Tiburon-Belvedere

Before Redwood High was built, all the high school kids in Belvedere and
Tiburon went by public bus to Tam. The date of the switchover to Redwood
was my sophomore year. I was allowed by special permission to stay at Tam
because I had a brother who was a senior, and seniors were allowed to finish
out their high school years where they had started. Some of you may
remember how a good portion of your friends in the freshman class had
disappeared when you came back as sophomores. I think there were three of
us in the class who got special permission to stay: me, Pam Tresnon, and
Peter Dornbach. As part of the Tam history of southern Marin, I want to
send this in for all the kids who attended Tam from Belvedere and Tiburon.

Belvedere and Tiburon back in the late 40's and 50's were still rural.
There were no houses on the Tiburon hills. Instead they abounded with
wildlife and dairy cows that were turned out from the dairy barns at the
base of the hills. The dairies have been gone a long time, replaced by
door-to-door subdivisions. But back then, like all the kids in Belvedere
and Tiburon, I spent a lot of time in the Tiburon hills, hiking, picnicking
in the summer, chasing cows, and catching snakes. The wildflowers bloomed
heavily in the Spring; when the poppies appeared, the hills were coated with
gold. Many of us kids loved to find the steepest hill and roll down its
sides. At the bottom we would find ourselves painted like sunshine. When
we were older, we found we could sled down those same hills on large pieces
of cardboard. It was always a contest for who could go the fastest.

There were only a few houses on the Belvedere lagoon when we first moved to
Belvedere in 1948. That was because homes were built on mud and silt that
had been dredged out of the lagoon, and the land was still settling. Most
of the Belvedere kids learned to swim early because even if they lived up on
Belvedere Island, they had friends who lived on the lagoon. We would all
wait for the water, which was a mixture of run-off from the hills and from
the bay, to be warm enough to start swimming. Usually the swimming season
would go from April until October. Looking back, I realize that Tam got
many of the members on its swim team from Belvedere. My older brother was
one of them. In fact, many Belvedere kids were more interested in swimming
meets than football games. But as a sign of the times, I, as a girl, was
encouraged to become a timekeeper for the boys' team. There was no girls'
swim team at Tam!

A major fixture of life for all the Belvedere/Tiburon kids was the railroad.
Up until the end of the 50's, trains would continue to steam or chug down to
the roundhouse at the end of the train line in Tiburon. Sometimes they
would unload their boxcars onto barges that would ferry them across the bay.
There were many times that a gang of us kids would climb the fences along
the tracks and wave like crazy to the engineer. Most obliged by tooting
their whistles and ringing their bells. Often we would also wave to the
numerous hobos who hung out the doors of the boxcars. We all knew they were
on their way to "hobo camp", which was in the field across from what is now
Reed School. Each of us dared each other to explore the mysteries of that
camp, even though our parents and the hobos themselves warned us to stay
away. When we snuck in, we would usually find an almost dead campfire,
burned black coffee pot, and a few rags and maybe a rusty piece of
silverware. The Trestle that crossed the road down by what is now Belveron
Gardens was another big attraction. Every one told tales of near misses
walking the tracks. No one knew who really did it. Although I never
crossed the trestle, I remember lying alongside the train tracks, my heart
thumping, when a train would unexpectedly show up and we would have to dive
off the gravel bed that supported the tracks. The train track bed is now
the popular bicycle/jogging path that goes along the highway into Tiburon.

We Belvedere and Tiburon kids came into Mill Valley for "city shopping" so
it has been fun reading about Mosher's shoe store, the Sequoia Theater, etc.
They were a part of my life, too. But some times my mom would take my
friends and me up to San Rafael for the day. One of the special
destinations up there was the roller skating rink. Does any one else
remember it? It was the only one in Marin County. I used to love going
there, even though I roller-skated on the streets of Belvedere. The rink
was indoors, the wooden floor was smooth (no pebbles!), and there was music!
I always hated to leave. On the way home, we would stop at the only
drive-in along the highway from Mill Valley up to San Rafael. I thought
there was nothing more wonderful than licking the foam off a root beer float
that was overflowing its mug. In fact, I still like to do that! It's hard
to believe that back then there were no Macdonald's, no Arby's, no Burger
King's, in fact, no hamburgers!

The last place I have to mention because it was a part of my life growing up
was the atmospheric Mountain Home on Mt. Tamalpais. Did any of you ever go
there? Now rebuilt as a fancy destination hotel, its beginning years oozed
European chalet charm. Since I came from a hiking family, I spent many,
many Sundays trekking along the trails of Mt. Tamalpais. But before we set
out, we always stopped at that little chalet that hung up against the
hillside below the road. Rarely we would have one of the Mountain Home's
authentic German lunches. But usually, we would get a cone with real ice
cream (rocky road came in at that time and was my favorite) at the little
counter you had to pass on the way into the restaurant. And then up the
trail we would go for the next several hours where I could appreciate what a
beautiful area we all grew up in.

Thank you, everyone, for adding to my memory bank! I hope this adds to
yours. Winnie Watkins Green