San Francisco: Photos from the Golden Gate City

September 7, 2008

San Francisco is a unique and breathtaking metropolis. From the famous icon of the Golden Gate Bridge to the exquisite art galleries at SFMOMA, the City takes pride in its unrivaled attractions, renowned museums, and its unique neighborhoods which are treasures of its own. Discover the variety of sites, shops, and restaurants that reflect the City’s great ethnic and cultural diversity.
Around 10,000 years ago, before the Pacific waters had breached the span now covered by the Golden Gate Bridge, the history of the Ohlone people native to San Francisco had already begun. Complex chiefdoms arose and fell, the scarce remnants of which are the infamous “shellmounds,” large heaps of piled shells and other artifacts on the Bay Area’s shores. San Francisco history continued untouched by Europeans until 1579 when Sir Francis Drake, the decorated English looter of Spanish galleons sailed past the entrance to the San Francisco Bay (locals now know how damp and dense the fog can be on Ocean Beach in June), dubbed a stretch of Marin “Nova Albion” and sailed away.