1.
San Francisco City Hall
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San Francisco City Hall is the seat of government for the City and County of San Francisco, California. The structures dome is taller than that of the United States Capitol by 42 feet, the present building replaced an earlier City Hall that was destroyed during the 1906 earthquake, which was two blocks from the present one. It was bounded by Larkin Street, McAllister Street, and City Hall Avenue, largely where the current Public Library and U. N. Plaza stand today. The principal architect was Arthur Brown, Jr. of Bakewell & Brown, whose attention to the finishing details extended to the doorknobs, browns blueprints of the building are preserved at the Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley. Brown also designed the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House, Veterans Building, Temple Emanuel, Coit Tower, the buildings vast open space is more than 500,000 square feet and occupying two full city blocks. It is 390 ft between Van Ness Avenue and Polk Street, and 273 ft between Grove and McAllister Streets and its dome, which owes much to Mansarts Baroque domes of the Val-de-Grâce and Les Invalides in Paris, rises 307.5 ft above the Civic Center Historic District. It is 19 ft higher than the United States Capitol, and has a diameter of 112 ft, resting upon 4 x 50 ton and 4 x 20 ton girders, each 9 ft deep and 60 ft. The building as a whole contains 7,900 tons of steel from the American Bridge Company of Ambridge. It is faced with Madera County granite on the exterior, and Indiana sandstone within, together with finish marbles from Alabama, Colorado, Vermont, much of the statuary is by Henri Crenier. The Rotunda is a space and the upper levels are public. Opposite the grand staircase, on the floor, is the office of the Mayor. A bust of former county supervisor Harvey Milk, who was assassinated in the building was unveiled on May 22,2008, MAYOR1931 The words were written by the previous Mayor Edward Robeson Taylor, and dedicated by Mayor James Rolph. The medallions in the vaults of the Rotunda are of Equality, Liberty, Strength, Learning and, as memorialized in the South Light Court display, Progress. The current City Hall building is a replacement for a building which was completed in 1899 after 27 years of planning. The original city hall was a larger building which also contained a smaller extension which contained the citys Hall of Records. The building was destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, after Arthur Brown Juniors design was selected, construction started in 1913 and was completed by 1915, in time for the Exposition. The main rotunda had also served as the location of prominent state funerals. General Fredrick Funston, hero of the Spanish–American War, Philippine–American War, joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe were married at City Hall in 1954
2.
U.S. Route 101 in California
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U. S. Route 101 in the state of California is one of the last remaining and longest U. S. Routes still active in the state, and the longest highway of any kind in California, US101 was also one of the original national routes established in 1926. Significant portions of US101 between the Los Angeles area and the San Francisco Bay Area follow El Camino Real, the road connecting the former Alta Californias 21 missions. US101 also has designated as the Santa Ana Freeway, Hollywood Freeway, Ventura Freeway, South Valley Freeway. This route is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System, the south terminus of US101 is in Los Angeles, about one mile east of downtown Los Angeles at the East Los Angeles Interchange, also known as the Commuters Complex. This southernmost portion is named the Santa Ana Freeway, inheriting that title as the extension of the roadway now known as I-5. From here, US101 becomes the Hollywood Freeway and it then heads to Hollywood and up through the Cahuenga Pass before reaching the San Fernando Valley. US101 then intersects with SR134 and SR170 at the known as the Hollywood Split. Here, the alignment of US101 shifts to the alignment of SR134, though confusing, the Hollywood Freeway name continues northward from this interchange on SR170, and the Ventura Freeway name continues eastward to SR134. From the Hollywood Split, US101 is an east–west highway and it meets with I-405 in Sherman Oaks, an interchange which holds claim to the most traveled intersection in the nation. Upon reaching Ventura, there is an interchange with SR126, North of Ventura, US101 switches intermittently between freeway and expressway status, but there are no traffic signals until San Francisco. From Ventura and through Santa Barbara, US101 closely follows the Pacific coastline until Gaviota State Park, at Gaviota State Park, the highway shifts back from an east–west highway to a north–south alignment. About one mile north of this point, US101 passes through the Gaviota Tunnel, a few miles north of the Gaviota Tunnel, SR1 splits from US101 and heads northwest, running along the Pacific coastline parallel and to the west of US101. US101 passes through Buellton, Los Alamos, Orcutt, Santa Maria, South of Santa Maria, US101 widens from a four-lane highway to a six-lane freeway. SR166 joins US101 for about 3 miles before splitting just north of the city limits, farther north, SR1 rejoins US101 between Pismo Beach and San Luis Obispo. Then US101 takes a route through the Salinas Valley, while Highway 1 heads northwest, running along the Pacific coastline in California, parallel. A steep segment between San Luis Obispo and Atascadero is known as the Cuesta Grade, North of Atascadero, the highway joins SR46 for about three miles through Paso Robles. From Paso Robles to Salinas, US101 is a known as the Salinas River Valley Highway
3.
