The Golden Gate Bridge

We are located twenty minutes north of the GGB, in beautiful Marin County. The Bridge is one of the great engineering feats of the 20th Century, and for many years the worlds longest bridge. Bike to SF via the GGB!

Downtown San Anlsemo
Town Hall, the classic Carnegie Librarie and public green are just minutes away.

Shibui Gardens
Hot Tub and Spa
A two-minute walk from Architects Toolbox, Shibui Gardens makes for the perfect way to wind-down after-class. Enjoy a hot-tub, sauna or massage.

Marin County Beaches
Marin is home to some of California's most beautiful beaches. Follow this link to a list of the top 7.

Larkspur Ferry to SF
A gorgeous 30-40 minute ride past Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge into downtown San Francisco. The ride alone is fantastic. If you take advantage of the ferry, let us know and we'll be glad to pick you up at the Larkspur Ferry Terminal.

Hike Marin
From the trails of the Marin Headlands to Mt Tamalpais to Samual P. Taylor State Park and Pt.Reyes, Marin is host to hundreds of miles of specacular trails. Follow this link for a list of the top 7 hikes here in Marin.

Bicycling in Marin
Marin County is home of the mountain bike and has some of California's most spectacular road rides as well. Need to rent a bicycle? Call Caesar's Bicycles in San Anselmo at 415-721-0805. Follow this link for a list of top Mt Biking trails here in Marin.

Rafael Film Center Among the finest to be found anywhere and one of the few non-profit theatres dedicated to the moving image as an art form. A rare gem that shows films not found elsewhere.

Away From the Distractions: Intuitive Training at our Creek side Studio, 20 minutes north of the Golden Gate. You need to expand your skills, but lack the time it takes to inch your way through thick manuals. Then there are the distractions; an endless list of tasks that need to be done yesterday. In the short term you can’t afford to take the time, in the long run you know you can’t afford not to.

What You Need is a Learning Vacation. Our clients come from all throughout the United States and around the world, referring to their stay as a “Learning Vacation.” We are located in beautiful Marin County, twenty-minutes north of San Francisco. After seven years in our original location, we'ved moved to a larger, state-of-the-art studio. Every workstation has a 17" LCD monitor and a high-speed connection to the internet. We also offer your choice of PCs or Macintoshes.

It is an amazing location, situated in beautiful downtown San Anselmo, just west of San Rafael, amidst an array of great restaurants, antique stores, cafes, boutiques and bookshops—winding along the same creek our studio is located on, beside gorgeous Red Hill. Just about any type of restaurant you can imagine can be found within a five minute walk of our studio. Marin is where George Lucus' Skywalker Ranch and ILM studios is located (which used form•Z to make the spaceships in StarWars and StarTrek), as well as AutoDesk, makers of AutoCAD. As we teach form•Z and not AutoCAD, our location is like having an Apple Store in Redmond, Washington.

Then there's the natural beauty of the surrounding countryside. Marin County has more land set aside as openspace than anywhere in the United States, over 85% of the county is preserved in one way or another, from the Golden Gate National Recreation Area to the Marin Municipal Water District. Hiking and bicycling trails to the lakes and redwoods are minutes away, as are Muir Woods and the Pt. Reyes National Seashore.

If you're considering the Learning Vacation, call 888.986.8665 to have our complete Visitors Guide Packet sent to by mail today. See the San Anselmo Visitor Guide for more information on San Anslemo and what there is to do here. Also, see the Chamber of Commerce website.

Questions? Write us here, or call 1-888-986-8665.

OTHER LOCAL POINTS OF INTEREST

Frank Lloyd Wright's Marin County Civic Center
Ten minutes from our studio, the Marin County Civic Center (1957-72) is an extraordinary work by one of the great masters. Guided and self-guided tours are available. An ideal activity before our 11am workshops.

Real Goods Solar Living Center
Located in Hopland, Real Goods is a 12-acre demonstration site for renewable energy and sustainable living technologies, also serves as the headquarters for the non-profit Institute for Solar Living. Approximately a 1.5 hour drive from our studio and well worth the visit.

Bernard Maybeck's First Church of Christ Scientist
Built in1910, this is one of the great works of the Arts and Crafts movement and one of the finest buildings in the Bay Area. Located in Berkeley, a few blocks south of the University of California the Christian Science Church is about a 30 minute drive from our studio and well worth the visit.

Frank Lloyd Wright's Circle Gallery
This 1941 prototype for similarly spiraling Guggenheim Museum is located at 140 Maiden Lane is just off Union Square between Geary and Post.

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
This is San Francisco's latest and greatest urban renewal project a conglomeration of projects in the South of Market area (SOMA). It includes museums, performing arts theaters, a park, the Museum of Modern Art, a convention center, ice skating rink, children's museum (the Zeum), merry-go-round, the Metreon, Imax Theater, and much more.

The Embarcadero: Take the Larkspur Ferry into San Francisco and you'll arrive at the Ferry Building and newly renovated Embarcadero, home of the SF Giants PacBell Ballpark, the new historic streetcar line, Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39.

Muir Woods
A half-hour from our studio, Muir Woods is home of one of the last groves of ancient redwoods and some of the largest trees on the planet. A must-see and perfect morning activity .

The San Anselmo Inn is a five minute walk from our studio and affordably priced (starting at $79, ask about the 3 nights for the price of two special!). Includes breakfast.

Thirty Restaurants! Some of the best restaurants in the Bay Area are in San Anslmo. Within a five-minute walk of our studio, you'll find over 30 different places to eat covering every possible taste and budget.

Book Stores
Four excellent bookstores can be found within a five minute walk of our studio, See Oliver's Books.

Film Night in the Park
Across the street from our studio, a Marin classic.

Eden Day Spa
A two-minute walk from our studio, offering a wide range of Turkish Bath and body treatments. Perfect for the traveling family. A two minute walk away, they provide pottery, you paint it and they fire it!

Golden Gate Nat. Recreation Area
The largest urban park in the world, with 74,000 acres and 28 miles of coastline. Includes Alcatraz, Marin Headlands, Ft Funston, Ft Mason, Muir Woods, Ft Point and the Presidio of San Francisco.

Picnic in Marin
Picnic at some of our most scenic viewpoints in the world. Our favorite is the O'Rourke Bench.

San Francisco is at your doorstep. Visit the restored waterfront, ride vintage streetcars or take either a self-guided tour or free walking tour. The Visitors Bureau also has a wealth of info.


Copyright 2004 , Architects Toolbox™ All rights reserved.

Updated Thu, Sep 9, 2004