The Sausalito building that housed the beloved Village Fair has an interesting and dubious past. It all began back in the 1920s with the opening of Mason’s Garage, which was run by Clinton Mason. The garage was later operated by Yates Hammett and Bert Gazzola under the name of the Empire Garage. After the owners vacated, the structure was empty for some period during the Depression years with rumors that its top floor was converted into a bootlegging and gambling operation. It was even said that “Baby Face” Nelson hid out nearby after a bank robbery.
During World War II, the Army used it as a warehouse for cargo heading across the Pacific. A headline “Sabotage try foiled in Sausalito” from the Sausalito News reported the following:
“The old Empire Garage building at 775 Bridgeway Boulevard in Sausalito was the scene of an attempt to sabotage the Marinship war effort Wednesday night, July 12, 1944, when saboteurs entered the third floor of the building and spread oil on a number of packing cases containing vital electrical equipment. Officer F.E. Graham, Marinship police force, first detected the presence of an intruder when he found the lock had been pried off a third-story door. He entered and could not immediately see the oil. Apparently, the person or persons had already fled upon hearing his approach. If the fire had been started, it is believed that even prompt firefighting efforts might not have prevented serious loss. Additional protective measures have now been taken at other Marinship warehouses to prevent any further efforts at sabotage. Full investigation is underway by the FBI. All Marinship officers are fully armed at all times, with definite instructions to defend government property from sabotage.”
(Note: There were no further mentions of sabotage in the paper, so it appears that it remains an unsolved mystery.)
In 1950, William “Luther” Conover and his wife, Marjorie, moved their retail business, Trade Village, into this space, and later would relocate to the Berkeley ferry at the foot of El Portal. An Oct. 19, 1956, Sausalito News article announced that the four-story Village Fair building was nearly ready for occupancy in the former garage. Each shop was separate and designed in a different style with adobe bricks and redwood paneling unifying features of the designs. Another feature of the Village Fair was displays of paintings, ceramics and jewelry by local artists and artisans in several giant shadow boxes.
Ten years later, the Marin IJ called it a “Marin landmark and major tourist attraction.” This unique tourist destination attracted 5,000 visitors a week from all over the world who came to visit the 40 unique shops and admire the floral and art designs along with the handsome fountains. From the late 1950s through the 1980s, the Village Fair continued to be a destination for locals and tourists alike, offering a variety of specialty shops, including Tiki, Shoestring, Imports from Europe, Sugar & Spice Shop, Hanna Leathers and Korenian Rug Co. And no one could resist taking in the breathtaking view of Sausalito’s boat harbor from the third floor. Some of the celebrity clientele included Lucille Ball, Dick Van Dyke, Betty Hutton, Artie Shaw and European diplomats.
In 2000, the Village Fair was utilized to expand Casa Madrona Hotel & Spa. The miniature “crookedest stairs in the world” replica of San Francisco’s Lombard Street became a part of the hotel.
(Originally published as History Watch article in the Marin Independent Journal)