Local history and nostalgia-lovers are in for a

treat with the recent release of photographer

and 40 year Mill Valley resident SUKI HILL's

new book Mill Valley: Then & Now.  

As the title suggests, Hill’s work contrasts her

own contemporary photos of Mill Valley with

older images reaching back towards the turn of

the century.  

Hill moved to Mill Valley in 1964 and bought a

cabin on Mt. Tam in 1969 for $10,000 (“As

much as some people spend on a couch,” she

says.)  While she’s built a career photographing

rock stars and the rich and famous, she says

her favorite subjects are the people within her

community. 

JASON:  Tell me about the first time you came

to Marin?

SUKI:  It was one of those things you never

forget.  It was around 1963.  My boyfriend and I

were driving across the Golden Gate Bridge

and it was foggy, and we got halfway across

the bridge and the sun came out, and there

was a rainbow.  I swear to God.  And I just

went "Oh my God, where are we?  This is

amazing."

JASON: Where were you living at the time?

SUKI: San Francisco.   Before that I grew up in

Milwaukee and went to school at Sarah

Lawrence on the East Coast. I came out here

to do graduate work at Berkeley and then I got

a job in San Francisco.

JASON: What was the job?

HILL: My first job was at a bank and then my

second job was an assistant at an advertising

agency.  I started doing advertising work and

became a real hotshot fashion photographer for

a while.  I did all the national Levis ads for

about five years, lots of hot stuff. 

JASON:  You’re well-known for taking

photographs of celebrities and rock stars.  How

did that begin?

SUKI:  In the early ‘60s  we were serious

photographers at all these events.   We were

sort of pre-hippies, not into drugs or anything

like that.  We’d go to the Fillmore every

Saturday night and shoot pictures.  We had a

lot of friends that were show people and

musicians and we’d follow them around - before

The Grateful Dead was The Grateful Dead.  We

photographed them.  We also photographed the

Hells Angels.

JASON:  Were you shooting photos here in

Marin or in San Francisco?

HILL:  Well I did the “KFRC Fantasy Fair”

which was on Mount Tam.  That was a big rock

concert.  There were thousands of people and

bands -- Jefferson Airplane and Paul

Butterfield Blues Band, and Country Joe and

the Fish...

LEWIS: When did you get into shooting photos

of everyday members of the community?

HILL: I had been shooting photos of local

businesses.  I discovered that group shots

were really cool.

LEWIS: Why?

HILL: At first I thought it would be boring but it

turns out that when you photograph people who

work together, for example, it brings them

together and makes them feel good.   And then

it tells you something about the business; how

they dress, etc.  Because it was so interesting

I started photographing everybody I could: the

sewage treatment people, the grounds people

in Mill Valley, the various businesses.

JASON:  How would you describe Mill Valley:

Then & Now?

SUKI: It’s a small selection of vintage pictures

of Mill Valley, a lot of them from 100 years

ago, paired with my photographs of

contemporary Mill Valley, broken into sections. 

So there’s a section on Views and a section on

Neighborhoods.  There’s a section on

Businesses and People, etc.  I put a picture of

myself running the Dipsea in 1972.  That was a

little out of the formula because 1972 is not

really a ‘then’ photograph, but I wanted to put

myself in the book.  (Hill ran the Dipsea Race

for 18 years.)

JASON:  What do you think is so special about

Mill Valley?

SUKI: Mill Valley’s always ahead of everyone

else.  In terms of awareness, consciousness of

their community.  This is a very integrated

thoughtful community.  Mill Valley has real

history. It’s never been a “bedroom community"

like Tiburon or Ross.  We have a good city

government, Rotary, active community

organizations, active Chamber of Commerce

and a great library.  Mill Valley has soul, and

people are very proud to be a part of this

community.

JASON: What kind of stark differences are

people going to see in your photos?

SUKI: I have pictures of kids playing jacks in

front of Bennett’s, our old variety store.  Today,

you rarely see children playing on the street

alone or walking to and from school.  They’re

always accompanied by their parent because

everyone’s so afraid something dreadful will

happen to their children.   It’s sad, it’s really

sad.  And people live in these houses and they

put gates up.  There never were so many

gates.  It’s really different now.  And the other

thing, you used to see young mothers and their

children in the park together.  Our kids used to

walk to school down Edgewood and the Dipsea

stairs.  We would take our kids to the park or

they would build forts in the woods.  Now you

are more likely to see kids with their nannies,

and lots of double strollers, because people

wait til quite a lot later to have kids and end up

on fertility drugs – lots of twins!  You see more

double carriages than you do single.   They’re

not necessarily bad things.  But Mill Valley real

estate has become so over the top expensive,

often both parents have to work to pay the

mortgage.

JASON: Do you think this is an America thing

or a Mill Valley thing?

SUKI: We’re ahead of the time, but I think it’s

happening everywhere.  I mean people want so

much and they want to have these big fancy

houses, and so they pay a lot of money for

things and then they have to work, and they

have to farm their kids out.  And we didn’t do

that.

JASON: Do you think it’s going to change in

the future?

SUKI: I do.  I must say

the town is full of young

kids, the plaza seems to

be teeming with activity,

and lots of young families

have managed to buy

houses here.  I hope they

can stay!

----

MARIN ROCK EXHIBIT:

For the month of August,

Suki will be exhibiting

photographs taken in 1967

and 1968 of musicians

from the Fillmore

Auditorium and at the

KFRC Fantasy Fair on Mt.

Tam.  The exhibit will be at

the 142 Throckmorton

Theater in Mill Valley,

and the opening reception

will be Tuesday, August

5th from 5PM. To 7PM.

Visit Suki’s official website at

www.sukihillphoto.com

COPYRIGHT

All of the material

on this website is

copyrighted by

Jason Lewis

unless otherwise

stated.  Those

images not owned

by Jason Lewis

are copyrighted

by their

respective

owners.  If you

are interested in

using material

from these pages,

please contact

Jason Lewis at

jason@marinnost

algia.org prior to

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Many of the

photographs in Hill's

Mill Valley: Then

and Now book can

be seen in the Mill

Valley Library, and

are available for

purchase.  For

more info visit Hill's

website:

sukihillphoto.com