1.
Richmond, California
–
Richmond is a city in western Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city was incorporated on August 7,1905, under the McLaughlin Administration, Richmond was the largest city in the United States served by a Green Party mayor. As of the 2010 U. S. Census, the population is at 103,710. The largest, Richmond, Virginia, is the namesake of the California city, the Ohlone Indians were the first inhabitants of the Richmond area, settling an estimated 5,000 years ago. The name Richmond appears to predate actual incorporation by more than fifty years, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad had its terminus at Richmond. The first post office opened in 1900, Richmond was founded and incorporated in 1905, carved out of Rancho San Pablo, from which the nearby town of San Pablo inherited its name. Until the enactment of prohibition in 1919, the city had the largest winery in the world, in the 1920s the Ku Klux Klan was active in the city. In 1930 the Ford Motor Company opened a plant called Richmond Assembly Plant which moved to Milpitas in the 1960s. The old Ford plant has been a National Historic Place since 1988, the city was a small town at that time, until the onset of World War II which brought on a rush of migrants and a boom in the industrial sector. Standard Oil set up here in 1901, including a what is now the Chevron Richmond Refinery and tank farm. There is a pier into San Francisco Bay south of Point Molate for oil tankers, the western terminus of the Santa Fe Railroad was established in Richmond with ferry connections at Ferry Point in the Brickyard Cove area of Point Richmond to San Francisco. Many of these lived in specially constructed houses scattered throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, including Richmond, Berkeley. A specially built rail line, the Shipyard Railway, transported workers to the shipyards, kaisers Richmond shipyards built 747 Victory and Liberty ships for the war effort, more than any other site in the U. S. The city broke many records and even built one Liberty ship in a five days. On average the yards could build a ship in thirty days, the medical system established for the shipyard workers at the Richmond Field Hospital eventually became todays Kaiser Permanente HMO. It remained in operation until 1993 when it was replaced by the modern Richmond Medical Center hospital, Point Richmond was originally the commercial hub of the city, but a new downtown arose in the center of the city. It was populated by many department stores such as Kress, J. C. Penney, Sears, Macys, during the war the population increased dramatically and peaked at around 120,000 by the end of the war. Once the war ended the workers were no longer needed
2.
California
–
California is the most populous state in the United States and the third most extensive by area. Located on the western coast of the U. S, California is bordered by the other U. S. states of Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California. Los Angeles is Californias most populous city, and the second largest after New York City. The Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nations second- and fifth-most populous urban regions, California also has the nations most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The Central Valley, an agricultural area, dominates the states center. What is now California was first settled by various Native American tribes before being explored by a number of European expeditions during the 16th and 17th centuries, the Spanish Empire then claimed it as part of Alta California in their New Spain colony. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821 following its war for independence. The western portion of Alta California then was organized as the State of California, the California Gold Rush starting in 1848 led to dramatic social and demographic changes, with large-scale emigration from the east and abroad with an accompanying economic boom. If it were a country, California would be the 6th largest economy in the world, fifty-eight percent of the states economy is centered on finance, government, real estate services, technology, and professional, scientific and technical business services. Although it accounts for only 1.5 percent of the states economy, the story of Calafia is recorded in a 1510 work The Adventures of Esplandián, written as a sequel to Amadis de Gaula by Spanish adventure writer Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. The kingdom of Queen Calafia, according to Montalvo, was said to be a land inhabited by griffins and other strange beasts. This conventional wisdom that California was an island, with maps drawn to reflect this belief, shortened forms of the states name include CA, Cal. Calif. and US-CA. Settled by successive waves of arrivals during the last 10,000 years, various estimates of the native population range from 100,000 to 300,000. The Indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct groups of Native Americans, ranging from large, settled populations living on the coast to groups in the interior. California groups also were diverse in their organization with bands, tribes, villages. Trade, intermarriage and military alliances fostered many social and economic relationships among the diverse groups, the first European effort to explore the coast as far north as the Russian River was a Spanish sailing expedition, led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, in 1542. Some 37 years later English explorer Francis Drake also explored and claimed a portion of the California coast in 1579. Spanish traders made unintended visits with the Manila galleons on their trips from the Philippines beginning in 1565
3.
