About the Author

Jake the Yellow-Lab-sort-of-dog and Maria Goodavage have traveled throughout the state to check out some of the most dog-friendly parks, beaches, lodgings, and restaurants in the world. As part of their research, they’ve ridden on ferries, horse-drawn carriages, cable cars, gondolas, and steam trains. They’ve visited chichi art galleries, dumpy drive-in movies, kitschy tourist attractions, dog-friendly wineries, high-end stores, ski resorts, major-league ballgames, and even had high tea together. They’ve eaten at restaurants where dogs are treated almost like people (except they never get the bill). They’ve stayed at the best hotels, the worst flea-bitten motels, and everything in between. Jake’s favorite saying: “You’re not really gonna leave the house without me, are ya?” (This is usually accompanied by all his extra folds of neck skin drooping forward into his face, his floppy ears hanging especially low, his tail sagging dejectedly, and his big seal-like eyes looking wet and wide and oh-so-woeful.)

Since Jake still doesn’t have a driver’s license after all these years, he relies on Maria, former longtime USA Today correspondent, to be his chauffeur. Maria is well qualified—she started chauffeuring dogs nearly 20 years ago, when her intrepid Airedale, Joe, joined her during some of her travels for the newspaper. With all of their experiences on the road, it was only a matter of time before a book was born, followed by a series of books. Both The Dog Lover's Companion to California and The Dog Lover's Companion to the Bay Area are now in their sixth editions.

Jake gets a little restless when not traveling around the state, so he has helped Maria and a small crew of video professionals launch Smiling Dog Films. They make really cool broadcast-quality videos of dogs and their people (or if a dog prefers, dogs and no people).  Jake encourages people to look at the website’s samples page because one of the short videos—under “Custom Creations,” which is the bottom-most "dial" —stars his big, blonde, and beautiful self.

Jake lives near the beach in San Francisco with Maria, her husband, and their daughter. He encourages his fans to write to him, care of Maria (who won’t let him online anymore—long story), and tell him about new dog-friendly places he should sniff out for the book’s next edition.

In Memoriam

Just before my deadline for the sixth edition of this book, Phil Frank, who illustrated this book and the entire Dog Lover’s Companion series, died of a brain tumor. He was only 64.  Phil was best known for his perennially popular San Francisco Chronicle comic strip, Farley, and a nationally syndicated strip, The Elderberries.

In 1991 he took on the illustration job for the first edition of The Dog Lover’s Companion to the Bay Area pretty much as a favor to my then-co-author, Lyle York, a colleague at the Chronicle. If not for his delightful, humorous, sweet, fun illustrations of dogs and their people, I’m not sure the series would have taken off as it did. His illustrations are an integral part of these books – sometimes the main selling point for browsers too busy to read the text.

But beyond his talent as an illustrator, Phil was one of the kindest, most humble, most decent human beings I’ve come across. I’ll never forget when my daughter was an aspiring cartoonist at the age of 6, and Phil invited us to come to his Sausalito studio to give her a little cartooning tutelage. She was transfixed by his gentle humor, his grandfatherly demeanor, and his drawing style. They worked together for nearly two hours, and he invited us to come back any time she needed a refresher. Sadly, life got busy, and although we emailed a few times, that was the last time I saw him.

I am comforted that Phil’s illustrations – and thus a part of him -- will live on in these books. But I wish he were still here to make the world a better place for all who knew him.