Shel Silverstein’s Sausalito houseboat asks $783K

The Sausalito houseboat that once belonged to Shel Silverstein, the late author of The Giving Tree and Where the Sidewalk Ends, made headlines when it hit the market in 2017. Four years and one gentle renovation later, it returns in glorious form asking $783,000.

Featuring two bedrooms, one bathroom, and approximately 1,200 square feet, 8 Liberty Dock comes with a refreshed kitchen and bathroom, as well as new lighting and paint.

It also comes with a boatload of history.

As Curbed noted in 2017, the home was conceived well before the noted author purchased the houseboat, which was built on top of an old balloon barge from World War II. (Balloon barges were special Navy vessels “whose lofted cables were designed to snare kamikaze aircraft,” according to Smithsonian Magazine.)

Silverstein left the San Francisco Haight District and moved into the floating home in 1967. According to the 2007 biography A Boy Named Shel, “In the beginning the houseboat community was essentially a community of squatters who had only salvage rights. [...] The whole place was a bit like living in Never Never Land. Since Shel was a modern day Peter Pan, the two fit together perfectly.”

Sausalito artist Chris Roberts, a friend of the scribe, christened the home Evil Eye, possibly due to the eye-like stained-glass window that can still be seen here today.

For another peek inside the home, check out this video of Silverstein accompanying the band Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show aboard Evil Eye.

The listing is through Dianne Andrews of Engel and Voelker. The historic home will be open for previewing this Sunday from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.