The 'City and County of San Francisco' () is the fourth most populous city in
California and the
fourteenth-most populous in the
United States, with a 2006 estimated population of 744,041.
[3] San Francisco is the second most
densely populated major city
[4] in the U.S.
[5] San Francisco is located on the tip of the
San Francisco Peninsula, with the
Pacific Ocean to the west, the
San Francisco Bay to the east, and the
Golden Gate to the north.
In 1776, the Spanish
settled the tip of the peninsula, establishing a
fort at the Golden Gate and a
mission named for
Francis of Assisi. The
California Gold Rush in 1848 propelled the city into a period of rapid growth. After being devastated by the
1906 earthquake and fire, San Francisco was quickly rebuilt.
San Francisco is a popular international tourist destination renowned for its chilly summer fog, steep rolling hills, an eclectic mix of
Victorian and
modern architecture, its large
LGBT population, and its peninsular location. Famous landmarks include the
Golden Gate Bridge,
Alcatraz Island, the
cable cars,
Coit Tower, and
Chinatown.
History
Main articles: History of San Francisco, California
The earliest archaeological evidence of inhabitation of the territory of the city of San Francisco dates to 3000 BC.
[6] The
Yelamu group of the
Ohlone people resided in several small villages when a
Spanish exploration party, led by Don
Gaspar de Portolà arrived on
November 2,
1769, the first documented European discovery of
San Francisco Bay.
[7] Seven years later, on
March 28,
1776 the
Spanish established a
fort, followed by a
mission,
Mission San Francisco de Asís (Mission Dolores).
Upon
independence from
Spain in 1821, the area became part of
Mexico. In 1835, Englishman
William Richardson erected the first significant homestead outside the immediate vicinity of the Mission Dolores,
[8] near a boat anchorage around what is today
Portsmouth Square. Together with Mission
Alcalde Francisco de Haro, he laid out a street plan for the expanded settlement, and the town, named Yerba Buena, began to attract American settlers. Commodore
John D. Sloat claimed California for the
United States on
July 7,
1846, during the
Mexican-American War, and Captain
John B. Montgomery arrived to claim Yerba Buena two days later. Yerba Buena was renamed San Francisco the next year.
[9] Despite its attractive location as a port and naval base, San Francisco was still a small settlement with inhospitable geography.
A map from 1888
The
California Gold Rush brought a flood of treasure seekers. With their
sourdough bread in tow, prospectors accumulated in San Francisco over rival
Benicia,
[10] raising the population from 1,000 in 1848 to 25,000 by December 1849.
[11] The promise of fabulous riches was so strong that crews on arriving vessels deserted and rushed off to the gold fields, leaving behind a forest of masts in San Francisco harbor.
[12] California was quickly granted
statehood and the U.S. military built
Fort Point at the
Golden Gate and a fort on
Alcatraz island to secure the San Francisco Bay. Silver discoveries, including the
Comstock Lode in 1859, further drove rapid population growth. With hordes of fortune seekers streaming through the city, lawlessness was common, and the
Barbary Coast section of town gained notoriety as a haven for criminals, prostitution, and gambling.
Entrepreneurs sought to capitalize on the wealth generated by the Gold Rush. Early winners were the
banking industry, which saw the founding of
Wells Fargo in 1852, and the
railroad industry, as the
magnates of
the Big Four, led by
Leland Stanford, collaborated in the building of the
First Transcontinental Railroad. The development of the
Port of San Francisco established the city as a center of
trade. Catering to the needs and tastes of the growing population,
Levi Strauss opened a dry goods business and
Domingo Ghirardelli began manufacturing
chocolate. Immigrant laborers made the city a polyglot culture, with
Chinese railroad workers creating the city's
Chinatown quarter. The first
cable cars carried San Franciscans up
Clay Street in 1873. The city's sea of
Victorian houses began to take shape, and civic leaders campaigned for a spacious public park, resulting in plans for
Golden Gate Park. San Franciscans built schools, churches, theaters, and all the hallmarks of civic life. The
Presidio developed into the most important American military installation on the Pacific coast.
[13] By the turn of the century, San Francisco was a major city known for its flamboyant style, stately hotels, ostentatious mansions on
Nob Hill, and a thriving arts scene.
"Not in history has a modern imperial city been so completely destroyed. San Francisco is gone." –
Jack London after the
1906 earthquake and fire.
[14]At 5:12 AM on the morning of
April 18 1906, a major
earthquake struck San Francisco and northern California. As buildings collapsed from the shaking, ruptured gas lines ignited fires that would spread across the city and burn out of control for several days. With water mains out of service, the Presidio Artillery Corps attempted to contain the inferno by dynamiting blocks of buildings to create firebreaks.
[15] More than three-quarters of the city lay in ruins, including almost all of the downtown core.
[16] Contemporary accounts reported that 498 people lost their lives, though modern estimates put the number in the several thousands.
[17] More than half the city's population of 400,000 were left homeless.
[18] Refugees settled temporarily in makeshift tent villages in Golden Gate Park, the Presidio, on the beaches, and elsewhere. Many fled permanently to the
East Bay.
Rebuilding was rapid and performed on a grand scale. Rejecting calls to completely remake the street grid, San Franciscans opted for speed.
[19] Amadeo Giannini's
Bank of Italy, later to become
Bank of America, provided loans for many of those whose livelihoods had been devastated. The destroyed mansions of Nob Hill became grand hotels.
City Hall rose once again in splendorous
Beaux Arts style, and the city celebrated its rebirth at the
Panama-Pacific International Exposition in 1915.
In ensuing years, the city solidified its standing as a financial capital; in the wake of the
1929 stock market crash, not a single San Francisco-based bank failed.
