Portal:San Francisco Bay Area

WELCOME TO THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA   BAY AREA CITIES   RECOGNIZED BAY AREA CONTENT The San Francisco Bay Area Portal California Bay Area county map The San Francisco Bay Area (referred to locally as the Bay Area) is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses the major cities and metropolitan areas of San Jose, San Francisco, and Oakland, along with smaller urban and rural areas. The Bay Area's nine counties are Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma. Home to approximately 7.68 million people, the nine-county Bay Area contains many cities, towns, airports, and associated regional, state, and national parks, connected by a network of roads, highways, railroads, bridges, tunnels, and commuter rail. The combined statistical area of the region is the second-largest in California (after the Greater Los Angeles area), the fifth-largest in the United States, and the 43rd-largest urban area in the world with 8.80 million people. The Bay Area has the second-most Fortune 500 companies in the United States, after the New York metropolitan area, and is known for its natural beauty, liberal politics, entrepreneurship, and diversity. The area ranks second in highest density of college graduates, after the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area and performs above the state median household income in the 2010 census; it includes the five highest California counties by per capita income and two of the top 25 wealthiest counties in the United States. Based on a 2013 population report from the California Department of Finance, the Bay Area is the only region in California where the rate of people migrating in from other areas in the United States is greater than the rate of those leaving the region, led by Alameda and Contra Costa counties. (more...) Selected article Abandoned building Earth Abides is a 1949 post-apocalyptic science fiction novel by American writer George R. Stewart. It tells the story of the fall of civilization from deadly disease and its rebirth. The story was set in the United States in the 1940s, in Berkeley, California. Isherwood Williams (Ish), a graduate student at Berkeley, studying the geography of an area in the mountains, somewhere in California, emerges from isolation in the mountains to find almost everyone dead. Earth Abides won the inaugural International Fantasy Award in 1951. It was included in Locus Magazine's list of best All Time Science Fiction in 1987 and 1998 and was a nominee to be entered into the Prometheus Hall of Fame. In November 1950, it was adapted for the CBS radio program Escape as a two-part drama starring John Dehner. (more...) Selected biography Medical Marijuana ID offices, San Francisco Mary Jane Rathbun (December 22, 1922 – April 10, 1999), popularly known as Brownie Mary, was an American medical cannabis activist. As a hospital volunteer at San Francisco General Hospital, she became known for illegally baking and distributing cannabis brownies to AIDS patients. Along with activist Dennis Peron, Rathbun lobbied for the legalization of cannabis for medical use, and she helped pass San Francisco Proposition P (1991) and California Proposition 215 (1996) to achieve those goals. She also contributed to the establishment of the San Francisco Cannabis Buyers Club, the first medical cannabis dispensary in the United States. Rathbun was arrested on three occasions, with each arrest bringing increased local, national, and international media attention to the medical cannabis movement. Her grandmotherly appearance generated public sympathy for her cause and undermined attempts by the district attorney's office to prosecute her for possession. The City of San Francisco eventually gave Rathbun permission to distribute cannabis brownies to people with AIDS. Her arrests generated interest in the medical community and motivated researchers to propose one of the first clinical trials to study the effects of cannabinoids in HIV-infected adults. (more...) Selected city Sonoma is a historically significant city in Sonoma Valley, Sonoma County, California, United States, surrounding its historic town plaza, a remnant of the town's Mexican colonial past. Today, Sonoma is a center of the state's wine industry for the Sonoma Valley AVA Appellation. Sonoma's population was 10,648 as of the 2010 census, while the Sonoma urban area had a population of 32,678. (more...) Selected image Memorial gravesite for the unclaimed bodies (and all the names) of the 1978 Jonestown dead, Evergreen Cemetery, Oakland image credit: Mercurywoodrose The Bay Area by year 1857 St. Mary's hospital after the 1906 earthquake "Champagne Corking", by Eadweard Muybridge The Sisters of Mercy open St. Mary's Hospital on Stockton Street in San Francisco, the first Catholic hospital west of the Rocky Mountains (hospital ruins in 1906 pictured) Minns Evening Normal School is founded in San Francisco by George W. Minns George Kenny