Portal:San Francisco Bay Area

The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California, United States. The region encompasses the major cities and metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, 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 7.44 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 urban area of San Francisco and San Jose is the second largest in California (after the Greater Los Angeles area), the fifth largest in the United States, and the 56th largest urban area in the world. The United States Office of Management and Budget (OMB) does not use the nine-county definition of the San Francisco Bay Area. The OMB has designated a more extensive 12-county Combined Statistical Area (CSA) titled the San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA Combined Statistical Area which also includes the three counties of San Joaquin, Santa Cruz, and San Benito that do not border San Francisco Bay, but are economically tied to the nine counties that do. The San Francisco Bay Area is known for its natural beauty, liberal politics, entrepreneurship, and diversity. The area has high incomes, performing 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...) Template:/box-footer Richardson Bay (originally Richardson's Bay) is a shallow, ecologically rich arm of San Francisco Bay, managed under a Joint Powers Agency of four Northern California cities. The 911-acre (369 ha) Richardson Bay Sanctuary was acquired in the early 1960s by the National Audubon Society. The bay was named for William A. Richardson, early 19th century sea captain and builder in San Francisco. Richardson Bay is one of the most pristine estuaries on the Pacific Coast in spite of its urbanized periphery, since it supports extensive eelgrass areas and sizable undisturbed intertidal habitats. It is a feeding and resting area for a panoply of estuarine and pelagic birds, while its associated marshes and littoral zones support a variety of animal and plant life. Richardson Bay has been designated as an Important Bird Area (IBA), based upon its large number of annual bird visitors and residents, its sightings of California clapper rail and its strategic location in the flyway. The bay's waters are subject to a "no discharge" rule to protect the elaborate and fragile ecosystems present, including a complex fishery, diverse mollusk populations and even marine mammals such as the harbor seal. (more...) Joseph Clifford "Joe" Montana, Jr. (born June 11, 1956), nicknamed Joe Cool and The Comeback Kid, is a retired professional American football player, a hall of fame quarterback with the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs. After winning a college national championship at Notre Dame, Montana started his NFL career in 1979 with San Francisco, where he played for the next 14 seasons. Traded before the 1993 season, he spent his final two years in the league with the Kansas City Chiefs. While a member of the 49ers, Montana started and won four Super Bowls and three Super Bowl Most Valuable Player awards. Montana was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. in 2000, his first year of eligibility. Montana is the only player to have been named Super Bowl MVP three times. (more...) Atherton is an incorporated town in San Mateo County, California, United States. Its population was 6,914 at the 2010 census. In September 2010, Forbes magazine placed Atherton's zip code of 94027 at #2 on its annual list of America's most expensive zip codes. In October 2013, 94027 was placed at #1 on the list. In 1866, Atherton was known as Fair Oaks, and was a flag stop on the California Coast Line of the Southern Pacific Railroad between San Francisco and San Jose for the convenience of the owners of the large estates who lived north of Menlo Park. The entire area was called Menlo Park. It had been part of the Rancho de las Pulgas that had covered most of the area, which is now southern San Mateo County. There were several attempts to incorporate Fair Oaks, one in 1874 and another in 1911. (more...) HP Pavilion at San Jose, home of the San Jose Sharks image credit: JaGa Template:/box-header 2016 February The Denver Broncos beat the Carolina Panthers, in Super Bowl 50, held at Levi's Stadium (halftime show pictured) Apple Inc says it will not comply with an FBI request to provide unblocking software for an IPhone owned by one of the perpetrators of the 2015 San Bernardino attack March An Altamont Corridor Express train derails in Sunol [1] Ben Bagdikian, journalist, author, and dean emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, dies in Berkeley [2] The first Silicon Valley Comic Con, organized by Steve Wozniak and Stan Lee, is held at the San Jose Convention Center Former Intel CEO and chairman Andy Grove (pictured), one of the major figures in the growth of Silicon Valley, dies The wreck of the USS Conestoga (pictured) is confirmed in the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, 95 years after it had gone missing Tesla Motors announces the Model 3, pre-orders of which reach 115,000 within 4 hours of the announcement [3] April The Oakland Tribune ceases publication after 142 years, and is replaced by the East Bay Times [4] Hundreds of pages of University of California, Berkeley records are released, showing a pattern of documented sexual harassment and firings of non-tenured staff [5] The San Francisco Board of Supervisors passes a parental leave law requiring employers to offer six weeks of fully paid leave for new parents, the first city in the US to do so [6] The long closed UC Theatre in Berkeley , formerly a revival house movie theater, reopens as a music venue [7] The Golden State Warriors win against the Memphis Grizzlies, their 73rd win of the season, breaking the previous NBA record, held by the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls, for the most victories in a single season [8] Napster founder and philanthropist Sean Parker donates $250 million to create the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, with funds going to over 300 scientists at 40 laboratories, in 6 institutions, including the University of California at San Francisco [9] The San Francisco Board of Supervisors passes a law requiring all new buildings below 10 stories to have rooftop solar panels, making it the first major US city to do so [10] Sanford and Joan Weill donate $185 million to the University of California, San Francisco to create the Weill Institute for Neurosciences [11] May A poll of 1,000 people, by the Bay Area Council, showed that 34 percent are considering leaving the area, due primarily to the high costs of living and housing, and traffic [12] McDonald's tests garlic fries at four restaurants