The Arks and Opening Day

By Larry Clinton
As Opening Day on the Bay approaches on Sunday, April 28, it’s noteworthy to recall that this annual celebration originated with the ark community of Belvedere.  The story was told in the Pictorial History of Tiburon A California Railroad Town, published by the Belvedere-Tiburon Landmarks Society:
In the early 1890’s, a jaunty floating population appeared in Belvedere Cove: a flotilla of arks, or houseboats, which were moored in the cove from April until October, then towed into the shelter of the lagoon for the winter. In 1894, a reporter from the Sausalito News counted twelve of these unlikely vessels swaying from their anchors; by the turn of the century, the number had risen to thirty or forty.
They were of every conceivable description, from little more than Tom Sawyer rafts to elegant wood-paneled retreats., with elaborate upholstery. One, owned by a man named Wellington who had chosen this way of being prepared for the second flood, which he felt was imminent, was 62 feet long and had a glassed-in garden, presumably for raising food during those long forty days at sea.
More typically, an ark had four rooms and a kitchen, with hogsheads of water for drinking and washing. White railings circled the deck, and there were bunks everywhere for friends, who could be numerous, for many boats were owned jointly by several families.
One of the most original of these floating residences, the Nautilus, came into existence when James McNeil brought four abandoned horse-drawn San Francisco streetcars over on a barge towed by the ferry and nailed them to a raft. In 1895 the Examiner described McNeil’s progress: “Down on the beach is a varied assortment of sash boards, doors, windows, some superfluous roofing and an assortment of wheels that were not found necessary for the comfort of ark life.” One of the chief delights of the Nautilus must have been the number of windows.
An English newswoman, writing an account of Arktown for her magazine, The Strand, in 1899, found much to admire:
“There is an indescribable charm about the life; one has the pleasures of boating combined with the comforts of home; sea baths are at one’s very threshold; fish are caught and cooked while you wait.... The monotony of the scenery is varied by the swinging of the ark as it turns with the tide. There are neighbors, thirty or forty families of them, within easy reaching distance if one can pull a stroke, for there is always a following of rowboats lazily resting upon the water in the wake of each ark. The butcher, the baker, and others ... who supply the needs of daily life each has his little boat which he sends around every morning for his customary order, and the joint for dinner and the ice cream for dessert are delivered as promptly to the ark-dwellers as they are to those who are still in the city.”
The highlight of the summer season was the “Night in Venice,” which featured concerts, fireworks, a torchlight procession of boats, open house on the arks, prizes for best decorations, and other festivities put on by the “Descendants of Noah,” or “Venetians of the West,” as the ark owners enjoyed calling themselves. One ark dweller, Lillian Saltonstall, recalled such a soiree in 1905;
“I remember particularly well one ‘Night in Venice.’ Belles and beaux were enjoying the scene and making love on the side. Finally, the moon began to wane, the music died away, and the lights went out. The ‘night’ was over and the owners all went back to their own houseboats. We felt relaxed and happy. It had been an evening filled with gay social contacts, delicate dishes, and easy kisses.”
The opening of the drawbridge each April to allow the arks to be towed out of Belvedere Cove is generally considered to be the original Opening Day on the Bay.
When the drawbridge became a fixed span and the arks could no longer shelter in the lagoon during the winter, this era began to come to end. Many of the remaining houseboats were put up on stilts and became cozy residences or rental cottages. Some were towed away to new locations in Sausalito or Larkspur.  Today, rows of beached Arks can be seen off Bridgeway near Bar Bocce in Sausalito and where Main Street turns uphill in Tiburon.


Opening Day, 1903.
Photo courtesy of Belvedere-Tiburon Landmarks History Collections

