The Point Reyes Good Luck Fund is purchasing a third historic West Marin property, adding the shuttered Vladimir’s Czech Restaurant and an Inverness law office to its growing portfolio.
The sale will mark the end of an era for a storied Czech restaurant that opened in 1960 and served as a social hub where you could enjoy schnitzel and goulash and wash it down with a pilsner. When your meal was through, you could knock back a shot of Becherovka, a Czech digestif.
The restaurant closed two years ago after a series of deaths in the family of Vladia Brooks, the daughter of longtime restaurateur Vladimir Nevl. Last week, Ms. Brooks and the Good Luck Fund signed a purchase-and-sale agreement, according to Heather Mickley, the nonprofit foundation’s director of operations.
As word of the sale spread through town, several people reached out to express interest in opening a restaurant or coffee shop at the site, she said.
“We’ll go through a selection process to find the right tenant to make that a lively little corner again—a neighborhood place to go and get a reasonably priced meal,” Ms. Mickley said.
Ms. Brooks, who took over the restaurant just months before her father died in 2008, was traveling out of the country this week and could not be reached for comment. But her former customers lamented the passing of a historic institution that was a vibrant strand in the fabric of Inverness.
Dick Fitzgerald, who brought Bay Area jazz bands to play at Vladimir’s from time to time, said the quintessential local bar counted ranchers, landscapers, contractors and longtime weekenders among its regulars.
“All the people who grew up here would go in and have a pilsner or a Becherovka,” said Mr. Fitzgerald, who stuck to the beer, finding the digestif too sweet. “You’d walk in and run into people who were either born or raised here or had been weekenders forever. I met a lot of people there who I never otherwise would have met. You could go in by yourself and always find people to talk to.”
Vladimir’s was the second Czech restaurant to open in Inverness. Both were connected to the Prokupek family, which opened Manka’s Czech Restaurant in 1956 at the former Inverness Lodge, on Callender Way.
Four years later, Vladimir Nevl, a Czech émigré, married the Prokupeks’ daughter, Alena. They met while he was working as a waiter at Ernie’s, a high-end restaurant in San Francisco. Vladimir, a skilled horseman and wine expert, worked briefly at Manka’s before the couple opened their own place downtown.
Vladimir had left his homeland after the communist takeover, fleeing to Western Europe on skis. He lived in Sydney, Australia, for a few years, where he worked in restaurants and did heavy labor before emigrating to the United States, according to historian Dewey Livingston.
The restaurant had a dark and cozy wooden interior, and the walls were adorned with photographs of the proprietor on skis, on horseback and on fox hunts in Nicasio. Czech tchotchkes were sprinkled about. In his 48 years running the place, Vladimir never changed the menu, which included roast duck, stuffed cabbage and apple strudel.
Vladimir was a spiffy, if idiosyncratic, dresser. He always wore riding boots and sometimes riding pants and a crop. He cued up Czech folk music on the stereo, and the sound of accordion, an instrument he played, often spilled out the doors.
A raconteur with a prickly temperament, Vladimir didn’t hesitate to insult people with whom he disagreed, including his customers and especially the long-haired hippies. His politics ran conservative in a region known for its bleeding heart.
Shortly before her father passed away, Vladia, who had been living in Portland and working as a dietary technician, returned to Inverness to take over the restaurant.
“The last thing I wanted to do was run a restaurant,” she told the Light in 2009. “But I didn’t want to see it just go away.”
Vladia had grown up in her father’s kitchen doing dishes, folding napkins and setting tables. She had chopped carrots for goulash and baked their signature rye bread. She knew the recipes by heart and did not need a measuring cup to make them.
Business thrived under her more genial management. She was warm and welcoming but also ran a tight ship, intolerant of customers who always seemed to have one too many, according to Mr. Fitzgerald.
“Vladia ran a proper bar,” he said. “She got rid of people who were troublesome.”
Mr. Fitzgerald is sad to see 70 years of Czech restaurant entrepreneurship end, but he is glad to hear that Vladia found a buyer—and one who has promised to pay tribute to the restaurant’s past.
According to Ms. Mickley, the Good Luck Fund will install a display that tells Vladimir’s story. And it will seek a tenant that respects the history of the place, even as it evolves.
The fund’s mission is to preserve historic buildings in West Marin villages, keep them in local hands and recruit essential businesses that meet community needs.
The Vladimir’s property includes a separate building that houses the law offices of Dakota Whitney and Martha Howard. At Vladia’s request, the attorneys will continue practicing at their current spot between the restaurant and the post office. The fund will serve as their landlord.
Chris Hulls, a tech entrepreneur who grew up in Point Reyes Station, launched the fund with a $15 million donation in March, when he announced the purchase of the Old Western Saloon property. Late last month, Good Luck picked up 11180 Highway 1, the former home of the Station House Café.
The fund’s new acquisition is perfectly suited to its mission, Ms. Mickley said.
“Vladimir’s was there for so long,” she said. “It’s exactly the sort of place we want to preserve—West Marin buildings with character and history. Vladimir’s was one of Chris’s favorite places to stop and eat when he was growing up. We’re about carrying on tradition.”
William Barrett, president of the Inverness Association, was pleased to hear that new life may soon be breathed into a historic building that has languished long enough. “I’m very happy to see that Vladimir’s has been picked up by the Good Luck Fund and hope that a tenant will be installed who will continue the tradition of good family food in our Inverness village,” he said.
The Good Luck Fund will host a community meeting from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 25 in the garden of the former Station House at 11180 Highway 1 to hear ideas for that building and Vladimir’s.