Promise of Paradise Episode 28: Norman de Vall

Today we'll be hearing from Norman de Vall of the town of Mendocino. Norman was a four-term Mendocino County Supervisor during the building code wars of the 70s and 80s. 

It was a time when the County pushed to outlaw the very houses the back-to-the-landers called home. 

It was also a time when tensions ran high, building inspectors might be armed and planning files went missing. The cabins the counterculture community built were targeted, red-tagged and declared illegal. 

The message was clear, hippies and beatniks weren't welcome. Back-to-the-landers should go back to the city. 

Norman de Vall and other others were at the forefront of this battle. 

Norman's leadership helped forge a compromise with the Couny and many hippie cabins were then brought up to code. 

The back-to-the-landers were here to stay.