The peninsula was home long before the bridge or the gold. The Yelamu, a Ramaytush Ohlone people, lived on these seven miles by seven miles for thousands of years. The Spanish arrived in 1776: Fathers Francisco Palóu and Pedro Cambón celebrated the first mass at Mission San Francisco de Asís that June — five days before the Declaration of Independence was signed across the continent — and the Presidio followed in September. The mission era devastated the Yelamu, a loss the city’s story owes its first honesty to. The 1791 adobe chapel, Mission Dolores, still stands as the oldest intact building in San Francisco, and a Mexican-era village called Yerba Buena grew along the cove until 1847, when it took the name San Francisco.
At 4 a.m. on August 2, 1873, Andrew Hallidie ran the first cable car down Clay Street; the system is the only moving National Historic Landmark in the United States.
Why People Visit San Francisco California
- Walk or bike the Golden Gate Bridge, then see it from Fort Point below, Baker Beach, or the Marin headlands — International Orange against the fog.
- Ride a cable car over Nob Hill and Russian Hill — the 1873 system is the only moving National Historic Landmark in the country.
- Take the ferry to Alcatraz Island for the penitentiary years and the view back at the city.
- See the Painted Ladies from Alamo Square at golden hour, the Queen Anne row of the 1890s against the downtown skyline.
- Enter Chinatown through the Dragon Gate for dim sum and lantern-strung alleys — the oldest Chinatown in North America.
- Wander North Beach for espresso, the City Lights bookstore of the Beats, and the climb to Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill — listening for the wild parrots overhead.
- Visit the Mission District for Mission Dolores — the 1791 adobe that is the city’s oldest building — the murals, and a Mission-style burrito.
- Graze the Ferry Building marketplace, then watch the sea lions haul out along the Fisherman’s Wharf piers.
- Walk Lands End past the Sutro Baths ruins to Ocean Beach, or catch the whole grid from Twin Peaks.
- Drive — or better, walk — the crooked block of Lombard Street down Russian Hill.