marin neighborhoods winter 2010-11

�eighborhoodsMarin

A look at the unique nooks that make the county a special place to live

Winter 2010-2011

A publication of the

pacifi csun.com

A publication of the

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Muir BeachMill ValleySan AnselmoLarkspurSan RafaelNovato

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pings of civilization. Th e beatniks added a certain artists' colony mystique to the local mix of dairymen, old-timers and the postwar

suburbanites who occupied the new Seascape subdivision above the original settlement.

Th e town really got its name on the map during the 1960s, soon aft er the old Tavern morphed from a restaurant into a dance hall. Ken Kesey picked

the Tavern for his second Acid Test in December 1965, complete with light show, music by the War-locks (aka the Grateful Dead), LSD aplenty and

luminaries like Lenny Bruce, Wavy Gravy and Owsley Stanley. (Th e evening is chronicled in Tom Wolfe's Th e Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, published a few years later.) Big Brother & Th e Holding Company, Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Outfi t (led by Manson Family

member Bobby Beausoleil) and less iconic bands like Magenta Raindrop and Ugly Harpies

also played the Tavern before California State Parks acquired the prop-erty and replaced it and its adjacent beach cottages with a parking lot.

Th e beach itself is only about a thousand feet long, but there's plenty of room for surfi ng, kayaking, bird-watching, horseback rid-ing, picnicking and sunbathing in the protected cove. (Th e hippies started a nude-sunbathing tradition that endures at Little Beach, a strip of pebbly sand north of the boulders, but the locals demanded a crackdown last summer; be advised.) Just up Highway One is the Green Gulch Zen Center with its meditation zendo, teahouse, organic garden and regular Buddhist services every Sunday morn-ing at 10. To the west is Slide Ranch, an environmental education center that's been off ering fun, hands-on eco-activities since 1970.

Back at the cove, the Muir Beach Community Center features classes, workshops, movies, parties, seasonal events and fi reside get-togethers as well as coff ee and scones every Wednesday morning and beautiful ocean vistas from its decks and verandas. Up Pacifi c Way is the Pelican Inn (est. 1979), a cozy Tudor-style pub where you can sip a Guinness, sup on shepherd's pie, beef Wellington, fi sh and chips or aft ernoon tea, bed down for the night in a canopy bed or enjoy the annual Guy Fawkes, Burns Night and Boxing Day revels. Th ere are no streetlights and only one public pay phone, but the water's potable now, the septic tanks are working fi ne and the bookmobile visits twice a month. Getting away from it all was never so magical.

—MATTHEW STAFFORD

4 P ifi S

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Pacifi c Sun Home & Garden photo by Julie Vader

Muir Beach rests entirely within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

�olinas may get all the public-ity, but Muir Beach is Marin's great funky secluded oceanside community. It was here that Ken

Kesey hosted his second Acid Test, Janis Joplin's ashes were scattered along the sands, Azorean dairymen from the other side of the world settled and prospered, and burned-out Frisco beatniks found a perfect end-of-the-continent milieu for renewal and contem-plation. Migrating monarch butterfl ies and California red-legged frogs love the place. Th ere's no cable television, cell phones are unpredictable, the bikini's optional at the north end of the beach and every Nov. 5 a bagpiper leads a proces-sion to the ocean's shore for a ritual cremation of Guy Fawkes. What's not to love?

Th is tiny unincorporated settlement is tucked into a cove with dramatic bluff s on three sides and the wide foggy Pacifi c lapping at its southern shore. It's entirely within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, with Mt. Tamalpais State Park poking at its upper fl anks; a mile or so to the north is Muir Woods National Monument, the Bay Area's only remaining grove of ancient redwoods. Back in the good old days the area was dominated by a 25-acre tidal lagoon that attracted bobcats, elk, jackrabbits, bald eagles, grizzly bears and the Huimen tribe, one of 600 Coast Mi-wok groups that fl ourished between the Golden Gate and Bodega Bay. Th en the Spanish colonials arrived, followed by the Mexicans, who deeded the area and the rest of the massive Rancho Saucelito land grant to pioneer William Richardson. Aft er statehood one immigrant, Constantino Bello, started the Golden Gate Dairy at Th rockmorton's T Ranch in 1898; a decade later his brother Anto-nio purchased the hilly, cove-side parcel and named it Bello Beach.

Antonio built a beachside hotel and in 1923 subdivided the hillside into graded parcels for low-cost summer rental cabins. A rustic tavern-restaurant-snack bar was built along the sands and the place was renamed Muir Beach to connect it with the now-world-famous forest up the road.

Aft er the war the town's natural beauty, cheap housing and se-ductive isolation attracted bohemians disenchanted with the trap-

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Muir Beach the glamour behind the fog

MUIR BEACH AT A GLANCE

FIRE STATION Throckmorton Ridge Station, 816 Panoramic Highway, Mill Valley; Muir Beach Volunteer Fire Department, at the Golden Gate Dairy Barn

LIBRARY Mill Valley Public Library,375 Throckmorton Ave., Mill Valley

PARKS Muir Beach

POST OFFICE Sausalito Post Offi ce, 150 Harbor Dr.

PUBLIC SCHOOLS Tam Valley School, 350 Bell Lane, Mill Valley; Mill Valley Middle School, 425 Sycamore Ave., Mill Valley; Tamalpais High School, 700 Miller Ave., Mill Valley; Strawberry Point Elementary, 117 East Strawberry Drive, Mill Valley

MILL VALLEYMILL VALLEYMuir Beach

6 Pacifi c Sun

DOWNTOWN MILL VALLEY AT A GLANCE

FIRE STATION Mill Valley Fire Department, 1 Hamilton Ln.; Southern Marin Fire Protection District, 308 Reed Blvd.

LIBRARY Mill Valley Public Library, 375 Throckmorton Ave.

