Hello my friend! I went to West End School from 1958 thru 1963. I also had the best teacher of my life, and one of the worst at West End School. Miss Hamaya in the first grade( My second time around after being held back from the first try at first grade) She was simply the most benevolent and caring teacher I ever had. Her influence went far beyond the class room and probabaly engenderd my fascination with all things Japanese. Including a 40 year Coaching and competing career in the Olympic sport of Judo. Then I had Miss. Jacobsen in the second grade and that experience was so excruciating that all my new found self confidence went down hill very fast. Not to be regained for a long time. When I was there with my older sisters, there was an old house next to the school that was used the library, and sort of plateau in the back where our lunch tables were. I too remember the smell of those old radiators and the fact you could see the boiler room through vents in the back porch area that ran the length of the school rooms on the east side of the school structure. Also the creek ran through the property and was fenced off from our playground with a tall cyclone type fence. We used to try and climb it and get yelled at by the teachers pretty regularly! My older sister still lives in Sun Valley!
Did anybody else attend the venerable West End School at 1821 5th ave in San Rafael?
It is now the Rotary Manor old folks home and is adjacent to the former San Rafael Improvement club
(originally the RCA victor pavilion at the 1915 exposition)
I was there from 1st thru 3rd grades until it closed in 1973- after which my classmates and I were sent to Sun Valley School farther out 5th avenue- by the wonderful playground that is Mt. Tamalpais cemetery.
There is no information about this school online. I'm wondering when it was built. It had a real 19th century feel to it, unlike any other school in Marin I am aware of except maybe the former E street school. The building was one long east-west hallway that served as the library with the various
classrooms opening to the north and south. I'll always remember the warm damp smell of the steam radiators and the cool damp smell of the ancient elms that still grow in the neighborhood.
I had one of the best and two of the worst teachers of my school career at this fine academy. Mrs. Bell (first grade) and Mr. Taylor (3rd grade, and a mean hippie) almost scarred me for life- but kindly Mrs. Whitely (2nd grade) made up for them.
