Historical Society Mourns Loss of Important Contributor Mike Freeman

By Dave Weinstein

Mike Freeman and Rialto Cinemas Cerrito theater manager Paolo Jimenez at the June 2024 screening of Mike’s film, ‘Our Local Cemetery: Portal to the Past.’ The showing filled the theater. Photo by Dave Weinstein

When the El Cerrito Historical Society asked member Mike Freeman to create an archival recording of our ever popular tour of Sunset View Cemetery, one of the oldest businesses and among the most important places in the area, we suggested he follow tour leader Tom Panas around with a portable video camera.

Mike said no. He said let’s do it right.

Rather than a mere recording of a tour, what Michael B. Freeman produced was a real movie, complete with cutaways to historic people and places associated with the cemetery, along with occasional animations. The film and Tom’s tour use the cemetery to tell the wider tale of El Cerrito and its environs in an emotionally compelling way.

Not only did Mike produce, direct, film and edit the movie, “Our Local Cemetery: A Portal to the past,” he helped pay for it. It attracted a full house when shown at Rialto Cinemas Cerrito in June 2024 and remains available to be viewed online.

Mike passed away unexpectedly of natural causes last week at his El Cerrito home at the age of 68.

Mike, who moved to El Cerrito from Berkeley in 2016 with his wife, journalist and author Susan Kuchinskas, has volunteered regularly with the historical society over the years.

He filmed several of our programs, including the 50th anniversary celebration of the city’s recycling center and a talk by Alec Palao about Creedence Clearwater Revival. He also handled the video presentations at our the society’s recent 50th anniversary celebration.

Having grown up in a mid-century modern home in a rural portion of Albany, N.Y., Mike appreciated modernism and argued for its historical worth. While a Berkeley resident he argued unsuccessfully for the preservation of the Downtown Berkeley BART entry rotunda.

“Buildings that are not old enough to be landmarked and not new enough to still be considered modern are too often targeted for demolition because they are out of style,” he wrote. “As history has repeatedly demonstrated, buildings that are a bit old, but not old enough to be appreciated  are often tragically lost.”

El Cerrito causes that attracted Mike’s attention included trails and open space. He handled the sound for two Trail Trekkers fundraising Music for Madera Open Space concerts, and performed at the concerts with the band he led, Funkadelicatessen.

A social justice proponent, he was involved with the local chapter of the ACLU and followed city affairs closely, including on matters relating to policing. He criticized city officials and council members for not responding to queries and concerns from residents.

Mike’s career was in local television, producing local access shows for Viacom Cablevision in San Francisco in the early 1980s, then freelancing, including producing ‘Erotica SF,’ a cable television program focusing on sexual issues and the erotic arts in the Bay Area.

For many years he worked for the city and county of San Francisco to create government-oriented programming.

His leading interest however was music, playing guitar and leading a succession of bands that performed in many venues. His musical tastes were eclectic. For a time he organized listening parties, Musical Explorers, delving into such sounds as “South African swing, jazz and jive,” Minimalist music and “country and western musicians playing jazz, boogie and swing.”

“One of my missions in life,” Mike wrote, “is to inform the willing about all the great music out there and share the joy of listening.”