Dad died in 1944, and Mom needed a job....we ended up cooking at the Berkeley Camp. I was 12, and pretty much turned loose. I walked into Cazadero nearly everyday. Had my first "Pronto Pup", at the snack bar in the open air dance floor, put lots of nickels into the juke box there. When Mom could afford it, I paid for a horse ride from the horses tied in front of Berry's sawmill, watched with fascination as those big redwood logs were turned into lumber, and once in a while shopped in the general store. I'm writing memoirs for a senior writing group, and documenting the five summers I spent at Cazadero. Once in college, I needed a better paying (and closer to home) job, but the year before I got married (1956), I worked as the clerk at the Berkeley camp. No teenager ever had a more idyllic series of summers.... Thank you to all the townies for tolerating us city kids. You had this beauty all year long, and you loaned it to us each summer.

Greets,
The outdoor dance hall with the indoor restaurant, (not really a mere snack bar), was The Redwood Hall. It's deck ajoined the little stream on it's southern flank named St. Elmo, which most of us slurred the name to: Stalmo Creek. The east edge of the deck was over the Austin Creek, whereupon in the summer one could look straight down at various fishes from the railing since the waters were dammed-up from the Elim Grove gravel dam with it's 4x4x20 ft. fun-to-slide-through spill-way-box. Above the railing were colorful Oriental paper globe-shades lit up at night with incandescent bulbs. The Redwood hall's deck had booths on either side for guests to sit at tabled benches. I really loved the place, and I fed a lot of nickels into the pin-ball machines in 1953..,I was only five years old then, but I did ok I guess, considering I had to stand on milk crate! In 1955 I was seven years old and I got even better--we probably passed by each other at some point, but us kids kindof stood back and observed the teens from a distance and talk about you all! Recall the time some teens circled their vehicles in the middle of the road around a fire just before the old wooden bridge? The fuel they used was a tire! There were some tent/platforms for Berkeley campers just 50ft. from the bridge. Us kids would watch the teens party on the hoods, roofs, and trunks of their vehicles, drinking soda, or maybe even beer. In those days it was a test of strength to crush a beer can with one's hand. Not all the 'townies' got along with the Berkeley camp, and I remember a story of three who drove along the road headed towards town and threw a stick of dynamite into the dammed up swimming area during the camp's lunch time, i.e., when no one was in the water, and then the idiots went to the Elim Grove Cafe/restaurant and sat at the counter when the stick when off! Seems like they had a pretty good alibi to cover their mis-deed! Did you ever get a hair-cut from 'Curly'? He had a barber shop in a room facing the parking lot/road under the Elim Grove Cafe/Restaurant roof. You might have seen me raking the parking lot of redwood leaves into piles, which was one of my chores. Another chore was building the campfire there everynight. Were you there the night when there was an accoustic band and one of the fellows played a wash-tub bass instrument? The single string being tied off on one end of a stick, with the other end tied through a hole in the bottom edge of the tub, with the tub upside down on the ground and the stick vertically held in one hand, the the string strummed by the other? Had some real fond memories..,totally innocent! Was Heaven on Earth for me since I knew of no other reality. Do you recall when my Grandfather placed an outdoor TV near the front door of the restaurant? People would sit and watch that wonderous box!LOL! The townies really reveled in the fact that the base ball games held at the camp were always won by the townies! It was really cool to watch a high flying ball bounce into and off of the tree trunks, or branches, richocheting who knows where, yet often caught by one side or the other!!!! In later years I guess after you, the most fantastic stage for concerts was built by Mr. Proshold. I believe it was torn down years later. I have never seen a stage as beautiful as that one. As far as the beauty of the valley all year long..,ah, like it seemed to rain all the time in the winter. My grandfather recorded the daily/annual rainfall and it averaged 140inches per year..,and that's alot, ALOT of rain! Yet the watershed held the swollen creek very well and dangerous flooding to human habitation really never happened. That changed when most of the trees were cut down by the money hungry fools,(body temp. I.Q.s). I can name a few, but since I traveled all around the U.S.A., I learned a saying in the South; If one hasn't got something good to say about someone, then one shouldn't say! Did you ever go up to "Inspiration Point"? That was a common place for an organized Berkeley Camper hike. If you did, you might recall the 'magic' of looking west at the other side of the valley from the ridgeline the I.P. was located. That magic 'tricking' of depth perception(s) is lost now due to the clear cut patch work offending the senses! Now, there is a house in the little clearing just below the I.P., the one with the solitary boulder that stood there in the middle, as tall as a person. There is a story about that boulder that it was a trail marker for the natives that once lived in the area. From the I.P., one could line-up with it, look up to the top of the valley across the way, and if you travelled straight down crossing over Austin Creek, and go straight-away upwards you would, when you got to the top, find two 15-20 foot diameter hemispheric boulders where the long ago natives would grind pedestals over acorns, etc. into bowls thusly carved into them. More later. Over and OUT!