Marin City, California
Encyclopedia
Marin City, is an unincorporated community
and census-designated place
(CDP) in Marin County
, California
, United States
. It is located 1.5 miles (2.4 km) northwest of downtown Sausalito
, at an elevation of 23 feet (7 m). Marin City was developed for housing starting in 1942, to accommodate war-time shipyard workers and other immigrants to California. After the war, the area became predominantly African-American, as white residents were able to move freely to private housing elsewhere in Marin. Since the 1980s, additional development has changed the makeup of the population while providing more local jobs. The population in 2010 was 2,666. Marin City's socioeconomic and racial makeup contrasts with the mostly wealthy and white populations in Marin County. In 2004 the community had high levels of poverty, crime, and recreational drug use. Marin City began to enjoy a new found celebrity in the 90's due to it being the home of rapper Tupac Shakur
.
, the land that would become Marin City was home to a dairy farm and a handful of families. Soon after war was declared on December 8, 1941, Marin City was rapidly built during 1942 in order to house 6000 of the 20,000 workers who migrated from all over the United States, attracted by the jobs at Marinship
, the Sausalito waterfront shipyard. A total of 93 liberty ships and tankers were built and launched from Marinship
in less than three years.
Many of the African American
shipyard laborers who had migrated from the Southern U.S. ended up living permanently in Marin City either by choice or because many black families not allowed to live or buy homes in the towns surrounding Marin City due to racism. They became the core of the community when most of the other guest laborers departed at the end of the war. During the war, African Americans comprised about 10% of Marin City's population. By the 1970s, African Americans comprised over three quarters of the population of Marin City, most of whom traced their roots to the Marinship laborers.
During the 1980s and 1990s there was considerable residential and commercial development, including several new housing developments, apartment complexes, and condo developments. There was also an expansion of commercial area particularly with the building of the Gateway Shopping Center that displaced the locally renowned flea market.
According to the United States Census Bureau
, the CDP had an area of 0.537 mi2
Chartered in 1958, the MCCSD is responsible for providing services in the areas of parks and recreation, street lighting, recycling and refuse removal.
According to the Marin County Local Agency Formation Commission
(LAFCO), the District has a total area of 0.9 square miles (2.3 km2).
Total operating revenue for MCCSD's fiscal year 2005–2006 was $613,000.
was 4,967.0 people per square mile (1,917.8/km²). The racial makeup of Marin City was 1,037 (38.9%) White, 1,017 (38.1%) African American, 15 (0.6%) Native American, 287 (10.8%) Asian, 21 (0.8%) Pacific Islander, 120 (4.5%) from other races
, and 169 (6.3%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 365 persons (13.7%).
The Census reported that 100% of the population lived in households.
There were 1,197 households, out of which 380 (31.7%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 298 (24.9%) were opposite-sex married couples
living together, 300 (25.1%) had a female householder with no husband present, 57 (4.8%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 85 (7.1%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships
, and 18 (1.5%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 427 households (35.7%) were made up of individuals and 94 (7.9%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.23. There were 655 families
(54.7% of all households); the average family size was 2.91.
The population was spread out with 633 people (23.7%) under the age of 18, 261 people (9.8%) aged 18 to 24, 820 people (30.8%) aged 25 to 44, 703 people (26.4%) aged 45 to 64, and 249 people (9.3%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35.6 years. For every 100 females there were 83.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 75.4 males.
There were 1,309 housing units at an average density of 2,438.8 per square mile (941.6/km²), of which 30.7% were owner-occupied and 69.3% were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 2.1%; the rental vacancy rate was 8.6%. 27.2% of the population lived in owner-occupied housing units and 72.8% lived in rental housing units.
for primary grades (K-8) and the Tamalpais Union High School District
for secondary grades. Grades K-6 attend either Bayside Elementary School in Sausalito or Willow Creek Academy (a public charter school), both in Sausalito
. Grades 7-8 attend Martin Luther King Jr. Academy in Marin City, or Willow Creek Academy. Grades 9-12 attend Tamalpais High School
in Mill Valley
.
Marin City is also served by the Marin City Library, a branch of the Marin County Free Library
.
, the 331 and 332 telephone prefixes, and Sausalito Marin City School District with its close neighbor Sausalito
. Most of the housing in Marin City was developed in the 1970s, '80s and '90s after much of the temporary Marinship housing put up in 1942 had been razed.
Unincorporated area
In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...
and census-designated place
Census-designated place
A census-designated place is a concentration of population identified by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes. CDPs are delineated for each decennial census as the statistical counterparts of incorporated places such as cities, towns and villages...
(CDP) in Marin County
Marin County, California
Marin County is a county located in the North San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. As of 2010, the population was 252,409. The county seat is San Rafael and the largest employer is the county government. Marin County is well...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It is located 1.5 miles (2.4 km) northwest of downtown Sausalito
Sausalito, California
Sausalito is a San Francisco Bay Area city, in Marin County, California, United States. Sausalito is south-southeast of San Rafael, at an elevation of 13 feet . The population was 7,061 as of the 2010 census. The community is situated near the northern end of the Golden Gate Bridge, and prior to...
