The ''Vallejo'' is a

houseboat A houseboat is a boat that has been designed or modified to be used primarily as a home. Most houseboats are not motorized as they are usually moored or kept stationary at a fixed point, and often tethered to land to provide utilities. How ...

Sausalito, California Sausalito (Spanish language, Spanish for "small willow grove") is a city in Marin County, California, Marin County, California, United States, located southeast of Marin City, California, Marin City, south-southeast of San Rafael, California ...

, United States. It was originally a

passenger ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

, known as ''O&CRR Ferry No. 2'', in the late 19th century. After falling into disuse in Portland, it was transported to the

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. San Francisco Bay drains water from a ...

in California, where it was used as a ferry between Vallejo and

Mare Island Mare Island (Spanish: ''Isla de la Yegua'') is a peninsula in the United States in the city of Vallejo, California, about northeast of San Francisco. The Napa River forms its eastern side as it enters the Carquinez Strait juncture with the eas ...

until the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. It was later purchased by a group led by artist

Jean Varda Jean "Yanko" Varda (11 September 1893 – 10 January 1971) was an American artist, best known for his collage work. Varda was one of the early adopters of the Sausalito houseboat lifestyle that was popular in the 1960s–1970s. He was the subj ...

, and repurposed as a houseboat, where a number of parties and salons were hosted by leading figures in the San Francisco area counterculture scene of the 1960s and '70s.

History

The

Oregon & California Railroad The Oregon and California Railroad was formed from the Oregon Central Railroad when it was the first to operate a stretch south of Portland, Oregon, Portland in 1869. This qualified the railroad for land grants in California, whereupon the name ...

''Ferry No. 2'' initially served Portland, providing connectivity between the

East Portland East Portland was a city in the U.S. state of Oregon that was consolidated into Portland in 1891. In modern usage, the term generally refers to the portion of present-day Portland that lies east of 82nd Avenue, most of which the City of Portland ...

terminus of the O&C Railroad line and

Downtown Portland Downtown Portland is the city center of Portland, Oregon, United States. It is on the west bank of the Willamette River in the northeastern corner of the southwest section of the city and where most of the city's high-rise buildings are found ...

. The 414 ton boat was put into service in 1879 by

Henry Villard Henry Villard (April 10, 1835 – November 12, 1900) was an American journalist and financier who was an early president of the Northern Pacific Railway. Born and raised by Ferdinand Heinrich Gustav Hilgard in the Rhenish Palatinate of the Kin ...

, to replace an aging ferry initially set up by Ben Holladay. In November 1878, a drunken passenger had stepped off the boat before it landed, and drowned; the resulting legal action was ultimately appealed to the

Oregon Supreme Court The Oregon Supreme Court (OSC) is the highest state court in the U.S. state of Oregon. The only court that may reverse or modify a decision of the Oregon Supreme Court is the Supreme Court of the United States.Cape Horn Cape Horn ( es, Cabo de Hornos, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which are the Diego Ramírez ...

, or else being built in Portland. With the construction of the

Steel Bridge The Steel Bridge is a through truss, double-deck vertical-lift bridge across the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, United States, opened in 1912. Its lower deck carries railroad and bicycle/pedestrian traffic, while the upper deck carries ro ...

in 1888, the ferry was no longer needed; after several idle years, it was transported to the

, renamed ''Vallejo'' (no later than 1904), and converted to use coal and then oil for fuel. A

bill of sale A bill of sale is a document that transfers ownership of goods from one person to another. It is used in situations where the former owner transfers possession of the goods to a new owner. Bills of sale may be used in a wide variety of transaction ...

dated 1923 reflects a purchase by Robert Rauhauge of the Mare Island Line. It was put into service transporting workers and visitors between the city of Vallejo and

. Ferry service was discontinued after the end of World War II, and with the construction of a

causeway A causeway is a track, road or railway on the upper point of an embankment across "a low, or wet place, or piece of water". It can be constructed of earth, masonry, wood, or concrete. One of the earliest known wooden causeways is the Sweet Tra ...

connecting Mare Island and Vallejo; ''Vallejo'' was the last ferry to be retired. She was sold for scrap in 1947, and delivered to

Sausalito Sausalito (Spanish for "small willow grove") is a city in Marin County, California, United States, located southeast of Marin City, south-southeast of San Rafael, and about north of San Francisco from the Golden Gate Bridge. Sausalito's p ...

to be broken up.

