With gratitude for all our veterans on Veteran’s Day, here’s a photo of six locals getting ready to head out for Camp Davis to serve in World War 1.

Horace Poley, Mert Bain, Walter Frizzi, Wyndham Barnes, Charles Dodge and Tony Rose posed in front of the Blue Rock Hotel—now Left Bank—at a farewell party on Sept. 19, 1917.

One of the first native Larkspurians, Walter Frizzi returned from the war and eventually served as a longtime city councilman and mayor of Larkspur. His parents Gus and Julia headed up one of Larkspur’s founding families in the late 1800s and owned the entire frontage of Ward Street from Magnolia to Locust. 

Walter went on to build two homes on Ward Street right behind his dad’s Frizzi’s Exchange saloon on the corner of Magnolia and Ward—now Coquelicot—and his mom’s bakery nextdoor—now Nicolette. Julia Frizzi’s Ice Cream and Candy Parlor was likely the first building in this block, dating from 1894. 

And of course, everyone knows the patio of the Blue Rock Hotel—now Left Bank—has been one of the best places to celebrate anything in Downtown Larkspur for more than 130 years. 

Originally built as the Hotel Larkspur in 1891, it was expanded in 1910 by locally famed architect Gustave Nagel and the ground floor walls and pillars were with faced with locally quarried blue rock. 

📸+ ✍️ “Larkspur Past & Present”

Nov. 11, 2025