Full Description
'The city isn't like it used to be', long-time residents say about San Francisco, neck and neck with New York for America's highest cost of living, as newly arrived coders and designers share stories about the stratospheric price of a place to sleep or a loaf of sourdough bread. But this is exactly what San Francisco has always been - an open mined and open-hearted city that changes with every generation of newcomers.
San Francisco is perhaps America's greatest hotbed of invention. The birthplace of the blue jean, television and the Twitter hashtag, the Beats and the Hippies, the United Nations and the Pride Parade, San Francisco has been shaped by waves of discovery and change, both in its geography and its residents. Yet the essential San Francisco remains the same place the Spanish missionaries founded back in 1776, a jewel of a city constrained and protected by its peninsula.
SAMPLE TEXT:
In 1867, San Francisco instituted America's first 'ugly law', which prohibited unsightly people from showing their faces in public. (It's since been repealed.)
Contents
A brief history: San Francisco joined the USA in 1848, just as the Gold Rush changed the City forever. Booms and busts, earthquakes, fires, world wars and waves of immigration all mark its history.
Landmarks: Discovering San Francisco's cable cars and the Golden Gate Bridge to Lombard Street, the World's Crookedest Street, and the sea lions at Pier 39 along Fisherman's Wharf overlooking Alcatraz.
Art, Culture and Notable People: City Lights Bookstore, heart of the Beat Generation, is the first culture stop for many visitors, but San Francisco has many world class museums and is home to the rich and famous.
Neighbourhoods and the Great Outdoors: Golden Gate Park features pagodas, paddocks and boating, but SF also has urban beaches as well as districts that all have their own unique characteristics and history.
Getting Around: You don't have to take a cable car to move around SF, and but if you're willing to walk you'll be well-rewarded by making your own discoveries that line the city streets.
Secret San Francisco: San Francisco's fog may have a name (Karl) and its own Twitter feed, but it can still hide the City's secrets in its blanket.
