I would probably steer you towards using fine fescues. 10,000 square feet is not what I would call "not very large" but I guess it's smaller than a few acres. Fine fescues (creeping red, hard, chewings, sheep) require less water, fertilizer, and sun than all the other cool season grasses (well not all, but we'll neglect to talk about the specialty grasses), but they aren't the most traffic tolerant. Sure they can handle kids running around a bit, but not repeated touch football games. The creeping red's have some spreading ability, but it's slow, nothing like Kentucky bluegrass. I have heard a lot of good things about Bonny Dunes fine fescue blend, but it has a low percentage of creeping red fescue. If you want to have a large percentage of creeping red, you should take a look at the NTEP ratings ( http://www.ntep.org/data/ff03/ff03_08-9f/ff03_08-9f.pdf )to see which ones do the best in your area. Then you can order the better performers from a seed seller. Most of the shade mixes in the big box stores are terribly thought out and contain lousy cultivars, I would avoid them.

I've never planted a lawn of it, but I've planted a clump of Carex praegracilis in heavy clay soil with two young 60-pound dogs trampling on it regularly, and I found that it didn't at all mind the long, dry, summers that get much hotter here in the Sacramento Valley than for you in the Bay Area. I've been extremely pleased with it; the only problem I've had with it is that Bermuda grass came up in the middle of it and I had a very difficult time separating them. The sedge wasn't entirely thrilled about having me tear up its roots to extract the Bermuda grass. But after sulking limply for a few months, the sedge did recover and survive.

Carex muskingumensis is the first thing which comes to mind. It's common name is Palm Sedge, and it's a great grass. It'll get to 3'+ and likes the conditions you describe. I can't tell you if it's native, because I don't know where you are.

I seeded on 8/10, so it has been 4 weeks and a day. I was traveling this week, but we got a lot of rain on Tuesday, so my wife turned off the sprinklers for a few days. I think the rain helped things along, because there has been quite a bit of germination in spots. I imagine the temperature drop (highs are finally out of the mid to upper 90s) probably helped as well. I'm still disappointed in the germination in some areas, but I think there may be too much dead KBG in those areas keeping the seeds from being in contact with the soil. I've got at least some germination throughout the lawn, so I think next year, I'll stop watering or start watering every other week, and the natives will take over. I plan to further rough up the areas that had poor germination and drop some seed tomorrow (I kept a little in reserve). I'll also buy some in late winter and do some dormant seeding. I'm also considering buying some "plug flats" in the spring. I'll plant a few seeds in each plug, get it to germinate and plant the plugs in holes I make with a turf hound. I figure that way I can get guaranteed growth in my "target" areas. I reread most of the thread and was amused by David's comment on the KBG "racehorse" because on the lawn forum, everybody bemoans how slow KBG is to germinate. But compared with natives, it's pretty speedy. Depending on how the natives are doing next fall, I may wait for it to cool off a bit and core aerate (didn't do that this time and I think it was a mistake) and overseed again, but with only the western wheatgrass (or maybe also the sheep fescue).