Las Vegas
–
The city anchors the Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area and is the largest city within the greater Mojave Desert. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city known primarily for its gambling, shopping, fine dining, entertainment and it is the leading financial, commercial, and cultural center for Nevada. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World and it is a top three destination in the United States for business conventions and a global leader in the hospitality industry, claiming more AAA Five Diamond hotels than any city in the world. Today, Las Vegas annually ranks as one of the worlds most visited tourist destinations. The citys tolerance for numerous forms of adult entertainment earned it the title of Sin City, and has made Las Vegas a popular setting for literature, films, television programs, Las Vegas was settled in 1905 and officially incorporated in 1911. At the close of the 20th century, it was the most populated American city founded within that century, population growth has accelerated since the 1960s, and between 1990 and 2000 the population nearly doubled, increasing by 85. 2%. Rapid growth has continued into the 21st century, and according to a 2013 estimate, perhaps the earliest visitors to the Las Vegas area were nomadic Paleo-Indians, who traveled there 10,000 years ago, leaving behind petroglyphs. Anasazi and Paiute tribes followed at least 2,000 years ago, a young Mexican scout named Rafael Rivera is credited as the first non-Native American to encounter the valley, in 1829. Trader Antonio Armijo led a 60-man party along the Spanish Trail to Los Angeles, the area was named Las Vegas, which is Spanish for the meadows, as it featured abundant wild grasses, as well as desert spring waters for westward travelers. The year 1844 marked the arrival of John C, frémont, whose writings helped lure pioneers to the area. Downtown Las Vegas Fremont Street is named after him, eleven years later members of the LDS Church chose Las Vegas as the site to build a fort halfway between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles, where they would travel to gather supplies. The fort was abandoned several years afterward, the remainder of this Old Mormon Fort can still be seen at the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and Washington Avenue. Las Vegas was founded as a city in 1905, when 110 acres of adjacent to the Union Pacific Railroad tracks were auctioned in what would become the downtown area. In 1911, Las Vegas was incorporated as a city,1931 was a pivotal year for Las Vegas. At that time, Nevada legalized casino gambling and reduced residency requirements for divorce to six weeks and this year also witnessed the beginning of construction on nearby Hoover Dam. The influx of workers and their families helped Las Vegas avoid economic calamity during the Great Depression. The construction work was completed in 1935, in 1941, the Las Vegas Army Air Corps Gunnery School was established. Currently known as Nellis Air Force Base, it is home to the team called the Thunderbirds
4.
Arnold Schwarzenegger
–
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American actor, producer, businessman, investor, author, philanthropist, activist, politician and former professional bodybuilder. He served two terms as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011, Schwarzenegger began weight training at the age of 15. He won the Mr. Universe title at age 20 and went on to win the Mr. Olympia contest seven times, Schwarzenegger has remained a prominent presence in bodybuilding and has written many books and articles on the sport. He is widely considered to be among the greatest bodybuilders of all time as well as bodybuildings biggest icon, Schwarzenegger gained worldwide fame as a Hollywood action film icon. His breakthrough film was the sword-and-sorcery epic Conan the Barbarian in 1982, in 1984, Schwarzenegger appeared in James Camerons science-fiction thriller film The Terminator, which was a massive critical and box-office success. Schwarzenegger subsequently reprised the Terminator character in the later installments in 1991,2003. He appeared in a number of films, such as Commando, The Running Man, Predator, Twins, Total Recall, Kindergarten Cop. In 2015, it was announced Schwarzenegger would replace Donald Trump as the host of The Celebrity Apprentice and he was nicknamed the Austrian Oak in his bodybuilding days, Arnie during his acting career, and The Governator during his political career. As a Republican, he was first elected on October 7,2003, Schwarzenegger was sworn in on November 17, to serve the remainder of Daviss term. Schwarzenegger was sworn in for his term on January 5,2007. In 2011, Schwarzenegger completed his term as governor. Schwarzenegger was born in Thal, Styria, and christened Arnold Alois and his parents were Gustav Schwarzenegger and Aurelia Schwarzenegger. He married Aurelia on October 20,1945, he was 38, according to Schwarzenegger, both of his parents were very strict, Back then in Austria it was a very different world. If we did something bad or we disobeyed our parents, the rod was not spared, Schwarzenegger grew up in a Roman Catholic family who attended Mass every Sunday. Gustav had a preference for his son, Meinhard, over Arnold. His favoritism was strong and blatant, which stemmed from unfounded suspicion that Arnold was not his biological child, Schwarzenegger has said his father had no patience for listening or understanding your problems. He had a relationship with his mother and kept in touch with her until her death. Gustavs background received wide press attention during the 2003 California recall campaign, at school, Schwarzenegger was reportedly academically average, but stood out for his cheerful, good-humored, and exuberant character
5.
