san francisco real estate, 1944

In May of 1944, just after she'd had her first child (my mother) and while her husband was at sea with the Merchant Marines, my grandmother was evicted from the apartment she was renting in San Franciso because the landlady didn't like kids. She was sharing the apartment with her girlfriend Chic, who had also just had a child, and whose husband, a recent Stanford grad, was off at basic training. They were unable to find another rental: "We got the same response every place we went. 'No children regardless of age'."

So they pooled together a $250 down payment and bought a house at 2837 Ortega Street, near 36th Avenue. According to Zillow, that house is still standing. Built in 1943, my grandmother tells me that the two-bedroom single bath at that time went for $5,250, with monthly payments of $37.02. Today Zillow values that house at $692K -- a bargain on a block of million-dollar+ homes. (And, if you're wondering: Yep. My grandparents bought out Chic's share, and then sold the house a few years later to buy their business in Mill Valley.)

Here's the Zillow link for the curious »

I pulled these details from a book that my grandmother has written for her children and grandchildren that will soon be self-published.