neighborhoods winter 2011-2012

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M a r i n

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

A publication of the

>>pacificsun.com

M u i r B e a c h | D o w n t o w n M i l l V a l l e y | M i l l e r A v e n u e | S t r a w b e r r yD o w n t o w n S a n R a f a e l | S a n A n s e l m o | S u n V a l l e y | T e r r a L i n d a

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Marin Neighborhoods | Winter 2011-2012 3

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835 Fourth St. Suite B (entrance on Cijos St.), San Rafael 94901; Telephone: (415) 485-6700, Fax (415) 485-6226. E-Mail: [email protected]. Entire contents of this publication Copyright ©2011 Embarcadero Media

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M A R I N

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M A R I N

MUIR BEACH [page 4]

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ON THE COVERDowntown Mill ValleyART DIRECTORMissy ReynoldsPHOTOGRAPHSJulie VaderKen Piekny GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Gwen AquilarMichelle Palmer WRITERSSamantha CamposTanya Henry Shelley Sheperd KlanerJacob ShaferMatthew Stafford

4 Pacifi c Sun

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 a couple of years ago; 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 morning 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

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Pacifi c Sun Home & Garden photo by Julie Vader

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

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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, Highway 1, Mill Valley

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 Dr., Mill Valley

MILL VALLEYMILL VALLEYMuir Beach★

BOLINAS may get all the publicity, 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 contemplation. 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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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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131historic Sequoia Th eatre, at 25 Th rock-morton. 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 inf lux of boomers and commuters, the town has become more subur-ban—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 comfortable chair at the library and take in some of the area’s most spec-tacular vistas—you’ll fi nd it all in this quintessential Marin neighborhood.—TANYA HENRY

Pacifi c Sun Home & Garden photo by Ken Piekny

ONLY 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 pro-gressive 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 millionaires and power couples in the fi lm and music industries are fl ocking to what long ago was a hangout for artists and reformed hip-pies.”

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 sophisticated 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 Festi-val, which screens many of its movies at the


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Downtown Mill Valley is perhaps the county’s quintessential

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Miller Avenue offers awe-inspiring views of Mt. Tamalpais.

M I L L E R A V E . A T A G L A N C E

FIRE STATION Mill Valley Fire Department Main Station, 1 Hamilton Ln.; Southern Marin Fire Protection District Stations No. 4 & 9, 309 Poplar & 308 Reed Blvd.


PARKS Bayfront Park, 425 Sycamore Ave.;Bothin Marsh Open Space Preserve; Molino Park,Molino Ave. & Janes St.; Sycamore Park, 4 Park Terrace


PUBLIC SCHOOLS Tamalpais High School, 700 Miller Ave.; Mill Valley Middle School, 425 Sycamore Ave.;Park Elementary School, E. Blithedale Ave.

Miller Avenue


Gateway to downtown Mill Valley!

MILLER Avenue is Mill Valley’s great civic entrance-way. Like every portal thoroughfare from

the Via Appia to Market Street, it escorts the visitor from point of arrival to the center of the action. Its four lanes of asphalt, concrete, cherry blossoms and usurped railbed link two intra-urban highways with the town’s tree-shaded hub; aspects of the town’s inclusive past sharing frontage space with its loft y status quo: a rambling, century-old high school, a storied saloon, supermarkets for patrician and proletariat alike, gas stations and fast-food joints, the town’s oldest business and some of its most venerable and beautiful homes.

Th e Coast Miwok were the fi rst inhabitants of the neighborhood, reveling in the climate and the abundant wildlife since about the time of the Magna Carta. One of their shellmounds was at present-day Locke and LaGoma streets, two blocks east of Miller, which was once, in those pre-bay-fi ll days, a point on the Richardson Bay shoreline. It was here that Irish immigrant John Reed built his adobe home in the 1830s. Th e wayfarer had recently acquired a phenomenal land grant from the Mexican government that encompassed the Tibu-ron peninsula, a substantial chunk of Corte Madera and half of Mill Valley—everything east of that aforementioned creekbed. Here Reed raised horses, sheep and cattle, operated a quarry and hosted the occasional rodeo, but his most famous enterprise was the sawmill he operated a few miles northwest in present-day Old Mill Park. Th e burgeoning, lumber-hungry city of San Francisco helped ensure the mill’s success, and to transport all of that har-vested redwood across the bay, Reed’s laborers built a road from the shores of Cascade Creek to the train station at Almonte: the primal prototype for our own Miller Avenue.

In 1892 the Mill Valley Lumber Company opened for busi-ness at 129 Miller, straddling the creek that defi nes the town and supplying the raw materials for most of the homes and busi-nesses that cropped up hereabouts aft er the 1906 earthquake. As the town doubled in population, two new neighborhoods were developed on both sides of Miller: on the west Homestead Valley, an adamantly unincorporated region of sylvan glades, gullies and rolling hills, and on the east Tamalpais Park, with

its unique midblock shortcuts for tardy commuters hurrying aft er the next train.