Lombard Street (San Francisco)
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Lombard Street is an east–west street in San Francisco, California that is famous for a steep, one-block section with eight hairpin turns. Stretching from The Presidio east to The Embarcadero, most of the western segment is a major thoroughfare designated as part of U. S. Route 101. The famous one-block section, claimed as the most crooked street in the world, is located along the segment in the Russian Hill neighborhood. The street was named after Lombard Street in Philadelphia by San Francisco surveyor Jasper OFarrell, Lombard Streets west end is at Presidio Boulevard inside The Presidio, it then heads east through the Cow Hollow neighborhood. For twelve blocks, between Broderick Street and Van Ness Avenue, it is a road that is co-signed as U. S. Route 101. Lombard Street continues through the Russian Hill neighborhood and to the Telegraph Hill neighborhood, at Telegraph Hill it turns south, becoming Telegraph Hill Boulevard to Pioneer Park and Coit Tower. Lombard Street starts again at Winthrop Street and ends at The Embarcadero as a collector road, Lombard Street is known for the one-way block on Russian Hill between Hyde and Leavenworth Streets, where eight sharp turns are said to make it the most crooked street in the world. The design, first suggested by property owner Carl Henry and built in 1922, was intended to reduce the hills natural 27% grade and it is also a hazard to pedestrians, who are accustomed to shallow inclines, up to 4. 86° because of wheel chair navigability concerns. The crooked block is perhaps 600 feet long, is one-way and is paved with red bricks, the sign at the top recommends 5 mph. The Powell-Hyde cable car stops at the top of the block on Hyde Street, past residents of Lombard Street include Rowena Meeks Abdy, an early California painter who worked in the style of Impressionism. As The Crookedest Street in the World, like Lombard Street it has eight turns but over a shorter distance. Media related to Lombard Street at Wikimedia Commons Tourist Trapped, The Crookedest Street In The World, SFGate Culture Blog Lombard Street on San Francisco To Do Lombard Street, SF GuideLines
4.
San Francisco Department of Public Works
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San Francisco Public Works is responsible for the care and maintenance of San Francisco’s streets and infrastructure. Public Works serves San Francisco residents, merchants and visitors 24 hours a day, San Francisco Public Works was officially created on January 8,1900 with the name of Board of Public Works. Its first task was to organize and regulate street construction and paving projects throughout the city, the original four bureaus were, Streets, Lighting, Building, and Light & Water Services. Over the next century and nearly two decades later, the roles have shifted and expanded dramatically, in 2014, after a year-long rebranding process, the department switched its name from the San Francisco Department of Public Works, or DPW, to San Francisco Public Works. The budget for the first year of operations was $637,194.00, today, the operating budget for Fiscal Year 2015-16 is approximately $256 million. 1969 - The Gateway Arch to Chinatown, San Francisco was completed in September at a project cost of $76,790. ”1974 - DPW implemented the Controlled Parking Program and it began as a pilot program in the Richmond District. The Board of Supervisors approved $56,700 for 2,200 signs to be posted throughout the neighborhoods, the program eventually expanded to a new district each year after. 1976 - San Francisco General Hospital Medical Center opens and this $30 million construction project was awarded in 1971. After many construction difficulties the medical facility eventually opens,1980 - Bureau of Engineering completes a $726,382 contract to develop and rehabilitate the music concourse in Golden Gate Park. The estimated costs at the time were $800 million by 1985,1988 - Voters pass $27 million Street Improvement Bond Issue to improve streets, sidewalks, and traffic signals. 1989 - Within 72 hours of the October 17th San Francisco earthquake, in all that year, over 15,000 inspections were made, classifying buildings Red, Yellow, and Green. 1994 - The graffiti abatement program begins with two painters from the Bureau of Building repair and ten young people form the Mayors Youth Worker Program,1997 - $70.5 million Civic Center Courthouse for the San Francisco Superior and Municipal Civil Courts is completed. 1998 - The $56 million War Memorial Opera House Seismic Upgrade, San Francisco Department of Public Works Official Site
5.
