Join us and event sponsors the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence for a sneak peek at the upcoming documentary ALFREDO’S FIRE. This powerful and timely film chronicles the forgotten story of Alfredo Ormando, a gay Italian writer who set himself on fire at the Vatican to protest the Church’s condemnation of homosexuality. As Pope Benedict XVI abdicates his papacy, the time is ripe for dialogue aimed at building a more open and inclusive Church, so that no more lives are extinguished by religious intolerance.

Help Open Eye Pictures launch its Kickstarter campaign to raise the funds to finish the film in the next few months. Enjoy drinks & noshes and the regalia of the Sisters, who are great supporters of the project.

Details:

Friday March 1, 6-8pm

Design Plus–San Francisco
333 8th Street (at Folsom)

Learn More on the Website
View the Trailer
Like the Film on Facebook

We would personally like to invite you to Drinks with Design Plus which will take place on February 21 from 6pm-9pm at our gallery on 333 8th Street. San Francisco’s newest Bay Area networking group for designers, architects, engineers, contractors and associates, these monthly gatherings are an opportunity to meet and make new connections over complementary drinks and hors d’oeuvres. We hope to see you at the event!

Design Plus–Marin is open for business, and we’re having a Grand Opening Party on January 18th to celebrate! Raise a glass with us to two years in business and a brand new store in the North Bay. You’ll love the location: the former Litchfield’s Bermuda Palms, a renowned resort and nightclub from the 1950’s to 70’s, where top bands like the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, Van Morrison, Frank Zappa, Boz Scaggs, Leon Russell, Linda Ronstandt, Pink Floyd, Van Morrison and others used to play. In fact, our showroom is literally where the dance floor used to be! We’ll have champaign, non-alchoholic drinks and noshes. Let us celebrate you–old friends and new friends, and our loyal customers, without which our continued growth and success wouldn’t be possible.

Design Plus Consignment Gallery–Marin

733 Francisco Blvd. East, San Rafael

Friday, January 18th, 2013

6:00pm-9:00pm

On December 15th, the doors to Design Plus Consignment Gallery’s second store officially opened. And not just in any old location, but in a landmark of Americana and local lore: 733 Francisco Blvd. East in San Rafael was a hotspot in its heyday of the 1950s to 70s. The Bermuda Palms, built by real estate magnate Whitey Litchfield in the 1940s, was billed as “California’s Las Vegas – a complete hotel resort. Coffee Shops – Cocktail Lounges – Banquet Rooms – Ballrooms for Dancing – Auditorium – Swimming Pool.” One former bartender there recalled, “It was high class. It was the place to go in Marin County. A lot of people from San Francisco would come over to see big name entertainment and first-class strippers.”

During the 1950s and early 1960s, the Bermuda Palms was a favorite spot for celebrities and community gatherings. In 1954 Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, John Wayne and Robert Mitchum stayed there while filming “Blood Alley” at China Camp. In the 1960s, the ballroom, known intermittently as the Euphoria and Pepperland, featured some of the biggest groups in rock: the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, Frank Zappa, Steve Miller, Boz Scaggs, Leon Russell, Elvin Bishop, Linda Ronstandt, Pink Floyd, Chuck Berry, Sly and the Family Stone, Van Morrison, and more.

Years later, the fabled dance floor is now our showroom floor! Lots has changed, but the spirit of the past remains – in our building, and in the historied second-hand items on our gallery floor. And we’re still offering customers a dose of fun, vintage, and cutting edge – at prices for everyone, just the way Whitey Litchfield liked it. View photos from and read more about the colorful past of our new store location here.

We’re celebrating this rich history and hopeful future with a Grand Opening Party on Friday, January 18th from 6-9pm. Hope to see you then!