PARKS Boyle Park, 50 Thalia St.; Old Mill Park, 300 Throckmorton Ave.

POST OFFICE Mill Valley Post Offi ce, 751 E. Blithedale Ave.

PUBLIC SCHOOLS Tamalpais High School, 700 Miller Ave.; Mill Valley Middle School, 425 Sycamore Ave.; Old Mill School, 352 Throckmorton Ave.

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131at the historic Sequoia Th eatre, at 25 Th rockmorton. As if that isn’t enough to put this town of almost 14,000 on the map, downtown Mill Valley is the starting point of the more than 100-year-old Dipsea footrace–a 7.1-mile course that starts along the 671 stairs through picturesque Old Mill Park and fi nishes at the bottom of steep trails in Stinson Beach. High-end clothing boutiques, pet and baby stores fl ank the town square and the perennially packed Mill Valley Market is a favorite for its upscale gourmet off erings and well-prepared deli items.

Many of the neighborhood’s old-timers long for the days when downtown Mill Valley was a funky, artsy community sought out by folks who loved nature and wanted to be away from the hustle and bustle of urban living. With the infl ux of boomers and com-muters, the town has become more suburban–yet it’s suburbia with a lingering bohemian sentiment still evident.

Whether it’s a good, strong cup of coff ee, a grueling footrace up Tam or the opportunity to simply curl up in a comfort-able chair at the library and take in some of the area’s most spectacular vistas-you’ll fi nd it all in this quintessential Marin neighborhood.—TANYA HENRY

Pacifi c Sun Home & Garden photo by Ken Piekny

�nly four miles past the Golden Gate Bridge and a seven-minute jaunt west of the Downtown Mill Valley exit rests the heart of the leafy, affl uent and politically progressive community of Mill Valley-a

city named by the national magazine Money (and the CNN Money website) as the 10th best city in the nation to live. Th e magazine put it this way: “Dot-com million-aires and power couples in the fi lm and music indus-tries are fl ocking to what long ago was a hangout for artists and reformed hippies.”

Despite down-town’s current high cost of living and frequently congested traffi c conditions, the allure of this charming, mystical little part of town shows no signs of waning. Th ough the parameters of the downtown are loosely defi ned, the bulk of the action takes place toward the west end of E. Blithedale Avenue, up along Th rockmorton, all the way past Old Mill Park and the city’s well-stocked library. Th ere, within a radius of only a couple of miles, community members and out-of-towners can fi nd everything they need–from sophis-ticated shops and topnotch restaurants to theater, movies and live music. Among the downtown’s primary draws is the Depot Bookstore and Café (a former Greyhound bus depot), where locals turn for coff ee-sipping and people watching in the town’s center, also known as Lytton Square.

Amid an eclectic mix of young families, aging hippies and sportily clad cyclists, it is not unusual to spot a rock star now and then. (Mill Valley has been home to the likes of Maria Muldaur, Bonnie Raitt, Bob Weir and Sammy Hagar, among others.)

Every October for more than 30 years, the downtown has been transformed by the nationally known Mill Valley Film Festival, which screens many of its movies

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Downtown Mill Valley is perhaps the county’s quintessential

Marin neighborhood.

8 Pacifi c Sun


Strawberry Some of the nest real estate pickings in Marin

STRAWBERRY AT A GLANCE

FIRE STATION Mill Valley Fire Department, 1 Hamilton Ln.; Southern Marin Fire Protection District, 308 Reed Blvd.

LIBRARY Mill Valley Public Library, 375 Throckmorton Ave.

PARKS Brickyard Park, Great Circle Dr./Seminary Dr.;Reggie Park, 118 E. Strawberry; Strawberry Cove Park/Belloc Lagoon, Seminary Dr.

POST OFFICE Mill Valley Post Offi ce, 751 E. Blithedale Ave.

PUBLIC SCHOOLS Tamalpais High School, 700 Miller Ave.; Mill Valley Middle School, 425 Sycamore Ave.; Strawberry Point School, 117 E. Strawberry Dr.


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Strawberry’s littered with parks, trails and public docks—

what more could a Marinite want?

�erhaps one of the reasons Strawberry isn’t on the radar for many of us is that it’s one of Marin’s toniest neigh-borhoods. Homes still regularly sell for well over $1 million. OK, you might fi nd a few priced under a mil-

lion behind the Strawberry Village Shopping Center, but by and large, real estate sales are fi xed in the seven-fi gure range. A county-generated document for the Countywide Plan described Strawberry as a “com-munity on the upper end of the housing price range of the county with severe limitations on housing for those of modest means.”

Th is unincorporated area near the city of Mill Valley is outlined by Highway 101 to the west and Tiburon Boulevard to the north, with waterfront property on Richardson Bay to the east and south. Most governmental functions rest with the county, although the Strawberry Recreation District maintains the parks, trails and public docks.

It seems an ongoing struggle has been raging among neighbors in this small enclave (made up of a fair amount of waterfront prop-erty) who can’t agree whether to become an incorporated part of Tiburon, or remain associated with Mill Valley. Despite sometimes vocal Tiburon proponents, the neighborhood remains untethered from its sharky neighbor.

Maybe it’s the spectacular views that have attracted harbor seals to the quiet and unspoiled coves the community off ers. Th ere was a time when the seals thrived and fi shed along the shores near Strawberry Point, but in the late ’80s their numbers dwindled. Still, a number of Eastern Pacifi c harbor seals have made the northeastern tip of the Strawberry Peninsula a regular spot to lounge beachside. In an eff ort to protect the seals–along with other wildlife, including herons and egrets–strict building codes have been enforced. Fortunately for them, kayakers are permitted to share the area with these frolicking sea-goers.

