"I've heard some anxiety from people. Is this going to change? Is this still going to be the organization I love? And the answer is yes. The programs that are working, we're not messing with those. We want to grow them. And at the same time, there are opportunities to introduce new things."
The mechanics of the Lark stay the same under Costello: five programs a day rotating through first-run and classic film, live comedy and jazz, opera and theater broadcasts, and the monthly Simply Said talk series that runs every third Tuesday. What Costello is adding is intentional cross-programming, the idea that someone who buys a ticket for a Friday movie might stumble into a Tuesday broadcast they didn't know existed. His words for it: people "come for one thing and stumble into another."
That's a strategy that only works if people are already walking distance from the building. Which is where the parking comment stops sounding like small talk.
The Case He's Making
Magnolia Avenue, the stretch of downtown the Lark anchors, is not short on reasons to park once and stay for a few hours. Within a few blocks of the theater's marquee:
- Emporio Rulli, the Italian pastry and wine caffè Gary and Jeannie Rulli opened in 1988, still runs out of 464 Magnolia
- Left Bank Brasserie, a French bistro known for duck confit and an extensive wine bar, at 507 Magnolia
- Restaurant Picco and its pizza counterpart Pizzeria Picco, side by side near 320 Magnolia, both known for wood-fired cooking and Neapolitan-style pies
- Perry's on Magnolia, an American pub-style spot on the same street
- Farm House Local, a farm-to-table breakfast and lunch counter run by chef David Monson
- Equator Coffees, a few doors down, sitting across from the Baltimore-Madrone Canyon Trailhead for anyone who wants a hike bookending the coffee
That last detail matters more than it looks. Costello didn't say "trails" as filler. Downtown Larkspur genuinely backs up to a trailhead, which means a night at the Lark can realistically be a hike, a coffee, dinner on Magnolia, and a movie without moving the car. That's the argument a new theater director makes when he's trying to pull people back toward a specific four blocks of town rather than just toward his building.
The Other Larkspur Is Also Having a Big Fall
Here's the complication. A five-minute drive from Magnolia Avenue, at Larkspur Landing, Marin Country Mart is running its fullest calendar of the year, and none of it requires downtown at all.
The Mart sits between the Larkspur Ferry Terminal and the SMART train station, and it has built its own self-contained roster of restaurants, including Hog Island Larkspur's oyster bar, Souvla's Greek counter, Johnny Doughnuts, and Loveski Deli. Its Saturday farmers market runs every week, rain or shine, and this fall's programming stacks up fast:
| Event | Date |
|---|---|
| Mart Littles: Music with Mr. Christopher | Sept 23 |
| Saddle Up Sundays (final weekend) | Sept 28 |
| Marin Oktoberfest | Sept 27 |
| Movie Nights at Marin Country Mart | Weekly through Oct 30 |
The overlap between Oktoberfest on the 27th and the last Saddle Up Sunday on the 28th means the Mart closes out its summer programming and opens its fall calendar in the same weekend, without anyone having to leave the parking lot. Movie Nights keep running there through the end of October too, which means Larkspur now has two places running outdoor and indoor film programming within a few minutes of each other, aimed at slightly different crowds.
So Which Side of Town Do You Actually Go To
Neither side of Larkspur is trying to beat the other, and nothing about either calendar suggests a rivalry. But the two halves of town have quietly built separate identities over the years, one walkable and historic, one drive-to and retail-anchored, and this fall is the first time in a while that both are pulling this hard on the same weekends.
If you want a night that starts with a hike down the Baltimore-Madrone Trailhead and ends with a broadcast or a film at the Lark, Magnolia Avenue is built for exactly that, and Costello is betting his first season on making sure people know it. If you want a Saturday morning at the farmers market followed by an afternoon that turns into Oktoberfest, or a family movie night that doesn't require a downtown parking spot, Larkspur Landing has that covered through the end of the month.
Either way, the choice is worth making on purpose rather than by habit. The Lark under new leadership is explicitly reaching for downtown's restaurants and trails as its selling point, and the Mart's calendar has never been busier at the same time. Living in Larkspur this fall means picking a side of town for a given Saturday, not defaulting to whichever one you always go to.
If you're curious about more of what makes this stretch of Marin worth paying attention to, the Larkspur neighborhood guide has the fuller picture. And if a friend or family member ever asks what it's actually like to live here day to day, rather than what a listing says, that's a conversation Paul O Neil is always glad to have. Let's Connect.
