Alcatraz Island
the parking area for seals
at Fisherman's Wharf with Frisco's skyline in the background
the cable car is turned by human force only
and the skyline of San Francisco
from Alcatraz Island you have a nice view of the Golden Gate Bridge
Sitting at the tip of a peninsula with the same name the city of
San Francisco is the commercial,cultural and financial
powerhouse of Northern California.
Spanish colonists established a fortified stronghold here in 1776 to gain a foothold in California
for
New Spain.
Before the
California Gold Rush of 1849 San Francisco was a small hamlet but the invasion of the "forty-niners" turned
it into a sprawling boomtown.
The 1906
earthquake and fire claimed 3000 lives (many in
Chinatown) and left the
city in ashes. It was rebuild quickly, but the danger of a new big quake remains as Frisco sits right on the
San Andreas fault.
San
Francisco holds the unofficial title of liberal capital of the USA ever since the
Summer of Love in1967.
We were
in San Francisco several times, the pictures are from a visit in May 1993.
a sideview of the Golden Gate Bridge, looking south
the bridge was completed in 1937
wonder if they know there will be no boats docking here?
the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge
the high security Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary prison was closed as recently as 1963
