title: Mill Valley, California

text: By 1834, the Mission era had ended and California was under the control of the Mexican government. They took Miwok ancestral lands, divided them and gave them to Mexican soldiers or relatives who had connections with the Mexican governor. The huge tracts of land, called ranchos by the Mexican settlers, or Californios, soon covered the area. The Miwoks who had not died or fled were often employed under a state of indentured servitude to the California land grant owners. That same year, the governor of Alta California, José Figueroa, awarded to John T. Reed the first land grant in Marin, Rancho Corte Madera del Presidio. Just west of that, Rancho Saucelito was transferred to William A. Richardson in 1838 after being originally awarded to Nicolas Galindo in 1835. William Richardson also married a well-connected woman; both he and Reed were originally from Europe. Richardson's name was later applied to Richardson Bay, an arm of the San Francisco Bay that brushes up against the eastern edge of Mill Valley. The Richardson rancho contained everything south and west of the Corte Madera and Larkspur areas with the Pacific Ocean, San Francisco Bay, and Richardson Bay as the other three borders. The former encompassed what is now southern Corte Madera, the Tiburon Peninsula, and Strawberry Point.


title: Mill Valley, California

text: In 1836, John Reed married Hilaria Sanchez, the daughter of a commandante in the San Francisco Presidio. He built the first sawmill in the county on the Cascade Creek (now Old Mill Park) in the mid-1830s on Richardson's rancho and settled near what is now Locke Lane and LaGoma Avenue. The mill cut wood for the San Francisco Presidio. He raised cattle and horses and had a brickyard and stone quarry. Reed also did brisk businesses in hunting, skins, tallow, and other products until his death in 1843 at 38 years of age. Richardson sold butter, milk and beef to San Francisco during the Gold Rush. Shortly thereafter, he made several poor investments and wound up massively in debt to many creditors. On top of losing his Mendocino County rancho, he was forced to deed the Rancho Saucelito to his wife, Maria Antonia Martinez, daughter of the commandante of the Presidio, in order to protect her. The rest of the rancho, including the part of what is now Mill Valley that did not already belong to Reed's heirs, was given to his administrator Samuel Reading Throckmorton. At his death in 1856 at 61 years old, Richardson was almost destitute.


title: Mill Valley, California

text: Throckmorton came to San Francisco in 1850 as an agent for an eastern mining business before working for Richardson. As payment of a debt, Throckmorton acquired a large portion of Rancho Saucelito in 1853–54 and built his own rancho, "The Homestead," on what is now Linden Lane and Montford Avenue. The descendants of ranch superintendent Jacob Gardner continue to be active in Marin. Some of the rest of his land was leased out for dairy farming to Portuguese settlers. A majority of the immigrants came from the Azores. Those who were unsuccessful at gold mining came north to the Marin Headlands and later brought their families. In Mill Valley, Ranch "B" is one of the few remaining dairy farm buildings and is located near the parking lot at the Tennessee Valley trailhead. Throckmorton also suffered devastating financial problems before his death in 1887. His surname would later be applied to one of the major thoroughfares in Mill Valley. Richardson and Reed had never formalized the boundary lines separating their ranchos. Richardson's heirs successfully sued Reed's heirs in 1860 claiming the mill was built on their property. The border was officially marked as running along the Arroyo Corte Madera del Presidio along present-day Miller Avenue. Everything to the east of the creek was Reed property, and everything to the west was Richardson land. It was Richardson's territory that would soon become part of Mill Valley when Throckmorton's daughter Suzanna was forced to relinquish several thousand acres to the San Francisco Savings & Union Bank to satisfy a debt of $100,000 against the estate in 1889.


title: Mill Valley, California

text: In 1873, San Francisco physician Dr. John Cushing discovered 320 "lost" acres between the Reed and Richardson boundaries between present-day Corte Madera Avenue, across the creek, and into West Blithedale Canyon. Using the Homestead Act he petitioned the government and managed to acquire the land. Before his death in 1879 he had built a sanitarium in the peaceful canyon. In Sausalito the North Pacific Coast Railroad had laid down tracks to a station near present-day Highway 101 at Strawberry. Seeing the financial advantages of a railroad his descendants then turned the hospital into the Blithedale Hotel after the land title was finally granted in 1884. The sanitarium was enlarged, cottages were built up along the property, and horse-drawn carriages were purchased to pick up guests at the Alto station. Within a few years, several other summer resort hotels had cropped up in the canyon including the Abbey, the Eastland, and the Redwood Lodge. Fishing, hunting, hiking, swimming, horseback riding, and other activities increased in popularity as people came to the area as vacationers or moved in and commuted to San Francisco for work. Meanwhile, Reed's mill deforested much of the surrounding redwoods, meaning that most of the redwoods growing today are second- or third-growth. The King family (King Street) owned property near the Cushing land. One of its buildings was a small adobe house which is believed to have predated the King farm. The Blithedale Hotel used it as a milk house. The adobe structure is still standing and connected to a house on West Blithedale Avenue; it is the oldest structure in Mill Valley.


title: Mill Valley, California

text: The San Francisco Savings & Union Bank organized the Tamalpais Land & Water Company in 1889 as an agency for disposing of the Richardson land gained from the Throckmorton debt. The Board of Directors was President Joseph Eastland, Secretary Louis L. Janes (Janes Street), Thomas Magee (Magee Avenue), Albert Miller (Miller Avenue), and Lovell White (Lovell Avenue). Eastland, who had been president of the North Pacific Coast Railroad in 1877 and retained an interest, pushed to extend the railroad into the area in 1889. Though Reed, Richardson, and the Cushings were crucial to bringing people to the Mill Valley area, it was Eastland who really propelled the area and set the foundation for the city today. He had founded power companies all around the San Francisco Bay area, was on the board of several banks, and had control of several commercial companies. The Tamalpais Land & Water Co. hired Michael M. O'Shaughnessy, already a noted engineer to lay out roads, pedestrian paths, and step-systems for what the developers hoped would become a new city. He also built the Cascade Dam & Reservoir for water supply, and set aside land plots for churches, schools, and parks.


title: Mill Valley, California

text: On May 31, 1890, nearly 3,000 people attended The Tamalpais Land & Water Co. land auction near the now-crumbling sawmill. More than were sold that day in the areas of present-day Throckmorton, Cascade, Lovell, Summit, and Miller Avenues and extending to the west side of Corte Madera Avenue. By 1892, there were two schools in the area and a few churches. The auction also brought into Mill Valley architects, builders, and craftsmen. Harvey A. Klyce was one of the most prominent of the architects and designed many private homes and public buildings in the area, including the Masonic Lodge in 1904. Before his death in 1894, Eastland built a large summer home, "Burlwood", constructed on Throckmorton Avenue in 1892 that still stands though much of the original land has been parceled off. Burlwood was the first home in the town to have electricity, and when telephones were installed only he and Mrs. Cushing, the owner of the Blithedale Hotel, had service. After the land auctions the area was known as both "Eastland" and "Mill Valley".


title: Mill Valley, California

text: Janes, by then the resident director of Tamalpais Land & Water Co. (and eventually the city's first town clerk), and Sidney B. Cushing, president of the San Rafael Gas & Electric Co. set out to bring a railroad up Mt. Tamalpais. The Mt. Tamalpais Scenic Railway opened in 1896 (with Cushing as President) and ran from the town center (present day Lytton Square) all the way to the summit. In 1907, the railroad added a branch line into "Redwood Canyon", and in 1908, the canyon became Muir Woods, a national monument. The railroad built the Muir Inn (with a fine restaurant) and overnight cabins for visitors. The Mt. Tamalpais & Muir Woods Scenic Railway, "The Crookedest Railroad in the World" and its unique Gravity Cars brought thousands of tourists to the Tavern of Tamalpais on the mountain summit (built in 1896, rebuilt after the 1923 fire, and razed in 1950 by the California State Parks), the West Point Inn (built in 1904, by the scenic railway, operated commercially until 1943, closed briefly and then run by volunteers to present day, ), and the Muir Woods Inn (burned in 1913, rebuilt in 1914, destroyed in 1930). The tracks were removed in 1930 after the 1929 fire. This occurred as a result of a drop in ridership due to increased usage of automobiles rather than trains for recreation and construction of the Panoramic Highway and connecting road to Ridgecrest in 1929. Rails connected Mill Valley with neighboring cities and commuters to San Francisco via ferries.


title: Mill Valley, California

text: By 1900, the population was nearing 900 and the locals pushed out the Tamalpais Land & Water Co. in favor of incorporation. Organizations and clubs cropped up including the Outdoor Art Club (1902) (organized by Laura Lyon White), Masonic Lodge (1903) which celebrated its centennial in 2003 and the Dipsea Race (1905), the latter marking its 100th anniversary in 2010. The second big population boom came after the 1906 Great earthquake. While much of San Francisco and Marin County was devastated, many fled to Mill Valley and most never left. In that year alone the population grew to over 1,000 permanent residents. Creeks were bridged over or dammed, more roads laid down and oiled, and cement sidewalks poured. Tamalpais High School opened in 1908, the first city hall was erected in 1908, and Andrew Carnegie's library in 1910. The Post Office opened under the name "Eastland", however after many objections it was changed to "Mill Valley" in 1904. The very first Mountain Play was performed at the Mountain Theater on Mt. Tam in 1913.


title: Mill Valley, California

text: By the 1920s, most roads were paved over, mail delivery was in full swing, and the population was at its highest at more than 2,500 citizens. Mill Valley Italian settlers made wine during Prohibition, while some local bar owners made bootleg whiskey under the dense foliage around the local creeks. January 1922 saw the first of several years of snow in Marin County, coating Mt. Tam white. Two years later the Sulphur Springs, a natural hot spring where locals could revive their lagging spirits, was covered over and turned in the playground of the Old Mill Elementary School.1929 was a year of great change for Mill Valley. The Great Fire raged for several days in early July and nearly destroyed the fledgling city. It ravaged much of Mt. Tam (including the Tavern and 117 homes) and the city itself was spared only by a change in wind direction. In October of that year, the Mt. Tamalpais and Muir Woods Scenic Railway ran for the last time. The fire caused great devastation to tourism and tourist destinations, but the railroads were also crushed by the automobile. Panoramic Highway, running between Mill Valley and Stinson Beach was built in 1929–1930. The stock market crash of 1929 and the ensuing Great Depression crippled what little railroad tourism there was to the point where the tracks were eventually taken up in 1931.


