Mabel Busby was the second of five siblings born into poverty. She had a third grade education, though she presented as educated because she was a voracious reader. Busby was a striking woman: buxom, well groomed, sassy and street-smart with luminous skin and an elaborate updo. She married at 16 and immediately landed herself in prison for two years for trying to cash a check that her husband had stolen. After her release she moved to Ventura, California where she opened and operated a speakeasy. Without divorcing her husband she married again but left her second husband at the age of 21 to move to San Francisco where she opened a brothel in the Tenderloin[1]. She adopted several aliases and moved her brothel to different locations. She married a third time, to an attorney, but the marriage was annulled when her husband discovered that she’d never divorced her first husband. After the annulment Busby settled on the name Sally Stanford. She would marry and divorce two more times and adopt two children.
In 1940 Stanford moved her business a final time to an upscale Victorian house at 1144 Pine in Nob Hill. Discretion and beautiful women is what kept her successful, though she would later divulge that her clientele included businessmen, politicians and movie stars like Errol Flynn, Humphrey Bogart and Frank Sinatra. She disclosed that many of the dignitaries who arrived in San Francisco to attend the 1945 UN Conference[2] were regulars at her establishment. Stanford was arrested 17 times for “keeping a house of ill fame”, but was only convicted once for which she paid a $500 fine.
In 1949 police raided her establishment, and while several sex workers were arrested, Stanford was not. Sensing a change in tolerance, Stanford moved to neighboring Sausalito and opened a legitimate waterfront restaurant called the Valhalla Inn. Like her brothel, the Valhalla Inn attracted the Hollywood set with patrons including Marlon Brando, Bing Crosby and Lucille Ball.
In 1967, wearing a feather boa, Stanford strutted into a mens luncheon during the California Jaycees Annual Convention at the Hilton Hotel, took over the podium and called out everyone in the room who had been a client, including Mayor Joseph Alioto[3] and attorney Melvin Belli. That same year she would publish her autobiography Lady of the House.
Stanford gained good standing in the Sausalito community: she was known to pay for the funerals of homeless residents and picked up the checks of soldiers who dined at her restaurant. When the City Council denied her request for an electric sign, Stanford decided to try her hand at politics. She unsuccessfully ran for City Council five times before finally securing a seat in 1970. Six years later, at the age of 72, she was elected Mayor. The Sausalito Public Library was established during her tenure.
Stanford died on February 1, 1982 at the age of 78 of a heart attack. Remarkably, she had survived 11 previous heart attacks and colon cancer. After her death, flags around Sausalito were flown at half mast. Today, a life-size bust of Stanford sits at the Sausalito Visitor Center.
1144 Pine was demolished in 1961 and replaced with a condominium. Valhalla Inn permanently closed in 2009 and was converted into a residential compound.
[1] Tenderloin: story coming November 3rd [2] 1945 United Nations Conference: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=3424 [3] Joseph Alioto: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=4431
