Marines' Memorial Club | |
---|---|
Former names | Western Women's Club |
General information | |
Architectural style | Spanish Colonial-style |
Address | 609 Sutter Street |
Town or city | San Francisco, California |
Coordinates | 37°47′20.05″N122°24′37.69″W / 37.7889028°N 122.4104694°W |
Completed | 1926 |
Owner | Marines Memorial Association |
Technical details | |
Floor count | 12 |
The Marines' Memorial Club in San Francisco, California at 609 Sutter Street (at Mason), is a 501(c)19 nonprofit veterans charity and private social club for United States Marines and other veterans of the United States Armed Forces. The nonprofit Marines' Memorial Association owns the large building in the Union Square neighborhood of San Francisco that houses a hotel, theater, restaurant/bar, sports club, special event facilities, library, museum, memorial, and a military history bookstore. [1] The facility was built as the Western Women's Club in 1926.
The Western Women's Club building [2] [3] [4] [5] is a 12-story Beaux-Arts-style building, designed by the firm of Walter Danforth Bliss and William Baker Faville, [6] and built in 1926. The Western Women's Club was a member of the General Federation of Women's Clubs. The Western Women's Club building was bought by the Marines Memorial Association in 1947. [6] Western Women's Club had a later location at 111 O'Farrell Street. [7]
As a port city, San Francisco has, since its founding by Spain, been associated with military personnel – especially the navy – and merchant mariners. During World War II it was a point of embarcation for many service personnel in for the Pacific Theatre. Those who passed through the city before deployment would remember their experience and return after the war. [8]
The Marines' Memorial was opened as a club for veterans of the Marines, although membership is open to all United States servicemembers. [9] Early in 1946, the Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Alexander A. Vandegrift, had proposed a "living memorial" to Marine casualties from the War in the Pacific. A group of Marines arranged to buy a building owned by a women's club at Mason Street and Sutter Street in San Francisco, [1] whose members they had met through their participation in the wartime WAVES program. [10] The club opened on November 10, 1946, the anniversary of the founding of the Marine Corps. [11]
The theater predates the club, and was part of the original 1926 building. In its early days it hosted nationwide radio broadcasts by Bob Hope, Jack Benny, and Frank Sinatra. It later housed the San Francisco Actor's Workshop, which produced plays by Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, and Bertolt Brecht. It was also the first home of the American Conservatory Theater. [12]
Today the association has 21,000 members from all branches of the United States military, NOAA, and the Public Health Service, mostly from California. [13]
The most noticeable features are a 650-seat repertory theater and a lobby display of military memorabilia, most notably the ship's bell from the USS San Francisco. [14] It also includes two restaurants (including the club's "Leatherneck Grill" steakhouse) and a Club One fitness center. The building also includes the Tribute Memorial Wall, a private memorial to American troops killed in the Iraq War and war in Afghanistan. [15] [16]
During the early years of World War II, Japanese Americans were forcibly relocated from their homes on the West Coast because military leaders and public opinion combined to fan unproven fears of sabotage. As the war progressed, many of the young Nisei, Japanese immigrants' children who were born with American citizenship, volunteered or were drafted to serve in the United States military. Japanese Americans served in all the branches of the United States Armed Forces, including the United States Merchant Marine. An estimated 33,000 Japanese Americans served in the U.S. military during World War II, of which 20,000 joined the Army. Approximately 800 were killed in action.
Northern California is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Spanning the state's northernmost 48 counties, its main population centers include the San Francisco Bay Area, the Greater Sacramento area, the Redding, California, area south of the Cascade Range, and the Metropolitan Fresno area. Northern California also contains redwood forests, along with most of the Sierra Nevada, including Yosemite Valley and part of Lake Tahoe, Mount Shasta, and most of the Central Valley, one of the world's most productive agricultural regions.
Brothers James Lloyd "Jim" Mitchell and Artie Jay Mitchell were American entrepreneurs. They operated in the pornography and striptease club business in San Francisco and other parts of California from 1969 until 1991 when Jim was convicted of killing Artie.
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Marine Corps Recruit DepotSan Diego is a United States Marine Corps military installation in San Diego, California. It lies between San Diego Bay and Interstate 5, adjacent to San Diego International Airport and the former Naval Training Center San Diego. MCRD San Diego's main mission is the initial training of enlisted male and female recruits living west of the Mississippi River. Over 21,000 recruits are trained each year. As of 2022, 1.5 million recruits have completed their boot camp training at the Depot. The Depot also is the home to the Marine Corps' Recruiter School and Drill Instructors School.
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Sutter Health California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC) is a general medical/surgical and teaching hospital in San Francisco, California. It was created by a merger of some of the city's longest established hospitals and currently operates three acute care campuses.
The Tenderloin is a neighborhood in downtown San Francisco, in the flatlands on the southern slope of Nob Hill, situated between the Union Square shopping district to the northeast and the Civic Center office district to the southwest. Encompassing about 50 square blocks, it is historically bounded on the north by Geary Street, on the east by Mason Street, on the south by Market Street and on the west by Van Ness Avenue. The northern boundary with Lower Nob Hill has historically been set at Geary Boulevard.
Van Ness Avenue is a north–south thoroughfare in San Francisco, California. Originally named Marlette Street, the street was renamed in honor of the city's sixth mayor, James Van Ness.
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The Hunter–Dulin Building is a class A office building located at 111 Sutter Street in San Francisco, California.
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Western Women's Club, 609 Sutter St.
The meeting was held in the Western Women's Club at 111 O'Farrell Street and at noon a luncheon was held.