The Pearl Harbor of the Houseboat Wars

The  June 15, 1971 issue of Marinscope reported on the first skirmish in the wars between the Gate 5 houseboat colony, Marin County authorities and the Coast Guard.  According to reporter Jay Casey, “The skirmish resulted from the county’s first attempts to remove what it considered houseboat ordinance violators.  Some 30 boats in the Gate 5 colony did not meet Marin County specifications and were scheduled to be abated.”  Casey noted that houseboaters later likened the raid to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Here are excerpts from Casey’s report:
An unusual sequence of events helped add drama to last week’s  Battle of the Bay.
The morning began for Russell Grissom, an artist and houseboat owner, with minor problems.  He had no honey for his breakfast cereal.  Grissom went to a neighboring boat to borrow some honey.  
When he returned he found he had no cereal on which to put his honey.  Indeed, he had no houseboat. [Marin County Building Inspector Richard] Larson had crept in aboard a small Boston Whaler at 11:30 and artfully plucked Grissom’s abode, cereal and all, from its mooring.
Larson managed to tow Grissom’s houseboat to a point north of the heliport before the Boston Whaler sputtered to a halt with mechanical trouble.  Larson had to call for reinforcement vessels.
By this time members of the houseboat colony, realizing this wasn’t some weird narcotics bust, were beginning to organize.  They flocked to the site where Grissom’s houseboat was  beached.  Grissom jumped aboard.
He drew a large knife and was attempting to cut the line which held his houseboat ashore when two deputies drew their guns.  One of them threatened to fire if Grissom did not stop trying  to sever the rope.
“Go ahead and shoot me,” said Grissom.  The deputies holstered their guns and drew their night sticks.
By 2:30 p.m. the Sausalito Armada was afloat.  The hastily-organized private navy consisted of all manner of vessels, including a Chinese junk, numerous rowboats, several small outboard motor craft, sailboats, a canoe, a kayak and two mini tugs – Trans Love and Loafer.
When a Coast Guard ship tried to confiscate another houseboat, known as Joe’s Camel, from a spot in the middle of the bay, the armada put up a fierce interference.  
Frustrated in attempts to outmaneuver the numerous small boats, the Coast Guard eventually captured the Trans Love.  There were four arrests.
The article noted that both sides had eventually agreed to a cooling off period, and concluded,  “Hopefully, new battle lines will not be drawn, but rather a just and honorable peace will be reached.”
Of course we know that those wars continued for many years (some might say they’ve never ended).  The accompanying photo, circa 1977, shows that peace was harder to achieve than the reported suggested..


A sailboat became the focus of a push-pull with sheriff’s officers during an attempt to block the construction of Liberty Dock at Waldo Point Harbor.
Photo © Bruce Forrester

A Unique Collaboration:The Spaulding Wooden Boat School and the Arques School of Traditional Boat Building

By Steefenie Wicks
Two organizations on the Sausalito waterfront are working together because they have the same mission … keeping the history of Sausalito’s maritime heritage alive.   So you might wonder what these two words have in common:  unique and collaboration.
These words best describe the Spaulding Wooden Boat Center and the Arques School of Traditional Boatbuilding.   The uniqueness is that Don Arques and Myron Spaulding both ended up leaving small fortunes to support boat building on the Sausalito waterfront.   Bob Darr,  program director and head instructor at Arques, says the endowment means that the school will continue without having to alter its programs.   The collaboration between the Spaulding Wooden Boat Center and the Arques School has fostered an educational component that is a perfect match for both organizations.
Both waterfront organizations have collaborated on shared sail programs allowing students to learn how to use small boats built in classes.  This year’s students will help  construct a boat  that Andrea Rey, executive director of Spaulding,  asked Darr to design, a small dory called the  DOREEN.   The vessel is designed to be rowed or sailed and is compactly built for transportation.  Participating apprentices will receive instructions on how to sail the vessel and participate in outdoor maritime activities.
Both organizations have come to the realization that none of this would have been possible if it had not been for Myron Spaulding and Donlon Arques.   The two men went to the same high school, shared the same dream, and decided to leave their money to continuing development of Sausalito’s wooden boat heritage.
Donlon Arques left his endowment to the founding and preservation of traditional wooden boats and the skill to produce them; thus the Arques School of Traditional Boat Building was born in 1995.  Myron Spaulding’s death in 2000 left his dream with his wife Gladys.  She then left the Spaulding Boatworks in a charitable trust, which would be the beginning of the Spaulding Wooden Boat Center.
One of the best collaborations between the two organizations deals with reconstruction. This ongoing project is working because of the volunteers and maritime historians who have committed themselves for the past six years to the restoration of the oldest private sailing yacht on the West Coast,  the FREDA, built in 1885.  Both organizations have worked together to raise funds and inform the public with educational programs that explain the project and the value of salvaging a historic vessel.  Under the guidance of both Rey and Darr the reconstruction process has all been documented. The traditional methods that were used when she was first built are being followed today to maintain the integrity of the 32-foot gaff rigged sloop.
Growing up on the water from Sausalito to the South Seas, Darr spent much of his youth with his father, captain Omar Darr, who sailed with Sterling Hayden on board the WANDERER.  As a young boy he had memories of both Arques and Spaulding as strong, opinionated and determined, although Spaulding, with his musical background, had a softer edge.  To a child these two could be very scary.  Yet if it were not for these men these two organizations would not exist, and that would be even scarier.
Bob remembered that once on a sailing voyage aboard the WANDERER, there were at least 10 children on board and in the evening Sterling would gather them all on deck and tell stories of the ghost that would come out of the sea at night to grab your ankles as you stood near the edge of the deck and then pull you in and you would never be seen or heard from again. Years later he realized that Sterling was saving their lives because not one kid went to the edge of the deck on the boat at night and no one was lost overboard.
“Stories like this one and the experiences you had with these men keep this history here alive.  They add to and enrich the waterfront heritage that we are all so involved with because we want to see it continue on for generations.”
Andrea especially wants to explore the idea of collaborating with other groups in the City and beyond to widen the reach of the Spaulding Wooden Boat Center.   She feels that Spaulding is a center for activity and a meeting place for all groups involved in maintaining Sausalito’s waterfront heritage.  This is why the Spaulding Wooden Boat Center is now having once a month an open houses, opening their doors to the public and inviting them to explore the facilities and the educational opportunities with hands on learning.  They will also offer free tours on the Bay aboard the 22 ft. vessel, DIXIE with a member of the Sausalito Historical Society on board as waterfront tour docents.  The first open house is Saturday,  April 13 from 11 AM to 3 PM.  For information, contact andrea@spauldingcenter.org.
This collaboration between the Spaulding Wooden Boat Center and the Arques School of Traditional Boat Building is in a word, simply awesome.



