Portal:San Francisco Bay Area

WELCOME TO THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA

The San Francisco Bay Area Portal

The 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

KTVU, virtual channel 2 (UHF digital channel 44), is a Fox owned-and-operated television station serving the San Francisco Bay Area that is licensed to Oakland, California, United States. The station is owned by the Fox Television Stations subsidiary of 21st Century Fox, as part of a duopoly with independent station KICU-TV (channel 36). The two stations share studio facilities located at Jack London Square in Oakland; KTVU maintains transmitter facilities located at Sutro Tower in San Francisco.

KTVU presently broadcasts 47½ hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 7½ hours on weekdays and five hours each on Saturdays and Sundays); in regards to the number of hours devoted to news programming, it is the second-highest newscast output of any television station in the San Francisco Bay Area (behind MyNetworkTV affiliate KRON-TV, which carries 60 hours each week). In addition, the station produces the sports highlight program Sports Wrap, airing weekends at 10:45 p.m. (during the final 15 minutes of the 10:00 p.m. newscast), and the public affairs program Bay Area People, which airs Saturdays at 6:30 a.m. KTVU's Saturday 6:00 p.m. and Sunday 5:00 p.m. newscasts are subject to preemption or delay due to network sports telecasts overrunning into or starting within either timeslot. KTVU is the largest Fox station not owned by the network without a newscast in the traditional 11:00 p.m. timeslot (the station instead occupies the 11:00 half-hour with off-network syndicated sitcoms), and the fifth-largest Fox station overall without a newscast in a conventional late news timeslot. (Full article...)

Selected biography

George Cedric Wright (April 13, 1889 – 1959) was an American violinist and wilderness photographer of the High Sierra. He was Ansel Adams's mentor and best friend for decades, and accompanied Adams when three of his most famous photographs were taken. He was a long -time participant in the annual wilderness High Trips sponsored by the Sierra Club.

Cedric Wright was born and raised in Alameda, California. His father was a successful attorney, and one of his clients was astronomer Charles Hitchcock Adams, Ansel Adams's father. Cedric's uncle, William Hammond Wright, was an astronomer who became head of Lick Observatory. As a result of his father's success, Wright was financially comfortable throughout his life. (more...)

Selected city

Alameda is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. It is located on Alameda Island and Bay Farm Island, and is adjacent to and west of Oakland and in eastern San Francisco Bay across from San Francisco and South San Francisco, in the San Francisco Bay Area. Bay Farm Island, a portion of which is also known as "Harbor Bay Isle", is not actually an island, and is part of the mainland adjacent to the Oakland International Airport. In 2014 the city had a total population of 75,467. Alameda is a charter city, rather than a general law city, allowing the city to provide for any form of government. Alameda became a charter city and adopted a council–manager government in 1916, which it retains to the present. (more...)

Selected image

Golden Gate Park, San Francisco

image credit: Mike Lehmann

The Bay Area by year

1902

Hotel Majestic (pictured) in San Francisco is built.
The Carpenter Gothic Victorian St. Thomas Aquinas Church is completed in Palo Alto
Big Basin Redwoods State Park is established in the Santa Cruz Mountains

Selected historical image

Shattuck Avenue at Berkeley Way, Berkeley ca. 1893

image credit: Berkeley Public Library

Did you know...

San Francisco Bay Salt Ponds

... that the vivid colors of the San Francisco Bay Salt Ponds (pictured), ranging from magenta to blue-green, come from the brine shrimp and microorganisms that thrive in the water?
... that the Laguna Creek watershed debouches into the San Francisco Bay near the site of the ghost town of Drawbridge?
... that the chase scene from the 1968 Steve McQueen film Bullitt starts on Cesar Chavez Street (then Army Street) before continuing through San Francisco?
... that the title of There There, a 2018 novel about urban Indians in Oakland, California, mirrors Gertrude Stein's quip about the city that "There is no there there"?

Previous Did you know...

... that the tower located at 100 McAllister St (pictured) in San Francisco used to be a Methodist church, a hotel and an IRS office building before it was refurbished for residential use by students at UC Hastings?
... that veteran LGBT rights activist Hank Wilson started or co-founded at least ten LGBT organizations in the San Francisco area?
... that George Hardy, who headed the Service Employees International Union from 1971 to 1980, did his first union organizing among janitors in San Francisco?
... that when reporter George Crile compared San Francisco to Sodom and Gomorrah when interviewing Dianne Feinstein for the CBS documentary Gay Power, Gay Politics, she threw him out of her office?

November - December 2008

Selected periodic event

The Luther Burbank Rose Parade and Festival is an annual festival held in Santa Rosa celebrating the work of Luther Burbank, and centered on the Luther Burbank Home and Gardens (pictured). It began in 1894, and today has a budget of $100,000, with up to 250,000 attending.

Quote

“

It's an odd thing, but anyone who disappears is said to be seen in San Francisco. It must be a delightful city and possess all the attractions of the next world.

”

~ Oscar Wilde

*more quotes about San Francisco from Wikiquote

Selected multimedia file

1906 San Francisco earthquake aftermath

credit: Prelinger Archives

Bay Area regions, geographic features and protected areas

Regions

East Bay

North Bay

Peninsula

Santa Clara Valley

Silicon Valley

Wine Country

West Marin

Geographic features

San Francisco Bay

San Pablo Bay

Suisun Bay

Islands of the Bay

Marin Headlands

Diablo Range

Berkeley Hills

Santa Cruz Mountains

Protected areas

Golden Gate Recreation Area

Farallones Marine Sanctuary

Don Edwards Wildlife Refuge

Point Reyes Seashore

Mount Tamalpais State Park

Henry W. Coe State Park

Midpeninsula Open Space

East Bay Regional Parks

Related Portals

WikiProject

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Oakland, California. Junior Employment Service. Filling out applications. The girls want part time work in domestic service. 1940

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