Aft er a century Miller Avenue was still the border between east and west, city and county, and the Brown Jug saloon at Miller and Montford advertised its prime location just outside Mill Valley and its midnight closing time by renaming itself the 2AM Club. It was also in 1940 that the train that gave Miller Avenue so much of its character closed up shop, a victim of the automobile’s new citywide dominance aft er the opening of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Plans have been bandied about to reconstruct this storied boulevard into a carefully designed showplace of upscale shops, multi-use housing, landscaped brickways and sheltered bike paths. Stay tuned. Despite the occasional canoe-friendly fl ood—its proximity to creek and reclaimed marshland has helped submerge the avenue during many a stormy season—Miller Avenue has survived Mill Valley’s every municipal upheaval and makeover to remain the town’s busiest, broadest-minded thoroughfare. —MATTHEW STAFFORD


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90 Tamalpais Avenue, Mill Valley Privately set on approx .45 acre, in one of Mill Valley’s

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Strawberry Some of the fi 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.


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


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?

PERHAPS one of the reasons Strawberry isn’t on the radar for many of us is that it’s one of Marin’s

toniest neighborhoods. Homes still regularly sell for well over $1 million. OK, you might fi nd a few priced under a million 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 “community on the upper end of the housing price range of the county with severe limita-tions 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 destination.” As many as 60 merchants survived more than a year of construction 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. A range of restaurants and shops, family-oriented to upscale, 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 Highway 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


Joan L. Kermath—MBADRE #01308538

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415.233.3031Top 1% in Marin County • Member of “TAN” & “MPG” – Top performing Marin agent networks

134 Reed Boulevard • Mill ValleyPost-Modern complete remodel 4BD/3.5BA with full on San Francisco views. Sought after Strawberry location

off private cul-de-sac near open space. www.134ReedBoulevard.com • Offered at $1,495,000

Pending!

49 Bellevue • BelvedereOriginal Corinthian Island Ark, the “Sea Bunk” offers waterfront living with San Francisco skyline views.

Representrd the Buyer • Offered at $1,795,000

Sold!

45 Reed Ranch Road • Tiburon World class San Francisco and Bay views! Impressive 4300 +/- Sq.Ft. Contemporary 5BD/3BA home in the

sought after “Reedlands” neighborhood.www.45ReedRanchRoad.com • Offered at: $2,162,600

Active!

276 Ricardo Road • Mill ValleyGracious & charming Strawberry single level 3BD/2BA

updated and expanded home. Incredibly beautiful kitchen and amazing lush gardens on a large, level lot

with expansion potential.www.276Ricardo.com • Offered at $925,000

Sold!

16 Escalon • Mill ValleyBreathtaking views and adjacent to open space.

Amazing home with easy access to town. Represented the Buyer: Multiple Offers

Offered at $1,349,000

Sold!

875 Chamberlain Court • Mill ValleyEast Coast Style Nantucket rebuilt in 2003 to perfection!

Huge level lawn and property. www.875Chamberlain.com • Offered at $1,749,000

Sold!

60 Seafi rth • TiburonArchitecturally impressive Seafi rth Community home.

Large scale rooms and open fl oor plan featuring walls of glass capturing captivating Bay views.

Represented the Buyer. Offered at $2,295,000

Sold!

300 Montford • Mill ValleyIncredible level & sunny Homestead Valley location.

Generously proportioned spaces, fl oor to ceiling windows & captivating rear yard.

Represented the Buyer: Multiple OffersOffered at $925,000

Sold!

123 Baltimore • Corte MaderaBaltimore Park-One of the most sought after downtown Corte

Madera & Larkspur neighborhoods! Resort like Craftsman Vintage home completely updated with period details. Rear

pool area and pool house—your own private resort!Represented the Buyer • Offered at $1,695,000

Sold!

12 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 of

San Rafael nightlife.

OVER the years, cattle drives, parades, hangings and shootouts, card-

sharps, 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 Avenue 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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Downtown San Anselmo The antiques capital of the West

DOWNTOWN 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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PUAnSiIn the 1880s the town changed its name from the utilitarian-sounding

‘Junction’ to Canada del Anselmo.


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NESTLED between wild and quirky Fairfax to the west and bustling, centrally

located San Rafael to the east, perched beneath the roll-ing 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 ap-pears at fi rst glance to be a relatively 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 Ansel-mo 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 alfresco 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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16 Pacifi c Sun


Terra Linda Where Marin met the modern world...

TERRA LINDA AT A GLANCE

FIRE Station 6, 650 Del Ganado Rd.

LIBRARY Civic Center Library, 3501 Civic Center Dr., #427

PARKS Maria B. Freitas Memorial Park

POST OFFICE 603 Del Ganado Rd.

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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Oleander Park

Hillview Park

Terra Linda Sleepy Hollow DivideTerra Linda Sleepy Hollow Divide

WITH 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. Freitas’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 neighborhood 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 Village in Corte Madera brought a bit of outdoor-mall competi-tion to Marin and had a major remodel just a couple of years ago. 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 coffee.

To the east of Terra Linda, across Highway 101, is the landmark Marin Civic Center, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright; its space-age modern architec-ture—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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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, Solano St. and K St., Boyd Memorial Park, B St. and Mission Ave.

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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Open Space

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Forbes Hill Res.Forbes Hill Res.

THE 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 extending 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/community gathering spot at the corner of Fift h and Cali-fornia; included is a laundromat, 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 monu-ment 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 postings. 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

2009-2011

B A Y A R E A

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