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Description
In this oral history, third-generation Mill Valley resident Lynda Crain recounts her family history in Mill Valley and describes her own experiences growing up in the town. Lynda relates several stories passed down to her by her mother Helen Benson, such as a local outbreak of smallpox that occurred in the 1920s and the Great Fire of 1929. She recalls the various historic homes that her parents and grandparents lived in over the course of many decades. She fondly remembers several historic Mill Valley businesses, including the Suey Kee Market, Mayer's Department Store, and Varney's Hardware. Lynda evokes some colorful characters and scenes from Mill Valley's past in her oral history, including the Snake Man, who carried around town a burlap sack rumored to contain snakes, and a postman who was accompanied on his daily delivery route by an entourage of neighborhood dogs, as well as several famous musicians who were to be seen around town in the 1960s and 1970s.
Identifier
3470033E-67B7-4683-B767-183145617026 2016.067.001
Subject
1929 Fire Benson, Helen Benson, Rosswell Champlin, Bill Cipollina, John Coppola, Francis Ford Enchanted Knolls Fires Folger, Abigail Folger, Anne Garcia, Jerry Goheen Track Gomez, Manuel Goodyear, Donald Goodyear, Margaret Grateful Dead Groll, Anne Groll, George Klyce, Harvey Louis, Huey Macchi, Enid Macchi, Josephine Maguire, Edna Mayer's Department Store McCollister, Richard Mill Valley changes Miller, Susie Moraes, Roque Music Musicians Post Office Postal service employees Quicksilver Messenger Service (musical group) Smallpox Sons of Champlin Suey Kee Tamalpais High School Varney's Hardware Varney, John Wier, Bob Williams, Dorothy
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