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War, civil unrest, bell bottoms and the summer of love.
The 1960s in the United States were a turbulent time that would change the course of the nation, and the Museum of the San Ramon Valley plans to chronicle how the times affected the local community with its newest exhibit “The Sixties at Fifty: Turbulence and Transformation, the San Ramon Valley in the 1960s.”
The museum’s first exhibit of 2019 officially opens on Jan. 26 and will run through June 3. It will look to describe what life was like in the San Ramon Valley during that time, and how the region evolved.
“The 1960’s brought us the war in Vietnam. It also brought us JFK, LBJ, landing on the moon and much more. Issues such as civil rights, the environment, worker’s rights and women’s rights were beginning to move to the forefront of American’s minds. The San Ramon Valley was not immune to these changes,” museum spokesman John Keenan wrote in a statement. “The San Ramon Valley would never be the same.”
The region’s migration from a quiet farming community to suburbia was well underway as the decade saw the area’s population boom from 12,800 in 1960 to 28,000 in 1970, according to Keenan. This growth drove the creation of the San Ramon Valley Unified School District, the opening of John Baldwin Elementary School, and the creation of Interstate 680 to replace Highway 21.
To accompany the exhibit local historian and Danville Award recipient Beverly Lane, will host a special presentation on the era “The Sixties: America in Turmoil,” Feb. 7, 7 p.m. at the Veterans Memorial Building, 400 Hartz Ave, Danville.
Lane’s presentation will be followed by “Call Me Miss,” a presentation on the women’s movement in the sixties, by Diablo Valley College professor Melissa Jacobsen, March 14, 7 p.m. also at the Veterans Memorial Building. Admission to both presentations is free.
The museum is located in the restored Southern Pacific depot, 205 Railroad Ave. in Danville, hours are Tuesdays through Fridays 1 to 4 p.m., Saturdays 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and Sundays noon to 3 p.m. Tickets can be purchased in person, $5 for adults, $3 for seniors, students and children. Members can visit the exhibit for free.
For more information resident can contact the museum at 683-3750 or visit their website at museumsrv.org.