If we didn’t mention Strawberry Village Shopping Center–which seems to be the hub/meeting place for most residents–we would be remiss. Just as its developers-the Shelter Bay Retail Group-intended, “it is more than a shopping center–it’s a destina-tion.” As many as 60 merchants survived more than a year of con-struction time spent renovating the nearly half-century-old center. Th e 18-acre mall reopened in the fall of 2006 with several spiff y new restaurants, rent increases for the tenants and newly tree-

lined pedestrian walkways. San Francisco restaurauteur Gordon Drysdale brought his Pizza Antica to Strawberry, and the upscale Woodland’s Pet Food and Treats caters to the neighborhood’s wealthy demographic. Even Harmony, a Chinese restaurant that off ers city-caliber dim sum, has set up shop in the center.

If ever the county begins to feel small, head east from High-way 101 out on to Tiburon Boulevard, and make a right on to Strawberry Drive. Discover (if only from your car) how the folks in Marin’s 3rd Supervisorial District live.—TANYA HENRY


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San Anselmo The antiques capital of the West

SAN ANSELMO AT A GLANCE

FIRE STATION Ross Valley Fire Department, Station 19, 777 San Anselmo Ave.; Station 20, 150 Butterfi eld Rd., San Anselmo

LIBRARY San Anselmo Public Library, 110 Tunstead Ave.

PARKS Lansdale Park, corner of Center Blvd. and Lansdale; Creek Park, downtown San Anselmo; Memorial Park, Veterans Pl. off San Francisco Blvd.; Robson-Harrington Park, 237 Crescent Rd.; Sorich Ranch Park, end of San Francisco Blvd.; Faude Park, top of Broadmoor Ave. between Indian Rock Rd. and Tomahawk Dr.

POST OFFICE 121 San Anselmo Ave.

PUBLIC SCHOOLS Brookside Elementary, 116 Butterfi eld Rd., San Anselmo; Wade Thomas Elementary, 150 Ross Ave., San Anselmo; Sir Francis Drake High, 1327 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., San Anselmo

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‘Junction’ to Canada del Anselmo.


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N estled between wild and quirky Fair-fax to the west and bustling, centrally located San Rafael to the east, perched beneath the rolling hills of the Ross Valley

and the majestic slopes of Mt. Tamalpais, San Anselmo is truly a place unto itself. With a slow-paced small-town vibe, well-groomed parks and quaint eateries and boutiques lining its stately downtown streets, it appears at fi rst glance to be a rela-tively easy-to-peg town. But that sublime exterior belies a rich, colorful history and more than a few hidden corners.

Th e area that would one day be known as San Anselmo has always been blessed with breathtaking natural beauty. Before the arrival of European settlers, Coast Miwok inhabited the region. Th e Miwok, whose territory stretched as far north as Bodega Bay and covered all of Marin and part of Sonoma, no doubt favored the area because of the creek with its abundance of fi sh and the rolling oak-covered hills that provided both shade and acorns.

Th e arrival of the Spanish and the establishment of the missions spelled the end of the Miwok era and paved the way for what is now downtown San Anselmo to be included in a vast land grant to wealthy friends of the Mexican government in the mid-1800s.

More than two decades aft er California was added to the Union, the North Pacifi c Coast Railroad rolled through and shook things up in the mid-1870s, adding a line that ran from Sausalito to Tomales via San Anselmo, which for a few years appeared on maps simply as Junction. By the 1880s, the town had adopted its less utili-tarian moniker, inspired by Juan Bautista Cooper’s original Punta de Quintin land grant, which marked the area as Canada del Anselmo.

Th e arrival of the railroad-as well as the construction of the San Francisco Th eological Seminary in 1892-predictably brought growth, development and expansion.

Today San Anselmo is among Marin’s most popular and beloved burgs. In addition to the myriad restaurants and shops that make the town a topnotch Bay Area shopping and dining destination-some call it the antiques capital of the Northern California-San Anselmo also boasts a handsome, well-stocked library, several fi ne schools and some of the county’s best parks and outdoor

attractions, all set to the backdrop of the still-pristine, meandering creek.

Th e town holds a number of special events, highlighted by the annual downtown antiques fair. Lovely and secluded Creek Park plays host each year to a number of al fresco Film Night in the Park screenings.

With high-class commerce juxtaposed against natural beauty, a diverse citizenry composed of artists and professionals of every stripe, a rich history and a boundless future, it’s easy to see why San Anselmo shines as one of the brightest jewels in Marin’s decidedly ornate crown. —JACOB SHAFER


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12 Pacifi c Sun


Larkspur Landing Soft landings on the shores of Larkspur

THE LANDING AT A GLANCE

FIRE STATION 400 Magnolia Ave.

LIBRARY 400 Magnolia Ave.

PARKS Neighborhood Park, north side of Marin County Mart

POST OFFICE 120 Ward St.

PUBLIC SCHOOLS Neil Cummins Elementary School, 200 Doherty Dr.; Hall Middle School, 58 Mohawk (grades 5-8)

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Magnolia Avenue quite truly has it all.


�he Larkspur waterfront is the perfect place to press pause. Windsurfers with their bouncing boards and colorful sails battle the bay winds, ferries pull in and out with passengers going to work or off to

enjoy a day shopping in the city, and friends gather to hear music, taste microbrews and drink coff ee at the Marin Country Mart (formerly Larkspur Landing Shopping Center).

Th is area of land is part of the San Quentin Peninsula, named for the Miwok Indian warrior Quintin, who was a follower of Indian Chief Marin. In the late 1960s, the city of Larkspur an-nexed the area originally part of the Mexican land grant Rancho Punta de Quentin, which had been awarded to Juan B.R. Cooper in 1840.

Th e area’s history is long past, but the small slice of Marin County is considered a gem by many residents who fi nd them-selves meeting friends and family there on a regular basis for sports, entertainment and shopping.

