Portal:San Francisco Bay Area

Mission San Francisco de Asís, or Mission Dolores, is the oldest surviving structure in San Francisco and the sixth religious settlement established as part of the California chain of missions. The Mission was founded on June 29, 1776, by Lieutenant José Joaquin Moraga and Father Francisco Palóu (a companion of Father Junipero Serra), both members of the de Anza Expedition, which had been charged with bringing Spanish settlers to Alta (upper) California, and evangelizing the local Natives, the Ohlone. The settlement was named for St. Francis of Assisi, the founder of the Franciscan Order, but was also commonly known as "Mission Dolores" owing to the presence of a nearby creek named Arroyo de Nuestra Señora de los Dolores, meaning "Our Lady of Sorrows Creek."

The original Mission consisted of a log and thatch structure dedicated on October 9, 1776 after the required church documents arrived. It was located near what is today the intersection of Camp and Albion Streets, about a block-and-a-half east of the surviving adobe Mission building, and on the shores of a lake (supposedly long since filled) called Laguna de los Dolores.

The present Mission church, near what is now the intersection of Dolores and 16th Streets, was dedicated in 1791. At the time of dedication a mural painted by native labor adorned the focal wall of the chapel. The Mission was constructed of adobe and part of a complex of buildings used for housing, agricultural and manufacturing enterprises (see architecture of the California missions). Though most of the Mission complex, including the quadrangle and convento, has either been altered or demolished outright during the intervening years, the façade of the Mission chapel has remained relatively unchanged since its construction in 1782–1791. (more...)

Wally Bill Hedrick (1928 in Pasadena, California – December 17, 2003 in Bodega Bay, California) was a seminal American artist in the 1950s California counterculture, gallerist, and educator who came to prominence in the early 1960s. Hedrick’s contributions to art include pioneering artworks in psychedelic light art, mechanical kinetic sculpture, junk/assemblage sculpture, Pop Art, and (California) Funk Art. Later in his life, he was a recognized forerunner in Happenings, Conceptual Art, Bad Painting, Neo-Expressionism, and image appropriation. Hedrick was also a key figure in the first important public manifestation of the Beat Generation when he helped to organize the Six Gallery Reading, and created the first artistic denunciation of American foreign policy in Vietnam. Wally Hedrick was known as an “idea artist” long before the label “conceptual art” entered the art world, and experimented with innovative use of language in art. (more...)

Walnut Creek is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States, located in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. With a total estimated population of 67,673, Walnut Creek serves as a hub for its neighboring cities because of its location at the junction of the highways from Sacramento and San Jose (I-680) and San Francisco/Oakland (SR-24) and its accessibility by BART. Its active downtown neighborhood features hundred-year-old buildings and extensive high-end retail establishments, restaurants and entertainment venues.

Walnut Creek owns more open space per capita than any other community in the state of California. In 1974, Walnut Creek voters approved a $6.7 million bond measure that allowed the city to purchase 1,800 acres (730 ha) of undeveloped hillsides, ridge lines, and park sites. Walnut Creek owns parts of Lime Ridge Open Space, Shell Ridge Open Space, Acalanes Ridge Open Space, and Sugarloaf Open Space. (more...)

 • The Clay Street Hill Railroad, the first in the San Francisco cable car system (pictured, left), begins operations
 • South Hall (pictured, right) is built in Berkeley, thus becoming the new location of the University of California, Berkeley, formerly located in Oakland

• ... that the vivid colors of the San Francisco Bay Salt Ponds (pictured), ranging from magenta to blue-green, come from the brine shrimp and microorganisms that thrive in the water?
• ... that the Laguna Creek watershed debouches into the San Francisco Bay near the site of the ghost town of Drawbridge?
• ... that the chase scene from the 1968 Steve McQueen film Bullitt starts on Cesar Chavez Street (then Army Street) before continuing through San Francisco?
• ... that the title of There There, a 2018 novel about urban Indians in Oakland, California, mirrors Gertrude Stein's quip about the city that "There is no there there"?

• ... that Evergreen Cemetery in Oakland is the site of a memorial (pictured) to the victims of the Jonestown tragedy?
• ... that the Healdsburg Memorial Bridge (pictured) in Healdsburg, California, was the first steel bridge across the Russian River?
• ... that Save The Bay helped stop San Bruno Mountain from being destroyed to create landfill along 27 miles (43 km) of San Francisco Bay?
• ... that Elias Abraham Rosenberg, a peddler from San Francisco, became an adviser to King Kalākaua of Hawaii due to his purported ability to predict the future?
• ... that Bob Wasserman served as police chief, city councilman, and mayor of the city of Fremont, California?
• ... that Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur, who later wrote The Art of Beowulf, was one of a group of University of California professors who at first refused on principle to sign the loyalty oath in 1949?

January - March 2012

SF Sketchfest, or The San Francisco Comedy Festival, is a comedy festival founded in 2002 by San Francisco Bay Area actor-comedians David Owen, Janet Varney and Cole Stratton (pictured). It takes place every January and February and features sketches, improv, stand-up and other events.

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