Presented by Cathy Stierhoff for the Sausalito Sister Cities International Women’s Day 2021 celebration. Translated by Brenda DeBruyn.
I am going to tell you about a woman from our very own home town of Sausalito, a woman who re-invented herself many times during her lifetime: Her name is Sally Stanford, someone who all of us in Sausalito know. In fact, you could say she is a legend here in our town. But the thing is…no matter what else she did, she is most famous, or maybe infamous because of how she started her career: She was a Madam. That’s right. She ran several successful bordellos in San Francisco from the 1920s through the 40s.
Why on earth would we choose a madam for our presentation today? First, she is almost synonymous with Sausalito. But it’s not just that. In fact, Sally Stanford was a strong, independent, self-made woman and a survivor. After I’m done telling you about her, those are the things I want you to remember!
Sally came from a really hard background. She was born in 1903, to a very poor family. They called her Mabel Janice Busby. Things were so bad, she had to quit school in the third grade to earn money to help her family. No wonder by age 17, the poor thing was already on her second husband, when she ended up in jail — for fraud: she was caught using a stolen check.
Not a lot is known about her life as a very young woman. She was in her 20’s when she moved to San Francisco. She was calling herself Sally by then. She and her various husbands-there were six altogether- did what they could to survive. They started out bootlegging, or buying and selling liquor during Prohibition when that was illegal. And she also ran a speak-easy, another illegal venture, for a time. But that’s where she learned her business savvy. I mentioned before that Sally’s bordellos were quite successful. Hers were the finest establishments and she catered to the highest clientele. Rumors have it that Hollywood stars, like Frank Sinatra and Humphrey Bogart, visited them.
In 1950, she reinvented herself again and moved across the Golden Gate Bridge to our fair city of Sausalito in 1950. She was done with marriage by then. She bought The Valhalla Inn, a restaurant and bar, located on the waterfront. During the 1950s and 60s, The Valhalla Inn attracted hipsters, artists, politicians and, of course Hollywood celebrities: Marlon Brando, Lucille Ball and Bing Crosby are among a few who wanted to visit the place run by the “EX-madam.”
She was known for being outspoken and opinionated. She was a character! She always wore her long hair up in a bun, wore tons of makeup and bedecked herself with jewels, furs and boas.
In 1976, Sally, now Sally Stanford, re-invented herself again. At age 72, she was elected mayor of Sausalito, a time you must remember, when there were very few women in politics. In fact, she had run for City Council five times before and lost! You know what she said about those losses: “We sinners never give up!”
Sally was an author. She wrote “The Lady of the House”, a memoir about her time running bordellos. In 1978, her book became a not-so-fantastic movie starring Dyan Canon.
Sally had a special place in her heart for animals, and especially dogs. Here she is with her parrot. She passed away in 1982 with an estate worth nearly $20 million dollars. She used her money to do good: according to one source, she left a large portion of it to an organization called “Guide Dogs for the Blind.”
So there you have it. An ordinary, and at the same time, extraordinary woman. A politician, author, civic leader, philanthropist, all rolled into one remarkable human. Sally passed away in 1982, but her legend lives large in Sausalito’s DNA. We love her because she was a strong woman, a self-made woman, an entrepreneur, someone who was comfortable reinventing herself many times throughout her life.