Mountain View Remembered, One Paint Stroke at a Time

At one point in Mountain View's history, doo wop was the pop music of its time and lovebirds could catch a flick at the drive-in.

That's the Mountain View that Mike Carroll, Jr. remembers and captures with his acrylic paintings of the city, several which are on display at the Mountain View Public Library.

"I recall a lot of people going to Spivey’s Drive-in and Linda’s Drive-in. those are just a few of the most iconic places in Mountain View," said Carroll.

Born in San Diego, but raised in Mountain View in the 1950’s he grew up wanting to be an artist. With the support from his father and mother to enhance his career in art he enrolled at De Anza, which at the time was know for it's art department.

Carroll began using acrylic paint on canvases, which ranged in size including one 36x48, he shared. It can take him up to three months to finish one. 

"I pay a lot of attention to detail," Carroll said.

By paying attention to detail, Carroll has artwork worth hundreds, if not, thousands including all four at the MVPL, which in total were worth $20,000

As can be seen in the Facebook page, Remember Mountain View, that Carroll created his paintings depicts the Mountain View of his youth.

Fan’s on the Facebook page have left comments on pictures saying they remember the popular burger restaurant Linda’s and downtown Mountain View, just the way Carroll has painted it.

For Carroll, he was just going to a few popular places in Mountain View and "simply painting." He'd make the painting as life-like as possible recreating a scene by adding cars, trees and even people.

Later in life, Carroll became more interested into 3D animation and began working at Rockwell Collins, Advanced Interactive Systems and CGSD Corporation.

“Rockwell Collins offered me a job that would have me do various 3D animations and work with motion pictures,” said Carroll.

In 2008, Carroll left Silicon Valley for a job offer that awaited him in Utah. Carroll took the offer because of his new passion in art, motion pictures.

"When I got into motion pictures I wrote a book and want to turn it into a movie," said Carroll.

Carroll has published the book, "A Travel Through Time." Carroll feels like he has the ability to transform the book into a motion picture.

"It's going to take a lot of time and dedication, the only thing stopping me is the funding," said Carroll. "I sure hope some funding comes through soon."

Even though Carroll now resides in Salt Lake City, he still offers services and his famous paintings to everyone through his website.

After gaining skills and experience from Rockwell Collins, Carroll became self-employed and enjoys what he does; however, he hopes to continue putting paintbrush to canvas.

"This is where I am as far as my career goes," he said. "Whenever I have the time, I want to get back into painting."

This article was produced through a collaboration of PatchU and the School of Journalism & Mass Communication at San Jose State University. PatchU is a Patch Media initiative to build strong relationships with colleges and universities across the country. The mission of PatchU is to connect students and faculty to opportunities at Patch.  

For more information, email PatchU@patch.com or follow us on Facebook.

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