title: Mill Valley, California

text: During the Great Depression, many famous local landmarks were constructed with the help of the Works Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps, including the Mead Theater at Tam High (named after school board Trustee Ernest Mead), the Mountain Theater rock seating, and the Golden Gate Bridge in 1934–1937. The latter event suspended ferry commuting between Marin and the city from 1941 through 1970 and helped increase the Marin population. With the demise of the railroads came the introduction of local bus service. Greyhound moved into the former train depot in Lytton Square in October 1940. In Sausalito, Marinship brought over 75,000 people to Marin, many of whom moved to Mill Valley permanently. At the height of the War, nearly 400 locals were fighting, including many volunteer firemen and government officials. By 1950, 1 in 10 Mill Valleyans were living in a "Goheen Home". George C. Goheen built the so-called "defense homes" for defense workers throughout the 1940s and 1950s in the Alto neighborhood.


title: Mill Valley, California

text: With a population just over 7,000 by 1950, Mill Valley was still relatively rural. Men commuted to San Francisco on the Greyhound bus when the streets were not flooding in heavy rain, and there still were not any traffic lights. The military built the Mill Valley Air Force Station to protect the area during the Korean War. In 1956, a group of Beat poets and writers lived briefly in the Perry house, most notably Jack Kerouac and San Francisco Renaissance Beat poet Gary Snyder. The house and its land is now owned by the Marin County Open Space District. By the beginning of the 1960s, however, the population swelled. The Mill Valley Fall Arts Festival became a permanent annual event and the old Carnegie library was replaced with an award-winning library at 375 Throckmorton Ave. Designed by architect Donn Emmons, the new library was formally dedicated on September 18, 1966.


title: Mill Valley, California

text: The 1970s saw a change in attitude and population. Mill Valley became an area associated with great wealth, with many people making their millions in San Francisco and moving north. New schools and neighborhoods cropped up, though the city maintained its defense of redwoods and protected open space. Cascade Dam, built in 1893, was closed in 1972 and drained four years later in an attempt to curb the "hordes" of young people using the reservoir for nude sunbathing and swimming. Youth subculture would come under attack again in 1974 when the City Council banned live music, first at the Sweetwater and later at the Old Mill Tavern, both now defunct. In 1977, the Lucretia Hanson Little History Room in the library opened and became the base of operations for the Mill Valley Historical Society. Marin County was hit with one of the worst droughts on record beginning in 1976 and peaking in 1977, brought on by a combination of several seasons of low rainfall and a refusal to import water from the Russian River, instead relying solely on rain water from Mt. Tam and the West Marin watersheds to fill the then-six reservoirs. By June 1977, the County managed to pipe in water from the Sacramento River Delta, staving off disaster. The rainfall during the winter of 1977-78 was one of the heaviest on record. The Mill Valley Film Festival, now part of the California Film Institute, began in 1978 at the Sequoia Theatre.


title: Mill Valley, California

text: The 1980s and 1990s saw the decline of small businesses in Mill Valley. Local establishments like Lockwood's Pharmacy closed in 1981 after running almost continuously for 86 years. Old Mill Tavern, O'Leary's, and the Unknown Museum shut their doors, as did Red Cart Market and Tamalpais Hardware. In their places came boutiques, upscale clothing stores, coffee shops, art galleries, and gourmet grocery stores. Downtown Plaza and Lytton Square were remodeled to fit the new attitude. The population in the city alone swelled over 13,000 and many of the old, narrow, winding streets grew clogged with traffic congestion. The Public Library expanded with a new Children's Room, a downstairs Fiction Room, and Internet computers. It also joined MARINet, a consortium of all the public libraries in Marin, to allow patrons greater access to information. MARINet now has an online catalogue of all the materials, both physical and electronic, in the Marin public libraries, which patrons can order, pick up, and drop off materials at any of the participating libraries. The Old Mill also got a facelift; it was rebuilt to the same specifications as the original in 1991. The 1990s also saw another influx of affluence. Many new homeowners gutted homes built in the 19th and early 20th centuries or tore them down altogether.


title: Mill Valley, California

text: The dawn of the new millennium brought reflection on the past, as the city celebrated 100 years of incorporation. Soon after Mill Valley got its brand new Community Center at 180 Camino Alto, adjacent to Mill Valley Middle School.


title: Mill Valley, California

text: On January 31, 2008, Mill Valley's sewage treatment plant spilled 2.45 million gallons of sewage into the San Francisco Bay. This marked the second such spill in Mill Valley within a week (the previous one spilled 2.7 million gallons), and the most recent of several that occurred in Marin County in early 2008. Mill Valley's treatment plant attributed the spills to "human error". The spills caused distress in Mill Valley's administrative government, which remains outspoken about "dedicating itself to the protection of air quality, waste reduction, water and energy conservation, and the protection of wildlife and habitat" in Mill Valley.


title: Mill Valley, California

text: Highlights of 2010-2020 decade included a major renovation of Miller Avenue known as the Miller Avenue Streetscape project which finished in 2018. This was followed by the restoration of the historic Mill Valley paper mill, resulting in new public space, shopping, and restaurants located a short walk from downtown.


title: Mill Valley, California

text: According to the United States Census Bureau the city has a total area of , of which is land and of (1.74%) water.


title: Mill Valley, California

text: The Mill Valley 94941 area lies between Mt. Tamalpais on the west, the city of Tiburon on the east, the City of Corte Madera on the north, and the Golden Gate National Recreational Area (GGNRA) on the south. Two streams flow from the slopes of Mt. Tamalpais through Mill Valley to the bay: the Arroyo Corte Madera del Presidio; and Cascade Creek. Mill Valley is surrounded by hundreds of acres (hectares) of state, federal, and county park lands. In addition, there are many municipally maintained open-space reserves, parks, and coastal habitats which, when taken together, ensconce Mill Valley in a natural wilderness.


title: Mill Valley, California

text: Mill Valley and the Homestead Valley Land Trust maintains many minimally disturbed wildland areas and preserves which are open to the public from sunrise to dusk every day. Several nature trails allow access as well as providing gateway access to neighboring state and federal park lands, and the Mt. Tamalpais Watershed wildland on the broad eastern face of Mt. Tamalpais that overlooks Mill Valley. These are undeveloped natural areas and contain many species of wild animals, including some large predators like the coyote, the bobcat, and the cougar.


title: Mill Valley, California

text: Mill Valley has a mild Mediterranean climate which results in relatively wet winters and very dry summers. Winter lows rarely drop below freezing and summer highs rarely peak with 90% of the annual rain falling in November through March. Wind speeds average lower than national averages in winter months and higher in summer, and often become quite gusty in the canyon regions of town. California coastal fog often affects Mill Valley, making relative humidity highly variable. The wetter winter months tend to make for a more consistent daily relative humidity around 70-90% (slightly higher than US averages). During the summer months, however, while the morning fog often keeps morning humidity normal, in a typical 70-80% range, by afternoon after the fog burns off, the humidity regularly plummets to around 30% as one would expect in this dry seasonal climate.


title: Mill Valley, California

text: Mill Valley is also affected by microclimate conditions in the several box canyons with steep north-facing slopes and dense forests which span the southern and western city limits, which, along with the coastal fog, all conspire to make many of the dense forested regions of Mill Valley noticeably cooler and moister, on average, than other regions of town. This microclimate is what makes for the favorable ecology required by the Coastal Redwood forests which still cover much of the town and surrounding area, and have played such a pivotal role throughout the history of Mill Valley.


title: Mill Valley, California

text: The 2010 United States Census reported that Mill Valley had a population of 13,903. The population density was . The racial makeup of Mill Valley was 12,341 (88.8%) White, 118 (0.8%) African American, 23 (0.2%) Native American, 755 (5.4%) Asian, 14 (0.1%) Pacific Islander, 152 (1.1%) from other races, and 500 (3.6%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 622 persons (4.5%).


title: Mill Valley, California

text: The Census reported that 99.5% of the population lived in households and 0.5% were institutionalized.


title: Mill Valley, California

text: There were 6,084 households, out of which 1,887 (31.0%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 2,984 (49.0%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 465 (7.6%) had a female householder with no husband present, 178 (2.9%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 306 (5.0%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 55 (0.9%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 2,016 households (33.1%) were made up of individuals, and 888 (14.6%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.27. There were 3,627 families (59.6% of all households); the average family size was 2.94.


title: Mill Valley, California

text: The population was spread out, with 3,291 people (23.7%) under the age of 18, 459 people (3.3%) aged 18 to 24, 2,816 people (20.3%) aged 25 to 44, 4,714 people (33.9%) aged 45 to 64, and 2,623 people (18.9%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 46.6 years. For every 100 females, there were 85.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 80.8 males.


title: Mill Valley, California

text: There were 6,534 housing units at an average density of , of which 3,974 (65.3%) were owner-occupied, and 2,110 (34.7%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.2%; the rental vacancy rate was 4.5%. 9,861 people (70.9% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 3,966 people (28.5%) lived in rental housing units.


title: Mill Valley, California

text: At the 2000 census, there were 13,600 people, 6,147 households and 3,417 families residing in the city, not including those living in unincorporated territories. The population density was 2,883.1 inhabitants per square mile (1,112.5/km). There were 6,286 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city in 2010 was 85.8% non-Hispanic White, 0.8% non-Hispanic African American, 0.1% Native American, 5.3% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 0.3% from other races, and 3.1% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.5% of the population.


title: Mill Valley, California

text: There were 6,147 households, of which 27.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.2% were married couples living together, 7.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 44.4% were non-families. 34.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.20 and the average family size was 2.85.


title: Mill Valley, California

text: 21.2% of the population was under the age of 18, 2.9% from 18 to 24, 28.1% from 25 to 44, 32.5% from 45 to 64, and 15.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44 years. For every 100 females, there were 86.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 82.5 males.


title: Mill Valley, California

text: The median household income was $90,794, and the median family income was $119,669. Males had a median income of $94,800 versus $52,088 for females. The per capita income for the city was $64,179. About 2.7% of families and 4.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.6% of those under age 18 and 5.7% of those age 65 or over.


