Posts

San Francisco and its famous bay, originally inhabited by native Americans, became a possession of Mexico in the 18th century. In 1848, at the end of the Mexican-American War and the execution of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, California became part of America, and two years later, a state. Because San Francisco had been populated […]

Are you working to live or living to work? Do you have your dream job? Do you wake up each workday excited to earn your living? Do you think up new ideas, while taking a shower, that will help you fulfill your work goals? It’s never too late to change paths. You have to be […]

Not everyone wants to hike through the wilderness of Yosemite or see the sights in San Francisco. The nerds among us—and we mean that in the nicest way—just might be thrilled to spend hours or days visiting the mother lode of innovation: Silicon Valley. Actually named Santa Clara Valley, the famous brainiac mecca got its […]

What are you going to do with the last 5, 10 or 15 years of your life? You barely blinked, and suddenly you’re a senior citizen. But haven’t you heard: 70 is the new 50. In the mid-1950s, a little old lady moved into her son’s family home. She was tiny, gray-haired, bespectacled and a […]

Does San Francisco have crime? Does it have way too many homeless people? Yes. And yes. And so do Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Chicago, New Orleans, Pittsburgh and just about every other U.S. metropolis you could name. But this isn’t a “what about” article because there is no comparison to San Francisco. It’s one […]

Are you ready to get your culture on in San Francisco? How about a visit to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, one of the country’s largest displays of contemporary and modern art? Or maybe the Museum of Craft and Design or the Museum of Performance & Design would be more appealing to you. […]

About 30 years ago, the mother of a third-grade boy brought a writing project to his class. She had found a book that listed addresses (mostly of agents) of famous people, and helped the kids choose different stars and write letters to them. They began their letters by introducing themselves and explaining that the class […]

San Francisco’s Presidio, steeped in American history, was named a National Historic Landmark in 1962. The military complex, housing more than 700 buildings, 433 of which are designated historic, closed in 1989 and, in 1994, the National Park Service took over its operation.

Covering about 30 city blocks, San Francisco’s Chinatown is North America’s oldest Chinese community. Dating back to the mid-1800s, the area bustles with pagoda rooves, hanging lanterns, specialty shops, restaurants, nightclubs and bars. Old St. Mary’s Church, the continent’s first Asian church, was built in Chinatown in 1853. In 1859, the Chinese School welcomed Asian […]

You haven’t seen a tree until you’ve seen the giant sequoia trees in Mariposa Grove in Yosemite National Park. To understand their magnitude, picture branches that can reach eight feet in diameter and bark that might be three feet thick. A sequoia trunk can span 35 feet. The tallest tree in Yosemite is the Columbia […]