San Francisco

The Golden Gate Bridge, with San Francisco in the background

San Francisco is the second largest city in California, United States. In 2013, the city proper had 837,442 people.^[1] "San Francisco" means "Saint Francis" in Spanish, as the city was founded by Spanish colonists and later claimed by Mexico.

History

It was a small town until the middle of the 19th century, when the gold rush attracted people westwards, and the city soon expanded to be the center of the Pacific Union railway line. Many Chinese immigrants moved there as a workforce to build the Transcontinental Railroad, and stayed, giving the city one of the largest Chinese populations in the United States. The city is famous for the earthquake of 1906. About 3,000 people died and over 80% of San Francisco was destroyed. In the 1960s, the Haight-Ashbury district of the city was famous for its "hippies".

Features

It is the center of the San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose metropolitan region, also called the Bay Area. This is the namesake of the Bay Area Rapid Transit commuter train which serves a large population.

Downtown San Francisco is known for sites such as the Coit Tower, a large pyramidal skyscraper. The most familiar landmark is likely the Golden Gate Bridge, which connects downtown San Francisco to a large empty park across the bay. Golden Gate Park includes an aquarium, a science museum, and a herd of bison. Off the coast is Alcatraz Island, a notorious and allegedly haunted prison no longer operating.

References

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