Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Exploring San Francisco's Many Cultures
Half the population of San Francisco is either foreign-born
or first-generation American. Spanish and Mexican
pioneers who arrived in the 18th and early 19th centuries
established the foundations of today's city, and the Gold
Rush (see pp26-7) attracted fortune-seekers from all over
the globe. Those who stayed built new communities and
some, such as the Italians and the Chinese, have continued
to maintain their own traditions.
the decades that followed, the
population of the Chinese
community shrank due to the
Exclusion Laws. In the 1960s,
immigration controls were
relaxed by President Kennedy,
and opponents of the Mao
regime living in Hong Kong
were given permission to
emigrate to the US. The
population has now risen to
over 100,000 - approximately
one in five San Franciscans.
Chinatown (see pp98-102) is
still the city's most populated
sector, and the heart of the
Chinese community. Banks,
schools and newspapers testify
to its autonomy, which is as
powerful today as it was when
the first settlers arrived more
than 150 years ago.
The Irish
In the late 1800s, thousands of
Irish immigrants came to San
Francisco and took what jobs
they could find. Many worked as
laborers on the huge steam
shovels used to fill in the
bayfront mudflats, while others
joined the police and fire
departments and rose to
positions of authority. By the turn
of the century, Irish labor leaders
had become an effective force in
the city. There is no readily
identifiable Irish section of San
Francisco, but Sunset and
Richmond districts are packed
with Irish bars, and the annual St.
Patrick's Day parade (see p50) still
draws a considerable crowd.
Mission District mural commemorating the cease-fire in El Salvador
Francisco. A second wave of
immigrants, almost exclusively
from Canton, arrived to work on
the transcontinental railroad in
the 1860s. By the 1870s, the
Chinese formed the largest of
the city's minority groups, with
40,000 people living in poor
conditions in and around
Chinatown. At this time, the
Chinese men outnumbered the
Chinese women by 20 to one. In
The Hispanic-Americans
You cannot go far in San
Francisco without coming
across signs of the Hispanic
heritage of a city that was once
the northernmost outpost of
Spanish America, then Mexico.
After the American takeover in
1846 (see pp26-7) Mexican
landowners were displaced by
incoming prospectors and
settlers, and most were left
homeless. However, many
stayed in the Bay Area and the
Hispanic population has
remained stable (about 10 per-
cent of the total) ever since.
Wandering among the
taquerias (snack bars) and
mercados (shops) of the Mission
District, it is easy to imagine
you are somewhere far south
of the border.
The Italians
The original Italians in San
Francisco depended on fishing
for their livelihood. Today's
thriving North Beach is inhabited
by descendants of the southern
Italian fishermen who came to
settle here in the late 1800s.
The early immigrants
to the area were
mostly from the city
of Genoa, the
The Chinese
Since the gold rush days in
the late 1840s, when an
estimated 25,000 people
fled from the chaos of China to
work in the California mines,
the Chinese have maintained
a significant presence in San
A young San Franciscan woman wearing
Chinese costume
 
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