"It looks and feels exactly the same," Max Perry told the Marin Independent Journal before the Silver Peso reopened in May. He meant it as a promise. A few months later it also describes how downtown Larkspur has changed. Every addition to Magnolia Avenue in 2026 came in at a scale that one local operator, one family or the City itself could handle. The largest building downtown, the former Lucky at 570 Magnolia Ave., has been closed since 2023.
The reasons that building is stuck also explain where this year's openings landed.
A Bar Kept on Purpose
The Silver Peso at 450 Magnolia Ave. is a good place to start, since almost nothing about it changed. In late 2024, Larkspur couple Tommy and Shannon Lamanna bought the historic building, and they put money into the structural and cosmetic work. Earlier this year, Max Perry of Corte Madera and Conor Flaherty of Tiburon took over the lease. Both are managing partners at Sam's Anchor Cafe in Tiburon. They took the lease from Rebel Lee, who tended bar there for more than a decade before buying the business in 2015.
The work went into things regulars might not notice right away: new floors, new bar siding, fresh paint inside, better bathrooms, new pool tables and televisions, and a refurbished shuffleboard table. The new taps pour IPAs and Kölsch-style beers. The chalkboard cocktail list runs to margaritas, negronis and martinis. The Humble Cheeseburger truck parked outside for the reopening, and Perry said the team planned to keep bringing in food vendors for events and on weekends. Hours are noon to 2 a.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. on weekends. The bar's own site still lists those hours.
What made this possible is simple. The owners live in town and the operators live a few miles away. The building changed hands and the lease changed hands, and neither deal needed anyone outside Marin to sign off.
Five Feet of Storefront
A block away, at 501 Magnolia Ave., Stef Tousignant opened the Phoenix Used Bookshop, which sells used books for children and teens. The Marin IJ reported that the space is just 5 feet across. Tousignant first planned a used bookstore for adults and had gathered about 15,000 adult books in storage. When she saw the room, though, her background in child development changed her mind. "Developmentally, like, it makes sense for a kid to be in here, it's a kid's size," she told the paper. "And so I was like, OK, the first store will have to be for kids."
"The first store" suggests she may open more. The store's motto is "books build community." A 5-foot frontage also reflects what downtown Larkspur can absorb right now. A single owner can lease a space that small, stock it and open the door without a development application.
The Building That Can't Move
At the north end of the corridor sits the 26,344-square-foot former Lucky, on about 2 acres. Albertsons owns the building, and Save Mart Companies ran the store. It is listed for sale with no asking price, "best offer." The City zoned it "transitional downtown," which allows residential, commercial and other uses.
In April, Mayor Stephanie Andre explained the core problem in a project update with the Larkspur Community Foundation. Albertsons also owns the Safeway in Corte Madera, so she said it is unlikely to rent to a competing grocer. "So even though our community wants it to be a market, it will likely not be a market again if Albertsons retains ownership of the building," she said.
The land is divided too. Albertsons owns only the old store and part of the parking lot. The gas station and the strip mall in the same center belong to other owners. The mayor said developers have shown strong interest in redeveloping the whole area, but so far efforts to get the other owners to sell or work together have not succeeded. She also cautioned that the town is not likely to get another 30,000-square-foot grocery store on that spot, and that any future store would be a lot smaller. Even a smaller store, she said, would need enough density around it to survive.
The City's options are limited, and Andre said so to the Marin IJ in July:
"The Lucky's parcel is a privately owned parcel, so the government only has so many levers it can do. We can't really dictate what goes in that space, although we can try to use the tools we can to encourage a market."
The City has two tools so far. Its housing element speeds up approvals for a developer who includes a grocery store on the site. The second is a possible tax on buildings left empty for long periods. The council held a workshop on it June 17 and asked staff to come back with another, the Marin IJ reported on July 3. As of this writing, we have found no later council action on the idea. The October 7 council agenda did not include it.
What Opened Around It
The big building can't move, so the City has put its effort into the land around it that it controls. The table below sorts this year's changes by who controls the space.
| 2026 change | Location | Who controls the space | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Larkspur Library | 10 Rose Lane | City | Opened March 28 |
| Tuesday farm stand market | Downtown lot at Ward Street and Magnolia Avenue | City lot, private operator | Advertised start June 23 |
| Silver Peso | 450 Magnolia Ave. | Local owners and local operators | Reopened in May |
| Phoenix Used Bookshop | 501 Magnolia Ave. | Independent owner | Opened by early July |
| Former Lucky | 570 Magnolia Ave. | Albertsons | Vacant since 2023 |
The new Larkspur Library had its grand opening March 28. It has children's and teen rooms, study and meeting rooms, patios and outdoor seating. It is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. The Larkspur Community Foundation said visitors could park on Rose Lane or at the former Lucky shopping center. Three weeks after it opened, the city manager told the Marin IJ that the library was drawing more visitors and that its parking could not keep up. So the busiest new building downtown is sending its overflow parking to the emptiest one. The mayor drew a similar connection in April. She said the new library directly next door makes it "very natural" that the Lucky center will be the next area to see investment.
The market came out of the same April update. Andre said she was talking to vendors about a farmers' market downtown once or twice a week while the Lucky site stays empty, to bring in foot traffic and give kids more places to go at lunch and after school. On June 3, the council took up a pilot in a downtown parking lot. It had proposals from Marin Community Farm Stands and Marin Community Farmers Market and continued the item to June 17. Marin Community Farm Stands then advertised a weekly Tuesday market starting June 23, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., rain or shine. It would run in the lot between Left Bank Brasserie and the American Legion at Ward Street and Magnolia Avenue. The listing gives no end date, so check the operator's current schedule before planning a Tuesday visit in late fall.
The City couldn't bring back a grocery store. It could offer fresh produce one afternoon a week in a lot it already owned.
The Corridor's Fall and Winter Calendar
The Lark Theater was here long before any of this year's changes, and it still sets the evening schedule on Magnolia. Here is what its posted schedule lists for the rest of the year:
- October 24: Marin Jazz Presents Jackie Ryan
- October 30: SÉANCE, with a Q&A
- October 31: Frankenstein screenings and The Rocky Horror Picture Show
- November 14: Marin Jazz Presents Lavay Smith
- November 24: One Ocean Film Tour 6
- December 2, 5 and 10: GIANT, a stage play
- December 4: Polar Express Pajama Party
- December 5 and 6: Met Opera, Samson et Dalila, with an encore December 9
Theater schedules change, so confirm dates with the Lark before buying tickets. Halloween fills the calendar. The Lark is showing Frankenstein and Rocky Horror that night, and down at Larkspur Landing, Marin Country Mart holds a Halloween Spectacular with a courtyard costume contest and trick-or-treating. The Mart's pumpkin patch runs through October 31.
On a weekday afternoon, all of this fits in one walk. You can drop off books at Rose Lane, stop at the Tuesday stands at Ward Street, browse the kids' shelves at 501 Magnolia and end up at the Silver Peso. The former Lucky sits in the middle of that route, waiting on decisions that the Albertsons sale and the neighboring owners will make.
Stephanie Lamarre follows changes like these on Magnolia Avenue because the gaps between storefronts affect daily life downtown as much as the storefronts do. If you live near downtown Larkspur and want to know what the north end's direction means for your own property, Stephanie Lamarre invites you to request a private consultation and confidential home valuation.
