FoundSF - User contributions [en]

Marinship to Marin City: How a Shipyard Built a City

2015-12-14T22:58:23Z

Aprilharper:

''' Historical Essay '''

''by April Harper''

{| style="color: black; background-color: #F5DA81;"
| colspan="2" | '''During World War II, Marin City, CA was a bustling shipbuilder's town. Today, Marin City is predominantly African American and plagued by poverty, but is surrounded by some of the whitest and wealthiest suburbs in the nation. How did this happen? The social and demographic changes of war are both far-reaching and deeply entrenched. Marin City exemplifies this demographic shift, as told through the lens of the Marinship shipyards.'''
|}

The Beginning

Marin City was founded in 1942, when housing was built for employees who worked at the nearby Marinship Corporation during World War II, building ships for the war effort. Marinship was one of many early 1940s emergency shipyards established on the West Coast to fuel America’s need for oil tankers and Liberty Ships, or war cargo ships, which, while originally a British design, were adopted due to their fast construction and low cost to produce. (1) The West Coast was an ideal place to establish the wartime shipyards due in part to its undeveloped coastline and thus plentiful space on which to build, the natural harbors present there, and its proximity to the Pacific, so the ships could be constructed and launched from the same point. Additionally, the Bay Area was well-connected to the nation’s railroads, which transported partially assembled steel parts from steel towns in the Midwest. (2) Other notable emergency shipyards included Kaiser Permanente shipyards in Richmond, California and Portland, Oregon, as well as Mare Island in Vallejo and [[Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard|Hunter’s Point in San Francisco]].

<iframe src="https://archive.org/embed/chi_00005" width="640" height="480" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="true" mozallowfullscreen="true" allowfullscreen></iframe>

'''Industrial film by and about Marinship, from 1945.'''

''Video: [https://archive.org/details/chi_00005# Internet Archive]''

At this time, many African Americans migrated from the Southern states in search of shipbuilding work, after being excluded from higher-paying industrial jobs back home. It was not uncommon for a shipbuilder to make in an hour what they formerly made in a day in the South. Shipbuilding had gained a reputation as steady work that paid generous wages and included family housing; ultimately it was these benefits which attracted African Americans to the area. The town of Marin City was formed by building housing, churches, and schools to accommodate 6,000 newly arrived workers. After the Attack on Pearl Harbor, America’s suddenly had an urgent need for warships, and employees worked around the clock in shifts; at the height of Marinship’s production, a new ship was produced every thirty days. Employees were welders, ship painters, and boilermakers, among many others. (3) 

[[File:AAE-1641.jpg]] 
'''Credit: San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library. Image AAE-1641.''' 
'' At 5:30 this afternoon the S.S. Escambia, the first big ocean-going tanker to be launched in San Francisco Bay for 21 years, slid down the ways at Marinship's Sausalito yard in a riot of sound with tug and Gantry crane whistles and the cheers of thousands of employees and their families all joining in. The ship was christened by Mrs. Lorraine Cooper, wife of a shipfitter journeyman, and her matron of honor was Mrs. Helen Vargas, wife of a welder foreman, while Mr. Al Gracey, Superintendent of the Hull Division, acted as Master of Ceremonies. The entire program was conducted by the workers who had built this beautiful ship - number one of the 22 tankers on Marinship's 1943 schedule. The first nine tankers are being taken over by the U.S. Navy and are being named after Indian rivers in accordance with Navy nomenclature for their ships. The photo shows the dramatic bottle-breaking, left to right: R.W. Adams, Marinship Employee Relations Manager; Mrs. Cooper, and E.B. Fox, Maritime Commission..'' 
 
The quick construction and operation of the shipyards could not have been possible without the cooperation of both government and private enterprise; indeed, shipbuilding is thought of as the one of the biggest combined efforts between government and private industry. This cooperation resulted in extremely high productivity. During the war, which lasted 1365 days, Bay Area shipyards produced 1400 vessels. Collectively, that’s over a ship per day! (4)
 
[[File:RORI3636.jpg]] 
'''Credit: Image courtesy of Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park.''' 
 
This cooperative spirit also extended to the workers themselves. Marin City residents looked out for one another and were familiar with neighboring family’s work schedules. Meals and celebrations were often had together. In this way, the shipyards produced a tight-knit community. (5) Annie Small, a Marinship worker, described the community:

<blockquote>“Everybody got along swell because everybody acted as a family unit, everybody helped everybody else. It was such a such a mixture of all kinds of ethnic groups and ages and the work habit was…everybody worked around the clock. There was someone going to work 24 hours a day... So there was always somebody at the house, I kept theirs or they kept mine. Somebody was goin’ and comin’ at all times and when we moved to Marin City, I worked the day shift, and my husband worked the night shift. So when he come in in the morning he would bring the kids to the school…when I got off at five in the evening, I picked em up. And so, your neighbor, if it rained, they took my clothes in, cause they know I’m going to work. And of course the iceman and milkman came, and I would let them in for them... We didn't have to lock the door. We never locked no doors... You could team up and go to Santa Rosa or Petaluma and buy a whole hog and cook it together.” (6)</blockquote>

Attempts to keep morale high and employees happy resulted in many services provided for them by Marinship, such as health care and child care. At lunch, workers were entertained by celebrities such as Bing Crosby or swing bands, and talented workers often played piano and sang. (4) All told, Marinship employed 75,000 workers and contributed over 100 million man hours of labor to the war effort. (7) 
 
[[File:Marinship women workers AAF-0982.jpg]] 
'''Credit: San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library. Image AAF-0982''' 
''Representing twenty or more shipyard crafts. Women war workers at Marinship, shipyard at Sausalito on San Francisco bay, act as a guard of honor to the national Tanker Champ flag. The flag was presented to Marinship by the U.S. Maritime Commission for defeating all other U.S. shipyards in the production of tankers in March. This float was a unit in a triumphal parade led by the Fourth Army Band and joined in by 5,000 workers.'' 
 
While many African Americans were part of the shipbuilding labor force, it was diverse and included people of white and Asian ethnicities as well. Race relations were considered peaceful on the job because of Marinship’s cooperative spirit; Thelma McKinney, a Marinship worker, recalled that at the yard, “there was no such thing as segregation” and that everyone was too busy “[to] have time for racism” (8). But outside the shipyard, tensions still festered; many Sausalito restaurants refused to serve blacks, and discrimination in the form of union benefits was a regular occurrence. The Boilermaker Union, a traditionally “lily-white” union, only allowed black workers as “auxiliary” members, who were unable to vote on union matters and received smaller insurance benefits. (9) That is, until November 1943, when African-American Marinship workers from around the Bay Area went on strike and refused to pay their auxiliary member dues; the matter was finally resolved by the Supreme Court in 1945, finding that it was “readily apparent that the membership offered to Negroes is discriminatory and unequal.” (10)

The Closing of Marinship'''

Marinship closed in May 1946, and as the war wound down, black employment also decreased. In July 1945, 20,000 African-American Marinship workers were employed; by September 1945, that number was reduced to 12,000 and by Marinship’s closing, there were almost none. Wollenberg (1990) states that it was a case of “last hired, first fired” when it came to black workers. At the height of the war, about 75 percent of San Francisco black heads of households were classified as skilled industrial workers, the great majority of them in the shipyards, but by 1948, this number had dwindled to 25 percent, and many were forced to take lower paying jobs in unskilled industry or service sectors. The unemployment rate for African-Americans had risen to 15 percent, 3 times the national average. The US Department of Employment noted a couple years later, in 1950, that, “as long as Negroes are commonly regarded as marginal labor, they will suffer very heavy unemployment when sufficient white labor is available.”(11) 
[[File:RORI686.jpg]] 
'''Credit: Image courtesy of Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park.''' 
 
Due to such employment discrimination, many black Marin City residents found they could not afford to leave, and those that could afford it were unable to relocate, due to the discriminatory rental and homeowner statutes that stipulated against renting to minorities, common throughout the Bay Area until the 1960s. The plight of the black Marinship workers, and of those in nearby Richmond/Oakland and Hunter’s Point shipyards, was unique in that the African-American population increase was due to a boom in just one industry, which, when it dried up, left little economic opportunity. (12)

Marin City Today'''

Today, Marin City remains a contrast to the surrounding affluent, white suburbs that Marin County is known for. It remains predominantly African-American and poor, with many residing in the public housing that was built in the mid-1950s, after much of the shipyard housing was demolished. This tract of affordable housing remains only one of a few in the entire county of Marin, thought to have some of the most expensive housing prices in the nation. (13)

African Americans also experience a lower life expectancy than the surrounding towns of Sausalito, Mill Valley, and Corte Madera. In fact, African Americans have the lowest life expectancy of all ethnicities residing in Marin, at 79.5 years compared to 83.5 years for a Caucasian person and 90.9 years for an Asian person. A person residing in Ross, one of Marin’s richest towns, has a life expectancy of 88 years, while a resident of Marin City has a life expectancy of only 77 years. Indeed, one of the biggest causes of gaps in health is access to healthy food; Marin City is easily a “food desert”, defined as “low-income neighborhoods without ready access to healthy and affordable food. Typically, convenience stores, fast food outlets, and liquor stores predominate.” (14) With the only market being a CVS drugstore and assorted fast food restaurants like Burger King and Panda Express, Marin City definitely fits this description. The nearest Safeway is over two miles away in Mill Valley, and the Mollie Stone’s market in neighboring Sausalito is prohibitively expensive.

Additionally, social connections which create tight-knit communities are more absent here; many Marin City residents don’t own cars and must take the bus, which has limited stops and departure times in the neighborhood. In a 2015 Marin Independent Journal article, Julie Willems Van Dijk, director of County Health Rankings and Roadmaps program, states, “...the evidence continues to show that it’s not simply lower levels of income that affect health,” Van Dijk said. “The income divide also influences health as well. “We also see the potential for more social division and less social connectedness in communities where there is a great divide between richer and poorer populations,” she said. “And we know that stronger social connection contributes to good health within a community.” (15) Such isolation, then, also contributes to a lower quality of life for Marin City residents.

While Marin City remains a more affordable place to live within expensive Marin County, its future remains uncertain. You can buy a two bedroom, one bath condo for $229,000 here, unheard of in any other part of Marin. (16) Recently, worries have surfaced that Marin City, and the affordable housing complex specifically, are targets for gentrification, which would push the low income residents out. In a San Francisco Chronicle piece, resident Homer Hall, who moved here in 1955, shares these fears, saying, “Whites wouldn’t live here [back then]. Now the White are looking at it like it’s gold - they can’t get here fast enough.” (17) Hall’s anxieties are shared by other neighborhoods around the Bay Area that are home to minorities, many of which are shipbuilder’s descendants, like in Richmond, West Oakland, and Bayview-Hunter’s Point. For now though, these residents do their best to preserve their neighborhood’s colorful history, in an attempt to keep their streets both diverse and affordable.
 
 
'''Notes'''

1. Bonnett, Wayne. World War II Shipbuilding in the San Francisco Bay Area. ''National Park Service''. Accessed November 28th, 2015. http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/wwiibayarea/shipbuilding.HTM 
2. Bonnett, Wayne. World War II Shipbuilding in the San Francisco Bay Area. 
3. Bonnett, Wayne. World War II Shipbuilding in the San Francisco Bay Area. 
4. ''Tanker''. Directed by Paul Crowley. 1945. Sausalito, CA: Marinship Corporation, 1945. Accessed November 28th, 2015. http://www.marinnostalgia.org/portfolio/tanker-history-of-marinship-corporation/ 
5. ''Marinship Memories''. Directed by Joan Lisetor. 2009. Sausalito, CA: Marin City Performing Arts, 2009. 
6. ''Marinship Memories.'' Directed by Joan Lisetor. 
7. ''Tanker''. Directed by Paul Crowley. 1945. 
8. Wollenberg, Charles. ''Marinship at War: Shipbuilding and Social Change in Sausalito''. Sausalito, CA: Western Heritage Press, 1990. 
9.Wollenberg, Charles. ''Marinship at War: Shipbuilding and Social Change in Sausalito'' 
10.Wollenberg, Charles. ''Marinship at War: Shipbuilding and Social Change in Sausalito'' 
11.Wollenberg, Charles. ''Marinship at War: Shipbuilding and Social Change in Sausalito'' 
12.Wollenberg, Charles. ''Marinship at War: Shipbuilding and Social Change in Sausalito'' 
13. Perrigan, Dana. "Marin City Looks to Better Days." San Francisco Chronicle, (San Francisco, CA) March 15, 2009. http://www.sfgate.com/realestate/article/Marin-City-looks-to-better-days-3168089.php 
14. Burd-Sharps, Sarah and Kristen Lewis. "A Portrait of Marin: Marin County Human Development Report 2012." American Human Development Project, 2012. http://www.measureofamerica.org/docs/APOM_Final-SinglePages_12.14.11.pdf 
15. Halstead, Richard. "Marin Ranked Healthiest County in State for Sixth Year but Economic Inequality a Pitfall." Marin Independent Journal, (Novato, CA), March 25, 2015. http://www.marinij.com/health/20150325/marin-ranked-healthiest-county-in-state-for-sixth-year-but-economic-inequality-a-pitfall 
16. Perrigan, Dana. "Marin City Looks to Better Days." San Francisco Chronicle, (San Francisco, CA) March 15, 2009. 
17. Perrigan, Dana. "Marin City Looks to Better Days." 

[[category:1940s]] [[category:Marin County]] [[category:San Francisco outside the city]] [[category:shoreline]] [[category:African-American]] [[category:military]] [[category:women]] [[category:Power and Money]] [[category:Labor]]

File:RORI686.jpg

2015-12-14T22:55:02Z

Aprilharper:

Marinship to Marin City: How a Shipyard Built a City

2015-12-14T22:54:10Z

Aprilharper:

''' Historical Essay '''

''by April Harper''

{| style="color: black; background-color: #F5DA81;"
| colspan="2" | '''During World War II, Marin City, CA was a bustling shipbuilder's town. Today, Marin City is predominantly African American and plagued by poverty, but is surrounded by some of the whitest and wealthiest suburbs in the nation. How did this happen? The social and demographic changes of war are both far-reaching and deeply entrenched. Marin City exemplifies this demographic shift, as told through the lens of the Marinship shipyards.'''
|}

The Beginning

Marin City was founded in 1942, when housing was built for employees who worked at the nearby Marinship Corporation during World War II, building ships for the war effort. Marinship was one of many early 1940s emergency shipyards established on the West Coast to fuel America’s need for oil tankers and Liberty Ships, or war cargo ships, which, while originally a British design, were adopted due to their fast construction and low cost to produce. (1) The West Coast was an ideal place to establish the wartime shipyards due in part to its undeveloped coastline and thus plentiful space on which to build, the natural harbors present there, and its proximity to the Pacific, so the ships could be constructed and launched from the same point. Additionally, the Bay Area was well-connected to the nation’s railroads, which transported partially assembled steel parts from steel towns in the Midwest. (2) Other notable emergency shipyards included Kaiser Permanente shipyards in Richmond, California and Portland, Oregon, as well as Mare Island in Vallejo and [[Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard|Hunter’s Point in San Francisco]].

<iframe src="https://archive.org/embed/chi_00005" width="640" height="480" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="true" mozallowfullscreen="true" allowfullscreen></iframe>

'''Industrial film by and about Marinship, from 1945.'''

''Video: [https://archive.org/details/chi_00005# Internet Archive]''

At this time, many African Americans migrated from the Southern states in search of shipbuilding work, after being excluded from higher-paying industrial jobs back home. It was not uncommon for a shipbuilder to make in an hour what they formerly made in a day in the South. Shipbuilding had gained a reputation as steady work that paid generous wages and included family housing; ultimately it was these benefits which attracted African Americans to the area. The town of Marin City was formed by building housing, churches, and schools to accommodate 6,000 newly arrived workers. After the Attack on Pearl Harbor, America’s suddenly had an urgent need for warships, and employees worked around the clock in shifts; at the height of Marinship’s production, a new ship was produced every thirty days. Employees were welders, ship painters, and boilermakers, among many others. (3) 

[[File:AAE-1641.jpg]] 
'''Credit: San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library. Image AAE-1641.''' 
'' At 5:30 this afternoon the S.S. Escambia, the first big ocean-going tanker to be launched in San Francisco Bay for 21 years, slid down the ways at Marinship's Sausalito yard in a riot of sound with tug and Gantry crane whistles and the cheers of thousands of employees and their families all joining in. The ship was christened by Mrs. Lorraine Cooper, wife of a shipfitter journeyman, and her matron of honor was Mrs. Helen Vargas, wife of a welder foreman, while Mr. Al Gracey, Superintendent of the Hull Division, acted as Master of Ceremonies. The entire program was conducted by the workers who had built this beautiful ship - number one of the 22 tankers on Marinship's 1943 schedule. The first nine tankers are being taken over by the U.S. Navy and are being named after Indian rivers in accordance with Navy nomenclature for their ships. The photo shows the dramatic bottle-breaking, left to right: R.W. Adams, Marinship Employee Relations Manager; Mrs. Cooper, and E.B. Fox, Maritime Commission..'' 
 
The quick construction and operation of the shipyards could not have been possible without the cooperation of both government and private enterprise; indeed, shipbuilding is thought of as the one of the biggest combined efforts between government and private industry. This cooperation resulted in extremely high productivity. During the war, which lasted 1365 days, Bay Area shipyards produced 1400 vessels. Collectively, that’s over a ship per day! (4)
 
[[File:RORI3636.jpg]] 
'''Credit: Image courtesy of Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park.''' 
 
This cooperative spirit also extended to the workers themselves. Marin City residents looked out for one another and were familiar with neighboring family’s work schedules. Meals and celebrations were often had together. In this way, the shipyards produced a tight-knit community. (5) Annie Small, a Marinship worker, described the community:

<blockquote>“Everybody got along swell because everybody acted as a family unit, everybody helped everybody else. It was such a such a mixture of all kinds of ethnic groups and ages and the work habit was…everybody worked around the clock. There was someone going to work 24 hours a day... So there was always somebody at the house, I kept theirs or they kept mine. Somebody was goin’ and comin’ at all times and when we moved to Marin City, I worked the day shift, and my husband worked the night shift. So when he come in in the morning he would bring the kids to the school…when I got off at five in the evening, I picked em up. And so, your neighbor, if it rained, they took my clothes in, cause they know I’m going to work. And of course the iceman and milkman came, and I would let them in for them... We didn't have to lock the door. We never locked no doors... You could team up and go to Santa Rosa or Petaluma and buy a whole hog and cook it together.” (6)</blockquote>

Attempts to keep morale high and employees happy resulted in many services provided for them by Marinship, such as health care and child care. At lunch, workers were entertained by celebrities such as Bing Crosby or swing bands, and talented workers often played piano and sang. (4) All told, Marinship employed 75,000 workers and contributed over 100 million man hours of labor to the war effort. (7) 
 
[[File:Marinship women workers AAF-0982.jpg]] 
'''Credit: San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library. Image AAF-0982''' 
''Representing twenty or more shipyard crafts. Women war workers at Marinship, shipyard at Sausalito on San Francisco bay, act as a guard of honor to the national Tanker Champ flag. The flag was presented to Marinship by the U.S. Maritime Commission for defeating all other U.S. shipyards in the production of tankers in March. This float was a unit in a triumphal parade led by the Fourth Army Band and joined in by 5,000 workers.'' 
 
While many African Americans were part of the shipbuilding labor force, it was diverse and included people of white and Asian ethnicities as well. Race relations were considered peaceful on the job because of Marinship’s cooperative spirit; Thelma McKinney, a Marinship worker, recalled that at the yard, “there was no such thing as segregation” and that everyone was too busy “[to] have time for racism” (8). But outside the shipyard, tensions still festered; many Sausalito restaurants refused to serve blacks, and discrimination in the form of union benefits was a regular occurrence. The Boilermaker Union, a traditionally “lily-white” union, only allowed black workers as “auxiliary” members, who were unable to vote on union matters and received smaller insurance benefits. (9) That is, until November 1943, when African-American Marinship workers from around the Bay Area went on strike and refused to pay their auxiliary member dues; the matter was finally resolved by the Supreme Court in 1945, finding that it was “readily apparent that the membership offered to Negroes is discriminatory and unequal.” (10)

The Closing of Marinship'''

Marinship closed in May 1946, and as the war wound down, black employment also decreased. In July 1945, 20,000 African-American Marinship workers were employed; by September 1945, that number was reduced to 12,000 and by Marinship’s closing, there were almost none. Wollenberg (1990) states that it was a case of “last hired, first fired” when it came to black workers. At the height of the war, about 75 percent of San Francisco black heads of households were classified as skilled industrial workers, the great majority of them in the shipyards, but by 1948, this number had dwindled to 25 percent, and many were forced to take lower paying jobs in unskilled industry or service sectors. The unemployment rate for African-Americans had risen to 15 percent, 3 times the national average. The US Department of Employment noted a couple years later, in 1950, that, “as long as Negroes are commonly regarded as marginal labor, they will suffer very heavy unemployment when sufficient white labor is available.”(11)

Due to such employment discrimination, many black Marin City residents found they could not afford to leave, and those that could afford it were unable to relocate, due to the discriminatory rental and homeowner statutes that stipulated against renting to minorities, common throughout the Bay Area until the 1960s. The plight of the black Marinship workers, and of those in nearby Richmond/Oakland and Hunter’s Point shipyards, was unique in that the African-American population increase was due to a boom in just one industry, which, when it dried up, left little economic opportunity. (12)

Marin City Today'''

Today, Marin City remains a contrast to the surrounding affluent, white suburbs that Marin County is known for. It remains predominantly African-American and poor, with many residing in the public housing that was built in the mid-1950s, after much of the shipyard housing was demolished. This tract of affordable housing remains only one of a few in the entire county of Marin, thought to have some of the most expensive housing prices in the nation. (13)

African Americans also experience a lower life expectancy than the surrounding towns of Sausalito, Mill Valley, and Corte Madera. In fact, African Americans have the lowest life expectancy of all ethnicities residing in Marin, at 79.5 years compared to 83.5 years for a Caucasian person and 90.9 years for an Asian person. A person residing in Ross, one of Marin’s richest towns, has a life expectancy of 88 years, while a resident of Marin City has a life expectancy of only 77 years. Indeed, one of the biggest causes of gaps in health is access to healthy food; Marin City is easily a “food desert”, defined as “low-income neighborhoods without ready access to healthy and affordable food. Typically, convenience stores, fast food outlets, and liquor stores predominate.” (14) With the only market being a CVS drugstore and assorted fast food restaurants like Burger King and Panda Express, Marin City definitely fits this description. The nearest Safeway is over two miles away in Mill Valley, and the Mollie Stone’s market in neighboring Sausalito is prohibitively expensive.

