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Top 10 Amazing Facts about San Francisco

San Francisco is located at the north end of the San Francisco Peninsula and includes significant stretches of the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay within its boundaries. It was founded on June 29, 1776, when colonists from Spain established the Presidio of San Francisco at the Golden Gate and Mission San Francisco de Assisi, named after Saint Francis of Assisi. From this Mission, the city inherited its name.

The city of San Francisco is known for its rich and diverse culture, the infamous Gold Rush error, the mesmerizing fog, steep rolling hills and eclectic mix of architecture. Below are the top 10 amazing facts about San Francisco;

1. It is the birthplace of the United Nations

Top 10 Amazing Facts about San Francisco

The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization aiming to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations. The UN was established after World War II with the aim of preventing future wars.

On 25 April 1945, 50 governments met in San Francisco for a conference and started drafting the UN Charter, which was adopted on 25 June 1945 and took effect on 24 October 1945, when the UN began operations. Today, it has 193 nations, representing almost all the world’s sovereign states. It is also the world’s largest and most familiar international organization.

2. Three-quarter of the city was destroyed by an earthquake and fire

San Francisco earthquake and fire 1602 – Wikipedia

On April 18, 1906, a massive earthquake struck San Francisco, California. The earthquake, with an estimated moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI lasted for less than a minute, caused great destruction within the city.

The earthquake ignited several fires around the city that burned for three days. The earthquake and fire destroyed nearly 500 city blocks, killed an estimated 3,000 people and left half of the city’s 400,000 residents homeless.

These events are remembered as one of the worst and deadliest earthquakes in the history of the United States. The death toll remains the greatest loss of life from a natural disaster in California’s history, and high on the lists of American disasters.

3. The first North American plague epidemic was in San Francisco

Governor Henry Gage – Flickr

The San Francisco plague of 1900–1904 was an epidemic of bubonic plague centered on San Francisco’s Chinatown. The epidemic was recognized by medical authorities in March 1900, but its existence was denied for more than two years by California’s Governor Henry Gage. It was the first plague epidemic in the continental United States.

A controversial vaccination program was rolled out by Kinyoun with the help of Surgeon General Wyman spiked that intended to inoculate the Chinese residents with Haffkine’s vaccine. The vaccinated residents of the city showed signs of horrific side effects from the injection.

Under a new governor, the city implemented a medical solution and the epidemic was stopped in 1904.

4. The Chinese Fortune Cookie was Invented in San Francisco

Fortune Cookie – Flickr

In the late 1890s, Makoto Hagiwara, a Japanese immigrant of San Francisco, is said to have invented the modern-day fortune cookie. Which is believed to have been adapted from Japan’s tsujiura senbei. Tsujiura are notes used in Japan in conjunction with rice crackers called senbei.

Makoto Hagiwara was a landscape designer responsible for the maintenance and expansion of the Japanese Tea Garden at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. He served the fortune cookies at the Golden Gate Park’s Tea Garden.

He also opened the first Japanese restaurant in San Francisco, and records show that he was the owner of a restaurant called Yamatoya in Chinatown.

5. Denim jeans were invented in San Francisco

Denim Jeans – Flickr

Jacob Davis and Levi Strauss are created to have invented the Denim Jeans in 1873 while in San Francisco during the gold rush.

Jacob was a Russian Jewish-born American tailor who inventing modern Denim jeans by using sturdy cloth and rivets to strengthen weak points in the seams. This was after one of his customers ordered a pair of sturdy pants that could withstand hard work. Levi Strauss owned the Levi Strauss & Co store where Jacob bought the Denim.

When Jacob wanted to patent the jeans, he wrote to Levi Strauss, and the two became partners. They then went to open a bigger factory.

6. The Golden Gate Bridge Was Meant to be Black and Gold

The Golden Gate Bridge – Flickr

The Golden Gate Bridge is one of the most internationally recognized symbols of San Francisco and California. It is a suspension bridge that links the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula to Marin County.

It was designed by engineer Joseph Strauss in 1917. At the time of its opening in 1937, it was both the longest and the tallest suspension bridge in the world, with a main span of 4,200 feet (1,280 m) and a total height of 746 feet (227 m).

Like most bridges of the early 20th century, the Golden Gate Bridge was originally meant to be black and gold. However, Irving Morrow, the bridge’s consulting architect, noticed the striking reddish-tinged primer coat that was painted on some of the steel and thought it sorted the bridge much better. It took a lot of convincing to get the striking colour approved, but Morrow advocated that the bold, red-orange tone would complement the gray fog, golden and green hills and blue water and sky.

7. San Francisco Is Home To The Oldest Chinatown in North America

Chinatown, San Francisco – Flickr

The Chinatown centered on Grant Avenue and Stockton Street in San Francisco is the oldest Chinatown in North America and one of the largest Chinese enclaves outside Asia. It was and will continue to be important and influential in the history and culture of ethnic Chinese immigrants in North America. The San Francisco’s Chinatown is also renowned as a major tourist attraction, drawing more visitors annually than the Golden Gate Bridge.

The town was established in 1848 as a port of entry for early Chinese immigrants from the west side of the Pearl River Delta, speaking mainly Hoisanese and Zhongshanese, in the Guangdong province of southern China from the 1850s to the 1900s.

8. The Beatles performed their final concert in San Francisco

The Beatles – Wikipedia

The Beatles were an English rock band formed in 1960 and regarded as the most influential band of all time. They were integral to the development of 1960s counterculture and popular music’s recognition as an art form.

The Beatles’ final paid concert of their career took place on 29 August at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, California. Knowing that this would be their last concert, members of the band took measures of their own to capture their last moments on stage.

9. San Francisco is Home to the Country’s Only Rolling National Historic Landmark

San Francisco cable car – Flickr

The San Francisco cable car system is the world’s last manually operated cable car system and an icon of the city of San Francisco. San Francisco’s cable cars are listed on the National Register of Historic Places and are designated as the United States’ only rolling National Historic Landmark.

In 1869, Andrew Smith Hallidie had the idea for a cable car system in San Francisco, reportedly after witnessing an accident in which a streetcar drawn by horses over wet cobblestones slid backwards, killing the horses. The first successful cable-operated street running train was the Clay Street Hill Railroad, which had its inaugural run on August 2, 1873.

10. Burials Are Outlawed in San Francisco

San Francisco pet cemetery – Flickr

In 1902, the city’s board of supervisors voted to stop all burials within the San Francisco city limits because the cemeteries were out of room, considered a health hazard and sat on prime real estate. The burial site was moved to Colma, where farmland was turned to graveyards.

However, there is a Presidio Pet Cemetery located under the 101 overpass in the Presidio. It was founded in the 1950s. The small cemetery is the final resting place for more than 400 pets that belonged to military families.