Frank Canepa, who founded the Mill Valley Market, was born in Varazze, Italy, on the Mediterranean between Genoa and the French border. In 1913, at the age of 16, he came alone to the United States to join two uncles who lived in the Bay Area. Because of World War I, the Depression, and World War II, he didn't see his family in Italy again until 1947.

Frank, who didn't speak English, worked where he could, from Half Moon Bay to Fresno. After working for two years in an Italian market in San Francisco's North Beach, he opened his own small store at Cole and Carl streets, near Kezar stadium.

One Sunday while driving through Marin in his old Whippet automobile (he had come over on the ferry), he discovered Mill Valley. This small town in beautiful Marin County was where he wanted to live, and he decided to leave the city. He sold his San Francisco store and began looking for a location.

Frank arranged to rent one half of a butcher shop, located at 118 Throckmorton Street, where a laundromat is now located. Opening day was planned for July 4, 1929. That morning Frank arrived from San Francisco to find Mount Tamalpais in flames, and he, along with every other able-bodied male, was "recruited" to save the town. Fortunately, the winds changed and the fire, which had burned for days, destroying houses all the way down to Lovell, stopped just short of downtown.

The town survived the fire, but now faced the Depression. Money was scarce, and people were forced to rely on a barter economy to get by. The doctor who delivered Frank's first two children was paid with groceries, as were the carpenters who worked on the store. The system worked for everyone, as doctors were having as much difficulty getting paid as Frank was. All during the Depression Frank was generous with credit. Some older customers told Bob Canepa, Frank's youngest son, that they couldn't have gotten through if his father hadn't "carried" them, either letting them buy groceries on credit or in exchange for work.

In 1931 Frank married Kaethe Thran, whom he had met five years earlier. The future Mrs. Canepa had graduated from Franklin Hospital as a nurse.

In the late thirties Frank took in a new partner, Ambrose Polacchi, the last significant change until 1955. That year the market moved to its present location at 12 Corte Madera Avenue, which was then the site of the Green Frog Grocery; and Frank decided to sell his share of the business to his oldest son Jim, and Jim's friend Joe Morello. In addition to bringing his son into the business, the sale allowed Frank to concentrate on his beloved produce, which he did for another 20 years.

Mill Valley Market 1937, Ambrose Polacchi, Pete Chandler, Frank Canepa, Frank Zuffinetti

Ambrose retired in the sixties, and in 1966 the market expanded into the space occupied by Pohli Real Estate and the Pet Salon, and again in 1976, this time into the space occupied by Quinn's Bar and The White Mill Restaurant. Frank's youngest son, Bob, became a partner in 1975, and, along with Jim and Joe, owned the store until 1990, when Jim and Joe sold their shares to Jim's sons, Doug and David Canepa. The store is now owned by Bob, Doug and David, and is the only independently owned and operated market in Mill Valley and one of the few remaining in Marin.

In 1985 Mill Valley Market was the first business to receive the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce's Business of the Year award, a prestigious award it received again in 1991. (It is the only business in Mill Valley to be honored twice in this way.) The Market has also been named the Pacific Sun's Best Gourmet Grocery Store in Marin.

In July of 1989, Mill Valley Market threw a 60th Anniversary/Thank You Mill Valley Party, and invited the town to join in for a grand picnic ? free food, drink and entertainment ? in front of City Hall. More than one thousand people attended this "mutual admiration society."

Seven years later, in July, 1996, the Market, joined by Kiddo! (formerly the Schools Foundation) and the Tam High Foundation, put on a party to celebrate the Market's reaching the $100,000 mark in contributions to the schools. That amount continues to grow and is rapidly approaching $200,000.

Although there are no parties planned for the immediate future, something wonderful is bound to happen some time soon. The Market and the town are simply too connected, their histories too intertwined, not to celebrate every once in a while.