title: Mill Valley, California

text: In the United States House of Representatives, Mill Valley is in . From 2008 to 2012, Huffman represented Marin County in the California State Assembly.


title: Mill Valley, California

text: According to the California Secretary of State, as of February 10, 2019, Mill Valley has 10,189 registered voters. Of those, 6,270 (61.5%) are registered Democrats, 965 (9.5%) are registered Republicans, and 2,605 (25.6%) have declined to state a political party.


title: Mill Valley, California

text: The combination of Mill Valley's idyllic location nestled beneath Mount Tamalpais coupled with its relative ease of access to nearby San Francisco has made it a popular home for many high-income commuters. Over the last 30 years, following a trend that is endemic throughout the Bay Area, home prices have climbed in Mill Valley (the median price for a single-family home was in excess of $1.5 million as of 2005), which has had the effect of pushing out some residents who can no longer afford to live in the area. This trend has also transformed Mill Valley's commercial activity, with nationally recognized music store Village Music having closed, then replaced in 2008 by more commercial establishments.


title: Mill Valley, California

text: In July 2005, CNN/Money and "Money" magazine ranked Mill Valley tenth on its list of the 100 Best Places to Live in the United States. In 2007, MSN and "Forbes" magazine ranked Mill Valley seventy-third on its "Most expensive zip codes in America" list.


title: Mill Valley, California

text: While Mill Valley has retained elements of its earlier artistic culture through galleries, festivals, and performances, its stock of affordable housing has diminished, forcing some residents to leave the area. This trend has also affected some of the city's well-known cultural centers like Village Music and the Sweetwater Saloon. As of April 2007, only one affordable housing project was underway: an initiative to renovate and expand a century old but now abandoned local landmark roadhouse and saloon called the Fireside Inn. This renovation was completed in the fall of 2008 and provided around 50 low-income apartments, with around 30 dedicated to low-income seniors and the remainder going to low-income families.


title: Mill Valley, California

text: Strawberry is an unincorporated census-designated place to the east of the City of Mill Valley. The other CDP with a Mill Valley mailing address is Tamalpais-Homestead Valley. Smaller unincorporated areas include Alto and Almonte. Muir Beach is in the Mill Valley School District, but it is in the Sausalito mailing area.


title: Mill Valley, California

text: Mill Valley maintains many recreational parks which often contain playgrounds, wooded trails and other designated areas specifically designed for playing various sports. Dogs are required to be on leashes in all but one of these parks, which is specifically designated a dog park to allow the option of off-leash exercise.


title: Mill Valley, California

text: Mill Valley has a costly but popular "steps, lanes, and paths program" that provides improved pedestrian access between many of the winding and twisting residential roads that cover the hillsides. Blue stencils on the roadway mark certain paths as potential emergency escape routes from the fire prone hills. A picture book, although not entirely accurately, shows the paths, "Steps, Lanes and Paths of Mill Valley". In 2009 resident Matt Connelly threatened litigation alleging that some of the proposed paths represent a seizure of private property (even though some antique maps suggest that certain potential easements could be thought of as the justification for future steps, lanes, or paths).


title: Mill Valley, California

text: For those who prefer to enjoy nature from the comfort of a chair, the city's public library is nestled in a serene and scenic location at the edge of Old Mill Park where visitors may relax indoors near the wood-burning fireplace and view the redwood forest through the library's multi-storied windows, or from the outside deck which overlooks the park and Cascade Creek.


title: Mill Valley, California

text: Public schools are managed by the Mill Valley School District. There are five elementary schools and one middle school, Mill Valley Middle School, a four-time winner of the California Distinguished School Award. The public high school, Tamalpais High School, is part of the Tamalpais Union High School District, whose five campuses serve central and southern Marin County. Greenwood School, an independent school located in downtown Mill Valley, serves preschool-8th grade students. Marin Horizon School is an independent school serving students in grades PK-8. Founded in 1977, the school enrolls approximately 285 students.


title: Mill Valley, California

text: The municipal library overlooks Old Mill Park and provides many picturesque reading locations, as well as free computer and Internet access. The Mill Valley library first digitized its vast holdings under the stewardship of Thelma Weber Percy, who was determined to see the Mill Valley Public Library come into the computer age. Recently they have begun offering Museum Passes to 94941 residents for free entry to Bay Area museums. As part of the City of Mill Valley's decision to "go Green", the library has a Sustainability Collection with books and DVDs with information about how to become more environmentally friendly.


title: Mill Valley, California

text: The Mill Valley Public Library is also home to the Lucretia Hanson Little History Room, which has thousands of books, photographs, newspapers, pamphlets, artifacts, and oral histories on the history of California, Marin County, and Mill Valley.


title: Mill Valley, California

text: Mill Valley is the home of several annual events, many of which attract national and international followings:


title: Mill Valley, California

text: Mill Valley is known for being a village with a strong artistic heritage. A visitor to downtown Mill Valley will discover many art galleries, open-air coffee shops, and other hallmarks of a thriving artistic community. In addition, the town has sponsored the Mill Valley Fall Arts Festival for over fifty years and also the Mill Valley Film Festival, which is part of the California Film Institute, for over thirty years. In addition, Mill Valley's Chamber of Commerce has sponsored the annual Gourmet Food and Wine Tasting in Lytton Square for many years.


title: Mill Valley, California

text: Theater arts also have a huge following in Mill Valley. In addition to supporting the local 142 Throckmorton Theatre, which hosts theater of all levels, Mill Valley is also home for the Marin Theatre Company, and the Mountain Play Association which hosts annual musical productions in the Sidney B. Cushing Amphitheater located in Mill Valley's neighboring Mount Tamalpais State Park. For several years the Curtain Theatre Group has also been performing annual free Shakespeare plays among the redwoods on the Old Mill Park Amphitheatre behind the Mill Valley Library.


title: Mill Valley, California

text: Mill Valley has also been home to many artists, actors, authors, musicians, and TV personalities, and it is the setting for or is mentioned in many artworks. For example:


title: VA-11 Hall-A

text: VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action (stylized as VA-11 HALL-A; sometimes simply "Valhalla") is an indie bartender simulation video game with visual novel elements, developed by Venezuelan studio Sukeban Games and published by Ysbryd Games. The game was initially released for Microsoft Windows, OS X, and Linux on June 21, 2016, and ports were later released for PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch, with the Vita port developed by Wolfgame and published by Limited Run Games. The game puts the player in the role of a bartender at the eponymous VA-11 Hall-A, a small bar in a dystopian downtown which is said to attract the "most fascinating" of people. Gameplay consists of players making and serving drinks to bar attendees whilst listening to their stories and experiences.


title: VA-11 Hall-A

text: "VA-11 Hall-A" contains nonlinear gameplay, and the game's plotline is influenced by the drinks the player makes and how the customers react to them. There are no dialogue options in the game, with making different drinks being the sole way to influence the direction of the story. "VA-11 Hall-A" features a diverse cast of characters that have been described as "average non-heroes", with developers noting how they were based on side characters that were never truly fleshed out in movies. Over time, the player begins to know the characters well enough to infer what drinks they want, resulting in an intimate experience.


title: VA-11 Hall-A

text: "VA-11 Hall-A" was originally developed for the Cyberpunk Game Jam of 2014; however, Sukeban Games liked the concept so much that they eventually turned it into a full game. This original prototype is downloadable for free on the game's official website, and players who pre-ordered gained access to a playable yet separate prologue. The game features a retro-futuristic look based on cyberpunk media, PC-98 games, and anime-inspired visuals, and the writing drew on the developers' own experiences of living in a poorer country. The original planned release date of December 2014 was moved back multiple times due to delays, including when the developers changed the game engine. "VA-11 Hall-A" garnered pre-release critical acclaim, and post-release reception was mostly favourable, with positive reception directed at its premise, cast of characters, writing, and music. However, some reviewers perceived the game's dialogue as awkward and the gameplay as repetitive. A sequel, "N1RV Ann-A", was scheduled for a 2020 release but has since been delayed indefinitely.


title: VA-11 Hall-A

text: "VA-11 Hall-A" has been described by its developer, Sukeban Games, as a "cyberpunk bartender action" game, and has been described as a "bartending simulator meets a visual novel somewhere in a cyberpunk dystopia" by TouchArcade. In the game, the player assumes the role of a bartender at "VA-11 Hall-A" (pronounced Valhalla), a small dive bar in a dystopian downtown said to attract the "most fascinating" of clientele. Set in the year 207X, according to the game's official website, "VA-11 Hall-A" is described as a "a booze em' up about waifus, technology, and post-dystopia life", in a world where "corporations reign supreme, all human life is infected with nanomachines designed to oppress them, and the terrifying White Knights ensure that everyone obeys the laws." Corruption and food shortages "run rampant" in Glitch City, the city where the eponymous bar is located.


title: VA-11 Hall-A

text: At the bar, the player's interaction with the game is focused on preparing drinks based on the given instructions and then serving them to characters. However, the game's experience is primarily storytelling and dialogue-driven, since as the player serves the characters they also listen to their stories and experiences. The game also includes scenes outside the bar, such as at Jill's home where players are able to have text conversations and use apps on her phone. Players can also visit shops and buy items using money they earn while working at the bar to decorate Jill's home, as well as to pay the rent. Keeping Jill happy at home helps her stay more focused at work as well as making her more attuned to cocktail suggestions. Players find out about "VA-11 Hall-A"s world through the patrons of the bar and a selection of news reports on their in-game tablet computer at the outset of each day. At the start of each work day, the player creates their own music playlist for the game in the bar's jukebox.


title: VA-11 Hall-A

text: There is no time limit for creating drinks. If a player makes a mistake whilst creating a drink, they can just reset the order and start again; thus, there is no real tension in the gameplay. Making flawless drinks gives the player more money through tips. To create a drink, there are five different ingredients that the player can mix together:


title: VA-11 Hall-A

text: Although the ingredients are fictional, mixing them together creates nonfictional cocktails as well, such as the Piledriver or Blue Fairy. To add additional variety, patrons at the bar may ask for single, multiple, or one large drink; these drinks can be served either aged or with ice. Players must also pay attention to infer what patrons actually want, which may be different from what they order. For example, a character might be feeling depressed and ask for a sweet drink, though the player instead giving them a shot of alcohol to help them forget their troubles would have a better effect. Alternately, the player may be able to make a character happy by talking to them instead of letting them feed on their alcoholism. At various points, the player can also tweak the customer's drink, such as adding Karmotrine to a cocktail that was previously non-alcoholic. In these ways, the player creates new scenarios as they advance in the game.