[20] Indeed, it was at the height of the
Great Depression that San Francisco undertook two great civil engineering projects, simultaneously constructing the
San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and the
Golden Gate Bridge, completing them in 1936 and 1937 respectively. It was in this period that the island of
Alcatraz, a former
military stockade, began its service as a federal maximum security prison, housing notorious inmates such as
Al Capone. San Francisco later celebrated its regained grandeur with a
World's Fair, the
Golden Gate International Exposition in 1939–40, creating
Treasure Island in the middle of the bay to house it.
During
World War II, the
Hunters Point Naval Shipyard became a hub of activity and
Fort Mason became the primary port of embarkation for service members shipping out to the
Pacific theater of operations.
[21] The explosion of jobs drew many people, especially
African Americans from the South, to the area. After the end of the war, many military personnel returning from service abroad and civilians who had originally come to work decided to stay. The
UN Charter creating the
United Nations was drafted and signed in San Francisco in 1945 and, in 1951, the
Treaty of San Francisco officially ended the
war with Japan.
Urban planning projects in the 1950s and 1960s saw widespread destruction and redevelopment of westside neighborhoods and the construction of new freeways, of which only a series of short segments were built before being halted by citizen-led opposition.
[22] The
Transamerica Pyramid was completed in 1972,
[23] and in the 1980s the
Manhattanization of San Francisco saw extensive high rise development downtown.
[24] Port activity moved to
Oakland, the city began to lose industrial jobs, and San Francisco began to turn to tourism as the most important segment of its economy. The suburbs experienced rapid growth and San Francisco underwent significant demographic change, as large segments of the white population left the city, supplanted by an increasing wave of
immigration from Asia and Latin America.
[25][26]
Over this same period, San Francisco became a magnet for America's
counterculture.
Beat Generation writers fueled the
San Francisco Renaissance and centered on the
North Beach neighborhood in the 1950s.
Hippies flocked to
Haight-Ashbury in the 1960s, reaching a peak with the 1967
Summer of Love. In the 1970s, the city became a center of the
gay rights movement, led by investment banker John Shen, with the emergence of
The Castro as an urban
gay village, the election of
Harvey Milk to the
Board of Supervisors, and his assassination, along with that of Mayor
George Moscone, in 1978.
The 1989
Loma Prieta earthquake caused destruction and loss of life throughout the Bay Area. In San Francisco, the quake severely damaged structures in the
Marina and
South of Market districts and precipitated the demolition of the damaged
Embarcadero Freeway and much of the damaged
Central Freeway, allowing the city to reclaim its historic downtown waterfront.
During the
dot-com boom of the late 1990s,
startup companies invigorated the economy. Large numbers of entrepreneurs and computer application developers moved into the city, followed by marketing and sales professionals that changed the social landscape as once poorer neighborhoods became
gentrified. When the bubble burst in 2001, many of these companies folded and their employees left, although high technology and entrepreneurship continued to be mainstays of the San Francisco economy.
Geography
San Francisco is located on the
west coast of the U.S. at the tip of the
San Francisco Peninsula and includes significant stretches of the
Pacific Ocean and
San Francisco Bay within its boundaries. Several
islands are part of the city, notably
Alcatraz,
Treasure Island, and the adjacent
Yerba Buena Island. Also included are the uninhabited
Farallon Islands, 27
miles (43 km) offshore in the
Pacific Ocean, a small portion of the southwestern tip of
Alameda Island in
Alameda County, a small portion of the eastern end of
Angel Island, and part of the uninhabited
Red Rock Island near the
San Rafael Bridge which marks the northernmost point of the city. The mainland within the city limits roughly forms a seven by seven mile square (11 by 11 km), which has become a colloquialism referring to the city's shape.
.jpg)
The San Francisco Peninsula: San Francisco and, below it, northern
San Mateo County
San Francisco is famous for
its hills.
There are more than 50 hills within city limits.
[Graham, Tom (November 7, 2004). Peak Experience, ''San Francisco Chronicle'', p. PK-23. Retrieved April 15, 2007.]
Some neighborhoods are named after the hill on which they are situated, including
Nob Hill,
Pacific Heights,
Russian Hill,
Potrero Hill, and
Telegraph Hill.
Near the geographic center of the city, southwest of the downtown area, are a series of less densely populated hills. Dominating this area is
Mount Sutro, the site of
Sutro Tower, a large red and white radio and television transmission tower. Nearby is
Twin Peaks, a pair of hills resting at one of the city's highest points and a popular overlook spot for tour groups. San Francisco's tallest hill,
Mount Davidson, is 925 feet (282 m) high, and is capped with a 103 feet (31.4 m) tall cross built in 1934.
The
San Andreas and
Hayward Faults are responsible for much
earthquake activity, even though neither passes through the city itself. It was the San Andreas Fault which slipped and caused the earthquakes in 1906 and 1989. Minor
earthquakes occur on a regular basis. The threat of major earthquakes plays a large role in the city's infrastructure development. New buildings must meet high structural standards, and older buildings and bridges must be retrofitted to comply with new building codes.
San Francisco's shoreline has grown beyond its natural limits. Entire neighborhoods such as the
Marina and
Hunters Point, as well as large sections of the
Embarcadero sit on areas of
landfill.
Treasure Island was constructed from material dredged from the bay as well as material resulting from tunneling through Yerba Buena Island during the construction of the Bay Bridge. Such land tends to be unstable during earthquakes; the resultant
liquefaction causes extensive damage to property built upon it, as was evidenced in the Marina district during the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake.
Climate
A quotation incorrectly attributed to
Mark Twain says, "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco."
[27][28] San Francisco benefits from California’s
Mediterranean climate, characterized by mild wet winters and warm dry summers.
