With luminous golden colors and Byzantine and Cubist elements, the Jean Varda mosaic mural in Marinship Park is a gem of the City's public art collection. Commissioned in 1960 for the Villa Roma Motor Hotel in San Francisco, the mural was executed by Alfonso Pardiñas, an artist who shared Varda's interest in integrating mosaics and other decorations into architectural designs.
When the hotel was slated to be razed in 1982, Victor di Suvero and several of Varda's other Sausalito friends raised funds to move the mosaic to Sausalito. The 23-ton structure was trucked across the Golden Gate Bridge to Marinship Park and given to the City. Six years later, the Friends of the Sausalito Art Festival provided funds for the mosaic's permanent installation in the park.