Additionally, social connections which create tight-knit communities are more absent here; many Marin City residents don’t own cars and must take the bus, which has limited stops and departure times in the neighborhood. In a 2015 Marin Independent Journal article, Julie Willems Van Dijk, director of County Health Rankings and Roadmaps program, states, “...the evidence continues to show that it’s not simply lower levels of income that affect health,” Van Dijk said. “The income divide also influences health as well. “We also see the potential for more social division and less social connectedness in communities where there is a great divide between richer and poorer populations,” she said. “And we know that stronger social connection contributes to good health within a community.” (15) Such isolation, then, also contributes to a lower quality of life for Marin City residents.

While Marin City remains a more affordable place to live within expensive Marin County, its future remains uncertain. You can buy a two bedroom, one bath condo for $229,000 here, unheard of in any other part of Marin. (16) Recently, worries have surfaced that Marin City, and the affordable housing complex specifically, are targets for gentrification, which would push the low income residents out. In a San Francisco Chronicle piece, resident Homer Hall, who moved here in 1955, shares these fears, saying, “Whites wouldn’t live here [back then]. Now the White are looking at it like it’s gold - they can’t get here fast enough.” (17) Hall’s anxieties are shared by other neighborhoods around the Bay Area that are home to minorities, many of which are shipbuilder’s descendants, like in Richmond, West Oakland, and Bayview-Hunter’s Point. For now though, these residents do their best to preserve their neighborhood’s colorful history, in an attempt to keep their streets both diverse and affordable.
 
'''Notes'''

1. Bonnett, Wayne. World War II Shipbuilding in the San Francisco Bay Area. ''National Park Service''. Accessed November 28th, 2015. http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/wwiibayarea/shipbuilding.HTM 
2. Bonnett, Wayne. World War II Shipbuilding in the San Francisco Bay Area. 
3. Bonnett, Wayne. World War II Shipbuilding in the San Francisco Bay Area. 
4. ''Tanker''. Directed by Paul Crowley. 1945. Sausalito, CA: Marinship Corporation, 1945. Accessed November 28th, 2015. http://www.marinnostalgia.org/portfolio/tanker-history-of-marinship-corporation/ 
5. ''Marinship Memories''. Directed by Joan Lisetor. 2009. Sausalito, CA: Marin City Performing Arts, 2009. 
6. ''Marinship Memories.'' Directed by Joan Lisetor. 
7. ''Tanker''. Directed by Paul Crowley. 1945. 
8. Wollenberg, Charles. ''Marinship at War: Shipbuilding and Social Change in Sausalito''. Sausalito, CA: Western Heritage Press, 1990. 
9.Wollenberg, Charles. ''Marinship at War: Shipbuilding and Social Change in Sausalito'' 
10.Wollenberg, Charles. ''Marinship at War: Shipbuilding and Social Change in Sausalito'' 
11.Wollenberg, Charles. ''Marinship at War: Shipbuilding and Social Change in Sausalito'' 
12.Wollenberg, Charles. ''Marinship at War: Shipbuilding and Social Change in Sausalito'' 
13. Perrigan, Dana. "Marin City Looks to Better Days." San Francisco Chronicle, (San Francisco, CA) March 15, 2009. http://www.sfgate.com/realestate/article/Marin-City-looks-to-better-days-3168089.php 
14. Burd-Sharps, Sarah and Kristen Lewis. "A Portrait of Marin: Marin County Human Development Report 2012." American Human Development Project, 2012. http://www.measureofamerica.org/docs/APOM_Final-SinglePages_12.14.11.pdf 
15. Halstead, Richard. "Marin Ranked Healthiest County in State for Sixth Year but Economic Inequality a Pitfall." Marin Independent Journal, (Novato, CA), March 25, 2015. http://www.marinij.com/health/20150325/marin-ranked-healthiest-county-in-state-for-sixth-year-but-economic-inequality-a-pitfall 
16. Perrigan, Dana. "Marin City Looks to Better Days." San Francisco Chronicle, (San Francisco, CA) March 15, 2009. 
17. Perrigan, Dana. "Marin City Looks to Better Days." 

[[category:1940s]] [[category:Marin County]] [[category:San Francisco outside the city]] [[category:shoreline]] [[category:African-American]] [[category:military]] [[category:women]] [[category:Power and Money]] [[category:Labor]]

Marinship to Marin City: How a Shipyard Built a City

2015-12-14T22:52:21Z

Aprilharper:

''' Historical Essay '''

''by April Harper''

{| style="color: black; background-color: #F5DA81;"
| colspan="2" | '''During World War II, Marin City, CA was a bustling shipbuilder's town. Today, Marin City is predominantly African American and plagued by poverty, but is surrounded by some of the whitest and wealthiest suburbs in the nation. How did this happen? The social and demographic changes of war are both far-reaching and deeply entrenched. Marin City exemplifies this demographic shift, as told through the lens of the Marinship shipyards.'''
|}

The Beginning

Marin City was founded in 1942, when housing was built for employees who worked at the nearby Marinship Corporation during World War II, building ships for the war effort. Marinship was one of many early 1940s emergency shipyards established on the West Coast to fuel America’s need for oil tankers and Liberty Ships, or war cargo ships, which, while originally a British design, were adopted due to their fast construction and low cost to produce. (1) The West Coast was an ideal place to establish the wartime shipyards due in part to its undeveloped coastline and thus plentiful space on which to build, the natural harbors present there, and its proximity to the Pacific, so the ships could be constructed and launched from the same point. Additionally, the Bay Area was well-connected to the nation’s railroads, which transported partially assembled steel parts from steel towns in the Midwest. (2) Other notable emergency shipyards included Kaiser Permanente shipyards in Richmond, California and Portland, Oregon, as well as Mare Island in Vallejo and [[Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard|Hunter’s Point in San Francisco]].

<iframe src="https://archive.org/embed/chi_00005" width="640" height="480" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="true" mozallowfullscreen="true" allowfullscreen></iframe>

'''Industrial film by and about Marinship, from 1945.'''

''Video: [https://archive.org/details/chi_00005# Internet Archive]''

At this time, many African Americans migrated from the Southern states in search of shipbuilding work, after being excluded from higher-paying industrial jobs back home. It was not uncommon for a shipbuilder to make in an hour what they formerly made in a day in the South. Shipbuilding had gained a reputation as steady work that paid generous wages and included family housing; ultimately it was these benefits which attracted African Americans to the area. The town of Marin City was formed by building housing, churches, and schools to accommodate 6,000 newly arrived workers. After the Attack on Pearl Harbor, America’s suddenly had an urgent need for warships, and employees worked around the clock in shifts; at the height of Marinship’s production, a new ship was produced every thirty days. Employees were welders, ship painters, and boilermakers, among many others. (3) 

[[File:AAE-1641.jpg]] 
'''Credit: San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library. Image AAE-1641.''' 
'' At 5:30 this afternoon the S.S. Escambia, the first big ocean-going tanker to be launched in San Francisco Bay for 21 years, slid down the ways at Marinship's Sausalito yard in a riot of sound with tug and Gantry crane whistles and the cheers of thousands of employees and their families all joining in. The ship was christened by Mrs. Lorraine Cooper, wife of a shipfitter journeyman, and her matron of honor was Mrs. Helen Vargas, wife of a welder foreman, while Mr. Al Gracey, Superintendent of the Hull Division, acted as Master of Ceremonies. The entire program was conducted by the workers who had built this beautiful ship - number one of the 22 tankers on Marinship's 1943 schedule. The first nine tankers are being taken over by the U.S. Navy and are being named after Indian rivers in accordance with Navy nomenclature for their ships. The photo shows the dramatic bottle-breaking, left to right: R.W. Adams, Marinship Employee Relations Manager; Mrs. Cooper, and E.B. Fox, Maritime Commission..'' 
 
The quick construction and operation of the shipyards could not have been possible without the cooperation of both government and private enterprise; indeed, shipbuilding is thought of as the one of the biggest combined efforts between government and private industry. This cooperation resulted in extremely high productivity. During the war, which lasted 1365 days, Bay Area shipyards produced 1400 vessels. Collectively, that’s over a ship per day! (4)
 
[[File:RORI3636.jpg]
'''Credit: Image courtesy of Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park.''' 
 
This cooperative spirit also extended to the workers themselves. Marin City residents looked out for one another and were familiar with neighboring family’s work schedules. Meals and celebrations were often had together. In this way, the shipyards produced a tight-knit community. (5) Annie Small, a Marinship worker, described the community:

<blockquote>“Everybody got along swell because everybody acted as a family unit, everybody helped everybody else. It was such a such a mixture of all kinds of ethnic groups and ages and the work habit was…everybody worked around the clock. There was someone going to work 24 hours a day... So there was always somebody at the house, I kept theirs or they kept mine. Somebody was goin’ and comin’ at all times and when we moved to Marin City, I worked the day shift, and my husband worked the night shift. So when he come in in the morning he would bring the kids to the school…when I got off at five in the evening, I picked em up. And so, your neighbor, if it rained, they took my clothes in, cause they know I’m going to work. And of course the iceman and milkman came, and I would let them in for them... We didn't have to lock the door. We never locked no doors... You could team up and go to Santa Rosa or Petaluma and buy a whole hog and cook it together.” (6)</blockquote>

Attempts to keep morale high and employees happy resulted in many services provided for them by Marinship, such as health care and child care. At lunch, workers were entertained by celebrities such as Bing Crosby or swing bands, and talented workers often played piano and sang. (4) All told, Marinship employed 75,000 workers and contributed over 100 million man hours of labor to the war effort. (7) 
 
[[File:Marinship women workers AAF-0982.jpg]] 
'''Credit: San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library. Image AAF-0982''' 
''Representing twenty or more shipyard crafts. Women war workers at Marinship, shipyard at Sausalito on San Francisco bay, act as a guard of honor to the national Tanker Champ flag. The flag was presented to Marinship by the U.S. Maritime Commission for defeating all other U.S. shipyards in the production of tankers in March. This float was a unit in a triumphal parade led by the Fourth Army Band and joined in by 5,000 workers.'' 
 
While many African Americans were part of the shipbuilding labor force, it was diverse and included people of white and Asian ethnicities as well. Race relations were considered peaceful on the job because of Marinship’s cooperative spirit; Thelma McKinney, a Marinship worker, recalled that at the yard, “there was no such thing as segregation” and that everyone was too busy “[to] have time for racism” (8). But outside the shipyard, tensions still festered; many Sausalito restaurants refused to serve blacks, and discrimination in the form of union benefits was a regular occurrence. The Boilermaker Union, a traditionally “lily-white” union, only allowed black workers as “auxiliary” members, who were unable to vote on union matters and received smaller insurance benefits. (9) That is, until November 1943, when African-American Marinship workers from around the Bay Area went on strike and refused to pay their auxiliary member dues; the matter was finally resolved by the Supreme Court in 1945, finding that it was “readily apparent that the membership offered to Negroes is discriminatory and unequal.” (10)

The Closing of Marinship'''

Marinship closed in May 1946, and as the war wound down, black employment also decreased. In July 1945, 20,000 African-American Marinship workers were employed; by September 1945, that number was reduced to 12,000 and by Marinship’s closing, there were almost none. Wollenberg (1990) states that it was a case of “last hired, first fired” when it came to black workers. At the height of the war, about 75 percent of San Francisco black heads of households were classified as skilled industrial workers, the great majority of them in the shipyards, but by 1948, this number had dwindled to 25 percent, and many were forced to take lower paying jobs in unskilled industry or service sectors. The unemployment rate for African-Americans had risen to 15 percent, 3 times the national average. The US Department of Employment noted a couple years later, in 1950, that, “as long as Negroes are commonly regarded as marginal labor, they will suffer very heavy unemployment when sufficient white labor is available.”(11)

Due to such employment discrimination, many black Marin City residents found they could not afford to leave, and those that could afford it were unable to relocate, due to the discriminatory rental and homeowner statutes that stipulated against renting to minorities, common throughout the Bay Area until the 1960s. The plight of the black Marinship workers, and of those in nearby Richmond/Oakland and Hunter’s Point shipyards, was unique in that the African-American population increase was due to a boom in just one industry, which, when it dried up, left little economic opportunity. (12)

Marin City Today'''

Today, Marin City remains a contrast to the surrounding affluent, white suburbs that Marin County is known for. It remains predominantly African-American and poor, with many residing in the public housing that was built in the mid-1950s, after much of the shipyard housing was demolished. This tract of affordable housing remains only one of a few in the entire county of Marin, thought to have some of the most expensive housing prices in the nation. (13)

African Americans also experience a lower life expectancy than the surrounding towns of Sausalito, Mill Valley, and Corte Madera. In fact, African Americans have the lowest life expectancy of all ethnicities residing in Marin, at 79.5 years compared to 83.5 years for a Caucasian person and 90.9 years for an Asian person. A person residing in Ross, one of Marin’s richest towns, has a life expectancy of 88 years, while a resident of Marin City has a life expectancy of only 77 years. Indeed, one of the biggest causes of gaps in health is access to healthy food; Marin City is easily a “food desert”, defined as “low-income neighborhoods without ready access to healthy and affordable food. Typically, convenience stores, fast food outlets, and liquor stores predominate.” (14) With the only market being a CVS drugstore and assorted fast food restaurants like Burger King and Panda Express, Marin City definitely fits this description. The nearest Safeway is over two miles away in Mill Valley, and the Mollie Stone’s market in neighboring Sausalito is prohibitively expensive.

Additionally, social connections which create tight-knit communities are more absent here; many Marin City residents don’t own cars and must take the bus, which has limited stops and departure times in the neighborhood. In a 2015 Marin Independent Journal article, Julie Willems Van Dijk, director of County Health Rankings and Roadmaps program, states, “...the evidence continues to show that it’s not simply lower levels of income that affect health,” Van Dijk said. “The income divide also influences health as well. “We also see the potential for more social division and less social connectedness in communities where there is a great divide between richer and poorer populations,” she said. “And we know that stronger social connection contributes to good health within a community.” (15) Such isolation, then, also contributes to a lower quality of life for Marin City residents.

While Marin City remains a more affordable place to live within expensive Marin County, its future remains uncertain. You can buy a two bedroom, one bath condo for $229,000 here, unheard of in any other part of Marin. (16) Recently, worries have surfaced that Marin City, and the affordable housing complex specifically, are targets for gentrification, which would push the low income residents out. In a San Francisco Chronicle piece, resident Homer Hall, who moved here in 1955, shares these fears, saying, “Whites wouldn’t live here [back then]. Now the White are looking at it like it’s gold - they can’t get here fast enough.” (17) Hall’s anxieties are shared by other neighborhoods around the Bay Area that are home to minorities, many of which are shipbuilder’s descendants, like in Richmond, West Oakland, and Bayview-Hunter’s Point. For now though, these residents do their best to preserve their neighborhood’s colorful history, in an attempt to keep their streets both diverse and affordable.
 
'''Notes'''

1. Bonnett, Wayne. World War II Shipbuilding in the San Francisco Bay Area. ''National Park Service''. Accessed November 28th, 2015. http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/wwiibayarea/shipbuilding.HTM 
2. Bonnett, Wayne. World War II Shipbuilding in the San Francisco Bay Area. 
3. Bonnett, Wayne. World War II Shipbuilding in the San Francisco Bay Area. 
4. ''Tanker''. Directed by Paul Crowley. 1945. Sausalito, CA: Marinship Corporation, 1945. Accessed November 28th, 2015. http://www.marinnostalgia.org/portfolio/tanker-history-of-marinship-corporation/ 
5. ''Marinship Memories''. Directed by Joan Lisetor. 2009. Sausalito, CA: Marin City Performing Arts, 2009. 
6. ''Marinship Memories.'' Directed by Joan Lisetor. 
7. ''Tanker''. Directed by Paul Crowley. 1945. 
8. Wollenberg, Charles. ''Marinship at War: Shipbuilding and Social Change in Sausalito''. Sausalito, CA: Western Heritage Press, 1990. 
9.Wollenberg, Charles. ''Marinship at War: Shipbuilding and Social Change in Sausalito'' 
10.Wollenberg, Charles. ''Marinship at War: Shipbuilding and Social Change in Sausalito'' 
11.Wollenberg, Charles. ''Marinship at War: Shipbuilding and Social Change in Sausalito'' 
12.Wollenberg, Charles. ''Marinship at War: Shipbuilding and Social Change in Sausalito'' 
13. Perrigan, Dana. "Marin City Looks to Better Days." San Francisco Chronicle, (San Francisco, CA) March 15, 2009. http://www.sfgate.com/realestate/article/Marin-City-looks-to-better-days-3168089.php 
14. Burd-Sharps, Sarah and Kristen Lewis. "A Portrait of Marin: Marin County Human Development Report 2012." American Human Development Project, 2012. http://www.measureofamerica.org/docs/APOM_Final-SinglePages_12.14.11.pdf 
15. Halstead, Richard. "Marin Ranked Healthiest County in State for Sixth Year but Economic Inequality a Pitfall." Marin Independent Journal, (Novato, CA), March 25, 2015. http://www.marinij.com/health/20150325/marin-ranked-healthiest-county-in-state-for-sixth-year-but-economic-inequality-a-pitfall 
16. Perrigan, Dana. "Marin City Looks to Better Days." San Francisco Chronicle, (San Francisco, CA) March 15, 2009. 
17. Perrigan, Dana. "Marin City Looks to Better Days." 

[[category:1940s]] [[category:Marin County]] [[category:San Francisco outside the city]] [[category:shoreline]] [[category:African-American]] [[category:military]] [[category:women]] [[category:Power and Money]] [[category:Labor]]

File:RORI3636.jpg

2015-12-14T22:44:19Z

Aprilharper:

Marinship to Marin City: How a Shipyard Built a City

2015-12-14T22:39:56Z

Aprilharper:

''' Historical Essay '''

''by April Harper''

{| style="color: black; background-color: #F5DA81;"
| colspan="2" | '''During World War II, Marin City, CA was a bustling shipbuilder's town. Today, Marin City is predominantly African American and plagued by poverty, but is surrounded by some of the whitest and wealthiest suburbs in the nation. How did this happen? The social and demographic changes of war are both far-reaching and deeply entrenched. Marin City exemplifies this demographic shift, as told through the lens of the Marinship shipyards.'''
|}

The Beginning

Marin City was founded in 1942, when housing was built for employees who worked at the nearby Marinship Corporation during World War II, building ships for the war effort. Marinship was one of many early 1940s emergency shipyards established on the West Coast to fuel America’s need for oil tankers and Liberty Ships, or war cargo ships, which, while originally a British design, were adopted due to their fast construction and low cost to produce. (1) The West Coast was an ideal place to establish the wartime shipyards due in part to its undeveloped coastline and thus plentiful space on which to build, the natural harbors present there, and its proximity to the Pacific, so the ships could be constructed and launched from the same point. Additionally, the Bay Area was well-connected to the nation’s railroads, which transported partially assembled steel parts from steel towns in the Midwest. (2) Other notable emergency shipyards included Kaiser Permanente shipyards in Richmond, California and Portland, Oregon, as well as Mare Island in Vallejo and [[Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard|Hunter’s Point in San Francisco]].

<iframe src="https://archive.org/embed/chi_00005" width="640" height="480" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="true" mozallowfullscreen="true" allowfullscreen></iframe>

'''Industrial film by and about Marinship, from 1945.'''

''Video: [https://archive.org/details/chi_00005# Internet Archive]''

At this time, many African Americans migrated from the Southern states in search of shipbuilding work, after being excluded from higher-paying industrial jobs back home. It was not uncommon for a shipbuilder to make in an hour what they formerly made in a day in the South. Shipbuilding had gained a reputation as steady work that paid generous wages and included family housing; ultimately it was these benefits which attracted African Americans to the area. The town of Marin City was formed by building housing, churches, and schools to accommodate 6,000 newly arrived workers. After the Attack on Pearl Harbor, America’s suddenly had an urgent need for warships, and employees worked around the clock in shifts; at the height of Marinship’s production, a new ship was produced every thirty days. Employees were welders, ship painters, and boilermakers, among many others. (3) 

[[File:AAE-1641.jpg]] 
'''Credit: San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library. Image AAE-1641.''' 
'' At 5:30 this afternoon the S.S. Escambia, the first big ocean-going tanker to be launched in San Francisco Bay for 21 years, slid down the ways at Marinship's Sausalito yard in a riot of sound with tug and Gantry crane whistles and the cheers of thousands of employees and their families all joining in. The ship was christened by Mrs. Lorraine Cooper, wife of a shipfitter journeyman, and her matron of honor was Mrs. Helen Vargas, wife of a welder foreman, while Mr. Al Gracey, Superintendent of the Hull Division, acted as Master of Ceremonies. The entire program was conducted by the workers who had built this beautiful ship - number one of the 22 tankers on Marinship's 1943 schedule. The first nine tankers are being taken over by the U.S. Navy and are being named after Indian rivers in accordance with Navy nomenclature for their ships. The photo shows the dramatic bottle-breaking, left to right: R.W. Adams, Marinship Employee Relations Manager; Mrs. Cooper, and E.B. Fox, Maritime Commission..'' 
 
The quick construction and operation of the shipyards could not have been possible without the cooperation of both government and private enterprise; indeed, shipbuilding is thought of as the one of the biggest combined efforts between government and private industry. This cooperation resulted in extremely high productivity. During the war, which lasted 1365 days, Bay Area shipyards produced 1400 vessels. Collectively, that’s over a ship per day! (4)

This cooperative spirit also extended to the workers themselves. Marin City residents looked out for one another and were familiar with neighboring family’s work schedules. Meals and celebrations were often had together. In this way, the shipyards produced a tight-knit community. (5) Annie Small, a Marinship worker, described the community:

<blockquote>“Everybody got along swell because everybody acted as a family unit, everybody helped everybody else. It was such a such a mixture of all kinds of ethnic groups and ages and the work habit was…everybody worked around the clock. There was someone going to work 24 hours a day... So there was always somebody at the house, I kept theirs or they kept mine. Somebody was goin’ and comin’ at all times and when we moved to Marin City, I worked the day shift, and my husband worked the night shift. So when he come in in the morning he would bring the kids to the school…when I got off at five in the evening, I picked em up. And so, your neighbor, if it rained, they took my clothes in, cause they know I’m going to work. And of course the iceman and milkman came, and I would let them in for them... We didn't have to lock the door. We never locked no doors... You could team up and go to Santa Rosa or Petaluma and buy a whole hog and cook it together.” (6)</blockquote>

Attempts to keep morale high and employees happy resulted in many services provided for them by Marinship, such as health care and child care. At lunch, workers were entertained by celebrities such as Bing Crosby or swing bands, and talented workers often played piano and sang. (4) All told, Marinship employed 75,000 workers and contributed over 100 million man hours of labor to the war effort. (7) 
 
[[File:Marinship women workers AAF-0982.jpg]] 
'''Credit: San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library. Image AAF-0982''' 
''Representing twenty or more shipyard crafts. Women war workers at Marinship, shipyard at Sausalito on San Francisco bay, act as a guard of honor to the national Tanker Champ flag. The flag was presented to Marinship by the U.S. Maritime Commission for defeating all other U.S. shipyards in the production of tankers in March. This float was a unit in a triumphal parade led by the Fourth Army Band and joined in by 5,000 workers.'' 
 
