Clay Fountain One-Of-A-Kind Man (Part II)

Clay12JPG.jpgClay Fountain was one of many Coastsiders I interviewed in 1980-81 for a documentary called “The Mystery of Half Moon Bay”.

Here are more of Clay’s comments. (See the earlier post for more information on his background).

–The Coastal Commission–

“I think the Coastal Commission has worked quite well although I know a lot of resentment has built up against it recently.

“The opponents of Prop 20 weren’t able to deflect it at the polls and so then they set up about working at it, in all sorts of other ways, at local levels, running advertising, getting groups together which sometimes misrepresent what the Coastal Commission is trying to do.

“In the interim the Coastal Commission has tended to soften some of its attitudes somewhat.

“And I disagree with that.

“I think they shouldn’t have softened under this underground and sometimes open attacks by people who are interested in getting richer, getting fatter and having more power.

–Coastside Roads–

“I’m perfectly happy with the roads the way they are.

“I think Devil’s Slide is dangerous and I would agree to having a bypass on the other side of the mountain—but not a massive freeway.

“Like we try to get off our side street on a Saturday or Sunday and sometimes you gotta wait 20 minutes before you find a break in traffic.

-Coastside Fog—

“Enduring fog is worth it to me because there are so many aspects…I can hear the surf pounding at night and I can hear the sea fowl calling down there and there’s a school of smelt or anchovies and I can hear the wind in the trees.”

-Newcomers-
“I find that they [newcomers] change after they get here…they become excited about the coastside and wish that so many more wouldn’t come…

“I was a naturalist and I loved the outdoors and a clean environment from the time I was a child. I’ve spent time in big cities and I don’t like big cities…”

-Environmental Movement-

“My feeling is that the ecology and environmental movement is growing. It’s growing steadily and will one day be the cause of a spiritual rebirth…

“I think we’re marking time. There’s population trickling in. The sewer plant is now going to be built but there’s been some limits put on what can happen with the sewer plant.

“I think there will bew a continuing increase in the population but we’ll still be able to keep it under what the developers want to do……”

I’d like to put together a collection of

stories, telling how Coastsiders “survived” the temporary closing of Devil’s Slide–whether it was traumatic, an occasion to celebrate–or something in between. For every Coastsider, there must be a story.

Please email me stories and I’ll post them–or maybe they should be published.

Today I drove via gorgeous Devil’s Slide to Burlingame and about 1 p.m. I started to think about how I was going to avoid the traffic on Hwy 92–I actually started planning. I thought, uh oh, I better get going if I’m going to miss the worst of it–

And then I remembered.

Devil’s Slide is open. And it’s summer, the roads aren’t as crowded as they will be in the fall when school starts again.

I even took Hwy 92 home–and it was a sweet drive.

Send me your stories, this could be important.

Media Observation: Sunday Night Is HBO Nite But I’m Perplexed

Tonight is HBO night and–in between “Deadwood” and “Entourage”– the great cable tv station aired the fabulous Etta James singing ” A Sunday Kind of Love” for a fall promo of “new” movies, like “Walk the Line”, “Brokeback Mountain”, “Harry Potter”, etc.

But didn’t HBO know a major jeans ad uses the same song for their product? The “Sunday Kind of Love” song’s been running on that ad for a couple of months now.

I love Etta James and the song is great-but, HBO, you put out the best, MOST ORIGINAL shows I’ve ever seen–couldn’t you have come up with a different theme song for the fall flicks?

(I almost felt embarassed–like HBO was copying an ad).

Clay Fountain: One-Of-A-Kind Man (Part 1)

Clay.jpg

During 1980-81, I worked on a t.v. documentary, called “The Mystery of Half Moon Bayâ€?.

Clay Fountain, whose comments follow, had campaigned for the 1976 California Coastal Act and had been the El Granada postmaster. Yes—he was eccentric– today some would say radical—but he was also very kind. I remember one time he called me after the post office had closed—he told me a special package had arrived (it was my birthday) and he waited for me to come and pick it up.

Clay Fountain is no longer with us. A Half Moon Bay friend brought me along to visit him before he passed—he was then living in a Foster City “homeâ€? but the elderly widower suffered from Alzheimer’s….

–On Growth—

“…that all started in 1971 when the Granada Sanitary District and the Half Moon Bay City Council voted to form a joint powers agency which would have authority to get grant funds and build a $5 million sewage disposal facility….

