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Description
In this oral history, Fredrik "Frits" Cassée recounts his life as a postwar wanderer and cosmopolitan baker who ended up rooting himself firmly in the community of Mill Valley. Born in Haarlem, Holland, in 1936, Frits came to the United States in 1957 as a trained and certified baker. Initially settling in Coalinga in the San Joaquin Valley, he soon moved north to San Francisco for better employment opportunities. After getting married in 1963 and moving to Mill Valley, Frits bought Locust Bakery, which he operated under the name Old Mill Bakery until 1975, specializing in wedding cakes and Saint Honorés. Frits poignantly evokes the "fraternity of bakers" that existed in Mill Valley, and across Marin, in the 1970s, and describes the gradual disappearance of small bakeries with the arrival of chain supermarkets in town. Though afflicted by wanderlust, Frits established himself in the community and developed a rich social life through his active involvement in the Masonic Lodge and the Methodist Church, and throughout this oral history he vividly recalls numerous Mill Valley residents, including some eccentrics. Frits concludes by celebrating the way Mill Valley has escaped the shopping mall fate of other small towns in America and praises the community spirit of the people it tends to attract, while assailing the scourge of real estate speculation and lamenting the rising cost of living.
Identifier
2CCE9CC9-23AF-4554-AF64-631994936943 2016.025.001
Subject
Bajor, Annitol Bajor, Steve Bajor, Vicky Bajor, Walter Bakeries Bakery shops Cassee, Christian Cassee, Gail Cassee, Jason Cassee, Matthew Churches - Mill Valley Cruz, Jimmy Deal, Charlie Delatore, John Delatore, Sloof Diamond, Dan Doors, Michael Doors, Monique Gushtenberg, Irwin Hayakawa, Senator Samuel Ichie Kamph, Ivan Kemp, Ed Locust Bakery Masonic Lodge Masonic organizations Misuraca, Rick Mt. Tamalpais United Methodist Church MV history - Baby boom years (1950s and early 1960s) MV history - Digital era (1990s) MV history - Growth (1980s) MV history - WWI and WWII Nicholson, John Old Mill Bakery Oral history - Local business Oral history - Spirituality, philosophy, religion Oral history - Volunteerism, activism Perin, Bill Perin, Gwen Real estate development Richter, Bruno Richter, Fritz Rossman, Bruce Slanicker, Bueller Smith, Ethyl Smith, Kim Smith, Russ Stocking, Bert Walder, Anne-Marie Walder, Eddie Whitesell, Ted
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