Muni Metro
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Muni Metro is a light rail/streetcar hybrid system serving San Francisco, California, operated by the San Francisco Municipal Railway, a division of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. With an average ridership of 128,500 passengers as of the fourth quarter of 2014. Muni Metro operates a fleet of 151 light rail vehicles made by Breda, Muni Metro is the modern incarnation of the traditional streetcar system that had served San Francisco since the late 19th century. Recently, the system has undergone expansion, most notably the Third Street Light Rail Project, completed in 2007, other projects, such as the Central Subway, are underway. Muni Metro descended from the traditional streetcar system started on December 28,1912. The first streetcar line, the A Geary, ran from Kearny and Market Streets in the Financial District to Fulton Street, the system slowly expanded, opening the Twin Peaks Tunnel in 1917, allowing streetcars to run to the southwestern quadrant of the city. By 1921, the city was operating 304 miles of trolley lines and 25 miles of cable car lines. The last line to service before 2007 was the N Judah. However, five heavily used streetcar lines traveled for at least part of their routes through tunnels or otherwise reserved right-of-way, as a result, these lines, running PCC streetcars, continued in operation. The new tunnel would be connected to the existing Twin Peaks Tunnel, the new underground stations would feature high platforms, and the older stations would be retrofitted with the same, which meant that the PCCs could not be used in them. Hence, a fleet of new rail vehicles was ordered from Boeing-Vertol. The K and M lines were extended to Balboa Park during this time, on February 18,1980, the Muni Metro was officially inaugurated, with weekday N line service in the subway. The Metro service was implemented in phases, and the subway was served only on weekdays until 1982. The K Ingleside line began using the Metro subway on weekdays on June 11,1980, the L Taraval and M Ocean View lines on December 17,1980, and lastly the J Church line on June 17,1981. Meanwhile, weekend service on all five lines continued to use PCC cars operating on the surface of Market Street through to the Transbay Terminal, finally, on November 20,1982, the Muni Metro subway began operating seven days a week. At the time, there were no plans to revive any service on the surface of Market Street or return PCCs to regular running. However, tracks were rehabilitated for the 1983 Historic Trolley Festival, Muni criticism had been something of a feature of life in San Francisco, and not without reason. The Boeing trains were sub-par and grew crowded quickly, Muni did take steps to address these problems
6.
Interstate 80 in California
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Interstate 80 is a major east–west route of the Interstate Highway System, running between the U. S. states of California and New York. The highway has its terminus in San Francisco. From there it heads east across the Bay Bridge to Oakland, I-80 then traverses the Sierra Nevada, cresting at Donner Summit, before crossing into the state of Nevada within the Truckee River Canyon. The speed limit is at most 65 miles per hour along the route instead of the states maximum of 70 mph. I-80 has portions designated as the Eastshore Freeway and Alan S. Hart Freeway, throughout California, I-80 was built along the corridor of U. S. Route 40, eventually replacing this designation entirely. The prior US40 corridor itself was built along several historic corridors in California, notably the California Trail, the route has changed from the original plans in San Francisco due to freeway revolts canceling segments of the originally planned alignment. Similarly in Sacramento, the freeway was re-routed around the city plans to upgrade the original grandfathered route through the city to Interstate highway standards were cancelled. I-80 is recognized as the Dwight D. Eisenhower Highway in the western United States, in California, it follows the original corridor of the Lincoln Highway from Sacramento to Reno. According to the California State Highway system, I-80 begins at its intersection with U. S. Route 101 in San Francisco, the Interstate designation is interpreted by some to actually beginning on the Bay Bridge approach itself, at the location of the Fremont Street off-ramp. Thus, the first 1.20 miles of the signed Interstate may not be officially an actual Interstate, the Eastshore Freeway is a segment of Interstates 80 and 580 along the northeast shoreline of San Francisco Bay in northern California. It begins at the Carquinez Bridge and ends at the MacArthur Maze interchange just east of the end of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge. Interstate 580 joins the Eastshore Freeway at an interchange known locally as the Hoffman Split in Albany. S, the Eastshore Highway began in El Cerrito at an intersection with San Pablo Avenue at Hill Street between Potrero Avenue and Cutting Blvd. Adjacent to the location today of the El Cerrito Del Norte station of BART and it was not a freeway in that access was at intersections with adjoining streets rather than by ramps. The Eastshore Highway ran from El Cerrito to the Bay Bridge along the routing as todays freeway. A causeway was constructed for this purpose by filling in part of the mudflats along the bayshore, the frontage road along the east side of todays Eastshore Freeway between Buchanan Street in Albany and Hearst Avenue in Berkeley retains the name Eastshore Highway. The terminal segment of the old Eastshore Highway in El Cerrito between Potrero and San Pablo Avenues is today named Eastshore Boulevard, originally, the name Eastshore Freeway was also applied to what is today known as the Nimitz Freeway upon its construction in 1947. This freeway was dedicated in 1958 to Admiral Nimitz, and so for a few years in the 1950s prior, until the late 1960s, the Eastshore Freeway was also designated as part of State Route 17 together with the Nimitz Freeway. The Eastshore Freeway was officially renamed the Kent D. Pursel Memorial Freeway in 1968, but this name is hardly recognized as such by the public, and most maps still show the name Eastshore Freeway
7.