[29] However, surrounded on three sides by water, San Francisco has a climate strongly influenced by the cool
currents of the
Pacific Ocean which tends to moderate temperature swings and produce a remarkably mild climate with little seasonal temperature variation. Average summertime high temperatures in San Francisco peak at 70 °F (21 °C) and are 20 °F (9 °C) lower than in nearby inland locations like
Livermore.
[30] The highest temperature ever recorded in San Francisco was 103 °F (39 °C) on
June 14, 2000.
[31] Winters are mild, with daytime highs near 60 °F (15 °C). Lows almost never reach freezing temperatures, though the lowest temperature ever recorded in San Francisco was 27 °F (-3 °C) on
December 11, 1932.
[32] May through September are quite dry, and rain is a common occurrence from November through March. Snow is extraordinarily rare, with only 10 instances recorded since 1852. The greatest snowfall on record was 3.7 inches (9.4 cm) in downtown San Francisco, and up to 7 inches (17.8 cm) elsewhere, on February 5, 1887.
[33] The last measurable snowfall in San Francisco was on
February 5, 1976, when most of the city received an inch (2.5 cm) of snow.
[34]
The combination of cold ocean water and the high heat of the California mainland creates the city's characteristic
fog that can cover the western half of the city all day during the spring and early summer. The fog is less pronounced in eastern neighborhoods, in the late summer, and during the fall, which are the warmest months of the year. Due to its sharp topography and maritime influences, San Francisco exhibits a multitude of distinct
microclimates. The high hills in the geographic center of the city are responsible for a 20% variance in annual rainfall between different parts of the city.
They also protect neighborhoods directly to their east from the foggy and cool conditions experienced in the
Sunset District; for those who live on the eastern side of the city, San Francisco is sunnier, with an average of 160 clear days, and only 105 cloudy days per year.
[35]
Cityscape
Neighborhoods
Main articles: Neighborhoods in San Francisco, California
The historic center of San Francisco is the northeast quadrant of the city bordered by
Market Street to the south. It is here that the
Financial District is centered, with
Union Square, the principal shopping and hotel district, nearby.
Cable cars carry residents and tourists alike up steep inclines to the summit of
Nob Hill, once the home of the city's business tycoons, and down to
Fisherman's Wharf, a tourist area featuring
Dungeness crab from a still-active fishing industry. Also in this quadrant are
Russian Hill, a residential neighborhood with the famously crooked
Lombard Street,
North Beach, the city's version of
Little Italy, and
Telegraph Hill, which features
Coit Tower. Nearby is San Francisco's
Chinatown, established in the 1860s. The
Tenderloin is often seen as the crime-infested underbelly of the city.
The
Mission District is predominantly working-class and populated by immigrants from
Mexico and Central America, but is also gentrifying.
Haight-Ashbury, famously associated with 1960s
hippie culture, is now heavily gentrified, although it still retains some
bohemian character. The
Castro is the center of gay life in the city.
The city's
Japantown district suffered when its
Japanese American residents were
forcibly removed and interned during
World War II. The nearby
Western Addition became established with a large
African American population at the same time. The "
Painted Ladies," a row of well-restored
Victorian homes, stand alongside
Alamo Square, and the mansions built by the San Francisco business elite in the wake of the
1906 earthquake can be found in
Pacific Heights. The
Marina to the north is a lively area with many young urban professionals.
The
Richmond, the vast region north of Golden Gate Park that extends to the Pacific Ocean, today has a portion called "New Chinatown," but also attracts immigrants from other parts of Asia and
Russia. South of Golden Gate Park lies the
Sunset with an Asian majority population.
[36] The Richmond and the Sunset are largely
middle class and, together, are known as
The Avenues.
Bayview-Hunter's Point in the southeast section of the city is one of the poorest neighborhoods and suffers from a high rate of crime, though the area has been the focus of plans for
urban renewal. The other southern neighborhoods of the city are ethnically diverse and populated primarily with students and working-class San Franciscans.
The
South of Market, once filled with decaying remnants of San Francisco's industrial past, has seen significant redevelopment. The locus of the
dot-com boom during the late 1990s, by 2004 South of Market began to see
skyscrapers and
condominiums dot the area (see
Manhattanization). Following the success of nearby
South Beach, another neighborhood,
Mission Bay, underwent redevelopment, anchored by a second campus of the
University of California, San Francisco.
Beaches and parks
The Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park
runs along the Pacific Ocean shoreline, but is not suitable for swimming because the waters off the coast are cold and have deadly
rip currents.
Baker Beach occupies a picturesque setting just west of the Golden Gate Bridge and is where one of the few existing colonies of ''
Hesperolinon congestum'', the threatened Marin Dwarf Flax, can be found. The biggest and most well-known park is
Golden Gate Park, stretching from the center of the city to the
Pacific Ocean. Once covered only in grass and sand dunes, the park is planted with thousands of non-native trees and plants and is rich with attractions including the
Conservatory of Flowers, the
Japanese Tea Garden, and
Strybing Arboretum.
The Presidio, a former military base, and its
Crissy Field section, restored to its natural salt marsh condition, are part of the
Golden Gate National Recreation Area, which includes Alcatraz, and other regional parks.
Buena Vista Park is the city's oldest, established in 1867.
Lake Merced is a
fresh-water lake surrounded by parkland..
Culture and entertainment
:
Main articles: Culture of San Francisco
San Francisco is characterized by a high standard of living.
[37] The great wealth and opportunity generated by the
Internet revolution drew many highly educated and high income workers and residents to San Francisco. Many poorer neighborhoods have become
gentrified. The downtown has seen a renaissance driven by the redevelopment of the
Embarcadero, including the neighborhoods
South Beach and
Mission Bay. Property values and household income have escalated to among the highest in the nation,
[38] allowing the city to support a large restaurant and entertainment infrastructure. Because the cost of living in San Francisco is exceptionally high, many middle class families have decided they can no longer afford to live within the city and have left to the suburbs of the
San Francisco Bay Area.
