Point Reyes Station’s oldest building changes hands after decades

A historic property on Point Reyes Station’s main street sold this month to a West Marin resident. The buildings that house Zuma, Black Mountain Artisans and the Marty Knapp Photography Gallery—one of which is believed to be the oldest surviving building in town—were originally put on the market in 2016 with a listing price of $925,000; they went on the market again in March for $750,000 and sold on Aug. 6 to Claudia Tomaso, a corporate recruiter with a San Geronimo address. Reached by phone this week, Ms. Tomaso declined to comment on her plans for the property, which had been owned by Ross residents Katherine and Ralph Braren since 1977.  The storefronts and their occupants will remain the same, listing realtor Rick Trono said. The property has lived many lives, according to historian Dewey Livingston. The Black Mountain Artisans and Marty Knapp Photography Gallery storefront was built as a blacksmith shop by Point Reyes Station’s founder Galen Burdell in 1882, when the town consisted of a railroad and depot and just a handful of other structures. Over the years, the building has been home to various shops—a barbershop, a meat market, an insurance office and more. The building where Zuma operates was added in 1914, and in the 1920s, Amanze Angeli—known as “Angie”—ran a cigar store there. Around 1930, he and his wife, Tina, moved next door to the larger building and opened a bar and restaurant named Angie’s, which Mr. Livingston said is rumored to have been a speakeasy during the later years of Prohibition.