Salty
42 Caledonia St., Sausalito CA 94965
Phone: 415-494-8070
Salty’s Neighborhood: Caledonia St. (New Town). The Salty website is here. Free street parking along Caledonia St. (one block uphill from Bridgeway, plus the cross streets between Caledonia and Bridgeway). During the day it’s usually easy to find spaces in this area, though evenings and weekends it can be harder. Metered street parking and a city parking lot nearby.
Salty is one of the exclusive handful of Sausalito shops where I see something new and unexpected every time I walk in. That puts it on a short list of my favorite Sausalito stores.
I love the idea expressed by Angela, the owner of Salty, who said in an IJ interview (Nov. 6, 2020) that a home can be transformed into “a calm oasis through natural materials, plants and ample beautiful storage to hide the clutter.”
She describes Salty as a “Nordic-California Lifestyle Store,” with its focus based on three values:
- Spending time in nature is good for us and the people around us. So they offer pieces inspired by nature.
- Everyday items should be beautiful, practical and efficient, so we’re surrounded by beauty and not buried in stuff. These are the kinds of items they sell.
- The value of re-using, recycling and upcycling is now obvious. Salty features West Coast makers who play by these rules, working from source material that ranges from fallen trees to yarn waste to (my favorite) consumer plastic.
Just having a store that bases everything on the owner’s values is refreshing. With most places if you ask them about their store’s values they’ll tell you, “Our sale coupons [not from recycled paper] get mailed [burning fuel in all those mail trucks] every Monday!” At Salty their values are central to every item they curate.
Unlike some oh-so-serious socially conscious stores where smiles imply a lack of commitment to the cause, I always receive a warm and friendly welcome from Angela when I walk in here. And if you need to discuss your design goals with a savvy Sausalito expert this is a great place to do so.
Note to the Sausalito city leaders: please bring us more retailers like Salty!