While many African Americans were part of the shipbuilding labor force, it was diverse and included people of white and Asian ethnicities as well. Race relations were considered peaceful on the job because of Marinship’s cooperative spirit; Thelma McKinney, a Marinship worker, recalled that at the yard, “there was no such thing as segregation” and that everyone was too busy “[to] have time for racism” (8). But outside the shipyard, tensions still festered; many Sausalito restaurants refused to serve blacks, and discrimination in the form of union benefits was a regular occurrence. The Boilermaker Union, a traditionally “lily-white” union, only allowed black workers as “auxiliary” members, who were unable to vote on union matters and received smaller insurance benefits. (9) That is, until November 1943, when African-American Marinship workers from around the Bay Area went on strike and refused to pay their auxiliary member dues; the matter was finally resolved by the Supreme Court in 1945, finding that it was “readily apparent that the membership offered to Negroes is discriminatory and unequal.” (10)

The Closing of Marinship'''

Marinship closed in May 1946, and as the war wound down, black employment also decreased. In July 1945, 20,000 African-American Marinship workers were employed; by September 1945, that number was reduced to 12,000 and by Marinship’s closing, there were almost none. Wollenberg (1990) states that it was a case of “last hired, first fired” when it came to black workers. At the height of the war, about 75 percent of San Francisco black heads of households were classified as skilled industrial workers, the great majority of them in the shipyards, but by 1948, this number had dwindled to 25 percent, and many were forced to take lower paying jobs in unskilled industry or service sectors. The unemployment rate for African-Americans had risen to 15 percent, 3 times the national average. The US Department of Employment noted a couple years later, in 1950, that, “as long as Negroes are commonly regarded as marginal labor, they will suffer very heavy unemployment when sufficient white labor is available.”(11)

Due to such employment discrimination, many black Marin City residents found they could not afford to leave, and those that could afford it were unable to relocate, due to the discriminatory rental and homeowner statutes that stipulated against renting to minorities, common throughout the Bay Area until the 1960s. The plight of the black Marinship workers, and of those in nearby Richmond/Oakland and Hunter’s Point shipyards, was unique in that the African-American population increase was due to a boom in just one industry, which, when it dried up, left little economic opportunity. (12)

Marin City Today'''

Today, Marin City remains a contrast to the surrounding affluent, white suburbs that Marin County is known for. It remains predominantly African-American and poor, with many residing in the public housing that was built in the mid-1950s, after much of the shipyard housing was demolished. This tract of affordable housing remains only one of a few in the entire county of Marin, thought to have some of the most expensive housing prices in the nation. (13)

African Americans also experience a lower life expectancy than the surrounding towns of Sausalito, Mill Valley, and Corte Madera. In fact, African Americans have the lowest life expectancy of all ethnicities residing in Marin, at 79.5 years compared to 83.5 years for a Caucasian person and 90.9 years for an Asian person. A person residing in Ross, one of Marin’s richest towns, has a life expectancy of 88 years, while a resident of Marin City has a life expectancy of only 77 years. Indeed, one of the biggest causes of gaps in health is access to healthy food; Marin City is easily a “food desert”, defined as “low-income neighborhoods without ready access to healthy and affordable food. Typically, convenience stores, fast food outlets, and liquor stores predominate.” (14) With the only market being a CVS drugstore and assorted fast food restaurants like Burger King and Panda Express, Marin City definitely fits this description. The nearest Safeway is over two miles away in Mill Valley, and the Mollie Stone’s market in neighboring Sausalito is prohibitively expensive.

Additionally, social connections which create tight-knit communities are more absent here; many Marin City residents don’t own cars and must take the bus, which has limited stops and departure times in the neighborhood. In a 2015 Marin Independent Journal article, Julie Willems Van Dijk, director of County Health Rankings and Roadmaps program, states, “...the evidence continues to show that it’s not simply lower levels of income that affect health,” Van Dijk said. “The income divide also influences health as well. “We also see the potential for more social division and less social connectedness in communities where there is a great divide between richer and poorer populations,” she said. “And we know that stronger social connection contributes to good health within a community.” (15) Such isolation, then, also contributes to a lower quality of life for Marin City residents.

While Marin City remains a more affordable place to live within expensive Marin County, its future remains uncertain. You can buy a two bedroom, one bath condo for $229,000 here, unheard of in any other part of Marin. (16) Recently, worries have surfaced that Marin City, and the affordable housing complex specifically, are targets for gentrification, which would push the low income residents out. In a San Francisco Chronicle piece, resident Homer Hall, who moved here in 1955, shares these fears, saying, “Whites wouldn’t live here [back then]. Now the White are looking at it like it’s gold - they can’t get here fast enough.” (17) Hall’s anxieties are shared by other neighborhoods around the Bay Area that are home to minorities, many of which are shipbuilder’s descendants, like in Richmond, West Oakland, and Bayview-Hunter’s Point. For now though, these residents do their best to preserve their neighborhood’s colorful history, in an attempt to keep their streets both diverse and affordable.
 
'''Notes'''

1. Bonnett, Wayne. World War II Shipbuilding in the San Francisco Bay Area. ''National Park Service''. Accessed November 28th, 2015. http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/wwiibayarea/shipbuilding.HTM 
2. Bonnett, Wayne. World War II Shipbuilding in the San Francisco Bay Area. 
3. Bonnett, Wayne. World War II Shipbuilding in the San Francisco Bay Area. 
4. ''Tanker''. Directed by Paul Crowley. 1945. Sausalito, CA: Marinship Corporation, 1945. Accessed November 28th, 2015. http://www.marinnostalgia.org/portfolio/tanker-history-of-marinship-corporation/ 
5. ''Marinship Memories''. Directed by Joan Lisetor. 2009. Sausalito, CA: Marin City Performing Arts, 2009. 
6. ''Marinship Memories.'' Directed by Joan Lisetor. 
7. ''Tanker''. Directed by Paul Crowley. 1945. 
8. Wollenberg, Charles. ''Marinship at War: Shipbuilding and Social Change in Sausalito''. Sausalito, CA: Western Heritage Press, 1990. 
9.Wollenberg, Charles. ''Marinship at War: Shipbuilding and Social Change in Sausalito'' 
10.Wollenberg, Charles. ''Marinship at War: Shipbuilding and Social Change in Sausalito'' 
11.Wollenberg, Charles. ''Marinship at War: Shipbuilding and Social Change in Sausalito'' 
12.Wollenberg, Charles. ''Marinship at War: Shipbuilding and Social Change in Sausalito'' 
13. Perrigan, Dana. "Marin City Looks to Better Days." San Francisco Chronicle, (San Francisco, CA) March 15, 2009. http://www.sfgate.com/realestate/article/Marin-City-looks-to-better-days-3168089.php 
14. Burd-Sharps, Sarah and Kristen Lewis. "A Portrait of Marin: Marin County Human Development Report 2012." American Human Development Project, 2012. http://www.measureofamerica.org/docs/APOM_Final-SinglePages_12.14.11.pdf 
15. Halstead, Richard. "Marin Ranked Healthiest County in State for Sixth Year but Economic Inequality a Pitfall." Marin Independent Journal, (Novato, CA), March 25, 2015. http://www.marinij.com/health/20150325/marin-ranked-healthiest-county-in-state-for-sixth-year-but-economic-inequality-a-pitfall 
16. Perrigan, Dana. "Marin City Looks to Better Days." San Francisco Chronicle, (San Francisco, CA) March 15, 2009. 
17. Perrigan, Dana. "Marin City Looks to Better Days." 

[[category:1940s]] [[category:Marin County]] [[category:San Francisco outside the city]] [[category:shoreline]] [[category:African-American]] [[category:military]] [[category:women]] [[category:Power and Money]] [[category:Labor]]

Marinship to Marin City: How a Shipyard Built a City

2015-12-14T22:25:47Z

Aprilharper:

''' Historical Essay '''

''by April Harper''

{| style="color: black; background-color: #F5DA81;"
| colspan="2" | '''During World War II, Marin City, CA was a bustling shipbuilder's town. Today, Marin City is predominantly African American and plagued by poverty, but is surrounded by some of the whitest and wealthiest suburbs in the nation. How didi this happen? The social and demographic changes of war are both far-reaching and deeply entrenched.'''
|}

The Beginning

Marin City was founded in 1942, when housing was built for employees who worked at the nearby Marinship Corporation during World War II, building ships for the war effort. Marinship was one of many early 1940s emergency shipyards established on the West Coast to fuel America’s need for oil tankers and Liberty Ships, or war cargo ships, which, while originally a British design, were adopted due to their fast construction and low cost to produce. (1) The West Coast was an ideal place to establish the wartime shipyards due in part to its undeveloped coastline and thus plentiful space on which to build, the natural harbors present there, and its proximity to the Pacific, so the ships could be constructed and launched from the same point. Additionally, the Bay Area was well-connected to the nation’s railroads, which transported partially assembled steel parts from steel towns in the Midwest. (2) Other notable emergency shipyards included Kaiser Permanente shipyards in Richmond, California and Portland, Oregon, as well as Mare Island in Vallejo and [[Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard|Hunter’s Point in San Francisco]].

<iframe src="https://archive.org/embed/chi_00005" width="640" height="480" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="true" mozallowfullscreen="true" allowfullscreen></iframe>

'''Industrial film by and about Marinship, from 1945.'''

''Video: [https://archive.org/details/chi_00005# Internet Archive]''

At this time, many African Americans migrated from the Southern states in search of shipbuilding work, after being excluded from higher-paying industrial jobs back home. It was not uncommon for a shipbuilder to make in an hour what they formerly made in a day in the South. Shipbuilding had gained a reputation as steady work that paid generous wages and included family housing; ultimately it was these benefits which attracted African Americans to the area. The town of Marin City was formed by building housing, churches, and schools to accommodate 6,000 newly arrived workers. After the Attack on Pearl Harbor, America’s suddenly had an urgent need for warships, and employees worked around the clock in shifts; at the height of Marinship’s production, a new ship was produced every thirty days. Employees were welders, ship painters, and boilermakers, among many others. (3) 

[[File:AAE-1641.jpg]] 
'''Credit: San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library. Image AAE-1641.''' 
'' At 5:30 this afternoon the S.S. Escambia, the first big ocean-going tanker to be launched in San Francisco Bay for 21 years, slid down the ways at Marinship's Sausalito yard in a riot of sound with tug and Gantry crane whistles and the cheers of thousands of employees and their families all joining in. The ship was christened by Mrs. Lorraine Cooper, wife of a shipfitter journeyman, and her matron of honor was Mrs. Helen Vargas, wife of a welder foreman, while Mr. Al Gracey, Superintendent of the Hull Division, acted as Master of Ceremonies. The entire program was conducted by the workers who had built this beautiful ship - number one of the 22 tankers on Marinship's 1943 schedule. The first nine tankers are being taken over by the U.S. Navy and are being named after Indian rivers in accordance with Navy nomenclature for their ships. The photo shows the dramatic bottle-breaking, left to right: R.W. Adams, Marinship Employee Relations Manager; Mrs. Cooper, and E.B. Fox, Maritime Commission..'' 
 
The quick construction and operation of the shipyards could not have been possible without the cooperation of both government and private enterprise; indeed, shipbuilding is thought of as the one of the biggest combined efforts between government and private industry. This cooperation resulted in extremely high productivity. During the war, which lasted 1365 days, Bay Area shipyards produced 1400 vessels. Collectively, that’s over a ship per day! (4)

This cooperative spirit also extended to the workers themselves. Marin City residents looked out for one another and were familiar with neighboring family’s work schedules. Meals and celebrations were often had together. In this way, the shipyards produced a tight-knit community. (5) Annie Small, a Marinship worker, described the community:

<blockquote>“Everybody got along swell because everybody acted as a family unit, everybody helped everybody else. It was such a such a mixture of all kinds of ethnic groups and ages and the work habit was…everybody worked around the clock. There was someone going to work 24 hours a day... So there was always somebody at the house, I kept theirs or they kept mine. Somebody was goin’ and comin’ at all times and when we moved to Marin City, I worked the day shift, and my husband worked the night shift. So when he come in in the morning he would bring the kids to the school…when I got off at five in the evening, I picked em up. And so, your neighbor, if it rained, they took my clothes in, cause they know I’m going to work. And of course the iceman and milkman came, and I would let them in for them... We didn't have to lock the door. We never locked no doors... You could team up and go to Santa Rosa or Petaluma and buy a whole hog and cook it together.” (6)</blockquote>

Attempts to keep morale high and employees happy resulted in many services provided for them by Marinship, such as health care and child care. At lunch, workers were entertained by celebrities such as Bing Crosby or swing bands, and talented workers often played piano and sang. (4) All told, Marinship employed 75,000 workers and contributed over 100 million man hours of labor to the war effort. (7) 
 
[[File:Marinship women workers AAF-0982.jpg]] 
'''Credit: San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library. Image AAF-0982''' 
''Representing twenty or more shipyard crafts. Women war workers at Marinship, shipyard at Sausalito on San Francisco bay, act as a guard of honor to the national Tanker Champ flag. The flag was presented to Marinship by the U.S. Maritime Commission for defeating all other U.S. shipyards in the production of tankers in March. This float was a unit in a triumphal parade led by the Fourth Army Band and joined in by 5,000 workers.'' 
 
While many African Americans were part of the shipbuilding labor force, it was diverse and included people of white and Asian ethnicities as well. Race relations were considered peaceful on the job because of Marinship’s cooperative spirit; Thelma McKinney, a Marinship worker, recalled that at the yard, “there was no such thing as segregation” and that everyone was too busy “[to] have time for racism” (8). But outside the shipyard, tensions still festered; many Sausalito restaurants refused to serve blacks, and discrimination in the form of union benefits was a regular occurrence. The Boilermaker Union, a traditionally “lily-white” union, only allowed black workers as “auxiliary” members, who were unable to vote on union matters and received smaller insurance benefits. (9) That is, until November 1943, when African-American Marinship workers from around the Bay Area went on strike and refused to pay their auxiliary member dues; the matter was finally resolved by the Supreme Court in 1945, finding that it was “readily apparent that the membership offered to Negroes is discriminatory and unequal.” (10)

The Closing of Marinship'''

Marinship closed in May 1946, and as the war wound down, black employment also decreased. In July 1945, 20,000 African-American Marinship workers were employed; by September 1945, that number was reduced to 12,000 and by Marinship’s closing, there were almost none. Wollenberg (1990) states that it was a case of “last hired, first fired” when it came to black workers. At the height of the war, about 75 percent of San Francisco black heads of households were classified as skilled industrial workers, the great majority of them in the shipyards, but by 1948, this number had dwindled to 25 percent, and many were forced to take lower paying jobs in unskilled industry or service sectors. The unemployment rate for African-Americans had risen to 15 percent, 3 times the national average. The US Department of Employment noted a couple years later, in 1950, that, “as long as Negroes are commonly regarded as marginal labor, they will suffer very heavy unemployment when sufficient white labor is available.”(11)

Due to such employment discrimination, many black Marin City residents found they could not afford to leave, and those that could afford it were unable to relocate, due to the discriminatory rental and homeowner statutes that stipulated against renting to minorities, common throughout the Bay Area until the 1960s. The plight of the black Marinship workers, and of those in nearby Richmond/Oakland and Hunter’s Point shipyards, was unique in that the African-American population increase was due to a boom in just one industry, which, when it dried up, left little economic opportunity. (12)

Marin City Today'''

Today, Marin City remains a contrast to the surrounding affluent, white suburbs that Marin County is known for. It remains predominantly African-American and poor, with many residing in the public housing that was built in the mid-1950s, after much of the shipyard housing was demolished. This tract of affordable housing remains only one of a few in the entire county of Marin, thought to have some of the most expensive housing prices in the nation. (13)

African Americans also experience a lower life expectancy than the surrounding towns of Sausalito, Mill Valley, and Corte Madera. In fact, African Americans have the lowest life expectancy of all ethnicities residing in Marin, at 79.5 years compared to 83.5 years for a Caucasian person and 90.9 years for an Asian person. A person residing in Ross, one of Marin’s richest towns, has a life expectancy of 88 years, while a resident of Marin City has a life expectancy of only 77 years. Indeed, one of the biggest causes of gaps in health is access to healthy food; Marin City is easily a “food desert”, defined as “low-income neighborhoods without ready access to healthy and affordable food. Typically, convenience stores, fast food outlets, and liquor stores predominate.” (14) With the only market being a CVS drugstore and assorted fast food restaurants like Burger King and Panda Express, Marin City definitely fits this description. The nearest Safeway is over two miles away in Mill Valley, and the Mollie Stone’s market in neighboring Sausalito is prohibitively expensive.

Additionally, social connections which create tight-knit communities are more absent here; many Marin City residents don’t own cars and must take the bus, which has limited stops and departure times in the neighborhood. In a 2015 Marin Independent Journal article, Julie Willems Van Dijk, director of County Health Rankings and Roadmaps program, states, “...the evidence continues to show that it’s not simply lower levels of income that affect health,” Van Dijk said. “The income divide also influences health as well. “We also see the potential for more social division and less social connectedness in communities where there is a great divide between richer and poorer populations,” she said. “And we know that stronger social connection contributes to good health within a community.” (15) Such isolation, then, also contributes to a lower quality of life for Marin City residents.

While Marin City remains a more affordable place to live within expensive Marin County, its future remains uncertain. You can buy a two bedroom, one bath condo for $229,000 here, unheard of in any other part of Marin. (16) Recently, worries have surfaced that Marin City, and the affordable housing complex specifically, are targets for gentrification, which would push the low income residents out. In a San Francisco Chronicle piece, resident Homer Hall, who moved here in 1955, shares these fears, saying, “Whites wouldn’t live here [back then]. Now the White are looking at it like it’s gold - they can’t get here fast enough.” (17) Hall’s anxieties are shared by other neighborhoods around the Bay Area that are home to minorities, many of which are shipbuilder’s descendants, like in Richmond, West Oakland, and Bayview-Hunter’s Point. For now though, these residents do their best to preserve their neighborhood’s colorful history, in an attempt to keep their streets both diverse and affordable.
 
'''Notes'''

1. Bonnett, Wayne. World War II Shipbuilding in the San Francisco Bay Area. ''National Park Service''. Accessed November 28th, 2015. http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/wwiibayarea/shipbuilding.HTM 
2. Bonnett, Wayne. World War II Shipbuilding in the San Francisco Bay Area. 
3. Bonnett, Wayne. World War II Shipbuilding in the San Francisco Bay Area. 
4. ''Tanker''. Directed by Paul Crowley. 1945. Sausalito, CA: Marinship Corporation, 1945. Accessed November 28th, 2015. http://www.marinnostalgia.org/portfolio/tanker-history-of-marinship-corporation/ 
5. ''Marinship Memories''. Directed by Joan Lisetor. 2009. Sausalito, CA: Marin City Performing Arts, 2009. 
6. ''Marinship Memories.'' Directed by Joan Lisetor. 
7. ''Tanker''. Directed by Paul Crowley. 1945. 
8. Wollenberg, Charles. ''Marinship at War: Shipbuilding and Social Change in Sausalito''. Sausalito, CA: Western Heritage Press, 1990. 
9.Wollenberg, Charles. ''Marinship at War: Shipbuilding and Social Change in Sausalito'' 
10.Wollenberg, Charles. ''Marinship at War: Shipbuilding and Social Change in Sausalito'' 
11.Wollenberg, Charles. ''Marinship at War: Shipbuilding and Social Change in Sausalito'' 
12.Wollenberg, Charles. ''Marinship at War: Shipbuilding and Social Change in Sausalito'' 
13. Perrigan, Dana. "Marin City Looks to Better Days." San Francisco Chronicle, (San Francisco, CA) March 15, 2009. http://www.sfgate.com/realestate/article/Marin-City-looks-to-better-days-3168089.php 
14. Burd-Sharps, Sarah and Kristen Lewis. "A Portrait of Marin: Marin County Human Development Report 2012." American Human Development Project, 2012. http://www.measureofamerica.org/docs/APOM_Final-SinglePages_12.14.11.pdf 
15. Halstead, Richard. "Marin Ranked Healthiest County in State for Sixth Year but Economic Inequality a Pitfall." Marin Independent Journal, (Novato, CA), March 25, 2015. http://www.marinij.com/health/20150325/marin-ranked-healthiest-county-in-state-for-sixth-year-but-economic-inequality-a-pitfall 
16. Perrigan, Dana. "Marin City Looks to Better Days." San Francisco Chronicle, (San Francisco, CA) March 15, 2009. 
17. Perrigan, Dana. "Marin City Looks to Better Days." 

[[category:1940s]] [[category:Marin County]] [[category:San Francisco outside the city]] [[category:shoreline]] [[category:African-American]] [[category:military]] [[category:women]] [[category:Power and Money]] [[category:Labor]]

Marinship to Marin City: How a Shipyard Built a City

2015-12-14T22:11:38Z

Aprilharper:

''' Historical Essay '''

''by April Harper''

{| style="color: black; background-color: #F5DA81;"
| colspan="2" | '''During World War II, Marin City, CA was a bustling shipbuilder's town. Today, Marin City is predominantly African American and plagued by poverty, but is surrounded by some of the whitest and wealthiest suburbs in the nation. How didi this happen? The social and demographic changes of war are both far-reaching and deeply entrenched.'''
|}

The Beginning

Marin City was founded in 1942, when housing was built for employees who worked at the nearby Marinship Corporation during World War II, building ships for the war effort. Marinship was one of many early 1940s emergency shipyards established on the West Coast to fuel America’s need for oil tankers and Liberty Ships, or war cargo ships, which, while originally a British design, were adopted due to their fast construction and low cost to produce. (1) The West Coast was an ideal place to establish the wartime shipyards due in part to its undeveloped coastline and thus plentiful space on which to build, the natural harbors present there, and its proximity to the Pacific, so the ships could be constructed and launched from the same point. Additionally, the Bay Area was well-connected to the nation’s railroads, which transported partially assembled steel parts from steel towns in the Midwest. (2) Other notable emergency shipyards included Kaiser Permanente shipyards in Richmond, California and Portland, Oregon, as well as Mare Island in Vallejo and [[Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard|Hunter’s Point in San Francisco]].

<iframe src="https://archive.org/embed/chi_00005" width="640" height="480" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="true" mozallowfullscreen="true" allowfullscreen></iframe>

'''Industrial film by and about Marinship, from 1945.'''