Bob Darr and Andrea Rey in front of the FREDA        Photo by Steefenie Wicks

Sausalito – In The News - Saturday February 22, 1913

Ferry Boats Collide In Dense Fog

A marine disaster occurred in the thick fog off Angel Island Friday morning, when the steamer H. J. Corcoran and the Southern Pacific steamer Seminole met in a collision and sank to the bottom of the bay. A remarkable feature of the collision was the fact that the vessels lost each other in the dense fog.  Neither crew knew that the other vessel had been fatally hurt.

The Seminole, on her way from the City to Sacramento, carried fifty passengers, seven of them women, and a crew of fifteen, and had on board a large quantity of mail and luggage. She was a new boat, built in 1911, at a cost of $114,200.

The Corcoran, which is owned by U. E. V. Rideout Company, was on its way from Antioch to this city with a crew of thirty-five men and bags of sugar, valued at $40,000, and two bags of gold from the Selby Mining Company worth $50,000.

The Seminole remained afloat for nearly an hour after the collision, so passengers, crew and most of the baggage were taken off by the gasoline launch Maryland or the Vallejo  The crew of the Corcoran were rescued by the immigration tug,  Ana Island, on its way from San Francisco to the island at the time of the accident. Both steamers turned bottom side and the Corcoran was carried by the tide through the Golden Gate to the open sea, where a Crowley launch took her in tow.

The Corcoran struck the Seminole amidships, tearing a great hole in the side and cutting the water pipes which controlled the oil fuel supply. The Seminole was still afloat when the Napa Valley arrived, and a line was made fast. The Napa Valley got under way with the stricken river boat in tow, but as the Seminole swung around…her hold filled and she keeled over. In the meantime all the passengers and crew had been safely placed aboard the rescue boats.

Grammar Schools Endangered

The multitude of bills before the legislature has attracted the attention of most people. There is one bill calculated to administer to the greed of large school departments. The law, as it now is, provides that every school district shall have the benefit of the daily attendance of children within its bounds.  The spirit of this bill is piratical and it should not pass. The board of trustees of a grammar school should have the same right and privilege in the matter of funds as is now extended by law to high schools. The grammar schools are the schools of all the people. They serve the needs of the greatest number. It is these schools which have driven illiteracy out of our nation. Let us not encumber the people elected by us to look after their proper maintenance.

Lady Bug Harvest In Full Swing

The ladybug season has opened and collectors of the state horticultural commissioner's force are going to the mountains to gather the tiny creatures by the pound.

The ladybug saves the cantaloupe in Imperial Valley each year by devouring the aphids, which would otherwise destroy the melon vines. Last week 100 pounds of ladybugs were gathered in the Coast Range Mountains.  There are 30,000 bugs to the pound. This makes 3,000,000 in captivity. 

