by Michael Moyle and Larry Clinton
The following column first ran in 2011. It is based largely on research prepared by Historical Society member Michael Moyle and has been briefly updated
President Dwight Eisenhower held a White House conference in 1956 to promote nongovernmental contacts between people in the US and overseas. This conference led to the establishment of the Sister Cities International organization.
In early 1958, Sausalito Mayor Howard Sievers attended a League of California Cities meeting where the People-to-People program was discussed and brought the concept back to Sausalito. Later that year, City Councilwoman Marjorie Brady was appointed chair of a City Council committee to study a possible sister city program. Soon the
Sausalito Citizens’ Committee for the People-to-People Program (the “P2P Committee”) was organized, under the direction of Mrs. M. Justin (Gladys) Herman. Mrs. Herman was the wife of urban planner M. Justin Hermann who soon was appointed by Mayor George Christopher to head the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency. Today, he is memorialized at Justin Herman Plaza at the foot of Market Street.
PHOTO FROM SAUSALITO HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Mrs. M. Justin Herman and Mr. Robert McCabe, Master of Ceremonies, at a 1961 celebration marking first anniversary of the affiliation of Vina del Mar and Sausalito as Sister Cities.
The P2P Committee studied various possible sister city candidates. “The preference was soon narrowed to South America because of its importance and because teaching of Spanish had just been introduced in Sausalito’s elementary schools,” according to comments by Representative Clem Miller of California in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Mrs. Herman noted: “Chile appears to be the country in which it would be most likely to find a waterfront community which would possibly affiliate with Sausalito.”
Eventually, contact was established with Viña del Mar. Rep. Miller reported that the mayor of Viña, “took up the idea with equal enthusiasm.” So, the relationship began.
In February 1960, the City Council renamed the old Depot Park “Viña del Mar Plaza.” A kick-off ceremony was held at the Alta Mira Hotel attended by, among others, Sausalito Mayor Howard Sievers, Mrs. Herman, and Chile’s Consul General in San Francisco. Chilean artist Luis Guzmán presented a statute of a Chilean woman to Sausalito as a gift commemorating the event.
In May of that year a magnitude 9.5 earthquake hit Chile. While Viña del Mar did not suffer any significant damage, thousands of Chileans were killed by the quake and the resulting tsunami; property damage was measured in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Sausalito staged an earthquake relief fundraiser and forwarded the proceeds to the U.S.
Ambassador to Chile in Santiago. Ironically, another devastating earthquake struck Chile in May of last year, almost exactly 50 years later, and Sausalito again staged a relief drive to aid victims.
The Chilean naval training ship La Esmeralda visited San Francisco in 1978. La Esmeralda’s captain delivered a framed metal seal bearing the inscription: “The Mayor of Viña del Mar (Chile) to our Sister City Sausalito — Official Visit of the Esmeralda — San Francisco, May 1978.” The framed seal was put on display at City Hall along with other artifacts from the Sister City program. La Esmeralda returned to San Francisco Bay in 2011, and the ship’s band played at a ceremony at Viña del Mar Plaza.
Virginia Reginato, mayor of Viña del Mar, and other visitors attended the Jazz & Blues by the Bay event on Friday evening, July 22.
Today, the cornerstone of the Viña del Mar Sister City program is the women in business mentoring program. And two additional sister cities have been added: Sakaide, Japan and Cascais, Portugal. While it’s impossible to make firm plans these days, all three sister city committees are planning a fall fundraiser that promises to be the event of the season.