Inside San Francisco [antikvár]

2-3 A dislinctive red lower of tlie world-famous Gofden Gate Bridge rises from the morning fog ttiat often envelops the Bay Area In the summer months. However, this damp ocean mist usually melts away by mid-moming when the blue skies and the sunshine return. 4 San Francisco Is famous for Its clanging cable cars which have been immortalized in song. In 1964. the cable cars were declared a National Historic Landmarti. and three lines still operate out of the original nehnork which in 1900 coveted over 100 miles of track. 6 In the blue nalera of the Bay is the infamous island of Alcatraz which was once a notorious federal prison. You can still tour the cell blocks and guard towers of this chilling place which once housed Al Capone and the Birdman ofAfcatraz. 7 Telegraph Hill is dominated by the Coil Tower-a monument lo the city's fireflghteis. Inside this unusual building, you can view an astonishing array of frescos and murals illustrating scenes from Caiifornian labor in the 1930s which were painted by twenty-five artists in 1934 under the Inspiration of Diego ftiverd. San Francisco's story starts over 200 years ago in 1776 when Spanish missionaries established the IVIission San Francisco de Asis there. Spanish, English and Russian traders settled in the Bay area over the next few decades but it was not until 1848 with the discovery of gold that San Francisco's population rocketed - from 800 to 25,000 within just two years. The 'Forty-Niners' poured into the muddy shanty town, fired by the prospect of finding gold and getting rich, and it was soon transformed into a bustling city There is a story that during the Gold Rush many miners sent their laundry to China to be washed because it was more economic to send it to the other side of the Pacific than to get it laundered in the city where prices for the most trivial everyday services were exorbitant! In those same pioneering days, a barber could make a fortune by cutting the hair of gold miners and sifting through their felled locks for precious gold dust! San Francisco has always been a very special city owing its charm to a combination of different factors: its magnificent location, its temperate climate and, above all, its people who have a unique and inimitable lifestyle. Imagination, flair, non-conformity radicalism and hospitality are the hallmarks of this most cosmopolitan of cities, where even the police cars proudly display a sign: 'At your service'. The residents are justly proud of their beautiful city and are always ready to talk about it enthusiastically at every opportunity The locals whom you will encounter in any bar or café will lose no time in engaging you in friendly conversation and are extremely hospitable and helpful to visitors. The city is built on twenty-one hills and boasts the steepest streets in the world. It is the most multi-racial of all America's cities and possesses more restaurants than any other urban conurbation in the United States with the sole exception of New York. Yet, surprisingly San Francisco is a relatively small city built on a peninsula with the blue waters of the Bay and the sea on three sides. Extending over the tip of this peninsula overlooking the Bay is the uniform grid system of downtown streets which is dominated by the instantly recognisable Transamerica Pyramid, which with fifty-two floors is the tallest skyscraper in the city and by the fluted Coit Tower high on Telegraph Hill, which was built in 1934 as a bequest from Mrs Lillie Hitchcock Coit, an eccentric millionairess and volunteer firefighter, to honour the city's heroic firemen. She was just one of the eccentric characters who, with their generosity and inventiveness, tmly embodied the spirit of San Francisco. In fact, originality is a predominant feature of Caiifornian style and architecture. You have only to explore the steep hills of the city decorated with brightly painted and bizarre Victorian residences to see this for yourself. Unique in their genre and fondly refen-ed to by the locals as the 'Painted Ladies', these multi-colored houses reflect the city's individualistic and extravagant character and emphasise its residents' proud attachment to the traditions of the past. The numerous well-tended flower beds and floral displays in the city's parks and on street corners are eloquent testimony to the San Franciscans' passion for greenery and gardening. It is not unusual to see people after a busy day at the office, weeding and planting out the flower beds and borders and tending the little lawns in front of their vividly decorated houses with meticulous and loving care.