Vignette > Eastland Bakery
Bernard Grethel, Bakery and Saloon
At the 1890 land auction in Old Mill Park, German-born Bernard and Rose Grethel bought property on Miller Ave. opposite the depot. They built a two-story building at #18 and in 1893 opened Eastland Bakery on the ground floor. At that time, the town and the railroad depot were called both Eastland and Mill Valley. The community at the railroad station down the line was called Millwood. Above the Eastland Bakery was Grethel's Hall, the town's first public meeting place. The Grethels lived in Sausalito. Every morning Bernard would arrive at the bakery before six a.m. in a horse-drawn turnout with a load of fresh bread. Sometimes, the road was flooded, but he always made it through which he attributed to his old faithful horse. In 1895 the Grethels acquired a new horse-drawn turnout to deliver bread to customers. Before 1900, Grethel installed Mill Valley's first wood sidewalk. In 1905, the Eastland Bakery moved to #14 Miller and #18 became the Sequoia saloon. The Kraft family owned the Eastland Bakery from 1921 to 1928 when it was sold to Rosmussen Jandresen, a San Francisco baker. In 1947 it became Meier's Bakery. Charles and Elsie Meier lived upstairs.
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