Sausalito History: Remembering the Village Fair on Little Lombard

Larry Clinton/Sausalito Historical Society

The Village Fair was a one-of-a-kind shopping arcade that delighted Sausalitans and visitors for a half-century. Tucked into a corner of the building that once housed Mason’s Garage, the complex featured as many as 38 shops along a curving ramp.

In October 1956, the Sausalito News announced, “Twelve new shops and three new streets are nearing completion in Sausalito but from external appearances, many Sausalitans would not know it. The Sausalitans who are extremely aware of the construction are Stuart and Caree Rose of Josephine Lane. The Roses are building the shops, they did the designing and supervised the construction and also took care of that other matter, financing. The most probable reason why more Sausalitans don’t know about the shops is because they are being constructed and work is in the finishing stages — on the second floor of the former garage building in the 800 block on Bridgeway which houses the Village Beauty Shop, the Trade Fair, the Top Drawer and Heath Ceramics.”  The Trade Fair showcased local artists along with then-avant garde furniture, pottery, jewelry, handwoven fabrics and other arts and crafts.

Each shop was designed in a different style, and each had a roof of its own.  “When questioned about the types of businesses which will lease the shops, the Roses said frankly they did not know,” reported the News. “They said they wanted to get the shops in existence first and to have something to show so prospective lessees will know a shop is ready for their occupancy rather than just a promise of space at some future date.”

The shops weren’t the only attraction in this unique mall. The curving ramp was divided into 

three sections: Water Street (the forerunner of Bridgeway) along the bay side: Binnacle Bight, back of the first row of shops from the bay and Scupper Alley, which branched off Binnacle Bight and ran north in the building. The News noted, “The streets will, of course, be purely for browsing customers (afoot) and will be surfaced patio style, with odd shapes of concrete separated by redwood. Another feature of Village Fair which promises to be much used in Sausalito are several giant shadow boxes, also near completion, in which the Roses plan to have displays of paintings, ceramics and jewelry all executed by local artists and artisans. Although the styles of each shop will be different, the Roses have used adobe bricks and redwood paneling as unifying features of their designs. The large windows on the bay side which overlook Bridgeway and the yacht harbor and bay are removable and give the shops a marine view hard to surpass.”

Ten years later, KPIX News paid a visit to the Village Fair and concluded “In the business world Sausalito’s Village Fair is the exception to the one-stop shopping center. They say you have to see it to believe it.”

In a 2009 Marinscope column, Historical Society member Doris Berdahl described how the unique attraction came to be: “When the Trade Fair moved to the ferryboat Berkeley, then moored on the Sausalito waterfront, a kind of natural evolution took place at the former garage site. New owners pioneered the concept of transforming a once-industrial building into an attractive shopping arcade, setting the stage for the later development of Ghirardelli Square and The Cannery in San Francisco.  Small boutiques, selling unusual, often imported, merchandise not found anywhere else, began to fill the old place, converting its former automobile ramps into walkways and stairs.  These ascended to the top floor past lush plantings, fountains and waterfalls. A favorite feature for many years was the lower ramp, dubbed Little Lombard Street.”

The Village Fair attracted devotees from all over the world.  According to Doris Berdahl, “It closed with the transfer of ownership in the late `90s, a victim of a deteriorating building, changing times and the fact that its marketing concept had been extensively copied in other places.  For a long time, regular visitors to Sausalito couldn’t believe it was gone.”

Doris, who managed the Ice House museum and visitors center, noted that returning visitors  “come into the Visitors Center across the street, often after a long absence, still cherishing memories of the Sausalito years ago. And the first question they ask, often indignantly, is, ‘What have you done with Little Lombard Street?’”