Send a Gift Basket to San Francisco, CA
Gold Rush and Golden Gate Bridge -
A city birthed by the Gold Rush and known for its Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco is a lovely city situated between the San Francisco Bay and the Golden Gate Bridge. The city is known for steep hills and unique neighborhoods. Located in San Francisco County as the county seat, San Francisco has an estimated population of 751,682 as of 2003.
A Look Back at Important Events
Though a young city, San Francisco's history is filled with several major events. One such event was the Great Fire, which followed the Great Earthquake in 1906. The earthquake was of 8.25 magnitude and caused a fire that destroyed almost 28,000 buildings. Around 3,000 people lost their lives while almost 225,000 were homeless.
Even further back in 1850, the California Gold Rush sent swarms of people West to discover their treasures. New counties were formed, including that of San Francisco. The City of San Francisco was also formed at that time.
Movies and People in San Francisco
Several popular movies were filmed in San Francisco such as Forrest Gump, Dirty Harry and Chinatown. The city has also been a home to Mark Twain, writer of Huckleberry Finn; William Randolph Hearst, publisher; Valerie Fleming, Olympics bobsled medal winner; Dashiell Hammett, writer; Johnny Mathis, singer. Some local bands from San Francisco are Grateful Dead, Counting Crows, Steve Miller Band, Sly and the Family Stone and Jefferson Airplane.
Attractions in San Francisco
The city itself is enough to capture the eyes of tourists. San Francisco is a breathtaking city with exquisite galleries of art and museums, restaurants, shops and other great places to see! For art and history lovers, San Francisco offers the Asian Art Museum, the Exploratorium, Academy of Sciences, Moscone Center and the Barbary Coast Trail.
The Strybing Arboretum and Botanical Gardens (http://www.sfbotanicalgarden.org/) is a garden lovers horticultural dream with blooming plants and flowers, classes for gardeners and events.
Guests can explore all sorts of fish and sea animals at the Steinhart Aquarium (http://www.calacademy.org/aquarium/). Box turtles, sea horses, clown fish, poison dart frogs, sea bass, eels and other interesting sea animals are on display. There is also a penguin feeding each day.
The San Francisco Zoo (http://www.sfzoo.org/) is a magnificent place to take the family during a vacation in San Francisco. It has a variety of animals, from amphibians to mammals to reptiles. The kids will love seeing the animals and learning about how they survive in their natural habitats.
Other popular places to visit in San Francisco include the Grace Cathedral, Alcatraz Island, Japanese Tea Garden, Golden Gate Park and Fisherman's Wharf. The Golden Gate Park is a must for the outdoors man type. It has hiking, biking, horticulture and more! There are also concerts during the summer at the park.
Neighboring San Francisco are the cities of Oakland, Sausalito, Napa and Berkeley. It is located approximately 650 miles from Los Angeles and 152 miles from Sacramento. To learn more about San Francisco, California visit the city's official website (http://www.ci.sf.ca.us/) today!
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