David - Ah, no wonder! Yes, I knew all those guys well. I met up with John Petricka at the Redwood '64 40th reunion. We played around as kids - making trips around Walnut and Palm on his Flexy, for one thing - and Merrill, Andy Merkling, Gabe Pirenian and I used to do stuff, like getting chased off King Mountain by Willie Frizzi. I was in email contact with Gabe for a bit a few years ago, but then I think he moved away from the area. My brother, who lives in Sonoma, came across Merrill at a winery over there where where he works, and somehow their talk got around to Larkspur and my name came up. Sorry to hear about Roger; he and I were pretty good friends at LCM. And I do remember you, of course, even though we didn't hang around back then. Bucky Simpson as the "second coming" of K.C. Poole, that's great. I get down to Larkspur at least a couple times a year, often with my sister and brother. We often go on the neighborhood walks the Heritage Committee sponsors, through Baltimore Park and the Canyon plus downtown. They usually have me give a brief spiel about our place at 9 Arch or my memories of the stores and people downtown, plus talk about my father working for Ernie at the Rainbow Market. We also shared a number of our old photos plus memories they included in the latest edition of the Larkspur Past & Present book. I also sent a lot of our Larkspur photos to Shorpy - here's the link: http://www.shorpy.com/tterrace and also MarinNostalgia. Great to hear from you, thanks!
Paul, That is PEOPLES...we lived up the canyon on Orange. Dad bought the land known as 1 Tamalpais in 1939. Brother John just sold the house on 31 Orange, ending our Larkspur "reign". You remember Petricka, Steel, Buck Simpson, John Schenone, Merrill Herring? I keep in touch with those guys on a regular basis. Petricka has his cabinet shop and Merlot vineyard in Sonoma. Bill Steel lives in Greenwater, Wash., Nonie is still with MMWD and lives in Pinole. Buck,of course, is known as the second coming of Mr.Poole. Buck has art gallery in San Rafael and a farm in France and travels to Nepal several times a year. Merrill lives in Sonoma also. He recently bought a TESLA...wahoo! And there was also Roger Lawrence...passed away in Oct. '07. The last time I was in Larkspur was 2011 as I try to get out that way every 2 years or so. Sister Faith is in Woodside; sister Joan's offspring in Santa Rosa area; sister Fran in N.C. I have been living in the Ozarks in Ark.for last 17 years
Redwood 65 grad here. Marin Motor Movies in San Rafael. Hill Proberts gas station in Larkspur. Lived up the canyon. The Rose Bowl and the Larkspur FD and Chief Clark. Have press release photo of our 1963 50 mile hike from RHS to Pt Reyes...have not been able to identify participants...do not have LOG from 63, just 65. Sparrow farts.
Zimm's was either torn down or gutted beyond recognition. Same with the old theater. Fun piece of trivia: in 1977 the Northgate Theater was the only theater in Marin to open with Star Wars. Nobody had for seen its impact and therefor was not scheduled at the Cinema in Corte Madera. Once the film had been out for several months, Star Wars moved to the old Novato theater by the freeway (also demolished). Of course, starting with Empire Strikes Back, all Star Wars movies premiered at the Cinema in Corte Madera.
Reply To: Terra Linda - Northgate Area (from original forum archive)
Late 70's, early 80's. We'd ride our bikes from Lucas Valley over the hill on Las Gallinas Rd down to Northgate with our allowance loot and hit International Imports for posters to cover every inch of our rooms. You'd go to the rear of the incense filled store, through a wall of beads to the poster diplay walls.
Or we'd hit Banana Records in Northgate One for vinyl. It was located where Starbucks is now as I recall. The little lit sign hanging from the mall overhang awning for their shop was bright yellow with the word Banana in black stencil lettering.
Another Northgate memory. My littler brother and I waiting in line at Sears (where the hardware section is now) to try out this game you could play on your tv. you hooked up a little two knob console to your television's uhf/vhf input with a little clip, and voila! you could play tennis or hockey!
Wish I'd held on to that little Atari console.
We had a Japanese exchange student summer of 1977. He and I were 13 and decided to see a movie at Northgate called Star Wars. When we came out he said "Wow, American movies are great! I am a happy boy".
Marin /Lucas Valley LIttle league games, often whether we won or lost, would end with all of us loading up in the back of coach Thompson's pickup, many of us standing and holding the lumber rack and heading down to Northgate one for ice cream at Swenson's (now Sorensen's.)
My wife Colette grew up in Terra Linda (class of 1988 at Terra Linda High), and she says that some "loser Kids" from Terra Linda High always used to go down to the parking lot at the Safeway in Terra Linda on friday night and to get drunk! Even though her parents still live there, she says her memories of that time are not among her favorite from her younger days in Marin!.