title: VA-11 Hall-A

text: Optional ingredients can be added to the drink, with its usage altering how much the drinker gets drunk. There are no dialogue options in "VA-11 Hall-A", with the only interactivity being making clients' requested drinks. Most of the time, clients tell the player exactly what they want, though some can be more cryptic, for example by asking for a certain flavour. As such, "VA-11 Hall-A" contains nonlinear gameplay in the form of branching storylines, though it is dependent not on traditional choices but rather through the drinks the player prepares. There also exists a recipe book where the recipes to all drinks that can be made can be looked up. Sukeban Games says that they hope the book, which was a requested feature in the game's prologue, would make the bartending "feel more organic", as well as allowing players to experiment.


title: VA-11 Hall-A

text: While the characters drink, they also converse with the player. Depending on how well the player is able to recall drink recipes and create drinks to the clientele's preferences, such conversations change, as well as the overall plotline, which is relative to the player's overall competence. Designer Christopher Ortiz noted that the bartending mechanics in "VA-11 Hall-A" were made to deliberately "tease the player's mind into doing things out of the box", as opposed to "play[ing] through [it] like a machine, always serving what the patron want[s] and never questioning what they [are] doing." Traditional visual dialogue options which the player could choose, however, were deliberately avoided as they interfered with the subtlety of the game.


title: VA-11 Hall-A

text: Much of the details of "VA-11 Hall-A"s world are not directly told to the player, but instead inferred through interacting with the characters. This is so the world is introduced in a "readably human way" and also more naturally, with each character contributing their own perspectives, "providing details that are just random or obscure enough to paint a believable picture." The characters have their own personal story routes in the game. The player character of the game is Jill (formerly named Gillian during development), the bartender at the eponymous VA-11 "Hall"-A dive bar in Glitch City. Jill is a young female bartender who chose to forego an offer to work at a research institute, instead finding herself to be better suited to the "field of alchemy" in mixing drinks for customers at a dive bar. The game eases the player into its gameplay by letting Jill practice making drinks every morning before she heads to work. The game contains a "colorful cast" of regulars at the bar, including "sex working robots, assassins, private detectives, and pop stars", with how the player serves them having "subtle but important effects on their lives".


title: VA-11 Hall-A

text: Other characters in the game include Kim, a neurotic girl who is found passed out outside the bar one evening; Stella, a catgirl; Sei, one of the few pure-hearted and non-corrupt White Knights tasked with protecting Glitch City; *Kira*Miki, an android idol singer; as well as Deal and Betty, an android and veterinarian respectively, who work at a company whose majority of employees are "corgi dogs, fitted with voice boxes." Pete Davison of MoeGamer noted how some characters in the game ridicule or parody real-life themes. For example, the corgis have prejudiced, "even racist" tendencies, with the "disagreements between the different breeds of corgis who work at the company, and seeming resentment between some of the corgis and what they see as other types of dogs trying to take their jobs away from them" mirroring real-life discrimination between humans; Betty, meanwhile, has irrational and illogical resentment of human enhancement. Davison praised these characterizations as laying bare the "sheer ridiculousness of irrational prejudice." There are at least seven different endings in "VA-11 Hall-A" depending on how well the player gets to know the characters. To obtain these special endings for certain characters, the player must get that character's order right every time throughout the game's story. Eventually, the player gets to know a character well enough that they understand what they wish to drink in an exact moment, which leads to a "very personal experience" between the player and character.


title: VA-11 Hall-A

text: "VA-11 Hall-A" was developed by indie game developer Sukeban Games, and initially released for the Microsoft Windows, OS X, and Linux platforms on June 21, 2016. A PlayStation Vita port was developed by Wolfgame, and published by Limited Run Games, a publisher specialising in physical versions of digital-only titles. The game was later released for PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch. Sukeban is also considering an iPhone version of the game, though that would require a changed interface. The game was designed and drawn by Christopher Ortiz, programmed and written by Fernando Damas, with accompanying music by Michael Kelly; the publisher is Ysbryd Games. "VA-11 Hall-A" uses the engine as the developers felt it is suitable for the game's "bunch of crazy effects" and is also easy to port to other platforms. Sukeban Games is also open to collaborations and have planned upcoming crossovers for "VA-11 Hall-A".


title: VA-11 Hall-A

text: A prologue of "VA-11 Hall-A" was originally developed for the Cyberpunk Game Jam of 2014; however, Sukeban liked the game so much that they eventually turned it into a full game. Ortiz noted that this was as the developers wanted to see more characters and expand on the stories of the world they built, as well as them looking for a "good challenge design-wise" that engages the player. The developers later retrospectively noted that the prologue also helped to "gauge interest, get some money to fund development, and [serves as] a bonus for pre-ordering all at the same time." This original game jam prototype of "VA-11 Hall-A" is available to download for free on the game's official website. Additionally, a "redux" version of the prologue was also later redeveloped, serving as a free downloadable content update for the full game; it was released in February 2017. A demo of the game was playable at PAX Prime 2015, as well as at PAX East 2015, when a trailer was also shown. In the demo, the player interacts with "Streaming-chan", a woman who constantly streams her life on the internet. They have limited options; the player can either make her a strong drink and then pry personal information out of her, or mix her a weaker drink to keep her on her guard. The game was also showcased at EGX Rezzed 2016.


title: VA-11 Hall-A

text: The game was first announced in August 2014 with an initial release of December 2014, though it was later delayed multiple times, partially due to the developers changing the game engine partway through development. Players who pre-ordered "VA-11 Hall-A" gained access to a playable prologue, which is independent of the main game.


title: VA-11 Hall-A

text: The game was initially only offered on desktop platforms, but several console releases followed. A PlayStation Vita port was the first to be announced by Wolfgame at the Game Developers Conference 2015; where another trailer was also shown. The final release date of June 21, 2016 for the Windows, OS X, and Linux versions was confirmed by Sukeban Games in early June 2016, and the final trailer for the game was also released at the same time. The game's Steam and GOG.com pages were launched in mid June, alongside a blog titled "The Augmented Eye", a news website set inside "VA-11 Hall-A"s world to help tease the game and give details on its premise. Sukeban Games had initially expressed interest in porting the game to Nintendo's Wii U and 3DS platforms, but eventually released the game on PlayStation 4 and the Nintendo Switch in May 2019.


title: VA-11 Hall-A

text: Ortiz said that Sukeban Games was founded when he and Damas started a blog to write about anime and video games. They eventually managed to grow a "small but awesome" community, which led them to create a short dating sim for the blog's first anniversary. After enjoying the video game creation process, they decided to continue following that path. The majority of influences for "VA-11 Hall-A" come from old PC-98 games, because they are "retro" yet also "look futuristic"; especially Redzone's "X-Girl: Cyber Punk Adventure" which served as the blueprint for the game's aesthetic. According to Ortiz, in the 70s–90s, "the world was under the impression that Japan was going to take over with its superior technology." As such, the game is set in a parallel universe where Japan did conquer the world through technology, leading to the game's strong Japanese influences. "Blade Runner", "Neuromancer", "Ghost in the Shell", and "Bubblegum Crisis" were also sources of inspiration. Anime influence has also resulted in the game's female protagonist and mostly female character list. Ortiz says that they focus their games on anime fans rather than mainstream appeal, as "the bigger your audience is the more creative troubles you have. Too many opinions and it's hard to see one that will truly help your creative process."


title: VA-11 Hall-A

text: "VA-11 Hall-A" is also partly inspired by "Snatcher" and "Policenauts". The game's music has vaporwave influences, as well as influences from Kenji Kawai's work. Ortiz described "VA-11 Hall-A"s composer Michael Kelly as "a big, BIG "Shin Megami Tensei" fan." The game's developers grew up playing PlayStation and Super Famicom games as well as watching anime; "VA-11 Hall-A" tries to "make players feel what we felt when playing our favourite titles back then", says Ortiz. Fernando Damas, writer and programmer of "VA-11 Hall-A", added in an interview that the game tries to make the player "feel small", and rather than guiding them through the basics of the plotline, the player is instead thrown into the middle of everything and only given the means of piecing together what is going on. He also remarked how the game is set in an "ever-moving world" where things do not wait for the player to happen, with the characters existing long before the player meeting them and their lives happen mostly off-screen. As such, the developers hoped to create a world in which the player is compelled, rather than obligated, to understand. Details of the world are not given directly to the player, and instead are revealed through intimate exchanges and conversations with the characters. Thus, according Ortiz and Damas, "VA-11 HALLA"s setting therefore seeks to "humaniz[e] cyberpunk/sci-fi".


title: VA-11 Hall-A

text: "VA-11 Hall-A"s developers come from Venezuela. As such, according to Ortiz, their visions of a dystopian bar scene are based on their own experiences of living in a third world country, leading them to create a cast of characters that, in the middle of a "depressing society", try to go on with their lives and be as happy as they can with what they already have. Tenacity in the face of difficulty can be found in every character the player interacts with in the game, where despite "each one surviving through varying degrees of hardship, they describe their problems not with bitterness but with an undertone of perseverance" and a certain "burning desire to be happy" notwithstanding their deteriorating surroundings. Damas describes Sukeban Games' titles as "dramedies", or a fusion of drama and comedy, as they feel it is something the game industry lacks and "laughter in the middle of despair" sums up their experiences of living in Venezuela. Ortiz and Damas noted that, compared to these real-life experiences, such as when a friend had to jump from rooftop to rooftop to escape the protests in San Cristóbal, ""VA-11 Hall-A" is kind of tame in comparison". Two in-game apps, the "danger/u/" textboard and the "Augmented Eye" news site, mirrors much of Venezuela's problems into the game's world. Damas explained how they wished to create a more "optimistic kind of dystopia", where the player is just "a normal person living in an interesting future". Additionally, since "VA-11 Hall-A" is primarily about interaction with characters, the objective of the game is not to save the world but rather to become a part of it.


