By Jennifer Christensen Before podcasts like Serial or My Favorite Murder and documentaries like The Jinx and Making a Murderer skyrocketed in popularity, the telling of true crime stories “was long in the province of newspapers and magazines, [and] began making its way into books in the early decades of…

By Carol Acquaviva The first Sonoma-Marin Fair was held in Petaluma in 1866. But it would be fifty years before the first Marin County Fair and Harvest Festival, which was organized in September of 1925 at the site of today’s Redwood Highway and Grant Avenue in Novato. Exhibits and competitions…

By Carol Acquaviva and Jennifer Christensen “That’s a woman’s game,” said the Overland Monthly in 1892. The snark was in reference to the reputation of lawn tennis as a mere pastime than a sport requiring athleticism. …

By Dewey Livingston Note: This is an excerpt from Dewey’s forthcoming book on Point Reyes history. For decades on the Inverness waterfront stood the home and business of the Hom family. Gin Hom (or Hom Gin in China) emigrated from Guandong (Canton) around 1915 and found a job at Mare Island in the Navy laundry. There he met Mashee (Ma) Yuen and they…

By Brad Rippe It’s Tuesday afternoon, October 17, 1989. The Oakland Athletics and the San Francisco Giants are warming up for game three of the World Series at Candlestick Park. Bay Area baseball fans are finishing up the day, getting ready for the game. Among those fans is Kevin Lorne…

By Robert L. Harrison The origin of today’s Marin Independent Journal (IJ) newspaper dates back 161 years. The story of the IJ begins on March 23, 1861 when Ai Barney and his son Jerome published the first issue of The Marin County Journal. …

By Carol Acquaviva

By Dewey Livingston In early 1857 the few newly settled pioneer residents of the Olema area witnessed the spectacle of a long distance cattle drive pouring into their quiet and picturesque valley. …

By Carol Acquaviva Nineteenth-century phrases like “peculiar nervous diseases affecting women,” “women’s ills,” and “female weakness disorders” created a siren song in advertisements. …