“A group of citizens banded together in opposition to building that disposal plant because it was meant to open up the area for high-density housing and industry and commerce.

“We were able to get an injunction. Fred Lyon (who became a County Supervisor) came into the picture at that time. He was just a law student but he helped to prepare it.

“We had an organization called SOS, Save Our Shoreline..”

–Living On The Coastside–

“I came here because it was a pastoral scene—it was pleasant and serene and I’d like it to kind of stay that way.

“The whole massive growth thing—big institutions, big government…everything seems to keep getting bigger and bigger. And the individual is either being turned into a zombie or is being made into a kind of slave for this massivity.

“I campaigned hard for Prop. 20 [1976 California Coastal Act which greatly limited Coastside construction) and I was glad it passed and it passed very strongly in this area because [pause] natural beauty, scenic majesty ought to be like the air, you shouldn’t have to pay for it and it shouldn’t be cluttered up.

“The cosmos gives us these things.”

–Clay Fountain’s Philosophy–

“I have a very peculiar sense of what ownership is…I think the cosmos owns everything and that it’s improper for people to buy it or steal it or seize it and say, now this is mine, and I’m the only one to use it.

“I think the cosmos owns everything. The earth belongs to all of us and we ought to be humble about that and use it not for vain glory, not to get fatter than anyone or richer and use what abundance there is on earth in a fair and pleasant way.”

…to be continued…

A Cure For Devil’s Slide-Itis

It’s Sunday, I woke up and had an epiphany: I can’t get used to the idea that a new and improved Devil’s Slide has opened. The reality hasn’t hit me yet.

I’ve barely recovered from Devil’s Slide being closed. My doctor says I have a severe case of “Devil’s Slide-itisâ€?.

The sky is too blue, there’s a delightful breeze and the weather reporter said, “It’s going to be a warm day and everybody’s heading for the Coastside.â€?

“Oh no No NO NO NO…please don’t come; please don’t head for the Coastside.â€?

In my head there were visions of cars on Hwy 92, endless lines of cars, cars that were standing still and I was sitting in the midst of it………then my car overheated…then there was an accident….and the CHP was directing emergency vehicles…..

I woke up in a cold sweat—it was only a nightmare.

Maybe we need a halfway house for recovering Devil’s Slide victims.

My doctor advises that the only cure for “Devil’s Slide-itisâ€? is to gradually decompress somewhere…maybe a 35-minute wait on the Bay Bridge would do it—or, better yet an hour in the dark, moldy Caldicott Tunnel (wherever that is).

Maybe I’ll recover by the year 2011 when the Devil’s Slide-Oliver Mayer Tunnel (shudder) nears completion.

“1971 Will Be Good Year,”

Says Don Carder, New Chamber of Commerce President; Action On Freeways Is Urged

“1971 will be a good year for Half Moon Bay and the coastside,” said Don Carder, newly-elected president of the Half Moon Bay Chamber of Commerce as he took over the gavel at a Thursday noon luncheon.

“The emphasis should be for quality development and I believe that there will be growth. Controlled growth is better than having no planning to preseve some of the open space.”

–People Will Come–

“There are some who want no more people to come here, but the people will continue to come. I feel that not all the beach frontage should be taken by the county or the state.

“We should try to build better local sewer treatment plants so that we won’t have something like the Kaiser plan. The recreation aspect will be important in our future growth,” Carder added.

Carder was introduced by Ben LaMar, the outgoing president of the chamber, who urged continuation of the efforts to obtain construction of the Rt. 92 freeway from San Mateo and the Devil’s Slide bypass….”

(This 1971 article from the “Half Moon Bay Review” was sent to me by a reader.)

The Film School in Miramar? The Booths?

Shera Thompson asks:

“I’ve been trying to dredge up the name of a filmaker in your neighborhood who I took classes from in the early 1970’s. As I write this his name finally came to me. Larry Booth. Do you know of him–is he still around? His wife was Sheila I think and she did sound/sound effects for film.”

Anyone know?

I remember the Film School and how I wanted to take one of the classes but never did.

I Bought My Wedding Dress Here

wedding dress.jpg (Petrouchka’s on 24th Street in San Francisco)

And Sunset Magazine sent a photographer to shoot the canopy we stood under (while receiving the vows)– I think this was the photographer’s photo that appeared in the magazine, or one like it–I’m still looking for the magazine photo.

sunset1.jpg