Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
5
1934
Alcatraz Island bec omes a f ederal prison.
1936
The San F rancisco-Oakland Ba y Bridge opens on No vember 12. I t
remains one of the largest bridges in the world and carries more than 270,000
vehicles each da y—more traffic than an y other t oll bridge.
1937
The Golden G ate Bridge opens t o pedestrian traffic on M ay 26 and t o
automobile traffic on M ay 27.
1945
The charter establishing the United Nations is signed in San Francisco's
Herbst Theater.
1960
Candlestick P ark opens f or baseball and f ootball. The last baseball
game takes plac e in 1999.
1965
Jefferson Airplane opens at the M atrix, a club , on F illmore.
1978
PIER 39 is built. One of San Francisco's most popular attractions, it gets
more than 10 million visit ors each y ear.
1989
On Oc tober 17 at 5:04pm, right bef ore the star t of the World S eries
between the Oak land A 's and the San F rancisco Giants , a 7.1 mag nitude
earthquake hits the Ba y Ar ea. One person dies at C
andlestick P ark fr om a
1
heart attack.
2000
Pacific Bell Park (now AT&T Park), the home to the San Francisco Giants,
opens.
2004
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom issues more than 4,000 same -sex
marriage licenses, which are later annulled by the state's Supreme Court. (That
court legalized same-sex marriage in 2008, but it was defeated by a state-wide
ballot proposition the same y ear).
2006
Thousands of r esidents line the str eets bef ore da wn on April 18 t o
mark the 100-y ear anniversary of “The Great Quake,” falling silent at 5:12am.
Eleven survivors of the orig inal quake att end the ev ent.
2008
The Castro Theatre hosts the w orld premiere of
Milk,
a film about San
Francisco politician Har vey M ilk, starring S ean Penn, who wins an Oscar f or
the role.
flat, making the E mbarcadero an easy
family ride. S tart at the B ike Hut (see
chapter 9) and cr uise do wn the str eet
past the piers, stopping b y the F erry
Building to buy picnic food. Walk the
bikes do wn P ier 7 and see if any one's
caught a fish or crab at the end of the
pier. Continue to ward P IER 39 and
Fisherman's Wharf. It may become too
crowded to pedal her e, but once y ou
reach the Hyde Street Pier, space opens
up. Keep going until you get to Aquatic
Park, wher e y ou can stop to eat y
our
pre-packed lunch.
•
Boating on Stow Lake:
Pile into one of
the rowboats, or pedal boats and cir cle
this man-made lake as many times as
you can. R elax as y ou admire the tr ees
and revel in the laughter of the kids as
they attempt to keep the craft fr
om
