By Dan Woog and Liz Greer
Famous people — including fictional TV characters — live here.
Downtown is grappling with the loss of mom-and-pop shops.
Real estate is expensive.
Residents are affluent, worldly, well educated, and overwhelmingly white.
The politics lean toward the liberal.
Welcome to Westport, Connecticut — and Mill Valley, California.
Separated at birth? Mill Valley, California...
They may not be exact replicas of each other.
But they’re close.
Joggers, bikers, yoga practitioners, nature walkers: check.
A much-loved library, highly regarded schools, community theater and arts festival: check.
Texting while driving: big check.
There are differences, of course. While both have spectacular views, Westport counters Mill Valley’s canyons and redwoods with lush greenery and Colonial-era stone walls.
Mill Valley’s 20-minute commute to San Francisco blows Westport’s hour-long (with luck) ride to New York City out of the water (the Sound, not the Bay).
...and Westport, Connecticut.
For every Jack Kerouac who lived in Mill Valley, Westport’s got an F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Mill Valley has been home to Dana Carvey, Jack London, Jerry Garcia, Huey Lewis and Robin Williams.
Westport residents have included Paul Newman, Robert Ludlum, Ashford and Simpson, and Michael Bolton.
B.J. Hunnicutt of “M*A*S*H” lived in Mill Valley, supposedly.
“I Love Lucy'”s Ricardos called Westport home, fictionally.
West has a hyperlocal blog, “06880.” Mill Valley has a hyperlocal blog, “Mill Valley Life.” They share the same combination of celebrity and aargh-itude.
In fact — former Westporter Rod Serling would appreciate this — “06880” is the creation of Dan Woog. Who visits, and has close friends in, Mill Valley.
And “Mill Valley Life” is the creation of Liz Ewen Greer. Who lived in Westport, way back in the 1960s.
DEE-DEE dee dee DEE-DEE dee-dee…
(Today’s post appears simultaneously in “06880” and “Mill Valley Life.”)