On our first visit to choose a place to rent we stayed in San Francisco and during that time decided we would love to have both the city and nearby nature. Both of us on previous trips had decided we would look north, not south for nature. Part of my research was done on Ramparts, a magazine of social and political writing no longer in existence, several article had described a seaside town called Stinson Beach, which from my maps seemed pretty closed to the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge. That was our first destination for our search.
Maps are two dimensions, and 20 miles seemed very doable for a commute but I had flattened the trip. Boy did I get carsick! Scenic Route 1 includes scenic Mount Tamalpais more than 2,500 feet high overlooking the sea and the San Francisco Bay. We had to stop twice for me to get settled and in the end I had to drive to remain stable. *
No way could we live out there and commute. So we began to look in Tiburon, a town located on the Bay. And we found an apartment right on the water, 2436 Paradise Drive with a parking deck above and wooden stairs leading down to our apartment. It was lovely, just above the bay with water sloshing under our outside deck. It was idyllic the day we signed the lease, sunny and calm. But mostly the location was cold and windy! We had no idea of the summer fog, this was the end of August – it was difficult to sit out on the deck.
There was a ferry to San Francisco, there still is. The photo above shows the ferry but just missed our building, think of it up the road near the water. one house from the end of the photo.
*We loved Stinson Beach and used it for family picnics and rentals for week long vacations. In 2008 after selling Magnolia House in San Rafael I bought a house thought to be falling down, you might call it a rescue. I spent 11 years renovating it and the garden and sold in in September 2020.
daily woodring 