Search Term Record
Metadata
Name |
MV history - Baby boom years (1950s and early 1960s) |
Number of Archive records |
28 |
Number of Library records |
0 |
Related Records
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Locke McCorkle on Druid Heights - Druid Heights Oral History
In this oral history, Locke McCorkle reminisces about Druid Heights and many of the people associated with the legendary bohemian community. Locke recounts first visiting Druid Heights in the early 1950s and his subsequent involvement in building some of the structures there. He conjectures that the community received its evocative name from one of its early residents, the poet Elsa Gidlow. In addition to Elsa, Locke discusses various other peopl...
Record Type: Archive
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Oral History of Annabella Robinson - Oral History
In this oral history, Annabella Robinson discusses her life and the experiences of her interracial family in Mill Valley. Born in Ohio in 1931 to Italian immigrant parents, Annabella joined the Air Force after high school, which took her first to Texas, then to Wyoming, and finally to Parks Air Force Base in the East Bay. Annabella recounts how she met her husband Glen, who grew up in Marin City and was a basketball star at Tamalpais High School,...
Record Type: Archive
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Oral History of Beryl Jean Symmes - Oral History
Beryl Jean Symmes grew up in Richmond, Surrey, England. In 1943 she met Laurence M. Symmes Jr., an American serviceman. They married in 1947, and Laurence brought her to Mill Valley where he had settled after the war with his aunt Ruth Boericke White, the widow of Ralston White, who owned the Garden of Allah. Beryl and Laurence spent two weeks living at the famous Mill Valley residence before moving into their own home, named El Nido (The Nest), ...
Record Type: Archive
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Oral History of Betsy Andresen - Oral History
Betsy Andresen, nee Betsy Anne Brown, begins her oral history with the story of her parents meeting and recounts her family uprooting and sailing from Seattle to San Francisco in 1918, one year after her birth. Betsy describes a move in 1924 to San Anselmo, and fondly recalls how during the family's three-year stint in Marin they would take the electric train from San Anselmo's Lansdale Station to Sausalito, and then the ferry into "The City." Th...
Record Type: Archive
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Oral History of Bill Champlin - Oral History
In this oral history, musician and raconteur Bill Champlin vividly recounts a life devoted to music, one fundamentally shaped by his experience growing up in Mill Valley. Born across the bay in Oakland in 1947, Bill moved with his mother and two sisters to Mill Valley when he was 12 years old. Rock n' roll and R&B were sweeping through Marin in the 1960s, and Bill describes his total immersion in the local music scene, even while still a student ...
Record Type: Archive
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Oral History of Bill Thran - Oral History
Bill Thran was a long time resident of Mill Valley. Bill opened two local businesses (Old Mill Market and, later, Bill's Fixit Shop) and, together with his wife Mina, raised seven children in Mill Valley. This oral history describes Bill moving to the area from Germany, working as a machinist and then in local grocery stores, and later running his own busineeses. Bill describes what it was like running a small-town store in the mid-Twentieth C...
Record Type: Archive
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Oral History of Bob Canepa - Oral History
Son of Mill Valley Market founder and owner Frank Canepa, Robert (Bob) Canepa is a lifelong resident of Marin County. Born at Ross Hospital in 1947, Bob recounts his memories of working in his family grocery store and what life was like growing up in Mill Valley with his older siblings, Jim and Marilyn ("Patsy"). Bob discusses the impact of serving in the U.S. Marine Corps following his graduations from St. Ignatius High School and the Universit...
Record Type: Archive
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Oral History of Carl Mosher - Oral History
Carl Mosher was born in December 1910 in the "wheat belt" of Alden, Kansas. In 1928, Carl came to California with his parents, and eventually began his professional career as a high school teacher in Compton, Los Angeles County. During World War II, Carl served in the Pacific Theater with Army intelligence. He gave up a teaching career to open Mosher's Shoes, which he ran in downtown Mill Valley for nearly three decades. In addition to his involv...
Record Type: Archive
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Oral History of Dean Meyer - Oral History
In this oral history, former Mill Valley Mayor Dean Meyer discusses his life and service to the community. Born in San Francisco in 1927, Dean grew up in Burlingame. After graduating high school, Dean enlisted in the Army and spent three years in Japan as part of the postwar American occupation. When he returned to the U.S., he attended San Mateo Community College and U.C. Berkeley. In 1958 he married his wife Shirley, and soon after they moved t...
