Sausalito floating homes and other landmarks serve as setting for new Apple TV+ show

Sausalito is the backdrop of a new Apple TV+ series starring Jennifer Garner.

The show, based the bestselling novel “The Last Thing He Told Me” by Laura Dave, started on April 14 and features iconic locations such as Liberty Dock and the Marin Headlands.

“I’m always interested in highlighting a community that’s on the edge of the world in some way,” said Dave, who lives in Los Angeles. “I sort of fell in love with it. It was such a beautiful community and the people had such a sense of community there.”

The story centers on Hannah, a newly married woman played by Garner, who lives on a floating home in Sausalito with her husband Owen and his 16-year-old daughter Bailey. When Owen disappears, the pair have to bridge their tenuous relationship to solve the mystery of his disappearance.

Sausalito’s characteristics as an insulated coastal community buttressed its choice as a location in the story. Dave said the floating home neighborhood appeared to require “something different of its inhabitants” and could be a place where “someone would choose to hide.”

“Part of the journey of the show is that Sausalito is so important to the two main characters,” she said. “It’s a way to get back to the happiness that they know there.”

Opening scenes feature the Sausalito docks, the shimmering bay and rows of homes illuminated. The married couple stroll along the water and an ominous man lingers in the background. After sunrise, a red Dodge truck winds through the city interspersed with sweeping dock views, fluttering birds and a fog-laden image of the Golden Gate Bridge.

The show features locations such as Waldo Point Harbor, Yellow Ferry Dock, City Hall and Caledonia Street, along with shots of Bridgeway at Easterby Street and Princess Street. Poggio, an Italian restaurant, is mentioned as a favorite of Hannah’s.

The houseboat was used as the home of Paul Avery, the character Robert Downey Jr. played in the film “Zodiac,” and as the home of Dax Shepard’s character in the TV show “Parenthood.”

“People have just really embraced the book and seem to love how Sausalito is portrayed, which means a lot to me,” Dave said.

Josh Singer, Dave’s husband and a producer for the show, previously worked as a writer on “The West Wing” and “Fringe.” As showrunner, he worked with the writers to generate a script and oversaw its development to the screen.

Singer said the Sausalito houseboat was replicated on a stage in Los Angeles for the inside shots, using floating walls and an interior not subject to the elements.

“Sausalito leaves a very strong imprint on the viewer,” Singer said. “We really wanted to get a sense of place and a sense of community in Sausalito.”

The city is no stranger to the arts. Its rich bohemian heritage goes back almost a century, said Louis Briones, executive director of the Sausalito Art Festival Foundation and co-director of Sausalito Center for the Arts.

An established art center in the city drew visual artists in the 1930s. The “Sausalito Six” — Richard Diebenkorn, Frank Lobdell, Walter Kuhlman, John Hultberg, James Budd Dixon and George Stillman — dominated headlines as a collective in the late 1940s. Jean Varda led the city’s reputation as an art colony on the waterfront, Briones said.

“It continues with organizations like the Sausalito Art Festival and Sausalito Center for the Arts, which has taken the mantle,” Briones said. “We’re moving the art colony’s history forward.”

Cheryl Popp, owner of Sausalito Books by the Bay, said Dave did book signings at the shop.

“Obviously Sausalito offers an absolutely stunning set and stage from any sort of novel. What more inspirational place to write a book or film a movie?” Popp said.

The famed Marin author Isabel Allende has featured the city in many of her books. Other authors to do include Jack London and Jack Kerouac. Sterling Hayden, the 1950s and 1960s actor, was a resident of the city and set much of his memoir, “The Wanderer,” there. Barbara Sapienza wrote a novel called “Anchor Out” set in Richardson Bay, and Rick Seymour’s “Murder on the Dock of the Bay” is also set in Sausalito.

The Jean Varda-era attracted Beat writers Allen Ginsberg, Gary Snyder and Rod McKuen, who wrote an ode titled “Back to Sausalito.”

“We are thrilled to see this thriller showcase our picturesque, charming village to the world through an Apple TV+ series,” said Mayor Melissa Blaustein. “To us, it’s home, not a movie set, but I can see why a film director would think otherwise.”