Sausalito is a city in Marin County, California. Located 8mi south-southeast of San Rafael, at an elevation of 13 feet (4 m), and is located 7km north of San Francisco.Sausalitos' population was 7,061 as of the 2010 census. The community is situated near the northern end of the Golden Gate Bridge, and prior to the building of that bridge served as a terminus for rail, car, and ferry traffic.Sausalitos has developed rapidly as a shipbuilding center in World War II, the city's industrial character gave way in postwar years to a reputation as a wealthy and artistic enclave, a picturesque residential community (incorporating large numbers of houseboats), and a tourist destination, and is adjacent to, and largely bounded by, the protected spaces of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.EtymologyThe name of Sausalito comes from Spanish sauzalito, meaning "small willow grove", from sauce "willow" + collective derivative -al meaning "place of abundance" + diminutive suffix -ito; with orthographic corruption from z to s due to seseo; early variants of the name were Saucelito, San Salita, San Saulito, San Salito, Sancolito, Sancilito, Sousolito, Sousalita, Sousilito, Sausilito, and Sauz Saulita.It is sometimes claimed that Sausalito was named for the district in Valparaíso, Chile where the bandit Joaquín Murrieta was born. Murrieta was the leader of bandits who settled at the northern end of the future Golden Gate bridge after being banned from San Francisco in the bandit wars. However, this theory cannot be true because Murrieta was from Mexico, not Chile, and because he did not arrive in California until the Gold Rush around 1849. The Rancho Saucelito had already been granted to William Richardson in 1838.
