Portal:San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area PortalThe 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
The Black Cat Bar or Black Cat Café was a bar in San Francisco. It originally opened in 1906 and closed in 1921. The Black Cat re-opened in 1933 and operated for another 30 years. During its second run of operation, it was a hangout for Beats and bohemians but over time began attracting more and more of a gay clientele.
Because it catered to gays, the bar became a flashpoint for the nascent homophile movement. The Black Cat was at the center of a legal fight that was one of the earliest court cases to establish legal protections for gay people in the United States. Despite this victory, continued pressure from law enforcement agencies eventually forced the bar's closure in 1964. The Black Cat opened in 1906, shortly after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. When entrepreneur Charles Ridley acquired the bar in 1911, he turned it into a showplace for vaudeville-style acts. Over the next several years, Ridley and the Black Cat came under increased police scrutiny as a possible center of prostitution. In 1921, the bar lost its dance permit and closed down. (more...) Selected biographyIna Coolbrith (March 10, 1841 – February 29, 1928) was an American poet, writer, librarian, and a prominent figure in the San Francisco Bay Area literary community. Called the "Sweet Singer of California", she was the first California Poet Laureate and the first poet laureate of any American state. Coolbrith, born the niece of Latter Day Saint movement founder Joseph Smith, Jr., left the Mormon community as a child to enter her teens in Los Angeles, California, where she began to publish poetry. She terminated a youthful failed marriage to make her home in San Francisco, and met writers Bret Harte and Charles Warren Stoddard with whom she formed the "Golden Gate Trinity" closely associated with the literary journal Overland Monthly. Her poetry received positive notice from critics and established poets such as Mark Twain, Ambrose Bierce and Alfred Lord Tennyson. She held literary salons at her home—in this way she introduced new writers to publishers. Coolbrith befriended the poet Joaquin Miller and helped him gain global fame. (more...) Selected citySan Jose is the third-largest city in California, the largest in Northern California and the county seat of Santa Clara County. Once a small farming city, by 1950 San Jose was a magnet for suburban newcomers in new housing developments (1960s to the 1990s) and became a large thriving urban center of Northern California. Originally El Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe, it was founded in 1777 in the Spanish colony of Nueva California. After over 150 years as an agricultural center, San Jose underwent aggressive expansion during the 1950s and 1960s. By the 1990s, San Jose's central location within the booming technology industry earned the city the nickname Capital of Silicon Valley. (more...) Selected imagePigeons, Golden Gate Park
image credit: Brocken Inaglory
The Bay Area by year1875
Selected historical imageWilliam Westerfeld House, San Francisco (1981) image credit: Historic American Buildings Survey
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Selected periodic eventBay to Breakers is an annual footrace in San Francisco on the third Sunday of May. The name reflects the fact that the race starts at the The Embarcadero adjacent to San Francisco Bay and finishes at the Great Highway adjacent to Ocean Beach and its "breaking waves". It is well known for many participants wearing costumes, and a few engaging in public nudity. The event was officially the world's largest footrace from 1986 (with 110,000 participants) until it was surpassed in 2010 by City2Surf in Sydney, Australia. Quote
Selected multimedia fileBay Area regions, geographic features and protected areasGeographic features
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Things you can do*Write an article on a Bay Area-related subject Selected panoramaThe Great Hall at Castello di Amorosa winery, Napa Valley image credit: Mactographer
San Francisco Bay Area categoriesBay 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
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