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One of the prettiest places on the planet, San Francisco is located atop a peninsula and measures east to west and north to south roughly eight miles and covers 48 square miles, about twice the size of Manhattan. Residents, who number 801,377, call the place "The City."
To the west of San Francisco is the Pacific, to the east the Bay, on many a day filled with billowing sails, and to the north the Golden Gate, the entrance to San Francisco Bay. Hills run up and down San Francisco. Mt. Davidson, the highest peak, rises to a height of 927 feet. Delightful vistas. Golden sunrises and sunsets. In summer, the fog pours through the Golden Gate and cascades over the hills and into valleys - damp and cold (many hate it) but entrancing to behold.
To an extent that often surprises newcomers, San Francisco is an intimate city. Politicians often descend from old-line political families or move quickly from neighborhood leaders to city leaders. You can walk San Francisco, from Bay to Pacific, in about two hours. Every year, in a traditional race known as the Bay-To-Breakers, tens of thousands run the east-west route in less than an hour, and the fastest in about 35 minutes.
San Francisco is not the most populous city in Northern California. That honor goes to San Jose, 923,951 residents. But in history, tradition, allure and power to cast spells, it is, unmistakably, The City, one of the magic places of the world. And in politics, social verve and leadership, San Francisco sets the tone for Northern California and often much of the state.
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San Francisco Lifestyle
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Other counties have towns and cities; San Francisco has neighborhoods. Within the borders of the City, residents identify location by Noe Valley, Sunset, Pacific Heights and over a dozen other neighborhoods. Books and boosters sing the praises of neighborhood diversity and are fond of noting the different housing styles.
San Francisco has it's own unique ethnic diversity too, boasting one of the best Chinatown and Japantown shopping districts in all of California. Asian-Americans can be found in many other neighborhoods amongst proud Hispanic-American, Russian-American, and African American communities. The Richmond and Sunset districts, although divided by Golden Gate Park and considered separate neighborhoods, are somewhat similar in being thought of as "The Suburbs" on the inner city. Twin Peaks and its environs include about ten upscale neighborhoods including West Portal, St. Francis Woods, Balboa Terrace, Monterey Heights, Sherwood Forest, Forest Hill, Miraloma Park, and Clarendon Heights. Quite a suprise to most newcomers of San Francisco, these neighborhoods are defined by residential associations and real estate descriptions as a real hidden gem of city living.
Neighborhoods share many important characteristics: Weather conditions west of Twin Peaks are usually cooler in the summer "fog belt", while east of Twin Peaks offers a more warmer climate. Politics and lifestyle choices are found in The Sunset, The Richmond, Parkside, West of Twin Peaks, Pacific Heights, Sea Cliff, and North Beach as more traditional in values which in the parlance of the outside world, means moderate to conservative. However, The Western Addition, Bernal Heights, Haight-Ashbury, Potrero Hill, Eureka and Noe Valley's, and Downtown/SOMA are considered to be more free spiritied neighborhoods, which usually means liberal.
On some maps, "neighborhoods" disappear, folded into other neighborhoods. Hayes Valley is often counted as part of the Western Addition, the Inner Sunset as part of the Sunset, Chinatown as part of North Beach.
All this granted, in many ways the neighborhoods are individualistic. San Francisco was built out from the downtown, from east to west and from north to south. The great majority of the housing was erected from 1850 to 1950. When it became timely to develop the outlying sections, developers built according to the styles and market values of their eras. Pacific Heights and Haight-Ashbury have Victorian homes; these neighborhoods were developed in the latter half of the 1800s. The Sunset was built during the early 20th century, a time when Americans were switching from horses to cars. Many homes in the Sunset and Richmond districts have "one- car" garages, the garage typically placed under the living room (Sometimes the garages are deep, allowing space to park a second car or to construct a "granny" unit.) The land near San Francisco State University was developed after World War II. Homes and apartments there tend to have a 1950s look.
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San Francisco News
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