Telegraph Hill in San Francisco

19 February 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, San Francisco Bay Area Reading Time:  6 minutes

Filbert Street and Grant Avenue, looking towards Coit Tower © Goodshoped35110s

Filbert Street and Grant Avenue, looking towards Coit Tower © Goodshoped35110s

Telegraph Hill (elev. 285 ft (87 m)) is a hill and surrounding neighborhood in San Francisco, California. It is one of San Francisco’s 44 hills, and one of its original “Seven Hills”. The San Francisco Chronicle defines the Chinatown, North Beach, and Telegraph Hill areas as bounded by Sacramento Street, Taylor Street, Bay Street, and the water. The neighborhood is bounded by Vallejo Street to the south, Sansome Street to the east, Francisco Street to the north and Powell Street and Columbus Avenue to the west, where the northwestern corner of Telegraph Hill overlaps with the North Beach neighborhood.   read more…

Solana Beach in California

17 January 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

© Timeforkindergarten/cc-by-sa-4.0

© Timeforkindergarten/cc-by-sa-4.0

Solana Beach (Solana, Spanish for “warm wind”) is a coastal city in San Diego County, California. Its population was at 12,941 at the 2020 U.S. Census, up from 12,867 at the 2010 Census. The area was first settled by the San Dieguitos, early Holocene inhabitants of the area. The area was later inhabited by the Kumeyaay, who set up a village they called Kulaumai, on the southern banks of the San Elijo Lagoon. During the Spanish colonial era, trails heading north near Solana Beach crossed inland to avoid the marshes and inlets of the area.   read more…

Pleasanton in California

28 November 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, San Francisco Bay Area Reading Time:  7 minutes

© Michael C. Berch/cc-by-sa-2.5

© Michael C. Berch/cc-by-sa-2.5

Pleasanton is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. Located in the Amador Valley, it is a suburb in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 79,871 at the 2020 census. In 2005 and 2007, Pleasanton was ranked the wealthiest middle-sized city in the United States by the Census Bureau. Pleasanton is home to the headquarters of Safeway, Workday, Ellie Mae, Roche Molecular Diagnostics, Blackhawk Network Holdings, and Veeva Systems. Other major employers include Kaiser Permanente, Oracle and Macy’s. Although Oakland is the Alameda County seat, a few county offices are located in Pleasanton. The Alameda County Fairgrounds are located in Pleasanton, where the county fair is held during the last week of June and the first week of July. Pleasanton Ridge Regional Park is located on the west side of town.   read more…

Camarillo in California

16 October 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Greater Los Angeles Area Reading Time:  6 minutes

Camarillo Ranch House © Los Angeles/cc-by-sa-3.0

Camarillo Ranch House © Los Angeles/cc-by-sa-3.0

Camarillo is a city in Ventura County in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 65,201, an increase of 8,117 from the 57,084 counted in the 2000 Census. Camarillo is named for brothers Juan and Adolfo Camarillo, prominent Californios who owned Rancho Calleguas and founded the city. The city is home to California State University, Channel Islands, housed on the former grounds of the Camarillo State Hospital.   read more…

Golden Gate Park in San Francisco

13 October 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks, San Francisco Bay Area Reading Time:  7 minutes

Golden Gate Park © Taras Bobrovytsky

Golden Gate Park © Taras Bobrovytsky

Golden Gate Park, located in San Francisco, California, United States, is a large urban park consisting of 1,017 acres (412 ha) of public grounds. It is administered by the San Francisco Recreation & Parks Department, which began in 1871 to oversee the development of Golden Gate Park. Configured as a rectangle, it is similar in shape to but 20 percent larger than Central Park in New York City, to which it is often compared. It is over three miles (4.8 km) long east to west, and about half a mile (0.8 km) north to south. With 24 million visitors annually, Golden Gate is the third most-visited city park in the United States after Central Park and the Lincoln Memorial.   read more…