Barbara Boxer
–
Barbara Levy Boxer is an American politician who served as a United States Senator from California 1993 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, she served in the U. S. House of Representatives 1983 to 1993. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Boxer graduated from Brooklyn College and she worked as a stockbroker for several years before moving to California with her husband. During the 1970s, she worked as a journalist for the Pacific Sun and she served on the Marin County Board of Supervisors for six years and became the boards first female president. With the slogan Barbara Boxer Gives a Damn, she was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1982 and she sat on the House Armed Services Committee, and was involved in government oversight, passing several procurement reforms. Boxer won the 1992 election for the U. S. Senate, Boxer is the ranking member of the Environment and Public Works Committee and the vice chair of the Select Committee on Ethics. She is also the Democratic Chief Deputy Whip, on January 8,2015, Boxer announced that she would not seek re-election in 2016. She was succeeded by California Attorney General Kamala Harris, Boxer was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Jewish parents Sophie and Ira Levy. She attended public schools, and graduated from George W. Wingate High School in 1958, in 1962, she married Stewart Boxer and graduated from Brooklyn College with a bachelors degree in Economics. While in college she was a member of Delta Phi Epsilon sorority and was a cheerleader for the Brooklyn College basketball team, Boxer worked as a stockbroker for the next three years, while her husband went to law school. Later, the moved to Greenbrae, Marin County, California. She first ran for office in 1972, when she challenged incumbent Peter Arrigoni, a member of the Marin County Board of Supervisors. Later during the 1970s, Boxer worked as a journalist for the Pacific Sun and as an aide to John Burton, in 1976, Boxer was elected to the Marin County Board of Supervisors, serving for six years. She was the Boards first woman president, Boxers husband, Stewart, a prominent attorney in Oakland, represents injured workers in workers compensation cases, keeping a very low political profile. On May 28,1994, their daughter Nicole married Tony Rodham, before ending in divorce, they had a child Zachary, born in 1995. So Boxer is genetically tied to the Clintons through this union, Zachary held a unique distinction of being both the grandson and nephew of sitting U. S. senators. In 2006, the Boxers sold their house in Greenbrae, where they had lived for many years, Boxers first novel, A Time to Run was published in 2005 by San Francisco-based publishing company Chronicle Books. Her second novel Blind Trust was released in July 2009 by Chronicle Books, Boxer, then a Marin County supervisor, was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1982, succeeding John Burton
6.
Dianne Feinstein
–
Dianne Goldman Berman Feinstein is the senior United States Senator from California. A member of the Democratic Party, she has served in the Senate since 1992 and she also served as the 38th Mayor of San Francisco from 1978 to 1988. Born in San Francisco, Feinstein graduated from Stanford University in 1955 with a B. A. in history, in the 1960s she worked in city government, and in 1970 she was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. She served as the boards first female president in 1978, during which time the assassinations of Mayor George Moscone, during her tenure as San Franciscos first female mayor she led a revamp of the citys cable car system and oversaw the 1984 Democratic National Convention. After a failed campaign in 1990, she won a 1992 special election to the U. S. Senate. Feinstein was first elected on the ballot as her peer Barbara Boxer. Feinstein was the author of the 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban which expired in 2004, in 2013 she introduced a new assault weapons bill, which failed to pass. Feinstein is the first and only woman to have chaired the Senate Rules Committee and the Select Committee on Intelligence from 2009 to 2015 and she is the only woman to have presided over a U. S. presidential inauguration. At the age of 83, Feinstein is the oldest currently serving United States Senator, Feinstein was born Dianne Emiel Goldman in San Francisco, to Betty, a former model, and Leon Goldman, a surgeon. Feinstein graduated from Convent of the Sacred Heart High School, San Francisco in 1951, prior to elected service, Feinstein was appointed by then-California Governor Pat Brown to serve as a member of the California Womens Parole Board. Feinstein also served as a fellow at the Coro Foundation in San Francisco, in 1969, Feinstein was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. She remained on the Board for nine years and she was elected president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1978 with initial opposition from Quentin Kopp. Feinstein was close by in City Hall at the time of the shootings and discovered Milks body after hearing the gunshots, both Mayor Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk have been shot and killed. Feinstein appears in footage and is credited in the Academy Award-winning documentary film The Times of Harvey Milk. She appears again briefly in footage, announcing the death of Moscone. Feinstein and her position as President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors are also alluded to several times in the movie, as President of the Board of Supervisors upon the death of Moscone, Feinstein succeeded to the mayoralty on December 4,1978. Feinstein served out the remainder of Moscones term and she made no staffing changes to his team until she was elected in her own right in 1979. She was re-elected in 1983 and served a second term
7.