, at an elevation of 23 feet (7 m). Marin City was developed for housing starting in 1942, to accommodate war-time shipyard workers and other immigrants to California. After the war, the area became predominantly African-American, as white residents were able to move freely to private housing elsewhere in Marin. Since the 1980s, additional development has changed the makeup of the population while providing more local jobs. The population in 2010 was 2,666. Marin City's socioeconomic and racial makeup contrasts with the mostly wealthy and white populations in Marin County. In 2004 the community had high levels of poverty, crime, and recreational drug use. Marin City began to enjoy a new found celebrity in the 90's due to it being the home of rapper Tupac Shakur
Tupac Shakur
Tupac Amaru Shakur , known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper and actor. Shakur has sold over 75 million albums worldwide as of 2007, making him one of the best-selling music artists in the world...
.
History
Prior to World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the land that would become Marin City was home to a dairy farm and a handful of families. Soon after war was declared on December 8, 1941, Marin City was rapidly built during 1942 in order to house 6000 of the 20,000 workers who migrated from all over the United States, attracted by the jobs at Marinship
Marinship
Marinship Corporation was a shipbuilding company of the United States during World War II, created to build the shipping required for the war effort...
, the Sausalito waterfront shipyard. A total of 93 liberty ships and tankers were built and launched from Marinship
Marinship
Marinship Corporation was a shipbuilding company of the United States during World War II, created to build the shipping required for the war effort...
in less than three years.
Many of the African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
shipyard laborers who had migrated from the Southern U.S. ended up living permanently in Marin City either by choice or because many black families not allowed to live or buy homes in the towns surrounding Marin City due to racism. They became the core of the community when most of the other guest laborers departed at the end of the war. During the war, African Americans comprised about 10% of Marin City's population. By the 1970s, African Americans comprised over three quarters of the population of Marin City, most of whom traced their roots to the Marinship laborers.
During the 1980s and 1990s there was considerable residential and commercial development, including several new housing developments, apartment complexes, and condo developments. There was also an expansion of commercial area particularly with the building of the Gateway Shopping Center that displaced the locally renowned flea market.
Geography
Marin City is located at 38°52'07" North, 122°30'33" West, about 5 miles north of San Francisco.According to the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
, the CDP had an area of 0.537 mi2
Government
The municipal authority for Marin City is the Marin City Community Services District (MCCSD), a multi-purpose California special district that is governed by a publicly-elected five-member board of directors and is administered by a district manager and staff. As of June 2011, the District Manager is Johnathan Logan, Jr. and the Board President is Nancy Johnson.Chartered in 1958, the MCCSD is responsible for providing services in the areas of parks and recreation, street lighting, recycling and refuse removal.
According to the Marin County Local Agency Formation Commission
Local Agency Formation Commission
A Local Agency Formation Commission is one of several decision making government entities in California with the responsibility to decide boundary issues pertaining to city and county lands, including spheres of influence, and issues about the annexation of county lands into a city or special...
(LAFCO), the District has a total area of 0.9 square miles (2.3 km2).
Total operating revenue for MCCSD's fiscal year 2005–2006 was $613,000.
Demographics
The 2010 United States Census reported that Marin City had a population of 2,666. The population densityPopulation density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 4,967.0 people per square mile (1,917.8/km²). The racial makeup of Marin City was 1,037 (38.9%) White, 1,017 (38.1%) African American, 15 (0.6%) Native American, 287 (10.8%) Asian, 21 (0.8%) Pacific Islander, 120 (4.5%) from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 169 (6.3%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 365 persons (13.7%).
The Census reported that 100% of the population lived in households.
There were 1,197 households, out of which 380 (31.7%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 298 (24.9%) were opposite-sex married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together, 300 (25.1%) had a female householder with no husband present, 57 (4.8%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 85 (7.1%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships
POSSLQ
POSSLQ is an abbreviation for "Persons of Opposite Sex Sharing Living Quarters," a term coined in the late 1970s by the United States Census Bureau as part of an effort to more accurately gauge the prevalence of cohabitation in American households....
, and 18 (1.5%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 427 households (35.7%) were made up of individuals and 94 (7.9%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.23. There were 655 families
Family (U.S. Census)
A family or family household is defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes as "a householder and one or more other people related to the householder by birth, marriage, or adoption. They do not include same-sex married couples even if the marriage was performed in a state...
(54.7% of all households); the average family size was 2.91.
The population was spread out with 633 people (23.7%) under the age of 18, 261 people (9.8%) aged 18 to 24, 820 people (30.8%) aged 25 to 44, 703 people (26.4%) aged 45 to 64, and 249 people (9.3%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35.6 years. For every 100 females there were 83.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 75.4 males.
There were 1,309 housing units at an average density of 2,438.8 per square mile (941.6/km²), of which 30.7% were owner-occupied and 69.3% were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 2.1%; the rental vacancy rate was 8.6%. 27.2% of the population lived in owner-occupied housing units and 72.8% lived in rental housing units.