Wow, I'm having Northgate flashbacks today, after also reading the IJ piece about the third revamping of that place.
I fondly remember Bumbleberry, Brentano's bookstore, the garden and pet center at Sears (whatever it was) as well as their candy counter, where my dad always got cashews. I had forgotten about Rafaello's and a lot of those other places. Thanks for jogging my memory!
I always despised a certain clothing store there... I think it was called Foxmoor or something, because my mother would shop there for what seemed like hours on end (but was probably only minutes). It felt like forever when you were 4 or 5.
Rosemary you remember that restaurant quite well! I liked those mini muffins they used to serve and yes it was nice and quiet. To be honest, I never even go to that Mall anymore unless I have to for some reason, it's filled with junk as far as I am concerned and very much catered to the under 18 crowd with their parents money. I actually do a lot of shopping on the internet now, I have pretty good luck, that way I can find exactly what I want without spending hours hunting through Macy's and such only to come out empty handed. I have become a hermit. I actually have a book somewhere with a photo of the mall and the big fountain, I will have to dig it up and post it.
I had forgotten about Rafaello's. Food not so great. Sort of 60's style "gourmet" food, not like the fancy restaurants now. But the best thing was the booths. You could go there for a quiet lunch, and sit and talk afterwards, and actually hear the conversation. A great place after a shopping frenzy. Or to have lunch with a good friend. It was funky with Italian style decorations. There was a favorite meal I always ordered. Can't remember it now.
I miss the Emporium too. All the stores with the "trendy" clothes now. Hard to find basics and classics. Especially now that I am too old for "Trendy". (Or is that even the word anymore?)
Oh what a bummer that they had to ruin that mall! I had great memories of that too! Now I hear that they are going to re-do it AGAIN! What a huge waste of money when it was fine the way it was. Notice how the nicer shopping malls in Marin are OUTDOOR? The stores I can remember in the original are Modern Eve, Livingstons, Sommer & Kaufmann, Foxmoor Casuals, Pantworks. McKenzies, I Magnin, Walden Books, Pure Fantasy, International Gifts, Payless, Best, Emporium with the cute little restaurant "Rafellos", Bumbleberry's Resturant, then was Hungry House.There was a small mid-eastern deli (forgot what it was called) they made great iced mocha's! Anyone else remember more??
Really only two places to hang out at the time. Mr. T's and that parking lot and Scotty's Market where Lococo's Pizza is. Great greasy hamburgers though. Early to Mid 70's was a tough hang out with plenty of trouble. I liked it.
I remember there used to be a record store at Northgate I (Record Factory?) that is where I bought my first 45 ever. Billy Joel's It's Still Rock and Roll To Me. There was a donut shop a couple stores down and Swensen's and a music store. Those were all stops for me when I would ride my bike over from Sleepy Hollow. I would come screaming down that huge hill on Freitas Parkway. I would coast all the way down that hill and stop for treats before heading over to the movie theater.
I remember them enclosing the Northgate Shopping Center and wish they hadn't done that. I loved that fountain area with little bridge by that bookstore. Wish I could remember more of the names of the stores! My memory is fading....
It was all just open ranch land. Beautiful rolling hills. The Freitas had dairy cattle there, as did some other Portugese dairy farmers whose names I have long forgotten.
The selection of the name "Terra Linda" had everyone talking. And the idea of a big new subdivision in Marin county at that time (mid-late 50s) was unheard of. Eventually T.L. was supposed to become a separate city. But when the time came, they voted to become part of San Rafael. I think that was in the 70s.
T's was closer to where Swenson's still is, I think. I think someone in an earlier post said that the old Lyons, which was near the Long's drugs (Northgate 2?) and the cemetary, is now a Chili's.
oh no....soft fruit all mixed up, soft bananas and soft strawberries and bueberries I think, mixed in with super sweet whipped cream...I'm cringing now just imagining it. This wasn't farmer's market fresh fruit, I think it was probably squishy frozen fruit. Oh well, it's just me, I'm weird.
FRUIT BASKET CAKES! Oh barf!! What a memory! For some bizarre reason, my parents always bought fruit basket cakes for my birthday when I was a kid. They were from Lady Baltimore bakery at the Corte Madera Center. I loathe fruit basket cake.
I still remember the smell of Lady Baltimore bakery, and for a treat going in and sitting near the window and eating a doughnut or some other treat. Those pink boxes tied up with string meant something good for dessert, unless it contained a fruit basket cake.
