Rep. Mark DeSaulnier visited five downtown Orinda shops and restaurants in mid-July, meeting with owners and two city councilmembers to discuss federal support for small businesses.

The stops included the Orinda Theatre, Casa Orinda, Orinda Books, Garden Nest, and Orinda Village Antiques, according to DeSaulnier's congressional newsletter published Sunday, July 13. Orinda City Councilmembers Latika Malkani and Cara Hoxie joined the congressman on the visits.

The Orinda swing was part of DeSaulnier's ongoing Business Listening Tour, a series of meetings he holds with small-business owners across California's 10th Congressional District. The newsletter said the tours are meant to identify ways he can support local businesses at the federal level.

DeSaulnier, a Democrat who has represented the district since 2015, ran restaurants across the Bay Area for 35 years before entering politics. His ventures included TR's in Concord, Santa Fe Bar and Grill in Berkeley, and Henry Africa's in San Francisco.

Five stops, three shopping areas

The businesses span a cross-section of Orinda's commercial corridors. Casa Orinda, at 20 Bryant Way, has been open since 1932 and is Contra Costa County's oldest continuously operating restaurant. The Orinda Theatre is a 1941 Art Deco movie palace on the National Register of Historic Places. Orinda Books has operated in Village Square since 1976.

The two newest stops sit side by side in Country Club Plaza on Orinda Way. Garden Nest, a plant and flower shop owned by Jeannie Fitch, an Orinda resident of nearly 30 years, opened in October 2023. Orinda Village Antiques operates out of the city's first fire station, built in 1924.

What's next

DeSaulnier's office has not announced the next Business Listening Tour stop. In a Facebook post on July 13, the congressman asked followers where he should visit next. His office did not detail what specific issues business owners raised during the Orinda meetings.