Notable residents
- George DukeGeorge DukeGeorge Duke is a multi-faceted American musician, known as a keyboard pioneer, composer, singer and producer in both jazz and popular mainstream musical genres. He has worked with numerous acclaimed artists as arranger, music director, writer and co-writer, record producer and professor of music...
was born in San Rafael, and reared in Marin City.
- Jack KerouacJack KerouacJean-Louis "Jack" Lebris de Kerouac was an American novelist and poet. He is considered a literary iconoclast and, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Kerouac is recognized for his spontaneous method of writing, covering topics such as Catholic...
stayed in Marin City and nearby Mill Valley during his travels in the 1940s and 1950s. (He combined the two cities' names into "Mill City" in On the RoadOn the RoadOn the Road is a novel by American writer Jack Kerouac, written in April 1951, and published by Viking Press in 1957. It is a largely autobiographical work that was based on the spontaneous road trips of Kerouac and his friends across mid-century America. It is often considered a defining work of...
.) Beat poet Lew WelchLew WelchLewis Barrett Welch, Jr. was an American poet associated with the Beat generation of poets, artists, and iconoclasts.Welch published and performed widely during the 1960s...
lived in Marin City during the 1960s. Jazz historian Grover Sales was his immediate neighbor.
- Bola SeteBola SeteBola Sete was a Brazilian guitarist. Sete played jazz with Vince Guaraldi as well as with Dizzy Gillespie. His song "Bettina" was featured on the "Tribe Vibes" breakbeat compilation, as it had been sampled by the musical group A Tribe Called Quest.Born in Rio de Janeiro, Bola Sete's name means...
(born Djalma de Andrade) was a black Brazilian guitarist. He bought a home on the hillside in Marin City and lived there until just before his death. His wife, painter Anne Sete continued to reside in Marin City.
- Writer Anne LamottAnne LamottAnne Lamott is a novelist and non-fiction writer. She is also a political activist, public speaker and writing teacher. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, her nonfiction works are largely autobiographical...
lived in Marin City during the time she was writing Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year. Although white, she felt welcomed by a mostly-black community that didn't mind her being a single mother.
- Tupac ShakurTupac ShakurTupac Amaru Shakur , known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper and actor. Shakur has sold over 75 million albums worldwide as of 2007, making him one of the best-selling music artists in the world...
(born Lesane Parish Crooks) After being born and living his early life in East Harlem, Tupac and his family relocated to Marin City in 1988. Tupac finished high school at Tamalpais High SchoolTamalpais High SchoolTamalpais High School is a public secondary school located in Mill Valley, California. It is named after nearby Mount Tamalpais, which rises more than above Mill Valley....
.
Education
Marin City is served by the Sausalito Marin City School DistrictSausalito Marin City School District
-Bayside Elementary School:Bayside Elementary School has an enrollment of 106 students in kindergarten through sixth grade. With 9.0 full-time-equivalent teachers, Bayside has a student-teacher ratio of 11.8. The campus is located in the urban fringe of a large city...
for primary grades (K-8) and the Tamalpais Union High School District
Tamalpais Union High School District
The Tamalpais Union High School District or TUHSD provides high school education to students residing in ten elementary districts in central and southern Marin County, California and parts of West Marin: Bolinas-Stinson Union, Kentfield, Lagunitas, Larkspur, Mill Valley, Nicasio, Reed Union, Ross,...
for secondary grades. Grades K-6 attend either Bayside Elementary School in Sausalito or Willow Creek Academy (a public charter school), both in Sausalito
Sausalito, California
Sausalito is a San Francisco Bay Area city, in Marin County, California, United States. Sausalito is south-southeast of San Rafael, at an elevation of 13 feet . The population was 7,061 as of the 2010 census. The community is situated near the northern end of the Golden Gate Bridge, and prior to...
. Grades 7-8 attend Martin Luther King Jr. Academy in Marin City, or Willow Creek Academy. Grades 9-12 attend Tamalpais High School
Tamalpais High School
Tamalpais High School is a public secondary school located in Mill Valley, California. It is named after nearby Mount Tamalpais, which rises more than above Mill Valley....
in Mill Valley
Mill Valley, California
Mill Valley is a city in Marin County, California, United States located about north of San Francisco via the Golden Gate Bridge. The population was 13,903 at the 2010 census.Mill Valley is located on the western and northern shores of Richardson Bay...
.
Marin City is also served by the Marin City Library, a branch of the Marin County Free Library
Marin County Free Library
Marin County Free Library is a medium-sized public library system that serves the unincorporated areas of Marin County, as well as municipalities in the County that are not served by a city-run public library...
.
Housing
Homes sold in Marin City are often labeled as being located in Sausalito since Marin City shares the 94965 ZIP CodeZIP Code
ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...
, the 331 and 332 telephone prefixes, and Sausalito Marin City School District with its close neighbor Sausalito
Sausalito, California
Sausalito is a San Francisco Bay Area city, in Marin County, California, United States. Sausalito is south-southeast of San Rafael, at an elevation of 13 feet . The population was 7,061 as of the 2010 census. The community is situated near the northern end of the Golden Gate Bridge, and prior to...
. Most of the housing in Marin City was developed in the 1970s, '80s and '90s after much of the temporary Marinship housing put up in 1942 had been razed.