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Mill Valley, California

Mill Valley is a city in Marin County, California, United States located about north of San Francisco via the Golden Gate Bridge. It began as a Mexican land grant to an Irish settler, John Thomas Reed, who became a Mexican citizen in 1834. He built the first saw mill in California, the "Old Mill" in Mill Valley. The population was 13,600 at the 2000 census.

Early history

Mill Valley is located at (37.905475, -122.543111).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 12.5 km² (4.8 mi²). 12.2 km² (4.7 mi²) of it is land and 0.3 km² (0.1 mi²) of it (2.28%) is water.

Mill Valley is located on the western and northern shores of Richardson Bay, fed by Pickleweed Inlet and Arroyo Corte Madera del Presidio which traverse through Mill Valley. Beyond the flat coastal area, it occupies narrow wooded canyons, mostly of second-growth redwoods, on the eastern slopes of Mount Tamalpais.

At least 500 years ago, the region that now encompasses the town of Mill Valley was inhabited by the Coast Miwoks. In 1579, Sir Francis Drake is reported to have anchored at Drake's Bay, just north of what is currently Mill Valley. However, he did not land for any specific purpose other than to make minor repairs on his vessels. His stay was limited to five weeks, during which he traded items with the Miwoks which have since been recovered in local excavation sites.

Nearly two decades later, in 1595, the Portuguese captain Sebastian Cermenho landed at Drake's Bay while piloting a treasure galleon from Manila to Mexico. He, too, came in contact with the indigenous inhabitants during his brief stop there. No further European contact was made with the Miwoks until 1775. On August 5, 1775, Juan Manuel de Ayala sailed into San Francisco Bay. It only took one year before the Spanish had erected the Fort Presidio and the Mission Dolores, both of which still exist today. In the following years, many of the Miwoks were relocated to labor in the Mission Dolores, and later in the San Rafael mission. Unaccustomed to these living conditions, many Miwoks died working in the missions. Epidemics of consumption, syphilis, measles, and smallpox--introduced by Spanish settlers in the 1820s and 1830s--also contributed to the skyrocketing mortality rate of the local peoples. By 1840, 90 percent of the region's Miwok population had been indirectly eradicated. Marin, the name of the county in which Mill Valley now resides, was named after a Miwok "outlaw" whom the Spanish had dubbed Chief Marin, because of his abilities on the water ("marinero"). He was later converted, baptized, and buried at the San Rafael Mission.

In 1834, the Mexican government gained control of the area. Miwok ancestral lands were divided and doled out to willing pioneer ranchers. The huge tracts of land, called "ranchos" by the Mexican settlers, soon covered the area. The Miwoks that had not died or fled were employed on these ranches. John Reed, mentioned above, was one of the first of these new settlers, and it was Reed's saw mill that provided the lumber and employment that served as Mill Valley's first impetus for growth. Soon after, with the Gold Rush of 1848, Mill Valley saw unprecedented growth. Shrewd entrepreneurs such as Samuel Throckmorton (for whom Mill Valley's most prominent street is named) began purchasing and selling land to the droves of prospectors that arrived from abroad.

Mill Valley's growth, and the simultaneous growth of its neighboring towns, ousted the native Miwok population once and for all. In 1852, a census counted 218 full-blooded Miwoks remaining. By 1888, there were only six. Today, there are none who claim even fifty-percent ancestral heritage among the Miwok.

The city is named for a saw mill established by John Reed in the 19th century, the site of which is now Old Mill Park. When the wooded area had been completely logged over, it was divided into small and irregular building lots, which were sold at auction. Many of the vacation homes built at that time were converted to residences during the Great Depression of the 1930s, especially after the Golden Gate Bridge eased access to San Francisco. It is now an affluent residential suburb, much of which is reached by narrow, winding roads created in the early 20th century that often incorporated the old logging roads carved out in the previous century.

From 1896 to 1930, the Mt. Tamalpais and Muir Woods Railroad ran service from Mill Valley to the summit of Mt Tamalpais. The long line had 22 trestles and 281 curves earning it the nickname "The Crookedest Railroad in the World".

