Jack Martin - Executive Partner

Jack's involvement with the Mark West Lodge is the perfect pairing of his years of food and beverage experience with with his love of historic buildings.  His eye for design and attention to detail assures that when you arrive to celebrate your special day, that everything looks and works just right.

After graduating from State University of New York at Albany in 1974, Jack went to work with the city of Albany overseeing the rehabilitation of historic downtown row houses. In 1978 he moved to California to work for San Mateo County as a Housing Rehabilitation Specialist. Wanting to pursue his love of coffee along with his building and mechanical expertise, he participated in the creation and management of various Bay Area coffee houses. He found a home with Pasqua , the pioneering San Francisco coffee company that brought European-style coffee "elbow bars" to San Francisco. His contribuitions to Pasqua were instrumental in creating the first sidewalk coffee carts in the city, as well as helping to lay the groundwork for this dynamic company that grew to over 50 stores.

But the northern California wine country beckoned, and in the early 1990's  Jack and his young family moved to Calistoga where they still reside. (They are, however, not quite so young any more...) Jack was a founding partner of the Calistoga Roastery (which still serves the best coffee in the Napa Valley), and also started Jack Hunter's Smokehouse Cafe , a casual eatery that served up generous portions of delicious comfort food to wine country visitors as well as Calistoga residents for many years.

Last summer Jack's long standing vision of a new outdoor wedding and event site on the Lodge property adjacent to Mark West Creek became a reality.  This unique site boasts a huge outdoor river rock fireplace, and a stage and dance floor inside the old mineral springs swimming pool. Jack is often found roaming around at the new Creekside, either working on his vintage 1955 Spartan travel trailer that serves as the Bridal Lounge for the site, or pondering new projects that will make the site more attrractive and hospitable. He is usually accompanied by Sadie , his Miniature Schnauzer.

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