Although the centralized commerce and shopping districts downtown, including the
Financial District and the area around
Union Square, are well-known, San Francisco is also characterized by a rich street environment featuring many
mixed-use neighborhoods anchored around central commercial corridors to which residents and visitors alike can walk. They feature a mix of businesses and restaurants catering to the daily needs of the community and drawing in visitors. Some are highly gentrified, dotted with boutiques, cafes and nightlife, such as
Union Street in
Cow Hollow, and
24th Street in
Noe Valley. Others are less so, including
Irving Street in the
Sunset, or
Mission Street in the
Mission. This approach has influenced the South of Market redevelopment, with businesses and neighborhood services rising alongside highrise residences.
[40]
The international character San Francisco has had since its founding is witnessed today by large numbers of immigrants from
Asia and
Latin America. With 39 percent of its residents born overseas,
San Francisco has numerous neighborhoods filled with businesses and civic institutions catering to new arrivals. In particular, the arrival of many ethnic Chinese, which accelerated beginning in the 1970s, complemented the already-established community based in
Chinatown and has transformed the annual
Chinese New Year Parade into the largest cultural event of its kind.
[41]
Following the arrival of writers and artists of the 1950s, who established the modern
coffeehouse culture, and the social upheavals of the 1960s, San Francisco became one of the hypocenters of
liberal activism, with
Democrats,
Greens, and
progressives dominating city politics. Indeed, San Francisco has not given the
Republican candidate for president greater than 20 percent of the vote since
1988.
[42] The gay rights contributions and leadership the city has shown since the 1970s has resulted in the powerful presence gays and lesbians have in civic life. A popular destination for gay tourists, it hosts
San Francisco Pride, the world's best-known gay pride parade and festival.
Entertainment and performing arts
San Francisco's
War Memorial and Performing Arts Center features some of the longest operating performing arts companies in the United States. The
War Memorial Opera House houses the
San Francisco Opera and
San Francisco Ballet, while the
San Francisco Symphony plays in
Davies Symphony Hall. The
Herbst Theatre stages an eclectic mix of music performances, as well as
public radio's ''
City Arts & Lectures''.
The Fillmore is a music venue located in the
Western Addition. It is the second incarnation of a venue which gained fame in the 1960s under concert promoter
Bill Graham and was where the
Grateful Dead,
Janis Joplin, and
Jefferson Airplane got their start and fostered the
San Francisco Sound. ''
Beach Blanket Babylon'' is a zany musical revue and civic institution. It has performed to sold out crowds in
North Beach since 1974.
The
American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) has been a leading force in Bay Area performing arts since its arrival in San Francisco in 1967, routinely staging original productions. San Francisco frequently hosts national touring productions of
Broadway theatre shows in a number of vintage 1920s-era venues in the
Theater District including the
Curran,
Orpheum, and
Golden Gate Theatres.
Museums
The
Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) contains 20th century and contemporary pieces. It moved to its iconic building in
South of Market in 1995 and attracts 600,000 visitors annually.
[43] The
Palace of the Legion of Honor contains primarily European works. The
De Young Museum and the
Asian Art Museum have significant anthropological and non-European holdings.
The
Palace of Fine Arts, originally built for the
1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition, today houses the
Exploratorium, a popular science museum dedicated to teaching through hands-on interaction. The
California Academy of Sciences is a
natural history museum and hosts the
Morrison Planetarium and
Steinhart Aquarium. The
San Francisco Zoo cares for a total of about 250 animal species out of which 39 have been deemed endangered or threatened.
[44]
Media
"One day if I do go to heaven...I'll look around and say, 'It ain't bad, but it ain't San Francisco.'" –
Herb Caen (1916–1997), columnist for the ''
San Francisco Chronicle''
The ''
San Francisco Chronicle'', a
broadsheet for which
Herb Caen famously published his daily musings, is northern California's most widely circulated newspaper.
[45] The ''
San Francisco Examiner'', once the cornerstone of
William Randolph Hearst's media empire and the home of
Ambrose Bierce, declined in circulation over the years and has been reduced to a small
tabloid.
[46][47] ''
Sing Tao Daily'' claims to be the largest of several Chinese language dailies that serve the Bay Area.
[48] Alternative weekly newspapers include the ''
San Francisco Bay Guardian'' and ''
SF Weekly''. ''
San Francisco Magazine'' is a major glossy magazine.
The San Francisco metro area is the fifth largest
TV market[49] and the fourth largest
Radio market[50] in the United States. All the major
television networks have
affiliates serving the Bay Area region, with most of them based in the city. There are also some unaffiliated stations, and
CNN,
ESPN, and
BBC have regional offices in San Francisco.
Public broadcasting outlets include both a
television station and a
radio station, broadcasting under the name
KQED out of a facility near the
Potrero Hill district. KQED-FM is the most-listened to
National Public Radio affiliate in the country.
[51] San Francisco companies such as
CNET and
Salon.com pioneered the use of the internet as a media outlet. Leading global media which are marketed specifically to gay and lesbian audiences are centered in San Francisco, with
PlanetOut the parent company of major print newsmagazines and online communities.
Sports
The
San Francisco 49ers of the
NFL are the longest-tenured major professional sports franchise in the city. They began playing in 1946 and moved to their present location in
Monster Park on
Candlestick Point in 1971. They reached prominence in the 1980s and 1990s, winning five
Super Bowl titles behind stars
Joe Montana,
Steve Young,
Ronnie Lott, and
Jerry Rice.
Major League Baseball's
San Francisco Giants left New York for California prior to the 1958 season. Though boasting stars such as
Willie Mays,
Willie McCovey, and
Barry Bonds, they have yet to win the
World Series while based in San Francisco. Game 3 of the
1989 World Series in San Francisco was infamously pre-empted by the
Loma Prieta earthquake. The Giants play at
AT&T Park which was opened in 2000, a cornerstone project of the
South Beach and
Mission Bay redevelopment.
