Related Records

1. Oral History of Alice Cavalli - Oral History

   Alice Cavalli was born in San Francisco; the youngest of seven children. She grew up in Mill Valley and attended Summit School, Park School, and Tamalpais High. Alice and her sister worked for their father's popular tavern in Muir Woods, Joe's Place. Alice met her husband, Hugh Cavalli, through her work at the tavern, and the couple married on July 6, 1925. After high school, she went to work for the National Bank of San Francisco, commuting by f...

   Record Type: Archive

   
2. Oral History of Al Klyce - Oral History

   In this oral history, architect, builder, and Mill Valley native Al Klyce recounts his life. Born in 1931, Al is the grandson of one of Mill Valley's early pioneers, Harvey Klyce, who came from Tennessee and settled in the area in 1895. Al discusses his schooling in Mill Valley and recollects some of the old businesses in town when he was growing up. Al recounts how as young man he considered going into the ministry after being inspired by Gordon...

   Record Type: Archive

   
3. 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

   
4. 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

   
5. Oral History of Charlie Kelly - Oral History

   In this oral history, Marin County polymath Charlie Kelly recounts a life coterminous with the "greatest bicycle adventure of the 20th century." Born in 1945, Charlie grew up in Mill Valley and attended Tamalpais High School. After graduating from Tam, Charlie briefly attended College of Marin before enlisting in the Army, where he served for two years in the mid-1960s. When he returned to Mill Valley in 1968 he began working as a roadie for the ...

   Record Type: Archive

   
6. Oral History of Edward M. and Katharine S. Mills - Oral History

   Edward Meredith "Ned" Mills Jr. was born on November 9th, 1915 in Los Angeles. Katherine Sherwood Mills was born in Omaha, Nebraska on April 7th. Ned attended college at the University of Virginia in Richmond before serving in the Army Air Corps on an anti-submarine base in Trinidad during World War II. Katherine went to Scripps College in Claremont, California, and then returned to Beatrice, Nebraska, where she got a job as a writer for the dail...

   Record Type: Archive

   
7. Oral History of Eleanor "Dolly" Jenkins - Oral History

   In this oral history, Eleanor Jenkins recounts her life in Mill Valley and the many contributions her family has made since the earliest days of the town's history. She discusses her two famous grandfathers: Dr. Cushing, who built the 300 acre Blithedale resort, and John Oscar Eldridge, who built the 11 mile wagon road up Mt. Tamalpais. She also discusses her father, Sidney B. Cushing, who built the Mill Valley and Mt. Tamalpais Scenic Railway. E...

   Record Type: Archive

   
8. Oral History of Elizabeth Muller Mielenz - Oral History

   Elizabeth Muller was born in San Francisco on August 30, 1912 and brought directly to the family home at Buena Vista and Oakdale. Her father was William Muller (no middle name), a German immigrant, and her mother was Elizabeth Haste Muller. Her brother was William Haste Muller. She recalls Mill Valley as being "rugged," with muddy streets, and going to Kentfield by train on May Day to celebrate by dancing around a Maypole. She went to Old Mil...

   Record Type: Archive

   
9. Oral History of Frank Canepa - Oral History

   Frank Canepa was born January 1, 1896, in Varazze, Italy, between Genoa and the French Riviera. He came to America in 1913 at 16 years old, speaking no English, and worked for two uncles in San Francisco and Oakland. He soon took odd jobs at various farms, specializing in produce, and eventually owned a produce store in San Francisco with a partner. A difference of opinion resulted in his partner buying him out for $1,000, and Frank decided he di...

   Record Type: Archive

   
10. 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

    
11. Oral History of Helen Russell - Oral History

    In this oral history, CEO of Equator Coffees & Teas Helen Russell shares both the story of her life and the story of the successful company she co-founded with her wife Brooke McDonnell. Born and raised in Massachusetts, Helen recounts how she grew up dreaming of being an entrepreneur. She then went on to study marketing and business at Northeastern University. In 1989 she visited Mill Valley for the first time and immediately fell in love with t...

    Record Type: Archive

    
12. Oral History of Ken Bovero - Oral History

    In this oral history, arborist and entrepreneur Ken Bovero recounts his life, work, and love of trees. Born in San Francisco in 1961, Ken moved to Mill Valley with his family when he was three years old. Ken recollects his wild teenage years and then describes the about-face he made at the age of 17, when he started his tree business. Ken shares his first encounter with Sudden Oak Death, a tree illness that he was the first to identify, and discu...

    Record Type: Archive

    
13. Oral History of Larry "the Hat" Lautzker - Oral History

    In this oral history, Mill Valley merchant and community events organizer Larry "the Hat" Lautzker recounts the story of his life and how he came to find his home in Mill Valley. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Larry came out to California on a LSD-fueled bus trip in 1970, and moved into the Good Earth Commune in the Haight-Ashbury district. Larry shares wild stories from this period, giving a detailed description of the Commune's resistance to the "...

