By Larry Clinton, Sausalito Historical Society
A visitor to the recently reopened Ice House Museum asked, “When this was an real ice house, where did it get the ice?” One answer comes from Ed Couderc, whose family owned the facility in its last days as a coin-operated ice dispensary.
As we reported in the Historical Society’s newsletter in 2016 (viewable at sausalitohistoricalsociety.com)
little is known about the early history of the little structure which apparently dates back to the late 1800’s. But here’s what Ed reports:
“My father, Albert bought Sausalito Fuel and Ice Company in 1952. It was a very run-down operation, so the purchase price was right. The company had been very successful before WW II and up through the end of the 1940's. Originally located at 101 Caledonia Street, the site now of the Marin Theater and Sushi Ran, the landowner wanted to convert the concrete building into a theater as the shipyards had brought in a huge workforce that needed entertainment. He asked the previous owner of Fuel and Ice to move to 333 Caledonia and that was done in 1942 or ‘43. I do not know if the Ice House was moved to 333 Caledonia or if it was built new during the relocation.
“We hauled ice from a Union Ice affiliate manufacturing facility on Fourth Street in San Rafael. At times this plant could not produce enough so we hauled from the west Oakland plant of Union.”
According to a Union Ice Company publication, ice was first delivered to San Francisco by ship in 1850.
The completion of the Central Pacific Railroad in 1869 opened communications with the high Sierra and ice from the mountains was distributed throughout California and the mining camps of Nevada. Union Ice was formed in the spring of 1882, in a merger of competing companies after a ruinous price war.
Ed Couderc recalls that ice was home delivered in heavy duty pickup trucks to various areas of Southern Marin during WWII “and this continued when my father arrived.
“By 1952 however the only regular route for ice delivery was for Marin City as over half of the residences there only had an ice box. Other routes in the 50s were for restaurants and bars, supplying them with cubed and crushed ice. The routes also supplied the small ice houses in Mill Valley, Marin City in the western area and Tam Valley at the intersection to Stinson Beach. These buildings, along with the larger one in Sausalito had two vending belts that dispensed either a 25 or 50 pound block of ice for $ .25 and $ .50. Around 1960 the 50-pound belt was replaced with 12-pound bagged ice cubes for, I think, $ 1.00. The Caledonia Street Ice House was very busy as it served the boating community and their on board ice boxes.
“Another use for ice was for the commercial fishing boats that docked at Dunphy Park in August through October. The full size 300-pound blocks were slid off the trucks into a monster crusher and blower. Each boat took around 30 blocks (9000 lbs.) as these boats would go out to sea for 20 to 40 days catching mainly Albacore for canning. The truck trailers that hauled the boats’ catch would also need about 10,000 lbs. of crushed ice to keep the fish fresh during transit to canneries in Monterey and Coos Bay.
“{Sausalito Fuel and Ice exited the ice business in 1976. The first drought to hit Marin Water District caused severe rationing of water to us. Also, by this time the Moving and Storage operation of the company was 90% of the revenue the company produced.”
Later the Ice House was leased to architect Michael Rex and “after we sold the property and moved to 2900 Bridgeway and Rohnert Park, we gave the building to Michael.”
Rex, in turn, remodeled and enlarged the building into office space, eventually selling it to the City for $1, so it could be relocated downtown as an historic museum.
Today, the building, renovated as an interactive multi-media showcase of Sausalito history, is open to the public Wednesdays through Sundays, from 11 AM to 4 PM at Bridgeway and Bay Streets.
Special Announcement:
The Sausalito Historical Society’s Mike Moyle will give a Zoom program on October 30 presenting a set of historic photos taken throughout Sausalito, juxtaposed with current counterparts that Mike has taken from a drone. The photos highlight both significant changes that have occurred over the years, as well as features which remain relatively unchanged. This free Zoom program begins at 3:00 PM and is open to everyone. Please register https://sausalito.helpfulvillage.com/events/4050 to get the Zoom code.
PHOTO FROM SAUSALITO HISTORICAL SOCIETY
The Ice House was a coin-operated vending facility in mid-20th Century.