''Video: [https://archive.org/details/chi_00005# Internet Archive]''

At this time, many African Americans migrated from the Southern states in search of shipbuilding work, after being excluded from higher-paying industrial jobs back home. It was not uncommon for a shipbuilder to make in an hour what they formerly made in a day in the South. Shipbuilding had gained a reputation as steady work that paid generous wages and included family housing; ultimately it was these benefits which attracted African Americans to the area. The town of Marin City was formed by building housing, churches, and schools to accommodate 6,000 newly arrived workers. After the Attack on Pearl Harbor, America’s suddenly had an urgent need for warships, and employees worked around the clock in shifts; at the height of Marinship’s production, a new ship was produced every thirty days. Employees were welders, ship painters, and boilermakers, among many others. (3) 

[[File:AAE-1641.jpg]]

The quick construction and operation of the shipyards could not have been possible without the cooperation of both government and private enterprise; indeed, shipbuilding is thought of as the one of the biggest combined efforts between government and private industry. This cooperation resulted in extremely high productivity. During the war, which lasted 1365 days, Bay Area shipyards produced 1400 vessels. Collectively, that’s over a ship per day! (4)

This cooperative spirit also extended to the workers themselves. Marin City residents looked out for one another and were familiar with neighboring family’s work schedules. Meals and celebrations were often had together. In this way, the shipyards produced a tight-knit community. (5) Annie Small, a Marinship worker, described the community:

<blockquote>“Everybody got along swell because everybody acted as a family unit, everybody helped everybody else. It was such a such a mixture of all kinds of ethnic groups and ages and the work habit was…everybody worked around the clock. There was someone going to work 24 hours a day... So there was always somebody at the house, I kept theirs or they kept mine. Somebody was goin’ and comin’ at all times and when we moved to Marin City, I worked the day shift, and my husband worked the night shift. So when he come in in the morning he would bring the kids to the school…when I got off at five in the evening, I picked em up. And so, your neighbor, if it rained, they took my clothes in, cause they know I’m going to work. And of course the iceman and milkman came, and I would let them in for them... We didn't have to lock the door. We never locked no doors... You could team up and go to Santa Rosa or Petaluma and buy a whole hog and cook it together.” (6)</blockquote>

Attempts to keep morale high and employees happy resulted in many services provided for them by Marinship, such as health care and child care. At lunch, workers were entertained by celebrities such as Bing Crosby or swing bands, and talented workers often played piano and sang. (4) All told, Marinship employed 75,000 workers and contributed over 100 million man hours of labor to the war effort. (7)

While many African Americans were part of the shipbuilding labor force, it was diverse and included people of white and Asian ethnicities as well. Race relations were considered peaceful on the job because of Marinship’s cooperative spirit; Thelma McKinney, a Marinship worker, recalled that at the yard, “there was no such thing as segregation” and that everyone was too busy “[to] have time for racism” (8). But outside the shipyard, tensions still festered; many Sausalito restaurants refused to serve blacks, and discrimination in the form of union benefits was a regular occurrence. The Boilermaker Union, a traditionally “lily-white” union, only allowed black workers as “auxiliary” members, who were unable to vote on union matters and received smaller insurance benefits. (9) That is, until November 1943, when African-American Marinship workers from around the Bay Area went on strike and refused to pay their auxiliary member dues; the matter was finally resolved by the Supreme Court in 1945, finding that it was “readily apparent that the membership offered to Negroes is discriminatory and unequal.” (10)

The Closing of Marinship'''

Marinship closed in May 1946, and as the war wound down, black employment also decreased. In July 1945, 20,000 African-American Marinship workers were employed; by September 1945, that number was reduced to 12,000 and by Marinship’s closing, there were almost none. Wollenberg (1990) states that it was a case of “last hired, first fired” when it came to black workers. At the height of the war, about 75 percent of San Francisco black heads of households were classified as skilled industrial workers, the great majority of them in the shipyards, but by 1948, this number had dwindled to 25 percent, and many were forced to take lower paying jobs in unskilled industry or service sectors. The unemployment rate for African-Americans had risen to 15 percent, 3 times the national average. The US Department of Employment noted a couple years later, in 1950, that, “as long as Negroes are commonly regarded as marginal labor, they will suffer very heavy unemployment when sufficient white labor is available.”(11)

Due to such employment discrimination, many black Marin City residents found they could not afford to leave, and those that could afford it were unable to relocate, due to the discriminatory rental and homeowner statutes that stipulated against renting to minorities, common throughout the Bay Area until the 1960s. The plight of the black Marinship workers, and of those in nearby Richmond/Oakland and Hunter’s Point shipyards, was unique in that the African-American population increase was due to a boom in just one industry, which, when it dried up, left little economic opportunity. (12)

Marin City Today'''

Today, Marin City remains a contrast to the surrounding affluent, white suburbs that Marin County is known for. It remains predominantly African-American and poor, with many residing in the public housing that was built in the mid-1950s, after much of the shipyard housing was demolished. This tract of affordable housing remains only one of a few in the entire county of Marin, thought to have some of the most expensive housing prices in the nation. (13)

African Americans also experience a lower life expectancy than the surrounding towns of Sausalito, Mill Valley, and Corte Madera. In fact, African Americans have the lowest life expectancy of all ethnicities residing in Marin, at 79.5 years compared to 83.5 years for a Caucasian person and 90.9 years for an Asian person. A person residing in Ross, one of Marin’s richest towns, has a life expectancy of 88 years, while a resident of Marin City has a life expectancy of only 77 years. Indeed, one of the biggest causes of gaps in health is access to healthy food; Marin City is easily a “food desert”, defined as “low-income neighborhoods without ready access to healthy and affordable food. Typically, convenience stores, fast food outlets, and liquor stores predominate.” (14) With the only market being a CVS drugstore and assorted fast food restaurants like Burger King and Panda Express, Marin City definitely fits this description. The nearest Safeway is over two miles away in Mill Valley, and the Mollie Stone’s market in neighboring Sausalito is prohibitively expensive.

Additionally, social connections which create tight-knit communities are more absent here; many Marin City residents don’t own cars and must take the bus, which has limited stops and departure times in the neighborhood. In a 2015 Marin Independent Journal article, Julie Willems Van Dijk, director of County Health Rankings and Roadmaps program, states, “...the evidence continues to show that it’s not simply lower levels of income that affect health,” Van Dijk said. “The income divide also influences health as well. “We also see the potential for more social division and less social connectedness in communities where there is a great divide between richer and poorer populations,” she said. “And we know that stronger social connection contributes to good health within a community.” (15) Such isolation, then, also contributes to a lower quality of life for Marin City residents.

While Marin City remains a more affordable place to live within expensive Marin County, its future remains uncertain. You can buy a two bedroom, one bath condo for $229,000 here, unheard of in any other part of Marin. (16) Recently, worries have surfaced that Marin City, and the affordable housing complex specifically, are targets for gentrification, which would push the low income residents out. In a San Francisco Chronicle piece, resident Homer Hall, who moved here in 1955, shares these fears, saying, “Whites wouldn’t live here [back then]. Now the White are looking at it like it’s gold - they can’t get here fast enough.” (17) Hall’s anxieties are shared by other neighborhoods around the Bay Area that are home to minorities, many of which are shipbuilder’s descendants, like in Richmond, West Oakland, and Bayview-Hunter’s Point. For now though, these residents do their best to preserve their neighborhood’s colorful history, in an attempt to keep their streets both diverse and affordable.

'''Notes'''

1. Bonnett, Wayne. World War II Shipbuilding in the San Francisco Bay Area. ''National Park Service''. Accessed November 28th, 2015. http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/wwiibayarea/shipbuilding.HTM 
2. Bonnett, Wayne. World War II Shipbuilding in the San Francisco Bay Area. 
3. Bonnett, Wayne. World War II Shipbuilding in the San Francisco Bay Area. 
4. ''Tanker''. Directed by Paul Crowley. 1945. Sausalito, CA: Marinship Corporation, 1945. Accessed November 28th, 2015. http://www.marinnostalgia.org/portfolio/tanker-history-of-marinship-corporation/ 
5. ''Marinship Memories''. Directed by Joan Lisetor. 2009. Sausalito, CA: Marin City Performing Arts, 2009. 
6. ''Marinship Memories.'' Directed by Joan Lisetor. 
7. ''Tanker''. Directed by Paul Crowley. 1945. 
8. Wollenberg, Charles. ''Marinship at War: Shipbuilding and Social Change in Sausalito''. Sausalito, CA: Western Heritage Press, 1990. 
9.Wollenberg, Charles. ''Marinship at War: Shipbuilding and Social Change in Sausalito'' 
10.Wollenberg, Charles. ''Marinship at War: Shipbuilding and Social Change in Sausalito'' 
11.Wollenberg, Charles. ''Marinship at War: Shipbuilding and Social Change in Sausalito'' 
12.Wollenberg, Charles. ''Marinship at War: Shipbuilding and Social Change in Sausalito'' 
13. Perrigan, Dana. "Marin City Looks to Better Days." San Francisco Chronicle, (San Francisco, CA) March 15, 2009. http://www.sfgate.com/realestate/article/Marin-City-looks-to-better-days-3168089.php 
14. Burd-Sharps, Sarah and Kristen Lewis. "A Portrait of Marin: Marin County Human Development Report 2012." American Human Development Project, 2012. http://www.measureofamerica.org/docs/APOM_Final-SinglePages_12.14.11.pdf 
15. Halstead, Richard. "Marin Ranked Healthiest County in State for Sixth Year but Economic Inequality a Pitfall." Marin Independent Journal, (Novato, CA), March 25, 2015. http://www.marinij.com/health/20150325/marin-ranked-healthiest-county-in-state-for-sixth-year-but-economic-inequality-a-pitfall 
16. Perrigan, Dana. "Marin City Looks to Better Days." San Francisco Chronicle, (San Francisco, CA) March 15, 2009. 
17. Perrigan, Dana. "Marin City Looks to Better Days." 

[[category:1940s]] [[category:Marin County]] [[category:San Francisco outside the city]] [[category:shoreline]] [[category:African-American]] [[category:military]] [[category:women]] [[category:Power and Money]] [[category:Labor]]

File:AAE-1641.jpg

2015-12-14T22:07:28Z

Aprilharper:

Marinship to Marin City: How a Shipyard Built a City

2015-12-10T09:43:01Z

Aprilharper: Created page with '{| style="color: black; background-color: #F5DA81;" | colspan="2" | '''During World War II, Marin City, CA was a bustling shipbuilder's town. Today, Marin City is predominantly A...'

{| style="color: black; background-color: #F5DA81;"
| colspan="2" | '''During World War II, Marin City, CA was a bustling shipbuilder's town. Today, Marin City is predominantly African American and plagued by poverty, but is surrounded by some of the whitest and wealthiest suburbs in the nation. How didi this happen? The social and demographic changes of war are both far-reaching and deeply entrenched.'''
|}
 
''' Historical Essay ' 
'''The Beginning''' 
Marin City was founded in 1942, when housing was built for employees who worked at the nearby Marinship Corporation during World War II, building ships for the war effort. Marinship was one of many early 1940s emergency shipyards established on the West Coast to fuel America’s need for oil tankers and Liberty Ships, or war cargo ships, which, while originally a British design, were adopted due to their fast construction and low cost to produce. (1) The West Coast was an ideal place to establish the wartime shipyards due in part to its undeveloped coastline and thus plentiful space on which to build, the natural harbors present there, and its proximity to the Pacific, so the ships could be constructed and launched from the same point. Additionally, the Bay Area was well-connected to the nation’s railroads, which transported partially assembled steel parts from steel towns in the Midwest. (2) Other notable emergency shipyards included Kaiser Permanente shipyards in Richmond, California and Portland, Oregon, as well as Mare Island in Vallejo and Hunter’s Point in San Francisco. 
 
At this time, many African Americans migrated from the Southern states in search of shipbuilding work, after being excluded from higher-paying industrial jobs back home. It was not uncommon for a shipbuilder to make in an hour what they formerly made in a day in the South. Shipbuilding had gained a reputation as steady work that paid generous wages and included family housing; ultimately it was these benefits which attracted African Americans to the area. The town of Marin City was formed by building housing, churches, and schools to accommodate 6,000 newly arrived workers. After the Attack on Pearl Harbor, America’s suddenly had an urgent need for warships, and employees worked around the clock in shifts; at the height of Marinship’s production, a new ship was produced every thirty days. Employees were welders, ship painters, and boilermakers, among many others. (3) 
 
The quick construction and operation of the shipyards could not have been possible without the cooperation of both government and private enterprise; indeed, shipbuilding is thought of as the one of the biggest combined efforts between government and private industry. This cooperation resulted in extremely high productivity. During the war, which lasted 1365 days, Bay Area shipyards produced 1400 vessels. Collectively, that’s over a ship per day! (4) 
 
This cooperative spirit also extended to the workers themselves. Marin City residents looked out for one another and were familiar with neighboring family’s work schedules. Meals and celebrations were often had together. In this way, the shipyards produced a tight-knit community. (5) Annie Small, a Marinship worker, described the community: 
<blockquote>“Everybody got along swell because everybody acted as a family unit, everybody helped everybody else. It was such a such a mixture of all kinds of ethnic groups and ages and the work habit was…everybody worked around the clock. There was someone going to work 24 hours a day... So there was always somebody at the house, I kept theirs or they kept mine. Somebody was goin’ and comin’ at all times and when we moved to Marin City, I worked the day shift, and my husband worked the night shift. So when he come in in the morning he would bring the kids to the school…when I got off at five in the evening, I picked em up. And so, your neighbor, if it rained, they took my clothes in, cause they know I’m going to work. And of course the iceman and milkman came, and I would let them in for them... We didn't have to lock the door. We never locked no doors... You could team up and go to Santa Rosa or Petaluma and buy a whole hog and cook it together.” (6)</blockquote> 
Attempts to keep morale high and employees happy resulted in many services provided for them by Marinship, such as health care and child care. At lunch, workers were entertained by celebrities such as Bing Crosby or swing bands, and talented workers often played piano and sang. (4) All told, Marinship employed 75,000 workers and contributed over 100 million man hours of labor to the war effort. (7) 
 
While many African Americans were part of the shipbuilding labor force, it was diverse and included people of white and Asian ethnicities as well. Race relations were considered peaceful on the job because of Marinship’s cooperative spirit; Thelma McKinney, a Marinship worker, recalled that at the yard, “there was no such thing as segregation” and that everyone was too busy “[to] have time for racism” (8). But outside the shipyard, tensions still festered; many Sausalito restaurants refused to serve blacks, and discrimination in the form of union benefits was a regular occurrence. The Boilermaker Union, a traditionally “lily-white” union, only allowed black workers as “auxiliary” members, who were unable to vote on union matters and received smaller insurance benefits. (9) That is, until November 1943, when African- American Marinship workers from around the Bay Area went on strike and refused to pay their auxiliary member dues; the matter was finally resolved by the Supreme Court in 1945, finding that it was “readily apparent that the membership offered to Negroes is discriminatory and unequal.” (10) 
 
'''The Closing of Marinship''' 
Marinship closed in May 1946, and as the war wound down, black employment also decreased. In July 1945, 20,000 African-American Marinship workers were employed; by September 1945, that number was reduced to 12,000 and by Marinship’s closing, there were almost none. Wollenberg (1990) states that it was a case of “last hired, first fired” when it came to black workers. At the height of the war, about 75 percent of San Francisco black heads of households were classified as skilled industrial workers, the great majority of them in the shipyards, but by 1948, this number had dwindled to 25 percent, and many were forced to take lower paying jobs in unskilled industry or service sectors. The unemployment rate for African-Americans had risen to 15 percent, 3 times the national average. The US Department of Employment noted a couple years later, in 1950, that, “as long as Negroes are commonly regarded as marginal labor, they will suffer very heavy unemployment when sufficient white labor is available.”(11) 
 
Due to such employment discrimination, many black Marin City residents found they could not afford to leave, and those that could afford it were unable to relocate, due to the discriminatory rental and homeowner statutes that stipulated against renting to minorities, common throughout the Bay Area until the 1960s. The plight of the black Marinship workers, and of those in nearby Richmond/Oakland and Hunter’s Point shipyards, was unique in that the African-American population increase was due to a boom in just one industry, which, when it dried up, left little economic opportunity. (12) 
 
'''Marin City Today''' 
Today, Marin City remains a contrast to the surrounding affluent, white suburbs that Marin County is known for. It remains predominantly African-American and poor, with many residing in the public housing that was built in the mid-1950s, after much of the shipyard housing was demolished. This tract of affordable housing remains only one of a few in the entire county of Marin, thought to have some of the most expensive housing prices in the nation. (13) 
 
African Americans also experience a lower life expectancy than the surrounding towns of Sausalito, Mill Valley, and Corte Madera. In fact, African Americans have the lowest life expectancy of all ethnicities residing in Marin, at 79.5 years compared to 83.5 years for a Caucasian person and 90.9 years for an Asian person. A person residing in Ross, one of Marin’s richest towns, has a life expectancy of 88 years, while a resident of Marin City has a life expectancy of only 77 years. Indeed, one of the biggest causes of gaps in health is access to healthy food; Marin City is easily a “food desert”, defined as “low-income neighborhoods without ready access to healthy and affordable food. Typically, convenience stores, fast food outlets, and liquor stores predominate.” (14) With the only market being a CVS drugstore and assorted fast food restaurants like Burger King and Panda Express, Marin City definitely fits this description. The nearest Safeway is over two miles away in Mill Valley, and the Mollie Stone’s market in neighboring Sausalito is prohibitively expensive. 
 
Additionally, social connections which create tight-knit communities are more absent here; many Marin City residents don’t own cars and must take the bus, which has limited stops and departure times in the neighborhood. In a 2015 Marin Independent Journal article, Julie Willems Van Dijk, director of County Health Rankings and Roadmaps program, states, “...the evidence continues to show that it’s not simply lower levels of income that affect health,” Van Dijk said. “The income divide also influences health as well. “We also see the potential for more social division and less social connectedness in communities where there is a great divide between richer and poorer populations,” she said. “And we know that stronger social connection contributes to good health within a community.” (15) Such isolation, then, also contributes to a lower quality of life for Marin City residents. 
 
While Marin City remains a more affordable place to live within expensive Marin County, its future remains uncertain. You can buy a two bedroom, one bath condo for $229,000 here, unheard of in any other part of Marin. (16) Recently, worries have surfaced that Marin City, and the affordable housing complex specifically, are targets for gentrification, which would push the low income residents out. In a San Francisco Chronicle piece, resident Homer Hall, who moved here in 1955, shares these fears, saying, “Whites wouldn’t live here [back then]. Now the White are looking at it like it’s gold - they can’t get here fast enough.” (17) Hall’s anxieties are shared by other neighborhoods around the Bay Area that are home to minorities, many of which are shipbuilder’s descendants, like in Richmond, West Oakland, and Bayview-Hunter’s Point. For now though, these residents do their best to preserve their neighborhood’s colorful history, in an attempt to keep their streets both diverse and affordable. 
 
'''Notes''' 
1. Bonnett, Wayne. World War II Shipbuilding in the San Francisco Bay Area. ''National Park Service''. Accessed November 28th, 2015. http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/wwiibayarea/shipbuilding.HTM 
2. Bonnett, Wayne. World War II Shipbuilding in the San Francisco Bay Area. 
3. Bonnett, Wayne. World War II Shipbuilding in the San Francisco Bay Area. 
4. ''Tanker''. Directed by Paul Crowley. 1945. Sausalito, CA: Marinship Corporation, 1945. Accessed November 28th, 2015. http://www.marinnostalgia.org/portfolio/tanker-history-of-marinship-corporation/ 
5. ''Marinship Memories''. Directed by Joan Lisetor. 2009. Sausalito, CA: Marin City Performing Arts, 2009. 
6. ''Marinship Memories.'' Directed by Joan Lisetor. 
7. ''Tanker''. Directed by Paul Crowley. 1945. 
8. Wollenberg, Charles. ''Marinship at War: Shipbuilding and Social Change in Sausalito''. Sausalito, CA: Western Heritage Press, 1990. 
9.Wollenberg, Charles. ''Marinship at War: Shipbuilding and Social Change in Sausalito'' 
10.Wollenberg, Charles. ''Marinship at War: Shipbuilding and Social Change in Sausalito'' 
11.Wollenberg, Charles. ''Marinship at War: Shipbuilding and Social Change in Sausalito'' 
12.Wollenberg, Charles. ''Marinship at War: Shipbuilding and Social Change in Sausalito'' 
13. Perrigan, Dana. "Marin City Looks to Better Days." San Francisco Chronicle, (San Francisco, CA) March 15, 2009. http://www.sfgate.com/realestate/article/Marin-City-looks-to-better-days-3168089.php 
14. Burd-Sharps, Sarah and Kristen Lewis. "A Portrait of Marin: Marin County Human Development Report 2012." American Human Development Project, 2012. http://www.measureofamerica.org/docs/APOM_Final-SinglePages_12.14.11.pdf 
15. Halstead, Richard. "Marin Ranked Healthiest County in State for Sixth Year but Economic Inequality a Pitfall." Marin Independent Journal, (Novato, CA), March 25, 2015. http://www.marinij.com/health/20150325/marin-ranked-healthiest-county-in-state-for-sixth-year-but-economic-inequality-a-pitfall 
16. Perrigan, Dana. "Marin City Looks to Better Days." San Francisco Chronicle, (San Francisco, CA) March 15, 2009. 
17. Perrigan, Dana. "Marin City Looks to Better Days."

Jewett Family at the Panama Pacific Exposition

2015-11-09T23:41:24Z

Aprilharper:

''' Primary Source ''' 

[[File:1915 PPEXPO Jewett Reunion.JPG]]
 
The Jewett family of America, pioneers of the country and pioneers in practically every State of the Union, met in annual convention yesterday at the Massachusetts building at the Exposition. There were present sixty or more delegates from the East, while every State was represented and there were many from California in attendance. 
 
The reunion was opened with a reception at 10 o'clock in the morning. Then followed a very handsomely appointed luncheon, following which there was an enjoyable program of speeches and music. 
 
Professor Algernon Jewett of Harvard University, the president, gave an interesting address, reviewing the history of the Jewett family and telling briefly of the organizations composed of grandchildren and great grandchildren of the distinguished Jewett tribe, such organizations now existing in thirty-six States of the Union, as well as in Canada and Cuba. A.S. Jewett, vice president, of Kansas, also gave an interesting address. 
 
Miss Fidelia Jewett of San Francisco read a paper on "The Early Jewett Pioneers of California," telling how they were lured here by the discovery of gold and how they had aided in the upbuilding of the State. A paper sent on from Virginia told of the literary and philanthropic work of members of the family. 
 
Annual gatherings have been held by the Jewetts for more than twenty years, but this is the first time such a reunion has been held in California. Most of the reunions have been in New York or Massachusetts. 
''Text taken from July 29th, 1915 article, which is displayed below.'' 
[[File:1915 PPExpo ribbon.JPG]] [[File:1915 PPExpo SF article.JPG]]
 
''Images: Provided by Jewett family member Barbara Webster''
 
[[File:1915 PPExpo postcard front.JPG]]
 
''Image: Provided by Jewett family member Barbara Webster''
 
[[File:1915 PPExpo postcard back.JPG]]
 
''Image: Provided by Jewett family member Barbara Webster''
 
[[category:fairs]] [[category:1910s]] [[category:Amusement Parks]]

Jewett Family at the Panama Pacific Exposition

2015-11-09T23:36:39Z

Aprilharper:

''' Primary Source ''' 

[[File:1915 PPEXPO Jewett Reunion.JPG]]
 
The Jewett family of America, pioneers of the country and pioneers in practically every State of the Union, met in annual convention yesterday at the Massachusetts building at the Exposition. There were present sixty or more delegates from the East, while every State was represented and there were many from California in attendance. 
 