Th ose who’d rather not ride a surfboard while on the water can catch a ferry! Th e Golden Gate Larkspur Ferry deliv-ers some 1.4 million people between Larkspur and the San Francisco Ferry Building each year. Th e ferry service was launched aft er a recommendation from a 1970 transporta-tion plan to add the Larkspur terminal. Between 1972 and 1977 the Golden Gate Bridge District constructed three new ferry vessels. Th e fi rst of the new Spaulding ferries, the GT Marin, went into service in 1976. Th e second vessel, the GT Sonoma, was put into service in 1977. In 1978, the San Francisco Ferry Terminal was dedicated. Th e third ferry was used as an alternate. To save fuel, all three ferries were converted to diesel power and by late 1985 all were in use. Th e commute and weekend schedules were expanded and ridership increased more than 34 percent.

In 1998, services were again expanded with a high-speed catamaran-MV Del Norte. It off ered more frequent trips, better departure times and faster crossings. It nearly doubled the number of daily

round-trips from 26 to 40. A second high-speed ferry was added in 2001. All of these vessels have been

maintained with regular refurbishments and repairs. While waiting for a ferry, many cross a footbridge over

the highway to the shopping center. Th is area used to be the Hutchinson’s Rock Quarry. Now the bustling Marin Country Mart is a pleasant place to work out, eat, drink and shop. It is surrounded by a myriad of offi ce build-

ings, off ering a great place to take a lunch break or stroll during the workday or aft er.

Central to Larkspur Landing is the live music performed every Friday evening in the summertime, bringing some of the best local bands to play for free. Th e early music sets off er a great way to relax aft er a long workweek. Folks fl ock from all over Marin to drink microbrews at Marin Brewing Company or sip wine at Tam Cellars.

East of the landing is Remillard’s Brickyard Kiln, the last remaining building of the brickyard built in 1889. It was declared a state historical landmark and now houses Th e Melting Pot restaurant.

Th e Larkspur waterfront is defi nitely a place to visit...and stay a while.—SHELLEY SHEPHERD KLANER


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14 Pacifi c Sun


Downtown San Rafael Positively Fourth Street!

DOWNTOWN SAN RAFAEL AT A GLANCE

FIRE Station 1, 1039 C St.; Station 2, 210 Third St.

LIBRARY San Rafael Public Library, 1100 E. St.

PARKS Albert Park, Boyd Memorial Park

POST OFFICE 910 D St.

PUBLIC SCHOOLS San Rafael High, 185 Mission Ave.


The Rafael Film Center has become the focal point to

San Rafael nightlife.

�ver the years, cattle drives, pa-rades, hangings and shootouts, cardsharps, low-riders, toreadors and Franciscan friars have

made Fourth Street Marin’s most urbane gathering spot.

It’s been all of that since Marin’s fi rst inhabitants, the Coast Miwok, settled in an area between today’s Fourth Street and Fift h Avenue at the base of the region’s northern hills. A few centuries of fun, fi shing and foraging later, soldiers, priests and “converted” Indians from Mission San Francisco de Asís across the bay arrived at what is now the corner of Fift h Av-enue and A Street in December of 1817 and established Mission San Rafael Arcangel, the 20th and next-to-last mission in the chain from San Diego to Sonoma.

In 1834 the missions were secularized and converted into pueblos by edict of the new Mexican government. San Rafael pueblo and its environs were granted to Tim Murphy, a genial Irishman who acted as both Indian agent (he spoke Miwok with a brogue) and alcalde of the pueblo. Murphy’s most famous contribution to the local history, however, was his inauguration of Oct. 24 as San Rafael Day, which started as a feast to honor St. Rafael Arcangel and over the decades (it lasted 52 years) turned Fourth Street into a riotous scene of dancing, gorging, all-night drinking, horse racing, blackjack, bullfi ghting and every other sort of revelry indulged in by ranchers, prospectors and scum from the Barbary Coast out for a killing.

Aft er California joined the union in 1850, forty-eight 300-square-foot city lots were laid out along numbered and lettered streets projecting from the mission, which also acted as Marin’s fi rst county courthouse. Just up

Fourth was the log jail where hangings were conducted from a nearby oak tree. Th e main business of San Rafael, however, was livestock. Th e surrounding hills were home to thousands of head of cattle, and it was common to see the herds driven up Fourth to the slaughterhouse on San Rafael Creek.

Th e town of San Rafael was incorporated in 1874. An elaborate new Greek Revival county courthouse was erected with cupola, columned portico and, just inside the front door, a gallows. All of San Quentin’s executions were carried out here, including that of murderer Lee Doon; convivial onlookers nearly rioted in their mad scramble over the body for souvenirs aft er the hanging, and thereaft er execu-tions were performed at San Quentin instead.

Th e 1906 earthquake and fi re shot San Rafael’s population up from 4,000 to 6,500 as refugees from San Francisco raced for the suburbs. Eleven years later, thousands of onlookers lined Fourth Street to cheer Company D of the Fift h Infantry as they marched down to the Union Depot to head overseas and whip the Kaiser.

Fourth Street suff ered a blow in 1957 when fi re destroyed a block of businesses between D and E streets, but downtown has undergone other, more positive changes in the past several decades. Th e old train depot was lovingly restored in 1971 and now houses the Whistlestop organization. Th ere were merchant-sponsored redevelopment projects in 1963 and again in the ’70s, and Fourth Street’s been repaved at least twice by Ghilotti Brothers, a company with a San Rafael pedigree dat-ing back to 1914. Th e street itself gained international fame in 1973 as the lowriders’ main drag in George Lucas’s American Graffi ti.

