In response to “Richmond and Outdoor Gear - George Marks' 80th,” I received the following, including pointing out that I failed to recognize the party’s co-host, for which I apologize. Goody-Goody is located at 194 23rd St, Richmond, CA 94804.

• You should probably have credited Laura Holmes (owner/creator of Richmond business Goody Goody) as co-host of George’s birthday event. She also gave him the airline miles to come and made all those walrus cupcakes.
• It would be nice if you posted a P.S. to your account of the party for George giving co-hostess credit to Laurie “Goody Goody Shoes” Holmes.  Her treasure of frequent flyer miles, accumulated on her numerous trips to China, brought George here to celebrate his 80th.  And she topped it off by making 96 chocolate cup cakes sculpted in the shape of a Walrus, a Labor of love inspired by George’s post-Sierra Designs company Walrus Tents. ( One is preserved in my freezer should anyone wish to see the latest evidence of Goody Goody creativity.)
• I have a six degrees of separation relation to these folks. I used to work at Mountain Gazette, back in the 1980s, before it died (it was resurrected a decade or so ago, but will never be what it was when I was there, which may or may not be good). All of these companies, of course, were regular advertisers in MG, and I got to know Justus Bauschinger quite well--in fact, the first time I ever visited the SF Bay Area, I stayed on his boat in the Berkeley Marina.
• This brings back so many memories including walking down a street in Rome in the very early 70's and there was George M. Also great to see a pic of George Rudolph he was a good friend and I loved the stories of his beginnings.
• Must have been a fun nostalgia fest. Seems like it was only yesterday when George moved Sierra Designs into an old paint factory in West Berkeley.  I was occupied during the '70s producing backpacking catalogs for the Consumers Co-op of Berkeley, Snowline/SnowLion, Outdoor Products, etc. One reference to Bruce Johnson's "The History of Gear Project" site deserves another: http://www.oregonphotos.com/Snowlion1.html. Thanks for triggering a trip down memory lane.
• Does anyone know why so many "with-it" companies started in Point Richmond and then departed?  Not all of them left and some new companies have arrived but the companies mentioned in this post plus PIXAR add to up to some mighty big losses.