[52]
The Dons, the athletic teams of the
University of San Francisco, compete in
NCAA Division I.
Bill Russell led the Dons to
NCAA men's basketball championships in 1955 and 1956. The
San Francisco State Gators compete in
Division II. The
San Francisco Dragons of
Major League Lacrosse play at
Kezar Stadium, which they will share with the
California Victory of
United Soccer League First Division. The semi-professional
San Francisco Bay Seals of the USL's
developmental league are a second
soccer team in the city.
San Francisco has ample resources and opportunities for participatory sports and recreation. The
Bay to Breakers footrace, held annually since 1912, is best known for colorful costumes and a celebratory community spirit. The
San Francisco Marathon is an annual event that attracts more than 7,000 participants.
[53] There are more than 200 miles (320 km) of
bicycle lanes in the city
[54] and the Embarcadero and
Marina Green are favored sites for
in-line skating. Extensive public tennis facilities exist in Golden Gate Park and
Dolores Park.
Boating,
sailing,
windsurfing and
kitesurfing are popular activities on the San Francisco Bay, and the city operates a
yacht harbor in the
Marina District. San Francisco's residents have been judged to be among the fittest in the United States.
[55]
Economy
Alcatraz receives 1.5 million visitors per year.
[56] is the backbone of the San Francisco economy. Its
frequent portrayal in music, film, and popular culture has made the city and its landmarks recognizable worldwide. It is the city where
Tony Bennett left his
heart, where the ''
Birdman of Alcatraz'' spent many of his final years, and where
Rice-a-Roni[57] was said to be the favorite treat. San Francisco attracts the third highest number of foreign tourists of any city in the United States
[58] and claims
Pier 39 near
Fisherman's Wharf to be the third-most popular tourist attraction in the nation.
[59] More than 15 million visitors came to San Francisco in 2005, injecting nearly $7.5 billion into the economy.
[60] With a large hotel and restaurant infrastructure and a world-class facility in the
Moscone Center, San Francisco also is a top-ten North American destination for conventions and conferences.
[61]
The legacy of the
California Gold Rush turned San Francisco into the principal banking and finance center of the west coast.
Montgomery Street in the
Financial District is known as the "Wall Street of the West", home to the
Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, the
Wells Fargo corporate headquarters, and the site of the now defunct
Pacific Coast Stock Exchange.
Bank of America, a pioneer in making banking services accessible to the middle class, was founded in San Francisco and built one of the first modern skyscrapers in the city:
Bank of America Center. Many large financial institutions, multinational banks and venture capital firms are based in or have set up regional headquarters in the city. With over thirty international financial institutions,
[62] six
Fortune 500 companies
[63] and a large support infrastructure of professional services, including
law,
public relations,
architecture, and
graphic design also populating the downtown, San Francisco is one of ten
Beta World Cities.
San Francisco's economy has increasingly become tied to that of
Silicon Valley to the south, sharing a need for highly educated workers with specialized skills. It has been positioning itself as a
biotechnology and
biomedical hub and research center. The
Mission Bay neighborhood, site of a second campus of
UCSF, fosters a budding industry and serves as headquarters of the
California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the public agency funding
stem cell research programs statewide.
Small businesses with fewer than ten employees and self-employed firms make up 85 percent of city establishments.
[64] The number of San Franciscans employed by firms of greater than 1,000 employees has fallen by half since 1977.
The penetration of national
big box retail chains into the city has been slow. In an effort to buoy small privately owned businesses in San Francisco, the Small Business Commission
[65] supports a publicity campaign to keep a larger share of retail dollars in the local economy,
[66] while the Board of Supervisors has used the planning code to limit the neighborhoods in which "formula retail" establishments can set up shop,
[67] an effort affirmed by San Francisco voters.
[68]
Government
The City and County of San Francisco is a
consolidated city-county, a status it has had since 1856. It is the only such consolidation in California. The
mayor is also the county executive and the county
board of supervisors acts as the
city council. Because of its unique status, it exercises jurisdiction over property that would otherwise be located outside of its corporation limit.
San Francisco International Airport, though located in
San Mateo County, is owned and operated by the City and County of San Francisco. San Francisco was also granted a perpetual leasehold over the
Hetch Hetchy Valley and
watershed in
Yosemite National Park by the
Raker Act in 1913.
Under the city charter, the government of San Francisco is constituted of two co-equal branches. The executive branch is headed by the mayor and includes other city-wide elected and appointed officials, and the civil service. The 11-member
Board of Supervisors, the legislative branch, is headed by a President and is responsible for passing laws and budgets, though San Franciscans also make use of
direct ballot initiatives to pass legislation. The members of the Board of Supervisors are elected as representatives of specific districts within the city.
[69] If the mayor dies or resigns, the President of the Board of Supervisors assumes the office, as
Dianne Feinstein did after the assassination of
George Moscone in 1978. The municipal budget in 2006 was greater than $5 billion.
[70]
The federal government utilizes San Francisco as the regional hub for many arms of the federal bureaucracy, including the
U.S. Court of Appeals, the
Federal Reserve Bank, and the
United States Mint. Until decommissioning in the early 1990s, the city had three major military installations - the
Presidio,
Treasure Island, and
Hunters Point - a legacy still reflected in the annual celebration of ''
Fleet Week''. The State of California uses San Francisco as the home of the state
Supreme Court and other state agencies. Foreign governments maintain more than thirty
consulates in San Francisco.
[71]
Demographics
Population (thousands) by year
[72]
The estimated 2006 population of San Francisco is 744,041.
With nearly 16,000 people per square mile, San Francisco is the second most densely populated major American city.