Record Type: Archive
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Oral History of Don Oman - Oral History
Don Oman was born in Seattle on June 7, 1915. His parents were Levi C. and Laurie Oman. After graduating from the University of Washington, Don took a job at Miller Freeman Publications in San Francisco and rented a small room on Lovell Ave. In 1939, he married Agnes and the couple moved into a cottage at 333 Molino. During World War II Don served as a Navy combat correspondent in the Pacific. After the war Don and Agnes moved to Larkspur, then b...
Record Type: Archive
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Oral History of Doris Bloom - Oral History
In this oral history, Mill Valley native and lifelong resident Doris Bloom presents a view of a beloved and evolving Mill Valley over the course of many decades. Doris recalls the Mill Valley of her childhood, including the Locust neighborhood stores to which her mother took her as well as the devastating fire of 1929 that her father participated in fighting. Doris recalls the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge and how she walked across it on...
Record Type: Archive
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Oral History of Dorothy Killion - Oral History
In this oral history, California native and longtime Mill Valley resident Dorothy Killion recounts with laughter and depth some of her wide-ranging life experiences, along with her memories of the wilder, less-developed Mill Valley of the mid-20th century. Born in Oakland, California in 1920, Dorothy grew up in the East Bay and completed a degree in political science at the University of California, Berkeley in 1941, the year of the attack on Pea...
Record Type: Archive
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Oral History of Ernie Bergman - Oral History
In this oral history, Vietnam veteran Ernie Bergman discusses his life in Mill Valley and his experience serving in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War. Ernie was born in San Francisco in 1948, and his family moved to Mill Valley one year later. His father was a sea captain from Sweden, and his mother was a registered nurse from Iowa. Ernie discusses fond memories of growing up in Mill Valley, including his time as a student at Tamalpais High Sc...
Record Type: Archive
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Oral History of Frederick LeRoy Martin - Oral History
In this oral history interview, old-timer Fred Martin brims with memories of daily life in Mill Valley - from school, to groceries, to regular hikes down to Muir Beach - during the first half of the twentieth century. Fred describes living in Tam Valley when there were maybe "ten automobiles" and still people travelling by horse and buggy. Without wheels, he and his brothers walked into town from Tam Valley every day of the 1929 fire to help figh...
Record Type: Archive
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Oral History of Fred Mack - Oral History
In this oral history, retired high school teacher and athletic coach Fred Mack recounts his life in Mill Valley. Born in San Francisco in 1945, Fred's family moved to Mill Valley when he was 5 years old, settling into the formerly unincorporated Alto neighborhood. Fred describes his father's love of baseball and how both father and son became involved in Little League. Additionally, he vividly evokes Mill Valley's blue collar baseball culture dur...
Record Type: Archive
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Oral History of Fredrik Cassee - Oral History
In this oral history, Fredrik "Frits" Cassée recounts his life as a postwar wanderer and cosmopolitan baker who ended up rooting himself firmly in the community of Mill Valley. Born in Haarlem, Holland, in 1936, Frits came to the United States in 1957 as a trained and certified baker. Initially settling in Coalinga in the San Joaquin Valley, he soon moved north to San Francisco for better employment opportunities. After getting married in 1963 an...
Record Type: Archive
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Oral History of Jeanne Brindley - Oral History
Jeanne Brindley spent most of her childhood living in Mill Valley, where she attended Old Mill School and Tamalpais High School. While attending Tam, Jeanne met Peter Brindley and they began dating. After graduating from high school, she and Peter married and Jeanne took up work as a file clerk in San Francisco. A few years later, Jeanne took a job as a loan clerk at the Bank of America in Sausalito. She would go on to serve as a middle school a...
Record Type: Archive
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Oral History of Marilyn Bagshaw and Patty Bagshaw Simmons - Oral History
Sisters Marilyn Bagshaw and Patty Bagshaw Simmons were born at Ross Hospital in Kentfield in 1940 and 1942, respectively. The Bagshaws were raised in Mill Valley and attended Old Mill School, Tamalpais High, and College of Marin. Over the years, Marilyn worked for Pacific Telephone and Telegraph, the human resources department of Blue Shield of California, and was a school secretary. At the time her oral history was recorded, Patty had worked for...
Record Type: Archive
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Oral History of Mark Watts - Oral History
In this oral history, field recording specialist, archivist and epigrapher Mark Watts recounts his life and narrates the life story of his father Alan, famous spiritual teacher and former Druid Heights denizen. Born in 1953, Mark grew up in Mill Valley; El Cerrito; and Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania. After high school, he attended Duquesne University in Pittsburgh where he studied psychology. Mark recounts how he moved back to California in the early ...
