| by: Mary Scott
Introduction
The City and County of San Francisco is the
fourth-largest city in the state of California, in the United States. A
consolidated city-county, mainland San Francisco is located on the tip
of the San Francisco Peninsula. Insular San Francisco includes several
islands in the San Francisco Bay and the Golden Gate Strait, notably
Alcatraz, Treasure Island, and the Farallon Islands 27 miles offshore in
the Pacific Ocean and also most of the privately owned Red Rock Island
near the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge.
History
San Francisco has a long history of events marking
its growth from a small town to a big city
" In 1776, the Spanish were the first Europeans to
settle in San Francisco
" In 1848, with the advent of the California gold
rush the city entered a period of rapid growth
" In 1822, serious development by non-Spanish
speakers began, when William Richardson, an English whaler redeveloped a
section of Yerba Buena in what is now Portsmouth Square in Chinatown.
" In 1846, the Mexican-American War broke out.
" On January 30, 1847, a naval force under
Commodore John D. Sloat claimed it in the name of the United States and
renamed it "San Francisco"
" On April 18, 1906, a devastating earthquake
resulted from the rupture of over 270 miles of the San Andreas Fault,
from San Juan Bautista to Eureka, centered immediately offshore of San
Francisco.
" The city was quickly rebuilt after the
earthquake.
" The phoenix on the city's flag represents San
Francisco's "rebirth" from the ashes of the fire that resulted from the
quake.
" In the 1950s San Francisco hired Harvard
graduate Justin Herman to head the redevelopment agency for the city and
county.
" Justin Herman began an aggressive campaign to
renew blighted areas of the city.
" His planning led to the creation of Embarcadero
Center, the Embarcadero Freeway, Japan town, the Geary Street super
blocks, and Yerba Buena Gardens.
Place of interest
San Francisco's parks, museums, tours, and
landmarks are favorites for travelers the world over and offer an array
of activities to suit every visitor. But no particular activity or place
makes the city one of the most popular destinations in the world. It's
San Francisco itself -- its charm, its atmosphere, its perfect blend of
big metropolis with small-town hospitality. Some of its main attractions
are:
" Alcatraz Island
" Cable Cars
" California Academy of Sciences
" Coit Tower
" Ferry Building Marketplace (and Farmers' Market)
" Fisherman's Wharf
" Ghiradelli Square
" Golden Gate Bridge
" Lombard Street
" Pier 39
" The Cannery
" Yerba Buena Center for the Arts / Yerba Buena
Gardens
Museums & Art Galleries
Notable San Francisco Museums include
" The Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA),
" The Palace of the Legion of Honor,
" The M. H. de Young Memorial Museum,
" The Asian Art Museum.
Other museums include
" The International Museum of Women,
" The Museum of the African Diaspora,
" The Contemporary Jewish Museum,
" The Museum of Craft & Folk Art,
" The Mexican Museum.
In terms of performing arts, San Francisco boasts
" The San Francisco Symphony,
" The San Francisco Opera
" The San Francisco Ballet.
San Francisco's Ballet and Opera are some of the
oldest continuing performing arts companies in the United States.
Shopping
Like its population, San Francisco's shopping is
both worldly and intimate. Every persuasion, style, era, and fetish is
represented, not in big, tacky shopping malls, but in hundreds of
quaint, dramatically different boutiques scattered throughout the city.
San Francisco has many shopping areas, but the following places are
where one will find most of the actions:
" Union Square & Environs
" Chinatown
" Union Street
" Chestnut Street
" Fillmore Street
" Haight Street
" SoMa
" Hayes Valley
Food & Drink
San Francisco's restaurants are so renowned that
many people visit the city just to eat -- and with good reason. The
city's brilliant chefs, combined with California's abundance of organic
produce, seafood, free-range meats, and Northern California wine,
guarantee some of the world's finest dining. San Francisco also has
varied nightlife ranging from bars to lounges to clubs. Major areas of
nightlife in San Francisco are North Beach, the Mission District, the
Marina, the Castro, and South of Market. San Francisco also boasts of
legendary pop music venues such as The Fillmore and The Warfield.