Smack in the middle of all this multicultural urbanity rises the gorgeously restored Rafael movie palace, a city landmark for much of this century. Fourth Street, in other words, remains Marin’s main drag.—MATTHEW STAFFORD

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Sun Valley Where Marinites go for the sunny side of the life

SUN VALLEY AT A GLANCE

FIRE Station 1, 1039 C St.

LIBRARY San Rafael Public Library, 1100 E St.

PARKS Sun Valley Park, Boyd Memorial Park

POST OFFICE 910 D St.

PUBLIC SCHOOLS Sun Valley Elementary, 75 Happy Lane

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Sun Valley’s charms have attracted Marinites since the early 20th

century, when the neighborhood was a bustling hub of San Rafael.

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Forbes Hill Res.Forbes Hill Res.

�he northwest neighborhood of central San Rafael known as “Sun Valley”–unimaginatively called Neighborhood 13 in the San Rafael General Plan–includes most of Fift h Avenue, from

H Street to the end. From there it meets Mount Tamalpais Cemetery, as well as K Street and the residential area extend-ing west and including the streets of Humboldt and Solano. But Sun Valley carries the kind of “location cache” that will spur folks from the outlying Rafael Highlands, Fairhills, Forbes and Racquet Club communities to claim Sun Valley as their place of residence as well. And why not?

Th e oldest section of Sun Valley was built up between 1882 and 1900; the San Francisco earthquake brought another wave of set-tlers north in ’06.

In 1914, the area became Marin’s own mini-Hollywood, as the California Motion Picture Corporation set up shop at the end of K Street. Under the auspices of San Francisco entrepreneur George Middleton and his would-be-It-Girl, wife Beatriz Michelena, the CMPC utilized the rustic Sun Valley hills to produce a series of country melodramas; one of its more sophisticated productions, an opera-inspired silent called Mignon, was fi lmed at what is now the playground of the Sun Valley Elementary School, at Fift h and Happy Lane. Alas, Marin was not Tinsel Town North and by the early ’20s CMPC had gone bankrupt; its Sun Valley studios sitting vacant until burning down in the early 1930s.

Th e area remained relatively unchanged until the post-World War II baby boom birthed with it a need for more housing, with hillside development occurring steadily throughout the 1960s and ’70s, leading to the neighborhood’s much-discussed architectural diversity. (Th ough in general, Sun Valley is comprised primarily of large, single-family homes, with a smattering of some duplexes and small apartments.)

While friendly, the idyllic residential community of Sun Valley is not quiet about issues concerning its peaceful habitat, and the ac-tive neighborhood association regularly holds meetings to discuss changes to the cemetery and nearby school, traffi c fl ow, park reno-vations, market updates and the like.

Th e neighbor-hood has its own shopping center/com-munity gath-ering spot at the corner of Fift h and California; included is a laundro-mat, a needlepoint shop, computer services center and a hair and nails salon. Just past Scenic Avenue on Fift h is the West End Nursery, a family-owned shop that provides the area’s gardening and landscape supplies. At the opposite end of Fift h Avenue is the Marin Monument Company-a monument itself since the early 1920s-which outfi ts granite and bronze memorials for next door’s full-service, 130-year-old Mt. Tamalpais Mortuary & Cemetery.

Sun Valley Park, on Solano Street between California Avenue and K Street, is a 2-acre recreation area with a playground and jungle gym, basketball court, sheltered picnic tables and–although signs calling for leashes are prevalent–a moderately sized open plot of grass just perfect for playing catch with your dog. Another prized amenity is the Rafael Racquet and Swim Club, found up Racquet Club Drive, where members can still have lunch and enjoy the beatifi c views of Sun Valley with a backdrop of Mt. Tamalpais and the surrounding East Bay hills.

Strolling through the neighborhood today, it’s easy to see why turn-of-the-century residents originally fl ocked to Sun Valley. It’s the kind of place where the local market displays two public bulletin boards, mostly touting dog-walking services and job post-ings. It’s where residents will argue over the loss of a hiking trail or debate whether the cemetery should restructure its borders.

Where a momma deer and her two off spring can silently trot across the street, impervious to residents mowing their lawns or children scooting by on their bikes.—SAMANTHA CAMPOS


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18 Pacifi c Sun


Loch Lomond Marin’s port in a storm

Construction on the Loch Lomond develop-ment began in the late ’50s as the marshes near the mouth of San Rafael Canal were fi lled with hydraulic dredge and dirt from the hillsides to the north. Bruno’s shopping center was up and running by 1962, the marina by 1964, and that same year the Loch Lomond Yacht Club opened its doors. In keeping with the new community’s (rather inapt) moniker, streets in the residential area uphill were named Inverness, Kinross, Lochinvar, Bonnie Banks and other heather-fragrant appellations. In the late ’90s the marina was thoroughly spruced up with a new 6-foot dredge and a vista-friendly boardwalk.

Today’s Loch Lomond has a population of 700 or so scattered across half a square mile of winding streets, hills and bayfront. Most residents are on the well-to-do side (the neighborhood’s median income is almost twice San Rafael’s average, and one-third of the locals send their kids to private schools). Th e center of the action is Loch Lomond Marina, home of the yacht club, boat repair and storage facili-ties, marine supplies, a bait shop and sport-fi shing charters as well as a market and deli, beauty salon and dry cleaners. (Tragically, Bobby’s, a beloved local hangout, burned down in 2007.) Th e marina has a fueling station and public launch ramp plus 10 docks with 517 berths for small boats, 52 of them live-aboards; a long jetty runs the length of the marina and serves as its breakwater. To the east are two acres of undeveloped seasonal wetlands ideal for bird-watching.

