Santosha Healing — Kelley Rental Building

A quiet wellness doorway on Main Street turns out to be part of one of Mendocino's documented Kelley-era properties.

Overview

Santosha Healing is tucked into the shingled buildings at 45040 Main Street, beside Kelley Pond and just west of the Kelley House Museum.

Today the setting is one of the softer corners of Mendocino's commercial Main Street: flowers, weathered siding, a narrow pathway and signs for yoga, massage and Ayurveda.

Santosha Healing is operated by Cindy Sims, whose current practice combines yoga instruction, massage therapy and Ayurvedic bodywork. Her website says she has studied yoga for about 30 years and has taught in Sonoma and Mendocino counties for roughly 15 years.

Location

The 45040 Main Street property occupies an unusually layered piece of Mendocino.

It stretches between Main Street and Albion Street and includes several buildings gathered around Kelley Pond.

Mendocino County records identify historic Kelley structures on the parcel along with later commercial development, including the restaurant building now associated with Flow.

A 2024 county staff report specifically identifies a Category I historic "Kelley Rental" building on Kelley Pond at 45040 Main Street.

History

The oldest documented part of the story belongs to William H. Kelley.

The updated 2026 Inventory of Historic Structures identifies the historic buildings here as the Kelley Pond Cottages and dates them to 1881.

Even better, the inventory preserves their original purpose: Kelley constructed the cottages as rentals for "single, solid men." They are classified as Category I historic structures.

Older county planning records used the name Kelley Rental and dated the building generally to the 1870s, describing its later use as a media building on Kelley Pond. The newer 2026 inventory sharpens that date to 1881.

The Historic American Buildings Survey also records the Kelley Rental Building at 45040 Main Street and dates its initial construction to 1881.

That survey describes William H. Kelley as an early and influential Mendocino settler who arrived in 1852 and at one time owned a large stretch of land west of Lansing Street and north of Main Street toward the ocean.

The property did not stay frozen in the Kelley era.

Another major building on the same parcel is what the 2026 inventory calls Homer's Market Building. It was constructed in 1948, and the inventory notes that it was built on the site of an earlier shoe and boot factory. That building later became part of Mendocino's restaurant history and is now associated with Flow.

The parcel also carries another very visible piece of Mendocino history: the old Mendosa water tower.

The 2026 inventory records the Main Street water tower as historic and notes that it was relocated from behind Mendosa's Store. Its earliest documentation is from 1904.

That tower was still generating preservation questions more than a century later. In 2024 the Mendocino Historical Review Board considered work involving its staircase, with county staff describing the site as containing the Kelley Rental building, Kelley Pond and the later restaurant structure.

The Building Today

Santosha Healing represents the newest chapter in one portion of this old property.

Cindy Sims describes Santosha as a Mendocino practice centered on yoga, massage and Ayurveda. Current offerings include private and group yoga, massage, Ayurvedic consultations and traditional treatments such as Abhyanga and Shirodhara.

Her retreat site says she relocated to Mendocino after years of teaching in Sonoma County and now offers yoga classes and private sessions through Santosha Healing.

Why It Matters

The quiet doorway visitors see today belongs to a property with several distinct layers: William Kelley's 1881 rental cottages, an earlier shoe and boot factory site, Homer's Market beginning in 1948, a relocated Mendosa water tower, later restaurant and retail uses, and now a small wellness practice.

The earlier tenant history of the specific Santosha space remains an open part of the story. Old photographs, directories, leases, property records and community memories may eventually fill in the years between the Kelley rentals and today's wellness business.

Timeline

1852 - William H. Kelley arrives in Mendocino and eventually owns much of the land west of Lansing Street.

1881 - Kelley builds the Kelley Pond Cottages as rentals for "single, solid men."

1904 - Earliest documentation of the water tower later relocated from behind Mendosa's Store.

1948 - Homer's Market Building is constructed on the site of an earlier shoe and boot factory.

December 2, 2024 - The Mendocino Historical Review Board reviews water-tower staircase work at the site.

Present - Santosha Healing offers yoga, massage and Ayurveda on the property.

Sources & Original Research: Mendocino County, Updated Inventory of Historic Structures, Mendocino Historic Preservation District, March 1, 2026 - identifies the Kelley Pond Cottages built by W. H. Kelley in 1881 as rentals for "single, solid men," Homer's Market Building built 1948 on the site of a shoe and boot factory, and the relocated Mendosa water tower; Mendocino County Historical Review Board Staff Report, December 2, 2024 - identifies the Category I Kelley Rental building and Kelley Pond and documents review of the water-tower staircase; Mendocino Town Plan historic inventory - earlier county listing for the Kelley Rental; Historic American Buildings Survey, Kelley Rental Building - 1881 initial construction date; Santosha Yoga Massage Ayurveda Mendocino and Santosha Yoga Retreat - current information about Cindy Sims and her services; original post text, photograph and research compilation provided by Gee Bee.