Contra Costa County, California
–
Contra Costa County is a county in the state of California in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,049,025, the name is Spanish for opposite coast, referring to its position on the other side of the bay from San Francisco. Contra Costa County is included in the San Francisco–Oakland–Hayward, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area and it occupies the northern portion of the East Bay region and is primarily suburban. In the northern part of the county, significant coal and sand deposits were formed in even earlier geologic eras, other areas of the county have ridges exposing ancient but intact seashells, embedded in sandstone layers alternating with limestone. Layers of volcanic ash ejected from geologically recent but now extinct volcanoes, compacted and now tilted by compressive forces, may be seen at the site of some road excavations. This county is an agglomeration of several distinct geologic terranes, as is most of the greater San Francisco Bay Area, younger deposits at middle altitudes include pillow lavas, the product of undersea volcanic eruptions. There is an extensive but little recorded human history pre-European settlement in this area, the earliest definitively established occupation by modern man appears to have occurred six to ten thousand years ago. However, there may have been human presence far earlier, at least as far as non–settling populations are concerned, extensive trading from tribe to tribe transferred exotic materials such as obsidian throughout the region from far distant Californian tribes. Unlike the nomadic Native American of the Great Plains it appears that these tribes did not incorporate warfare into their culture but were generally cooperative. Within these cultures the concept of individual or collective land ownership was nonexistent, early European settlers in the region, however, did not record much about the culture of the natives. Most of what is known comes from preserved contemporaneous and excavated artifacts. Although there were no missions established within this county, Spanish influence here was direct and extensive, in 1821 Mexico gained independence from Spain. Mission lands extended throughout the Bay Area, including portions of Contra Costa County, between 1836 and 1846, during the era when California was a province of independent Mexico, the following 15 land grants were made in Contra Costa County. Rough surveying was based on a map, or diseño, measured by streams, shorelines, and/or horseman who marked it with rope, lands outside rancho grants were designated el sobrante, as in surplus or excess, and considered common lands. The law required the construction of a house within a year, fences were not required and were forbidden where they might interfere with roads or trails. Locally a large family required roughly 2000 head of cattle and two leagues of land to live comfortably. Foreign entrepreneurs came to the area to provide goods that Mexico couldn’t, Rancho Canada de los Vaqueros was granted to Francisco Alviso, Antonio Higuera, and Manuel Miranda. Two ranchos, both called Rancho San Ramon, were granted by the Mexican government in the San Ramon Valley, in 1833, Bartolome Pacheco and Mariano Castro shared the two square league Rancho San Ramon
8.
Downtown Richmond, Richmond, California
–
Downtown Richmond is the old center of Richmond, California. The area is bordered by 6th street to the west, 23rd Street to the east, Barrett Avenue to the north. A Kaiser Permanente hospital and a Social Security Administration processing center provide for a majority of the jobs in the area, metro Walk is a transit village in downtown Richmond. The first phase was built on an empty lot and parking lot on the west side of Richmond BART and this has 132 homes on an eight-acre site with a housing density of 16.5 du/acre. The floorplans of these homes are from 1,395 to 1,615 square feet. When sales began in 2004 the homes sold from the $300,000 range, three models were built in phase I, bungalows, villas, and career homes. The later come with a floor space that can easily be used as a business or live/work space. The monthly community fee was reported as $200 in 2004 and it was built on the former parking lot and an adjacent vacant parcel of the Richmond BART and Amtrak station. It is a project spearheaded by the Richmond Redevelopment Agency, in partnership with a large consortium of local, state. Some of the most notable of these include the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, BART. Report decries housing rules, Inclusionary policy could exacerbate affordability crisis, construction Begins on Richmond Transit Village
9.