[73] San Francisco is the traditional focal point of the
San Francisco Bay Area and forms part of the greater
San Jose-San Francisco-
Oakland Combined Statistical Area (CSA) whose population is over 7 million: the fifth largest in the U.S. as of the 2000 Census.
[74]
San Francisco is a
minority-majority city, as non-Hispanic
whites comprise less than half of the population. As of 2005, the Census Bureau estimated that 44.1 percent of the population was non-Hispanic white.
[75] Asian Americans, principally
Chinese, comprise nearly a third of the population.
Hispanics of any race make up about 14 percent of the population. At just over 7 percent of the population, San Francisco's
African American percentage mirrors that of the state of California.
[76][77]
Few of the city's residents are native San Franciscans. Only 35 percent of its residents were born in California; 39 percent were born outside the U.S.
[78]
San Francisco has the highest percentage of same-sex households of any American county, with the Bay Area having a higher concentration than any other
metropolitan area.
[79] Gay men outnumber lesbians; it has been estimated that one in five male city residents over the age of 15 is gay.
[80]
The San Francisco median household income is $57,833 and the median family income, at $67,809 in 2005, is the third-highest for any large city in the nation.
[81] Following a national trend, an out-migration of middle class families is contributing to widening income disparity
[82] and has left the city with a lower proportion of children, 14.5 percent, than any other large city in the U.S.
[83] The city's
poverty rate, at 7.8 percent, is lower than the national average and among the lowest for cities ranked by the U.S. Census Department.
[84]
Homelessness has been a chronic and controversial problem for San Francisco since the early 1980s. The city is believed to have the highest number of homeless inhabitants per capita of any major city in the U.S.
[85][86] The
rates of violent and property crime, reported for 2005 as 799 and 4974 incidents per 100,000 residents respectively,
[87] are higher than the national average.
[88] Among the 50 largest U.S. cities by population, San Francisco ranks 29th and 39th in each of those categories.
Education
Colleges and universities
San Francisco State University is part of the
California State University system and is located near Lake Merced. The school has close to 30,000 students and awards undergraduate and master's degrees in more than 100 disciplines. The
City College of San Francisco, with its main facility in the
Ingleside district, is one of the largest two-year
community colleges in the country. It has an enrollment of about 100,000 students, and offers an extensive continuing education program.
[89] Founded in 1855, the
Jesuit-run
University of San Francisco, located on
Lone Mountain, focuses on the
liberal arts, and is one of the oldest universities established west of the Mississippi.
The
University of California, San Francisco is one of the ten campuses of the
University of California system, and is San Francisco's second largest employer. It is solely dedicated to graduate education in health and biomedical sciences and is ranked among the top-five medical schools in the United States.
[90] It also operates the
UCSF Medical Center, ranked among the top 10 hospitals in the United States.
[91] A 43-acre
Mission Bay campus, complementing its original facility in
Parnassus Heights, opened in 2003. It contains research space and facilities to foster biotechnology and life sciences entrepreneurship and will double the size of UCSF's research enterprise. The
University of California, Hastings College of the Law, founded in
Civic Center in 1878, is the oldest law school in California and claims more judges on the state bench than any other institution.
[92]
Higher education in the arts is provided by the
San Francisco Art Institute, the
Academy of Art University, and an extension of the
Oakland-based
California College of the Arts. The
San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the only school of its kind on the west coast, grants degrees in orchestral instruments, chamber music, composition, and conducting.
The
California Culinary Academy, associated with the
Le Cordon Bleu program, offers programs in the culinary arts, baking & pastry arts, and hospitality & restaurant management.
Primary and secondary schools
Public schools are run by the
San Francisco Unified School District as well as the State Board of Education for some charter schools.
Lowell High School, the oldest public high school in the U.S. west of the Mississippi,
[93] and the smaller
School of the Arts High School are San Francisco's two
magnet schools at the secondary level.
Just under 30 percent of the city's school-age population attends one of San Francisco's more than 100
private or
parochial schools, compared to a 10 percent rate nationwide.
[94] The
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco manages nearly 40 of those schools.
[95] Among the most prominent private high schools in San Francisco are
St. Ignatius College Preparatory and
Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory.
Transportation
Roads and highways
Because of its unique geography—making
beltways somewhat impractical—and the results of the
freeway revolts of the late 1950s, San Francisco is one of the few cities in the U.S. that has opted for European-style
arterial thoroughfares instead of a large network of
freeways. City residents continued this trend following the 1989
Loma Prieta Earthquake, choosing to demolish the
Embarcadero Freeway and a portion of the
Central Freeway and convert them into street-level boulevards.
Interstate 80 begins at the approach to the
Bay Bridge and is the only direct automobile link to the East Bay.
U.S. Route 101 extends Interstate 80 to the south along the San Francisco Bay toward
Silicon Valley. Northbound, 101 uses arterial streets
Van Ness Avenue and
Lombard Street to the
Golden Gate Bridge, the only direct road access from San Francisco to
Marin County and points north.
Highway 1 also enters San Francisco at the Golden Gate Bridge, but diverts away from 101, bisecting the west side of the city as the
19th Avenue arterial thoroughfare, and joining with
Interstate 280 at the city's southern border. Interstate 280 continues this route along the central portion of the Peninsula south to
San Jose. Northbound, 280 turns north and east and terminates in the South of Market area.
Highway 35, which traverses the majority of the Peninsula along the ridge of the
Santa Cruz Mountains, enters the city from the south as
Skyline Boulevard, following city streets until it terminates at its intersection with Highway 1. Major east-west thoroughfares include
Geary Boulevard, the
Lincoln Way/
Fell Street corridor, and
Market Street/
Portola Drive.
