Mill Valley

(snapped a few years ago one evening when J was playing at Sweetwater with Joe Louis Walker)

seeing Linda's post about Joe's Taco Lounge in Mill Valley instantly made me want to spend a day there. in Mill Valley, i mean, not the taco lounge...though given how much i love tacos, that wouldn't be outside the realm of possibility.

Mill Valley and i go way back. somewhere around 1980-81, i lived there briefly, in a house on the east side of town with two roommates. one was an old friend, a dancer and choreographer; the other was someone i didn't know, a Scientologist who worked at Heath Ceramics in Sausalito.

i was working at an upscale men's and women's boutique in the heart of downtown Mill Valley, on the corner of Miller and Throckmorton. (the last time i was there, a coffee place was in that space.) it was a store geared to the affluent Mill Valley crowd...$400 linen shirts for women, Italian gabardine slacks for men, Lucchese boots. i was paid the whopping sum of $5/hour and was basically in charge since the owner and her partner mostly hung out in the office in the back.

one day a quiet, middle-aged man came in and purchased some slacks. i recognized the name on his credit card. he changed into his new slacks and as i kneeled on the hardwood floor to pin the hems (did i mention that my $5/hour, no commission pay included having to hem every pair of slacks i sold?), i thought how odd it was to have come of age during the Watergate era and now find myself hemming the pants of Daniel Ellsberg. Jim Lange shopped there. i once waited on a barefoot, coked-out woman in ratty jeans who paid for her purchases with a huge wad of hundred dollar bills she had stashed in her pocket.

the first time i ever saw a car phone (back when cell phones were car phones) was while working at that job. i was standing at the counter when i saw a guy in a gold Mercedes convertible (of course) turn left onto Throckmorton. i thought, "was that...? was he holding a phone?!" it looked like something out of Get Smart.  :)

after work, i'd walk around the corner to Sweetwater, sit at the bar and have a glass (or two or three) of white wine. i've spent many a night in Sweetwater--seen lots of live music there. it was  probably my all-time favorite music venue and i was heartbroken when it closed. a friend of mine in Marin actually looked at buying it at one point in the late 90's. i was also sad when Village Music closed since it was one of the most amazing record stores in the country. maybe i sound like an aging baby boomer whining over the old days, but these were cultural institutions. (if you don't believe me, start Googling.) and to replaced by what? another cupcake store?

in the evenings i'd sometimes go to an aerobics class in a studio above a bookstore not far from my house. a bookstore where Van Morrison could sometimes be spotted reading at a table in the cafe. i'd see Carlos Santana having lunch at my favorite sandwich spot. when you live in Marin County (which i did for a total of about 8 years in 5 different towns), you're used to seeing celebrities--it's no big deal.

i love Mill Valley. i've never known why it tugs at me so hard. maybe it's the physical environment. there are redwoods there and since i'm from redwood country, redwood groves instantly make me feel at home. when i read Linda's post, i suddenly realized i didn't know anything about Mill Valley's history. my genealogy research has given me a new fascination for history. so i looked it up at Wikipedia. well, looky there...in the mid-1800's: "Some of the rest of his land was leased out for dairy farming to Portuguese settlers.^[13] A majority of the immigrants came from the Azores Islands." i haven't yet figured out how my paternal great-grandparents made their way from the Azores to Del Norte County. wouldn't that be something to learn that as part of their journey, they went through Mill Valley. and this: "...Ranch 'B' is one of the few remaining dairy farm buildings and located near the parking lot at the Tennessee Valley trailhead." i haven't been to Tennessee Valley in ages, but i've hiked to the beach there dozens of times in the past and probably looked at and walked right by that building.

the more i study my family's genealogy (on all sides), the more i realize just how small this world really is...and just how much wonder is waiting to be discovered.

Comments

[linda]

Such a RICH POST. From Daniel Ellsberg to Ranch B. Wouldn't it be fun to visit Mill Valley together some day soon?

[mari]

Linda, Marilyn: wait for me! I want to go with you.

And that shot of Max Smart made me smile. I loved Get Smart. Watched the reruns everyday after school in high school.