Marina Bay, Richmond, California
–
Marina Bay is located in Richmonds protected Inner Harbor. It was developed in the mid-1980s in an effort to clean up what had been up to point the defunct World War II-era Kaiser Shipyards. Marina Bay was planned as an up-scale residential waterfront community with apartments, condominiums, townhouses, the area is also home to many retail and light-industry businesses. The city considers it one of its success stories and uses it as an template for other projects, the area hosts an 850-berth marina. Marina Bay Yacht Harbor is also known as Richmond Marina Bay and was built by the City of Richmond in the early 1980s, the berths are divided into four sections along the north shore, D-Dock, E-Dock, F-Dock & G-Dock. Berth sizes range from 26 long to 61 long with several end-ties available up to 100 long, a launch ramp is available in the northwest corner of the marina. The marina Entrance Channel was dredged to -12 mean lower low water in the Fall of 2011, the marina basin itself is 12 to 18 deep at MLLW, a legacy of the time when the basin was Shipyard #2 and used to construct Liberty Ships during World War II. On the northeast corner of the bay is one of the few clubs in the East Bay that offer monthly memberships. Dedicated on October 14,2000, the hosts the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park to honor the contributions of the American women labor force during World War II. The area the monument stands in was known as Kaiser Shipyard #2 where women worked alongside men to construct military transport. The monument is a straight pathway containing inscriptions and photographs depicting that era, the length of the path is approximately the length of a Liberty Ships keel and contains three sculptures to abstractly represent the ships bow, steam stack, and stern. The former Ford Motor Company Assembly Plant has been transformed into a complex that houses light-industry, a restaurant/bar. Shimada Friendship park is a monument to Shimada, Japan which is one of Richmonds sister cities, City of Richmond Marina Bay Neighborhood Council Rosie the Riveter Trails for Richmond Action Committee
10.
Brooks Island
–
Brooks Island is a 75-acre, mostly flat strip of land extending from a round hill which peaks at 160 ft in San Francisco Bay, located just south of the Richmond Inner Harbor in Richmond, California. The rock that forms the peak of the island is radiolarian chert underlain by limestone. All these rocks are part of the Franciscan Assemblage, the range as Albany Hill,3 miles south. The main portion of the covers a area of approximately 47 acres. A short distance from the southwest coast of the island is Bird Rock or Bird Island. The sandspit that extends for two miles west of the main island formed along a breakwater that was installed in the 1920s to preserve a deepwater channel to the Richmond Inner Harbor. During the last ice age San Francisco Bay was a valley, as sea level rose, the valley was flooded and Brooks Island was cut off from the rest of the East Bay. Although the island is small, there is a permanent spring. The island hosts salt marshes, tidal flats and has a rise of 160 ft and it is home to many bird species, including herons and egrets, and provides their nesting sites. Some parts of the islands are off limits to visitors to protect nesting sites, other names for the island include, Isla de Cármen, Rocky Island, Bird Island, and Sheep Island. Brooks Island is a habitat for harbor seals that stop at the island from their nearby rookery on the Castro Rocks, the first archeological excavation on Brooks Island was conducted by Nels Nelson of UC Berkeley in 1907. Coles estimates that the Ohlone occupation of the site may date more than 3,000 years. His study found bones from cormorants, ducks and other waterbirds, marine mammal bones included harbor seals, sea lions, porpoises and whales. These early residents used atlatls and harpoons with bone points, even though the mound showed evidence of large catches of fish, especially herring, there were no fishhooks found, indicating that perhaps nets were used. Mollusks such as mussels, oysters, and clams were a portion of the diet. Coless research showed that the use of the island was stable over a long period, kent Lightfoot of UC Berkeley is reanalyzing Coless material to determine whether seasonal patterns can be identified. The latest carbon-14 date from the material is about 300 years ago. Juan Manuel de Ayala conducted the first nautical survey of San Francisco Bay in 1775, however, Spanish records from that period do not mention any settlement on the island
