Serving up sushi in a tiny shop

Kats and Yoshimi Oune carry on the sushi shop her mother started.

Story and photographs by Carina Woudenberg

Yoshimi Oune, owner of Maruya Sushi at 1904 Fillmore, never had any ambition to own the tiny take-out shop her mother opened in 1965. She says she just gradually took over as her mother got older and became less able to handle it on her own.

Today, with the help of her husband, Kats Oune, she’s still at it, preparing the same sushi rolls her mother used to make — “the basics,” she says — and greeting customers that include two or three generations of the store’s faithful fans.

Zen and the art of the public bath

The communal baths at Kabuki Springs & Spa.

By Donna Domino

“There’s a very special energy here,” says Kathy Nelsen, longtime director of the Kabuki Springs & Spa, explaining why the cultural fixture has endured for nearly 40 years. “The communal baths are really what differentiates us. We have some of the only ones in California and the U.S.”

Nelsen, who has carefully nurtured the Kabuki’s distinctively spiritual environment for the last decade, says another thing that sets the Kabuki apart is a deep respect for the body. She describes a recent women’s night to make her point.