Poet’s Corner

Encouraged by Sausalito Beautiful, a neighborhood group came together in 2018 to restore Poet’s Corner, a pocket park commemorating poet Daniel O’Connell. The neighbors, led by Shelby van Meter and Phoebe Fielding, had lamented that the 100+ year-old granite bench and mosaic has cracked over the years.

They approached Sausalito Beautiful, who offering a matching grant if they could raise two-thirds of the necessarily funds. The funds were raised quickly, and Manuel Palos, a San Francisco-based sculptor and restoration specialist, was hired to clean and restore the original stonework.

The pocket park honors Daniel O’Connell (1849 – 23 January 1899), an Irish writer and poet who lived in Sausalito and worked for the San Francisco Chronicle in the late 1800’s.  O’Connell originally came to California in 1868 at the age of 19. He lived on the first block of Cazneau Street, a few blocks up the hill from the new Fire and Police buildings, with his wife and seven children. From all accounts he was both a respected writer and a likable guy.