Marin City, California

Marin City is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Marin County, California, United States. It is located 1.5mi northwest of downtown Sausalito, and about 5 miles north of San Francisco from the Golden Gate Bridge, 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 Caucasian populations in Marin County. In 2004 the community had high levels of poverty, crime, and recreational drug use. Marin City began to enjoy a newfound celebrity in the 1990s as the home of rapper Tupac Shakur.HistoryPrior to World War II, 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 6,000 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.