    Record Type: Archive

    
14. Oral History of Leonard Asiano - Oral History

    In this oral history, Leonard Asiano recalls Homestead Grocery in the 1950s, one of the last neighborhood grocery stores in Mill Valley. Born in 1928 in Cleveland, Ohio, Leonard's family moved out to Mill Valley in 1949, and his father, Joseph Asiano, immediately purchased Homestead Grocery at 15 Linden Lane, which provided living quarters and rental income for the family in addition to retail income from the store. Leonard worked at the store wh...

    Record Type: Archive

    
15. Oral History of Lucy Mercer - Oral History

    In this oral history, founder of the Throckmorton Theatre Lucy Mercer recounts her life and the story of the Mill Valley cultural institution she created. Born in Santa Rosa, Lucy grew up in various towns and cities throughout the Bay Area. After graduating from high school, Lucy moved to Sausalito; and then in the early 1980s, with a family of her own, she moved over to Mill Valley. Lucy recounts how she was initially drawn to the site at 142 Th...

    Record Type: Archive

    
16. Oral History of Mary and Tony Brabo - Oral History

    Tony and Mary Brabo were married for 82 years, reportedly the longest marriage in Marin County history. They died in 2011, at ages 99 and 100, respectively. Tony was born February 14, 1912 and Mary November 15, 1911, both in the Homestead Valley neighborhood of Mill Valley. Mary was the daughter of Manuel and Marie Brazil Bettencourt. Both families came from the Azores region of Portugal; Mary recalls speaking only Portuguese as a child. Tony and...

    Record Type: Archive

    
17. Oral History of Norman Ortman - Oral History

    Longtime Mill Valley resident Norman "Bud" Ortman recounts how his family first came to Mill Valley after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. When a fire destroyed the family wood and steel business, Bud's grandfather moved his family to Mill Valley and built the house in which Bud would eventually be born. In this oral history, Bud describes daily life as a kid in Mill Valley, attending school and goofing around; sledding down Mill Valley's grass...

    Record Type: Archive

    
18. Oral History of Patrick Williams - Oral History

    In this oral history, innkeeper, retired fireman, and prolific storyteller Pat Williams recounts his life and expresses his deep connection to Mt. Tam. Born in San Francisco in 1948, Pat grew up in a military family that moved repeatedly during his childhood and adolescence. Pat describes how after high school he joined the Navy which brought him back to the Bay Area, where he discovered his vocation for firefighting, but was then deployed to Vie...

    Record Type: Archive

    
19. Oral History of Robert Green - Oral History

    In this oral history, gallery owner Robert Green recounts his life in the art world. Born in 1941 in New Jersey, Robert grew up in the New York metropolitan area. He attended Dickinson College in Pennsylvania, after which he joined the U.S. Coast Guard. Robert worked in publishing and advertising before moving into the fine art sector. Robert recounts traveling the world for 22 years as an enterprising young art dealer before he settled in Mill V...

    Record Type: Archive

    
20. 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

    
21. Oral History of Steve McNamara - Oral History

    In this oral history, writer and publisher Steve McNamara recounts his life in the newspaper business. Born in Chicago in 1934, Steve grew up in Urbana, Illinois. After graduating from high school, he attended Princeton University, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather. Steve recalls that he initially planned to pursue a career in the Foreign Service, but then decided to go into the newspaper business. He got his start as a rep...

    Record Type: Archive

    
22. Oral History of Steve Potts - Oral History

    Esteemed mountain biking pioneer Steve Potts was born and raised in Tamalpais Valley. From an early age, Steve learned to live with and off the land, learning to hike, fish, and hunt. These formative experiences led to a lifelong connection with Mt. Tamalpais and the great outdoors. After taking to bicycle riding as a child, Steve developed an interest in motorcycle racing while at Tamalpais High School and became a professional motorcycle racer ...

    Record Type: Archive

    
23. Oral History of Thomas Frederick Bagshaw - Oral History

    Thomas Frederick (Fred) Bagshaw was born in 1899 in Cardiff, Wales and came to Mill Valley as a small boy with his parents. Fred's uncle, Frederick W. Bagshaw, had come to Mill Valley a few years earlier and sent for his brother to join him in the building business. In his oral history, Fred recounts his early days in Mill Valley, including the role of baseball games, his experience with the 1929 fire, and his attempt to enlist during World War I...

    Record Type: Archive

    
24. Oral History of Timothy Eldridge Wood - Oral History

    In this oral history, Timothy Eldridge Wood shares stories from his family history that shed light on the prehistory and early development of Mill Valley. Born in San Francisco in 1948, Timothy grew up in Woodside on the Peninsula, though recalls frequently coming to Marin during his youth to visit relatives. Timothy attended college at U.C. Santa Barbara and graduate school at Yale before moving to Salt Lake City where, at the time this intervie...

    Record Type: Archive