title: VA-11 Hall-A

text: According to the game's developers, they make an effort to create and fully explore their characters before placing them into the game. After thinking of a "cool trait or occupation" of the character, their detailed profile is made, "span[ning] from imagining their family life to sleeping habits to what kind of pizza toppings they might prefer." Although 70% of these traits are not mentioned in the game, they allow the developers to build up a mental image of the character which helps when writing about them, says "VA-11 Hall-A"s programmer, Fernando Damas. Before adding individual depth, the developers sought to first create a "base", consisting of an easily identifiable trait, for each character to curb redundancy and keep them unique. For example, "Alma started originally as 'Christmas Cake', Stella started as 'Ojou-sama' (a young, upper-class anime stock character), and Betty as 'Grumpy Granola Girl'". "Non-conformity" compared to traditional archetypes was a major factor in how Sukeban Games designed its characters, to be complex and "not defined by one way". Tropes were avoided; for example, Dorothy, an android sex worker, is portrayed with "a unique kind of independence" as opposed to "an edgy character to make things feel more 'mature, which is the case with most other sex worker characters, according to Ortiz.


title: VA-11 Hall-A

text: TouchArcade noted that "VA-11 Hall-A" also has a more "salacious side", due to the presence of sexually suggestive character interactions that was present in the game's demo. In an interview between Ortiz and Siliconera, Ortiz said that the game also has "waifu" elements, inspired by the "classic otaku getting strongly attached to a character"; the developers sought to recreate these relationships through characterization and not so much through looks, though there are "a fair share of beautiful people." In another interview between Christopher Oritz and Kill Screen, Ortiz remarked how "this game is all about exploring what's up with the characters that you always see in the background who are never fleshed out [in movies]", and due to this, the characters were designed to be average non-heroes; Jill, for example, was described by Ortiz as the cliche "bartender who's always there in the background" as opposed to a "hero" who is always at "the center of the universe, with everyone else with a supporting role." Adding that "you can see it as early as the premise: [the player is] not a hero, but the bartender", Ortiz further explains that all the game's characters, from the "[science fiction] staples like mercenaries and hackers" to "common folk like veterinarians, journalists, or couriers", were deliberately made to be everyday "people, each with their opinion and lives", making them relatable to the player despite the futuristic setting. To help with this relatability, many of the characters and subplots in "VA-11 Hall-A" were based on the experiences of the developers themselves or people they know, since "We want the characters to feel as real as possible, and what better reference for real things than reality itself?".


title: VA-11 Hall-A

text: Additionally, through its characters, "VA-11 Hall-A" challenges traditional viewpoints on affection, relationships, and friendships in video games, writes Ana Valens of Den of Geek. As such, the game's cast "is open, honest, and affectionate towards one another", out of necessity in getting by and surviving in a dystopian world. Ortiz and Damas attempted to infuse political allegories and social commentary into the characters and their stories without overburdening or taking focus away from the main plotline. They noted that, in most video games, "it feels like affection is something that must be earned from scratch or something that must be justified in some way", as well as being "painfully underrated and deemed unnecessary in some cases". To avoid the player feeling this way in "VA-11 Hall-A", Sukeban Games made the friendships between Jill and the other characters "[something that's] come to be", instead of something that has to be earned.


title: VA-11 Hall-A

text: "VA-11 Hall-A" received positive pre-release reception. Carter Dotson of TouchArcade found "VA-11 Hall-A" to be "kind of an odd one" and "certainly something unique", writing that "I'm not completely sure what to make of it, and I'm interested to see how it works out when completed. After all, a game that's story-driven lives and dies on the quality of said story." He compared it to "Her Story" as something that could "prove to be [...] very cool." This sentiment was echoed by Kyle LeClair of "Hardcore Gamer", writing that ""VA-11 Hall-A" sure looks great and has quite a unique hook to it, so we'll be sure to try and wet our whistles with it when it comes out on the PC". Graham Smith of Rock, Paper, Shotgun claimed that although ""VA-11 Hall-A", whose punctuation I already resent having to type, is skirting with genres I don't care about: anime-styled visual novels", he found "VA-11 Hall-A"s branching-style plotline to be more engaging that an average "linear and relatively uninteractive" visual novel. Rock, Paper, Shotgun also chose "VA-11 Hall-A" to be one of the best games shown at EGX Rezzed 2016.


title: VA-11 Hall-A

text: Zack Reese of RPG Site had a "great time" with the game's prologue, critiquing that "there were a lot of great touches to be had here, whether it's the anime-inspired character portraits, the fitting soundtrack that is nice to listen to even outside of context, or simply getting a permanent look of the cityscape", though he was "especially fascinated" by the "very intriguing cast of characters." Following "VA-11 Hall-A"s announcement, Brandon Orselli of Niche Gamer expressed optimism, writing "I'm a huge fan of cyberpunk fiction, and I feel like the genre is severely neglected if not mishandled in the gaming industry. The team at Sukeban Games seem to really be paying close attention to everything they possibly can within their game's fiction, and it shines through even in this early form." Steven Hansen of Destructoid, whilst commenting on "VA-11 Hall-A", found that "games don't always need to be bombastic save-the-world-'em-ups", and also the game "should be the best anime-inspired bartending sim of the year. And I don't say that lightly." He also added that he was "sold" and compared the game to "Catherine". Salvador GRodiles of Japanator joked that he looked forward to the "glorious date" and "special joyous day" that is "VA-11 Hall-A"s release date.


title: VA-11 Hall-A

text: "PC Gamer"s Phil Savage praised the game's character interactions, noting that "it's through these brief, unguarded conversations that the cyberpunk bartending sim slowly unfolds its story; not of a dystopian world, but of the people living in it." Reviewing the game's prologue trailer, he added that "it's an interesting concept, and well executed in what is—at this stage—a somewhat limited capacity." Julian Benson of Kotaku wrote that ""Valhalla" is a cocktail of game genres. It draws from visual novels, with each customer who visits your bar having a different story to tell. There's a healthy measure of "Papers, Please", too, with you having to perform a mundane job (drink mixing) by following a complicated list of tasks. [...] And, on top of that you also get to manage and decorate your bar, so there's a dash of "Animal Crossing" for flavour." He also quipped that "year after year, nothing seems to slow the pace of successful cyberpunk bartender simulators." Push Square's Nicola Hayden added that "gaining cult success around the more niche areas of the Internet, "VA-11 Hall-A", a cyberpunk bartending simulator, has managed to stir up quite a fuss." Pete Davison of MoeGamer praised the prologue's characters, dialogue, as well as cohesion between the gameplay and storytelling, finding it to be an "enormously interesting prospect".


title: VA-11 Hall-A

text: Katherine Cross of Gamasutra, while not giving a final score, praised Jill's character as not being a traditional protagonist or "in control of much" in her world, the setting, as well as the "delightfully colorful" cast; and that "VA-11 Hall-A" successfully "make[s] magic out of the mundane." She also explored the sexual aspects of the game, which she commended as realistic. Mike Cosimano of Destructoid awarded "VA-11 Hall-A" a score of 9/10, referring to it as a "hallmark of excellence" and complimenting the game's design, characters, as well as the "connection" felt between the player and the protagonist. Cecilia D'Anastasio of Kotaku echoed this sentiment, finding "VA-11 Hall-A" to be "wildly impressive" and a "brilliant experiment in storytelling", which is "a must-buy for fans of interactive fiction, stylized retro games, cyberpunk and girls with cat ears – just about everybody, right?" David Roberts of GamesRadar wrote that "the writing [in "VA-11 Hall-A"] is genuinely stellar"; he also praised the cast of "colourful characters" and the game's replayability. Roberts summarized it as a game "you should be playing."


title: VA-11 Hall-A

text: Sin Vega of Rock, Paper, Shotgun received "VA-11 Hall-A" generally positively. He found the writing to be "decent" and the characters "generally enjoyable, even when they're not exactly likeable", and praised the game's references to current pop-culture issues and internet climate, for example 4chan, human augmentation and manufactured pop stars. The music and gameplay were also complimented, but the game's presentation was criticised – especially the presentation of the dialogue, which only takes up a few lines per page. Caty McCarthy of Kill Screen wrote that "VA-11 Hall-A" "flips the atypical ways of cyberpunk", and lauded the game's story, which "has heart" as a "story of its people, its liliths, its sentient preserved-brains, its talking dogs. It's the story of Jill and her customers, all being lost, and eventually finding their way." She compared it also to a good book, where "we, the player, take[s] the backseat, and soak[s] it all in." A final score of 80/100 was awarded. Zack Kotzer, writing for Motherboard, compared "VA-11 Hall-A" to ""Ghost in the Shell" meets "Cheers"", and added that what makes the game engaging is that it chooses to focus on "one very specific corner" of a complex world, writing "sure, there's an urban war brewing outside, but inside this [bar] is just people. Chatter about current events and politics, morality, and sex."


title: VA-11 Hall-A

text: However, PC Gamer's review was more nuanced, opining that although "what "Valhalla" is trying to do is interesting", "playing it is boring", with criticism directed at the repetitive nature of gameplay as well as the game's tone, which leaves a "strange, unpleasant lingering taste in your mouth" due to the oftentimes unrealistic dialogue, for a rating of 60/100. Much of these sentiments where echoed by Kate Gray of Eurogamer; she also praised the premise as interesting, but lamented that ""Valhalla"s bartending is just boring", with not enough player control to make the game feel creative. Adi Robertson of "The Verge" alleged that some reviewers found the game's sexualized dialogue from the female characters to be unrealistic. Ortiz responded that interactions were based upon their own interactions, including that "females have always been more open about those topics than males", but he did concede that "we wrote ourselves into a corner by making the cast predominantly female".