Market Street (San Francisco)
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Market Street is a major thoroughfare in San Francisco, California. Beyond this point, the roadway continues as Portola Drive into the southwestern quadrant of San Francisco, Portola Drive extends south to the intersection of St. Francis Boulevard and Sloat Boulevard, where it continues as Junipero Serra Boulevard. Market Street is the boundary of two street grids, Streets on its southeast side are parallel or perpendicular to Market Street, while those on the northwest are nine degrees off from the cardinal directions. Market Street is a major artery for the city of San Francisco, and has carried in turn horse-drawn streetcars, cable cars, electric streetcars, electric trolleybuses. Today Munis buses, trolleybuses, and heritage streetcars share the street, while below the street the two-level Market Street Subway carries Muni Metro and Bay Area Rapid Transit. While cable cars no longer operate on Market Street, the cable car lines terminate to the side of the street at its intersections with California Street. Market Street cuts across the city for three miles from the waterfront to the hills of Twin Peaks and it was laid out originally by Jasper OFarrell, a 26-year-old trained civil engineer who emigrated to Yerba Buena. The town was renamed San Francisco in 1847 after it was captured by United States troops during the Mexican-American War, OFarrell first repaired the original layout of the settlement around Portsmouth Square and then established Market Street as the widest street in town,120 feet between property lines. It was described at the time as an arrow aimed straight at Los Pechos de la Chola, a friend warned OFarrell, before the crowd had dispersed. He rode with all haste to North Beach, took a boat for Sausalito and he found it discreet to remain some time in the country before venturing to return to the city. The city soon filled in the ground between Portsmouth Square and Happy Valley at First and Mission Street, the dunes were leveled and the sand used for fill. The first horsecar-powered railway line to open in San Francisco commenced running down the thoroughfare on July 4,1860, the two Union Railroad tracks were on the inside and the two San Francisco Municipal Railway tracks were on the outside. In 1892 The Owl Drug Company was established at 1128 Market Street, Market Street underwent major changes in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when Muni Metro service was moved underground in concert with the development of the Bay Area Rapid Transit system. Construction of the Market Street Subway commenced in July 1967, prolonged disruption to what had traditionally been the social and economic center of the city contributed to the decline of the mid-Market shopping district in later years. In 1980, Munis surface operations were partially routed underground with full service changes occurring in 1982, in the days of the first United Nations conferences, Anthony Eden, Molotov, Stettinius, and Bidault rode up Market Street, waving to the crowds of hopefuls. On Christmas Eve 1910, opera singer Luisa Tetrazzini sang a free concert to a crowd some estimated at 250,000. Another historic Market Street event was the New Years Eve celebration at the Ferry Building on December 31,1999, over 1.2 million people jammed Market Street and nearby streets for the raucous and peaceful turn-of-the-century celebration. The San Francisco Gay Pride parade runs down Market Street, attracting many people every year, victory parades celebrating the San Francisco Giants World Series titles were held on Market Street in 2010,2012, and 2014
8.
