China Camp was a huge party spot at night during the 70's and early 80's. It wasn't a state park yet. The upper dirt parking you can see in the middle of the photo was the gathering spot for dozens of us. The sheriff cars would come out from the civic center about midnight and yell over the loudspeaker " Anyone still here on our next trip out here will be arrested." Of course we continued to party and they never came back. Good times. The small island on the right was always called " Rat Island ". Never knew why. I don't think anything could live on that little rock.
A great shot that brings all sorts of memories back. Our family used to go out to China Camp from time to time. You could buy a paper sack of boiled shrimp that came from the Bay (imagine that!); we would take that and hike around the hills nearby. At some point, probably prior to this picture being taken, the movie, Blood Alley, starring John Wayne, was filmed there. The film crew built various structures, including a short portion of the Great Wall, to make the place look like it was actually China. We thought it was pretty cool to have a real movie shot there. The temporary structures were taken down after the filming, so I don't know if there are any photos of how it looked; of course, one could see it all in the movie itself.
I've said it before but I feel compelled to say it again...your contributions are INCREDIBLE! Thank you so much for these spectacular photos.
When I thought about creating this virtual museum, I prayed there was a Paul Penna out there somewhere who for some reason decided to take high quality photos all over Marin County during the exact time period I was interested in!
Paul, how did you learn about this site and how do you think we might be able to attract more people like you? I'm going to start putting ads in the Pacific Sun and Craigslist.
I've been snail-mailing literally thousands of envelopes filled with information about MarinNostalgia.org to every owner in the county who has owned their home prior to 1980. (Haven't hit Novato or West Marin yet...need to sell more houses first. 63 cents a letter adds up.) The mail response has picked up a few new users (welcome!) but not as many photos as I had hoped.
Perhaps the majority of my snail mail recipients:
A) Don't use the internet?
b) Don't have any photos?
c) Don't feel comfortable sharing photos with strangers on the net? One very nice older lady in her 90's told me she has some interesting photos from the 30's but she would NEVER share them on the internet because she's heard that "people do all kinds of terrible and disgusting things with pictures on the internet". I tried to explain to her that her photos would not be used for any sort of disgusting purpose on this site but she was quite certain it was a bad idea.
d) Haven't gotten around to looking for their photos? (Searching for this stuff can be a pain for some people -- going through boxes and closets, etc.)
e) Hate getting mail from Realtors? (Who doesn't? ;)
I think I've gotten all the media attention I'm going to get for awhile unless The Chronicle decides to do a story on MarinNostalgia.org someday.
So Everyone, at this point, word of mouth might be the best way to increase awareness. If you know someone who might be interested in this website and/or who may have pictures, I suggest forwarding a copy of the last Newsletter using the "Forward This Email To A Marin Friend" link at the bottom of the newsletter. (If you just forward the email regularly it will come out as ugly text.) If you need me to send you another copy of the Newsletter, just let me know. If you haven't joined the newsletter yet, just sign up in the little box on the top right corner of the Home page.
Perhaps if everyone spreads the word to at least 1 Marin friend, and they spread the word to at least 1 Marin friend (and so on), we'll eventually stumble upon another Paul Penna!!!
(Paul, don't worry -- even if 10 new Paul Pennas start uploading photos, you will always be the Original Paul Penna!) :)
