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I just looked at your bellobeach.com site and what a trip down memory lane! You have some wonderful pictures.
My childhood is connected to Muir Beach because My dad, Paul Morningstar, boarded our horse at the Joe Ponte dairy. My dad also broke horses for Joe, one was a pinto named David, belonging to the son of Mr Ponte. I believe his name was Joe also.
Growing up, I was a country girl at heart, living in the city of San Francisco. I spend every wkend in the the Muir Beach area so it was kind of my second home. I saw my first cow milked at the dairy, where Joe would teasingly squirt me as I stood sheepishly behind my dads legs when I was very small. And I loved to watch the cat's and kittens come out and lap up that warm cows milk. That is of course If I could get from the barn where we kept our horse tack to the barn where the milking was done because right in between was the house where the misses was standing on the porch with the most ferocious sounding barking chiwawa dog I had ever seen!
I saw a sheep be sheared for the first time on the Tony Brazil ranch. I saw my first chick being hatched from its shell at Joe Sanchez' place, and oh the smell of his goats! Joe and his wife Dolly use to play alot of Scrabble. I loved to visit there, especially after a rain and the creek that ran by their house was up. I had a little plastic boat that my dad had tied a string to and put in the water.
At the curve where Hwy 1 made a sharp left(or you could go straight on the road to Muir Woods) was a shack (but there was a beautiful house in the woods behind it?). Some friends named Cal Cook and Jackie Suldickis(sp?) lived there with their 2 kids Larry and Ruth Ann. Across the road from them lived Manual and Nancy Lopes. Next to the Lopes' who lived in a pretty nice house, was an older place which I think was later torn down. The Russell Lessik family lived there, and they had ALOT of kids. They use to have a tire swing on the hill where you swung out to about a 10ft drop and that's where I fell off that tire swing and broke my ankle.
On Hwy 1 , right at the turn off for Muir Beach there was a big place, a dairy farm maybe? All the mailboxes sat on the road in front of this place. On the road leading to the beach is where the Fullums use to live. They had geese that use to scare the heck out of me, lol. Joyce Fullum use to ride her beautiful black horse named LUCKY and I use to admirer them so.... Of course Joyce was a teenager then and I was still too young to ride by myself. Joyce later married Amadeo Banducci Jr, and had three children-Michael, Julie, and Lori. We also became friends and in my teen yrs the Banduccis' took me under their wing for the wkends.
I remember Doc Obrien and the Tavern. I believe his grand-daughter was Janine? She was a couple of yrs older than me but we use to hang out together. I think they stayed in one of the cabins on wkends. We're talking late 50's, early 60's. My dad and his band played country music at the Tavern for awhile, on wkends of course, where I would spend alot of time in the kitchen helping Janine wash dishes. On those cold, damp, foggy nights we use to sit in front of that big fireplace. Sometimes Janine would have to work the little consession stand they had by the parking lot. If my memory serves me correctly, my mother Violet use to help with that also.
Yes, looking at your website really brought back a flood of memories ! My first kiss was in front of the cabins with Joyces brother Ron Fullam who I later dated in my high school years.
I guess the most dramitic memory was learning to drive.........yes along that winding road from Mill Valley to the Beach! Joyce and Amadeo would let me drive their pick-up on their property and later when I got a license my dad let me drive from San Francisco. That was a scarry ride at night and many a time we saw headlights from a car that went over the cliff! There were also alot of times when going home late at night after a storm we couldn't get thru because a tree had fell across the road.
I barely remember the Souzas and the Rodrigues'. The names do sound familiar tho. If they had a wine celler and made their own "muskadoodle" as my dad called it, I know he would know them, LOL. Because he spent most of his time in the Portuguese wine cellers while I was riding our horse TRIGGER along the beach and anywhere else I could to ride.
At one time Joyce and Amadeo Banducci lived in the old Tony Brazil house, and in their pastures is where my beloved Trigger passed into horse heaven. I think in 69 or 70 I and my 2 yr old son lived for a short time with the Banduccis on their flower ranch until i moved to San Jose. That is the last I saw of the Muir Beach crowd.
I live in Ohio now and am 58 yrs old. While looking at the websites, I couldn't figure out exactly "where" the Pellican Inn was built. It looks like most of the homes have been built on the hill that was above the Tavern, is that correct? I didn't know any of the names of the roads as such, but I had heard that the valley that ran from Muir Woods to Muir Beach was called Franks Valley
Right now my scanner isn't working or I could send you a few photos I have of the Beach. Thank you for a wonderful website and I hope if I ever get back to CA I can visit Muir Beach once again.
Sincerely,
Linda Morningstar Gall
Dutch worked at the sandwich bar ('68). Asa "Crow" the tatooist and his partner "Goose" and there St.Bernard Milo were regulars at the beach along with Bruce and Myself from Chicago ....and Bruce's wife Jeannie and their dog Oso....Mickey( Heidi) all of us summer of '68 and '70 also Sunny from San Anselmo and Alan from Mill Valley....The Woods Brothers (Larkspur)...they had a towing company there.......Mike Stoner...and his wife I cant recall her name..good people from Mill Valley....also the Huey Lewis first group The Clover ....I think....they played at the Ark in Sausalito ....I dont know if you ever went to the "Ark" -- that was an outrageous place for music....also at the beach was an old friend of mine too "Scorpio Tim" from Boulder originally but he lived on a houseboat in Sausalito.....Asa went to learn tatoos from Lyle Tuttle in '68..'69....in 1970 almost all of us got tattoos from him .....I got six....one was a peace sign....Lyle Tuttle did Janis' tatoo at that time and a lot of people in that era....it was very tribal at that time .....also on the beach in 1970....involved in the Acatraz Native movement....Thunderhawk....from Wounded Knee....Janis used to give him money for the Natives on the island....he mentioned to me at that time....we hung out in '70".......also Richard from New York at the beach and hung with Bruce and I.
I hope some of this helps ...it was sure neat remembering .
Make Love Not War
Chicago Tom
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The Souzas