Restoration

Artist

noticed the boat while its demolition was pending. He, surrealist Gordon Onslow Ford, and architect Forest Wright purchased it; Wright soon sold his third to Ford. They made extensive, improvised alterations, using scraps in the area, and turned the boat into an art studio and

. Ford described it as "a place where artists blossomed, flowered", adding that "Varda set the tone" with his interest in entertaining. Under the auspices of The Society For Comparative Philosophy ( 1962- 1984) poet Elsa Gidlow and philosopher

Alan Watts Alan Wilson Watts (6 January 1915 – 16 November 1973) was an English writer, speaker and self-styled "philosophical entertainer", known for interpreting and popularising Japanese, Chinese and Indian traditions of Buddhist, Taoist, and Hindu ...

bought Ford's share of the houseboat in 1961. The ferry was then used as home base for Alan and Jano Watts and meeting place for hundreds of Society functions. The Society's parties and salons continued.

Houseboat Summit

A gathering on the ''Vallejo'' was known as the "Houseboat Summit" featured

Timothy Leary Timothy Francis Leary (October 22, 1920 – May 31, 1996) was an American psychologist and author known for his strong advocacy of psychedelic drugs. Evaluations of Leary are polarized, ranging from bold oracle to publicity hound. He was "a her ...

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...

Gary Snyder Gary Snyder (born May 8, 1930) is an American poet, essayist, lecturer, and environmental activist. His early poetry has been associated with the Beat Generation and the San Francisco Renaissance and he has been described as the "poet laureate of ...

and Watts discussing

LSD Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), also known colloquially as acid, is a potent psychedelic drug. Effects typically include intensified thoughts, emotions, and sensory perception. At sufficiently high dosages LSD manifests primarily mental, vi ...

and life style issues; The famous discussion can be found in the counterculture magazine the ''

San Francisco Oracle ''The Oracle of the City of San Francisco'', also known as the ''San Francisco Oracle,'' was an underground newspaper published in 12 issues from September 20, 1966, to February 1968 in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of that city. Allen Cohen (p ...

''.

Later life

''Vallejo'' deteriorated badly during the 1960s. Varda died suddenly in 1971, as did Watts in 1973. Talks continued on the boat after Watts’ death, from 1978

Alfred Sorensen Alfred Julius Emmanuel Sorensen (October 27, 1890 – August 13, 1984), also known as Sunyata, Shunya, or Sunyabhai, was a Danish mystic, horticulturist and writer who lived in Europe, India and the US. Early life and background Alfred Sorens ...

, a mystic known as Sunyata held weekly meetings there where he would answer questions from visitors. Marian Saltman, who had begun living on ''Vallejo'' in 1971, arranged for its purchase in 1981, and began to restore the boat. She said, "I hope she will continue to be the home of remarkable people and ideas, and I wish her to serve the creative and artistic needs of Sausalito and the Bay Area." ''Vallejo'' was transferred across the San Francisco Bay to an

Alameda An alameda is a Avenue (landscape), street or path lined with trees () and may refer to: Places Canada *Alameda, Saskatchewan, town in Saskatchewan **Grant Devine Dam, formerly ''Alameda Dam'', a dam and reservoir in southern Saskatchewan Chile ...

shipyard for repairs in 2000, and then returned to her dock in Sausalito. A new fiberglass outer hull is currently being built and will be installed sometime in 2012. The houseboat currently operates as a private residence for international artists and creatives, with no visitation permitted.

References

{{Reflist

External links

* ''Memoirs of Henry Villard, Vol. 2, Book 8'' contains relevant information about the projects which replaced the ferry at the terminus of the O&CRR line. Ferries of Oregon Steamboats of the Willamette River Ferries of California Culture in the San Francisco Bay Area Houseboats 1879 ships History of Marin County, California