The reunion was opened with a reception at 10 o'clock in the morning. Then followed a very handsomely appointed luncheon, following which there was an enjoyable program of speeches and music. 
 
Professor Algernon Jewett of Harvard University, the president, gave an interesting address, reviewing the history of the Jewett family and telling briefly of the organizations composed of grandchildren and great grandchildren of the distinguished Jewett tribe, such organizations now existing in thirty-six States of the Union, as well as in Canada and Cuba. A.S. Jewett, vice president, of Kansas, also gave an interesting address. 
 
Miss Fidelia Jewett of San Francisco read a paper on "The Early Jewett Pioneers of California," telling how they were lured here by the discovery of gold and how they had aided in the upbuilding of the State. A paper sent on from Virginia told of the literary and philanthropic work of members of the family. 
 
Annual gatherings have been held by the Jewetts for more than twenty years, but this is the first time such a reunion has been held in California. Most of the reunions have been in New York or Massachusetts. 
''Text taken from July 29th, 1915 article, which is displayed below.'' 
[[File:1915 PPExpo ribbon.JPG]] [[File:1915 PPExpo SF article.JPG]]
 
''Images: Barbara Webster''
 
[[File:1915 PPExpo postcard front.JPG]]
 
''Image: Barbara Webster''
 
[[File:1915 PPExpo postcard back.JPG]]
 
''Image: Barbara Webster''
 
[[category:fairs]] [[category:1910s]] [[category:Amusement Parks]]

Jewett Family at the Panama Pacific Exposition

2015-11-09T23:31:55Z

Aprilharper: Created article, added images

''' Primary Source ''' 

[[File:1915 PPEXPO Jewett Reunion.JPG]]
 
The Jewett family of America, pioneers of the country and pioneers in practically every State of the Union, met in annual convention yesterday at the Massachusetts building at the Exposition. There were present sixty or more delegates from the East, while every State was represented and there were many from California in attendance. 
 
The reunion was opened with a reception at 10 o'clock in the morning. Then followed a very handsomely appointed luncheon, following which there was an enjoyable program of speeches and music. 
 
Professor Algernon Jewett of Harvard University, the president, gave an interesting address, reviewing the history of the Jewett family and telling briefly of the organizations composed of grandchildren and great grandchildren of the distinguished Jewett tribe, such organizations now existing in thirty-six States of the Union, as well as in Canada and Cuba. A.S. Jewett, vice president, of Kansas, also gave an interesting address. 
 
Miss Fidelia Jewett of San Francisco read a paper on "The Early Jewett Pioneers of California," telling how they were lured here by the discovery of gold and how they had aided in the upbuilding of the State. A paper sent on from Virginia told of the literary and philanthropic work of members of the family. 
 
Annual gatherings have been held by the Jewetts for more than twenty years, but this is the first time such a reunion has been held in California. Most of the reunions have been in New York or Massachusetts. 
''Text taken from July 29th, 1915 article, which is displayed below.'' 
[[File:1915 PPExpo ribbon.JPG]] [[File:1915 PPExpo SF article.JPG]]
 
''Images: Barbara Webster''
 
[[File:1915 PPExpo postcard front.JPG]]
 
''Image: Barbara Webster''
[[File:1915 PPExpo postcard back.JPG]]
 
''Image: Barbara Webster''
 
[[category:fairs]] [[category:1910s]] [[category:Amusement Parks]]

Jewett Family at the Panama Pacific Exposition

2015-11-09T23:30:09Z

Aprilharper: Created page with '''' Primary Source ''' File:1915 PPEXPO Jewett Reunion.JPG The Jewett family of Ameri...'

''' Primary Source ''' 

[[File:1915 PPEXPO Jewett Reunion.JPG]]
 
The Jewett family of America, pioneers of the country and pioneers in practically every State of the Union, met in annual convention yesterday at the Massachusetts building at the Exposition. There were present sixty or more delegates from the East, while every State was represented and there were many from California in attendance. 
 
The reunion was opened with a reception at 10 o'clock in the morning. Then followed a very handsomely appointed luncheon, following which there was an enjoyable program of speeches and music. 
 
Professor Algernon Jewett of Harvard University, the president, gave an interesting address, reviewing the history of the Jewett family and telling briefly of the organizations composed of grandchildren and great grandchildren of the distinguished Jewett tribe, such organizations now existing in thirty-six States of the Union, as well as in Canada and Cuba. A.S. Jewett, vice president, of Kansas, also gave an interesting address. 
 
Miss Fidelia Jewett of San Francisco read a paper on "The Early Jewett Pioneers of California," telling how they were lured here by the discovery of gold and how they had aided in the upbuilding of the State. A paper sent on from Virginia told of the literary and philanthropic work of members of the family. 
 
Annual gatherings have been held by the Jewetts for more than twenty years, but this is the first time such a reunion has been held in California. Most of the reunions have been in New York or Massachusetts. 
''Text taken from July 29th, 1915 article, which is displayed below.'' 
[[File:1915 PPExpo ribbon.JPG]] [[File:1915 PPExpo SF article.JPG]]
 
 
[[File:1915 PPExpo postcard front.JPG]]
 
''Image: Barbara Webster''
[[File:1915 PPExpo postcard back.JPG]]
 
''Image: Barbra Webster''
 
[[category:fairs]] [[category:1910s]] [[category:Amusement Parks]]

File:1915 PPExpo postcard back.JPG

2015-11-09T22:45:31Z

Aprilharper:

File:1915 PPExpo postcard front.JPG

2015-11-09T22:41:28Z

Aprilharper:

File:1915 PPExpo SF article.JPG

2015-11-09T22:32:54Z

Aprilharper:

File:1915 PPExpo ribbon.JPG

2015-11-09T22:23:51Z

Aprilharper:

File:1915 PPEXPO Jewett Reunion.JPG

2015-11-09T22:10:30Z

Aprilharper:

The Houseboat Wars: A Battle of the Haves and Have-Nots

2015-11-02T20:41:24Z

Aprilharper:

''' Historical Essay ''' 
''by April Harper, 2015'' 
{| style="color: black; background-color: #F5DA81;"
| colspan="2" | '''While Sausalito is known as an upscale tourist town dotted with hillside mansions, the houseboat cooperatives remain a funky vestige of times past. There is a clear contrast between the European style cafes and souvenir shops, and the houseboats made by hand. The hills and the houseboats remain a contrast, both geographically and ideologically, with the houseboats remaining home to artists and craftsmen, while the hills symbolize ostentatious wealth. Eventually, these differences would lead to a conflict that would come to be known as “houseboat wars”, a fight between the houseboat residents and City council of Sausalito and County of Marin.'''
|}
 
[[Image:Gates Cooperative walkway.JPG]]

'''A walkway in the Gates Houseboat Cooperative'''. 

''Photo: April Harper'' 

 
''''The Beginning''' 
Don Arques was the son of a prominent waterfront property manager who owned much of the Sausalito shoreline used for shipbuilding during World War II. After the war, Arques purchased many of the remaining floating barges and ferries used in ship production and anchored them in the Sausalito harbor.(1) He invited Beatnik artists and musicians to live aboard them for free, making homes out of whatever floating debris they could find: styrofoam, redwood logs, parts of other abandoned boats. “Tons of wood, metal and scrap were left behind. Richardson Bay turned into an aquatic salvage yard, a tidal pool of possibilities.” (2) Additionally, large Victorians in San Francisco’s [[Western Addition: A Basic History | Western Addition]] were demolished to make way for a federally sponsored urban renewal program. As a result, large amounts of African Americans were pushed out, and over 2,500 19th century homes were destroyed. The houses were torn apart and sold cheaply as scrap: doors, stained glass windows and window frames, fireplaces, and columns were just some of the parts repurposed for houseboat living.(3) It was also at this time that the Waldo Grade was built, which erected a highway between Marin City and the Golden Gate Bridge. The construction caused a large amount of silt runoff, which eventually ran into the bay and caused some boats to get stuck in the thick tidal mud. These abandoned boats were also broken apart and reused for scrap by houseboat residents. (4) 
 
The first homes were haphazard and had no plumbing or electricity; often, simple wooden structures were just attached to the top of decommissioned Navy tugboats. (5) In the ‘50s, residents were primarily Beatniks and Bohemians, but by the late ‘60s, the Beats gave way to the Hippies and the population grew. Famous counterculture figures such as Alan Watts, Shel Silverstein, Allen Ginsberg, and Stewart Brand, founder of The Whole Earth Catalog, made their homes here (6). Doug Storms, commercial diver and houseboat resident, describes the beginning as such: “There were a few hundred boats. It was total freedom. The music, the people, the architecture, the nudity—all we could say was, ‘Wow!’ So Shel [Silverstein] bought a boat, and I bought a boat. And that was that.” (7)
 
[[File:Painted Houseboats at Gates Cooperative.JPG]] 

'''Painted Houseboats at the Gates Houseboat Cooperative.''' 

''Photo: April Harper'' 

 
The Charles Van Damme ferry, used from 1916 to 1956 to transport cars, cattle, and people between Richmond and San Rafael, was decommissioned in 1960 and was brought to Gate Six, the center of the houseboat community. First, the ferry functioned as a restaurant, Juanita’s Gallery, which closed and then reopened as a rock n’ roll nightclub called The Ark in 1968, where acts such as Neil Young and Steppenwolf played. (8) The Van Damme ferry became a hangout and community center for the houseboat residents, and they even had a resident band, The Redlegs, (who dubbed themselves “a hip pirate band”), which played shows to fund repairs for the Van Damme or resident’s boats. The Redlegs still exist to this day and play shows under the name The Gaters (a reference to the gates at which the houseboats are moored) at the No Name Bar in Sausalito. (9) In 1983, the ferry was demolished and only the paddle wheel and smoke stack survive, with plans to display the remains in a nearby park in Waldo Point Harbor (10). 

'''The Battle''' 

By the mid-'70s, parties, drugs, and music had become a regular feature of the houseboat scene, and many liken this stage of the houseboats as similar to [[Redevelopment Hits the Haight | Haight Street’s descent]]; an influx of hard drugs and guns had created an unsavory reputation. At this time, hillside Sausalito residents and county supervisors vocalized their support for a project which would “clean up” the waterfront and remove the houseboat settlements in favor of high-rise condominiums. (11) Thus began the Houseboat Wars, a struggle between the houseboat residents and Sausalito City Council. 
[[Image:Gates Cooperative wires.jpg]] 
''Photo: April Harper'' 
'''Wires haphazardly hang over the entryway at Gates Houseboat Cooperative. The city has required all houseboats and electrical systems be brought up to code'''. 
 
According to SF Chronicle columnist Carl Nolte, 
<blockquote>“The ’60s were a time of sex and drugs and rock and roll, even in quiet backwaters like the Sausalito bay front. Eventually there developed a huge conflict–almost a civil war–between the freewheeling houseboaters and the more conservative population of Sausalito, most of them living in the hills of the town. It was a battle between the hill and the bay shore.”
Houseboat resident Doug Storms echoes this sentiment, saying, “In the 1960s and early 70s, there was the classic conflict between the haves and have-nots.” (12) </blockquote>
The Marin County Board of Supervisors met in 1971 and passed an ordinance which would disperse the houseboats and develop the waterfront for condominiums. Hillside Sausalito residents complained that the houseboats were a “blight” and a nuisance. Shortly thereafter, the Marin County Sheriff began to cut the houseboats from their moors and attempted to tow them away, while ordering residents to vacate and using force to remove them. The conflict came to a head when resident Robert Grissom wielded a knife when deputies tried to cut his mooring, prompting them to draw their guns. In response, Marin County marine inspector Richard M. Larson declared a two-year Moratorium on the houseboats until a compromise could be reached (13). 
 
On December 12th, 1977, the conflict continued when the county brought in bulldozers and piledrivers with the intention of building a parking lot at Gate 5. Deputies bulldozed part of a boatyard building at Gate 5 while people were still in it, used fire hoses on protesting residents, and even ran over one resident with a speed boat. In true houseboat spirit, the community organized an impressive resistance, creating cardboard cutouts of people and shoveling piles of debris to stand in the bulldozer’s way. The county claimed that the area being filled in was just a sewage ditch, rather than an integral part of the area’s wetlands. The houseboat community worked with scientists to prove that the area was a viable wetland with many kinds of marine life, including fish. (14) The evidence was presented to the Fish and Game service and the Bay Conservation Development Commission, but to no avail. The creek was filled in and a parking lot built, which displaced the a few of the houseboats moored there. 
 
Houseboaters knew they would need to create an organized front to take on the city and the county, so in 1978 Gate 5 residents banded together and formed the Napa Street Pier Co-Op, which obtained a restraining order against developers to halt the demolition. Gate 6 residents followed suit and formed the Gates Cooperative in 1979. (15) In 1980, Napa Street Pier Co-Op became incorporated as the Galilee Harbor Community Association, a nonprofit mutual benefit organization. After a case ruled that the land underneath the houseboats belonged to the City of Sausalito, the two cooperatives attempted negotiation with the city, which lead to litigation. In 1983, after three years of legal fighting, a compromise was reached. The Gates and Galilee houseboats could remain in Sausalito, under the condition that the Galilee boats be relocated 30 yards north, and that all houseboats must brought up to current municipal building code. Additionally, the remodeled boats were required to meet stringent environmental regulations. A Marin County Community Development Block Grant is awarded, as well as a grant from the San Francisco Foundation, to aid in construction and repair as well as relocation. In 1992, a survey done by the Community Development Block Grant agency shows the cooperatives to be made up of mostly low-income residents; (16) the Gates and Galilee cooperatives are officially reserved as low-income housing, and currently berth rents are capped at $250-400 per month. Construction at the Gates cooperative is still in progress, with plans to disperse the Gates houseboats among the other nearby houseboat harbors to make room for new construction and development. (17) 
 
Today, the Galilee and Gates cooperatives remain a stark contrast to the neighboring houseboats of Waldo Point Harbor, where waterborne mansions rent for hundreds a night on websites such as AirBnB and VRBO, and sell for millions. The cooperatives also stand out against the Sausalito hills, which are dotted with Tuscan style villas. But the Gates and Galilee Cooperative remain in spite of these changes, a symbol of artistic ingenuity and countercultural defiance. 
 
[[File:Piano.JPG]] 

'''A piano outside of Galilee Harbor beckons to be played.''' 

''Photo: April Harper'' 

 
'''Notes'''

1.'' Houseboat Wars''. Directed by Marianne Dolan. 2013. Sausalito, CA: Sausalito Historical Society, 2014. DVD. 
2. Greenwald, Jeff. "Livin' on the Dock of the Bay." ''[http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/livin-on-the-dock-of-the-bay-171787735/?all Smithsonian Magazine.]'' 3 April 2012. 
3. Shaffer, Kathy. ''Houseboats: Aquatic Architecture of Sausalito''. Atglen, PA: Shiffer Publishing Ltd., 2007, 38. 
4.'' Houseboat Wars''. Directed by Marianne Dolan. 2013. Sausalito, CA: Sausalito Historical Society, 2014. DVD. 
5.'' Houseboat Wars''. Directed by Marianne Dolan 
6. Pellisier, Hank. "Gates Co-Op Houseboats." ''[http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/23/us/23bcintel.html?_r=1 The New York Times]'': (22 January 2011). 
7. Greenwald, Jeff. "Livin' on the Dock of the Bay." 
8. Charles Van Damme Ferry Project. "Frequently Asked Questions." ''Richardson's Bay Maritime Association''. Accessed 11 October 2015. http://www.charlesvandammeferry.org/faqs.html 
9. Redlegs, The. "Joe Tate." ''The Redlegs'', accessed 11 October 2015. http://www.theredlegs.com/JoeTate.html 
10. Prado, Mark. "Historic Ferry Boat the Charles Van Damme on the Move Again in Sausalito." ''[http://www.marinij.com/general-news/20130930/historic-ferry-boat-the-charles-van-damme-on-the-move-again-in-sausalito The Marin Independent Journal]'': (30 September 2013). 
11. '' Houseboat Wars''. Directed by Marianne Dolan. 
12. Nolte, Carl. "Year of the Bay: The 'civil war' in Sausalito." [http://blog.sfgate.com/nolte/2013/08/11/year-of-the-bay-the-conflict-about-the-sausalito-houseboats/#photo-256364 SFGate]'': (11 August 2013). 
13. Rouda, Saul. ''The Last Free Ride.'' Directed by Saul Rouda and Roy Nolan. 1974. Sausalito, CA: San Francisco Bay Area Television Archive. Streaming. 
14. White, Lawrence. "Sausalito Houseboat Wars." ''Sausalito Houseboat Wars Facebook Page'', accessed 11 October 2015. https://www.facebook.com/houseboatwars/timeline 
15.Thompson, David. "Members Rock the Vote for the Boat." ''Cooperative News'', http://www.community.coop/davis/ryca/assets/coop_houseboat.pdf. 
16.Galilee Harbor Community Association. "History: A Century of Maritime Use." ''Galilee Harbor Community Association''. Accessed 11 October 2015. http://www.galileeharbor.org/history/history.html 
17. Dirks, Sandhya. "The Last Free Ride: A Pirate Community Goes Legit." ''[http://kalw.org/post/last-free-ride-pirate-community-goes-legit#stream/0 KALW]'', 10 September 2013.

[[category:Dissent]] [[category:Housing]] [[category:Architecture]] [[category:Hippies]] [[category:San Francisco outside the city]] [[category:1960s]] [[category:1970s]] [[category:Buildings]]

The Houseboat Wars: A Battle of the Haves and Have-Nots

2015-11-02T20:38:27Z

Aprilharper: added categories

The Houseboat Wars: A Battle of the Haves and Have-Nots

2015-11-02T20:36:04Z

Aprilharper: added categories

The Houseboat Wars: A Battle of the Haves and Have-Nots

2015-11-02T20:34:10Z

Aprilharper: added categories

The Houseboat Wars: A Battle of the Haves and Have-Nots

2015-10-23T05:00:51Z

Aprilharper:

''' Historical Essay ''' 
''by April Harper, 2015'' 
{| style="color: black; background-color: #F5DA81;"
| colspan="2" | '''While Sausalito is known as an upscale tourist town dotted with hillside mansions, the houseboat cooperatives remain a funky vestige of times past. There is a clear contrast between the European style cafes and souvenir shops, and the houseboats made by hand. The hills and the houseboats remain a contrast, both geographically and ideologically, with the houseboats remaining home to artists and craftsmen, while the hills symbolize ostentatious wealth. Eventually, these differences would lead to a conflict that would come to be known as “houseboat wars”, a fight between the houseboat residents and City council of Sausalito and County of Marin.'''
|}
 
[[Image:Gates Cooperative walkway.JPG]]

''Photo: April Harper'' 
'''A walkway in the Gates Houseboat Cooperative'''. 
 
''''The Beginning''' 
Don Arques was the son of a prominent waterfront property manager who owned much of the Sausalito shoreline used for shipbuilding during World War II. After the war, Arques purchased many of the remaining floating barges and ferries used in ship production and anchored them in the Sausalito harbor.(1) He invited Beatnik artists and musicians to live aboard them for free, making homes out of whatever floating debris they could find: styrofoam, redwood logs, parts of other abandoned boats. “Tons of wood, metal and scrap were left behind. Richardson Bay turned into an aquatic salvage yard, a tidal pool of possibilities.” (2) Additionally, large Victorians in San Francisco’s [[Western Addition: A Basic History | Western Addition]] were demolished to make way for a federally sponsored urban renewal program. As a result, large amounts of African Americans were pushed out, and over 2,500 19th century homes were destroyed. The houses were torn apart and sold cheaply as scrap: doors, stained glass windows and window frames, fireplaces, and columns were just some of the parts repurposed for houseboat living.(3) It was also at this time that the Waldo Grade was built, which erected a highway between Marin City and the Golden Gate Bridge. The construction caused a large amount of silt runoff, which eventually ran into the bay and caused some boats to get stuck in the thick tidal mud. These abandoned boats were also broken apart and reused for scrap by houseboat residents. (4) 
 
The first homes were haphazard and had no plumbing or electricity; often, simple wooden structures were just attached to the top of decommissioned Navy tugboats. (5) In the ‘50s, residents were primarily Beatniks and Bohemians, but by the late ‘60s, the Beats gave way to the Hippies and the population grew. Famous counterculture figures such as Alan Watts, Shel Silverstein, Allen Ginsberg, and Stewart Brand, founder of The Whole Earth Catalog, made their homes here (6). Doug Storms, commercial diver and houseboat resident, describes the beginning as such: “There were a few hundred boats. It was total freedom. The music, the people, the architecture, the nudity—all we could say was, ‘Wow!’ So Shel [Silverstein] bought a boat, and I bought a boat. And that was that.” (7)
 
[[File:Painted Houseboats at Gates Cooperative.JPG]] 
''Photo: April Harper'' 
'''Painted Houseboats at the Gates Houseboat Cooperative.''' 
 
The Charles Van Damme ferry, used from 1916 to 1956 to transport cars, cattle, and people between Richmond and San Rafael, was decommissioned in 1960 and was brought to Gate Six, the center of the houseboat community. First, the ferry functioned as a restaurant, Juanita’s Gallery, which closed and then reopened as a rock n’ roll nightclub called The Ark in 1968, where acts such as Neil Young and Steppenwolf played. (8) The Van Damme ferry became a hangout and community center for the houseboat residents, and they even had a resident band, The Redlegs, (who dubbed themselves “a hip pirate band”), which played shows to fund repairs for the Van Damme or resident’s boats. The Redlegs still exist to this day and play shows under the name The Gaters (a reference to the gates at which the houseboats are moored) at the No Name Bar in Sausalito. (9) In 1983, the ferry was demolished and only the paddle wheel and smoke stack survive, with plans to display the remains in a nearby park in Waldo Point Harbor (10). 

'''The Battle''' 

By the mid-'70s, parties, drugs, and music had become a regular feature of the houseboat scene, and many liken this stage of the houseboats as similar to [[Redevelopment Hits the Haight | Haight Street’s descent]]; an influx of hard drugs and guns had created an unsavory reputation. At this time, hillside Sausalito residents and county supervisors vocalized their support for a project which would “clean up” the waterfront and remove the houseboat settlements in favor of high-rise condominiums. (11) Thus began the Houseboat Wars, a struggle between the houseboat residents and Sausalito City Council. 
[[Image:Gates Cooperative wires.jpg]] 
''Photo: April Harper'' 
'''Wires haphazardly hang over the entryway at Gates Houseboat Cooperative. The city has required all houseboats and electrical systems be brought up to code'''. 
 
