San Geronimo Valley Historical Society by Owen Clapp
Knolls is hovering close to 1 million dollars, a sum that was surely unimagi- nable 100 years ago. In this photograph from the collection of Robin Barnett- Francis, the cameraperson is facing northwest with a view of Mt. Barnabe and some of Forest Knolls’ simple and elegant early homes. A number of these homes still stand today. Though the summer bungalows of the past have been converted to year round residences, and although prices have shot sky-high, Forest Knolls retains the “wonderful redwood trees” and “winding streams” that were advertised to the Bay Area when it was first named in 1914.
Announcements:
The San Geronimo Valley Historical Society (SGVHS) is continuing to lead a project to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of the historic Lagunitas School building - which is now the Community Center. We are planning a large cel- ebration event in 2028 welcome to the community at large, as well as alumni from all years. Big thanks to Dave Cort for leading this effort! So far we have gathered four groups of Lagunitas alumni from different genera- tions to share memories and reflections. The conversations have been fun, mov- ing, and eye-opening. We hope to hold some public events each year leading up to the 2028 anniversary party, where alumni can share stories about their time attending school in the district.
Please reach out if you would like to be involved!
Thank you for reading, Owen
Time Capsule
Forest Knolls: The name “Forest Knolls” was the invention of a group of wealthy Bay Area business magnates incorporated under the name “Lagunitas Development Company.” The company purchased the majority of the acreage in the San Geronimo Valley in the 1910s from the Mailliard family, then they subdivided it - essentially creating the towns of Woodacre and Forest Knolls, while further subdividing the pre-existing hamlets of San Geronimo and Lagunitas. Forest Knolls appeared in newspapers for the first time in May of 1914, in the San Francisco Call newspaper. An article states that Forest Knolls had been designed by the development company as a “practical bungalow colony,” with full lots available starting at $1,000 - or about $30,000 in today’s dollars. With 18 daily trains, many early landowners in Forest Knolls were San Francisco residents, and one did not have to be from a monied family to afford to purchase. Flashing forward to the present, the median sale price in Forest My own spiritual development, if I can speak about it in those terms, is still devel- oping but it’s something that I have been thinking about, I guess for my entire life, at least from the time I was twelve or thirteen years old. I remember having a deep discussion with my best friend Esther one late Springtime night in Brooklyn after we were heading home from a movie. We talked about God. It must have been in 1947 or ’48. Esther at that time and for her entire life insisted that she was an athe- ist. This despite the fact that she married Harvey a Jew from Boro Park in Brooklyn, raised their three children as Jews - they all were Bar or Bat Mitzvahed. We argued quite a lot over the years about God. That and the value of psychedelics was the only thing that Esther and I ever argued about. Esther went on to get her Ph.D in Clinical Psychology at Harvard during the time that Timothy Leary and Ram Dass were tout- ing LSD as path toward spiritual enlightenment and transcendence. Esther wasn’t buying any of it. She wrote her thesis about the reality of post-hypnotic suggestion and its potential usefulness as a therapeutic model. Reflections continued from page 14 Arguing among Jews is not frowned upon and in fact it is encouraged. Jacob in the Book of Genesis was renamed Israel which means “he struggles with God”. I have learned that questioning authority can be off-putting in our American male-domi- nated culture and that a person - especially a person of the female persuasion - who questions authority is thought to be quite disagreeable. I know that from personal experience. I find some of the English translations of biblical language off-putting, especially the personification of God, the Creator as Lord and Master – a patriarchal presence that we worship, who controls our lives. For me it is inconsistent with my reality of a spiritual connection with a Creator that has no gender. Creation is an ongoing pro- cess in which humanity is in partnership in the act of creation, responsible to do tik- kun olam, to repair the world. Evil and destruction exists in our world and it is our human choice to either do good, to be creative and fix what is broken, or not, to tear down and destroy. God is a verb. I could go on and on to describe my ever evolving spiritual path: my love of Jewish music, Friday night Shabbat dinners, Passover, Chanukah, High Holiday services in Samuel P. Taylor Park under the towering canopy of the redwoods. I never went to Hebrew school or had a Bat Mitzvah – it was something that was not encouraged for girls in 1947 when I was 12 years old. Much of what I learned about being a Jew, I learned from my mother, including but not limited to Jewish cooking and keeping a kosher home. Two important things my mother taught me about being a Jew were teachings from the first century scholar, Rabbi Hillel: “If I am not for myself who will be? If I am only for myself, what am I? If not now, when?” He also said: “Do not do to others what is hateful to yourself.” And “Do not say ‘When I have leisure, I shall study,’ perhaps you will never have leisure.” These days I am currently re-reading a book I first came across when I was in college, Martin Buber’s At the Turning – Three Addresses on Judaism . published in 1952. Buber was an Existentialist and also a mystic –a Hassidic scholar. His writing deeply influenced my understanding of being a Jew then and continues to inform my spiritual path and practice today.
(Photo courtesy of Robin Barnett-Francis & Michelle Barnett Collection, in collaboration with Betty Gardner of Woodacre, CA)
Loaning Images for Digitization
If you know of anyone with historic Valley photos who might like to tempo- rarily loan the photos for them to be scanned into our archive, please send an email to sgvhistoricalsociety@gmail.com.
SGV Community Center Stone Soup Page 19
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