"Frisco" a San Francisco Travel Page by smschley

Yup, I call San Francisco “FRISCO”, and you should know I’m a native born California and have lived around the San Francisco Bay all my life. "Frisco" is, of course, a contraction of San Francisco, and was used even by natives of the city for as long as it had the name. The toughest guys on the old S.F. waterfront, neither rubes nor tourists, called it Frisco, and no effete journalist would have tried to correct them." As the city makeup changed, those people who thought of themselves as cultured frowned on the name. What has always interested me is that most of the people who hate the city being called FRISCO are not even natives. Interestingly the name "Frisco," is making a comeback as mysterious as those missing sock that disappear from the dryer. The Frisco phenomenon is re-emerging on popular T-shirts and hooded sweatshirts and on art projects. Besides visiting the city throughout my life, I also worked there for a number of years and will try to share my view of the city.
.
.
.

The story of San Francisco starts in 1579 when Sir Francis Drake anchored in what is now known as Drake's Bay, several miles north of the San Francisco peninsula. 16 years later, Sebastian Cermeno anchored at Drake's Bay, naming it La Bahia de San Francisco, after the founder of the Franciscan order. Two centuries later some land explorers saw a large bay and believed it to be the same harbor discovered by Cermeno in 1595, termed it the Bay of San Francisco. A century and a half passed without much attention until the Russian fur trade developed along the California's coast. Spanish interest peaked, sparking a renewal of interest in the bay, leading to the establishment of a fort and a mission near the harbor.

The United States and Mexico went to war in 1846 over rights to Texas and California and on July 9, the US claimed the town for the United States. Westward expansion continued to flourish, and the business community of Yerba Buena responded by renaming the town "San Francisco", to match that of the bay.

Gold was discovered on January 24, 1848, just 100 miles northeast of San Francisco sparking a worldwide migration -the 1849 Gold Rush. San Francisco's population exploded from a few hundred in 1848 to 25,000 in 1850 and to more than 55,000 by the end of the 1850s

.

The 1906 Earthquake and fire devastated the city. But with its characteristic spirit, the city rebuilt itself--into a grander city than even before. And it was no surprise that it would conceive and execute the impossible, the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge, one of the world's longest suspension bridges over icy-cold, shark infested waters. It has the highest bridge towers ever made.

Civic mindedness, a tolerant spirit, and openness have continued to be the characteristic of the people of the City. After World War II, returning gay soldiers found a safe haven here. The heart of the 60's movement in the Haight-Ashbury brought talents like the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Santana, and Janis Joplin. Today, new waves of immigrants, particularly from Russia and Central America, are changing the face of the city.

The best way to explore San Francisco's neighborhoods is on foot. A leisurely stroll through North Beach, with its relaxed European charm, leads smack into bustling Chinatown. A hike up hoity-toity Nob Hill segues down to the troubled Tenderloin. South of Market, a busy warehouse district during the day, transforms into nightclub central at night. The Mission District is varied: many of its streets are Latino enclaves, but a continuous flow of hip young invaders has redefined many of the district’s crossroads. The nearby Castro was claimed by gay men in the 1970s, and it remains predominantly gay today, projecting an assured, almost mainstream air.