According to SF Chronicle columnist Carl Nolte, 
<blockquote>“The ’60s were a time of sex and drugs and rock and roll, even in quiet backwaters like the Sausalito bay front. Eventually there developed a huge conflict–almost a civil war–between the freewheeling houseboaters and the more conservative population of Sausalito, most of them living in the hills of the town. It was a battle between the hill and the bay shore.”
Houseboat resident Doug Storms echoes this sentiment, saying, “In the 1960s and early 70s, there was the classic conflict between the haves and have-nots.” (12) </blockquote>
The Marin County Board of Supervisors met in 1971 and passed an ordinance which would disperse the houseboats and develop the waterfront for condominiums. Hillside Sausalito residents complained that the houseboats were a “blight” and a nuisance. Shortly thereafter, the Marin County Sheriff began to cut the houseboats from their moors and attempted to tow them away, while ordering residents to vacate and using force to remove them. The conflict came to a head when resident Robert Grissom wielded a knife when deputies tried to cut his mooring, prompting them to draw their guns. In response, Marin County marine inspector Richard M. Larson declared a two-year Moratorium on the houseboats until a compromise could be reached (13). 
 
On December 12th, 1977, the conflict continued when the county brought in bulldozers and piledrivers with the intention of building a parking lot at Gate 5. Deputies bulldozed part of a boatyard building at Gate 5 while people were still in it, used fire hoses on protesting residents, and even ran over one resident with a speed boat. In true houseboat spirit, the community organized an impressive resistance, creating cardboard cutouts of people and shoveling piles of debris to stand in the bulldozer’s way. The county claimed that the area being filled in was just a sewage ditch, rather than an integral part of the area’s wetlands. The houseboat community worked with scientists to prove that the area was a viable wetland with many kinds of marine life, including fish. (14) The evidence was presented to the Fish and Game service and the Bay Conservation Development Commission, but to no avail. The creek was filled in and a parking lot built, which displaced the a few of the houseboats moored there. 
 
Houseboaters knew they would need to create an organized front to take on the city and the county, so in 1978 Gate 5 residents banded together and formed the Napa Street Pier Co-Op, which obtained a restraining order against developers to halt the demolition. Gate 6 residents followed suit and formed the Gates Cooperative in 1979. (15) In 1980, Napa Street Pier Co-Op became incorporated as the Galilee Harbor Community Association, a nonprofit mutual benefit organization. After a case ruled that the land underneath the houseboats belonged to the City of Sausalito, the two cooperatives attempted negotiation with the city, which lead to litigation. In 1983, after three years of legal fighting, a compromise was reached. The Gates and Galilee houseboats could remain in Sausalito, under the condition that the Galilee boats be relocated 30 yards north, and that all houseboats must brought up to current municipal building code. Additionally, the remodeled boats were required to meet stringent environmental regulations. A Marin County Community Development Block Grant is awarded, as well as a grant from the San Francisco Foundation, to aid in construction and repair as well as relocation. In 1992, a survey done by the Community Development Block Grant agency shows the cooperatives to be made up of mostly low-income residents; (16) the Gates and Galilee cooperatives are officially reserved as low-income housing, and currently berth rents are capped at $250-400 per month. Construction at the Gates cooperative is still in progress, with plans to disperse the Gates houseboats among the other nearby houseboat harbors to make room for new construction and development. (17) 
 
Today, the Galilee and Gates cooperatives remain a stark contrast to the neighboring houseboats of Waldo Point Harbor, where waterborne mansions rent for hundreds a night on websites such as AirBnB and VRBO, and sell for millions. The cooperatives also stand out against the Sausalito hills, which are dotted with Tuscan style villas. But the Gates and Galilee Cooperative remain in spite of these changes, a symbol of artistic ingenuity and countercultural defiance. 
 
[[File:Piano.JPG]] 
''Photo: April Harper'' 
'''A piano outside of Galilee Harbor beckons to be played.''' 
 
'''Notes'''

1.'' Houseboat Wars''. Directed by Marianne Dolan. 2013. Sausalito, CA: Sausalito Historical Society, 2014. DVD. 
2. Greenwald, Jeff. "Livin' on the Dock of the Bay." ''[http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/livin-on-the-dock-of-the-bay-171787735/?all Smithsonian Magazine.]'' 3 April 2012. 
3. Shaffer, Kathy. ''Houseboats: Aquatic Architecture of Sausalito''. Atglen, PA: Shiffer Publishing Ltd., 2007, 38. 
4.'' Houseboat Wars''. Directed by Marianne Dolan. 2013. Sausalito, CA: Sausalito Historical Society, 2014. DVD. 
5.'' Houseboat Wars''. Directed by Marianne Dolan 
6. Pellisier, Hank. "Gates Co-Op Houseboats." ''[http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/23/us/23bcintel.html?_r=1 The New York Times]'': (22 January 2011). 
7. Greenwald, Jeff. "Livin' on the Dock of the Bay." 
8. Charles Van Damme Ferry Project. "Frequently Asked Questions." ''Richardson's Bay Maritime Association''. Accessed 11 October 2015. http://www.charlesvandammeferry.org/faqs.html 
9. Redlegs, The. "Joe Tate." ''The Redlegs'', accessed 11 October 2015. http://www.theredlegs.com/JoeTate.html 
10. Prado, Mark. "Historic Ferry Boat the Charles Van Damme on the Move Again in Sausalito." ''[http://www.marinij.com/general-news/20130930/historic-ferry-boat-the-charles-van-damme-on-the-move-again-in-sausalito The Marin Independent Journal]'': (30 September 2013). 
11. '' Houseboat Wars''. Directed by Marianne Dolan. 
12. Nolte, Carl. "Year of the Bay: The 'civil war' in Sausalito." [http://blog.sfgate.com/nolte/2013/08/11/year-of-the-bay-the-conflict-about-the-sausalito-houseboats/#photo-256364 SFGate]'': (11 August 2013). 
13. Rouda, Saul. ''The Last Free Ride.'' Directed by Saul Rouda and Roy Nolan. 1974. Sausalito, CA: San Francisco Bay Area Television Archive. Streaming. 
14. White, Lawrence. "Sausalito Houseboat Wars." ''Sausalito Houseboat Wars Facebook Page'', accessed 11 October 2015. https://www.facebook.com/houseboatwars/timeline 
15.Thompson, David. "Members Rock the Vote for the Boat." ''Cooperative News'', http://www.community.coop/davis/ryca/assets/coop_houseboat.pdf. 
16.Galilee Harbor Community Association. "History: A Century of Maritime Use." ''Galilee Harbor Community Association''. Accessed 11 October 2015. http://www.galileeharbor.org/history/history.html 
17. Dirks, Sandhya. "The Last Free Ride: A Pirate Community Goes Legit." ''[http://kalw.org/post/last-free-ride-pirate-community-goes-legit#stream/0 KALW]'', 10 September 2013.

File:Painted Houseboats at Gates Cooperative.JPG

2015-10-23T04:43:34Z

Aprilharper: uploaded a new version of "File:Painted Houseboats at Gates Cooperative.JPG"

The Houseboat Wars: A Battle of the Haves and Have-Nots

2015-10-23T04:34:40Z

Aprilharper:

''' Historical Essay ''' 
''by April Harper, 2015'' 
{| style="color: black; background-color: #F5DA81;"
| colspan="2" | '''While Sausalito is known as an upscale tourist town dotted with hillside mansions, the houseboat cooperatives remain a funky vestige of times past. There is a clear contrast between the European style cafes and souvenir shops, and the houseboats made by hand. The hills and the houseboats remain a contrast, both geographically and ideologically, with the houseboats remaining home to artists and craftsmen, while the hills symbolize ostentatious wealth. Eventually, these differences would lead to a conflict that would come to be known as “houseboat wars”, a fight between the houseboat residents and City council of Sausalito and County of Marin.'''
|}
 
[[Image:Gates Cooperative walkway.JPG]]

''Photo: April Harper'' 

''''The Beginning''' 
Don Arques was the son of a prominent waterfront property manager who owned much of the Sausalito shoreline used for shipbuilding during World War II. After the war, Arques purchased many of the remaining floating barges and ferries used in ship production and anchored them in the Sausalito harbor.(1) He invited Beatnik artists and musicians to live aboard them for free, making homes out of whatever floating debris they could find: styrofoam, redwood logs, parts of other abandoned boats. “Tons of wood, metal and scrap were left behind. Richardson Bay turned into an aquatic salvage yard, a tidal pool of possibilities.” (2) Additionally, large Victorians in San Francisco’s [[Western Addition: A Basic History | Western Addition]] were demolished to make way for a federally sponsored urban renewal program. As a result, large amounts of African Americans were pushed out, and over 2,500 19th century homes were destroyed. The houses were torn apart and sold cheaply as scrap: doors, stained glass windows and window frames, fireplaces, and columns were just some of the parts repurposed for houseboat living.(3) It was also at this time that the Waldo Grade was built, which erected a highway between Marin City and the Golden Gate Bridge. The construction caused a large amount of silt runoff, which eventually ran into the bay and caused some boats to get stuck in the thick tidal mud. These abandoned boats were also broken apart and reused for scrap by houseboat residents. (4)
 
The first homes were haphazard and had no plumbing or electricity; often, simple wooden structures were just attached to the top of decommissioned Navy tugboats. (5) In the ‘50s, residents were primarily Beatniks and Bohemians, but by the late ‘60s, the Beats gave way to the Hippies and the population grew. Famous counterculture figures such as Alan Watts, Shel Silverstein, Allen Ginsberg, and Stewart Brand, founder of The Whole Earth Catalog, made their homes here (6). Doug Storms, commercial diver and houseboat resident, describes the beginning as such: “There were a few hundred boats. It was total freedom. The music, the people, the architecture, the nudity—all we could say was, ‘Wow!’ So Shel [Silverstein] bought a boat, and I bought a boat. And that was that.” (7)
 
[[File:Painted Houseboats at Gates Cooperative.JPG]] 
''Photo: April Harper'' 
The Charles Van Damme ferry, used from 1916 to 1956 to transport cars, cattle, and people between Richmond and San Rafael, was decommissioned in 1960 and was brought to Gate Six, the center of the houseboat community. First, the ferry functioned as a restaurant, Juanita’s Gallery, which closed and then reopened as a rock n’ roll nightclub called The Ark in 1968, where acts such as Neil Young and Steppenwolf played. (8) The Van Damme ferry became a hangout and community center for the houseboat residents, and they even had a resident band, The Redlegs, (who dubbed themselves “a hip pirate band”), which played shows to fund repairs for the Van Damme or resident’s boats. The Redlegs still exist to this day and play shows under the name The Gaters (a reference to the gates at which the houseboats are moored) at the No Name Bar in Sausalito. (9) In 1983, the ferry was demolished and only the paddle wheel and smoke stack survive, with plans to display the remains in a nearby park in Waldo Point Harbor (10). 

'''The Battle''' 

By the mid-'70s, parties, drugs, and music had become a regular feature of the houseboat scene, and many liken this stage of the houseboats as similar to [[Redevelopment Hits the Haight | Haight Street’s descent]]; an influx of hard drugs and guns had created an unsavory reputation. At this time, hillside Sausalito residents and county supervisors vocalized their support for a project which would “clean up” the waterfront and remove the houseboat settlements in favor of high-rise condominiums. (11) Thus began the Houseboat Wars, a struggle between the houseboat residents and Sausalito City Council. 
[[Image:Gates Cooperative wires.jpg]] 
''Photo: April Harper'' 
According to SF Chronicle columnist Carl Nolte, 
<blockquote>“The ’60s were a time of sex and drugs and rock and roll, even in quiet backwaters like the Sausalito bay front. Eventually there developed a huge conflict–almost a civil war–between the freewheeling houseboaters and the more conservative population of Sausalito, most of them living in the hills of the town. It was a battle between the hill and the bay shore.”
Houseboat resident Doug Storms echoes this sentiment, saying, “In the 1960s and early 70s, there was the classic conflict between the haves and have-nots.” (12) </blockquote>
The Marin County Board of Supervisors met in 1971 and passed an ordinance which would disperse the houseboats and develop the waterfront for condominiums. Hillside Sausalito residents complained that the houseboats were a “blight” and a nuisance. Shortly thereafter, the Marin County Sheriff began to cut the houseboats from their moors and attempted to tow them away, while ordering residents to vacate and using force to remove them. The conflict came to a head when resident Robert Grissom wielded a knife when deputies tried to cut his mooring, prompting them to draw their guns. In response, Marin County marine inspector Richard M. Larson declared a two-year Moratorium on the houseboats until a compromise could be reached (13). 
On December 12th, 1977, the conflict continued when the county brought in bulldozers and piledrivers with the intention of building a parking lot at Gate 5. Deputies bulldozed part of a boatyard building at Gate 5 while people were still in it, used fire hoses on protesting residents, and even ran over one resident with a speed boat. In true houseboat spirit, the community organized an impressive resistance, creating cardboard cutouts of people and shoveling piles of debris to stand in the bulldozer’s way. The county claimed that the area being filled in was just a sewage ditch, rather than an integral part of the area’s wetlands. The houseboat community worked with scientists to prove that the area was a viable wetland with many kinds of marine life, including fish. (14) The evidence was presented to the Fish and Game service and the Bay Conservation Development Commission, but to no avail. The creek was filled in and a parking lot built, which displaced the a few of the houseboats moored there.
 
Houseboaters knew they would need to create an organized front to take on the city and the county, so in 1978 Gate 5 residents banded together and formed the Napa Street Pier Co-Op, which obtained a restraining order against developers to halt the demolition. Gate 6 residents followed suit and formed the Gates Cooperative in 1979. (15) In 1980, Napa Street Pier Co-Op became incorporated as the Galilee Harbor Community Association, a nonprofit mutual benefit organization. After a case ruled that the land underneath the houseboats belonged to the City of Sausalito, the two cooperatives attempted negotiation with the city, which lead to litigation. In 1983, after three years of legal fighting, a compromise was reached. The Gates and Galilee houseboats could remain in Sausalito, under the condition that the Galilee boats be relocated 30 yards north, and that all houseboats must brought up to current municipal building code. Additionally, the remodeled boats were required to meet stringent environmental regulations. A Marin County Community Development Block Grant is awarded, as well as a grant from the San Francisco Foundation, to aid in construction and repair as well as relocation. In 1992, a survey done by the Community Development Block Grant agency shows the cooperatives to be made up of mostly low-income residents; (16) the Gates and Galilee cooperatives are officially reserved as low-income housing, and currently berth rents are capped at $250-400 per month. Construction at the Gates cooperative is still in progress, with plans to disperse the Gates houseboats among the other nearby houseboat harbors to make room for new construction and development. (17) 
Today, the Galilee and Gates cooperatives remain a stark contrast to the neighboring houseboats of Waldo Point Harbor, where waterborne mansions rent for hundreds a night on websites such as AirBnB and VRBO, and sell for millions. The cooperatives also stand out against the Sausalito hills, which are dotted with Tuscan style villas. But the Gates and Galilee Cooperative remain in spite of these changes, a symbol of artistic ingenuity and countercultural defiance. 
[[File:Piano.JPG]] 
''Photo: April Harper'' 
 
'''Notes'''

1.'' Houseboat Wars''. Directed by Marianne Dolan. 2013. Sausalito, CA: Sausalito Historical Society, 2014. DVD. 
2. Greenwald, Jeff. "Livin' on the Dock of the Bay." ''[http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/livin-on-the-dock-of-the-bay-171787735/?all Smithsonian Magazine.]'' 3 April 2012. 
3. Shaffer, Kathy. ''Houseboats: Aquatic Architecture of Sausalito''. Atglen, PA: Shiffer Publishing Ltd., 2007, 38. 
4.'' Houseboat Wars''. Directed by Marianne Dolan. 2013. Sausalito, CA: Sausalito Historical Society, 2014. DVD. 
5.'' Houseboat Wars''. Directed by Marianne Dolan 
6. Pellisier, Hank. "Gates Co-Op Houseboats." ''[http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/23/us/23bcintel.html?_r=1 The New York Times]'': (22 January 2011). 
7. Greenwald, Jeff. "Livin' on the Dock of the Bay." 
8. Charles Van Damme Ferry Project. "Frequently Asked Questions." ''Richardson's Bay Maritime Association''. Accessed 11 October 2015. http://www.charlesvandammeferry.org/faqs.html 
9. Redlegs, The. "Joe Tate." ''The Redlegs'', accessed 11 October 2015. http://www.theredlegs.com/JoeTate.html 
10. Prado, Mark. "Historic Ferry Boat the Charles Van Damme on the Move Again in Sausalito." ''[http://www.marinij.com/general-news/20130930/historic-ferry-boat-the-charles-van-damme-on-the-move-again-in-sausalito The Marin Independent Journal]'': (30 September 2013). 
11. '' Houseboat Wars''. Directed by Marianne Dolan. 
12. Nolte, Carl. "Year of the Bay: The 'civil war' in Sausalito." [http://blog.sfgate.com/nolte/2013/08/11/year-of-the-bay-the-conflict-about-the-sausalito-houseboats/#photo-256364 SFGate]'': (11 August 2013). 
13. Rouda, Saul. ''The Last Free Ride.'' Directed by Saul Rouda and Roy Nolan. 1974. Sausalito, CA: San Francisco Bay Area Television Archive. Streaming. 
14. White, Lawrence. "Sausalito Houseboat Wars." ''Sausalito Houseboat Wars Facebook Page'', accessed 11 October 2015. https://www.facebook.com/houseboatwars/timeline 
15.Thompson, David. "Members Rock the Vote for the Boat." ''Cooperative News'', http://www.community.coop/davis/ryca/assets/coop_houseboat.pdf. 
16.Galilee Harbor Community Association. "History: A Century of Maritime Use." ''Galilee Harbor Community Association''. Accessed 11 October 2015. http://www.galileeharbor.org/history/history.html 
17. Dirks, Sandhya. "The Last Free Ride: A Pirate Community Goes Legit." ''[http://kalw.org/post/last-free-ride-pirate-community-goes-legit#stream/0 KALW]'', 10 September 2013.

The Houseboat Wars: A Battle of the Haves and Have-Nots

2015-10-23T04:32:28Z

Aprilharper:

''' Historical Essay ''' 
''by April Harper, 2015'' 
{| style="color: black; background-color: #F5DA81;"
| colspan="2" | '''While Sausalito is known as an upscale tourist town dotted with hillside mansions, the houseboat cooperatives remain a funky vestige of times past. There is a clear contrast between the European style cafes and souvenir shops, and the houseboats made by hand. The hills and the houseboats remain a contrast, both geographically and ideologically, with the houseboats remaining home to artists and craftsmen, while the hills symbolize ostentatious wealth. Eventually, these differences would lead to a conflict that would come to be known as “houseboat wars”, a fight between the houseboat residents and City council of Sausalito and County of Marin.'''
|}
 
[[Image:Gates Cooperative walkway.JPG]]

''Photo: April Harper'' 

''''The Beginning''' 
Don Arques was the son of a prominent waterfront property manager who owned much of the Sausalito shoreline used for shipbuilding during World War II. After the war, Arques purchased many of the remaining floating barges and ferries used in ship production and anchored them in the Sausalito harbor.(1) He invited Beatnik artists and musicians to live aboard them for free, making homes out of whatever floating debris they could find: styrofoam, redwood logs, parts of other abandoned boats. “Tons of wood, metal and scrap were left behind. Richardson Bay turned into an aquatic salvage yard, a tidal pool of possibilities.” (2) Additionally, large Victorians in San Francisco’s [[Western Addition: A Basic History | Western Addition]] were demolished to make way for a federally sponsored urban renewal program. As a result, large amounts of African Americans were pushed out, and over 2,500 19th century homes were destroyed. The houses were torn apart and sold cheaply as scrap: doors, stained glass windows and window frames, fireplaces, and columns were just some of the parts repurposed for houseboat living.(3) It was also at this time that the Waldo Grade was built, which erected a highway between Marin City and the Golden Gate Bridge. The construction caused a large amount of silt runoff, which eventually ran into the bay and caused some boats to get stuck in the thick tidal mud. These abandoned boats were also broken apart and reused for scrap by houseboat residents. (4)
 
The first homes were haphazard and had no plumbing or electricity; often, simple wooden structures were just attached to the top of decommissioned Navy tugboats. (5) In the ‘50s, residents were primarily Beatniks and Bohemians, but by the late ‘60s, the Beats gave way to the Hippies and the population grew. Famous counterculture figures such as Alan Watts, Shel Silverstein, Allen Ginsberg, and Stewart Brand, founder of The Whole Earth Catalog, made their homes here (6). Doug Storms, commercial diver and houseboat resident, describes the beginning as such: “There were a few hundred boats. It was total freedom. The music, the people, the architecture, the nudity—all we could say was, ‘Wow!’ So Shel [Silverstein] bought a boat, and I bought a boat. And that was that.” (7)
 
[[File:Painted Houseboats at Gates Cooperative.JPG]] 
''Photo: April Harper'' 
The Charles Van Damme ferry, used from 1916 to 1956 to transport cars, cattle, and people between Richmond and San Rafael, was decommissioned in 1960 and was brought to Gate Six, the center of the houseboat community. First, the ferry functioned as a restaurant, Juanita’s Gallery, which closed and then reopened as a rock n’ roll nightclub called The Ark in 1968, where acts such as Neil Young and Steppenwolf played. (8) The Van Damme ferry became a hangout and community center for the houseboat residents, and they even had a resident band, The Redlegs, (who dubbed themselves “a hip pirate band”), which played shows to fund repairs for the Van Damme or resident’s boats. The Redlegs still exist to this day and play shows under the name The Gaters (a reference to the gates at which the houseboats are moored) at the No Name Bar in Sausalito. (9) In 1983, the ferry was demolished and only the paddle wheel and smoke stack survive, with plans to display the remains in a nearby park in Waldo Point Harbor (10). 

'''The Battle''' 

By the mid-'70s, parties, drugs, and music had become a regular feature of the houseboat scene, and many liken this stage of the houseboats as similar to [[Redevelopment Hits the Haight | Haight Street’s descent]]; an influx of hard drugs and guns had created an unsavory reputation. At this time, hillside Sausalito residents and county supervisors vocalized their support for a project which would “clean up” the waterfront and remove the houseboat settlements in favor of high-rise condominiums. (11) Thus began the Houseboat Wars, a struggle between the houseboat residents and Sausalito City Council. 