Public transportation
Public transit solely within the city of San Francisco is provided predominantly by the
San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni). The city-owned system operates both a combined light rail/subway system (the
Muni Metro) and a bus network that includes both
trolleybuses and standard diesel buses. The Metro streetcars run on surface streets in outlying neighborhoods but underground in the downtown area. Additionally, Muni runs the highly-visible
F Market historic streetcar line, which runs on surface streets from
Castro Street to
Fisherman's Wharf, and the iconic
San Francisco cable car system.
Commuter rail is provided by two complementary agencies.
Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is the regional rapid transit system which connects San Francisco with the
East Bay through the
Transbay Tube. The line runs under Market Street to Civic Center, where it turns south to the Mission District, the southern part of the city, and through northern
San Mateo County, to the
San Francisco International Airport, and
Millbrae. The
Caltrain rail system runs from San Francisco along the
Peninsula down to
San Jose. The line dates from 1863, and for many years was operated by
Southern Pacific.
The
Transbay Terminal serves as the terminus for long range bus service (such as
Greyhound) and as a hub for regional bus systems
AC Transit (to
Alameda County),
SamTrans (San Mateo County), and
Golden Gate Transit (Marin and
Sonoma Counties).
Amtrak also runs a shuttle bus from San Francisco to its rail station in
Emeryville.
A small fleet of commuter and tourist
ferries operate from the
Ferry Building and
Pier 39 to points in
Marin County,
Oakland, and north to
Vallejo in
Solano County.
Airports
Main articles: San Francisco International Airport
San Francisco International Airport (SFO), though located 13 miles (21 km) south of the city in
San Mateo County, is under the jurisdiction of the City and County of San Francisco. It is a hub for
United Airlines, its largest tenant,
[96]
and the decision by
Virgin America to base its operations out of SFO
[97] reverses the trend of
low-cost carriers opting to bypass SFO for
Oakland and
San Jose. SFO is an international gateway, with the largest international terminal in North America.
[98] The airport is built on a
landfill extension into the
San Francisco Bay. During the economic boom of the late 1990s, when traffic saturation led to frequent delays, it became difficult to respond to calls to relieve the pressure by constructing an additional runway as that would have required additional landfill. Such calls subsided in the early 2000s as traffic declined, and, in 2005, SFO was the 14th busiest airport in the United States and 23rd largest in the world, handling 32.8 million passengers.
[99]
Seaports
Main articles: Port of San Francisco
The
Port of San Francisco was once the largest and busiest seaport on the west coast. It featured rows of
piers perpendicular to the shore, where cargo from the moored ships was handled by cranes and manual labor and transported to nearby warehouses. The port handled cargo to and from trans-Pacific and Atlantic destinations, and was the west coast center of the
lumber trade. The
1934 West Coast Longshore Strike, an important episode in the history of the
American labor movement, brought the port to a standstill. The advent of
container shipping made pier-based ports obsolete and most commercial berths moved to the
Port of Oakland.
Many piers remained derelict for years until the demolition of the
Embarcadero Freeway reopened the downtown waterfront, allowing for redevelopment. The centerpiece of the port, the
Ferry Building, while still receiving
commuter ferry traffic, has been restored and redeveloped as a gourmet marketplace. The port's other activities now focus on developing waterside assets to support recreation and tourism.
Bicycling
Bicycling is a popular mode of transportation in San Francisco, with about 40,000 residents commuting to work regularly by bicycle.
[100] There are of bicycle lanes and paths throughout the city.
[101] The 6,200 member
San Francisco Bicycle Coalition promotes the bicycle for everyday transportation in and around San Francisco.
See also
Notes
1. Frisco, that once-verboten term for the city by the bay, is making a comeback among the young and hip. Herb Caen is spinning at warp speed.
2. The nickname "Baghdad by the Bay" was coined in 1949 by columnist Herb Caen: Baghdad-by-the-Bay, , Herb, Caen, Doubleday, , LC F869.S3 C12
3. Population Finder: San Francisco County, 2006. U.S. Census Bureau. Accessed May 4, 2007.
4. Of cities greater than 200,000 population; New York City is the densest.
5. 2000 Census: US Municipalities Over 50,000: Ranked by 2000 Population Information cited for cities greater than 200,000
6. Stewart, Suzanne B. (November, 2003). p. 55 Sonoma State University - Anthropological Studies Center. Accessed October 13, 2006.
7. Visitors: San Francisco Historical Information
8. From the 1820s to the Gold Rush
9. History of Yerba Buena Gardens. Yerba Buena Gardens. Accessed August 28, 2003
10. San Francisco's First Brick Building. The Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco. Accessed August 28, 2006.
11. Historic San Francisco: A Concise History and Guide, , Rand, Richards, Heritage House, , ISBN 1-879367-00-9
12. Crews Unearth Shipwreck on San Francisco Condo Project Ron Harris
13. Presidio of San Francisco, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. Accessed September 4, 2006.
14. The Story of an Eyewitness by Jack London, , Jack, London, Collier's, The National Weekly,
15. Presidio of San Francisco: Firefighting and Dynamiting
16. Montagne, Renée (April 11, 2006). Remembering the 1906 Earthquake National Public Radio, ''Morning Edition''. Accessed August 29, 2006.
17. Casualties and Damage after the 1906 earthquake U.S. Geological Survey, Earthquake Hazards Program - Northern California. Accessed September 3, 2006.
18. Presidio of San Francisco:1906 Earthquake and Fire National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Accessed August 29, 2006.
19. National trust guide- San Francisco: America’s guide for architecture and history travelers, Wiley, Peter Booth, , , John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2000, ISBN 0-471-19120-5
20. San Francisco Gold Rush Banking The Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco. Accessed August 27, 2006.
21. World War II in the San Francisco Bay Area. National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. Accessed August 29, 2006.
