San Francisco

The camera is high on the hills with the city dropping away below it in every direction, and the panorama is a narrow band - the strip from the rooftops to the sky, which is all this view is about. Turn one way and the Financial District stands up in a tight block with the Transamerica Pyramid unmistakable in the middle of it and North Beach roofs running down to its feet. Turn the other and the ground falls to the bay: Coit Tower on the top of Telegraph Hill just below you, the piers along the waterfront, Alcatraz sitting flat and pale out on the water, and past all of it the Golden Gate Bridge with the Marin headlands brown behind. Between the two the bay is wide open and full of light. The streets themselves run straight down the hill regardless of gradient, which is the other thing this height makes obvious.

San Francisco is at the center of California’s Bay Area, a busy metropolitan region with a population of more than 7 million. Regarded as one of the world’s great cities, San Francisco has a unique vibrancy and culture, with a lively history and a world-class dining scene, cultural events, ethnic neighborhoods, and icons of world architecture such as the Golden Gate Bridge.

Located on the peninsula dividing San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean, the city has a lively historic waterfront that includes the famous destinations of Fisherman’s Wharf and Pier 39, as well as the nearby gourmet market at the Ferry Building Marketplace. Throughout many of the neighborhoods of the city, the distinctive historic San Francisco cable cars ply the streets, offering unique views of postcard-perfect San Francisco row houses and other sights.

The history of San Francisco is as lively and interesting as the city itself has become. When the Gold Rush of 1848-49 (which gave the local pro football team its name) drew thousands of gold prospectors to California, San Francisco became a center of industry, with companies such as Wells Fargo, Levi Strauss’ dry goods business, and Ghirardelli Chocolate all established in the city. The immigrant population also boomed, as Chinese laborers came to work on the railroads and to start small businesses, ultimately creating one of the oldest and largest Chinatowns of any US city.

In 1906, the San Francisco earthquake and resulting fire destroyed much of the city. Despite the setback, San Francisco city authorities and residents rebuilt and beautified the city, establishing city parks, luxurious hotels, the Palace of Fine Arts, and a renovated City Hall. By the 1930s, the city was again a world leader, with architectural wonders such as the Golden Gate Bridge and the Bay Bridge being built during this time, but it also gained some notoriety as the famous prison on Alcatraz housed some of the most infamous prisoners of the period, including Al Capone. The counterculture and gay rights movements of the mid-twentieth century helped create the colorful neighborhoods of Haight-Ashbury and the Castro District, and though the city was damaged in the 1989 earthquake, it was again rebuilt and continues to thrive.