[[Image:Gates Cooperative wires.jpg]] 
''Photo: April Harper'' 
According to SF Chronicle columnist Carl Nolte, 
<blockquote>“The ’60s were a time of sex and drugs and rock and roll, even in quiet backwaters like the Sausalito bay front. Eventually there developed a huge conflict–almost a civil war–between the freewheeling houseboaters and the more conservative population of Sausalito, most of them living in the hills of the town. It was a battle between the hill and the bay shore.”
Houseboat resident Doug Storms echoes this sentiment, saying, “In the 1960s and early 70s, there was the classic conflict between the haves and have-nots.” (12) </blockquote>
The Marin County Board of Supervisors met in 1971 and passed an ordinance which would disperse the houseboats and develop the waterfront for condominiums. Hillside Sausalito residents complained that the houseboats were a “blight” and a nuisance. Shortly thereafter, the Marin County Sheriff began to cut the houseboats from their moors and attempted to tow them away, while ordering residents to vacate and using force to remove them. The conflict came to a head when resident Robert Grissom wielded a knife when deputies tried to cut his mooring, prompting them to draw their guns. In response, Marin County marine inspector Richard M. Larson declared a two-year Moratorium on the houseboats until a compromise could be reached (13). 
On December 12th, 1977, the conflict continued when the county brought in bulldozers and piledrivers with the intention of building a parking lot at Gate 5. Deputies bulldozed part of a boatyard building at Gate 5 while people were still in it, used fire hoses on protesting residents, and even ran over one resident with a speed boat. In true houseboat spirit, the community organized an impressive resistance, creating cardboard cutouts of people and shoveling piles of debris to stand in the bulldozer’s way. The county claimed that the area being filled in was just a sewage ditch, rather than an integral part of the area’s wetlands. The houseboat community worked with scientists to prove that the area was a viable wetland with many kinds of marine life, including fish. (14) The evidence was presented to the Fish and Game service and the Bay Conservation Development Commission, but to no avail. The creek was filled in and a parking lot built, which displaced the a few of the houseboats moored there.
 
Houseboaters knew they would need to create an organized front to take on the city and the county, so in 1978 Gate 5 residents banded together and formed the Napa Street Pier Co-Op, which obtained a restraining order against developers to halt the demolition. Gate 6 residents followed suit and formed the Gates Cooperative in 1979. (15) In 1980, Napa Street Pier Co-Op became incorporated as the Galilee Harbor Community Association, a nonprofit mutual benefit organization. After a case ruled that the land underneath the houseboats belonged to the City of Sausalito, the two cooperatives attempted negotiation with the city, which lead to litigation. In 1983, after three years of legal fighting, a compromise was reached. The Gates and Galilee houseboats could remain in Sausalito, under the condition that the Galilee boats be relocated 30 yards north, and that all houseboats must brought up to current municipal building code. Additionally, the remodeled boats were required to meet stringent environmental regulations. A Marin County Community Development Block Grant is awarded, as well as a grant from the San Francisco Foundation, to aid in construction and repair as well as relocation. In 1992, a survey done by the Community Development Block Grant agency shows the cooperatives to be made up of mostly low-income residents; (16) the Gates and Galilee cooperatives are officially reserved as low-income housing, and currently berth rents are capped at $250-400 per month. Construction at the Gates cooperative is still in progress, with plans to disperse the Gates houseboats among the other nearby houseboat harbors to make room for new construction and development. (17) 
Today, the Galilee and Gates cooperatives remain a stark contrast to the neighboring houseboats of Waldo Point Harbor, where waterborne mansions rent for hundreds a night on websites such as AirBnB and VRBO, and sell for millions. The cooperatives also stand out against the Sausalito hills, which are dotted with Tuscan style villas. But the Gates and Galilee Cooperative remain in spite of these changes, a symbol of artistic ingenuity and countercultural defiance. 
[[File:Piano.JPG]] 
''Photo: April Harper'' 
 
'''Notes'''

1.'' Houseboat Wars''. Directed by Marianne Dolan. 2013. Sausalito, CA: Sausalito Historical Society, 2014. DVD. 
2. Greenwald, Jeff. "Livin' on the Dock of the Bay." ''[http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/livin-on-the-dock-of-the-bay-171787735/?all Smithsonian Magazine.]'' 3 April 2012. 
3. Shaffer, Kathy. ''Houseboats: Aquatic Architecture of Sausalito''. Atglen, PA: Shiffer Publishing Ltd., 2007, 38. 
4.'' Houseboat Wars''. Directed by Marianne Dolan. 2013. Sausalito, CA: Sausalito Historical Society, 2014. DVD. 
5.'' Houseboat Wars''. Directed by Marianne Dolan 
6. Pellisier, Hank. "Gates Co-Op Houseboats." ''[http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/23/us/23bcintel.html?_r=1 The New York Times]'': (22 January 2011). 
7. Greenwald, Jeff. "Livin' on the Dock of the Bay." 
8. Charles Van Damme Ferry Project. "Frequently Asked Questions." ''Richardson's Bay Maritime Association''. Accessed 11 October 2015. http://www.charlesvandammeferry.org/faqs.html 
9. Redlegs, The. "Joe Tate." ''The Redlegs'', accessed 11 October 2015. http://www.theredlegs.com/JoeTate.html 
10. Prado, Mark. "Historic Ferry Boat the Charles Van Damme on the Move Again in Sausalito." ''[http://www.marinij.com/general-news/20130930/historic-ferry-boat-the-charles-van-damme-on-the-move-again-in-sausalito The Marin Independent Journal]'': (30 September 2013). 
11. '' Houseboat Wars''. Directed by Marianne Dolan. 
12. Nolte, Carl. "Year of the Bay: The 'civil war' in Sausalito." [http://blog.sfgate.com/nolte/2013/08/11/year-of-the-bay-the-conflict-about-the-sausalito-houseboats/#photo-256364 SFGate]'': (11 August 2013). 
13. Rouda, Saul. ''The Last Free Ride.'' Directed by Saul Rouda and Roy Nolan. 1974. Sausalito, CA: San Francisco Bay Area Television Archive. Streaming. 
14. White, Lawrence. "Sausalito Houseboat Wars." ''Sausalito Houseboat Wars Facebook Page'', accessed 11 October 2015. https://www.facebook.com/houseboatwars/timeline 
15.Thompson, David. "Members Rock the Vote for the Boat." ''Cooperative News'', http://www.community.coop/davis/ryca/assets/coop_houseboat.pdf. 
16.Galilee Harbor Community Association. "History: A Century of Maritime Use." ''Galilee Harbor Community Association''. Accessed 11 October 2015. http://www.galileeharbor.org/history/history.html 
17. Dirks, Sandhya. "The Last Free Ride: A Pirate Community Goes Legit." ''[http://kalw.org/post/last-free-ride-pirate-community-goes-legit#stream/0 KALW]'', 10 September 2013.

File:Piano.JPG

2015-10-23T04:23:40Z

Aprilharper:

File:Painted Houseboats at Gates Cooperative.JPG

2015-10-23T04:09:46Z

Aprilharper:

The Houseboat Wars: A Battle of the Haves and Have-Nots

2015-10-21T06:27:30Z

Aprilharper: uploaded historical essay

''' Historical Essay ''' 
''by April Harper, 2015'' 
{| style="color: black; background-color: #F5DA81;"
| colspan="2" | '''While Sausalito is known as an upscale tourist town dotted with hillside mansions, the houseboat cooperatives remain a funky vestige of times past. There is a clear contrast between the European style cafes and souvenir shops, and the houseboats made by hand. The hills and the houseboats remain a contrast, both geographically and ideologically, with the houseboats remaining home to artists and craftsmen, while the hills symbolize ostentatious wealth. Eventually, these differences would lead to a conflict that would come to be known as “houseboat wars”, a fight between the houseboat residents and City council of Sausalito and County of Marin.'''
|}
 
[[Image:Gates Cooperative walkway.JPG]]

''Photo: April Harper'' 

''''The Beginning''' 
Don Arques was the son of a prominent waterfront property manager who owned much of the Sausalito shoreline used for shipbuilding during World War II. After the war, Arques purchased many of the remaining floating barges and ferries used in ship production and anchored them in the Sausalito harbor.(1) He invited Beatnik artists and musicians to live aboard them for free, making homes out of whatever floating debris they could find: styrofoam, redwood logs, parts of other abandoned boats. “Tons of wood, metal and scrap were left behind. Richardson Bay turned into an aquatic salvage yard, a tidal pool of possibilities.” (2) Additionally, large Victorians in San Francisco’s [[Western Addition: A Basic History | Western Addition]] were demolished to make way for a federally sponsored urban renewal program. As a result, large amounts of African Americans were pushed out, and over 2,500 19th century homes were destroyed. The houses were torn apart and sold cheaply as scrap: doors, stained glass windows and window frames, fireplaces, and columns were just some of the parts repurposed for houseboat living.(3) It was also at this time that the Waldo Grade was built, which erected a highway between Marin City and the Golden Gate Bridge. The construction caused a large amount of silt runoff, which eventually ran into the bay and caused some boats to get stuck in the thick tidal mud. These abandoned boats were also broken apart and reused for scrap by houseboat residents. (4)
 
The first homes were haphazard and had no plumbing or electricity; often, simple wooden structures were just attached to the top of decommissioned Navy tugboats. (5) In the ‘50s, residents were primarily Beatniks and Bohemians, but by the late ‘60s, the Beats gave way to the Hippies and the population grew. Famous counterculture figures such as Alan Watts, Shel Silverstein, Allen Ginsberg, and Stewart Brand, founder of The Whole Earth Catalog, made their homes here (6). Doug Storms, commercial diver and houseboat resident, describes the beginning as such: “There were a few hundred boats. It was total freedom. The music, the people, the architecture, the nudity—all we could say was, ‘Wow!’ So Shel [Silverstein] bought a boat, and I bought a boat. And that was that.” (7)
 

The Charles Van Damme ferry, used from 1916 to 1956 to transport cars, cattle, and people between Richmond and San Rafael, was decommissioned in 1960 and was brought to Gate Six, the center of the houseboat community. First, the ferry functioned as a restaurant, Juanita’s Gallery, which closed and then reopened as a rock n’ roll nightclub called The Ark in 1968, where acts such as Neil Young and Steppenwolf played. (8) The Van Damme ferry became a hangout and community center for the houseboat residents, and they even had a resident band, The Redlegs, (who dubbed themselves “a hip pirate band”), which played shows to fund repairs for the Van Damme or resident’s boats. The Redlegs still exist to this day and play shows under the name The Gaters (a reference to the gates at which the houseboats are moored) at the No Name Bar in Sausalito. (9) In 1983, the ferry was demolished and only the paddle wheel and smoke stack survive, with plans to display the remains in a nearby park in Waldo Point Harbor (10). 

'''The Battle''' 

By the mid-'70s, parties, drugs, and music had become a regular feature of the houseboat scene, and many liken this stage of the houseboats as similar to [[Redevelopment Hits the Haight | Haight Street’s descent]]; an influx of hard drugs and guns had created an unsavory reputation. At this time, hillside Sausalito residents and county supervisors vocalized their support for a project which would “clean up” the waterfront and remove the houseboat settlements in favor of high-rise condominiums. (11) Thus began the Houseboat Wars, a struggle between the houseboat residents and Sausalito City Council. 

[[Image:Gates Cooperative wires.jpg]]

According to SF Chronicle columnist Carl Nolte, 
<blockquote>“The ’60s were a time of sex and drugs and rock and roll, even in quiet backwaters like the Sausalito bay front. Eventually there developed a huge conflict–almost a civil war–between the freewheeling houseboaters and the more conservative population of Sausalito, most of them living in the hills of the town. It was a battle between the hill and the bay shore.”
Houseboat resident Doug Storms echoes this sentiment, saying, “In the 1960s and early 70s, there was the classic conflict between the haves and have-nots.” (12) </blockquote>
The Marin County Board of Supervisors met in 1971 and passed an ordinance which would disperse the houseboats and develop the waterfront for condominiums. Hillside Sausalito residents complained that the houseboats were a “blight” and a nuisance. Shortly thereafter, the Marin County Sheriff began to cut the houseboats from their moors and attempted to tow them away, while ordering residents to vacate and using force to remove them. The conflict came to a head when resident Robert Grissom wielded a knife when deputies tried to cut his mooring, prompting them to draw their guns. In response, Marin County marine inspector Richard M. Larson declared a two-year Moratorium on the houseboats until a compromise could be reached (13). 
On December 12th, 1977, the conflict continued when the county brought in bulldozers and piledrivers with the intention of building a parking lot at Gate 5. Deputies bulldozed part of a boatyard building at Gate 5 while people were still in it, used fire hoses on protesting residents, and even ran over one resident with a speed boat. In true houseboat spirit, the community organized an impressive resistance, creating cardboard cutouts of people and shoveling piles of debris to stand in the bulldozer’s way. The county claimed that the area being filled in was just a sewage ditch, rather than an integral part of the area’s wetlands. The houseboat community worked with scientists to prove that the area was a viable wetland with many kinds of marine life, including fish. (14) The evidence was presented to the Fish and Game service and the Bay Conservation Development Commission, but to no avail. The creek was filled in and a parking lot built, which displaced the a few of the houseboats moored there.

Houseboaters knew they would need to create an organized front to take on the city and the county, so in 1978 Gate 5 residents banded together and formed the Napa Street Pier Co-Op, which obtained a restraining order against developers to halt the demolition. Gate 6 residents followed suit and formed the Gates Cooperative in 1979. (15) In 1980, Napa Street Pier Co-Op became incorporated as the Galilee Harbor Community Association, a nonprofit mutual benefit organization. After a case ruled that the land underneath the houseboats belonged to the City of Sausalito, the two cooperatives attempted negotiation with the city, which lead to litigation. In 1983, after three years of legal fighting, a compromise was reached. The Gates and Galilee houseboats could remain in Sausalito, under the condition that the Galilee boats be relocated 30 yards north, and that all houseboats must brought up to current municipal building code. Additionally, the remodeled boats were required to meet stringent environmental regulations. A Marin County Community Development Block Grant is awarded, as well as a grant from the San Francisco Foundation, to aid in construction and repair as well as relocation. In 1992, a survey done by the Community Development Block Grant agency shows the cooperatives to be made up of mostly low-income residents; (16) the Gates and Galilee cooperatives are officially reserved as low-income housing, and currently berth rents are capped at $250-400 per month. Construction at the Gates cooperative is still in progress, with plans to disperse the Gates houseboats among the other nearby houseboat harbors to make room for new construction and development. (17) 
Today, the Galilee and Gates cooperatives remain a stark contrast to the neighboring houseboats of Waldo Point Harbor, where waterborne mansions rent for hundreds a night on websites such as AirBnB and VRBO, and sell for millions. The cooperatives also stand out against the Sausalito hills, which are dotted with Tuscan style villas. But the Gates and Galilee Cooperative remain in spite of these changes, a symbol of artistic ingenuity and countercultural defiance.

'''Notes'''

1.'' Houseboat Wars''. Directed by Marianne Dolan. 2013. Sausalito, CA: Sausalito Historical Society, 2014. DVD. 
2. Greenwald, Jeff. "Livin' on the Dock of the Bay." ''[http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/livin-on-the-dock-of-the-bay-171787735/?all Smithsonian Magazine.]'' 3 April 2012. 
3. Shaffer, Kathy. ''Houseboats: Aquatic Architecture of Sausalito''. Atglen, PA: Shiffer Publishing Ltd., 2007, 38. 
4.'' Houseboat Wars''. Directed by Marianne Dolan. 2013. Sausalito, CA: Sausalito Historical Society, 2014. DVD. 
5.'' Houseboat Wars''. Directed by Marianne Dolan 
6. Pellisier, Hank. "Gates Co-Op Houseboats." ''[http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/23/us/23bcintel.html?_r=1 The New York Times]'': (22 January 2011). 
7. Greenwald, Jeff. "Livin' on the Dock of the Bay." 
8. Charles Van Damme Ferry Project. "Frequently Asked Questions." ''Richardson's Bay Maritime Association''. Accessed 11 October 2015. http://www.charlesvandammeferry.org/faqs.html 
9. Redlegs, The. "Joe Tate." ''The Redlegs'', accessed 11 October 2015. http://www.theredlegs.com/JoeTate.html 
10. Prado, Mark. "Historic Ferry Boat the Charles Van Damme on the Move Again in Sausalito." ''[http://www.marinij.com/general-news/20130930/historic-ferry-boat-the-charles-van-damme-on-the-move-again-in-sausalito The Marin Independent Journal]'': (30 September 2013). 
11. '' Houseboat Wars''. Directed by Marianne Dolan. 
12. Nolte, Carl. "Year of the Bay: The 'civil war' in Sausalito." [http://blog.sfgate.com/nolte/2013/08/11/year-of-the-bay-the-conflict-about-the-sausalito-houseboats/#photo-256364 SFGate]'': (11 August 2013). 
13. Rouda, Saul. ''The Last Free Ride.'' Directed by Saul Rouda and Roy Nolan. 1974. Sausalito, CA: San Francisco Bay Area Television Archive. Streaming. 
14. White, Lawrence. "Sausalito Houseboat Wars." ''Sausalito Houseboat Wars Facebook Page'', accessed 11 October 2015. https://www.facebook.com/houseboatwars/timeline 
15.Thompson, David. "Members Rock the Vote for the Boat." ''Cooperative News'', http://www.community.coop/davis/ryca/assets/coop_houseboat.pdf. 
16.Galilee Harbor Community Association. "History: A Century of Maritime Use." ''Galilee Harbor Community Association''. Accessed 11 October 2015. http://www.galileeharbor.org/history/history.html 
17. Dirks, Sandhya. "The Last Free Ride: A Pirate Community Goes Legit." ''[http://kalw.org/post/last-free-ride-pirate-community-goes-legit#stream/0 KALW]'', 10 September 2013.

File:Gates Cooperative walkway.JPG

2015-10-19T21:38:41Z

Aprilharper:

File:Gates Cooperative wires.jpg

2015-10-19T21:19:00Z

Aprilharper:

The Rise and Fall of Seventh Street in Oakland

2015-09-14T23:24:22Z

Aprilharper:

''' Historical Essay '''

''by Jennifer Soliman''

{| style="color: black; background-color: #F5DA81;"
| colspan="2" | More than any single event since its incorporation as a city in 1852, World War II transformed Oakland, notably West Oakland. One result of the influx of workers and economic vitality that the War brought to West Oakland was the development of Seventh Street as the neighborhood’s cultural centerpiece. In the 1940s and early 1950s, Seventh Street became a nationally reputed cultural haven for African-Americans. Jazz and blues musicians from around the country would perform in the Street’s myriad clubs producing a sound and scene known as the West Coast Blues. This article explores the factors that produced the Seventh Street heyday and the factors that, from the 1950s onward, created its economic and social demise.
|}

In the 1940s, West Oakland’s Seventh Street was hailed as a cultural haven for African-Americans. During the day, it served as a bustling place of commerce hosting a myriad of businesses such as markets, cleaners, restaurants, hotels and gyms. At night, its many nightclubs offered a thriving social scene that drew the hottest names in jazz from around the country. These clubs served as the seedbed that fostered the birth of West Coast Blues. Oakland’s specific location — at the junction of multiple modes of transportation — brought people from around the world to Oakland, especially Blacks from the South. It was these emigrants and immigrants who significantly contributed to the birth of Seventh Street. The ascent of Seventh Street’s prominence coincided with the emergence of a regional African-American middle class.

[[Image:Jennifer-Solimon Drug-store-7th-Street-1940s.jpg|720px]]

'''Neighborhood and business block of Seventh St., 1940s.'''

Even as the War-related jobs disappeared in the Bay Area, Seventh Street continued to thrive as a center of Black culture and commerce well into the 1950s.(1) What rung the knell of Seventh Street’s demise was federal intervention and modernization. West Oakland fell victim to urban renewal and other federal programs and initiatives that tore the Black neighborhood apart. Technological developments in transportation and in the shipyards led to a substantial loss of employment, and with it the paychecks that helped solidify Seventh Street. A substantial change in the social and economic landscapes ensued, and with it a deterioration of culture. What follows is an examination of the political and cultural factors that shaped the rise and decline of Seventh St in West Oakland.

West Oakland Before WWII 

Before the completion of national railroads linked to the Bay Area, West Oakland served as a “suburban outpost” for San Francisco. Oakland had a total population of merely 1,543 residents in 1860.(2) The completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869, which terminated in West Oakland, stimulated West Oakland’s economy and put the region on the national stage. An ethnically diverse work force was drawn to Oakland and the increasing employment opportunities provided by the railroad industry. By 1870, the population had jumped to 10,500 and, ten years later, further climbed to 34,555.(3) Blacks, Greeks, Latinos, Chinese, and Italians all found work and homes in West Oakland. Job opportunities ranged from delivery boys and laundry workers to engineers and sheet metal workers. Most African Americans found employment with the Pullman Palace Car Company. Despite being overqualified for the service sector positions, many Blacks worked as sleeping car porters, cooks, and waiters.(4) Only Black men were to serve as porters, as the Pullman Company believed it would sustain a natural divide between traveler and porter. In 1925, porters began organizing for union recognition and better working conditions. They chose Phillip Randolph, who had been fired for talk of unionization, to head the union with C. L. Dellums as Vice President, and soon the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters was born. They then began a long campaign against Pullman. In 1937, Pullman admitted defeat and signed what became the very first contract between African-Americans and a corporation.(5) Nonetheless, porters were revered in their communities. As Ronald Dellums remembers, “they seemed like the astronauts of the Black community,” because they left the community and ventured into the world.(6) Railroad men would return with stories of what they saw and learned. In turn, they would take pieces of home and share them with world, which would later prove useful in disseminating the music and culture of Seventh St. Despite low wages in comparison to white workers, the Pullman Porters laid the groundwork for a solid middle class in the Black community. Working as a porter afforded Blacks an opportunity to partake in the American dream, to accumulate wealth and to purchase property.(7) People bought real estate, took new jobs, and opened businesses, many of which were located on Seventh St. This Black middle class became the backbone of Seventh Street and stimulated its heyday.

WWII and the Emergence of Seventh Street as a African-American Cultural Haven

World War II brought an infusion of federal spending that profoundly transformed the economy of the Bay Area and, with it, the Black middle class. The defense industries rapidly expanded as contracts were allotted for shipbuilding and the construction of the Oakland Army base and a Naval Supply Center.(8) The ports, docks, and railroads went into overdrive as materials were being transported to accommodate the new work. Labor was required at every level in nearly every field. With the thousands of men off to war, employers were not in a position to discriminate in hiring practices, thus employment was open to workers of both genders and all colors. As news of employment arose, people flooded into the Bay. Blacks from the South assured by family in California that jobs were plentiful poured in from the ports and the transcontinental line to Oakland. Although skilled and unskilled labor was needed, wartime managers would concentrate the new, migrant workers in fields of unskilled, low-wage labor. Blacks employed on docks, railroads, or in military supply centers, for example, found themselves disproportionately represented in lower level work. However, this was not the case on shipyards, which were largely composed of skilled or semi-skilled laborers. Managers altered the nature of the work shifting to an emphasis on prefabrication to enable newcomers to enter higher paid semiskilled work like welding, burning, and shipfitting.(9) With this increase in employment came an increase in disposable income, income that was spent on the commercial thoroughfare of Seventh Street.

