Regarding military lingo and TKO niteclub- Could be wrong, but I believe that "clicks", as in three clicks out, is simply an abreviation for kilometers. Makes sense...
No I haven't heard the story about the military TKO , but us local civilians used to describe how far away a destination was buy how many sticks out it was ( pot sticks ) . Yosemite was 3 sticks out , Shasta was 4 , but to go anywhere local was at least 1 required stick , ( a travel stick ) .
I was told that the name, Three Clicks Out (TKO) came from the military. The story was that when a soilder was on the battlefield, and he clicked his cigarette lighter 3 times, it gave snipers a chance to line up a shot on him. Has anyone else herard that story?
Thanks so much for taking the time to retouch my photo of the Marvel Mar. I wish I had more information to share about that great supper club, but all I have is what I remember my parents telling me and that's getting a little foggy. Thank goodness I have some great pictures.
You have added so much to this wonderful website that Jason created. Thank you for showing us the way our beautiful Marin used to be. It's a wonderful history lesson and you are a great teacher.
1st of all! the faultline and tko were at the Harbor Center on francisco blvd, back when I think it rainbow records. it was tko in the 80's era of princes' 1999 album was really popular, i'm not sure exactly when the change took place, but it was the faultline after that, which was more of a rocker live band venue than a dance club. The pople that wanted to dance either went to Josey Wales on hwy 37, or who can forget The Acapulco, later to become the meat market of Marin...Baxters! Then we had Margaritaville, Zacks and Delta Queen Riverboat in Sausalito. Tiburon Tommies, Ancient Mariner or Hickory pit, The Blue Rock Inn, The Black oak saloon, 19 Broadway and on.
Do you know the date of the Brock's Marvel Mar you posted? Was that in the IJ? I have never heard that name before. It had to be prior to my dad owning it in 1947.
It's an ad on a map published by the San Rafael Independent (pre-IJ), unfortunately no date. My guess is early 1940s. It's just sheer serendipity that I happened on it while looking through our old map collection last night when I was working on the Corte Madera thread here. At that point I'd never actually heard of (or remembered) the Marvel Mar, nor was I aware of the IJ article that mentioned it.
Great photos of the place in the Mill Valley gallery. One I recognized as being a Kodacolor print of the late-40s to early-50s vintage, turned yellow just like ours from that period. Though it's impossible to restore all the color that was once there (the blue is almost all gone, as is typical), I did take the liberty of playing around with yours. Here's the result, before and after:
TKO was in Harbor Center in San Rafael, site of the old Mac's Discount store.My friend & his band played there, I'm guessing late 1980's. Actual name was Three Klicks Out I think, military jargon.
eh, fuzzy memory, wasn't the Faultline and TKO where the Brazilian nightclub is now, next to Ping's Chinese restaurant?
That was a very cool article in the IJ. I couldn't get into clubs until the early 80's, so I only remember Uncle Charlies, Sleeping Lady, New Georges, Baxter's for schmoozing, Black Oak Saloon, and watching my co-worker play in a band up at the Viking Bar in Novato. I guess that one doesn't really count as a nightclub, though.
I remember that you were supposed to be 18 to get into the Sleeping Lady, but we were 15 when we went to see the Tazmanian Devils. They also played a couple of our school dances.
Someone in another thread mentioned the band called The Edge, which I had completely forgot about. They were pretty big around here, sort of a new-wave reggae thing. I remember seeing them play at the Student Union at SF State.
This article in the Marin IJ tonight (April 12, 2007) about Night Club Nostalgia was so cool. I can't believe my parents supper club, The Marvel Mar (short for Marvelous Marin) was mentioned in one of the readers letters. Jason has posted a few pictures of the Marvel Mar in the Mill Valley section under the 1950's.
Steve C, The exact location of the Marvel Mar is where the Mill Valley Travel Lodge is today on Redwood Highway, just south of Goodman's Lumber on the frontage road. My dad, Charles Mowers, bought the Marvel Mar from Harry Easom in 1947, so the article says and ran it until around 1957 when I was born. He then leased it to someone who's name escapes me (mostly because I can't locate the old newspaper articles at the moment) and it became the Colonel's Ranch Wagon unitl my dad decided to build the Hi-Ho Motel on that property. He then sold the building to the city of Mill Valley for one dollar to use as their community center.
Unfortunately, my father passed away in 1987 and my mom just left us last year, so there are a lot of questions left unanswered about specific dates, etc. I want to make sure I get my facts straight (I am finding descrepancies with dates and names) before I try and explain the history, since it was before my time and I am the only child. I have some newspaper articles about the Marvel Mar and some more pictures of the interior plus articles and pictures of the Hi-Ho Motel, but it's a slow process getting everything scanned. I'm working on it though.
Paul Penna, Do you know the date of the Brock's Marvel Mar you posted? Was that in the IJ? I have never heard that name before. It had to be prior to my dad owning it in 1947.
I'm guessing Marvel Mar was near the Heliport. As kids we found an old diner with a juke box that was closed down. It was in a cluster of buildings next to the Richardson Bay Br. where now stands two office buildings. But the ad is fun anyway.
Edit. The Sausalito mailing addy threw me. I found the pics CM posted which are really good. Now I have to figure out what diner I saw at 100 Shoreline
