Pic: Corte Madera 1963

cat · Status: Offline

RE: Pic: Corte Madera 1963

SteveC · Status: Offline

I love old maps. I have an old Mobil map of CA with very few bits of freeway (early 50's)

Many Marin maps have roads that never were made.
I notice your map has Bay View about 4 times longer than it turned out.
And Venice Blvd !!! That was a dream.

My '79 Thomas Bros shows a bunch of streets in your area, Paul P. that never made it.
Do you happen to know why ?

Off Cedar, Sycamore, Willow, etc was,

Mimosa Ave
Citron Ave
Over St
Spring Ln
Holly Ave
Park St
Vine St
Flag St
Tamalpais Ave running all the way up almost to Murray near Skylark
Bond St (it's on the new map but very short)
Opal St

cat · Status: Offline

Check out Elm Ave. on the upper left corner. It shows a street that connects the upper and lower half. This is just a paper trail, not a real road. It is a crude stairway that passes between properties and comes out on the driveway of McLeran's house. (the brick house at the very top of the hill). When I was a kid, I was walking up Elm, and the a fire truck passed me and we waved at each other. I dashed up the street and up the staircase, and beat the firetruck to the top of the hill. Then I casually started walking the opposite way, back down the hill, and when the firetruck came up, I waved at them. You should have seen the look on their faces...

Paul Penna · Status: Offline

Here's a portion of an old Thomas Bros. map. They didn't include a date in the copyright notice, but my guess is early 1940s. I'm speculating it's one of the first my family got when they moved from SF to Larkspur in 1941. The 101 highway is there, but there's no sign of Madera Gardens. Also, Tamalpais Drive is still called "First Street," parts of Manzanita and Oakdale are "Second" and "Third," lower Chapman Dr. is "Ralston" and other oddities. Plus Paradise Dr. is called "Tiburon Blvd."

To see a much bigger version click here.

-- Edited by Paul Penna at 05:35, 2007-04-13

Paul Penna · Status: Offline

An interesting thing about that satellite photo - it gives a hint of the interchange's original configuration as a full cloverleaf. You can see the tracings of one of the old off-ramp loops in the northeast quadrant.

Cloverleafs were all the rage with freeway designers in the 1950s, as they allowed for all-direction access with no cross traffic at any join. Problem was, they also unavoidably created a rather hairy situation in which you had traffic that was heading for an exit in exactly the same short stretch that had traffic entering from an on-ramp.

SteveC · Status: Offline

Thanks Paul. I would have bet money Tamalpais went directly east over the freeway.
I'm glad I didn't bet.

A little trivia for everyone.
The only remaining Standard sign is on Van Ness Ave.
After making a right from Lombard it is the 2nd Chevron you come to on the right side.
Look for it next time you're in the city.

Paul Penna · Status: Offline

JasonLewis wrote:

That's so cool! I totally forgot that logo for Standard. Did they merge with Chevron or become Chevron or something?

Standard stations were owned and operated by Standard Oil, Chevron stations were dealer-owned but sold SO products. Like in downtown Larkspur, Cliff Archer's (later Jim Walker's) Chevron station. So they operated simultaneously.

-- Edited by Paul Penna at 04:33, 2007-04-13

JasonLewis · Status: Offline

That's so cool! I totally forgot that logo for Standard. Did they merge with Chevron or become Chevron or something?

Paul Penna · Status: Offline

This shows approximately where the shot was taken. Remember, I'm looking out the back window of the car. We're on the on-ramp that connects to southbound 101 from the west side of the freeway.

SteveC · Status: Offline

Paul P., I'm confused. It looks like you are on the way to S/B 101 and the road into town
where Fugate's is the offramp and only comes from S/B 101.
Where is the overpass from N/B 101 and Paradise Dr ?

Paul Penna · Status: Offline

I used to like to ride in the back of our 1956 Rambler station wagon with the back window rolled down and in February 1963 I took this shot from back there as we tooled down the southbound on-ramp to 101 in Corte Madera. In the enlarged detail you can see more clearly that at the end of the ramp we're looking straight up Tamalpais Drive toward the old downtown, and also the two gas stations (Union 76 and Standard) at the corner of Madera Blvd.