The migrant Blacks that took residence in established black neighborhoods further consolidated the Black middle class. Because West Oakland was already home to an established Black population, Black migrants from the South were naturally drawn there. Due to housing shortages, many migrant families were taken in as boarders. Over time however, moving into West Oakland became less of a choice and more like the only option. As Oakland’s population grew exponentially, the population was well over 300,000 by 1940,(10) housing shortages became a pressing issue drawing federal attention. Funded by Congress, the Federal Housing Administration’s Title 6 program guaranteed loans for private construction, but was restricted to white buyers doing little to help those of color. Thus, white suburban neighborhoods arose, many of which were built outside of the city limit in an attempt to avoid municipal building codes. With little assistance from the private sector, Blacks remained in West Oakland and relied on public housing programs. Claims of racial conflict by Oakland Housing Authority, however, necessitated segregation of these programs. Four all-Black projects were built in West Oakland, while corresponding white projects were built along bay flats in East Oakland.(11) In her book, ''The Second Gold Rush'', Marilynn Johnson proposes that segregation was implemented “in hopes of reducing interracial contacts and defusing tension” and was accepted in “in hopes of preserving social harmony through the war emergency.”(12) Nonetheless, the influx of Black migrants into West Oakland proved profitable for Seventh Street. They “formed the basis of new business,” according to Nathan Huggins,(13) that allowed merchants, landlords, and businesses owners on Seventh Street to prosper. Doctors, lawyers, and other professionals replaced the porters of the railroad era as the new Black middle class.

With a solid consumer base to support it, Seventh Street flourished. Southern Blacks brought with them the culture of owning property and soon both sides of Seventh Street became lined with cleaners, markets, groceries, liquor, furniture, pharmacies owned by Blacks. In KQED’s ''Crossroads: A Story of West Oakland'', residents reminisce on the vibrancy of Seventh Street, how shoppers would walk down the street laughing and meet up with friends. Along the street “you would encounter any number of colorful local characters, such as ‘The Reverend' who, along with his wife, preached from street corners; the ‘Tamale Man', who pushed a cart up and down the street hawking his hot tamales to people pouring out of the clubs in the early morning hours; or Charles ‘Raincoat Jones', a former bootlegger turned loan shark and dice game operator, who was known as the unofficial mayor of Seventh Street and helped finance some of the jazz and blues clubs.”(14) There were also pool halls, gambling halls, and places to eat southern-style foods like Sylester Sim’s Overland Cafe. Ads in the window boasted, “Just like mother used to fix it” and “No fancy French names for our dishes.”(15)

[[Image:Jennifer-Solimon Slim-Jenkins.jpg|left|thumb|'''Slim Jenkins club on 7th Street;''']] The epitome of Seventh Street, however, was its nightlife and its music. Dance halls, theaters, cafes and clubs lined the street. The majority of West Oakland’s jazz clubs were found on Seventh Street, more than fifteen by the mid-1940s. Growth of the entertainment industry in Oakland was due to the influx of people with paychecks and appetites for fun. There was a club for everyone on the socioeconomic scale. Because Black musicians were not allowed into the Local 6 of the American Federation of Musicians, they were prevented from playing in clubs in downtown Oakland .(16) Seventh Street became the place to play, and play they did! Styles like New Orleans, swing, bebop, and blues could be heard up and down the street. Migrants brought with them a musical style that was rooted in the South, which lent elements to a new style called the West Coast Blues. It had “slow, draggier beat and a kinda mournful sound ”(17) compared to that of Chicago. To hear the West Coast Blues, the place to be was Slim Jenkin’s, the most renowned club on the West Coast. It attracted a mixed clientele and the hottest names in jazz and blues like Nat King Cole, B.B. King, Charles Brown, The Ink Spots, Aretha Franklin, Duke Ellington, and Sarah Vaughan. Lines would bend around the corner, while taxis zipped in and out filled with people waiting to listen to Jenkin’s next big act.

The Economic and Cultural Destruction of Seventh Street

The tides soon turned against Seventh Street, decimating the Black neighborhoods and middle class that constituted the vibrant street. Overcrowded neighborhoods, which began as a temporary wartime necessity, became an economic one as hundreds of people lost their jobs after the War boom .(18) Crowding in West Oakland’s neighborhoods led to deterioration and increased crime and violence, which became labeled as “slums” and “blighted” by local officials. To prevent the rest of Oakland from falling under the cancerous nature of blight, officials pushed for redevelopment and urban renewal. With this came an unequal redistribution of capital and a new form of racial segregation, a trend that swept the nation (for more information see: *link from foundsf*). The Housing Act of 1949, under eminent domain, condemned to destruction the homes of Blacks that had fallen to disrepair. Dozens of blocks of homes were bulldozed to the ground to make room for housing projects like Acorn, which alone displaced approximately nine thousand residents. Four hundred more homes and business were demolished in 1960 to make room for the construction of a U.S Postal Service distribution center .(19) The Black residents that were once pushed into West Oakland were now being forced out, taking with them the wealth and culture that created the allure of Seventh Street.

[[Image:Jennifer-Soliman Esters-Orbit-Bart.jpg]]

'''BART tracks dominate the 7th Street corridor in this 2015 photo.'''

''Photo: Jennifer Soliman''

Slowly, Seventh Street lost its luster. As capital left West Oakland, employment diminished. The end of the War meant that fewer ships were needed and yards soon closed down. The emergence of “containers” on the ports displaced the multitudes of longshoremen that unloaded cargo. They were replaced by cranes that could unload entire boxcar sized trailers. A more extensive history of containerization can be found [[Mechanization_on_the_Waterfront|here]]. Travelers were no longer enchanted by the railroads, as the use of cars became more prominent. Because of the changes in the shipyards and railroads, thousands became unemployed. With the loss of jobs, came the loss of luster on Seventh Street. Without the sustenance of the steady flow of Black income, businesses closed their doors. The nightclubs that had once lined the street shut down or converted into neighborhood bars. Seventh Street became even more unappealing, with the construction of an overpass for the Cypress Freeway that sliced through it. The construction of BART was another heavy blow to Seventh Street. Unlike other stations, the BART station built in West Oakland was above ground with elevated tracks running straight through Seventh Street. The overpass killed the street. “Nobody wanted to go there with that thing running over your head all day long. ”(20) Shoppers stopped shopping, musicians stopped playing, and the life of Seventh Street was snuffed out. By the mid-1960s, the glamor of Seventh Street was all but forgotten.

Today, the Street is marked by boarded buildings and empty lots. Few signs remain of the vitality it once exuded. There are plans to revitalize West Oakland, notably the West Oakland Specific Plan, which has been approved by the Oakland City Council. Many community members fear that this approach to development will gentrify the area and displace longstanding residence. Others argue that the investment it will draw gives hope that a thoroughfare similar to Seventh Street will once again arise as a cultural haven for African Americans. For a glimpse of Seventh Street’s glamor, however, a virtual preservation of it can be found on the [http://7thstreet.org/ Remembering Seventh Street] site.

Notes
1. Joshua Shapiro, “Shipyards and Sounds.” Infinite City: A San Francisco Atlas, 62 
2. U.S Census of 1860 
3. U.S Census of 1870 and 1880, respectively 
4. ''Crossroads : A story of West Oakland.'' (1996; Quest Productions, video). 
5. Thomas and Wilma Tramble, ''The Pullman Porters and West Oakland'' (Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2007), 12-16 
6. 'Crossroads: A Story of West Oakland'' 
7. Tramble, ''The Pullman Porters and West Oakland'', 21 
8. Robert Douglass, [https://www.sonoma.edu/asc/cypress/finalreport/Chapter02.pdf “A Brief History of West Oakland”] (pdf) ''Olmsted and Olmsted'' (1994), 40.
9. Marilynn Johnson, ''The Second Gold Rush'' (London: University of California Press, 1993), 61-65 
10. U.S Census of 1940 
11. Johnson, ''The Second Gold Rush'', 93-106 
12. Johnson, ''The Second Gold Rush'', 106 
13. Johnson, ''The Second Gold Rush'', 96 
14. Yehuda E. Kalay and Paul Grabowicz, [http://3dvisa.cch.kcl.ac.uk/paper_kalay.html ''Virtual Preservation of Seventh Street's 1950s Jazz''], (accessed 30 April 2015). 
15. Willie Collins, “Jazzing up Seventh Street : musicians, venues, and their social implications.” ''Sights and Sounds Essays in Celebration of West Oakland''. (Oakland, CA, 1997), 302 
16. Collins, “Jazzing up Seventh Street,” 302 
17. DjeDje, Jacqueline Cogdell., and Eddie S. Meadows, “Oakland Blues." ''California Soul: Music of African Americans in the West'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998), 107. 
18. Collins, “Jazzing up Seventh Street,” 322 
19. Robert Self “Redistribution.” ''American Babylon: Race and the Struggle for Post-War Oakland,'' (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003), 137-141 
20. ''Crossroads : A story of West Oakland''

[[category:East Bay]] [[category:African-American]] [[category:1920s]] [[category:racism]] [[category:1940s]] [[category:1950s]] [[category:1960s]] [[category:Music]]

The Rise and Fall of Seventh Street in Oakland

2015-09-14T23:23:23Z

Aprilharper:

''' Historical Essay '''

''by Jennifer Soliman''

{| style="color: black; background-color: #F5DA81;"
| colspan="2" | More than any single event since its incorporation as a city in 1852, World War II transformed Oakland, notably West Oakland. One result of the influx of workers and economic vitality that the War brought to West Oakland was the development of Seventh Street as the neighborhood’s cultural centerpiece. In the 1940s and early 1950s, Seventh Street became a nationally reputed cultural haven for African-Americans. Jazz and blues musicians from around the country would perform in the Street’s myriad clubs producing a sound and scene known as the West Coast Blues. This article explores the factors that produced the Seventh Street heyday and the factors that, from the 1950s onward, created its economic and social demise.
|}

In the 1940s, West Oakland’s Seventh Street was hailed as a cultural haven for African-Americans. During the day, it served as a bustling place of commerce hosting a myriad of businesses such as markets, cleaners, restaurants, hotels and gyms. At night, its many nightclubs offered a thriving social scene that drew the hottest names in jazz from around the country. These clubs served as the seedbed that fostered the birth of West Coast Blues. Oakland’s specific location — at the junction of multiple modes of transportation — brought people from around the world to Oakland, especially Blacks from the South. It was these emigrants and immigrants who significantly contributed to the birth of Seventh Street. The ascent of Seventh Street’s prominence coincided with the emergence of a regional African-American middle class.

[[Image:Jennifer-Solimon Drug-store-7th-Street-1940s.jpg|720px]]

'''Neighborhood and business block of Seventh St., 1940s.'''

Even as the War-related jobs disappeared in the Bay Area, Seventh Street continued to thrive as a center of Black culture and commerce well into the 1950s.(1) What rung the knell of Seventh Street’s demise was federal intervention and modernization. West Oakland fell victim to urban renewal and other federal programs and initiatives that tore the Black neighborhood apart. Technological developments in transportation and in the shipyards led to a substantial loss of employment, and with it the paychecks that helped solidify Seventh Street. A substantial change in the social and economic landscapes ensued, and with it a deterioration of culture. What follows is an examination of the political and cultural factors that shaped the rise and decline of Seventh St in West Oakland.

West Oakland Before WWII 

Before the completion of national railroads linked to the Bay Area, West Oakland served as a “suburban outpost” for San Francisco. Oakland had a total population of merely 1,543 residents in 1860.(2) The completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869, which terminated in West Oakland, stimulated West Oakland’s economy and put the region on the national stage. An ethnically diverse work force was drawn to Oakland and the increasing employment opportunities provided by the railroad industry. By 1870, the population had jumped to 10,500 and, ten years later, further climbed to 34,555.(3) Blacks, Greeks, Latinos, Chinese, and Italians all found work and homes in West Oakland. Job opportunities ranged from delivery boys and laundry workers to engineers and sheet metal workers. Most African Americans found employment with the Pullman Palace Car Company. Despite being overqualified for the service sector positions, many Blacks worked as sleeping car porters, cooks, and waiters.(4) Only Black men were to serve as porters, as the Pullman Company believed it would sustain a natural divide between traveler and porter. In 1925, porters began organizing for union recognition and better working conditions. They chose Phillip Randolph, who had been fired for talk of unionization, to head the union with C. L. Dellums as Vice President, and soon the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters was born. They then began a long campaign against Pullman. In 1937, Pullman admitted defeat and signed what became the very first contract between African-Americans and a corporation.(5) Nonetheless, porters were revered in their communities. As Ronald Dellums remembers, “they seemed like the astronauts of the Black community,” because they left the community and ventured into the world.(6) Railroad men would return with stories of what they saw and learned. In turn, they would take pieces of home and share them with world, which would later prove useful in disseminating the music and culture of Seventh St. Despite low wages in comparison to white workers, the Pullman Porters laid the groundwork for a solid middle class in the Black community. Working as a porter afforded Blacks an opportunity to partake in the American dream, to accumulate wealth and to purchase property.(7) People bought real estate, took new jobs, and opened businesses, many of which were located on Seventh St. This Black middle class became the backbone of Seventh Street and stimulated its heyday.

WWII and the Emergence of Seventh Street as a African-American Cultural Haven

World War II brought an infusion of federal spending that profoundly transformed the economy of the Bay Area and, with it, the Black middle class. The defense industries rapidly expanded as contracts were allotted for shipbuilding and the construction of the Oakland Army base and a Naval Supply Center.(8) The ports, docks, and railroads went into overdrive as materials were being transported to accommodate the new work. Labor was required at every level in nearly every field. With the thousands of men off to war, employers were not in a position to discriminate in hiring practices, thus employment was open to workers of both genders and all colors. As news of employment arose, people flooded into the Bay. Blacks from the South assured by family in California that jobs were plentiful poured in from the ports and the transcontinental line to Oakland. Although skilled and unskilled labor was needed, wartime managers would concentrate the new, migrant workers in fields of unskilled, low-wage labor. Blacks employed on docks, railroads, or in military supply centers, for example, found themselves disproportionately represented in lower level work. However, this was not the case on shipyards, which were largely composed of skilled or semi-skilled laborers. Managers altered the nature of the work shifting to an emphasis on prefabrication to enable newcomers to enter higher paid semiskilled work like welding, burning, and shipfitting.(9) With this increase in employment came an increase in disposable income, income that was spent on the commercial thoroughfare of Seventh Street.

The migrant Blacks that took residence in established black neighborhoods further consolidated the Black middle class. Because West Oakland was already home to an established Black population, Black migrants from the South were naturally drawn there. Due to housing shortages, many migrant families were taken in as boarders. Over time however, moving into West Oakland became less of a choice and more like the only option. As Oakland’s population grew exponentially, the population was well over 300,000 by 1940,(10) housing shortages became a pressing issue drawing federal attention. Funded by Congress, the Federal Housing Administration’s Title 6 program guaranteed loans for private construction, but was restricted to white buyers doing little to help those of color. Thus, white suburban neighborhoods arose, many of which were built outside of the city limit in an attempt to avoid municipal building codes. With little assistance from the private sector, Blacks remained in West Oakland and relied on public housing programs. Claims of racial conflict by Oakland Housing Authority, however, necessitated segregation of these programs. Four all-Black projects were built in West Oakland, while corresponding white projects were built along bay flats in East Oakland.(11) In her book, ''The Second Gold Rush'', Marilynn Johnson proposes that segregation was implemented “in hopes of reducing interracial contacts and defusing tension” and was accepted in “in hopes of preserving social harmony through the war emergency.”(12) Nonetheless, the influx of Black migrants into West Oakland proved profitable for Seventh Street. They “formed the basis of new business,” according to Nathan Huggins,(13) that allowed merchants, landlords, and businesses owners on Seventh Street to prosper. Doctors, lawyers, and other professionals replaced the porters of the railroad era as the new Black middle class.

With a solid consumer base to support it, Seventh Street flourished. Southern Blacks brought with them the culture of owning property and soon both sides of Seventh Street became lined with cleaners, markets, groceries, liquor, furniture, pharmacies owned by Blacks. In KQED’s ''Crossroads: A Story of West Oakland'', residents reminisce on the vibrancy of Seventh Street, how shoppers would walk down the street laughing and meet up with friends. Along the street “you would encounter any number of colorful local characters, such as ‘The Reverend' who, along with his wife, preached from street corners; the ‘Tamale Man', who pushed a cart up and down the street hawking his hot tamales to people pouring out of the clubs in the early morning hours; or Charles ‘Raincoat Jones', a former bootlegger turned loan shark and dice game operator, who was known as the unofficial mayor of Seventh Street and helped finance some of the jazz and blues clubs.”(14) There were also pool halls, gambling halls, and places to eat southern-style foods like Sylester Sim’s Overland Cafe. Ads in the window boasted, “Just like mother used to fix it” and “No fancy French names for our dishes.”(15)

[[Image:Jennifer-Solimon Slim-Jenkins.jpg|left|thumb|'''Slim Jenkins club on 7th Street;''']] The epitome of Seventh Street, however, was its nightlife and its music. Dance halls, theaters, cafes and clubs lined the street. The majority of West Oakland’s jazz clubs were found on Seventh Street, more than fifteen by the mid-1940s. Growth of the entertainment industry in Oakland was due to the influx of people with paychecks and appetites for fun. There was a club for everyone on the socioeconomic scale. Because Black musicians were not allowed into the Local 6 of the American Federation of Musicians, they were prevented from playing in clubs in downtown Oakland .(16) Seventh Street became the place to play, and play they did! Styles like New Orleans, swing, bebop, and blues could be heard up and down the street. Migrants brought with them a musical style that was rooted in the South, which lent elements to a new style called the West Coast Blues. It had “slow, draggier beat and a kinda mournful sound ”(17) compared to that of Chicago. To hear the West Coast Blues, the place to be was Slim Jenkin’s, the most renowned club on the West Coast. It attracted a mixed clientele and the hottest names in jazz and blues like Nat King Cole, B.B. King, Charles Brown, The Ink Spots, Aretha Franklin, Duke Ellington, and Sarah Vaughan. Lines would bend around the corner, while taxis zipped in and out filled with people waiting to listen to Jenkin’s next big act. [[File:slim.jpg]]

The Economic and Cultural Destruction of Seventh Street

The tides soon turned against Seventh Street, decimating the Black neighborhoods and middle class that constituted the vibrant street. Overcrowded neighborhoods, which began as a temporary wartime necessity, became an economic one as hundreds of people lost their jobs after the War boom .(18) Crowding in West Oakland’s neighborhoods led to deterioration and increased crime and violence, which became labeled as “slums” and “blighted” by local officials. To prevent the rest of Oakland from falling under the cancerous nature of blight, officials pushed for redevelopment and urban renewal. With this came an unequal redistribution of capital and a new form of racial segregation, a trend that swept the nation (for more information see: *link from foundsf*). The Housing Act of 1949, under eminent domain, condemned to destruction the homes of Blacks that had fallen to disrepair. Dozens of blocks of homes were bulldozed to the ground to make room for housing projects like Acorn, which alone displaced approximately nine thousand residents. Four hundred more homes and business were demolished in 1960 to make room for the construction of a U.S Postal Service distribution center .(19) The Black residents that were once pushed into West Oakland were now being forced out, taking with them the wealth and culture that created the allure of Seventh Street.

[[Image:Jennifer-Soliman Esters-Orbit-Bart.jpg]]

'''BART tracks dominate the 7th Street corridor in this 2015 photo.'''

''Photo: Jennifer Soliman''

Slowly, Seventh Street lost its luster. As capital left West Oakland, employment diminished. The end of the War meant that fewer ships were needed and yards soon closed down. The emergence of “containers” on the ports displaced the multitudes of longshoremen that unloaded cargo. They were replaced by cranes that could unload entire boxcar sized trailers. A more extensive history of containerization can be found [[Mechanization_on_the_Waterfront|here]]. Travelers were no longer enchanted by the railroads, as the use of cars became more prominent. Because of the changes in the shipyards and railroads, thousands became unemployed. With the loss of jobs, came the loss of luster on Seventh Street. Without the sustenance of the steady flow of Black income, businesses closed their doors. The nightclubs that had once lined the street shut down or converted into neighborhood bars. Seventh Street became even more unappealing, with the construction of an overpass for the Cypress Freeway that sliced through it. The construction of BART was another heavy blow to Seventh Street. Unlike other stations, the BART station built in West Oakland was above ground with elevated tracks running straight through Seventh Street. The overpass killed the street. “Nobody wanted to go there with that thing running over your head all day long. ”(20) Shoppers stopped shopping, musicians stopped playing, and the life of Seventh Street was snuffed out. By the mid-1960s, the glamor of Seventh Street was all but forgotten.

Today, the Street is marked by boarded buildings and empty lots. Few signs remain of the vitality it once exuded. There are plans to revitalize West Oakland, notably the West Oakland Specific Plan, which has been approved by the Oakland City Council. Many community members fear that this approach to development will gentrify the area and displace longstanding residence. Others argue that the investment it will draw gives hope that a thoroughfare similar to Seventh Street will once again arise as a cultural haven for African Americans. For a glimpse of Seventh Street’s glamor, however, a virtual preservation of it can be found on the [http://7thstreet.org/ Remembering Seventh Street] site.

Notes
1. Joshua Shapiro, “Shipyards and Sounds.” Infinite City: A San Francisco Atlas, 62 
2. U.S Census of 1860 
3. U.S Census of 1870 and 1880, respectively 
4. ''Crossroads : A story of West Oakland.'' (1996; Quest Productions, video). 
5. Thomas and Wilma Tramble, ''The Pullman Porters and West Oakland'' (Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2007), 12-16 
6. 'Crossroads: A Story of West Oakland'' 
7. Tramble, ''The Pullman Porters and West Oakland'', 21 
8. Robert Douglass, [https://www.sonoma.edu/asc/cypress/finalreport/Chapter02.pdf “A Brief History of West Oakland”] (pdf) ''Olmsted and Olmsted'' (1994), 40.
9. Marilynn Johnson, ''The Second Gold Rush'' (London: University of California Press, 1993), 61-65 
10. U.S Census of 1940 
11. Johnson, ''The Second Gold Rush'', 93-106 
12. Johnson, ''The Second Gold Rush'', 106 
13. Johnson, ''The Second Gold Rush'', 96 
14. Yehuda E. Kalay and Paul Grabowicz, [http://3dvisa.cch.kcl.ac.uk/paper_kalay.html ''Virtual Preservation of Seventh Street's 1950s Jazz''], (accessed 30 April 2015). 
15. Willie Collins, “Jazzing up Seventh Street : musicians, venues, and their social implications.” ''Sights and Sounds Essays in Celebration of West Oakland''. (Oakland, CA, 1997), 302 
16. Collins, “Jazzing up Seventh Street,” 302 
17. DjeDje, Jacqueline Cogdell., and Eddie S. Meadows, “Oakland Blues." ''California Soul: Music of African Americans in the West'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998), 107. 
18. Collins, “Jazzing up Seventh Street,” 322 
19. Robert Self “Redistribution.” ''American Babylon: Race and the Struggle for Post-War Oakland,'' (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003), 137-141 
20. ''Crossroads : A story of West Oakland''

[[category:East Bay]] [[category:African-American]] [[category:1920s]] [[category:racism]] [[category:1940s]] [[category:1950s]] [[category:1960s]] [[category:Music]]