Past Sausalito Restaurants That Have Closed (H-L)

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Past Sausalito Restaurants That Have Closed or Renamed (H-L)

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H. Salt Fish and Chips — After being acquired by Ice Cream entrepreneur Michael Lappert the franchise name was dropped and the shop became Fish and Chips of Sausalito, with a Lappert’s Ice Cream counter added. There’s also a separate Lappert’s Ice Cream shop down the street on Bridgeway and Lappert’s products are also sold at COA Chocolate, hence the occasional confusion about “the multiple Lappert’s shops.”

Haultheisen — John Haultheisen ran a restaurant in Sausalito in the late 1800s.

Harbor Grill — Became Saylor’s Landing, and after Sean Saylor consolidated his operations at Saylor’s the building went on to become Sausalito Seahorse. Not to be confused with the completely different building that housed the now-closed Harbor View Grill. You’ll be quizzed on all these terms next Wednesday.

Harbor View Grill — Closed in 2012 after a short run in the old Flynn’s Landing – Cat ‘N’ Fiddle space, now the home where Seafood Peddler relocated from San Rafael when its old home there was sold and became Terrapin Crossroads.

Herb’s — A 1950s bar that preceded the famous No Name Bar in its space on Bridgeway.

Horizons — From the mid-1970s until 2012 this was the name of the historic Trident restaurant in Sausalito. After renovations that ran months longer than the original 30 day plan, this restaurant reopened in Summer, 2012 (with its original 1960s decor wonderfully intact) under its old name (1966-1976) as The Trident.

Hotel Sausalito Coffee Shop — Since the Hotel Sausalito has been in business for over a century, I guess I don’t really need to tell you where it was, do I? After this spot served as the cocktail lounge for Marco’s Hotel Sausalito in the 1940s the owners apparently decided that Patterson’s Bar and Herb’s Bar (predecessor to The No Name Bar) were too much competition. The elegant cocktail lounge became the Hotel Sausalito Coffee Shop in the late 1940s and 1950s, offering both American and Chinese food. It was replaced by restaurateur Peter Alioto’s Arbordale in 1962. When the 2020 pandemic shut down the Hotel Sausalito and most service at the ferry landing, the most recent tenant Caffe Tutti lost both its hotel referral customers and ferry passengers and closed.

Houlihan’s — A centerpiece of downtown Sausalito from 1980-1998, became Water Street Grille. Upstairs is now Barrel House; downstairs was the now-closed Il Piccolo Caffe. This was one end of the famed “Houlihan’s to Houlihan’s 12K” race that ran between the two restaurants (in San Francisco and Sausalito) from 1984 through 2002. The race continues today as the “Across the Bay 12K” that runs from Fort Baker in Sausalito across the Golden Gate to San Francisco. Less well known were events like the 1980 beer drinking contest judged by the members of Jefferson Starship, a contest whose entrants included a St. Bernard dog. The building is the former home of the Purity Market (see bottom section below). This was one of the most surprising Sausalito restaurants closed after a long run.

Il Piccolo Cafe — This Italian cafe adjacent to Yee Tock Chee Park was involved in a series of squabbles over who could sit at the tables in the free public-shore access areas that they colonized for outdoor seating to take advantage of the fantastic views. Regulators finally posted signs above the patio saying, “Anyone can sit here without buying something and it’s a public space,” with a phone number to report problems to the Bay Area coastal access enforcement office. The restaurant closed in 2016 after a ten-year run.

Il Piccolo Teatro — A beautiful remodel of the dark, old Paterson’s Bar that had the bad luck to open at the start of the 2008 Great Recession, Il Piccolo Teatro featured wine and small plates of Italian food. Along with newly opened Barrel House this was one of the two most dramatic architectural redesigns of the last decade in Sausalito. We feel that if they’d opened in 2005 or in 2011 they would have caught the wave, but instead it was 2008 and they got stuck with the puddle. The opening of another restaurant in town with the words “Il Piccolo” in the name didn’t help, and although they ended up closing, too, that’s no consolation for the loss of this promising restaurant. Il Piccolo Teatro closed in 2011, replaced in Spring, 2012 by Copita after another major remodel to change the ambiance from Italian to Mexican.

In the Kitchen — ITK was not by itself a restaurant but this cooking school provided the food for Wellington’s Wine Bar. Both businesses lost their lease when the building they shared was remodeled and became the home of Joinery. ITK moved to Emeryville, and we think that Sausalito should be offered Emeryville’s First Round Draft Pick in next year’s restaurant draft and a wine bat to be named later. Or Emeryville could just give us Pixar and we’d call it a day.

Jack London Restaurant and Bar — In the mid-60’s this restaurant held down the spot that has now for many years been the location of Angelino at 621 Bridgeway, across the street and slightly north of Scoma’s. Fun fact: The phone number for Angelino today is (415) 331-5225. That happens to be the same number as 331-JACK (shown on the highlight from an old matchbook at left), which originally was assigned to the building over 50 years ago as a marketing technique for the Jack London Restaurant and Bar!

