Cass Calder Smith

[2] He and his firm, Cass Calder Smith Architecture + Interiors, are known for high-profile restaurant designs in San Francisco, California, and New York City.

[5] His parents divorced when he was ten, and in 1972 he moved with his mother and younger brother Zachary, first to a commune in Rockland County, New York,[5] then later to the Star Hill Academy for Anything, a commune near Woodside, California,[3] that was adjacent to the home of musician Neil Young.

Smith was out of school for several years, and spent the time building housing structures out of abandoned lumber.

[5] He attended high school in the Sierra Foothills and earned an undergraduate architecture degree from University of California, Berkeley.

During his last semester at graduate school then-roommate Reed Hearon, an aspiring chef, was working with restaurateur Rowena Wu to open a restaurant in a former warehouse in San Francisco's SOMA district.