title: VA-11 Hall-A

text: "VA-11 Hall-A" made appearances on lists of the most anticipated video games multiple times before its release. An article by GamesRadar staff of the "12 PAX East games we wish we were still playing" included "VA-11 Hall-A"; praise was directed at the game's complexity, and how "you can decide to give the customer the drink they ordered, flipping through the recipe book and dragging ingredients into the mixer in a simple minigame, or you can screw it up, and give them something totally different", as well as the "wildly different directions" the narrative takes as a result. Similarly, Twinfinite's Matthew Byrd ranked "VA-11 Hall-A" first on the "10 Anticipated Indie Games You Have to Check Out in 2016", writing that: "While I can honestly say that I've never specifically wished for a cyberpunk bartending game before, now that I know such a thing exists, it is all that I can think of." Zach Budgor of Kill Screen described "VA-11 Hall-A" as one of their favourite titles at Cyberpunk Game Jam 2014, describing it as "self-styled 'cyberpunk bartender action' with detailed art and an LP's worth of bass-heavy future bangers." "PC Gamer" added "VA-11 Hall-A"s playable prologue to their list of "The best free PC games". Upon release, Thomas Faust of IndieGames.com labelled "VA-11 Hall-A" the best game of the year, adding "as far as I'm concerned, the rest of 2016 can go home now. Game of the year right there, bam." Faust also noted that the slice of life setting of "VA-11 Hall-A", as well as its characters, are a departure from more conventional video game settings. Similarly, "Gizmodo UK" on June 25 listed "VA-11 Hall-A" as their top recommended video game for the week. Ana Valens of Den of Geek also listed "VA-11 Hall-A" as "one of the great visual novels of 2016", again praising the game's characters and "powerful" writing.


title: VA-11 Hall-A

text: The sequel "N1RV Ann-A" was announced in September 2018 for PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC. It takes place on Saint Alicia, a fictional resort island in the Caribbean, and follows Sam, a working mother with an 8-year-old son who is having relationship issues with her partner Leon. It was planned for release in 2020, but was delayed in December 2020 to a non-specific date due to programming-related delays and creative differences.


title: A Close Shave

text: Wallace and Gromit: A Close Shave is a 1995 British stop-motion animated comedy film co-written and directed by Nick Park and produced by Aardman Animations in association with Wallace and Gromit Ltd., BBC Bristol and BBC Children's International. It is the third film featuring the eccentric duo Wallace and Gromit, following "A Grand Day Out" (1989) and "The Wrong Trousers" (1993). In "A Close Shave", Wallace and Gromit uncover a plot to rustle sheep by a sinister dog. This was the first Wallace and Gromit film featuring speaking characters other than Wallace.


title: A Close Shave

text: Like "The Wrong Trousers", it won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. "A Close Shave" has the first appearance of the character Shaun, who would later be the protagonist of the "Shaun the Sheep" spin-off television series and two feature films: "Shaun the Sheep Movie" (2015) and "" (2019).


title: A Close Shave

text: The inventor Wallace and his dog Gromit operate a window cleaning business. Wallace falls for wool shopkeeper Wendolene Ramsbottom (Anne Reid); her sinister dog, Preston, rustles sheep to supply the shop. After a lost sheep wanders into the house, Wallace places him in his Knit-o-Matic, which shears sheep and knits the wool into jumpers, and names him Shaun. Preston steals the Knit-o-Matic blueprints.


title: A Close Shave

text: While Gromit investigates Preston, Preston captures him and frames him for the sheep rustling. Gromit is arrested and imprisoned, while Wallace's house is inundated with sheep. Wallace and the sheep rescue Gromit and hide out in the fields. Wendolene and Preston arrive in the lorry to round up the sheep. When Wendolene demands Preston stop the rustling, he locks her in the lorry with the sheep and drives away, intent on turning them into dog food.


title: A Close Shave

text: Wallace and Gromit give chase on their motorcycle. When Gromit's sidecar detaches, he activates its aeroplane mode and resumes the chase from the air. Wallace becomes trapped in the lorry and he, Wendolene and the sheep are transported to Preston's factory, where Preston has built an enormous Knit-o-Matic. The captives are loaded into the wash basin, but Shaun escapes. Shaun activates neon signs to reveal the factory's location to Gromit, who attacks Preston. Shaun sucks Preston into the Knit-o-Matic, removing his fur. Wendolene reveals that Preston is actually a robot created by her inventor father for good, but became evil.


title: A Close Shave

text: When the Knit-o-Matic dresses Preston in a sweater made of his fur, he inadvertently hits the controls, and the group become poised to fall into the mincing machine. Shaun pushes Preston into the machine, crushing him. Gromit is exonerated and Wallace rebuilds Preston as a harmless remote controlled dog. Afterwards, Wallace is saddened when Wendolene leaves and tells him that she is allergic to cheese. When he tries to cheer himself up with some cheese, he finds that Shaun has eaten it all.


title: A Close Shave

text: The character of Shaun the sheep has spawned his own spin-offs including a tv show and two . The show even has its own spin-offs.


title: Christianity in Ethiopia

text: Christianity in Ethiopia is the largest religion in the country, as 63% of the country, Islam follows behind. Christinaity in Ethiopia dates back to the early medieval Kingdom of Aksum, when the King Ezana first adopted the faith in 4th century AD. This makes Ethiopia one of the first regions in the world to officially adopt Christianity.


title: Christianity in Ethiopia

text: Various Christian denominations are now followed in the country. Of these, the largest and oldest is the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church an Oriental Orthodox church centered in Ethiopia. The Orthodox Tewahedo Church was part of the Coptic Orthodox Church until 1959, when it was granted its own patriarch by Coptic Orthodox Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of All Africa Cyril VI. Ethiopia was the only region of northern Africa to survive the expansion of Islam as a Christian state.


title: Christianity in Ethiopia

text: The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is one of the largest original and oldest Christian churches in Africa; only surpassed in age by The Church of the East, the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Greek Orthodox Church, and the Coptic Church of Egypt. It has a membership of 32 to 36 million, the majority of whom live in Ethiopia, and is thus the largest of all Oriental Orthodox churches. Next in size are the various Protestant congregations, who include 13.7 million Ethiopians. The largest Protestant group is the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus, with about 5 million members. Catholicism has been present in Ethiopia since the nineteenth century, and numbers 536,827 believers. In total, Christians make up about 63% of the total population of the country.


title: Christianity in Ethiopia

text: Before the fourth century, a mixture of religions existed in Ethiopia, with parts of the population adhering to a religion which worshiped the serpent-king Arwe, and others adhering to what scholars call "a Judaized form of religion".


title: Christianity in Ethiopia

text: Although Christianity existed in the region long before the rule of King Ezana of Aksum, the religion took a strong foothold when it was declared a state religion in 330 AD. Pinpointing a date as to when Christianity emerged in Ethiopia is uncertain. The earliest and best known reference to the introduction of Christianity is in the New Testament (Acts 8:26-38) when Philip the Evangelist converted an Ethiopian court official in the 1st Century AD. Scholars, however, argue that Ethiopian was a common term used for black Africans, and that the Kandake served by this official actually ruled in nearby Nubia (modern Sudan).


title: Christianity in Ethiopia

text: Judaism was practiced in Ethiopia long before Christianity arrived and the Ethiopian Orthodox Bible contains numerous Jewish Aramaic words. The Old Testament in Ethiopia may be a translation of the Hebrew with possible assistance from Jews.


title: Christianity in Ethiopia

text: Rufinus of Tyre, a church historian, recorded a personal account as did other Church historians such as Socrates of Constantinople and Sozomen. The Garima Gospels are thought to be the world's oldest illuminated Christian manuscripts.


title: Christianity in Ethiopia

text: Frumentius was a slave to the Ethiopian king and there is evidence Judaism was in the land before his arrival (mythically due to King Solomon of Israel).


title: Christianity in Ethiopia

text: After being shipwrecked and captured at an early age, Frumentius was carried to Aksum, where he was treated well with his companion Edesius. At the time, there was a small population of Christians living there who sought refuge from Roman persecution. Once of age, Frumentius and Edesius were allowed to return to their homelands, however they chose to stay at the request of the queen. In doing so, they began to secretly promote Christianity through the lands.


title: Christianity in Ethiopia

text: During a trip to meet with church elders, Frumentius met with Athanasius, Pope of Alexandria. After recommending that a bishop be sent to proselytize, a council decided that Frumentius be appointed as a bishop for Ethiopia.


title: Christianity in Ethiopia

text: By 331 AD, Frumentius returned to Ethiopia, he was welcomed with open arms by the rulers who were at the time not Christian. Ten years later, through the support of the kings, the majority of the kingdom was converted and Christianity was declared the official state religion.


title: Christianity in Ethiopia

text: The Syriac Nine Saints and Sadqan missionaries expanded Christianity far beyond the caravan routes and the royal court through monastic communities and missionary settlements from which Christianity was taught. The efforts of these Syriac missionaries from Assyria and Aramea facilitated the Church’s expansion deep into the interior and caused friction with the traditions of the local people. The Syriac missions also served as permanent centers of Christian learning in which Syriac monks finally began to translate the Bible and other religious texts from Greek into Ethiopic so that their converts could actually read Scripture. These translations were vital to the spread of Christianity, no longer a religion for the small percentage of Ethiopians who could read Greek, throughout Ethiopia.


title: Christianity in Ethiopia

text: With the translation of Scripture into Ethiopic allowing for common people to learn about Christianity, many of the local people joined the Syriac missions and monasteries, received religious training through monastic rule based around communalism, hard work, discipline, obedience, and asceticism, and caused the growth of the Church’s influence, especially among young people who were attracted to the mystical aspects of the religion. Newly trained Ethiopian ministers opened their own schools in their parishes and offered to educate members of their congregations. Ethiopian kings encouraged this development because it gave more prestige to the Ethiopian clergy, attracting even more people to join, which allowed the Church to grow beyond its origins as a royal cult to a widespread religion with a strong position in the country.


title: Christianity in Ethiopia

text: By the beginning of the sixth century, there were Christian Churches throughout northern Ethiopia. King Kaleb, of the Aksumite Kingdom, led crusades against Christian persecutors in southern Arabia, where Judaism was experiencing a resurgence that led to persecution of Christians. King Kaleb’s reign is also significant for the spread of Christianity among the Agaw tribes of central Ethiopia.


title: Christianity in Ethiopia

text: In the late 16th century Christianity spread among petty kingdoms in Ethiopia's west, like Ennarea, Kaffa or Garo.


