I'm going to resist the urge to make a rancorous reply; but, you couldn't be more wrong about attitudes and jealousy in Sonoma county. Unfortunately, your mea culpa compounds your error.
I appologize to all "the people up north". I know many people I grew up with here in Marin that have moved up there for many reasons; to retire to a place with more acerage, to get into vintaculture or other agribusiness, or because they could not qualify for a mortgage in Marin. Unfortunately the ones that moved up there and still have to commute did not factor in all the overtime (time and one half) and vehicle operating costs associated with the long commute. Quite often the extra expense offsets the lower rent/mortgage payments. We see their letters complaining all the time in our local papers. The projects in Sonoma I referred to was the Sonoma commute train proposal that also includes a bike path from Windsor to Larkspur, that's how they think they can grab money for the bike path. As if anyone will want to ride a bike down in the flats next to a stinky highly polluting old diesel train, most people want to ride up on the mountain as far away from vehicles as they can get. Also I know not everyone up there is a trainhugger and a casino lover, it's not fair for me to stereotype people like that, so I'm sorry people.
The City of Mill Valley has an ongoing effort to improve it's system of footpaths. The paths are crucial because they provide emergency evacuation routes and an alternative, enviornmentally freindly way of getting into town. In the event of a big fire, the steps and paths may be the best way to evacuate some areas in Mill Valley. It is true that there are a few areas that are considered "throw away zones" by the MVFD because they cannot bring their equipment up there and be able to turn around and get out, so it will be up to the residents to understand this and be ready to bail on foot in case of the big fire. The city's network of paths could potentially get funding boost from some of the $25 million in nonmotorized transportation grant money awarded to the county by the federal government. The money, marked for use in building a bicycle and pedestrian network in Marin has yet to be allocated. Now we have a proposition from Sonoma to fund a 70 mile bike path through the Sonoma urban corridor next to the freight train tracks competing for the funding for Marin projects. The people up north can't comprehend the way the old cities of Marin are, all they know is condos, freeways, business parks, trains and casinos. And they actually are very jealous and don't like Marin at all, they just think we have so much money that we should donate it to them to solve their commute problems. In Mill Valley our main concern is preserving the town, and for the people that choose to endure the horrendous commutes up north, we couldn't care less, we don't have that problem here, so why should we subsidize them.
I lived in Heather Gardens(Diane ln)and can remember being able to walk across the tracks atthe bottom of William(just up and over)and it came out on Birch in Corte Madera and you could follow the road to the CMC shopping center, Neil Cummins school, or the back of the corte madera park. if youturned left on the tracks instead of crossing them, after a brief and treacherous(@ 5 yrs old)railroad bridge over what i beleive was corte madera creek. you had to step across about 10-15 railroad boards while you could see the water under you and between each step.
Hey, Kt, is this that trestle? My brother Will took the shot in November 1955. A little blurry because he used too slow a shutter speed.
Ahhhh! the good ole days, when kids used to go outside and find things to do to entertain themselves. 1 of my friends in school lived on Hazel in Madrone canyon, 1 lived at the very top of Palm Hill(elm ave), i remember very well the staircases to elm ave and the path to Hazel. I lived in Heather Gardens(Diane ln)and can remember being able to walk across the tracks atthe bottom of William(just up and over)and it came out on Birch in Corte Madera and you could follow the road to the CMC shopping center, Neil Cummins school, or the back of the corte madera park. if youturned left on the tracks instead of crossing them, after a brief and treacherous(@ 5 yrs old)railroad bridge over what i beleive was corte madera creek. you had to step across about 10-15 railroad boards while you could see the water under you and between each step.there was a set of steps in mill valley on the southbound side of miller, a good ways up the hill, i remember these to be quite rickety and weather effected and hard to find in the dark. some friends and I climbed them 1 day back in 1979, it was daylight when we ascended, but darkness had crept up, we searched the side of te hill several times and eventually ended up sliding down the hillside on our butts! there are tons more of secret places and paths in my memory, i'm sure most are gone now! but it sure made somew boring afternoon and weekends a little more interesting, in the best place in the world to grow up in the 60's,70's,80's.
Larkspur is chock-a-block with phantom, paper and barely-there streets. Here's a portion of an old map that shows many of them. In the upper center, such streets as Mimosa, Citron and the northern reaches of Tamalpais are just graded dirt roads. You used to be able to drive or at least walk on them, though now they're either barricaded or overgrown. Citron you can still walk on, as it's the access to the King Mountain trails. An interesting thing about Citron: though it was never paved, there are concrete curbs and gutters, dating, we estimate, from the late 20s. The prospective development of those streets and lots probably came a cropper in the Depression. Between Citron and Bond you'll see a narrow street called Spring Lane, which is just a concrete sidewalk up through the middle of an overgrown field. It fascinated me when I came across it back in the mid-fifties when my brother Will and I used to go hiking in the area (and taking pictures from the hills). It was like stumbling upon a ghost Larkspur that never was. (Advisory: people living in the area will not appreciate you wandering around there.)
Some of Larkspur's "paper streets" were actually stairways, and these all had four-letter names. The most prominent extant one is Arch Street, right across Magnolia from the Lark Creek shops, going up the hill to Walnut Ave. That's where I grew up at 9 Arch. It's one of two that were fully outfitted in concrete and iron railings. It's twin, Eden St., joins Myrtle and Hazel, but seems to have been long abandoned by the city, or at least no longer maintained. Last time I was there you could still walk on it. Post St., next to the Lark Theater is still there, mainly in wood. Beta Street, up on Madrone (or as it was in those days, Madrona) exists only as a short concrete stairway joining the street and the sidewalk a few feet upslope. We never found any signs of Bush or Alta Streets.
I didn't see this thread earlier, when I was talking about the paper trails on Elm Ave. in Larkspur. I wrote about one in the Corte Madera Picture thread. It is a staircase connecting the upper and lower half of Elm Ave. There is a second one, connecting lower Elm with the street below, I think it is Bayview. That one is just a dirt path, cutting through people's side yards. haven't tried that one in years. I'm sure if I did now, someone would call the police. There is a staircase that connects the end of Pixley Ave. in Corte Madera, to Bayview. There was also the deer trail up the hill, that connected Bayview (near the Walnut intersection) to the top of Elm. It came out in the Barton's driveway. At the top of Elm, there were two paths that led down to the railroad tracks, off the back side of the hill.
Having been raised in the area , before we were old enough to drive , we knew all the easements around. Some of them were actually named as streets and lanes. The City of Mill Valley has recently compiled a map of old easements and made a map of them available at the Book Depot for $5.00. I am going to buy one and study it. There are some streets listed on maps that were pipe dreams , never built out and are just trails , and it really confuses people looking for addresses. There are also public utility easements that were never intended for foot traffic. Way too steep and dangerous for anyone to be using , and too much liaibility for the City to allow people to use without extensive improvements. And you have some nasty people that want to use these easements , and cut through private property to do so. In this day and age , privacy is of the utmost importance, and those of us who actually have some value it more than anything else.
