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
href="http://www.thereservationcenter.com/Body.asp?mode=3&Page=SearchByModeCity&Type=LA&TY=LA&SearchName=San+Francisco+Bus+Tours&eType=Activities&City=San+Francisco&sc=2">Bus,


href="http://www.thereservationcenter.com/Body.asp?mode=38&Page=SearchByModeCity&Type=WA&TY=WA&SearchName=San+Francisco+Bay+Sailing&eType=Activities&City=San+Francisco&sc=2">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
href="http://www.thereservationcenter.com/Body.asp?mode=5&Page=SearchByModeCity&Type=WA&TY=WA&SearchName=San+Francisco+Bay+Cruises&eType=Activities&City=San+Francisco&sc=2">boat

tours available. And
href="http://www.thereservationcenter.com/Body.asp?mode=3&Page=SearchByModeCity&Type=LA&TY=LA&SearchName=San+Francisco+Bus+Tours&eType=Activities&City=San+Francisco&sc=2">Gray

Line Bus tour is the San Francisco's

largest
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tour operator. The self-guided
href="http://www.thereservationcenter.com/Body.asp?mode=49&Page=SearchByModeCity&Type=LA&TY=LA&SearchName=Private+SUV+Tours&eType=Activities&City=San+Francisco&sc=2">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
href="http://www.thereservationcenter.com/body.asp?tour=SFO-B0001&page=TourDetails&sc=2&City=San+Francisco">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.








About the Author


Name: Mary Scott


Occupation: Traveler




Website: www.thereservationcenter.com






www.looktours.com





Biography: Mary Scott is with The Reservation Center - providers of

discounted tours to make your vacations and sightseeing trips in

various cities across the world as comfortable and enjoyable as

possible.