San Francisco, California

The City and County of San Francisco (population 776,773), the fourth-largest city in the state of California, USA, is a consolidated city-county situated at the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula that forms San Francisco Bay. It is the focal point of the San Francisco Bay Area metropolitan area.

The first Europeans to settle in San Francisco were Spanish, in 1776. The city grew rapidly due to the California gold rush starting in 1848. The city was devastated by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, but rebuilt quickly. Long enjoying a bohemian reputation, the city became a counter culture magnet in the second half of the 20th century. It was a center of the dot-com boom at the end of the century.

San Francisco skyline

The San Francisco flag

Table of contents

1 History
2 Geography and Climate
3 Economy

3.1 Companies Headquartered in San Francisco

4 Law and Government
5 Demographics
6 Contemporary Life
7 Neighborhoods
8 Parks
9 Culture

9.2 The City in Film
9.3 The City on Television
9.4 Museums and galleries

10 Airports
11 See also
12 External Links
13 Sources

History

European visitors to the Bay Area were preceded 10,000 to 20,000 years earlier by native people indigenous to the area. These people, later called the Ohlone (a Miwok Indian word meaning "western people"), lived in the coastal area between Point Sur and the San Francisco Bay.

European discovery and exploration of the San Francisco Bay Area began in 1542 and culminated with the mapping of the bay in 1775. A Spanish party led by Juan Bautista de Anza arrived in 1776 and located the sites for the Presidio of San Francisco, a military base on the northern tip of the peninsula, and Mission Dolores, located in what is now the Mission district. San Francisco (named after Saint Francis of Assisi) did not develop as a city (called Yerba Buena) until much later, in 1822, when what is now the downtown area was first settled by William Richardson, an English whaler.

Yerba Buena remained a small town until the Mexican-American War broke out and a naval force under Commodore John D. Sloat took it in 1846 in the name of the United States. It was then renamed "San Francisco" on 30 January, 1847.

The California gold rush starting in 1848 led to a large growth in population, including considerable immigration. The Chinatown district of the city is still one of the largest in the country. Many businesses started at that time to service the growing population are still present today, notably Levi Strauss clothing, Ghirardelli chocolate, and Wells Fargo bank.

San Francisco became the USA's largest city west of those on the Mississippi River.

Market Street, early 20th century

San Francisco County was one of the original counties of California, created in 1850 at the time of statehood. Parts of the county were given to San Mateo County in 1856.

Founded in 1855, The University of San Francisco was one of the first universities in the West. The University will celebrate its 150th anniversary in 2005. Located near Turk and Masonic the campus can be seen from miles around. The University of San Francisco is best known for its high academic rigor, and Law school attracting students from around the world. The Dalai Lama visited San Francisco by way of invitation from the University in 2003.

The most colorful figure of late 19th century San Francisco was "Emperor" Joshua A. Norton.

On April 18, 1906, a devastating earthquake struck the city. This was estimated by modern scientists to have reached 8.25 on the Richter scale. The fires that followed were even more destructive, burning out of control for days and destroying the vast majority of the buildings in the city. Hundreds of residents were killed (some say thousands actually died), but the majority of the population escaped serious physical harm. (The 1936 movie San Francisco is set in the midst of these events.) Rebuilding of the city began almost immediately. See also: 1906 San Francisco earthquake

In 1915, the city hosted the Panama-Pacific Exposition, officially to celebrate the opening of the Panama Canal, but also as a showcase of the vibrant completely rebuilt city less than a decade after the Earthquake. On July 22, 1916 a bomb exploded on Market Street during a Preparedness Day parade, killing 10 and injuring 40.

The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge was opened in 1936 and the Golden Gate Bridge in 1937. During World War II, San Francisco was the major mainland supply point and port of embarkation for the war in the Pacific. The United Nations Charter was drafted at San Francisco in 1945.

A black-and-white photograph of the Golden Gate Bridge

San Francisco has often been a magnet for America's counterculture. During the 1950s, City Lights Bookstore in the North Beach neighborhood was an important publisher of beatnik literature. During the latter half of the following decade, the 1960s, San Francisco was the center of hippie culture. Thousands of young people poured into the Haight-Ashbury district of the city during the year 1967, which was known as the Summer of Love. At this time, the San Francisco sound emerged as an influential force in rock music, with such acts as the Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead achieving international prominence, blurring the boundaries between folk, rock and jazz traditions. The Church Of Satan was founded and headquarted here in 1966.