Honestly, I don't know. I don't think so. I remember the place being pretty small, but I was only a little kid and I only went there a few times a year, so my memory of the location is not so good. I always thought it was in Northgate One, though.
When my mom took a year-long hiatus from cooking dinner in the 70's, we met every night for dinner at T's Burgers. Indeed, it was brown-themed and had a u-shaped counter.
The older waitresses had red, red dyed hair (almost purple, unusual back then). And the young ones were beautiful, blonde, Laurie-partridge types. They wore what I thought (at age 10) were super-cool fitted brown polyster uniforms. We loved to twirl around on the stools there and get root-beer floats in the tall glasses. But I can still flash back to the long, creepy hallway that led to the bathroom. It had a certain smell.
Northgate seemed to be pieced together. The person who posted about the grand opening could maybe clarify.
I think the Emprium was alone for a while and then they built a strip next to it and across a walk way. I remember Zanze's European Cafe and American Express Travel but then nothing.
I worked for Sears opening that store in the summer of 1972 and then they built Pay Less Drugs where Mervyn's is which they tore down and rebuilt on the other side.
I thought they did a beautiful job enclosing it and it still looks great today, but it has so many empty store fronts for so many years I think it will be torn up in the next 5 years.
I think the problem is when they rebuilt, so did Corte Madera Town Center, The Village went up, Bon Air doubled in size, all in the same year.
Then just five years later Vintage Oaks was built and then the fact that Marinites really aren't into malls anyway plus we don't have the population to support them all.
The Village draws from Sonoma and I think Northgate is becoming the odd man out. Sad
I found an original copy of the Marin IJ dated June 25, 1964. It was the grand opening of Northgate Mall. I am trying to figure out how to scan something this big so I don't have to fold it all up ten times and jam it in the scanner. I saved this because my father was the first manager of The Emporium that opened on June 26, 1964 and this was the announcement in the IJ with all the pictures of the Emporium and the specials that every store was going to have on sale. Anyway stores listed for Northgate One (where Safeway is now):
Purity Market (4 canalopes for 88 cents!) Hunt's Quality Donuts Northgate Toys and Hobbies (Chatty Cathy Stroller Set for $3.99!) Lin Fa Restaurant (Take Out chinese dinner for two only $3.00!) Northgate Drugs (Sea-n-Ski or Coppertone lotion - 97 cents) Kountry Kitchen Deli Lee's Cards Children's Shoe World Northgate Barber Shop The Bourbon Shop Crocker-Citizen's Bank
Then there were big ads in that same issue of the paper from other businesses welcoming The Big E, from:
Chapman's Shoes in San Rafael Bravermans Fine Furniture on Greenfield in San Anselmo Franchini's Chateau "Saluting our new neighbor!" I barely remember Franchini's! The address says "1/2 mile north on Highway 101 at Lucas Valley Road"
OK I just found more stuff. An original set of architect plans for the entire Northgate shopping center from The Draper Company that bought the land and developed the center. Doesn't seem like THAT long ago but The Draper Company's phone number in S.F. is listed as: YU 1-6500 (that's 981-6500!)
Purity was where Safeway is now. Then going left, Northgate Drugs, Savings and Loan, Bourbon Shop, Kountry Kitchen, Cleaners, Lee's Cards, Hunt's Donuts...etc. Hunt's Donuts was where Starbucks is. Lin Fa Chinese is where Kinkos is. Crocker Citizen's Bank is where Big 5 is.
What era were all the tract houses built in Terra Linda? It looks really fifties style to me. Alot are one story homes too. Was this area mass devoloped in the fifties? Does anyone remember what it looked like before? Terra Linda to me doesnt seem like San Rafael.
In Northgate One, I remember Northgate Drugs, which had lots of gifty stuff - next to where Safeway is now. There was also a liquor store, and Swensen's ice cream parlor.
The Long's area had Long's as long as I can remember (no pun intended!). There was a Lucky's grocery store during the late 60's & 70's. And I remember Lyons and the deli next to Long's.
In Northgate One, during the '70s, there was an old fashioned American style cafe. My grandmother would take me there when I visited her, and we would sit at the counter, and have burgers, fries and cokes. She taught me how to make straw-paper snakes there. I don't remember the name, though.
Does anyone remember any of the stores that were originally at the two smaller Northgate Malls? The one with Longs and Michaels and then the one with Starbucks, Safeway.
I remember going there a lot but can't remember why except for the yummy donut shop where Starbucks is now. I think the donut shop moved to the back of that inner courtyard. I vaguely remember a drugstore.
Over in the Long's area, don't even remember what was there except I think I Lyon's Restaurant where Chili's is now.