Record Type: Archive
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Oral History of Peter Brindley - Oral History
Peter Brindley was born in San Francisco in 1942. He spent what he describes as an idyllic childhood in Mill Valley, enjoying time with friends out in nature, seeing matinees at the theater, and cruising around Marin and San Francisco. During his youth, Peter especially enjoyed watching local baseball games at Boyle Park, as well as seeing the Oakland Oaks and the San Francisco Seals at larger arenas. Unable to join the army due to an injury, Pet...
Record Type: Archive
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Oral History of Ray Strong, 1978 - Oral History
California artist Ray Strong was born January 3, 1905 in Corvallis, Oregon, and was a resident of Mill Valley from 1948 to 1965. He married Elizabeth Rumsey Brown and they had two children, Timothy and Barbara. In this interview, Ray expresses deep admiration for the California landscape, and for the beauty of Mill Valley in particular. Ray's broad, interdisciplinary experiences shine through as he recalls his involvement in projects ranging from...
Record Type: Archive
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Oral History of Ray Strong, 2006 - Oral History
California artist Ray Strong was born January 3, 1905 in Corvallis, Oregon, and was a resident of Mill Valley from 1948 to 1965. He married Elizabeth Rumsey Brown and they had two children, Timothy and Barbara. This 2006 oral history interview follows an earlier 1978 interview conducted by Donald Oman. Both interviews touch on Ray’s experiences in and around various art colonies, as well as his his meetings with luminaries like Frank Lloyd Wright...
Record Type: Archive
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Oral History of Rick Misuraca - Oral History
Rick Misuraca was born in Mill Valley in 1958, a descendant of the German immigrants who opened Meier's Bakery on Miller Avenue in the 1940s. He attended local schools, including Edna Maguire and Tamalpais High School, and graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a degree in Horticulture. After graduating, Rick took a job with Cagwin and Doward, a landscaping firm in San Rafael. In 2013, Rick retired from his position as the Operations Super...
Record Type: Archive
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Oral History of Shirley Larkins - Oral History
Shirley Claire Dias was born on November 8, 1931 in San Rafael and spent her early childhood on her father's dairy farm in Petaluma. When her family moved to Mill Valley in 1942, Shirley enrolled in Old Mill School and later, Park School. She went on to attend Tamalpais High School, working part-time as a waitress at the Mountain Home Inn. In 1951, Shirley graduated from College of Marin and went to work at the American Trust Company Bank in San ...
Record Type: Archive
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Oral History of Steve Coleman - Oral History
In this oral history, set designer and artist Steve Coleman discusses his life, work, and creative collaborations in Mill Valley. Though his parents were Mill Valley residents, Steve was born in Geneva, Switzerland. When he was small child, his father got a job with the United States Information Agency and moved the family to India for a few years. Steve and his family then returned to Mill Valley, where he primarily grew up. Steve reminisces abo...
Record Type: Archive
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Oral History of Tom Killion - Oral History
In this oral history, renowned artist, writer and historian Tom Killion recounts his upbringing in Mill Valley and how it shaped his artistic development. Born in 1953, Tom recalls having had an early talent for drawing that was inspired by Mount Tam, encouraged by his parents and nurtured by the local artistic and cultural community. Tom recalls attending Tamalpais High School in the 1960s, which "felt like the center of the universe" on account...
Record Type: Archive
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Oral History of William Mason - Oral History
William Mason was born on December 21st, 1921, and moved from Los Angeles to Mill Valley in 1956 to be closer to his work as a seaman for the Standard Oil Company in Richmond. He still lives at 1 Cottage Avenue (West Blithedale), in a house built by Sidney B. Cushing, the son of Blithedale Hotel owner Dr. John S. Cushing. William lived an eventful life, first serving as a sailor, then, after having completed his studies at UCLA, as chief mate on ...
Record Type: Archive
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Oral History of William Walsh - Oral History
In this 1978 oral history interview, police chief Bill Walsh discusses the trends and issues, current and past, of his tenure on the Mill Valley police force. Bill enriches his discussion both a wide lens and an eye for detail, recounting crime statistics, offering theories about the causes of certain crimes, addressing popular policing myths, and providing reasoned opinions on the nature of law enforcement. Bill grew up in Mill Valley and chose ...
Record Type: Archive
