All the historic elms are gone from the Miracle Mile, once an old railroad bed, now a main artery that connects San Rafael to San Anselmo, so now it is an afternoon nightmare to drive with the westering sun hovering over Mt. Tam, blinding us all. The trees got Dutch elm disease in the 1970s, from a non-native wood boring beetle. We went to great lengths to save them, never knowing that the sudden oak death, too was festering on the horizon. Elms also once lined much of Sir Francis Drake Blvd, some still stand at the San Anselmo-Ross border, Shady Lane, and Ross Ave. But disease ravaged most of them. Massive elms were the quintessential shade tree of Marin. They even lined the main road out of Novato that became Highway 101 at Olompali. Now most of the trees are gone. Felled by an imported disease. After George Lucas bought Amazing Grace Music, once an old gas station on the Miracle Mile, he rebuilt it, and also redid the center divide from United Market to the hub. A curious mix of native and non-native species. He did a great job converting the old gas station into a viable space and Amazing Grace Music certainly is a venerable business worth saving considering the alternative was to level it. He also bought the old drugstore next to the San Anselmo Police Station and razed it, and turned the lot into a park—replete with a fountain statues of Indiana Jones and Yoda. Al least he kept all the old trees intact there.
added & revised 10/2021
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