Throughout World War II, the Greenbrae Rod & Gun Club hosted convalescing airmen from nearby Hamilton Field for striper bass fishing expeditions at their clubhouse on the Greenbrae Boardwalk. Club members loaded upwards of 80 airmen into more than 25 member boats and provided the soldiers with boxed lunches and an ample supply of beer that was ferried out to each boat whenever a white flag was raised.
After a day on the bay, the Ladies’ Auxiliary served a large meal at the clubhouse, glasses were raised in toasts and all of the day’s catch were packed in ice and sent to the Hamilton Field kitchens to be served to airmen unable to make the trip.
The Rod & Gun Club was established in 1926 by local sportsmen who met for a number of years in each other’s houses. By the end of the 1930s, club membership had grown to such an extent that the group began searching for a site to build a clubhouse. Many members lived on arks along the Greenbrae Boardwalk, just across Corte Madera Creek from today’s Larkspur Ferry Terminal. A large plot of land was purchased there, and the clubhouse was built and dedicated in June of 1940.
Throughout the war years and the 1950s, the Greenbrae Rod & Gun Club flourished with more than 200 members and the clubhouse was the location for many events, including the annual St. Patrick’s Day dinner and dance. A 1959 Sausalito News article wrote that “the club will celebrate the 19th St. Patrick’s dinner dance featuring dinner and a full evening of dancing and entertainment with George Hall Jr. and his Greenbrae Hotshots furnishing the music.”
The club also sponsored an annual fishing trip and picnic for students from the Sunnyhills School in San Anselmo and the St. Vincent’s School for Boys in Marinwood. After the 2½ hour fishing trip, the children and teens enjoyed numerous carnival-style games at the clubhouse, ate a sumptuous meal and ended the day with a talent show performed by themselves.
Besides all the fun and charitable work, the club also was instrumental in opposing two separate attempts to place explosive-laden barges off San Quentin Point and McNear’s Beach in 1949 and 1952, respectively, and lobbied against the placement of a garbage dump in Greenbrae in 1954.
By the early 1960s, membership in the club had dropped and many charter members had died. The clubhouse still served as a meeting place, but newspapers of the decade began advertising rummage sales at the property to benefit the Greenbrae Improvement Club and notices to the public that the clubhouse served as a polling location for voters.
In 1973, the Rod & Gun Club was dissolved, and the clubhouse became the home of the Crossley Bridge Center, which moved from its home in San Rafael and began offering contract bridge classes and tournaments in the venerable old building.
The center closed its doors in 2018 and the property, along with the clubhouse, was recently listed on the real estate market for $999,000.
History Watch is written by Scott Fletcher, a volunteer at the Marin History Museum, marinhistory.org. Images included in History Watch are available for purchase by calling 415-382-1182 or by email at info@marinhistory.org.
"lively" - Google News
October 20, 2020 at 02:09AM
https://ift.tt/348YJPw
Marin history: Greenbrae’s lively Rod & Gun Club - Marin Independent Journal
"lively" - Google News
https://ift.tt/35lls9S
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Marin history: Greenbrae’s lively Rod & Gun Club - Marin Independent Journal"
Post a Comment