title: Christianity in Ethiopia

text: Christianity has also spread among Muslims. A 2015 study estimated some 400,000 Christians from a Muslim background in the country, most of them Protestants of some form.


title: Christianity in Ethiopia

text: During the 6th century, the Patriarchate of Alexandria encouraged the clerical immigration to Aksum and a program of careful recruitment of religious leaders in the kingdom to ensure that the rich and valuable diocese of Aksum remained under the control of the Alexandrian patriarchate. The kings and bishops who encouraged these settlements assigned missionaries to appropriate areas in Aksum. They donated money to communities and religious schools while protecting their occupants from local anti-Christians. Students of the schools were recruited, ordained, and sent to work in parishes in new Christian areas. There is little evidence about the activities of the daily life of the early Aksumite Church, but it is clear that the essential doctrinal and liturgical traditions were established in the first four centuries of its creation. The strength of these traditions was the main driving force behind the Church’s survival despite its distance from its patriarch in Alexandria.


title: Christianity in Ethiopia

text: The Solomonic Dynasty’s legendary origins come from an Ethiopian myth called the Kebre Negast. According to the story, Queen Makeda, who took the Ethiopian throne in the 10th century, B.C., travelled to Jerusalem to learn to be a good ruler from King Solomon, who was famous worldwide for his wisdom and capabilities as a ruler. King Solomon agreed to take Makeda as his student and taught her how to be a good queen. Queen Makeda was so impressed with Solomon that she converted to Judaism and provided Solomon with many gifts. Before Makeda returned home, the two had a son together. Solomon had a dream in which God said that his and Makeda’s son would be the head of a new order. In response, he sent Makeda home but told her to send their son back to Jerusalem when he came of age to be taught Jewish lore and law. Makeda did as she was told and sent Menilek I, their son, to Jerusalem to be taught by Solomon, who offered to make him the prince of Jerusalem. However, Menilek declined and instead returned to Ethiopia, anointed by his father and God to be the king of Ethiopia.


title: Christianity in Ethiopia

text: The Kebre Negast exemplifies the importance of Judaism, and subsequently, of Christianity to the Ethiopian people, serving as a source of Ethiopian national pride and providing a justification for the idea of Ethiopians as a chosen people of God. More importantly to the Solomonic Dynasty however, it provided the grounds for the “restored Solomonic” Empire, so named because of its renewed fervor for the connection of King Solomon to Ethiopian royalty, which began under Emperor Yekuno Amlak (r. 1270-1285) and was ruled and justified by Christianity until the late twentieth century.


title: Christianity in Ethiopia

text: The Muslim city of Yifat was conquered by Ethiopia in 1270, under Yekuno Amlak, which caused officials in Cairo to use their influence to prevent a new bishop from being sent to Ethiopia. This action crippled the Ethiopian Church as well as the power of the emperor. By the time that Amda Siyon (r. 1314-1344) took the throne in 1314, Sabradin of Yifat led a united Muslim front made up of people angered by Christian rule, destroying churches in Ethiopia and forcing Christians to convert to Islam. Siyon responded with a savage attack that resulted in the defeat of Yifat. Furthermore, Siyon’s victory caused the frontier of Christian power in Africa to expand past the Awash Valley.


title: Christianity in Ethiopia

text: The Yafit defeat allowed Alexandria to send Abuna Yakob, to Ethiopia in 1337 to be its metropolitan. Yakob reinvigorated the Ethiopian Church, which had been without a leader for almost 70 years, by ordaining new clergy and consecrating long-standing churches that had been built during the power void. Furthermore, Yakob deployed a corps of monks into the newly obtained lands. These monks were often killed or injured by the conquered people, but, through hard work, faith, and promises that local elites could keep their positions through conversion, the new territories were converted to Christianity.


title: Christianity in Ethiopia

text: One of the more fervent monks appointed by Abuna Yakob was Abba Ewostatewos (c. 1273–1352). Ewostatewos designed a monastic ideology stressing the necessity for isolation from state influences. He insisted that the people and the Church return to the teachings of the Bible. Ewostatewos’s followers were called Ewostathians or Sabbatarians, due to their emphasis on observing the Sabbath on Saturday.


title: Christianity in Ethiopia

text: Church and state officials united to denounce Ewostatewos, but they were unable to discredit him because he avoided serious sins, and they were unable to effectively argue against him due to his knowledge of Scripture. Frustrated, the Church and state officials simply declared him a deviant due to his love for Old Testament customs that were falling out of favor in the Alexandrian Church in the thirteenth century. Ewostatewos and his followers were persecuted, and Ewostatewos himself died in exile in Armenia in 1352.


title: Christianity in Ethiopia

text: The Ewostathians retreated into remote northeastern Ethiopia to escape the society that refused to ordain them, drove them out of churches, fired them from official positions, drove them out of the court, and in some cases, drove them out of towns completely. Over time, however, the religious zeal of the Sabbatarians resulted in missionary activities that successfully converted adjacent non-Christian communities and, within a few generations, Ewostathian monasteries and communities spread throughout the Eritrean highlands.


title: Christianity in Ethiopia

text: The spread of Ewostathianism alarmed the Ethiopian establishment who still considered them to be dangerous due to their refusal to follow state authorities. In response, in 1400, Emperor Dawit I (r. 1380–1412) invited the Sabbatarians to come to court and participate in a debate. Abba Filipos led the Ewostathian delegation, which argued their case with passion, refusing to repudiate the Sabbath, until the Ethiopian bishop ordered that the delegation be arrested. The goal of the arrests was to kill Ewostathianism by removing its leaders, but its localized nature allowed it to survive, and, as a result, the arrest of the Ewostathians only led to a rift in the Ethiopian Church, between the ruling class’s traditional Christianity and what was becoming a large movement of Ewostathian Christians.


title: Christianity in Ethiopia

text: Emperor Dawit realized that jailing the Sabbatarians was a mistake and ordered their release in 1403 to celebrate a Christian victory over Muslims. Dawit decreed that the Sabbatarians would be allowed to observe the Sabbath on Saturday and return to their normal activities, but he also decreed that Sunday would be observed as the only Sabbath at court.


title: Christianity in Ethiopia

text: After Dawit's proclamation, Ewostathianism enjoyed impressive growth. This growth was noticed by Dawit's successor, Emperor Zara Yakob (r. 1434–1468) who realized that the energy of the Sabbatarians could be useful in reinvigorating the church and promoting national unity. The Church, when Yakob took the throne, was impressively widespread, but the consequence of so many different peoples being part of the same church was that there were often many different messages spread throughout the empire, as the clergy was split between followers of Alexandria and Ewostathians, who refused to follow the hierarchy of Alexandria.


title: Christianity in Ethiopia

text: Emperor Yakob called for a compromise in 1436, meeting with two bishops, Mikail and Gabriel, sent by the see of St. Mark. Yakob convinced the bishops that if Alexandria agreed to accept the Ewostathian view of the Sabbath, then the Ewostathians would agree to recognize Alexandrian authority. Next, Yakob travelled to Aksum for his coronation, remaining there until 1439 and reconciling with the Sabbatarians, who agreed to pay feudal dues to the emperor.


title: Christianity in Ethiopia

text: In 1450, the conflict officially came to an end, as Mikail and Gabriel agreed to recognize the Sabatarians' observance of the Sabbath, and the Sabbatarians agreed to adopt the sacrament of Holy Orders, which they had previously considered to be illegitimate due to its dependence on the authority of the church in Alexandria.


title: Christianity in Ethiopia

text: With the emergence of Islam in the 7th century, Ethiopia's Christians became isolated from the rest of the Christian world. The head of the Ethiopian church has been appointed by the patriarch of the Coptic church in Egypt, and Ethiopian monks had certain rights in the church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Ethiopia was the only region of Africa to survive the expansion of Islam as a Christian state.


title: Christianity in Ethiopia

text: In 1441 some Ethiopian monks travelled from Jerusalem to attend the Council in Florence which discussed possible union between the Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches.


title: Christianity in Ethiopia

text: The arrival of the Christian monks caused something of a sensation. It began two centuries of contact in which there were hopes to bring the Ethiopians into the Catholic fold (the doctrinal problem was that they inclined to miaphysitism (considered a heresy by the Catholics) associated with the Coptic church of Egypt). In 1554 Jesuits arrived in Ethiopia to be joined in 1603 by Pedro Páez, a Spanish missionary of such energy and zeal that he has been called the second apostle of Ethiopia (Frumentius being the first). The Jesuits were expelled in 1633 which was then followed by two centuries of more isolation until the second half of the 19th century.


title: Commandos (United Kingdom)

text: The Commandos, also known as the British Commandos, were formed during the Second World War in June 1940, following a request from Winston Churchill, for special forces that could carry out raids against German-occupied Europe. Initially drawn from within the British Army from soldiers who volunteered for the Special Service Brigade, the Commandos' ranks would eventually be filled by members of all branches of the British Armed Forces and a number of foreign volunteers from German-occupied countries. By the end of the war 25,000 men had passed through the Commando course at Achnacarry. This total includes not only the British volunteers, but volunteers from Greece, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Canada, Norway, Poland, and the United States Army Rangers and US Marine Corps Raiders, which were modelled on the Commandos.


title: Commandos (United Kingdom)

text: Reaching a wartime strength of over 30 units and four assault brigades, the Commandos served in all theatres of war from the Arctic Circle to Europe and from the Mediterranean and Middle East to South-East Asia. Their operations ranged from small groups of men landing from the sea or by parachute, to a brigade of assault troops spearheading the Allied invasions of Europe and Asia.


title: Commandos (United Kingdom)

text: After the war most Commando units were disbanded, leaving only the 3 Commando Brigade of the Royal Marines. The modern Royal Marine Commandos, Parachute Regiment, Special Air Service, British Army commandos and the Special Boat Service trace their origins to the Commandos. The Second World War Commando legacy also extends to mainland Europe and the United States: the French Commandos Marine; Dutch "Korps Commandotroepen"; Belgian Special Operations Regiment; the Greek 1st Raider–Paratrooper Brigade; and the United States Army Rangers were influenced by the wartime Commandos.


