Cornerstone

Amy Olmsted - publisher, sunset magazine

Founded in 1898, Sunset was the seminal lifestyle magazine for the western United States. Established at a lavishly landscaped nine-acre campus in Menlo Park, the magazine covered travel, food, wine, and architecture for a readership that once numbered more than a million. Recipes were evaluated in the publication’s restaurant-grade kitchens, while extensive gardens provided staffers broad scope for testing new flower and vegetable varieties.

As was the case for many magazines, the digital era was hard on Sunset. In 2014, the magazine was sold by its owner, Time Warner, to a real estate development company, which in turn sold it to a private equity firm in 2017.  The staff was cut repeatedly during this period, and the magazine’s circulation dwindled. Sadly, it hasn’t recovered, and its future is uncertain.

 Amy Olmsted was publisher of Sunset during the Time Warner era, and she observes the handwriting had been on the wall for much of her tenure.

“Time Warner’s executives would come out to Menlo Park every year, and it was clear they were looking at the headquarters and calculating its real estate value,” says Olmsted. “So when the magazine sold in 2014 for $75 million, it was no surprise.”

At that point, Sunset needed a new home.

“We had to move out of Menlo Park, and we were in a real bind,” Olmsted recalls. “We needed a site with very specific amenities. It had to be geographically accessible to the larger Bay Area – we had 70 employees in Menlo Park at that time. We needed a large test kitchen, a good wine cellar, and plenty of test garden space. We needed everything, in short, that was emblematic of Sunset, that let us do what we’ve always done. And good luck finding a place like that – those are the kinds of requirements that can drive a real estate agent crazy.”

That’s when Darius Anderson entered the picture.

 “I’d known Darius for some time because he was a big fan of the magazine – and for a very specific reason,” says Olmsted.

That reason was Jack London. Anderson has been an avid collector of London first editions and memorabilia since boyhood; he had a particular fondness for Sunset because London had published in the magazine during its early years.

 At the time the magazine sold, Anderson owned Cornerstone Sonoma, an expansive marketplace in the City of Sonoma that features gardens, boutiques, galleries, cafés, and wineries. The property had virtually everything Sunset needed to continue its editorial mission.

“He just said to us, ‘Come on up to Sonoma,’” recalls Olmsted, “and he offered us below market rates. He was like a champion on a white horse. It turned out it was too far of a commute for many of our employees, so we found editorial space and an indoor kitchen in Oakland’s Jack London Square – but we were still able to use the outdoor kitchens and gardens at Cornerstone.  They literally gave us a new lease on life. And at every step, Darius was incredibly accommodating.”

The arrangement benefitted both parties, says Olmsted. Sunset gained access to kitchens and gardens essential for its editorial purview, and Anderson was able to employ the magazine as a branding asset for Cornerstone.

“Darius is a highly accomplished businessman and a strong negotiator, and there’s no doubt he derived some benefit from our presence,” says Olmsted. “But it was more than that. This was a project of passion for him, not just a business deal. And for us, he was our benefactor. It’s that simple.”