Vignette > Wobbly Rock Restaurant

In July 1965, Bob and Jean Greensfelder supported by eight other investors purchased and remodeled the old Muir Beach Restaurant and named it “Wobbly Rock Restaurant” after a poem by Beat generation poet Lew Welch.   Sandy Stewart of Muir Beach was the chef.  He served one dinner on Friday and one on Saturday, both at 6:30 p.m., and one on Sunday at 2 p.m. There were sometimes rock’n roll concerts. People danced, never touching each other, on grass, concrete, or sand. On May 26,1966 the band was “Big Brother and the Holding Company.” Bob and Jean had lived in Homestead Valley since 1951 across the street from where Locke McCorckle hosted Beat generation gatherings including Allen Ginsberg, Neal Cassady, Kenneth Rexroth, William Burroughs, Peter Orlovsky, Michael McClure, Philip Whalen, Lew Welch, Gary Snyder and Gregory Corso. Jack Kerouac was also there.  He describes the scene in “The Dharma Bums” published in 1958. Jean Greensfelder played the major role in managing the restaurant, but it only lasted a few years. Bob Greensfelder concentrated on playing a key role in distributing independent and experimental films. In 1974 they moved to the San Juan Ridge in rural Nevada County close by Bob’s lifelong friend from Reed College, Gary Snyder.