title: Commandos (United Kingdom)

text: The British Commandos were a formation of the British Armed Forces organised for special service in June 1940. After the events leading to the British Expeditionary Force's (BEF) evacuation from Dunkirk, after the disastrous Battle of France, Winston Churchill, the British Prime Minister, called for a force to be assembled and equipped to inflict casualties on the Germans and bolster British morale. Churchill told the joint chiefs of staff to propose measures for an offensive against German-occupied Europe, and stated in a minute to General Hastings Ismay on 6 June 1940: "Enterprises must be prepared, with specially-trained troops of the hunter class, who can develop a reign of terror down these coasts, first of all on the "butcher and bolt" policy..." The Chief of the Imperial General Staff at that time was General John Dill and his Military Assistant was Lieutenant-Colonel Dudley Clarke. Clarke discussed the matter with Dill at the War Office and prepared a paper for him that proposed the formation of a new force based on the tactics of Boer commandos, 'hit sharp and quick - then run to fight another day'; they became 'The Commandos' from then onwards. Dill, aware of Churchill's intentions, approved Clarke's proposal. The first commando raid, Operation Collar, was conducted on the night of 24/25 June 1940.


title: Commandos (United Kingdom)

text: The request for volunteers for special service was initially restricted to serving Army soldiers within certain formations still in Britain, and from men of the disbanding divisional Independent Companies originally raised from Territorial Army (TA) divisions who had served in the Norwegian Campaign.


title: Commandos (United Kingdom)

text: By the autumn of 1940 more than 2,000 men had volunteered and in November 1940 these new units were organised into a Special Service Brigade consisting of four battalions under the command of Brigadier Joseph Charles Haydon. The Special Service Brigade was quickly expanded to 12 units which became known as Commandos. Each Commando had a lieutenant-colonel as the commanding officer and numbered around 450 men (divided into 75 man troops that were further divided into 15 man sections). Technically these men were only on secondment to the Commandos; they retained their own regimental cap badges and remained on the regimental roll for pay. The Commando force came under the operational control of the Combined Operations Headquarters. The man initially selected as the commander of Combined Operations was Admiral Roger Keyes, a veteran of the Gallipoli campaign and the Zeebrugge Raid in the First World War. Keyes resigned in October 1941 and was replaced by Vice Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten. Major-General Robert Laycock was the last Commander of Combined Operations; he took over from Mountbatten in October 1943.


title: Commandos (United Kingdom)

text: The Commando units formed in the United Kingdom were: No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, No. 4, No. 5, No. 6, No. 7, No. 8 (Guards), No. 9, No. 10 (Inter-Allied), No. 11 (Scottish), No. 12, No. 14 (Arctic), No. 30, and No. 62 Commando. At the same time there were four Commando units formed in the Middle East: No. 50, No. 51, No, 52, and the Middle East Commando. The No. 10 (Inter-Allied) Commando was formed from volunteers from the occupied territories and enemy aliens. It was the largest Commando unit formed, and contained troops from France, Belgium, Poland, Norway, the Netherlands, and No. 3 (X) Troop. The No. 3 (X) Troop consisted of enemy aliens; it was also known as the English, Jewish, or British troop and was officially renamed the Miscellaneous Troop in 1944. Most of the troop had German, Austrian, or Eastern European backgrounds, while others were political or religious refugees from Nazi Germany.


title: Commandos (United Kingdom)

text: Some Commandos were designated for different tasks from the start. No. 2 Commando was always intended to be a parachute unit. In June 1940 they began parachute training and were re-designated the 11th Special Air Service (SAS) Battalion, which eventually became the 1st Parachute Battalion. After their re-designation a new No. 2 Commando was formed. Other Commandos were grouped together in a larger formation known as Layforce and sent to the Middle East. The Special Air Service and the Special Boat Squadron were formed from the survivors of Layforce. The men of No. 14 (Arctic) Commando were specially trained for operations in the Arctic Circle and specialised in using small boats and canoes to attack shipping. The joint service unit No. 30 Commando was formed for intelligence gathering. Its members were trained in the recognition of enemy documents, search techniques, safe cracking, prisoner handling, photography, and escape techniques.


title: Commandos (United Kingdom)

text: No. 62 Commando or the Small Scale Raiding Force was a small 55–man unit under the operational control of the Special Operations Executive (SOE). They carried out raids planned by SOE such as Operation Postmaster on the Spanish island of Fernando Po off the coast of West Africa.


title: Commandos (United Kingdom)

text: In February 1941 the Commandos were reorganized in accordance with a new war establishment. Each Commando unit now consisted of a Headquarters and six troops (instead of the previous 10). Each troop would comprise three officers and 62 other ranks; this number was set so each troop would fit into two Assault Landing Craft. The new formation also meant that two complete Commando units could be carried in the 'Glen' type landing ship and one unit in the 'Dutch' type landing ship. The motor transport issued to each commando consisted of one car for the commanding officer, 12 motorcycles (six with sidecars), two 15 hundredweight (cwt) trucks, and one 3-ton truck. These vehicles were only provided for administration and training and were not intended to accompany the men on operations.


title: Commandos (United Kingdom)

text: In February 1942 the Royal Marines were tasked to organise Commando units of their own. In total nine Commando units were formed by the Royal Marines: No. 40, No. 41, No. 42, No. 43, No. 44, No. 45, No. 46, No. 47 and the last, No. 48, which was only formed in 1944. In 1943 two other Commando units were formed. The first was the Royal Naval Commandos, who were established to carry out tasks associated with establishing, maintaining, and controlling beachheads during amphibious operations. The other was the Royal Air Force Commandos, who would accompany an invasion force either to make enemy airfields serviceable, or to make new airstrips operational and contribute to their defence.


title: Commandos (United Kingdom)

text: In 1943, the formation of the Commando unit was changed. Each Commando now consisted of a small headquarters group, five fighting troops, a heavy weapons troop, and a signals platoon. The fighting troops consisted of 65 men of all ranks divided into two 30–man sections which were subdivided into three 10–man subsections. The heavy weapons troop was made up of 3-inch mortar and Vickers machine gun teams. The Commandos were provided with the motor transport needed to accompany them on operations. Their transport now consisted of the commanding officer's car, 15 motorcycles (six with side cars), ten 15 cwt trucks, and three 3-ton trucks. The heavy weapons troop had seven Jeeps and trailers and one Jeep for each of the fighting troops and the headquarters. This gave them enough vehicles of their own to accommodate two fighting troops, the heavy weapons troop, and the Commando Headquarters.


title: Commandos (United Kingdom)

text: By now the Commandos started to move away from smaller raiding operations. They were formed into four brigades to spearhead future Allied landing operations. The previous Special Service Brigade Headquarters was replaced by Headquarters Special Services Group under command of Major-General Robert Sturges. Of the remaining 20 Commando units, 17 were used in the formation of the four Special Service brigades. The three remaining Commandos (Nos. 12, 14, and 62) were left out of the brigade structure to concentrate on smaller scale raids. The increased tempo of operations, together with a shortage of volunteers and the need to provide replacements for casualties, forced their disbandment by the end of 1943. The small scale raiding role was then given to the two French troops of No. 10 (Inter-Allied) Commando.


title: Commandos (United Kingdom)

text: From 1944 the Operational Holding Commando Headquarters was formed. It was responsible for two sub–units: the Army and Royal Marines Holding Commando Wings. Both units had an establishment of five troops and a heavy weapons troop of fully trained commandos. The men in these troops were to provide individual or complete troop replacements for the Commando units in the field. In December 1944, the four Special Service brigades were re-designated as Commando brigades.


title: Commandos (United Kingdom)

text: When the Commando units were originally formed in 1940, training was the responsibility of the unit commanding officers. Training was hampered by the general shortage of equipment throughout the British Army at this time, as most arms and equipment had been left behind at Dunkirk. In December 1940 a Middle East Commando depot was formed with the responsibility of training and supplying reinforcements for the Commando units in that theatre. In February 1942 the Commando training depot at Achnacarry in the Scottish Highlands was established by Brigadier Charles Haydon under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Vaughan, the Commando depot was responsible for training complete units and individual replacements. The training regime was for the time innovative and physically demanding, and far in advance of normal British Army training. The depot staff were all hand picked, with the ability to outperform any of the volunteers. Training and assessment started immediately on arrival, with the volunteers having to complete an march with all their equipment from the Spean Bridge railway station to the commando depot. When they arrived they were met by Vaughan, who stressed the physical demands of the course and that any man who failed to live up to the requirements would be 'returned to unit' (RTU).


title: Commandos (United Kingdom)

text: Exercises were conducted using live ammunition and explosives to make training as realistic as possible. Physical fitness was a prerequisite, with cross country runs and boxing matches to improve fitness. Speed and endurance marches were conducted up and down the nearby mountain ranges and over assault courses that included a zip-line over Loch Arkaig, all while carrying arms and full equipment. Training continued by day and night with river crossings, mountain climbing, weapons training, unarmed combat, map reading, and small boat operations on the syllabus.


title: Commandos (United Kingdom)

text: Living conditions were primitive in the camp, with trainees housed either under canvas in tents or in Nissen huts and they were responsible for cooking their own meals. Correct military protocols were enforced: Officers were saluted and uniforms had to be clean, with brasses and boots shining on parade. At the end of each course the final exercise was a simulated night beach landing using live ammunition.


title: Commandos (United Kingdom)

text: Another smaller Commando depot, known as the Commando Mountain and Snow Warfare training camp, was established at Braemar. This camp was run by two famous mountaineers: the depot commander Squadron Leader Frank Smythe and chief instructor Major John Hunt. The depot provided training for operations in Arctic conditions, with instruction in climbing snow-covered mountains, cliff climbing, and small boat and canoe handling. Training was conducted in how to live, fight, and move on foot or on skis in snowy conditions.


title: Commandos (United Kingdom)

text: A major change in the training programme occurred in 1943. From that point on training concentrated more on the assault infantry role and less on raiding operations. Training now included how to call for fire support from artillery and naval gunfire, and how to obtain tactical air support from the Allied air forces. More emphasis was put on joint training, with two or more Commando units working together in brigades.


title: Commandos (United Kingdom)

text: By the end of the war 25,000 men had passed through the Commando course at Achnacarry. This total includes not only the British volunteers, but volunteers from Belgium, France, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, and the United States Army Rangers, which were modelled on the Commandos.