starts construction of an octagonal house at Russian Hill in San Francisco Landscape painter Fortunato Arriola moves to San Francisco from Cosala, Sinaloa, Mexico Lafayette is incorporated in Contra Costa County Buena Vista Winery is founded by Agoston Haraszthy in the Sonoma Valley (early champagne production pictured) Selected historical image Sunset July 1904 issue, art by Maynard Dixon image credit: Maynard Dixon Did you know... San Francisco Bay Salt Ponds ... that the vivid colors of the San Francisco Bay Salt Ponds (pictured), ranging from magenta to blue-green, come from the brine shrimp and microorganisms that thrive in the water? ... that the Laguna Creek watershed debouches into the San Francisco Bay near the site of the ghost town of Drawbridge? ... that the chase scene from the 1968 Steve McQueen film Bullitt starts on Cesar Chavez Street (then Army Street) before continuing through San Francisco? ... that the title of There There, a 2018 novel about urban Indians in Oakland, California, mirrors Gertrude Stein's quip about the city that "There is no there there"? Previous Did you know... ... that when San Francisco–based photographer William Rulofson (pictured) fell to his death, he was heard to have exclaimed, "I am killed"? ... that the San Francisco and San Mateo Electric Railway was San Francisco's first electric streetcar company? ... that the adobe house that is the centerpiece of the Alviso Adobe Community Park (pictured) in Pleasanton, California, was built in 1854 and continuously in use until 1969? ... that years after Adolph Spreckels shot M. H. de Young, the California Palace of the Legion of Honor (which he donated) and the De Young Museum merged to form the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco? ... that the city of San Francisco contributed a large proportion of the funds for constructing the extension of Junipero Serra Boulevard beyond the city limits? January 2008 Selected periodic event The Solano Avenue Stroll is an annual street fair held every September, a week after Labor Day, on the Solano Avenue shopping district in Albany and Berkeley, California. Stretching close to 2 miles long and bringing between 250,000 and 300,000 attendees in a single day, it has been called the oldest and largest street festival in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2001, The Library of Congress's American Folklife Center in Washington, D.C. designated the festival as a "National Local Legacy". (video of 2009 Solano Stroll, with musicians and passing BART train, displayed) Quote “ When I was in my late 30s, I lit a figure on fire on Baker Beach in San Francisco. It was me, a friend, and maybe eight people, tops. There wasn't any premeditation to it at all. It was really just a product of San Franciscan bohemian milieu. ” ~ Larry Harvey, on the origins of Burning Man. (Inc. interview, 2012) *more quotes about San Francisco from Wikiquote Selected multimedia file The San Francisco Giants win game one of the 2010 World Series credit: Voice of America Bay Area regions, geographic features and protected areas Regions East Bay North Bay Peninsula Santa Clara Valley Silicon Valley Wine Country West Marin Geographic features San Francisco Bay San Pablo Bay Suisun Bay Islands of the Bay Marin Headlands Diablo Range Berkeley Hills Santa Cruz Mountains Protected areas Golden Gate Recreation Area Farallones Marine Sanctuary Don Edwards Wildlife Refuge Point Reyes Seashore Mount Tamalpais State Park Henry Coe State Park Midpeninsula Open Space East Bay Regional Parks Related Portals WikiProject You are invited to participate in the San Francisco Bay Area task force, a task force dedicated to developing and improving articles about the San Francisco Bay Area. Things you can do Oakland, California. Junior Employment Service. Filling out applications. The girls want part time work in domestic service. 1940 *Write an article on a Bay Area-related subject *Propose new material or features for this portal *Add new selected articles *Add new selected biographies *Add new selected cities *Add new selected images *Add new selected historical images *Add new selected events *Add new selected multimedia files *Add new quotes *Add new historical events *Add new selected panoramas Selected panorama Pillar Point Harbor, Half Moon Bay image credit: Brocken Inaglory San Francisco Bay Area categories Bay Area | San Francisco Bay | San Francisco | San Jose | Oakland | Cities | Census-designated places | Historic Places | National Landmarks | Counties: Alameda | Contra Costa | Marin | Napa | San Mateo | Santa Clara | Solano | Sonoma Architecture | Attractions | Books | Culture | Economy | Education | Environment | Events & Festivals | Geography | Government | History | Landmarks | Law | Mass media | Military | Music | Organizations | Parks | People | Politics | Science | Sports | Transport Full category tree Select [►] to view the full category tree. 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