From D-Day to Bohemian houseboat: life in WWII Normandy landing craft 

A womb with a view.

I lived with my brother on an old wooden 36-foot Chris-Craft motorboat with no engine on the Miami River West of 27th Ave.. This was back in the late 70s. Dock space was $60 a month. The boat cost us $600. Every single interior surface of the boat had been painted with a very high gloss enamel paint and on each surface seem to be a different color. It was dizzying. It hurt my eyes to look. One day a motorcycle gang came looking for the previous owner. All of my neighbors seemed as if they were characters out of Cannery Row. I had a little wooden skiff with a small seagull outboard that I used to go up and down the river and out into the bay. At night while watching Johnny Carson. I would fish for snook on a hand line leading out the hatch on the bow tied off to some pots and pans inside that would alert me while watching television to when the fish was on. It was one of the best times of my life. Eventually, the man who rented the dock spaces to us lost his lease on the property and we were all told to move. There was no place to move. I put an ad in the newspaper and had a bizarre group of people answer the advertisement from a very laid back almost nonverbal beekeeper from Homestead Florida to a very chatty urban yuppie couple that had never been on a boat in their life but none of them bought. Eventually, a man who spoke very little English, and who was Hungarian showed up. He was going to tow the boat down to the Anchorage in Coconut Grove. He borrowed my little skiff. We never saw him or my skiff or the boat again. A friend of ours on the river said the old boat was starting to take on water while it was on the river. The old wooden planks were soft and punky and the movement of the boat being towed may be opened up some seams. I miss that old boat. Once you live on the water you are spoiled for life. Living on the water you become connected to the tides and the wind and the sun and the stars and the rain and no matter where you go or what you do during the day. There's part of you thinking about the boat and if she is still afloat. It was over 50 years ago and I still wonder.

My uncle Paul died at D Day, Normandy, France. He was one of the first to be in these boats and he drowned when the officers ordered the soldiers all off the craft, they had heavy backpacks on. He was 19 years old with a two year old back home, my grandmother was never the same. May we remember all the sacrifices families made for us all to keep democracy.

More tours of this neighborhood please.🙏💕

Thank you for the shout out Kirsten! You did a great job capturing the relaxed and inspiring vibe that lives here:-)

Kirsten, I love your sense of wonder and your appreciation of the unique. Your non-judgement , acceptance and respect gives off vibes which feels so trusting. I applaud you.

The great poet and philosopher Alan Watts and philosopher lived in one of these houseboats in Sausalito back in 1961.

Ok, that's my new favorite video of yours Kirsten. I am just so in love with this lifestyle. So relaxing and beautiful.

I love how you interview the owners Kristen, especially when they tell you the history of the place.

I lived in Spreckels House (Gate 6) in 1969 and then we bought our life boat hull and built the houseboat. Minus tides and unsanitary conditions convinced me to leave the Gates......It looks very upwardly mobile today. Thanks for the walk down memory lane..... יוי

omg...HOW AWESOME IS THAT! Living there in that houseboat, would be a dream come true! I am so jealous! TFS! Lil hugs

I read an article about this place years ago and thought it seemed magical. Love the boat and the whole area seems like a great vibe. Although I think they are all now very expensive.

i wish this was possible in more areas. this vibe definitely appeals to some people! very fun, very cute!

What a haunting origin of that vessel. But also amazing and beautiful.

Beautiful and so natural.

Sausalito is a strange town. Lived there for a few years and could never quite get used to the general vibe of the place. It's a weird mix of cashed up ex-hippies and wealthy tech-bros cosplaying as bohemians. Weekends it's swamped with day trippers and posers, but during the week it almost feels abandoned. High property prices drove away many of the regular businesses, so its mostly just overpriced restaurants, boutiques and cafes now, catering to the weekend crowds. The houseboat crowd are the last vestige of the 60's social experiment, but its hard to take many of them seriously when their boats are multi-million dollar floating palaces. There's even one built like a mini Taj Mahal.

Kirsten, you have the most interesting channel.

What a very interesting story!! I thoroughly enjoyed this adventure. As always thank you for bringing us along!!!

You always end up surprising me. I think, I’m not gonna like this and then I’m captivated. I love that!

If there is a typhoon would they take shelter to other places? Nonetheless this would be cozy in a rainy afternoon.