in the South Bay, using locally grown garlic from Gilroy (Gordon Biersch Brewing Company garlic fries pictured)[13] The Golden State Warriors' Stephen Curry (pictured) is named NBA MVP, in their first unanimous vote [14] It is revealed that the FBI hid microphones outside an Oakland Alameda County Superior Court building, between March 2010 and January 2011, as part of an investigation into bid rigging and fraud by Alameda and San Mateo County real estate investors, this done without a warrant [15] The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art reopens after the completion of a two-and-a-half-year expansion, by architecture firm Snøhetta, more than doubling the gallery space [16][17] Pittsburg moves to install surveillance cameras along California State Route 4, in response to a series of 20 freeway shootings in the area that have taken the lives of six people, and injured 11, in the past year [18] Scientists find evidence of methane-producing microbes in water coming from underground at The Cedars, freshwater springs along Austin Creek in Sonoma County, the first time these methanogens that thrive in harsh environments have been discovered beyond the ocean floor [19] The San Jose Sharks win against the St. Louis Blues in the Stanley Cup ice hockey playoffs, advancing them to the Stanley Cup Finals, their first trip to the finals since their founding in 1991 San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr resigns after the officer-involved shooting death of a woman [20] The Golden State Warriors beat Oklahoma City Thunder in the National Basketball Association Playoffs, and advance to the NBA Finals for the second year in a row [21] 1970 Jonathan Jackson attempts to negotiate the freedom of the Soledad Brothers (which included his older brother George) by kidnapping Superior Court judge Harold Haley from the Marin County Civic Center in San Rafael. The resulting shootout leaves four men dead, including both Jackson and Judge Haley. People v. Newton reverses the voluntary manslaughter conviction of Huey P. Newton in the death of an Oakland Police officer A pipe bomb filled with shrapnel detonates on the ledge of a window at the San Francisco Police Department's Golden Gate Park station, killing one officer and wounding nine The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (pictured) opens Ron Dellums is elected to California's 7th congressional district San Jose's population is 459,913, an increase by 125% from 1960's 204,196 Baldwin's Hotel and Theatre, as it existed prior to its burning in 1898, architect: J. A. Remer, SF. illustration: Wood engraving by T. J. Pettit & Co, San Francisco (unknown date, but prior to 1898) image credit: T. J. Pettit and Company ... that the Lemon Drop cocktail (example pictured) was invented sometime in the 1970s at Henry Africa's, a fern bar in San Francisco? ... that in 1997 the Linguistic Society of America passed a resolution supporting the Oakland Unified School District board's decision to teach some students using African American Vernacular English? ... that Zvezdelina Stankova (pictured) brought ideas from her Bulgarian mathematical education to California by founding the Berkeley Math Circle? ... that conservationist Caroline Sealy Livermore was able to ensure protection for Angel Island and have it declared a state park, with the highest mountain on Angel Island subsequently named Mount Livermore?Template:/box-footer ... that the Galilee (pictured), a brigantine built by Matthew Turner in 1891, spent three years on charter to the Carnegie Institute of Washington as a magnetic observatory? ... that Sonoma wine producer Hanzell Vineyards was one of the first California wineries to produce barrel-aged Chardonnay? ... that California attorney Charles Stetson Wheeler built a temple to fishing at his hunting lodge on McCloud River? ... that Ralph Stackpole's 81-foot (25 m) statue Pacifica was at one time planned for permanent construction on an island in San Francisco Bay? ... that San Francisco fireboat Phoenix (pictured) pumped some 5.5 million gallons (20.8 ML) of seawater to help fight fires after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake? ... that former California State Assemblyman George W. Milias, a graduate of both San Jose State and Stanford, was President of the California Republican Assembly and state Republican Party Chairman? ... that saxophonist King Curtis was stabbed to death a week after releasing his album Live at Fillmore West? March/April 2011 BayCon is the San Francisco Bay Area's main science fiction and fantasy convention. It is held over Memorial Day weekend in Santa Clara. It began in 1982 as "The San Francisco Bay Area Regional Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention". (Trekkies pictured) “ For a few months I enjoyed what to me was an entirely new phase of existence -- a butterfly idleness; nothing to do, nobody to be responsible to, and untroubled with financial uneasiness. I fell in love with the most cordial and sociable city in the Union. After the sage-brush and alkali deserts of Washoe, San Francisco was Paradise to me. I lived at the best hotel, exhibited my clothes in the most conspicuous places, infested the opera, and learned to seem enraptured with music which oftener afflicted my ignorant ear than enchanted it, if I had had the vulgar honesty to confess it. ” ~ Mark Twain, Roughing It (chapter 58) *more quotes about San Francisco from Wikiquote Template:/box-header 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 74px 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 Coe State Park Midpeninsula Open Space East Bay Regional Parks Template:/box-footer Template:/box-header Portal:San Francisco Bay Area/Things you can do Template:/box-footer You are invited to participate in the San Francisco Bay Area task force, a task force dedicated to developing and improving articles about the San Francisco Bay Area. Template:/box-footer Greater Los Angeles San Diego County Inland Empire California United States Template:/box-footer De Young Museum, San Francisco image credit: WolfmanS Template:/box-header Bay 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 Architecture | Attractions | Books | Culture | Economy | Education | Environment | Events & Festivals | Geography | Government | History | Landmarks | Law | Media | Military | Music | Organizations | Parks | People | Politics | Science | Sports | Transport Template:/box-footer The following Wikimedia sister projects provide more on this subject: All Portals Overview Glossaries Indices Lists Outlines Categories Reference Culture Geography Health History Mathematics Nature People Philosophy Religion Society Technology Featured portals About portals