San Francisco
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San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the cultural, commercial, and financial center of Northern California. It is the birthplace of the United Nations, the California Gold Rush of 1849 brought rapid growth, making it the largest city on the West Coast at the time. San Francisco became a consolidated city-county in 1856, after three-quarters of the city was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake and fire, San Francisco was quickly rebuilt, hosting the Panama-Pacific International Exposition nine years later. In World War II, San Francisco was a port of embarkation for service members shipping out to the Pacific Theater. Politically, the city votes strongly along liberal Democratic Party lines, San Francisco is also the headquarters of five major banking institutions and various other companies such as Levi Strauss & Co. Dolby, Airbnb, Weebly, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Yelp, Pinterest, Twitter, Uber, Lyft, Mozilla, Wikimedia Foundation, as of 2016, San Francisco is ranked high on world liveability rankings. The earliest archaeological evidence of habitation of the territory of the city of San Francisco dates to 3000 BC. Upon independence from Spain in 1821, the became part of Mexico. Under Mexican rule, the system gradually ended, and its lands became privatized. In 1835, Englishman William Richardson erected the first independent homestead, together with Alcalde Francisco de Haro, he laid out a street plan for the expanded settlement, and the town, named Yerba Buena, began to attract American settlers. Commodore John D. Sloat claimed California for the United States on July 7,1846, during the Mexican–American War, montgomery arrived to claim Yerba Buena two days later. Yerba Buena was renamed San Francisco on January 30 of the next year, despite its attractive location as a port and naval base, San Francisco was still a small settlement with inhospitable geography. The California Gold Rush brought a flood of treasure seekers, with their sourdough bread in tow, prospectors accumulated in San Francisco over rival Benicia, raising the population from 1,000 in 1848 to 25,000 by December 1849. The promise of fabulous riches was so strong that crews on arriving vessels deserted and rushed off to the gold fields, leaving behind a forest of masts in San Francisco harbor. Some of these approximately 500 abandoned ships were used at times as storeships, saloons and hotels, many were left to rot, by 1851 the harbor was extended out into the bay by wharves while buildings were erected on piles among the ships. By 1870 Yerba Buena Cove had been filled to create new land, buried ships are occasionally exposed when foundations are dug for new buildings. California was quickly granted statehood in 1850 and the U. S. military built Fort Point at the Golden Gate, silver discoveries, including the Comstock Lode in Nevada in 1859, further drove rapid population growth. With hordes of fortune seekers streaming through the city, lawlessness was common, and the Barbary Coast section of town gained notoriety as a haven for criminals, prostitution, entrepreneurs sought to capitalize on the wealth generated by the Gold Rush
9.
California
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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
10.
Mayor of San Francisco
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The Mayor of the City and County of San Francisco is the head of the executive branch of the San Francisco city and county government. The mayor has the duty to enforce city laws, and the power to approve or veto bills passed by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. The mayor serves a term and is limited to two successive terms. There have been 42 individuals sworn into office, john W. Geary, elected in 1850, was the first mayor of the city. Charles James Brenham, who served as mayor during the 1850s, is the person who has served two non-consecutive terms. The previous mayor, Gavin Newsom resigned to become the Lieutenant Governor of California on January 10,2011, Ed Lee was appointed by the Board of Supervisors on the following day to finish out Newsoms term. Lee was elected to his own term on November 8,2011, the mayor of San Francisco is elected every four years, elections take place one year before United States presidential elections on election day in November. Candidates must live and be registered to vote in San Francisco at the time of the election, the mayor is usually sworn in on the January 8 following the election. The next election for the mayor will be in 2019, under the California constitution, all city elections in the state are conducted on a non-partisan basis. As a result, candidates party affiliations are not listed on the ballot, mayoral elections were originally run under a two-round system. If no candidate received a majority of votes in the general election. In 2002, the system for city officials was overhauled as a result of a citywide referendum. The new system, known as instant-runoff voting, allows voters to select, if no one wins more than half of the first-choice votes, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and second-choice votes are counted until a candidate captures the majority. This eliminates the need to hold a separate runoff election and saves money and this was first implemented in the 2004 Board of Supervisors election after two years of preparation. In 2007, the new system was implemented in the election for the first time. To date,42 individuals have served as mayor, there have been 43 mayoralties due to Charles James Brenhams serving two non-consecutive terms, he is counted chronologically as both the second and fourth mayor. The longest term was that of James Rolph, who served over 18 years until his resignation to become the California governor, the length of his tenure as mayor was largely due to his popularity. During his term, San Francisco saw the expansion of its system, the construction of the Civic Center
11.