A high-profi le redevelopment project, the Village at Loch Lomond Marina, has been in the works for much of the past decade. Th e plan involves a new waterfront plaza, a top-shelf grocery store operated by Woodlands Market, a 600-foot-long marina green, a widened board-walk, a children’s play area, improved strolling, fi shing, bird-watching and picnicking opportunities, an expansion of the east side’s natural wetlands and 81 new residential units (17 of them aff ordable housing) made up of cottages, townhouses and fl ats above mixed-use build-ings. Th e economic downturn and six years of factious hearings have stalled construction, but Woodlands, Bobby’s and Bruno’s notwithstanding, we’ll always have the lap of the waves and those gorgeous views. —MATTHEW STAFFORD

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�oating has been in Marin’s lifeblood ever since the Miwok piloted their tule canoes across the region’s marshes, bays and inlets. Bolinas, Sausalito and Tiburon were built on waterfront commerce and the

fringe benefi ts of aquatic panoramas and handy ferryboats. Yachting and pleasure sailing has had a local presence for over a century, and for decades San Rafael was as defi ned by its navigable creek as by its warm weather and quaint mission. So it was only a matter of time before the irresistible stretch of sheltered waterfront between the creek’s mouth and Point San Pedro would be transformed into a nift y little marina where yachtsmen, sailors, fi sherfolk and the like could fi nd safe harbor on the shores of San Rafael Bay.

San Rafael’s Loch Lomond district is dominated by that strip of San Pedro Peninsula bayfront. Here a popular marina off ers resi-dents and visitors a place to stroll, relax, picnic, berth a yacht, charter a fi shing boat or simply behold the beauties of the bay, the mountain, the Richmond Bridge and Marin Islands National Wildlife Refuge. North of the marina and Point San Pedro Road are the neighbor-hood’s low-slung mid-century hillside homes; they nestle against the southern edge of China Camp State Park and its meadows, forests, footpaths and wildlife. With the Glenwood neighborhood to the east and the Country Club neighborhood to the west, it’s a tranquil place to enjoy the beauties of Marin without giving up the nightlife of Fourth Street a few miles away.

Loch Lomond was just a sliver out of the original Mexican land grant known as Rancho San Pedro. In 1844 it was acquired by one Timothy Murphy, a large, genial Irishman who made his name as an Indian agent, San Rafael alcalde and all-around party animal. (He also raised thoroughbred horses, owned 50 greyhounds and Irish setters and once reputedly wrassled a bear in the hills above San Anselmo.) Despite a sharp eye for any lucrative opportunity, he pretty much left his San Pedro shoreline alone, and for the next 120 years the future site of Bobby’s Fo’c’s’le Cafe remained undeveloped. Th en, as the post-WWII baby boom burgeoned, almost all of the Bay Area’s salt marshes east of 101 and west of the Nimitz were fi lled and covered with housing and shopping centers, and in the end, 95 percent of our wetlands had vanished.

LOCH LOMOND AT A GLANCE

FIRE STATION San Rafael Fire Station 5, 955 Point San Pedro Road, San Rafael

LIBRARY San Rafael Public Library, 1100 E. St., San Rafael

PARKS China Camp State Park, McNear’s Beach, Peacock Park

POST OFFICE San Rafael Post Offi ce, 910 D. St., San Rafael

SCHOOLS Glenwood Elemtary School, 25 West Castlewood Drive, San Rafael. San Pedro School, 498 Pt. San Pedro Road, San Rafael; Davidson Middle School, 280 Woodland Ave., San Rafael; San Rafael High School, 185 Mission Ave., San RafaelA fl eet of beautiful homes line the Loch Lomond docks of San Rafael Bay.

SAN RAFAELSAN RAFAELLoch Lomand


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20 Pacifi c Sun


Terra Linda Where Marin met the modern world...

TERRA LINDA AT A GLANCE

FIRE Station 6, 650 Del Ganado Road

LIBRARY Civic Center Library, 3501 Civic Center Drive, #427

PARKS Maria B. Freitas Memorial Park

POST OFFICE 603 Del Ganado Road

PUBLIC SCHOOLS Terra Linda High, 320 Nova Albion Way; Vallecito Elementary School, 50 Nova Albion Way

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Modern Terra Linda is surrounded by timeless trails of open space.

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Terra Linda Sleepy Hollow DivideTerra Linda Sleepy Hollow Divide�ith one of the Bay

Area’s earliest built outdoor shopping malls, a set of 1960s ranch-style homes that became postwar architecture classics and the Jetsons-like Frank Lloyd Wright Civic Center across the highway, Terra Linda is Marin’s most fully realized contribution to the modern era.

Located in the Las Gallinas Valley area of the county, with about 10,000 residents, Terra Linda was developed on the former land of Manuel T. Frietas, one of the original immigrant Portuguese-Spanish land-grant owners. Freitas, who immigrated to the U.S. in 1896 and made his fortune in banking, ran the area-about 6,000 acres-as a dairy farm. Frei-tas’s former ranch house is currently the location of St. Isabella’s Catholic Church and School on Trinity Way. As the Freitas land was subdivided following World War II, the Terra Linda neigh-borhood emerged and became one of the county’s busiest areas of development throughout the 1950s and ’60s.

One of its most renowned developments in the area was the proliferation of what became known as Eichler homes, the courtyard-centered, naturally lit style popularized by architect Joseph Eichler from 1955 through the following decade. Terra Linda boasts about 900 Eichlers.

Located beyond the parkway that bears the Freitas name, the Mall at Northgate has been a shopping destination for Terra Linda residents–as well as the entire county and beyond–since opening in 1965. One of the state’s earliest built outdoor malls, Northgate has oft en been ahead of the mall game design-wise; it converted to an enclosed building in 1987 when the then-new Vil-lage in Corte Madera brought a bit of outdoor-mall competition to Marin. Nearby is Northgate One Shopping Center, which is closer in design to a strip mall, off ering

neighbors market goods, lunch destina-tions and much-needed infusions of takeout coff ee.

