The San Francisco Bay Area PortalThe San Francisco Bay Area (referred to locally as the Bay Area) is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses the major cities and metropolitan areas of San Jose, San Francisco, and Oakland, 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 7.68 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 statistical area of the region is the second-largest in California (after the Greater Los Angeles area), the fifth-largest in the United States, and the 43rd-largest urban area in the world with 8.80 million people. The Bay Area has the second-most Fortune 500 companies in the United States, after the New York metropolitan area, and is known for its natural beauty, liberal politics, entrepreneurship, and diversity. The area ranks second in highest density of college graduates, after the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area and performs 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...) Selected articleThe Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long musical improvisation. "Their music," writes Lenny Kaye, "touches on ground that most other groups don't even know exists." These various influences were distilled into a diverse and psychedelic whole that made the Grateful Dead "the pioneering Godfathers of the jam band world". They were ranked 57th in the issue The Greatest Artists of all Time by Rolling Stone magazine. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 and their Barton Hall Concert at Cornell University (May 8, 1977) was added to the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry. The Grateful Dead has sold more than 35 million albums worldwide. The Grateful Dead was founded in the San Francisco Bay Area amid the rise of counterculture of the 1960s. The founding members of the Grateful Dead were Jerry Garcia (guitar, vocals), Bob Weir (guitar, vocals), Ron "Pigpen" McKernan (keyboards, harmonica, vocals), Phil Lesh (bass, vocals), and Bill Kreutzmann (drums). Members of the Grateful Dead had played together in various San Francisco bands, including Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions and the Warlocks. Lesh was the last member to join the Warlocks before they became the Grateful Dead; he replaced Dana Morgan Jr., who had played bass for a few gigs. With the exception of McKernan, who died in 1973, the core of the band stayed together for its entire 30-year history. Other longtime members of the band include Mickey Hart (drums 1967–1971, 1974–1995), Keith Godchaux (keyboards 1971–1979), Donna Godchaux (vocals 1972–1979), Brent Mydland (keyboards 1979–1990), and Vince Welnick (keyboards 1990–1995) (more...) Selected biography
Ronald Vernie "Ron" Dellums (born November 24, 1935) served as Oakland's forty-fifth (and third African-American) mayor. From 1971 to 1998, he was elected to thirteen terms as a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Northern California's 9th Congressional District, after which he worked as a lobbyist in Washington D.C..
Dellums was born into a family of labor organizers, and enlisted in the United States Marine Corps before serving on the Berkeley, California, City Council. Dellums was the first African American elected to Congress from Northern California and the first openly Socialist successful non-incumbent Congressional candidate since World War II. His politics earned him a place on President Nixon's enemies list. During his career in Congress, he fought the MX Missile project and opposed expansion of the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber program. When President Ronald Reagan vetoed Dellums' Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986, a Democratic-controlled House and a Republican-controlled Senate overrode Reagan's veto, the first override of a presidential foreign policy veto in the 20th century. (more...) Selected city
Cupertino /ˌkuːpərˈtiːnoʊ/ is a city in Santa Clara County, California in the United States, directly west of San Jose on the western edge of the Santa Clara Valley with portions extending into the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains. An affluent city, Cupertino is the 11th wealthiest city with a population over 50,000 in the United States, with an estimated per-capita income of $51,965 and a median household income exceeding $160,000. The population was 58,302 at the 2010 census. Forbes ranked it as one of the most educated small towns. It is perhaps best known as being the home town of Apple Inc.'s corporate headquarters.
Money's Best Places to Live, America's best small towns, ranked Cupertino as #27 in 2012, the 2nd highest in California. It was also named as the 7th happiest suburb in the United States, ranking highly in the Income, Safety, Marriage, and Education categories. (more...) Selected imageJulian Waybur House, San Francisco image credit: Sanfranman59
The Bay Area by year1966
• The Love Pageant Rally is held, on the day LSD becomes illegal, in Golden Gate Park, by the creators of the San Francisco Oracle Selected historical image"First women to attain rate of Electric Welder, 3rd class, were Alyce R. Sawyers (on the left) and Josephine L. Hollingworth, in 1942. US Navy Yard, Mare Island., CA." image credit: National Archives and Records Administration
Did you know...
Previous Did you know... • ... that San Francisco artists and craftspeople fought the police and city hall for years to bring about a Street Artists Program that lets them legally sell their work on the city's sidewalks?
Selected periodic eventThe San Jose Flea Market, open on weekends, is the largest open-air market in the U.S. and has over four million visitors each year. In addition to merchandise vendors, it features a produce market, prepared foods, and two bandstands, one traditionally reserved for a mariachi band (pictured). Quote
~ Frank Norris, McTeague (1899)
Selected multimedia fileDetail, Vaillancourt Fountain, San Francisco credit: "Editor" (de minimus)
Bay Area regions, geographic features and protected areasGeographic features
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