(Jay Blakesberg/Courtesy of Mill Valley Public Library’s Lucretia Little History Room) Village Music’s John Goddard, left, with former Sweetwater owner Jeanie Patterson and Ry Cooder at the ...

Unlike rivals Guitar Center, which opened its 300th store last month, and Sam Ash Music, which has a much smaller brick-and-mortar footprint of fewer than 50 stores, Sweetwater has a showroom and ...

If you walked into the Sweetwater in downtown Mill Valley on a Friday night during the 1980s or '90s, the tiny music venue would be packed. Patrons had to get there early to get a seat at one of the ...