Climate

Mill Valley has a mild Mediterranean climate. Daytime highs range from about 52 to in the winter, and about 60 to 74 degrees during the rest of the year. Nighttime temperatures in winter rarely drop below 38 degrees. There is abundant rainfall (sometimes per month) in the winter, and some rain in early spring and late fall. Summer temperatures vary much more than those of the winter. Much of the time, there is abundant sunshine with temperatures between 75 and 90 degrees, and humidity between 20 and 40 percent. Fog from the coast can bring cool summer weather, with midday temperatures often not exceeding 65 degrees. Nighttime summer temperatures seldom drop below 60 degrees. Summer evenings can be breezy, with warm east winds, and it is not uncommon for there to be no rainfall between mid-June and mid-October; however, dew can often be found on plants in the early morning. Because of Northern California's mild summers, few residents have air-conditioning in their homes. May through October is considered "fire season," because most water-reliant grasses die when rain ceases in May. The grasses become dry and extremely flammable, and local fire agencies prohibit most kinds of outdoor burning, fireworks, and barbecues.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 13,600 people, 6,147 households, and 3,417 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,112.5/km² (2,883.1/mi²). There were 6,286 housing units at an average density of 514.2/km² (1,332.6/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 91.43% White, 0.99% African American, 0.25% Native American, 4.14% Asian, 0.21% Pacific Islander, 0.65% from other races, and 2.32% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.47% of the population.

There were 6,147 households out of which 27.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.2% were married couples living together, 7.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 44.4% were non-families. 34.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.20 and the average family size was 2.85.

In the city the population was spread out with 21.2% under the age of 18, 2.9% from 18 to 24, 28.1% from 25 to 44, 32.5% from 45 to 64, and 15.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44 years. For every 100 females there were 86.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 82.5 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $90,794, and the median income for a family was $119,669. Males had a median income of $94,800 versus $52,088 for females. The per capita income for the city was $64,179. About 2.7% of families and 4.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.6% of those under age 18 and 5.7% of those age 65 or over. The median single-family home price in the city was $1,500,000 as of January 2005.

Strawberry is an unincorporated Census-designated Place to the east of the City of Mill Valley. Other CDPs with Mill Valley mailing addresses and within the Mill Valley School District include Tamalpais-Homestead Valley and Muir Beach. Smaller unincorporated areas include Alto and Almonte.

City recreational parks

Mill Valley maintains many recreational parks which often contain playgrounds and other designated areas specifically designed for playing various sports. Dogs are required to be on leashes in all but one of these parks, which is specifically designated a dog park to allow the option of off-leash exercise. Mill Valley also has a prodigious "steps, lanes, and paths program" that provides improved pedestrian access between many of the winding and twisting residential roads that cover the hillsides.

For those who prefer to enjoy nature from the comfort of a chair, the city's public library is nestled in a serene and scenic location at the edge of Old Mill Park where visitors may relax indoors near the wood-burning fireplace and view the redwood forest through the library's multi-storied windows, or from the outside deck which overlooks the park and Old Mill Creek.

Natural features

Aquatic preservation

Mill Valley has a number of scenic and natural features including its location on Richardson Bay and the associated inlet Strawberry Lagoon. These waters hold significant habitat for fishes, marine mammals and other biota. Notable areas of public access to experience these aquatic preserves can be found at:

Wildland preservation

Mill Valley and the Homestead Valley Land Trust maintains many minimally disturbed wildland areas and preserves which are open to the public from sunrise to dusk everyday. Several nature trails allow access as well as providing gateway access to neighboring state and federal park lands, and the Mt. Tamalpais Watershed wildland on the broad eastern face of Mt. Tamalpais that overlooks Mill Valley. These are undeveloped natural areas and contain many species of wild animals, including some large predators like the coyote, the bobcat, and the cougar. As in all wildland areas, observe daytime access hours, keep dogs on leashes, and keep younger children from wandering about unattended. One may also want to familiarize themselves with how to live and recreate among cougars, coyotes, and bobcats prior to visiting these wildland areas.

Cascade Falls Park -- A natural forested park that spans an area between the western stretches of Cascade Dive and Lovell Ave.
Blithedale Summit Open Space Preserve -- located up West Blithdale Ave.
Tennessee Valley -- located in Tamalpais Valley, off Shoreline Highway

