The history of the city of San Francisco and its development as a center of maritime trade, have been greatly influenced by its location at the entrance to one of the world's best natural harbors. San Francisco is the name of both the city and the county, which share the same boundaries.

The first Native Americans to settle this region found the bay to be a vast natural resource for hunting and gathering their provisions and for the establishment of many small villages. Collectively, these early Native Americans were known as the Ohlone, and the language they spoke belonged to the Miwok family. Their trade patterns included places as far away as Baja California, the Mojave Desert and Yosemite.

The first Europeans in the vicinity of what would become San Francisco were members of a Spanish exploratory voyage led by Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo. Cabrillo, sailing north from Mexico, explored the coast as far north as present-day Point Reyes, but failed to discover the entrance to San Francisco Bay. An English expedition led by Sir Francis Drake may also have sailed past the bay entrance, in 1579. Drake mapped the coast farther north at Drake's Bay, naming the area "Nova Albion", but made little effort to claim or settle the land. (more...)

Mary Jane Rathbun (December 22, 1922 – April 10, 1999), popularly known as Brownie Mary, was an American medical cannabis activist. As a hospital volunteer at San Francisco General Hospital, she became known for illegally baking and distributing cannabis brownies to AIDS patients. Along with activist Dennis Peron, Rathbun lobbied for the legalization of cannabis for medical use, and she helped pass San Francisco Proposition P (1991) and California Proposition 215 (1996) to achieve those goals. She also contributed to the establishment of the San Francisco Cannabis Buyers Club, the first medical cannabis dispensary in the United States.

Rathbun was arrested on three occasions, with each arrest bringing increased local, national, and international media attention to the medical cannabis movement. Her grandmotherly appearance generated public sympathy for her cause and undermined attempts by the district attorney's office to prosecute her for possession. The City of San Francisco eventually gave Rathbun permission to distribute cannabis brownies to people with AIDS. Her arrests generated interest in the medical community and motivated researchers to propose one of the first clinical trials to study the effects of cannabinoids in HIV-infected adults. (more...)

Walnut Creek is a city in  Contra Costa County, California, United States, located in the  East Bay region of the  San Francisco Bay Area. With a total estimated population of 67,673, Walnut Creek serves as a hub for its neighboring cities because of its location at the junction of the highways from  Sacramento and  San Jose ( I-680) and San Francisco/Oakland ( SR-24) and its accessibility by  BART. Its active downtown neighborhood features hundred-year-old buildings and extensive high-end retail establishments, restaurants and entertainment venues.

Walnut Creek owns more open space per capita than any other community in the state of  California. In 1974, Walnut Creek voters approved a $6.7 million  bond measure that allowed the city to purchase 1,800 acres (730 ha) of undeveloped hillsides, ridge lines, and park sites. Walnut Creek owns parts of Lime Ridge Open Space, Shell Ridge Open Space, Acalanes Ridge Open Space, and Sugarloaf Open Space.  (more...)

 • The Oakland and Berkeley Hills are hit by a firestorm (damage pictured, left)
 • Frank Jordan is elected mayor of San Francisco
 • Groundbreaking ceremonies take place at the AIDS Memorial Grove in San Francisco (logo pictured, right)
 • San Francisco pornography and striptease club pioneer Jim Mitchell kills his brother and business partner Artie in Marin County
 • Apple Computer introduces the PowerBook line of subnotebook personal computers

• ... 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"?

• ... that Sanborn Park (pictured) provided one of the first segments of the San Francisco Bay Area Ridge Trail, which is planned to encircle the Bay Area with a 500 mile long hiking trail?
• ... that Tom Campbell was a popular radio personality on KYA San Francisco who used to loan his personal phonograph, record collection and even his personal automobile to his listeners?
• ... that Hickman's potentilla (pictured) is a rare plant discovered by Alice Eastwood, who climbed six floors through a burning building in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake to save her specimens?
• ... that Humphrey the whale may be the most publicized Humpback whale in history, having twice wandered off his migration course into San Francisco Bay?
• ... that Sonoma Creek (pictured), a California-designated critical coastal watershed, drains the acclaimed Sonoma Valley Wine Country, and provides a home to many endangered species?

June - September 2006

The San Francisco Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Celebration, usually known as San Francisco Pride, is a parade and festival held at the end of June each year in San Francisco to celebrate lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender ( LGBT) people and their allies. The 40th anniversary parade in 2011 included over 200 parade contingents, and was the largest ever gathering of LGBT people and allies in the nation. ( Dykes on Bikes pictured)

“

When the lights go down in the City And the sun shines on the bay Ooh, I wanna be there in my City

”

• more quotes about San Francisco from Wikiquote

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