Vignette 280 > More on the 1920s

Prohibition meant more vigilance for the Outdoor Art Club. In 1923, a raid on the Mill Valley Hotel cost the proprietor $500 plus 30 days in jail.  In January 1922, Mt. Tam got a record 32 inches of snow. In 1925, the heaviest 24-hour rainfall ever recorded caused flooding and major damage.  In 1924, the Mountain Play was canceled owing to the outbreak of foot and mouth disease in Marin’s dairy cows. Hikers disinfected their feet at stations set up at the Sausalito ferry terminal and elsewhere in Marin.  In 1924, the first public outdoor Christmas tree was erected in Lytton Square. In 1929, a 12-foot high 70-foot long “Mill Valley” was painted on the roof of the new Sequoia Theater building as part of a national project to provide guidance for pilots. In 1927, ten acres in Cascade Canyon became the Mill Valley Villas subdivision. In 1926, the Mill Valley Rotary Club was organized. In 1927, Ralston White, president of the Tamalpais Land & Water Co. was Mill Valley’s representative at the International Rotary Convention in Belgium. In 1926, the police force consisted of two officers, chief Alex McCurdy and Night Watchman “Tail Light Andy” who nabbed motorists with defective taillights.