Civic Center, San Francisco
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It has two large plazas and a number of buildings in classical architectural style. The Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, the United Nations Charter was signed in the War Memorial Veterans Buildings Herbst Theatre in 1945 and it is also where the 1951 Treaty of San Francisco was signed. The San Francisco Civic Center was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1987, the Civic Center is bounded by Market Street on the south, Franklin Street on the west, Turk Street on the north, and Leavenworth and Seventh streets on the east. The Civic Center was built in the early 20th century after a city hall was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake. Although the noted architect and urban planner Daniel Burnham had provided the city plans for a neo-classical Civic Center shortly before the 1906 earthquake. A temporary city hall was put up on Market Street, but planning for a permanent structure. The current civic center was planned by a group of local architects, the current City Hall was completed in 1915, in time for the Panama-Pacific Exposition. The War Memorial Opera House and its twin, the War Memorial Veterans Building, the Main Library. During World War II, Army barracks and Victory gardens were constructed in the plaza in front of City Hall. The Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall and Harold L. Zellerbach Rehearsal Hall were added in 1980, the 1990s saw the construction of a new Main Library with the conversion of the old Main Library building into the Asian Art Museum, and the removal of all public benches. In 1998, the city officially renamed part of the plaza the Joseph L. Alioto Performing Arts Piazza after the former mayor. Its central location, vast open space, and the collection of government buildings have made and it has been the scene of massive anti-war protests and rallies since the Korean War. It was also the scene of major moments of the Gay Rights Movement, activist Harvey Milk held rallies and gave speeches there. After his assassination on November 27,1978, a candlelight vigil was held there. Later, it was the scene of the White Night Riots in response to the lenient sentencing of Dan White, recently, Civic Center was the center point of the Gay Marriage activism, as Mayor Gavin Newsom married couples there. The centerpiece of the Civic Center is the City Hall, which heads the complex, the section of the street in front of the building was renamed for Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett, a local African American activist, across the street on McAllister Street is the headquarters of the Supreme Court of California. Across from that building is the Asian Art Museum, opened in 2004 in the building of the San Francisco Library which is now in a newer building constructed in 1995
12.
Fort Mason
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Fort Mason served as an Army post for more than 100 years, initially as a coastal defense site and subsequently as a military port facility. During World War II, it was the port for the Pacific campaign. Today it is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and it is a National Historic Landmark District with over 49 buildings of historic significance, spread over 1,200 acres. Fort Mason can be split into two distinct areas, the upper area, sometimes called Fort Mason, is situated on a headland and was the site of the original coastal fortifications. The lower area, Fort Mason Center, is situated close to level to the west of Upper Fort Mason. The Marina Green lies to the west of Fort Mason, while Aquatic Park is to the east, the nucleus of Fort Mason was a private property owned by John C. Frémont, the explorer of the US west, who also spearheaded the conquest of California from Mexico. Appointed a Major General in the Union army at the start of the Civil War, in 1863, the government seized the property without payment, by executive order of Lincoln, on the grounds it was needed for the war effort. Frémont would again contest the US presidency in 1864, running as the candidate of radical Republicans, the 1968 lawsuit was perhaps the last shot of a century-long legal struggle to obtain compensation for the seized realty. In 1870, the government returned property to 49 parties in the vicinity, but not to Frémont, but in 1968 the Frémont heirs complained it had failed to carry out this direction, with John Frémont then recently dead and his widow Jessie nearly 70 years old. The Civil War prompted the construction of coastal defense batteries located inside the Golden Gate. A breast-high wall of brick and mounts for six 10-inch Rodman cannons, excavation in the early 1980s uncovered the well-preserved remains of the western-half of the temporary battery, and it has now been restored to its condition during the Civil War. The fort was named Fort Mason in 1882, after Richard Barnes Mason, President Grover Cleveland established the Endicott Board in 1885 for the purpose of modernizing the nations coastal fortifications. Chaired by Secretary of War William Endicott, the board recommended new defenses at 22 U. S. seaports, as a result, an extensive series of forts, batteries, and guns were built on the harbor, including Fort Mason. The piers and sheds of Lower Fort Mason were originally built from 1912 to warehouse army supplies, by this time, the US Army began to build new bases in Hawaii, the Philippines, and various other Pacific islands. Most of the materiel for those bases was shipped through San Francisco, by 1915, the three piers together with their associated warehouse had been completed, and Fort Mason Tunnel driven under Upper Fort Mason to connect with the railroad network along the Embarcadero. With these new facilities, Fort Mason was transformed from a defense post into a logistical. The Army ferry USAT General Frank M. Coxe provided scheduled transportation from Fort Mason to the center at Fort McDowell on Angel Island up to eight times per day during the war
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US 101 between the Central Freeway and Lombard Street
Van Ness station
US 101 south (Central Freeway) to I-80 east – San Jose