During the Year: 1913  

17th – NY Armory Show introduces Picasso, Matisse, Duchamp to US public.

17th – 1st minimum wage law in US takes effect (Oregon).

18th – French painting "Nude Descending a Staircase" displayed in NYC.

19th – 1st prize inserted into a Cracker Jack box.

25th – 16th Amendment ratified, authorizing income tax.

THE SAUSALITO PLAYERS

35 Years of Reading Plays

By Peter Arnott

The following article appeared in the Sausalito Historical Society Fall 2012 newsletter, called Moments in Time. 

The year was 1977, and, in Sausalito, there was no organized group producing year-round live theatre.  So Sausalito residents Peter and Ann Arnott, who were both already working in Peter’s commercial production company, decided to create something new: a play-reading group called The Sausalito Players. 

The Players was organized to be an opportunity for lovers of live theatre (who had very little free time) to get up on their feet and perform without having to endure a lot of meetings, and rehearsals, and fuss.  The idea was for the actors to hold scripts in their hands and read the lines on an actual stage with limited costumes, and sets, and props.

This all happened in 1977 because that was the year that Ann Arnott was President of the Sausalito Woman’s Club (SWC).  She raised the idea that perhaps the Club might share the small stage in its famed Julia Morgan-designed clubhouse. Over the years, the SWC had used it for a variety of club-related theatrical and musical functions and, generously agreed to share its facilities with the newborn play-reading group and to have all performances free and open to the public.

The budget was to be covered by annual Players dues of $10 (and even that was optional). Since every actor, director, producer, stage manager, and backstage technical worker was a volunteer and production costs were minimal, a “less-is-more” attitude somehow created abundance including refreshments at intermission.

The Players season has traditionally run from August through June. Over the years, the group has performed nearly 200 plays, from single-actor monologues to full-out Christmas pageants with musicians and a choir.  Almost all shows have been chosen from Broadway-level comedies and dramas covering a variety of subjects and styles.  Even musicals have been presented, but without the music. (Everybody reads, but not everybody sings.)  The actors recite the song lyrics much to the surprised approval of the audience.

In the past, a few proven authors have premiered their original scripts under the Players banner hoping, as in a New York-style “workshop,” to get their show to Broadway. One such Players’ original-script performance attracted a producer from Los Angeles, who was so taken with the Players’ amateur production that he optioned the play from the author and eventually produced it in Hollywood. 

The level of performance in the Sausalito Players rivals that of any “Little Theatre” group. However, there are special perils in having one hand tied up with holding the script while performing certain stage actions. For example, an actor cannot drink from a cup and saucer with one hand, so s/he carries only the cup. Love scenes are even more challenging and often the cause for audience amusement. As the two lovers hug, they circle each other with their script-holding hands and read the dialogue over their beloved’s shoulder or behind their beloved’s back.

Fast dialogue is another hazardous play reading experience because it is so easy to get lost in the script.  And lack of rehearsals contributes to the problem.  A typical production schedule allows for only two or three general rehearsals, a dress rehearsal, and then one actual performance. A classic Players’ anecdote involves the fast and unfinished dialogue of playwright David Mamet.  A male and female actor were speeding along alternating with very short punchy lines inciting audience laughter.  Suddenly the man stopped the play and said in a loud voice to his co-actor, “What page are you on?”  She said, “thirty five.”  He said, “I’m on thirty-six.”  The amused audience broke into applause until the actors sorted it out, and the play went on.  Typically, an audience gets so caught up in the  play that the scripts are forgotten.

Today, the Players perform under the administrative umbrella of the Sausalito Woman’s Club.  In keeping with the past, there are no elections, no President or Board of Directors, just a theatre-wise Woman’s Club Committee that hosts the annual Planning Dinner in August which is open to everyone. At that occasion Players plan the number of shows to be mounted and gather the names of those who volunteer to mount them.  For the 2012-2013 season, the five shows are already accounted for, including the annual Christmas pageant.  But in August of 2013, there’ll be another dinner, another rush of volunteers, another season of plays and another reason to pronounce that theatre is alive and well - and in loving hands - in Sausalito.

The Sausalito Players present “Murder at Rutherford House” at the Sausalito Woman’s Club on Wed., March 27 at 7:30 PM.

Many of the performers listed on this early playbill are still active in the Sausalito Players.