HISTORY
OF SAN FRANCISCO
San
Francisco was once simply Yerba Buena (Good Herb), a
Spanish fishing village with a population of 400, set
on a large natural harbor. At the tip of a
120-sq-kilometre (46.6-sq-mile) peninsula (bounded on
the west by the Pacific Ocean, the north by the Golden
Gate Strait and north-east by the Bay) the area is
made up of more than a dozen steep hills. About 75
years later, when the West Coast region became US
territory in 1847, it was renamed San Francisco, after
the old Franciscan mission nearby. The city quickly
mushroomed - the Gold Rush of 1849 inspiring a
migration so rapid that seekers almost fell into the
Pacific, in their desperation for a new life. The
population soared to more than 300,000.
They
came from the west but also from the east -
thousands of people escaped famine in China for a hard
life on the railroads, which were created to connect
the isolated city with the rest of the country, a
project completed in 1869. During this time, Chinese
workers were subjected to appalling discriminatory
laws. Japanese immigrants came, too, but settled
separately, establishing their own businesses in the
Western Addition neighborhood and, later, what is now
Japantown. Chinatown and Japantown now constitute the
biggest Asian enclave outside Asia, and the city today
takes pride in its diverse population and has come to
be known for its tolerance overall.
Also
changing the landscape of the city was the devastating
earthquake of 1906, the fires of which all but leveled
its wooden Victorian homes - a handful that survived
are the city’s famed and colorful ‘Painted
Ladies’ in Alamo Square. Ever resilient, San
Franciscans rebuilt their city on the sea. In place of
horse-drawn streetcars that traversed Russian and Nob
Hills, the introduction of cable cars at the approach
of the 20th century changed the way residents got
around. When the Golden Gate Bridge opened in 1937, it
charted yet another horizon for man and nature working
as one and soon becoming the symbol of a city that has
it all.
Modern
San Francisco retains its relationship between
materialism and money on the one hand and cutting-edge
thought and progressive politics on the other. In the
1950s, the bohemian Beat movement grew up and out of
San Francisco’s Little Italy neighborhood of North
Beach, which helped foster the city’s importance in
the arts. The counter culture flowered in the Haight
Ashbury neighborhood (now just called the Haight)
during the 1967 Summer of Love and the gay community
fought for and found a home in Castro and Polk Street,
where they could live openly and happily.
The
city saw rapid growth in dotcom industries (located
South of Market, and in nearby Silicon Valley) and is
now recoiling from downturns in that same area. San
Francisco is the financial capital of the West Coast
and once a prime shipping gateway to the Pacific,
although most cargo ships now head for Oakland.
Tourism is the key industry and nets San Francisco
billions of dollars each year (US$7.62 billion in
2000). The Bay, which fits neatly between the Golden
Gate Bridge to the west and the San Francisco-Oakland
Bay Bridge to the east, is home to 14 small islands,
including Alcatraz, Angel, Yerba Buena and Treasure.
These can be the perfect escape from the city.
San
Francisco has a mild year-round climate but it should
not be confused with hot and sunny Southern
California. As a testament to the moderate
temperature, many homes do not have central heating
systems and outdoor dining may be enjoyed almost
year-round, thanks to the frequent use of outdoor
patio heaters. A handy rain- and wind-resistant coat
is always advised for those foggy, chilly days.
One
would be hard pressed to name another city positioned
so glamorously, between the ocean and Sierra Nevada
mountains to the east and west and redwood forests and
the California desert to the north and south. Alistair
Cooke, the British-born commentator, summed up this
most beautiful and breathtaking of American cities as
a ‘fortuitous mating of marine grandeur and
terrestrial snugness’. It remains the best summation
on record, of this city, perched precipitously at the
edge of the world.