Nature trails

Tenderfoot Trail (1.5 miles) -- Lower trail head is on Cascade Drive between Cascade Falls park and the lower trail head of the Zigzag trail. The upper trail head is at Edgewood Ave., near Mountain Home Inn. This upper trail head provides access to the Edgewood trail, and also provides gateway access to the upper region of Muir Woods, Tamalpais State Park near the Alice Eastwood Campsite access road, and the main southern access point Mt. Tamalpais Watershed (near the Throckmorton Ridge Fire Station).
Zigzag Trail (1/2 mile, steep climb) -- This is a very steep trail which has an upper trail head near the Throckmorton Ridge Fire Station and the Mountain Home Inn with gateway access to the upper region of Muir Woods, Tamalpais State Park near the Alice Eastwood Campsite access road, and the main southern access point Mt. Tamalpais Watershed (near the Throckmorton Ridge Fire Station). The lower trail head is near the western end of Cascade Drive, west of Cascade Falls Park and the lower Tenderfoot Trail head.
Cypress Trail (1 mile) -- runs between the end of Cypress Ave. and the middle of the Tenderfoot Trail. Cypress Avenue leads to Edgewood Blvd. Going down Edgewood leads to the top of Dipsea trail stairs and Cowboy Rock Trail head, and uphill on Edgewood lead to the Edgewood Trail.
Edgewood Trail (1/2 mile) -- runs between the two parts of Edgewood Ave. and provides access to the upper Tenderfoot trail head or, if one follows Edgewood Ave. out to the Mountain Home Inn, leads to a gateway access to the upper region of Muir Woods, Tamalpais State Park near the Alice Eastwood Campsite access road, and the main southern access point Mt. Tamalpais Watershed (near the Throckmorton Ridge Fire Station)
Cowboy Rock Trail (1/4 mile) -- part of the Homestead Valley Land Trust, the upper trail head is at Edgewood and Sequoia Valley Road intersection, across the street from where the Dipsea trail stairs from downtown end. This path leads to the Homestead Trail and to the path/stairs down to Stolte Grove and the western tip of Homestead Valley.
Pixie Trail (1/2 mile) -- part of the Homestead Valley Land Trust, this trail has several trail heads. On the upper end the trail head is at Marion Ave, (upper portion) Ridgewood Ave., and Edgewood Ave. intersect. The Pixie Trail also has a mid-access point, where the Pixie Trail becomes paved and developed. The street runs down hill to Stolte Grove. The trail continues on and connects to any of three other trail heads. The first head is at the five way intersection of Molino Ave, Edgewood Ave, Cape Ct, and Mirabel Ave. The second head leads to the end of Seymour lane which is a short road off of Edgewood Ave. Crossing Edgewood, the path continues down a set of stairs to Ethel Ave and the Una Way staircase down to Miller Ave. The third and final head ends at Janes Street, down the way from Molino Avenue Park.
Homestead Trail (1 mile) -- part of the Homestead Valley Land trust, this longer winding trail traverses the western slope of Homestead Valley itself. It is not currently well delineated or maintained in parts. It has several other trail heads that leads up into Tamalpais State Park near the "four-corners" intersection, as well as down into the valley via (lower portion) Ridgeview Ave. and Ferndale Ave.
Dipsea Trail (7.1 miles) The most famous hike in Marin County is the Dipsea Trail, a challenging route beginning with three long, steep stairways leading up from Old Mill Park and ending at Stinson Beach 7.1 miles later. The annual Dipsea Race is in June, although the trail can be run or hiked any time. The West Marin Stagecoach is a bus that runs from Stinson Beach back to Mill Valley, stopping approximately one mile from downtown.. The Dipsea Trail is not well marked, so first timers should consider carrying a guidebook.

Suburban gentrification

The combination of Mill Valley's idyllic location nestled beneath Mount Tamalpais coupled with its ease of access to nearby San Francisco has made it a popular home for many high-income commuters. Over the last 20 years, following a trend that is endemic throughout the Bay Area, home prices have climbed in Mill Valley (the median price for a single-family home is in excess of $1.5 million as of 2005), which has had the effect of pushing out some earlier residents who can no longer afford to live in the area.

In July 2005, CNN/Money and Money magazine ranked Mill Valley tenth on its list of the 100 Best Places to Live in the United States. In 2007, MSN and Forbes magazine ranked Mill Valley seventy-third on its "Most expensive zip codes in America" list.

While Mill Valley has retained elements of its earlier artistic culture through galleries, festivals, and performances, its stock of affordable housing has diminished, forcing some residents to leave the area. This trend has also affected some of the city's well-known cultural centers like Village Music and the Sweetwater Saloon. As of April 2007, only one affordable housing project was underway: an initiative to raze and rebuild an abandoned motel called the Fireside.

Annual events

Mill Valley is the home of several annual events, many of which attract national and international followings:

Dipsea Race
The Mountain Play
Mill Valley Film Festival
Mill Valley Fall Arts Festival
Mill Valley Shakespeare in Old Mill Park Amphitheatre

Arts and crafts in Mill Valley

Mill Valley is known for being an "artsy" little town. Driving or walking downtown Mill Valley will discover many art galleries, coffee shops, and other hallmarks of a typical art town. In addition, the town has sponsored the Mill Valley Fall Arts Festival for over fifty years and also the Mill Valley Film Festival, which is part of the California Film Institute, for over thirty years. In addition, Mill Valley's Chamber of Commerce has sponsored the annual Gourmet Food and Wine Tasting in Lytton Square for many years.

