San Francisco has "the location."  It is naturally beautiful, and surrounded by top-shelf travel destinations.  Check out the Napa Valley, Redwood country, Lake Tahoe, Yosemite and Monterey, to name a few.  Where else can you match this line-up?

 

The Bay Area gracefully blends many ethnic cultures.  In San Francisco, Caucasians comprise less than half its population.  And almost one-third are Asian or Pacific Islander.  The remainder is a melting pot of African American, Irish, Scottish, Russian, Mexican, Salvadoran and Ethiopian.  And with it comes the great cuisines and cultural nuances.  San Francisco boasts the largest Chinatown in the U.S. with the annual Chinese New Year Parade being the largest outside Asia.    One-third of all U.S. Latinos live in California.  They comprise the second largest ethnic group in San Francisco, Santa Clara and Alameda counties.

 

The San Francisco Bay Area enjoys a short but colorful History.  Check out the stories behind the Golden Gate Bridge, Mission Dolores, San Francisco City Hall, Winchester Mystery House in San Jose and the Marin Civic Center designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

 

The natural geography is stunning.  The Golden Gate National Recreation Area is the largest urban national park area in the world, measuring 74,000 acres of land and water.   This natural jewel includes 28 miles of spectacular coastline within its boundaries, as well as such internationally famous sites as Alcatraz, Marin Headlands, Fort Mason and Muir Woods.  The Bay's 470-square mile body of water forms one of the world's greatest estuaries.  It shapes our weather, enhancing the Mediterranean climate.  It provides adventures for athletes and is Home to many varieties of fish and birds.

SBC Park (Home of the Giants), with its breathtaking views and classic design, opened to rave reviews in 2000.   It is the first privately financed ballpark in Major League Baseball since Dodger Stadium (1962).  Easily accessible by mass transit, the Giant's Home features an inspiring 9-foot statue of Willie Mays, Home runs that splash into McCovey Cove, an 80-foot Coca-Cola bottle with playground slides, and a miniature SBC park behind left field that is a magnet for all kids.

The Bay Area with San Francisco as its hub enjoys a broad selection within the arts from music and fine art to film and theater.  Examples include museum exhibits at the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco, the annual film festival in Mill Valley, a variety of musical offerings from classical orchestras to modern musical groups, as well as a variety of theatrical and dance productions around the Bay Area.

San Francisco enjoys the distinction of being the top city for telecommuting from Home, according to PC World and Money magazines!

People from all over have streamed here in hopes of striking it rich...since the Gold Rush all the way through the dot-com explosion.

We associate such famous corporations as The Gap, Levi Strauss, Intel and Charles Schwab with San Francisco and Silicon Valley.  The Bay Area is the birthplace and capital of biotech.  And one-third of all U.S. venture financing emanates from within the Bay Area.

The San Francisco Bay Area is a Mecca of institutions of higher education.  Some of the most famous include:  University of California San Francisco, ranked as one of the top 10 medical schools in the country according to U.S. News and World Report; Stanford University;  University of California Berkeley, the oldest UC campus and flagship of the California public university system; and UC Davis, one of the top agriculture education facilities in the country.

The Bay Area boasts 5 of the finest science museums.  These include the Exploratorium in San Francisco, the California Academy of Sciences, the Chabot Space Center in Oakland, the Lawrence Hall of Science in the Berkeley hills and  the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose celebrating Silicon Valley's computer revolution.

Due to the great weather and natural environment, the Bay Area is attractive to athletes of all kinds. It is the Home of 7 professional sports teams. These include the San Francisco 49ers and the Oakland Raiders of the NFL, the Golden State Warriors of the NBA, the San Jose Sharks of the NHL, the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland Athletics of Major League Baseball and the San Jose Clash of Major League Soccer.  The biking trails of Mount Tamalpais in Marin County spawned the mountain biking revolution with such notables as Joe Breeze and Gary Fisher.  Mt. Tam is Marin County's highest and most famous peak - a spiritual focus for the Miwok Indians and a site almost as sacred to local mountain bikers.