Plaza Viña del Mar
Landmark · Bridgeway & Anchor Street, Sausalito, CA 94965
Verified September 2026
Photo by Daderot, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
A small plaza at the entrance to downtown Sausalito, guarded by two elephants with an odd backstory. They started life as flagpole decorations at the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco, where the New York firm McKim, Mead and White designed them. It's a five-minute stop, but it's the town's unofficial front door, and the fountain between the elephants gives you a place to sit while you decide where to eat. The fair's designers made a dozen of these elephants, and Sausalito ended up with two.
What To Expect
The plaza started in 1902 as Depot Park, after Mayor Jacques Thomas persuaded the railroad to turn a stagnant pond between the ferry landings and the tracks into a planted forecourt for its new terminal. Locals called it Thomas's Park for years. Its current look dates to 1915: Sausalito architect William B. Faville and a group of subscribers bought his favorite elephants and a paper-mâché fountain after San Francisco's fair closed, rather than see them scrapped, and had them barged to the Sausalito pier and slid into place on rollers. Local kids nicknamed the elephants Jumbo and Pee-Wee. The originals were damaged in the 1930s, and new castings were made in 1936, when the flagpole tops were reworked into lamp fixtures. They were restored again in 1976. The fountain still runs, and the benches and shade trees make it a natural place to wait for a ferry.
Getting There
Right where the ferry dock, downtown Bridgeway, and the main parking lots all meet. You'll walk through it whether you plan to or not if you arrive by ferry. If you drive, the plaza sits at the top of the downtown municipal lots, which use pay stations, so check the posted rates before you leave the car. The plaza has carried the name of Sausalito's sister city, Viña del Mar, Chile, since 1960.
Good To Know
Always open, no admission. It sits right at the top of downtown parking lots #1 and #2 if you're driving in, and the ferry landing is a few steps away.
Our Take
Give it ten minutes, not five, and walk a few blocks north afterward to the Ice House Museum at 780 Bridgeway, which tells the story of the depot this plaza was built for. Read the story off the elephants, drop onto a bench with a coffee, and watch the ferry passengers stream past. It's the single easiest way to feel like you've arrived in Sausalito instead of just parked in it.