1935 was a banner year for beginnings: the first canned beer was sold; Bob Hope was first heard on network radio as part of “The Intimate Revue”; the China Clipper (flying boat) took off from Alameda, carrying 100,000 pieces of mail for the first ever trans-Pacific airmail flight; Parker Brothers launched the board game Monopoly; and Ozzie Nelson married Harriet Hilliard. Another couple, though perhaps not quite as famous, purchased the first six and a half acres of property of what is now Driftwood Marina. Guy and Sophia Miller saw the potential and bought the second six acres sometime later. The Millers started digging the harbor in 1936 and aptly named it Miller’s Harbor. The harbor was dredged in three sections. The first one in about 1936, the second one in about 1938, and the third and final section dredged in about 1950.

Guy was a welder by trade, commuting every day from Antioch to Oakland, working for Laura Scudder. Guy’s salary helped finance the dream of Miller’s Harbor while wife Sophia saw to the bookkeeping. Being a family operation, son Richard 17 and daughter Bernice 15, helped both Guy and Sophia with the day-to-day operations. Sadly, Guy died in 1941 at the age of 51 with only part of the harbor finished. Not letting the dream perish, his wife and children continued building and planning. Guy’s daughter Bernice married Bob Lee in 1946 and Bob enthusiastically joined the Miller family in running the harbor. Bob specialized in building row boats and sometimes rented his creations to help support the family. A brand new shop was built in 1946 and C.L. Stuart worked for Miller’s Harbor in the shop repairing boats for local fisherman.