Theater arts also have a huge following in Mill Valley. In addition to supporting the local 142 Throckmorton Theatre, which hosts theater of all levels, Mill Valley is also home for the Marin Theatre Company, as well as the Mountain Play Association which hosts annual musical productions in the Cushing Memorial Amphitheater located in Mill Valley's neighboring Mount Tamalpais State Park. For several years the Curtain Theatre Group has also been performing annual free Shakespeare plays among the redwoods on the Old Mill Park Amphitheatre behind the Mill Valley Library.

Music, novels, television and movies

Mill Valley has also been home to many musicians, authors, actors, and TV personalities. The writer Jack Kerouac and the poet Gary Snyder once shared a cabin above the 2 AM Club. Part of Kerouac's novel, On The Road, takes place in a fictionalized version of Mill Valley called Mill City. Jerry Garcia — who recorded music in a Mill Valley recording studio — also once called Mill Valley home. Other rock stars such as Huey Lewis, Bob Weir, Sammy Hagar, Bonnie Raitt, Pete Sears, Clarence Clemons, John and Mario Cipollina, and Janis Joplin have also called this small town home. The composer John Anthony Lennon was raised in Mill Valley, as was the video journalist Sarah Austin. Authors such as Wright Morris and Jack London have also lived here, as does Joyce Maynard. Actors Peter Coyote, Dana Carvey, Jill Eikenberry, Kathleen Quinlan, Michael Tucker, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, have also called Mill Valley home and it was the place of birth for actors Eve Arden and Mariel Hemingway. Celebrity chef, Tyler Florence and gold medalist, and sports commentator Michael Johnson, also call Mill Valley home. Author John Gray who writes the Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus books is a long time Mill Valley resident.

In fiction, character B.J. Hunnicutt from the TV show M*A*S*H called Mill Valley home, and fictional character Charley Furuseth in Jack London's 1904 novel The Sea-Wolf, apparently had a summer cottage here. In the Star Trek universe, it is home to the 602 Club. It is also the setting for resident author Jack Finney's 1954 novel The Body Snatchers, although the 1956 film, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and subsequent movie versions of the book have been set elsewhere. Fictional character Doris Martin from the TV show The Doris Day Show (1968-1973 TV series) called Mill Valley home as well.

Cyra McFadden (born c. 1939) is an American writer, living in the San Francisco Bay Area. McFadden's 1977 novel The Serial: A Year in the Life of Marin County satirized the trendy lifestyles of the affluent residents of Marin County, California, just north of San Francisco. The highly successful book was made into a 1980 movie called Serial (1980 film), starring Tuesday Weld and Martin Mull. The song "Mill Valley", recorded in 1970 and released on the album "Miss Abrams and the Strawberry Point 4th Grade Class, became a nationwide hit. (Listen to a clip of |"Mill Valley")

The Tamalpais High School Marching Band appeared in the 1969 Woody Allen film Take The Money and Run. In the 1973 George Lucas film American Graffiti, the 'sock hop' dance scenes were filmed in the high school's boys gymnasium.

An episode of the television show Quantum Leap was set in Mill Valley.

Mill Valley in the news

2002: John Walker Lindh and the Mill Valley Islamic Center

The most recent event that attracted national attention to the city of Mill Valley was the case of John Walker Lindh, who lived in neighboring San Anselmo, and converted to Islam at the Mill Valley Islamic Center. Following his trial, former President George H. W. Bush is reported to have called Lindh a "misguided Marin county hot-tubber", which amused most Marin residents and angered some.

2008: sewage spills

On January 31st, 2008, Mill Valley's sewage treatment plant spilled 2.45 million gallons of sewage into San Francisco Bay. This marked the second such spill in Mill Valley within a week (the previous one spilled 2.7 million gallons), and the most recent of several that occurred in Marin County in early 2008.

Mill Valley's treatment plant attributed the spills to "human error". Two investigations are still attempting to uncover why over 5 million gallons of sewage, most of which was raw and untreated, is now in Mill Valley's watershed. The investigations are being carried out by the Regional Water Board and the EPA. The spills caused distress in Mill Valley's administrative government, which remains outspoken about "dedicating itself to the protection of air quality, waste reduction, water and energy conservation, and the protection of wildlife and habitat" in Mill Valley.