To the east of Terra Linda, across Highway 101, is the landmark Marin Civic Center, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright; its space-age modern architecture-intended from a design standpoint to blend in with the rolling Marin hills-brings many Wright devotees to the area to tour the structure. Th e Civic Center’s futuristic persona has been put to great eff ect in such sci-fi fi lms as 1994’s Gattaca and George Lucas’s debut 1970 feature THX 1138.

Still unincorporated into the 1960s, Terra Linda founded its own Community Services District to serve the neighborhood, but in the early 1970s the area was annexed by the city of San Rafael.

Despite their decades-long status as San Rafaelites, when asked the place they call home, residents are still almost certain to reply, “Terra Linda.”—SHELLEY SHEPHERD KLANER


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22 Pacifi c Sun

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Downtown Novato Marin’s fastest-growing city keeps its small-town feel

DOWNTOWN AT A GLANCE

FIRE Station 1, 7025 Redwood Blvd.

LIBRARY Novato Library, 1720 Novato Blvd.

PARKS Miwok Park, located off Novato Blvd.;Pioneer Park, located on Simmons Boulevard

POST OFFICE 1537 South Novato Blvd.

PUBLIC SCHOOLS Lu Sutton Elementary, 1800 Center Road; Olive Elementary, 629 Plum St.; Hill Middle, 720 Diablo Ave.; Novato High, 625 Arthur St.

Pacifi c Sun Home & Garden photos by Ken Piekny

Stately Mount Burdell towers behind Novato’s historic Grant Avenue.

Novato’s Old Town grew like gangbusters in the late 19th century when the railroad came through.

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�lthough Novato is a cluster of diverse neighborhoods–such as Ignacio, Hamilton and San Marin–when one thinks of Marin’s most northern out-

post, what springs to mind is oft en the growing city’s quaint and charming downtown.

While the city’s population is about 50,000, the downtown area gives Novato a small-town feel. And for many Novato resi-dents, a walk downtown is like a stroll into Marin’s past.

Th e city hall is housed in a stately former Presbyterian church on Sherman Avenue. Th e iconic red church, built in 1896, was the longtime home of city offi ces; a safety retrofi tting project is currently under way. It is this building that can be found on most of the city post cards and promotional brochures; you can even fi nd birdhouses built to look like it.

Near the old red church is Novato’s busiest street and the hub of downtown-Grant Avenue. Th e eastern end of Grant is known as Old Town, and was the bustling town center through the 19th century and into the 20th (when it was referred to as “new town,” ironically enough)-featuring a railroad depot, hotel, general store, post offi ce, blacksmith and small school. Th e city’s nostalgia-laden charm even made it to the big screen in 1992’s Radio Flyer, which was set in early 1970s Novato and featured Tom Hanks. Th e fi lm utilized much of Grant Avenue, as well as locations such as Novato High School and the Novato movie theater. Th e single-screen theater was designed by architect William Kelly and opened to the public in 1948. Th e theater closed in 1991, shortly before Radio Flyer came out, and has sat unused since. A local nonprofi t purchased the theater in the autumn of 2010 and plans to turn it into a multipurpose theater-performance venue. While the theater has yet to make a comeback, the downtown

went ahead and upgraded anyway. In the late 1990s the city repaved much of Grant Avenue, reconfi gured sidewalks,

parking spaces and planted new trees.Taking advantage of the city’s new look are

the many long-running festivals and events that Novato puts on for community members. Event highlights include a Fourth of July parade, the annual Festival of Art, Wine and Music, old-time car shows, a “salsa festival” and a seasonal

farmers market. —SHELLEY SHEPHERD KLANER


Home Cinema Center

24 Pacifi c Sun


Pacheco Valle Out of the past and into the present

who enroll annu-ally at COM. Th e 333-acre site has a 5.8-acre organic garden that was just awarded (2009) a “Project of the Year” for its Pathways to Achievement Program, and a state-of-the-art swimming facility used by many groups in the county for training and competition purposes.

Besides academic pursuits, outdoor activities and history, Pacheco Valle is an easy place to call home. Great weather, close prox-imity to transportation, retail and restaurant outlets nearby and easy access to the freeway combine to make a won-derfully hospitable neighborhood. In recent years, the area has seen an increase in housing construction and an infl ux of new residents.

Ignacio Pacheco would probably be surprised at what has happened to his original land grant, although not altogether unhappy. Th e foun-dations he laid for valuing the land and exploring its potential while protecting it have played out nicely in his valley. —BROOKE JACKSON

uring the time that California was under Mexi-can rule, early pioneers to the state petitioned the government for land grants. Th ese settlers, known as Californios, discovered Marin County and by the

1830s were grabbing big chunks of the fertile ranch land for cattle and farming. Swashbuckler Ignacio Pacheco obtained one such land grant encompassing over 6,600 acres. Th e rancho, named San Jose aft er the city of Pacheco’s birth, ranged from present-day Hamilton Field, across Highway 101 and deep into the hills to the west. It was prime grazing land for the cattle and horses Pacheco raised.

Ignacio Pacheco also raised a pack of kids, nine total, with three diff erent wives. It was a hard life for women-folk back then. Th e fi rst two wives died relatively young in childbirth or from illness, but not before producing three children between them. His third wife, Maria Loreto, gave birth to six more. Th ey were housed in an elegant adobe hacienda, which was added onto room by room to accommodate the growing brood.

Aft er Pacheco’s death, the grant was divided among the family’s survivors: Widow Maria received one-third and the remaining acreage was split equally among the eight living children. Th e original adobe burned to the ground in May of 1923; however, descendants of the Pacheco family still live in a large house along 101 south that was built by Pacheco’s son Gumesindo in the early 1880s.

