Baba Yaga- A Day of Vintage Bliss

Waking up on a warm and sunny Saturday and we’re itching to go for a little joy ride. Hmmm where should we go? Well, for one we’re in the mood to spend some time in our local beautiful Bay Area and maybe spend some money as well. Avocado toast and perhaps a cappuccino is in our not-too-distant future and perhaps some vintage finds as well. We want to find some chic, unique clothes to spice up our work from home days. You know something to lift our spirits and our wardrobes. It doesn’t take us too long to narrow it down to sweet, charming Sausalito. The quaint Marin County community by the bay that’s just north of San Francisco and south of San Rafael has everything we’re looking for this weekend.

For starters, we need our coffee so we stop at Equator Coffee which just so happens to be around the corner from our featured boutique of the day. Equator Coffee is the perfect place for us to snack on some avocado toast, a honey butter waffle and a hot cappuccino. The perfect formula for a pre-shopping snack and an Instagram selfie. There is plenty of seating outdoors, on the sunny patio that is complete with umbrellas and bright red chairs. The perfect spot to perhaps bring a laptop and a friend to complete some work-from-home agendas while sipping coffee or some herbal tea. However, for today we’re enjoying some sun, some light brunch food before we open our wallets again at our next stop: Baba Yaga.

Baba Yaga​, the name itself certainly grabs one's attention so what better place to start than at the beginning and with a name. According to the Baba Yaga website (and our quick googling), Baba Yaga is a Russian folklore witch who is described as, “a ferocious, or deformed looking old woman.” This shop is the complete opposite of this alleged witch’s description. It's warm, welcoming and filled with the most charming pieces. Baba Yaga is owned by a mother-daughter team who opened their store on Caledonia St., Sausalito in 2017. Its vintage pieces are hand selected by the owners and appropriately identify their aesthetic as “modern bohemian” and we couldn’t agree more.

Upon entering the shop we are overwhelmed in the best possible way with racks full of colorful, full of character and textured garments. To our left, three racks of clothes and shelves full of accessories such as a vintage Hermes belt and silver and gold coin purses. To our right, three more racks and a ladder dedicated to vintage levis of all shades and gradients. We can see already that these are quality pieces that have traveled from various decades to find a home here in Baba Yaga. Each rack seems to be organized by color, one filled with whites, creams and beiges and another with pastels such as pinks, lavenders and lime greens. We saunter over to the pastel rack, trying not to look too excited and pick out a pink suede coat with fur lined sleeves and collar. We imagine this coat with a pair of Levi’s that’s thrown over a tall wooden ladder and some pink suede mules that are just begging for our attention sitting on a large wooden table that occupies the center of the room. Before we get ​too ​carried away, our eyes dart across the room to an opposing clothing rack with a very understated but beautifully tailored navy, pinstripe suit complete with blazer and shorts with suspenders. We would expect no less from this far out boutique.

We are absolutely taken with this off-the-wall store. Paloma, the daughter in this mother mother-daughter duo is kind enough to chat with us about the shop and we exchange some sentiments about a denim pair of overalls that would definitely make our work-from-home situation stylish but much more comfortable. Paired with a Harvard tee and a pair of platform leather sandals that we see resting above a clothing rack, and our work-from-home outfit is elevated for a trip to pick up some take-out. Besides outstanding clothes and accessories, you can also purchase gifts for a loved one, gifts such as vintage tarot card decks, bandanas and embroidery kits. In addition to selling vintage apparel, Baba Yaga also purchases vintage apparel and for those of you who are still weary or unable to physically make it to the shop, you can shop the store online on the Baba Yaga website.

For a day that was already made worthwhile thanks to avocado toast and a strong cup of coffee, it was elevated to a major success thanks to Baba Yaga. The visually pleasing shop exceeded our expectations for a vintage store in quaint Sausalito. The character Baba Yaga expresses is unmatched and we can sense the genuineness and sincerity the owners pour into their small but effective showroom. Want to recreate our perfect afternoon? It’s simple, just follow our steps throughout this article and you will find yourselves in the same place we did with our pockets a little looser and our closets much more fashionable.

xo

SS

Photography: Kailyn Chadwick