Sausalito Historical Society

Sausalito Sausalito Historical Society

Sausalito got its Spanish name, meaning little willow grove, from British seaman William Richardson. He hoped that this deep-water anchorage, so close to the Golden Gate, would become the entrance to a busy city. But the tall ships mostly rushed past his Whaler's Cove to anchor in San Francisco. Later Sausalito's gentle hills and sun-washed harbor became a favorite playground and retreat for wealthy San Franciscans, and large hotels like the El Monte prospered. Before construction of the Golden Gate Bridge, Sausalito was a transportation nexus for trains and ferries, and in a sudden mobilization during World War II, 22,000 people a day worked three shifts building liberty ships at Marinship. Sausalito was homeport for many seafaring adventurers, daring rumrunners during Prohibition, and later for beatniks, poets, hippies, and artists drawn to Sausalito's spectacular vistas and relatively rural atmosphere. Making their abodes on riotously rickety houseboats or in cabins perched on steep slopes, they left an artistic legacy to the community.