May 19 – 27

Two days later Joanna and I made a long-delayed visit to the Rosie the Riveter / WWII Home Front National Historical Park, located on the waterfront in Richmond.  The park preserves and interprets the legacy of the United States home front during World War II, including the Kaiser Richmond Shipyards, the Victory ship SS Red Oak Victory, a tank factory, housing developments and other facilities built to support America’s entry into World War II.  In particular, the role of women and African Americans in war industries is explored and honored.

The museum portion of the park occupies a small part of the larger complex that was the Ford Motor Company Assembly Plant.  It was the largest assembly plant to be built on the West Coast and one of only three tank depots in the entire country.  Approximately 49,000 jeeps were assembled, and 91,000 other military vehicles were processed here. Ford employed thousands of workers at the site during World War II, many of them women who were entering the work force for the first time and “Rosie the Riveter” was a period song representing these women.

After World War II, Ford moved its Northern California factory to Milpitas, which was known as the San Jose Assembly Plant; the building and site are now the Great Mall of the Bay Area.  The plant building has been restored and now houses a variety of private businesses (Mountain Hardware, Columbia Sportswear, California closets, and SunPower) along with the NPS visitor center.

Before taking in the exhibits at the Visitors Center, we stopped for a bite to eat at a small food court in the old Ford factory, featuring a bar and a couple of food options.  The one we chose was Assemble Kitchen where we split a very good Club Sandwich (turkey, bacon, lettuce, avocado, tomato on sourdough roll) which along with a small green salad with excellent dressing was more than enough to tide us over for the rest of the day. 

Finished, we entered the park’s visitor center, which is in the Oil House whose fuel once powered assembly lines for Ford automobiles, and later WWII assembly of jeeps and tanks.  As part of the development of Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park, the Oil House was renovated to become the home for the park’s visitor education center in 2012.

Although physically small, the center features a lot of well-crafted and informative permanent and temporary exhibits about the history of Richmond’s wartime industries and workers, information including a film about the home-front battle.  In addition to Home Front workers, everyone was expected to be an active participant in the war effort.  Rationing was a way of life as twenty commodities were rationed and people were asked to, “Use it up –Wear it out –Make it do –or Do without.”

During World War II six million women entered the workforce.  “Rosie the Riveter” and her “We Can Do It” motto came to symbolize all women Home Front workers.  A shortage of white male workers led to active recruitment, by the United States Government, to war industry jobs.  Initially white middle class women were recruited, followed by minority men, and finally minority women.  Integration of women and minorities into the workforce was initially met with resistance, however, the new opportunities for women and minorities helped to open the door to equal rights and would have profound impacts on the Civil Rights Movement and Women’s Movement during the following decades.

We finished up our time at the Visitor’s Center and recognized that a return visit would be in store to hit the other parts of the park we’d missed, like the Kaiser Company Shipyard and the SS Red Oak Victory Ship.  My dad served in the Merchant Marines during WWII and one of my fondest memories is when we got to take him out on a cruise to Catalina Island on the SS Lane Victory, as he got to relive those days of his youth.  

We left the park complex and drove back to Berkeley to meet Jessica, Kris, and Gemma at the Triple Rock Brewing tap room.  Founded by owner John Martin, along with his brother Reid, when they brewed their first batch of beer in 1985 and subsequently opened to the public the following year.  They claim to be the fifth brewpub opened in the United States, and the oldest currently in operation with the original equipment and brew masters.  In subsequent years, they opened Drake’s Brewing Company, in San Leandro, California (with that tap room in Oakland) and Jupiter in Berkeley.  All three are locations we truly enjoy. 

Joanna, Jessica, and Gemma left to head to 4^th Street, a popular shopping area in Berkeley with an array of shops (Apple Store, Anthropoligie, Design Within Reach, Marine Layer, Warby Parker, etc.), restaurants (Bette’s Oceanview Diner, Noble Cow Creamery, Zut!, etc.) and coffee joints that we hit up every now and then.  Meanwhile, Kris and I sat back and enjoyed one more round of beers. 

Our final outing of the weekend took us to that favorite spot we’ve reported on many times, that is Speisekammer, for another satisfying appointment with German cuisine.  First up were beers for Kris and I and a specialty cocktail apiece for Jessica and Joanna.  We started with the usual, an order of the Reibekuchen, those tasty crispy potato pancakes served with a house made apple compote. 

For entrees, Jessica ordered the Gemuse Strudel (Spinach, Goat Cheese and Red Bell Peppers wrapped in puff pastry served over Carrot Puree), Joanna a Crab Cake appetizer, Kris a roast meat special of the day with dumplings (we can’t remember what the meat was, but it was tender and delicious) and I went for my usual, the small order of the Jaegerschnitzel, served with their always good Spaetzle.

It was, as always, a great way to finish up our visit to the bay area.  We returned home and on Tuesday the 30^th, I saw my surgeon who cleared me to resume my normal activities, albeit with a bit of caution.  The next day, we loaded the car and drove to Solana Beach to Kim and Marty’s, where I would ride my bike for the first time in three months and we all would take in Mike Campbell and the Dirty Knobs (Tom was the lead guitarist and songwriting partner of Tom Petty) at the Belly-Up Tavern to celebrate my return to something approximating a normal life.  Next up for us, Peru in July.  Stay tuned for that one. 

Links

Rosie the Riveter World War II Home Front National Historical Park: https://www.nps.gov/rori/index.htm

Assemble Kitchen: https://www.assemblekitchen.com/

SS Lane Victory: https://lanevictory.org/

Triple Rock Brewery: http://triplerock.com/

Fourth Street: http://www.fourthstreet.com/

Speisekammer: https://www.speisekammer.com/

Belly Up Tavern: https://bellyup.com/

Dirty Knobs: https://www.thedirtyknobs.com/