San Francisco

Buzincu Roberto
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San
Francisco, is a commercial, financial,
and cultural center in Northern California. With a
population of 808,437 residents as of 2022, San
Francisco is the fourth most populous city in
the U.S. state of California. The city covers a land
area of 46.9 square miles (121 square
kilometers) at the end of the San Francisco
Peninsula, making it the second-most densely
populated large U.S. city after New York City and
the fifth-most densely populated U.S. county,
behind only four New York City boroughs.
 Geography
San Francisco is located on the West Coast of the United States, at the north
end of the San Francisco Peninsula and includes significant stretches of the
Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay within its boundaries. Several
picturesque islands—Alcatraz, Treasure Island and the adjacent Yerba Buena
Island, and small portions of Alameda Island, Red Rock Island, and Angel
Island—are part of the city. Also included are the uninhabited Farallon
Islands, 27 miles (43 km) offshore in the Pacific Ocean. The mainland within
the city limits roughly forms a "seven-by-seven-mile square," a common local
colloquialism referring to the city's shape, though its total area, including
water, is nearly 232 square miles (600 km2).
There are more than 50 hills within the city limits. Some neighborhoods are
named after the hill on which they are situated, including Nob Hill, Potrero
Hill, and Russian Hill. Near the geographic center of the city, southwest of the
downtown area, are a series of less densely populated hills. Twin Peaks, a
pair of hills forming one of the city's highest points, forms an overlook spot.
San Francisco's tallest hill, Mount Davidson, is 928 feet (283 m) high and is
capped with a 103-foot (31 m) tall cross built in 1934. Dominating this area
is Sutro Tower, a large red and white radio and television transmission tower
reaching 1,811 ft (552 m) above sea level.
 Climate
Winter in San Francisco is rainy and mild, spring sunny
and temperate, summer foggy and cool,
and autumn sunny and warm. The average
minimum temperature is 51 °F (11 °C), and the average
maximum is 63 °F (17 °C). The mean rainfall, almost all
of which occurs between November and April, is about
21 inches (533 mm). There is sunshine during two-
thirds of the possible daylight hours. The
most characteristic feature of the weather, however, is
the summer fog, which lies low over the city until
midday, creating consternation among shivering
tourists. This fog is a phenomenon of temperature
contrasts, created when warm, moist ocean air comes in
contact with cold water welling up from the ocean
bottom along the coast.
 Economy
The gold rush (1848–1849) established San Francisco as the premier
city of the West, known from the Oregon border to the pueblo of Los
Angeles simply as the City. It is still a great port, the financial and
administrative capital of the West, and a substantial centre
for commerce and manufacturing.
San Francisco is well known for its connection to the technology
industry. Some San Franciscans commute to nearby Silicon Valley—a
region just south of the bay that is the heart of the nation’s technology
industry—to work, but the city itself is home to a number of smaller
technology companies and start-ups. Another large portion of the
city’s employed work in the area of finance. Other leading areas of
employment include business services (personnel supply, building
maintenance, security, computers and data processing, and
advertising), retail trade, the tourist and convention industry, and
professional services. Many companies, such as Levi Strauss & Co.,
producer of one of San Francisco’s most famous products, blue jeans,
have located their national headquarters in the Bay Area.
 Transportation

Periodic smog, produced mainly by the automobiles in the

area, is a serious concern. Freeway traffic is also a
problem, as travel from the East Bay cities
of Oakland and Berkeley and from Marin county to the
north is confined to two great but overburdened bridges.
The world’s longest high-level steel bridge, the San
Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, is 4.5 miles (7.2 km) long;
it was completed in 1936 and consists of two back-to-back
suspension bridges, a connecting tunnel on Yerba Buena
Island, five truss spans, and a cantilever span. The orange-
red Golden Gate Bridge, leading north to Marin county,
was completed in 1937. It is a pure suspension bridge with
a 4,200-foot (1,280-metre) centre span; the spectacular
clear span was the longest in the world until 1964
when New York City’s Verrazano-Narrows Bridge opened.
At its highest point the bridge is about 260 feet (80
metres) above the bay.
 Education
The Bay Area is one of the country’s centres of higher
learning. Although strictly speaking they cannot be
counted as San Francisco institutions, two of the
region’s universities—the University of California,
located across the bay in Berkeley (campus opened
1873), and Stanford University (opened 1891),
neighbour to Palo Alto down the peninsula—are among
the nation’s most prestigious schools. Within San
Francisco itself are the University of San Francisco,
originally a Jesuit academy established in 1855, and San University of California, San Francisco
Francisco State University, which was founded as
a normal school in 1899, became a four-year college in
1935, and achieved university status in 1972. Other
institutions include Golden Gate University (1853), the
City College of San Francisco (1935; a two-year public
college), and the San Francisco Art Institute (1871).
 Landmarks
Golden Gate Bridge

This bridge is probably one of the most iconic San

Francisco landmarks. It's a suspension bridge that
spans the one-mile-wide strait connecting San
Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean, also known
as the Golden Gate, hence the name.
Designed by Joseph Strauss in 1917, construction
of the bridge officially began in 1933. It opened
in 1937, and at the time, the Golden Gate Bridge
was the longest and tallest bridge in the world.
 Alcatraz Island
Alcatraz Island is one of the historic sites in San
Francisco, known for its operation as a prison
from the 1930s to the 1960s. The island's
location and its secure military fortification led to
its use as a penitentiary. Notably, it's been called
an inescapable prison due to being surrounded
by water on all sides.
Coit Tower
Coit Tower opened in 1933 and sits on Telegraph Hill. You
can take the wooden stairway, also known as the Filbert
Steps, up to the top of Telegraph Hill to admire the
splendid views of the bay and Coit Tower.
In addition, you can head into the tower to go to its
viewing platform, which offers panoramic vistas of the
city. Moreover, the tower contains murals from 1934 that
exhibit the period's business, agriculture, and public life.