The Castro in San Francisco

12 October 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, San Francisco Bay Area Reading Time:  15 minutes

LGBTQ Pride Flag Market Street and the Castro © flickr.com - tedeytan/cc-by-sa-2.0

LGBTQ Pride Flag Market Street and the Castro © flickr.com – tedeytan/cc-by-sa-2.0

The Castro District, commonly referred to as the Castro, is a neighborhood in Eureka Valley in San Francisco. The Castro was one of the first gay neighborhoods in the United States. Having transformed from a working-class neighborhood through the 1960s and 1970s, the Castro remains one of the most prominent symbols of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) activism and events in the world. Castro Street was named after José Castro (1808–1860), a Californian leader of Mexican opposition to U.S. rule in California in the 19th century, and alcalde of Alta California from 1835 to 1836. The neighborhood known as the Castro, in the district of Eureka Valley, was created in 1887 when the Market Street Railway Company built a line linking Eureka Valley to downtown.   read more…

Palos Verdes Estates in California

11 October 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Greater Los Angeles Area Reading Time:  13 minutes

Malaga Cove © Cardinalngold

Malaga Cove © Cardinalngold

Palos Verdes Estates (Palos Verdes, Spanish for “Green Sticks”) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, situated on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. The city was master-planned by the noted American landscape architect and planner Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. The city is located along the Southern California coastline of the Pacific Ocean. The population was 13,347 at the 2020 census, a slight decrease from its 2010 population of 13,438. Palos Verdes Estates is one of the wealthiest cities in the United States. The 90274 ZIP code (covering the cities of Palos Verdes Estates and Rolling Hills) was ranked the 47th most expensive housing area among high property value U.S. ZIP codes in a 2007 study by Forbes.com.Palos Verdes is also known for its high-performing schools; its high school has been regularly ranked among the top 50 nationally by various publications.   read more…

Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles

1 October 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Greater Los Angeles Area, House of the Month, Museums, Exhibitions Reading Time:  12 minutes

The May Company Building, now the Saban Building © Downtowngal/cc-by-sa-4.0

The May Company Building, now the Saban Building © Downtowngal/cc-by-sa-4.0

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is a museum in Los Angeles, California constructed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), which is devoted to the history, science, and cultural impact of the film industry. It is the first large-scale museum of its kind in the United States. The museum is located in the historic May Company Building on the intersection Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue, part of Museum Row on the Miracle Mile. Originally expected to open in 2020, its completion and opening was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The museum eventually opened to selected celebrity guests on September 25, 2021, and to the general public on September 30. On Thursday, July 14, the museum voluntarily recognized Academy Museum Workers United as the bargaining representative for 160 of its employees.   read more…

Fresno in California, the All American City & Raisin Capital of the World

29 September 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  14 minutes

The historic Tower Theater for the Performing Arts, built in 1939 © RichardHarrison/cc-by-sa-4.0

The historic Tower Theater for the Performing Arts, built in 1939 © RichardHarrison/cc-by-sa-4.0

Fresno is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about 115 square miles (300 km²) and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, making it the fifth-most populous city in California, the most populous inland city in California, and the 34th-most populous city in the nation. Named for the abundant ash trees lining the San Joaquin River, Fresno was founded in 1872 as a railway station of the Central Pacific Railroad before it was incorporated in 1885. It has since become an economic hub of Fresno County and the San Joaquin Valley, with much of the surrounding areas in the Metropolitan Fresno region predominantly tied to large-scale agricultural production. Fresno is near the geographic center of California, approximately 220 miles (350 km) north of Los Angeles, 170 miles (270 km) south of the state capital, Sacramento, and 185 miles (300 km) southeast of San Francisco. Yosemite National Park is about 60 miles (100 km) to the north, Kings Canyon National Park 60 miles (100 km) to the east, and Sequoia National Park 75 miles (120 km) to the southeast. Fresno is also the third-largest majority-Hispanic city in the United States; 50.5% of its population was Hispanic in 2020. Since 2010, statewide droughts in California have further strained both Fresno’s and the entire Central Valley’s water security.   read more…

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