San Francisco California Real Estate

San Francisco California homes for sale in San Francisco, Burlingame, Hillsborough, Millbrae, San Bruno, San Mateo, Foster City, Belmont, Los Altos, Daly City, Palo Alto, San Francisco, Redwood City, Half Moon Bay, San Carlos, El Granada, Woodside, Moss Beach, Menlo Park, Montara, and Pacifica.

Quick Facts About San Francisco California

San Francisco is located at the end of the San Francisco Peninsula on San Francisco Bay.

San Francisco is the most popular city in the world for tourists, and has held that record for the last 25 years. Paris is second.  

San Francisco cable cars are the only moving National Historic Landmark, and 9.7 million people take a nine mile per hour ride on them each year. At the Cable Car Barn Museum, 500-horsepower electric motors turn the endless cable loops.  

San Francisco has 215 historic landmark buildings, ten historical districts and 14,000 Victorian homes. From Alamo Square, the city skyline is a modern contrast to Victorian "postcard row."  

The Spanish ship, San Carlos, was the first to sail into San Francisco Bay. On 28 March 1776, a mission site of the California mission chain was dedicated to St. Francis of Assisi.  

The village of Yerba Buena began near the mission. It remained a small place for many years until in 1836, it began to be a major trading post for the area. In 1846, American rule began here when Captain John B. Montgomery of the USS Portsmouth came ashore and flew the American flag over the village.  

The name was changed the next year to San Francisco, after its namesake, St. Francis of Assisi.  

The Golden Gate Bridge, with 23 miles of ladders and 300,000 rivets in each tower, was the world's longest span when it opened in 1937. The famed San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge was completed in 1936.  

The country's first Chinese immigrants came to San Francisco in 1848. The Hagiwara family invented "Chinese" fortune cookies at Golden Gate Park's Tea Garden.  

Out in the middle of the San Francisco Bay is the island of Alcatraz. The island was first used as a military fort in the 1850s and later home to a Federal Prison that held such criminals as the Birdman of Alcatraz, Al Capone, and Machine Gun Kelly.  

Union Square is among the top four shopping areas in the nation and Ghirardelli's was the first chocolate factory. 

San Francisco's summer fog rushes in on ocean breezes as the city's cool air moves toward warmer places inland. San Franciscans make friends with the fog, and when the Coast Guard removed the bay's last foghorn, cries of protest soon brought it back.

More Facts About California  

Capital: Sacramento
Governor: Arnold Schwarzenegger, R (to Jan. 2007)
Lieut. Governor: Cruz M. Bustamante, D (to Jan. 2007)
Senators: Barbara Boxer, D (to Jan. 2005); Dianne Feinstein, D (to Jan. 2007)
Secy. of State: Kevin Shelley, D (to Jan. 2007)
Atty. General: Bill Lockyer, D (to Jan. 2007)
Treasurer: Phil Angelides, D (to Jan. 2007)
Entered Union (rank): Sept. 9, 1850 (31)
Present constitution adopted: 1879
Motto: Eureka (I have found it)
Nickname: Golden State
Origin of name: From a book, Las Sergas de Esplandián, by Garcia Ordóñez de Montalvo, c. 1500
10 largest cities (2003 est.): San Francisco, 3,819,951; San Diego, 1,266,753; San Francisco, 898,349; San Francisco, 751,682; Long Beach, 398,844; Fresno, 451,455; Sacramento, 445,335; Oakland, 398,844; Santa Ana, 342,510; Anaheim, 332,361
Land area: 155,959 sq mi. (403,934 sq km)
Geographic center: In Madera Co., 38 mi. E of Madera
Number of counties: 58
Largest county by population and area: San Francisco, 9,637,494 (2001); San Bernardino, 20,062 sq mi.
National forests: 18
State parks and beaches: 264
Residents: Californian
2003 resident population est.: 35,484,453
2000 resident census population (rank): 33,871,648 (1). Male: 16,874,892 (49.8%); Female: 16,996,756 (50.2%). White: 20,170,059 (59.5%); Black: 2,263,882 (6.7%); American Indian: 333,346 (1.0%); Asian: 3,697,513 (10.9%); Other race: 5,682,241 (16.8%); Two or more races: 1,607,646 (4.7%); Hispanic/Latino: 10,966,556 (32.4%). 2000 percent population 18 and over: 72.7; 65 and over: 10.6; median age: 33.3.
State Symbols:
Flower: Golden poppy (1903)
Tree: California redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens & Sequoiadendron giganteum) (1937, 1953)
Bird: California valley quail (1931)
Animal: California grizzly bear (1953)
Fish: California golden trout (1947)
Colors: Blue and gold (1951)
Song: "I Love You, California" (1951)