22. Urban Renewal Revisited: A Design Critique
23. Pyramid Facts and Figures Transamerica.com "About the Pyramid," Accessed 2006-10-29
24. National trust guide- San Francisco: America’s guide for architecture and history travelers, Wiley, Peter Booth, , , John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2000, ISBN 0-471-19120-5
25. San Francisco Planning Department Census Data Analysis
26. Minton, Torri (September 20, 1998). Race through Time ''San Francisco Chronicle.'' Accessed September 1, 2006.
27. FOG HEAVEN: The sun will come out tomorrow. Or maybe not. It's summer in the city, and that means gray skies
28. And Never the Twain Shall Tweet
29. Climate of San Francisco: Narrative Description Golden Gate Weather Services, Accessed on September 5, 2006
30. Weatherbase.com climate data for Livermore, California
31. National Climatic Data Center, Climate-2000/June/Climate-Watch/Selected Extremes, "Climatography of the United States," National Climatic Data Center, Accessed 2006-12-03
32. Climate of San Francisco: Top 10 Temperatures Golden Gate Weather Services, Accessed on 2006-12-03
33. CLIMATE OF SAN FRANCISCO (Third Revision)
34. Climate of San Francisco: Snowfall Golden Gate Weather Services, Accessed on 2006-12-03
35. Historical Climate Information Western Regional Climate Center, Accessed September 5, 2006
36. Chow, Andrew (March 22, 2002). Dismal APA Turnout at First Redistricting Meetings ''Asian Week''. Accessed September 3, 2006.
37. San Francisco by the Numbers: Planning after the 2000 Census. San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association, Accessed August 28, 2006.
38. San Francisco's Home Prices Remain Among the Highest in U.S.
39. It may not feel like it, but your shot at the good life is getting better. Here's why ''San Francisco Magazine''. Accessed August 28, 2006.
40. Wach, Bonnie (October 3, 2003) Fog City rises from the funk. ''USA Today''. Retrieved on September 4, 2006.
41. Lam, Eric (December 22, 2005). San Francisco Chinese New Year Parade Embroiled in Controversy. ''The Epoch Times''. Retrieved on August 31, 2006.
42. Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Accessed September 6, 2006.
43. Corporate Sponsorship (SFMOMA Facts and Audience) San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Accessed September 1, 2006.
44. About the Zoo: Media Center (Press Kit) San Francisco Zoo. Accessed September 3, 2006.
45. Top 200 Newspapers by Largest Reported Circulation. (March 31, 2006) Audit Bureau of Circulations. Accessed August 28, 2006.
46. The San Francisco Examiner, 1887–2000
47. Examiner Staff Ends an Era With Tears, Newsroom Tales
48. Newspaper war in the Bay Area: Ming Pao becomes 6th Chinese-language daily
49. Nielsen Reports 1.1% increase in U.S. Television Households for the 2006–2007 Season (Press Release) (August 23, 2006) ''Nielsen Media,'' Accessed September 20, 2006.
50. ARBITRON RADIO MARKET RANKINGS: Spring 2006 ''Arbitron,'' Accessed September 20, 2006.
51. Radio Research Consortium. Accessed August 27, 2006.
52. Environmental Protection Agency. Accessed August 28, 2006.
53. San Francisco Marathon Expands Cool Reputation The San Francisco Marathon. Accessed September 3, 2006.
54. San Francisco Bicycle Program City and County of San Francisco. Accessed September 3, 2006.
55. America's Fattest Cities
56. Wildlife Field Guids: Wildlife Habitats in GGNRA. National Park Labs, National Park Service. Accessed September 4, 2006.
57. Finz, Stacy (July 16, 2006) RICE-A-REDUX After a 7-year hiatus, it's billed once again as the San Francisco treat. ''San Francisco Chronicle.'' Retrieved on September 5, 2006.
58. Overseas Visitors To Select U.S. Cities/Hawaiian Islands 2006-2005 U.S. Department of Commerce, Office of Travel & Tourism Industries. Accessed August 27, 2006.
59. City and County of San Francisco: Sights in San Francisco. City and County of San Francisco. Accessed September 4, 2006.
60. Raine, George. (May 13, 2006). Tourism dollars add up: San Francisco seeing more visitors, more cash -- it's our No. 1 industry. ''San Francisco Chronicle''. Accessed August 23, 2006.
61. Spain, William (November 13, 2004). Cost factors: Top convention cities boast most-affordable lodging. CBS MarketWatch. Accessed September 3, 2006.
62. San Francisco: Economy city-data.com Accessed September 30, 2006.
63. Fortune 500 2006 CNNMoney.com Accessed August 31, 2006.
64. San Francisco is gateway city for immigrants and Silicon Valley Technology
65. San Francisco Small Business Commission
66. Main Street Fights Chain Street
67. Supervisors OK limits on chain-store expansion San Francisco Chronicle. Accessed January 19, 2007.
68. Proposition G: Limitations on Formula Retail Stores, City of San Francisco smartvoter.org. Accessed January 19, 2007.
69. Board of Supervisors District Information
70. A Guide to San Francisco's Budget Process, April, 2005
71. Search for consulates in San Francisco, CA Yellowpages.com, Accessed August 27, 2006.
72. POPULATION OF THE 100 LARGEST CITIES AND OTHER URBAN PLACES IN THE UNITED STATES: 1790 TO 1990
73. For cities with greater than 200,000 population. 2000 Census: US Municipalities Over 50,000: Ranked by 2000 Density
74. Census 2000 PHC-T-29. Ranking Tables for Population of Metropolitan Statistical Areas, Micropolitan Statistical Areas, Combined Statistical Areas, New England City and Town Areas, and Combined New England City and Town Areas: 1990 and 2000. (Microsoft Excel) U.S. Census Bureau. Accessed August 31, 2006.
75. 
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