Today, Pacheco Valle is a verdant stretch of rolling hills carpeted with oaks and grassy fi elds. Bordered by Ignacio Road to the north and Highway 101 to the east, open space and hiking paths abound within the confi nes of this peaceful land. Loma Verde, Ignacio Valley and Pacheco Valle preserves, as well as Marinwood and Lucas Valley Open Space, comprise acres of hiking, biking and equestrian trails. Lucky residents of this sunny area have lots of options for getting out in the fresh air.

Tucked back in the folds of a canyon sits the sprawling Indian Valley campus of College of Marin, accessed through the Ignacio neighbor-hood to the north, also named for the Pacheco family patriarch. In-dian Valley College merged with COM in 1985 and now the campus provides an academic curriculum to a portion of the 9,000 students

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Pacifi c Sun Home & Garden photos by Julie Vader

Many of the Pacheco Valle homes were designed to blend in with the

plethora of natural surroundings.

The Valle is named for original land-grant owner Ignacio Pacheco.

PACHECO VALLE AT A GLANCE

FIRE STATION Station 4, 319 Enfrente Drive

LIBRARY Novato Library, 1720 Novato Blvd.; Hamilton branch, Hangar 6, suite 140A

PARKS Palmisano Community Park, Caliente Real at Burma Road, Hamilton


PUBLIC SCHOOLS Loma Verde Elementary, 399 Alameda de la Loma; Hamilton Elementary, 1 Main Gate Road, Hamilton; San Jose Middle School, 1000 Sunset Parkway; Novato High, 625 Arthur St.

NOVATONOVATO

Pacheco Pacheco ValleValle


Having worked with home buy-ers and sellers in Pacheco Valle

for over 22 years, I could think of no better place to call home then this marvelous “Hidden” Marin County neighborhood.

While Pacheco Valle is revered for its serene atmosphere and breath-taking views of open space reserve, residents truly enjoy Marin living

at its best surrounded by nature and yet conveniently located to transportation, restaurants and easy access to the 101 corridor. Nestled amongst the trees with lush surroundings graced by families of deer and wild turkeys this quiet hidden paradise feels like coming home to your own personal resort. With endless miles of hiking & bik-ing trails, community pools, spas and tennis courts this neighborhood has it all.

Call me for a personal tour of lovely Pacheco Valle and available properties and see for yourself why Pacheco Valle is considered one of Marin County’s treasured hid-den jewels!

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TOWNSQUARE

26 Pacifi c Sun

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SAN MARIN AT A GLANCE

FIRE STATION Station 3, 65 San Ramon Way

LIBRARY Novato Library, 1720 Novato Blvd.

PARKS Pioneer Park, located on Simmons Boulevard; Miwok Park, located off Novato Boulevard


PUBLIC SCHOOLS San Ramon Elementary, 45 San Ramon Way; Pleasant Valley Elementary, 755 Sutro Ave.; Sinaloa Middle,2045 Vineyard; San Marin High, 15 San Marin Drive


San Marin Drive is the main drag of the quiet enclave at the base of

Mount Burdell.

Pacific SunHom

e & Garden photos by Ken Piekny

San Marin Drive is the main drag of the quiet enclave at the base of

Mount Burdell.


S n Marin Drive is the main drag of the quiet enclave at the base of

�t the base of Mount Burdell in Novato is the town’s lengthy thoroughfare of

San Marin Drive, the main drag of the northwest area of town, known simply as San Marin.

Being more than a stone’s throw from the downtown has given San Marin its own identity within Novato–a bit more rural and out of the way. Sort of a suburb of the Novato suburb.

Th e area plays host to its own mini-parades and other com-munity activities staged by its own neighborhood association.

Th e San Marin area is largely thought of in terms of the tri-angle of streets within San Marin Drive, Simmons Lane and No-vato Boulevard, but its hazily defi ned borders are oft en stretched further into neighboring streets that were built up at the same time San Marin Drive was developing in the mid-1960s.

San Marin Drive rests at the foot of one of the most pictur-esque claims of the Marin Open Space District-Mount Burdell. Long known as Rancho Olompali, the name was changed when the area came under the thumb of a San Francisco dentist named Galen Burdell in the mid-1800s. Lured by the promise of Gold Rush riches, Burdell worked as a doctor on the Duxbury, a ship which ran aground off the coast of Bolinas, stranding scores of sea-legged passengers in Marin (and giving name to Duxbury Reef). Dr. Burdell liked what he saw of Marin and set up a prac-tice in the big city to the south. Like many a “forty-niner,” gold dust would not lead to future riches–but dental powder sure did. With a fortune earned from the invention and marketing of his own tooth cleaner, Burdell sparked the interest of Mary Black, the daughter of Nicasio land baron James Black. Th e couple was married in 1863 and, as a gift from the bride’s father, Galen and Mary were soon the proud owners of Rancho Olompali and nearly a thousand head of cattle.

Familial bliss didn’t last long between the Burdells and the Blacks, Maria, James’s wife, died the following year–while under anesthetic, sitting in the dentist’s chair of Burdell. Black never forgave the young doctor, disinheriting his own daughter out of spite (the will was eventually overturned). To-day, the former Burdell-owned land looks much like it did in the 19th century. Purchased by the open space district in the 1970s, the parkland is now known as the Mount Burdell Open Space Preserve and includes a vernal pool, oak trees, wildfl owers and several species of rare plants. Range animals from near-by dairy farms are allowed to graze on the land. It is a common place to hike, bike and play.

Th e area is mostly residen-tial–though the San Marin Plaza and the Square shopping centers provide the com-munity with its markets, coff ee shops, a smattering of restaurants and other small businesses. —SHELLEY SHEPHERD KLANER


San Marin A paradise to the north of the ol’ Mill stream...

San Marin remains the fl ag-bearer of Novato’s rural roots.


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