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Photograph of Mountain Play Association
Photograph by Bento00, Public domain. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Mount Tamalpais Mountain Theater

Built in 1913. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015. 17 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1897.

From the record

“The Mountain Play Association is a 501(c)3 organization responsible for the production of theatrical events at the Sidney B. Cushing Amphitheater within Mount Tamalpais State Park on Mount Tamalpais in Marin County, California, United States.”

Wikipedia article Mountain Play Association, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 50 National Register listings published here for Marin County · listed in 2015 · category: Structure · built in 1913.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

  • Address. 3801 Panoramic Hwy., Mill Valley, 94941
  • When was it listed? February 2015
  • Category. structure
  • Also known as. National-State Cooperative Program and the CCC in California State Parks MPS
  • Census division. Bolinas
  • When was it built? 1913
  • National Register reference number. 14001234 - assigned by the National Park Service when the property was listed.

Then and now

1897 to 1995

The ground this property stands on, surveyed 98 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet covering Mount Tamalpais Mountain Theater, surveyed 1995
Topographic sheet covering Mount Tamalpais Mountain Theater, surveyed 1897

Fires near this property

57 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 57 fires within 5 miles of Mount Tamalpais Mountain Theater between 1992 and 2020, burning about 100 acres in total. None started naturally. 1 was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined28
Equipment and vehicle use9
Recreation and ceremony8
Power generation/transmission/distribution4
Smoking4
Misuse of fire by a minor3
Arson/incendiarism1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
7 September 1992Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreGolden Gate National Recreation AreaLEACH
3 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMarin County Fire Departmentnot named
22 September 1996Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresGolden Gate National Recreation AreaBASE END
21 September 2008Misuse of fire by a minorunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
20 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMarin County Fire Departmentnot named
10 September 2014Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMarin County Fire Departmentnot named
1 September 2002Smokingunder an acreGolden Gate National Recreation AreaMILE 14
9 August 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named

Every fire recorded in Marin County

Mines and quarries near this property

10 of 11 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 11 workings within 5 miles of Mount Tamalpais Mountain Theater: 7 occurrences, 2 prospects, 1 producer, 1 unknown. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Copper, Mercury, Silver, Copper, Lead. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Copperopolis MineAsbestosProducerChrysotile
Escalle QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenOccurrence
Escalle QuarryStoneUnknown
McKinnan GulchCopper, LeadOccurrenceVein
ClaimMercuryOccurrence
ClaimMercuryOccurrence
Mt TamalpaisSilverOccurrence
Mt. TamalpaisSilverOccurrence
McKinnan GulchCopperProspect
Pike GulchCopperOccurrenceVein

Every working recorded in Marin County

Maps showing this location

17 surveys

United States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the middle of the area the National Park Service maps for this listing, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Photograph PropertyDistance Listed
West Point Inn0.9 miles2011
Dipsea Trail, The1.1 miles2010
Muir Woods National Monument1.6 miles2008
Mill Valley City Hall and Fire Station3.3 miles2026
Outdoor Art Club3.4 miles1978
Dolliver House4.1 miles1978

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 14001234 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Marin CountyAll 50 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

  • Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
  • Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
  • How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
  • Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
  • Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.