Universities
San Francisco Unified School District and the
Archdiocese of San Francisco's dozens of Catholic elementary and high
schools serve the city. Despite its limited geographical space, San
Francisco is home to a multitude of Universities and Colleges. Public
universities include:
" University of California, San Francisco,
primarily a graduate level health-sciences school, located north of
Forest Hill
" San Francisco State University located in the
southwest corner of the city near Lake Merced
" University of California, Hastings College of
the Law located downtown at its Civic Center
" City College of San Francisco, one of the
largest community colleges in the country is located in the Ingleside,
with several extension campuses.
" Private universities:
" The Jesuit-run University of San Francisco, one
of the first universities established west of the Mississippi, located
in the center of the city
" Golden Gate University, a business and law
school located downtown
" California Culinary Academy Le Cordon Bleu
program located in the Tenderloin
" Academy of Art University
" San Francisco School of Digital Filmmaking
" Alliant International University.
Sports
San Francisco is the home of many major league
teams like
" The San Francisco 49ers National Football League
team, who play at Monster Park
" The San Francisco Giants Major League Baseball
team, who play at SBC Park
" MLB 's Oakland Athletics
" NFL's Oakland Raiders
" The National Basketball Association's Golden
State Warriors play across the bay in Oakland
" The regional National Hockey League team, the
San Jose Sharks play in San Jose
The Warriors and Sharks were once based just south
of San Francisco, at the Cow Palace, located several yards south of San
Francisco, in Daly City. The city is also home to some famous golf
courses, including the Harding Park Golf Course and the courses of the
Olympic Club.
Hotels & Accommodation
Luxury Hotels
San Francisco has elegant and grand hotels in its
possession. Westin St. Francis, Westin Saint Francis, Palace Hotel,
Argent Hotel, Mark Hopkins Intercontinental, Hilton, Fairmont, W San
Francisco, Pan Pacific, Park Hyatt, Hyatt Regency, Renaissance Parc 55,
Ritz Carlton - are some of these big names.
All famous luxury hotels like Hilton, Hyatt,
Palace Hotel, etc. have their branch in Fisherman Wharf.
Budget Hotels
If the visit to San Francisco is in a particularly
busy season and booking in prominent hotels are over, here's a list of
moderate to very inexpensive alternatives - Alisa Hotel, Edward II Inn &
Suites, Hotel Beresford Arms, King George Hotel, The Marina Inn, The San
Remo Hotel.
Tours and Sightseeing
San Francisco has different type of organized
tours they differ in the contents as well as the transport system. Tours
are available by Bus, Boat, BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) or on foot.
The San Francisco Visitor Information Center, at Powell and Market
streets, distributes free route maps. Blue & Gold Fleet and Red & White
Fleet are two boat tours available. And Gray Line Bus tour is the San
Francisco's largest bus tour operator. The self-guided Private SUV tour,
49-mile drive is one easy way to grasp the beauty of San Francisco and
its extraordinary location. Beginning in the city, it follows a rough
circle around the bay and passes virtually all the best-known sights,
from Chinatown to the Golden Gate Bridge, Ocean Beach, Seal Rocks,
Golden Gate Park, and Twin Peaks.
Transport
San Francisco has the most extensive public
transit system on the West Coast and one of the most diverse in the
country. Muni is the city-owned public transit system, which operates
the Muni Metro light rail system. BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) is the
regional transit system, which connects San Francisco with the East Bay,
through an underwater tunnel, and Northern San Mateo County, California
communities and San Francisco International Airport on the San Francisco
Peninsula. In addition, a frequent commuter rail service, Caltrain,
operates between San Francisco, San Jose, California and Gilroy,
California.
San Francisco International Airport (SFO) is
located 12.9 km (8 miles) south of the city in San Mateo County on a
landfill extension into the San Francisco Bay. It is the only major
international hub airport in California other than LAX in Los Angeles.
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