|
| |
San Francisco
The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate strait,
the opening into the San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean. It connects San
Francisco with Marin County.Main article: San Francisco, California
The City and County of San Francisco is generally placed in a category by itself
in terms of geography and culture. It is separated by water from the north, west
and east, and by a county line from its neighbor cities to the South. San
Francisco has long served as the cultural, financial and urban center of the
region. For most of the Bay Area's history, it has also served as the key
population center. However, the limitations of the size of the county prohibited
the growth of the city and since the 1906 San Francisco earthquake other cities
and counties have received the larger share of population growth.
San Francisco was the first urban city of the Bay Area to experience the large
socio-economic and demographic changes which swept the region in the after-math
of the 1960s. A significant change occurred through repeal by the Federal
government of immigration restriction and the passage of the 1965 and 1967
Immigration Acts. As a result of these acts large populations of foreign
families moved into the Bay Area, first in San Francisco then other areas.
Together with the social divisions accompanied by the 1960s, many native
families felt threatened and sought better opportunity in other areas of the
Bay, leaving the city. With their departure the city was transformed, a process
which has been repeated and accelerated throughout the Bay Area, the State and
the country, as the Immigration Acts and social changes of the 1960s continue to
spread.
Today, San Francisco remains a cultural and financial center, but its population
size and political weight have been eclipsed by larger, more affluent, and less
diverse cities in the region.
| |
|
