By Larry Clinton, Sausalito Historical Society
Nick Reynolds, a founding member of the folk music phenomenon known as the Kingston Trio, was a long-time, civic-minded resident of Sausalito.
COURTESY PHOTO
Nick Reynolds in his heyday.
Under the direction of charismatic manager, Frank Werber Nick, Bob Shane, and Dave Guard were literally getting their act together by appearing in small clubs on the Peninsula and in San Francisco in the late ‘50s. They were also immersing themselves in the post-beatnik counterculture that was blooming here. In the book Greenback Dollar by William J. Bush, Reynolds explained how that immersion brought them across the Bay:
“We'd go to these jazz and poetry readings where there'd be a piano player and horn player, and Alan Watts would stand up and recite a whole bunch of stuff I didn't even understand, but I knew something was happening because the places were packed! Frank Werber had a houseboat in Sausalito, and we discovered Sausalito and just fell in love with it. That's where all the bohemians and artists were—down on the waterfront in houseboats. Alan Watts and Allen Ginsberg, everybody was around there. We'd see them all in the park."
Weber was a full partner with his clients, sharing a quarter of all revenues of Kingston Trio, Inc. After the smash success of their first record, “Tom Dooley” in 1958, he decided to diversify. His talent agency, Trident Productions, took on other clients and he began investing in other businesses, including a nightclub on Bridgeway called the Yacht Dock which he and the trio bought in 1960. They kept that name until about 1966, when they completely remodeled the space into a prototypical fern bar and renamed it The Trident — a musical entertainment venue, natural foods restaurant and a hangout for a mixed bag of celebrities, hippies, and locals.
Eventually, Nick Reynolds married and bought a house on Santa Rosa Avenue in the Sausalito hills. In 1960, the Sausalito News reported that the trio had cancelled an appearance for the Sausalito Teenagers organization at the Woman’s Club because “the stork is hovering over the Reynolds home on Santa Rosa Ave.”
A short time later, the paper recounted: “Nick Reynolds of the noted Kingston Trio, has donated autographed copies of the four LP recordings of that group to the Sausalito Teenagers. Reynolds, who has been interested in the group since its inception, had intended to appear before the group but a bouncing baby boy, name of Joshua, was born to the Reynoldses about the date of the promised appearance. The Teenagers, elated at their gift, reciprocated with a gift of a blanket for the baby Joshua.”
(Flash forward to 2013 when Josh Reynolds appeared at the Trident with the world premiere of "The Lion Sons," a trio performing Kingston Trio material. The performance was a successful fundraising bash for the Historical Society.)
Reynolds and his wife Leslie opened their home for a fundraising tour for the Sausalito Nursery School in 1964 and he volunteered as an auctioneer at a benefit for Star of the Sea church’s youth fund. He made local news again in 1964 when he took up Formula B car racing, and when he and the Trio’s Road manager helped to rescue a driver who went off the sea wall on Bridgeway and into the Bay.
Nick would remain in the Trio until the original group disbanded in 1967. Not long after that he and his wife left Sausalito for Port Orford, Oregon before finally returning to his hometown of Coronado, CA, where he passed away in 2008.
According to his obituary in the Coronado News: “While music was always an important part of Nick Reynolds' life, he was also an avid photographer, skeet shooter, tennis player, passionate Formula B race car builder and driver, antique collector, restauranteur, astute businessman, dedicated community volunteer and, above all, a deeply loving father, husband, brother and friend.
“To those who knew Nick personally, he will be remembered as a gentle, incredibly perceptive individual with a wry wit and a generous heart.”