Jan’s — A lunch counter located inside the Rexall Drug Store at the corner of Bridgeway and El Portal in the late 1940’s and the 1950’s. The lunch counter faced through the front window of the store, so you could sit there and watch the world go by and enjoy what we now call Vina Del Mar Park, It was a popular meeting spot, and the standard meal was fresh salad, casserole of the day and a dessert. Jan’s was dressed up to appear in a scene in the 1949 noir movie Impact, starring Brian Donlevy.

Juanita’s Galley — During the 1960’s and early 1970’s this was a famous artists’ and musicians’ gathering place on the old ferry boat nicknamed “The Ark,” and a restaurant by the same name from the same impresario also operated for a time from a building on Gate 5 Road. Note the unusual hours of operation on the second matchbook at left (yes, those are the real hours she opened), and that no address was necessary on Gate Five Road in the Marinship. Anyone you met nearby could always direct you to Juanita’s! Owner Juanita Musson was famous for her trademark brightly colored muu-muus and her fiery personality. Her grumpy exterior was part “around here I’m in charge!” and part performance theatre a generation before the Soup Nazi character became famous on Seinfeld. The regulars all knew that she actually loved them (well, most of them), and that being hassled by Juanita was part of the scene. A long-time fixture in the Sausalito Art and Maritime community, she passed away in 2011 at the age of 87.

Kench’s Restaurant — It may surprise you to know that 125 years ago Sausalito was already known for having fine European style restaurants. Located on Caledonia St., in the late 1880s and early 1890s, Kench’s was the successor to the highly respected Madame Rety’s French Restaurant, starting in 1887. Kench’s Restaurant closed in about 1895, and the structure was demolished in 1921.

The Kettle — A deli that dates back to the late 1940’s, later owned by famed beat artist Leo Krikorian in the 1960’s and 1970’s, in the area late4r occupied by the now-closed Bridgeway Cafe.

La Hacienda Mexican Grill — Changed its name in 2013 to El Patio after an ownership change, then closed at the end of that year. The now-closed Bua Thai Kitchen later occupied the same space.

Latitude 38 — In the early 1970’s this was an eating and drinking place in the old Village Fair shopping complex. I barely remember the place and I think I only went there once when I was young — anyone have any more than that to share with us?

Le Vivoir — A French restaurant at 801 Bridgeway in the northern half of the Casa Madrona Hotel (not to be confused with the current Poggio site in the southern wing, in the area that was the Village Fair shopping arcade), it was operated by the Deschamps family from the late 50s to the late 70s. Famous guests included Dick Van Dyke, Carol Burnett, Warren Beatty, and the members of Pink Floyd. (Click here to see a photo of the group taken that day.)

Lion’s Share — Followed The Cantina and The Gas Works Coffee House and Restaurant at 100 Caledonia St., at the corner of Caledonia and Pine. In 1968 this was a small folk and rock club. The Grateful Dead played there at least once, as did other seminal local bands. The building burned down in 1969, and the club relocated to San Anselmo, where it lasted until 1974. A small office building now occupies the Sausalito location. When they tore down what was left of the 1920s building that housed The Lions Share to build the office building, a Miwok grave was found beneath it that caused extensive (and expensive) delays for a proper reburial. Many locals believed that the Lion’s Share was burned at the behest of local interests (like the beautiful old San Rafael City Hall a few years later) because the music bothered people at night. They saw the delays and expenses of the Miwok grave as the indigenous people and spirits’ punishment for the perceived crime. All this came after repeated raucous and crowded meetings at the Sausalito City Council, where a handful of neighbors tried to get The Lion’s Share shut down and many other people from the community came to defend them, far outnumbering the complainants. (Click on the old newspaper clipping to enlarge it.) This was one of the most culturally influential Sausalito restaurants closed in the early 1970s.

Lito Coffee Shop and Ice Cream Parlor — This shop operated at 721 Bridgeway . now the site of The Burlwood Gallery in the early 1960s. It was succeeded by Patty’s Restaurant in about 1970.

Little Willow Cocktail Lounge — In the 1940s (and perhaps earlier) this bar operated in Sausalito. Note that their phone number on the matchbook cover at the left was only three digits long! “Little Willow” is the English translation of “Saucelito,” the original spelling for the name of our area when it was part of Mexico in 1838.

Louano — Joseph Louano ran a bar in Sausalito in the late 1800s. If you read through this whole list you’ll see that Sausalito had a lot of bars in the late 1800s!

Louie’s Deli — Popular deli in the Marinship area next door to Avatar’s, closed during the Covid pandemic shutdown of 2020 after the unexpected death of co-owner Maurice Franjieh, who ran the deli with his wife. Our prayers go out to his family. Even before the pandemic he told me about how the pervasive scaffolding and the drawn-out remodeling of the building had damaged his business because everyone thought they were closed. His death leaves a hole in the spirit of the Marinship (where we’ve had offices since 2008, shortly after our founding), and we’ve lost a fixture in the neighborhood community.