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 edit   Selected article McAllister Tower Apartments is a 28-story, 94 m (308 ft) residential apartment skyscraper at 100 McAllister Street in San Francisco, California. The property is owned and operated by the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. The tower includes mixed-use offices on various floors, and the Art Deco-styled "Sky Room" with a panoramic view on the 24th floor. Conceived as an unusual combination of a large church surmounted by a hotel, construction of the building brought architectural dispute. Initially designed by Timothy L. Pflueger in the style of Gothic Revival, the investors fired his firm and hired Lewis P. Hobart, who changed little of Pflueger's design. In a resulting lawsuit, Pflueger won nearly half the damages he asked for. The building opened in 1930 as the William Taylor Hotel and Temple Methodist Episcopal Church. However, extra construction expenses had put the congregation at greater financial risk, and the church-hotel concept did not prove popular. No profit was made in six years, and the church left, losing their investment. In the late 1930s the building housed the Empire Hotel, known for its Sky Room lounge, then from World War II to the 1970s, 100 McAllister served as U.S. government offices. (more...) edit   Selected biography Luther Burbank (March 7, 1849 – April 11, 1926) was an American botanist, horticulturist and pioneer in agricultural science. He developed more than 800 strains and varieties of plants over his 55-year career. Burbank's varied creations included fruits, flowers, grains, grasses, and vegetables. He developed a spineless cactus (useful for cattle-feed) and the plumcot. He moved to Santa Rosa, California in 1875, and purchased a 4-acre (16,000 m2) plot of land, and established a greenhouse, nursery, and experimental fields that he used to conduct crossbreeding experiments on plants, inspired by Charles Darwin's The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication. (This site is now open to the public as a city park, Luther Burbank Home and Gardens.) Later he purchased an 18-acre (7.3 ha) plot of land in the nearby town of Sebastopol, called Gold Ridge Farm. (more...) edit   Selected city San 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...) edit   Selected image Point Reyes National Seashore headlands from Chimney Rock image credit: Miguel.v 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] edit   The Bay Area by year 2008 Three people are fatally shot at the office of SiPort, a start-up company in Silicon Valley The Hayward-based Mervyn's department store chain is liquidated (headquarters pictured) The Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival premieres at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco A fire on Angel Island (pictured) scorches a third of the island One Rincon Hill South Tower in San Francisco is completed The 555 Mission Street office tower in San Francisco is completed The 88, a residential skyscraper in San Jose, is completed Tesla Motors introduces the Tesla Roadster, the first fully electric sports car Vintner Robert Mondavi dies in Yountville edit   Selected historical image Mission District on fire, after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake image credit: National Archives and Records Administration ... 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 edit   Previous Did you know... edit   Selected periodic event The Alternative Press Expo (guest speaker Daniel Clowes pictured) or APE, as it is more commonly known, is a comics convention, founded in 1994 by Dan Vado as an event for self-publishers, independent publishers and alternative cartoonists to showcase their books. APE is currently held in San Francisco. edit   Quote “ The Bay Area is so beautiful, I hesitate to preach about heaven while I'm here ” ~ Billy Graham edit   Selected multimedia file 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 edit   Selected panorama Civic Center, San Francisco image credit: Joe mabel 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