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Welcome to San Francisco, California.
The City and County of San Francisco is the fourth-largest city in California and the fourteenth-largest in the United States, with a 2005 population of 739,426. t is located on the tip of the San Francisco Peninsula and has traditionally been the focal point of the San Francisco Bay Area.
San Francisco is renowned for its months-long episodes of fog, steep rolling hills, the eclectic mix of Victorian and modern architecture, and its peninsular location surrounded on three sides by the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay. Famous hallmarks and landmarks include the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz Island, the cable cars, the Transamerica Pyramid, and Chinatown.
San Francisco skyline - downtown and Financial District with Transamerica. Photo by NASA
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 offshore in the Pacific Ocean. The land within the city limits roughly forms a seven by seven mile square, which has become a colloquialism referring to the city's shape.
San Francisco is famous for its hills, which are defined as elevations over 100 ft (30 m). There are a total of 43 hills within city limits. Some neighborhoods are named after the hill on which they are situated, including Nob Hill, Pacific Heights, Russian Hill, Potrero Hill, and Telegraph Hill.
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.
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 summer and early fall. The fog is less pronounced in eastern neighborhoods, in late spring, and during September and October, which are the warmest months of the year.
Ocean Beach runs along the Pacific Ocean shoreline, and Baker Beach occupies a picturesque setting just west of the Golden Gate Bridge. They are not suitable for swimming because the waters off the coast are cold and have deadly rip currents. The biggest and most well-known park is Golden Gate Park, stretching from the center of the city to the 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.
The legacy of the California Gold Rush turned San Francisco into the main banking and financial 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 and formerly the site of the Pacific Exchange. Bank of America, a pioneer in making banking services accessible to the middle class, was founded in San Francisco. Many large financial institutions, multinational banks and venture capital firms are based in or have set up regional headquarters in the city.
More than 15 million visitors came to San Francisco in 2005, injecting nearly $7.5 billion into the economy. 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.
The San Francisco 49ers of the NFL are the longest-tenured major professional sports franchise in the city. They began play 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, and Jerry Rice.
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Bay Area News:
UC regents to look at changing policy on fees
If professional schools within the University of California want to raise student fees, they might soon be allowed to set new prices by considering what private universities are charging. Current UC policy requires that new fees be no higher than the average...
15 groups spent $1 billion to sway policy
The California Teachers Association spent $211.8 million - more than any other special interest group - over the past decade to influence state voters and politicians, according to a state report released Wednesday. Three Indian tribes dumped another $200...
SANTA CLARA FIRE / Big blaze at electronics recycler
Instead of being recycled, a heap of computer and electronic parts in Santa Clara burned and melted Wednesday in a fire that had officials urging nearby workers to stay inside, away from the fumes. The shelter-in-place warning was lifted at 3:30 p.m., three...
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Places of interest:
Daly City, CA (5.2 miles), Broadmoor, CA (5.5 miles), Colma, CA (5.7 miles), Brisbane, CA (5.8 miles), South San Francisco, CA (7.2 miles), Sausalito, CA (7.7 miles), Belvedere, CA (8.2 miles), Tiburon, CA (9.2 miles).
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Weather in San Francisco:
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Hotels in San Francisco
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Westin St. Francis
335 POWELL STREET - San Francisco, CA, US 94102
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Days Inn Downtown
895 GEARY ST - San Francisco, CA, US 94109
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Sheraton Fishermans Wharf
2500 MASON ST - San Francisco, CA, US 94133
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Grand Hyatt San Francisco
345 STOCKTON ST. - San Francisco, CA, US 94108
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Hyatt Regency
5 EMBARCADERO CENTER - San Francisco, CA, US 94111
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InterContinental Mark Hopkins
NUMBER 1 NOB HILL - San Francisco, CA, US 94108
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Marriott Fisherman's Wharf
1250 COLUMBUS AVENUE - San Francisco, CA, US 94133
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Econo Lodge San Francisco
2505 Lombard St San Francisco Ca 94123
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Mandarin Oriental Sf
222 SANSOME STREET - San Francisco, CA, US 941042792
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Courtyard Fisherman's Wharf
580 Beach Street
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Comfort Inn By The Bay
2775 VAN NESS AVENUE - San Francisco, CA, US 94109
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Travelodge Airport
326 SOUTH AIRPORT BLVD - San Francisco, CA, US 94080
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Beresford Hotel
635 SUTTER STREET - San Francisco, CA, US 94102
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Ramada Limited Downtown
240 7TH STREET - San Francisco, CA, US 94103
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Park Hyatt San Francisco
333 BATTERY STREET - San Francisco, CA, US 94111
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Greenwich Inn
3201 STEINER ST - San Francisco, CA, US 94123
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Travelodge Golden Gate
2230 Lombard Street San Francisco Ca 94123
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San Fran At The Presidio
2755 LOMBARD - San Francisco, CA, US 94123
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Travelodge San Francisco Downto
790 ELLIS ST - San Francisco, CA, US 94109
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Radisson Fisherman's Wharf
250 BEACH STREET - San Francisco, CA, US 94133
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