San Francisco, California

The City and County of San Francisco (population 776,773), the
fourth-largest city in the state of California, United States, is situated
at the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula that forms San Francisco Bay.

History

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 devistated 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
Internet boom at the end of the century.

Geography and Climate

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 and
up and down them. The more notable hills in San Francisco are Nob Hill,
Russian Hill, and Telegraph Hill, all located in or near downtown. 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, and 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.
Atop Telegraph Hill is located a notable landmark, Coit Tower, dedicated to
San Francisco's firefighters.

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

Nearby San Francisco is the Silicon Valley, which holds much of the
computing business in the world.

Companies Headquartered in San Francisco

   * Ghirardelli
   * Levi Strauss
   * Sega of America
   * Wells Fargo

Hewlett-Packard is based in San Jose. Apple Computer is based in nearby
Cupertino. Yahoo! is based in Sunnyvale. ChevronTexaco is based in San
Ramon.

Law and Government

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 mayor is Willie
Brown.

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.

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.

Contemporary Life

San Francisco is one of the most densely populated cities in the United
States. The city is serviced by several public transit systems. Muni is the
city-owned public transit system which operates buses, electric
trolleybuses, streetcars and the famous cable cars (see above). BART (Bay
Area Rapid Transit) is the regional transit system, which connects San
Francisco with the East Bay and the San Mateo County, California communities
on the San Francisco Peninsula. In addition, a commuter rail service,
CalTrain, operates between San Francisco and San Jose.

San Francisco is the home of the San Francisco 49ers National Football
League team and the San Francisco Giants Major League Baseball team.

See also: Golden Gate Bridge, Northern California, San Francisco Bay Area,
Silicon Valley

Neighborhoods

   * Chinatown
   * The Castro
   * Financial District
   * Haight-Ashbury
   * Hunters Point
   * The Mission
   * Noe Valley
   * North Beach
   * Pacific Heights
   * Potrero Hill
   * South of Market (SoMa)
   * Richmond District
   * Sunset District
   * The Tenderloin
   * Golden Gate Park

City in Film & TV

This great American city has been featured in many movies:

   * San Francisco
   * Vertigo
   * Dirty Harry films
   * The Hulk
   * Star Trek: The Voyage Home

Television programs that highlight the city and its people, include:

   * The Jackie Chan Adventures
   * Monk
   * Nash Bridges
   * The Streets of San Francisco

Airports

   * Local
        o San Francisco International Airport
   * Further Away
        o Oakland International Airport
        o San Jose International Airport

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