I lived in an apartment on Bridgeway, across from the yacht harbor, in '63/4. There were a few docks across the street (it's a whole complex now), and I met some guys who lived there on a converted barge they called 'The White Whale'. Good times. Later I moved back to Seattle, where there were lots of real houseboats (think 'Sleepless in Seattle').

Just stumbled on your channel. Bestest most excellent one on alternative homes and living I've ever seen! Tip o' the hat to ya!

The boats being discussed were named Higgins Boats after the man who made them in New Orleans. Go to the National WWII museum in NO, Louisiana and see one. All were made of wood.

Alan Wats lived there. A truly great thinker.

Hello.. this is very serene.. I love it.. It is amazing the structures we find to live in.. I love the way we can see where peoples minds can go and open abroad to see what you would love to live in and call home, then to stay in a bubble in your mind and not expand it... Beautiful home, great video. Tfs.. have a great day.

You have some of the best content on YT.

10:54 steady Eddy 'Yep he was an Aussie icon in the 80's or was it the 90's 'cant remember right now but ya he was a legend.

Another good one. Cool to watch you go to some of the places I went to as a teen growing up in the Bay Area

So cool

Sure wish they would allow this on our lakes around here… Houseboat only and better have the funds to dock them yearly… Thanks for video Kirsten…

I see it's for sale now. Very cool. Way out of my budget but very cool. Crazy that the place went from an inexpensive hippie type living place to a multi-million dollar real estate

So sorta shocking to realize how I lived in Seattle for 19 years but never knew anything about this sweet place!

Really good stuff as usual!

Adorable.

Wow. If that boat could talk...

I love it. Where is this place at?. I could live there

reminds me a bit of how marina 59 in far rockaway used to be

Someone should write a book pertaining to - Popular Terms & How They Develope..such as 'You Know'...I imagine it was a west coast word embryo out of Sonoma county, in a yurt, water pipe & hashish & colorful psychedelic concert posters, India tapestry, denim & paisley, & stumbling conversations & every 8 seconds - the probing comment- ' you know man'🎈

weirdly beautiful

Looks like fun but emergency services probably don't like it.

I bought a double ended steel lifeboat that a fellow built a top on. It looked like the Ark. A nice deck, curved low roof with windows on the sides. Pump toilet & shower, Small kitchen, Bunks in the bow. Very cool ! He moved to Alaska. I got it for a $1.00. I used to go down to the river and sit on it and have my lunch. It was steel cabled to the dockside. Amarina was nearby. I was not part of it. I paid no fees. Some jealous S.O.B. cut my cables and unscrewed my bilge plug. She sank right there. I tried to pump her out but it was not dooable. She sits there till this day. I am sad . But what can I do ? I would need a crane to lift her out and completely re-build her. :( I still have the brass bilge plug. That is all !

Nice idea and close to water. What happens to the human waste??

cool

Can consider building walking alley awning to shed fr the rain n sun

Wait... Was that man on the boat with shades Larry David???

Cool

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Goodness! Wouldn’t she get more money over a very short time if she were to list it on Air B&B? I’m guessing she did consider that option.

Alan Watts lived there too/

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Oh god “regulated” way too much guv’ment!! I remember when it was ragtag, it was just fine.

The never solved the murder committed by a scuba diver?

I did not quite understand the plumbing setup. She said that it was like a septic tank and described it like a black tank that one might have in an RV and said that (paraphrasing) once it’s full you let it go. When it is full, does a truck come and pump it out? I am confident that it isn’t just dumped as one would possibly imagine because if that were true then after all these years the effects of such an action would be devastating and apparent AND it would not be the desirable location that it is. Anyone reading this MUST NOT think my question is a suggestion and accuse this community of doing something nor presume such a thing would be okay. I specifically avoided not going deeper into this and plant a seed in someone’s mind because I don’t know the answer and have no reason to suspect anything untoward nor suggest that dumping sewage or chemically treated sewage is ok. I simply don’t know and am curious.

ohm

I don't get the appeal, its like a floating mobile home park. It must smell stagnant.

know

The fact these are all $1 million plus is another reason to never live in CA

What a relaxing lifestyle. They pay taxes; the " gypsy people ", just kidding...

Living on dirty waters? No thanks!

i love short girs

Mariah Carey

They should charge and tax them just like a house! 😱😁😝🤪🤣👍👍🇺🇲

these wood walls have seen a LOT of clapping cheeks, let me tell you that

Be like water , The reason we Surf. Cement not concrete big difference.

So where in the US is this? This is intriguing