VIGNETTE > Commuting in the 1920s

Brogan House, 1926

This photo of the house on the corner of Molino and Janes was taken in 1926.  The house was built in 1904 for State Senator King. It is still recognizable. There are scalloped shingles near the peak of the roof. The dirt road is Molino, dusty in the summer and muddy in the winter.  In 1923, James M. Brogan bought the house. He worked in San Francisco as an X-ray technician for the Veterans Administration.  To get to his job location, he walked down the Seymour steps to Ethel then the Una steps to Miller. He boarded the train at Park Avenue Station, took the Sausalito ferry to the Ferry Building in San Francisco, and walked to his work place at 4th and Mission.  Door to door commute time was about 60 minutes.  His son James, Jr. was born in 1923.  When he was old enough for school, he commuted with his father as far as Sausalito to attend its Catholic School there.  Later on, he accompanied his father all the way to the Ferry Building and took the streetcar to St. Ignatius High School on Stanyon Street. For many residents, the daily commute to work or school involved accessing the railroad via Steps, Lanes and Paths, a key feature on Mill Valley’s original subdivision maps.
For more info see:  Brogan House

RR Station, 1930’s (courtesy of Fred Codoni) – click to enlarge