One day in 2024, Mark Freiberg looked out his bayside window in Paradise Cay and saw a small towboat he described as "odd-looking." The boat stayed in the area to work near the Corinthian Yacht Club. Freiberg talked with the crew, met the owner and filmed the boat from the air with his drone. This spring he cut that footage into "P Cay," a short that screens on the lawn at Belvedere Community Park on Oct. 9.
A three-minute film about a towboat is a small thing. It also says a lot about this fall on the peninsula. Most of the events on the October and November calendar are made, organized or paid for by people who live here. Downtown's movie theater is the clearest example. It now runs on community support in a very literal sense.
Cinelounge is asking the town to keep it open
Cinelounge sits at 40 Main St., inside the former Tiburon Playhouse. The Playhouse was a downtown institution for more than 60 years before it closed in 2020. Christian Meoli and Camilla Jackson Meoli reopened the space as a three-screen boutique theater in August 2022, with new projection and sound systems.
The theater has had money trouble from the start. In April 2025 the owners started a GoFundMe asking for $474,685. They pointed to startup costs and a big rent increase. Jackson Meoli wrote on the campaign page that "if things don't change, we will have to close our doors." Around the same time, the theater began moving to a nonprofit model. The Ark reported that the change would let it apply for grants and accept donations to cover rising costs.
That nonprofit holds its first fundraiser on Nov. 5. The event materials call it the Tiburon Playhouse Foundation. The Southern Marin Ledger notes the group was first called the Belvedere Tiburon Film Society. The paper couldn't tell whether the name changed or the two are separate entities. The Tiburon Chamber of Commerce supports the foundation. It describes the group's purpose as preserving the cinema and expanding its community programs.
The gala runs 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the theater, and Academy Award nominee Bruce Dern is the guest of honor. After a reception, about 60 guests will watch "Dernsie: The Amazing Life of Bruce Dern," a documentary that premiered at Cannes this year. Dern and director Mike Mendez will talk afterward. Reception-only tickets are also available. The foundation also plans to give Dern a special award. The foundation's Give Lively listing shows ticket tiers from a $70 Young Cinema Supporter level, through $125 for the reception, up to a $1,000 Founders Circle.
The gala is a one-night event. The programs it pays for run all year. Senior Wednesdays offers $2 tickets for seniors, and Movies on Main is the free summer series. This year Movies on Main ran Wednesdays from July 15 through Aug. 19, showing family films like "Moana," "The Land Before Time" and "Sing." The theater has also hosted Friday karaoke. Its 2026 repertory programming included a spring femme-noir series that ended with "Gilda" on April 25 and a July classics run with "Citizen Kane" and "My Fair Lady."
The rest of the calendar follows the same pattern
The Belvedere Home Made Film Festival is in its third year. On Oct. 9 it will show about 30 short films by community members, each three minutes or less. One is "Bad Day," a film by Tiburon resident Nancy Freed that features her 8-year-old grandson, Oliver Scheer. The festival's 2026 crew list names Adam Gavzer as creator, Paige Peterson as executive producer and Matteo Farinacci as producer.
The Native American culture and heritage celebration on Oct. 11 has a resident co-organizer, Tiburon's Eddie Madril. Upstairs at Town Hall, the Tiburon Heritage & Arts Commission is showing "Nature, Reimagined," a group show by four ICB/ART artists.
Here is what's left on the calendar:
- Through Oct. 29: "Nature, Reimagined." Community Gallery, second floor, 1505 Tiburon Blvd. Admission is free.
- Oct. 9, 5 to 6 p.m.: Be Ready Belvedere's shelter-in-place event. This is the city's emergency-preparedness working group. Volunteers will hand out stay-box supplies to Belvedere residents registered with AlertMarin and help others sign up.
- Oct. 9, 6 p.m.: Belvedere Home Made Film Festival. The Windsor Street Blues Band plays first, and the films start around 7. Bring a blanket for the lawn. Popcorn, hot cocoa and homemade soup are part of the free event. A drop-off point and limited seating on Community Road are set aside for older adults and anyone with mobility concerns.
- Oct. 11, 1 to 4 p.m.: Native American culture and heritage celebration. Zelinsky Park, between Town Hall and the library, with a performance by Sewam American Indian Dance.
- Nov. 5, 5:30 to 9:30 p.m.: Tiburon Playhouse Foundation gala at Cinelounge.
- Nov. 17: Tiburon Peninsula Chamber awards celebration. Salt & Pepper receives its Business of the Year award here. The Ark's report didn't give a venue.
The season opened Oct. 3 with the 43rd Tiburon Wine Festival at Point Tiburon Plaza. The Chamber advertised about 60 wineries and 10 restaurants. Most of the events after it are smaller and run by neighbors.
Main Street has been turning over since June
The theater's appeal for support comes in a year when downtown storefronts have changed a lot. Petite Left Bank, the French brasserie, closed June 22 when its parent company, Vine Hospitality, shut all seven of its Bay Area restaurants.
Bungalow Kitchen at 5 Main St. kept its name but has a new operator. Michael Mina handed it to Clive Collective, a Scottsdale-based group, effective June 1. The restaurant stayed open through the transition, and Clive co-founder Justin Massei is leading the new team. On June 30, Massei described plans for weekday lunch, a revamped menu, somewhat lower prices and a community event. He estimated lunch would start in mid-July or early August. No published report has confirmed that those changes happened. Stopping by is the most reliable way to find out.
Two new businesses have opened. F.L. Woods, a maritime clothing shop, opened at 21A Main St. by mid-June. It's the brand's first West Coast store, run by Josh George, son of owner Wayne George, and his partner Marie Bergsund. In late April, Paradise Coffee opened a mobile coffee-and-food trailer at Point Tiburon Plaza, 1775 Tiburon Blvd. Sam Cook, William Caamal and Caamal's brother Juan Carlos own it. They serve coffee, Italian sodas, sandwiches, breakfast burritos and waffles.
The Chamber's award went to a restaurant that's been there since 2010
With all that change, the Tiburon Peninsula Chamber picked Salt & Pepper at 38 Main St. as its 2026 Business of the Year. Paulino Monterroso owns the restaurant, which has been at that address since 2010. In a year when a restaurant group closed every location it had and a celebrity chef's place changed operators, the honor went to a single-owner restaurant 16 years into its run.
Cinelounge, a few addresses down Main Street at No. 40, is looking for that kind of staying power. The Playhouse lasted more than 60 years before it closed in 2020. The theater that reopened there in August 2022 is now in its fifth fall, and the Nov. 5 gala is meant to help keep it going.
If you live on the peninsula and want to learn more about Tiburon, Paul O Neil is always available to talk. Let's Connect.