In the 1970s, large numbers of gay people moved to San Francisco's Castro district. Tensions arose in the city over the cultural changes wrought by this migration, and these tensions led to tragedy in 1978 when a conservative member of the Board of Supervisors, Dan White, murdered a gay Supervisor, Harvey Milk and the city's mayor George Moscone on November 27. Today, the gay population of the city is estimated to be at about 15%, and gays remain an important force in the city's politics.

During the Dot-com boom of the 1990s, large numbers of young entrepreneurs and computer software professionals moved into the city, and changed the economic landscape as once poorer neighborhoods became gentrified. The rising rents forced many people and businesses to leave, and this caused considerable tension in the city's politics. The resulting backlash resulted in a progressive majority winning control of the Board of Supervisors in the 2000 election.

Geography and Climate

San Francisco and northern San Mateo County, from NASA Landsat 7 program

San Francisco lies near the San Andreas Fault; a major source of earthquake activity in California. The most serious earthquake, in 1906, is mentioned above. Earlier significant quakes rocked the city in 1851, 1858, 1865, and 1868. The Daly City Earthquake of 1957 caused some damage. The Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989 also did significant damage to the city, and postponed the World Series between the Bay Area's two Major League Baseball teams, the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland Athletics.

(A note of possible interest: a European satellite television sports channel that was carrying the game when the earthquake struck suspended its regular coverage to relay news for several hours.)

San Francisco is famous for its hills and the streets which run straight up and down them. Three of San Francisco's notable hills are Nob Hill, Russian Hill, and Telegraph Hill, all of which located in or near the downtown area. Not to be missed are the beautiful homes and area of the city known as Pacific Heights. San Francisco is also famous for its cable cars (narrow gauge, 1067 mm (3'6")), which were designed to carry residents up those steep hills. It is still possible to take a cable car ride up and down Nob and Russian Hills. San Francisco's cable cars are the only mobile United States National Monument. Coit Tower, a notable landmark dedicated to San Francisco's firefighters, is located at the top of Telegraph Hill.

Surrounded on three sides by water, San Francisco's climate is strongly influenced by the cool currents of the Pacific Ocean. The weather is remarkably mild all year round, with a so-called Mediterranean climate characterized by cool, foggy summers and relatively warm winters. Rain in the summer is extremely rare, but winters can often be very rainy. High temperatures in the summer are typically the mid to upper 60s Fahrenheit, while in the winter it virtually never reaches freezing. Occasional offshore flows of air bring hot air into San Francisco during the summer, when temperatures can reach into the high 90s Fahrenheit, but this is rare and it usually only lasts a few days, before the region's "natural air conditioning" takes over and cools the city down again.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city and county has a total area of 600.7 km² (231.9 mi²). 120.9 km² (46.7 mi²) of it is land and 479.7 km² (185.2 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 79.86% water.

Economy

The Transamerica Pyramid

Some 60 miles south of San Francisco is the Silicon Valley, which holds much of the computing business in the world.

Companies Headquartered in San Francisco

Ghirardelli

Law and Government

1	Jake McGoldrick
2	Vacant
3	Aaron Peskin
4	Fiona Ma
5	Matt Gonzalez
6	Chris Daly
7	Tony Hall
8	Bevan Dufty
9	Tom Ammiano
10	Sophie Maxwell
11	Gerardo Sandoval

San Francisco is both a city and a county, and is governed by a mayor, who runs the executive branch of the city, and a Board of Supervisors, who are elected to represent 11 districts in the city. The current Board of Supervisors are listed in the table on the left.

The current President of the Board of Supervisors is Matt Gonzalez. The current mayor is Gavin Newsom.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there are 776,733 people, 329,700 households, and 145,068 families residing in the city. The population density is 6,423.2/km² (16,634.4/mi²). There are 346,527 housing units at an average density of 2,865.6/km² (7,421.2/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 49.66% White, 7.79% African American, 0.45% Native American, 30.84% Asian American, 0.49% Pacific Islander, 6.48% from other races, and 4.28% from two or more races. 14.10% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There are 329,700 households out of which 16.6% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 31.6% are married couples living together, 8.9% have a female householder with no husband present, and 56.0% are non-families. 38.6% of all households are made up of individuals and 9.8% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.30 and the average family size is 3.22.

The Golden Gate Bridge

In the city the population is spread out with 14.5% under the age of 18, 9.1% from 18 to 24, 40.5% from 25 to 44, 22.3% from 45 to 64, and 13.7% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 36 years. For every 100 females there are 103.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 103.1 males.

The median income for a household in the city is $55,221, and the median income for a family is $63,545. Males have a median income of $46,260 versus $40,049 for females. The per capita income for the city is $34,556. 11.3% of the population and 7.8% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 13.5% are under the age of 18 and 10.5% are 65 or older.