When Richard Rush was discharged from the army at the end of WWII, he was able to reunite with his wife who was serving as a civilian at a shipyard in Vancouver, Washington. Richard (Dick) had always dreamed of living in San Francisco, his favorite city in the whole world. His wife, Marylynn quit her job in Vancouver and together they made their dreams come true by moving to San Francisco, Ca. Richard's brother Frank and his wife already lived there.
Marylynn was 25 by the time they moved into their new home and Dick was 26. Soon after the move Dick found a job at an insurance company called "Commercial Union Insurance Co." Marylynn also got a job at "Credit Bureau" preparing credit reports on people. This gave her an $80 a month salary.
They both had a commute to work that was very different from today. They would either walk because it was close, or take the streetcar, (cable car), back and forth. If their jobs were any farther it would be much more difficult because there were no freeways. They did have a car, a '41 Chevy, but rarely drove it because the parking around San Francisco was very expensive. They had to park their car a block away from their apartment.
Dick and Marylynn lived really close to the city hall, but worked in the financial district. The Rushes lived in a small apartment on 9th Avenue. The apartment cost 25 dollars a month fully furnished. The bill included gas, electric, and water. Once They included food, and all other expenses it cost about $60 a month to live.
In San Francisco in the 1940's you could go shopping at places like the "Emporium" and other department stores downtown or family-run grocery stores you could buy lunch out for 35 cents and a cup of coffee cost 5 cents. Marylynn and Dick would almost always cook dinner because eating out was very expensive.
Marylynn said that her favorite things about San Francisco were the nice people, city museums, and the many on-going activities such as movies, and shopping. Another one of Marylynn's favorite things was to swing dance. So she would go to dance clubs to dance the swing with her girlfriends because Richard would not dance at all. Dick agrees, there were a lot of good amusement parks, and zoo's, but their favorite thing to do was to drive downtown and just sit and watch all the different kinds of people in San Francisco. The thing that has changed the most from that time to today is that San Francisco has so many beggars and homeless people, in the 1940's there were so few that you rarely ever saw one.
The Rushes
lived in San Francisco for 8 years before moving to San Jose. Even now,
50 years later, with four children, seven grandchildren, and one great-grandchild,
they look back with pleasure at the fond memories of "San Fran" with it's
bright lights, exciting sights and sounds of the big city in the 1940's.