August 1, 2023
#469
Gentle reader,
I want to thank your right now for taking the time to read my blog. I had NO idea that anyone would when I began. Yet, almost 400,000 of you DO read it and that truly humbles me.
Dad was a Presbyterian Minister. They prefer Pastor nowadays. He attended San Francisco Theological Seminary which is situated on Seminary Hill in San Anselmo, California.
San Anselmo is in Marin County, which is the northern anchor of the famed Golden Gate Bridge.
I shot this and many images when my wife, Nancy, surprised me in 2010 with a trip to California to visit Dad and his wife Beth, as well as my Aunt Ardith. Ardith still lived in Marin at that time and Dad and Beth lived in Los Gatos, south of San Francisco.
Nancy and Beth in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. The park takes up a large area of land in The City, which must really annoy developers.
The Marin Headlands. All three images above I shot. NOTE the complete LACK OF HOUSES on those hills and Mount Tamalpais (in the background).
The people of Marin decided early on that they did not want to defile the beauty of their Pacific coastline just so wealthy people could have an amazing view. All to THEMSELVES.
This is a 1948 road map of Marin County, California. The long slit in the county which forms Tomales Bay was formed by the San Andreas Fault. Hitchcock's horror film THE BIRDS was filmed in the town of Bodega Bay, due west of Santa Rosa.
This image is of a 1954 (I was born two year later) USGS topographic map of a portion of Marin County which they named: San Rafael Quadrangle. Do you see the black squiggly line on the map to the left of ROSS? I drew that to emphasize the foot trails outside of the towns of Ross and San Anselmo. We lived in California before and after I was born and again from 1965 to 1971 when I attended 3rd through 8th grade at Ross Elementary school. Sidenote: Robin Williams movie JACK was filmed in the school and the actual house his parents owned when he was a boy in Ross. He was in 8th grade. My sister knew him by the roles he played on the stage of Drake High School.
Anyway, even though we were all in elementary school, our parents let us explore all over the place. Our best friends lived to the left of this house on the Ross side of the street. Several small houses were for seminary faculty members. Davy's dad also taught at the seminary with our dad did while Dad was earning his Doctorate. Davy's dad was a runner, very unusual in those days. He was also a hiker and showed us how to hike to the top of Bald Hill and even the east peak of Mount Tamalpias. A ten mile hike, one way!
Dad was promoted and we moved across the street to the San Anselmo side. This is the IDEAL house in my mind. Redwood shingle sided, redwood deck, French doors inside and out. Huge matching separate garage. HUGE redwood tree in the front yard. Paradise.
Nancy looking up at a giant Coast Redwood tree in one of the parks dedicated to preserving the iconic and rare trees. Redwoods are in the Sequoia family of trees. I planted a Giant Sequoia tree in our backyard.
This is it two years ago when it was around thirty-five feet tall. It was a three-foot tall stick when we planted it. Now, it is over fifty feet and who knows how tall it will eventually get?
This is a modern road map of Marin County.
I found out recently that one can buy for $14.95, newly reprinted USGS maps. I bought the 1955 update (middle) and 1969 update, which is when we lived there.
1955 update map.
This is the 1969 update map. The lighter pink/violet color is development that has happened in the intervening fifteen years. Not much. This photograph is of the San Francisco Bay Side of Marin. It has plenty of water view houses. This and the following photographs I found on the Internet. The US Supreme Court ruled some years ago that if a photograph is uploaded to the Internet, it no longer has a copyright. These images, all of the Pacific side of Marin County, show the complete LACK of "development" on the Pacific coast. There ARE beaches in Marin, but not many. Stinson Beach is one. What homes there are are old and small and at beach level. The rows of building you see above are at US Army Fort Cronkite. And, no, it was not named after Walter. They predate WWII. We used to go there in the summer time. Even then, the water is cold and bad rip currents. My middle sister, Judy, was almost swept out to sea, but for two men who ran into the surf and rescued her! Just stunning!
This is a GETTY image and is a long-exposure of Highway 101 as it enters Marin from San Francisco. 101 splits and Highway 1 continues up the Pacific coast.
We would LOVE to be able to live in Marin. But, super expensive to do so. The two houses which came with Dad's job are worth between 1.5 and 2.5 million dollars.
Another place of interest within Marin County is Skywalker Ranch. It was featured in the fun movie titled FAN BOYS. It takes place before the release of Star Wars Episode One. "The Maker" George Lucas and his wife, Marcia, who edited some of the movies lived in San Anselmo for many years before he bought the land and had the ranch built.
If you ever visit California, I highly recommend crossing the Golden Gate to see the beauty and wonder of Marin County.
Scott Robb
August 1, 2023
#469
