Letter from John Barrow on the day of Library Event March 22, 2009

Since the evidence of Miles’ craftsmanship is around you in abundance at the library during this exhibition I’d like to talk instead about, remind us of his generosity. I’m sorry that I’m unable to be there with you all but I woke this morning to a good inch of snow and it’s still falling!

In 1959 I was forced by lack of work and the impending birth of my first son to leave California and move to Texas. Miles, Danny Osborne and I, all three of us having Water Street, San Francisco in common, had discussed the idea of starting a cabinet shop together. With Miles and me doing the work and Danny supplying design and financial help. I was very excited about the idea but couldn’t see how it could actually happen. Where would we find the space? How could we afford it? So I went to Texas. Son John was born.

Meanwhile back on the west coast Miles had stayed focused on the dream. He found a vacant store on Vermont Street on Portrero Hill, A sweet little space for a cabinet/furniture shop. We named it, after many hours of deliberation, 3by, bought some shop tools, and were in business. Not only that but he found an apartment on De Haro 12 blocks or so away for me and for my growing family, advanced the deposit for it and…….well……we moved back to San Francisco. Also he got me work at Ruckert’s Frame shop with him to keep us going while we developed 3by’s business.. I was and will always be grateful for those efforts.

Those are a few examples of his generosity to me. My library is still graced with gifts from Miles. I’ll always value the memories of our conversations on art, jazz, literature, politics. When I left San Francisco again to move to Bolinas to work with Art Carpenter Miles bought me out. I believe he was saddened (I was) and he certainly could have ill afforded the buyout but did the honorable thing (another of his qualities). It took years of small but absolutely dependable payments.

Now let me jump forward in time to about two years ago. Children are gone from the nest. My current wife and I live on 7 acres 5 miles out of Grass Valley. We got this huge house to make it easy to have guests, grandchildren, and so forth and the land for our beloved gardens. But. It has gotten to be too much work, we’re too dependent on the internal combustion engine, and we deeply miss social diversity (something one swaps for geography here). So we decided to try to move to Berkeley or thereabouts. One of my personal motives for going to the East Bay was a fantasy of being able to again be able to again hang out with Miles. On one of our first exploratory trips I called to make sure I could get together with Miles while in Berkeley house-hunting. Hannah answered the ‘phone with the sad, shocking news that Miles was gone!

In my 50 year friendship with Miles that was the one and only time he ever let me down. Damn.

John Barrow