[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 33 (Thursday, February 28, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E266]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E266]]
               100TH ANNIVERSARY OF LARKSPUR, CALIFORNIA

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                          HON. LYNN C. WOOLSEY

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, February 28, 2008

  Ms. WOOLSEY. Madam Speaker, today I rise with great pleasure to 
celebrate the 100th anniversary of the incorporation of Larkspur, 
California, one of the most beautiful cities in my district, and one of 
only three cities whose distinctive character have gained them listing 
on the National Register of Historic Places. Larkspur received this 
official recognition because it typifies the smalltown look of turn-of-
the-19th century California.
  From its origins as part of a Mexican land grant through its logging 
days to its late 19th century status as a risque resort, Larkspur 
became just a small town where the well-off came to escape the freezing 
San Francisco summers.
  Larkspur, like many Marin County towns, evolved after the 1906 San 
Francisco earthquake. ``What really started Larkspur was the 
earthquake,'' explains Helen Heitkamp, member of the city's Heritage 
Preservation Board and a local historian who helped write the book 
Larkspur Past & Present, A History & Walking Guide. ``After the 
earthquake, the people who had summer cottages came to stay and that 
started that first big push.''
  But becoming a city wasn't as easy as it sounds, says Mayor Kathy 
Hartzell.
  ``They held their vote in August, 1907 and in February 1908, the 
county said OK. On March 1, 1908 the city was incorporated.'' However, 
one of the town's leading residents, Jean Escalle, brought suit against 
the city on the grounds there was inadequate notification of the 
election and the polls closed too early! It wasn't until 1911 that the 
courts ruled in favor of Larkspur. Escalle, by the way, went on to 
serve as a city council member, the mayor notes.
  Noted for its beautiful setting, the Larkspur of the early 20th 
century wasn't as pretty as it is today. Clear-cut logging had 
decimated the forests and denuded the hillsides. In fact, says 
Heitkamp, ``when the city was first formed, you needed a permit to cut 
trees because the hills were bare and they were trying to grow trees.''
  At that time, too, the original highway was mapped so that the main 
street through downtown Larkspur--called Magnolia Avenue--served as the 
major access road for much of Marin. Its character now, through 
restrictions by the Historic Register, looks much the same as it did 
100 years ago.
  A walk along Magnolia Avenue--from Mission Revival-style City Hall to 
the 1930s Art Deco-style Lark Theater three blocks away--encompasses 
the history of Larkspur. Along the way is the false-front building 
where the Silver Peso, the town's only bar, now resides. Built in 1890 
as a blacksmith's shop, its walls still show the original double doors 
where wagons and buggies came in and out. The building next to it--the 
one that now houses the pool table--was the city's first firehouse. On 
the corner down the street stands the Blue Rock Inn, built in 1895, 
whose rooms have since been converted to apartments. On the street 
level, celebrities can often be seen dining at the sidewalk tables of 
its French restaurant, the Left Bank Brasserie. Downtown Larkspur, also 
designated as a State historic site, spans more than a century of 
architecture.
  Preservation efforts begun in the 1970s have not only kept the 
smalltown character but have controlled new development. Heitkamp notes 
that these efforts also helped Larkspur maintain its beautiful 
surroundings. No longer set among tree stumps, the city is now 
resplendent in oaks, redwoods, madrones and other trees. Larkspur 
citizen groups have bought up the hills, Heitkamp says, ``so that our 
backdrop for the city has also been preserved.''
  Of course, a city is more than its architecture, its setting, or its 
natural environment. Most of all, a city is its people. I am proud to 
say that the people of Larkspur are as charming, diverse and beautiful 
as the city itself.
  The year-long centennial celebration will kick-off on Saturday, March 
1, with a gala birthday party and parade from City Hall to Hall Middle 
School. The ``Meet Me in Larkspur'' centennial activities will continue 
throughout the summer and culminate with the city's famous Rose Bowl 
Dance, a tradition that made Larkspur a romantic destination for many 
years.
  I am proud to represent the people of Larkspur, Madam Speaker, and I 
ask that you join me in congratulating them on their accomplishments of 
the past 100 years and wishing them the best for the next century.

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