San Francisco

San Francisco is the fourth most populous city in California and the 12th most populous city in the United States.

In 1776, the Spanish established a fort at the Golden Gate and a mission named for Francis of Assisi on the site. The California Gold Rush in 1848 propelled the city into a period of rapid growth, increasing the population in one year from 1,000 to 25,000, and thus transforming it into the largest city on the West Coast at the time. After three-quarters of the city was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake and fire, San Francisco was quickly rebuilt, hosting the Panama-Pacific International Exposition nine years later. During World War II, San Francisco was the port of embarkation for service members shipping out to the Pacific Theater. After the war, the confluence of returning servicemen, massive immigration, liberalizing attitudes, and other factors led to the Summer of Love and the gay rights movement, cementing San Francisco as a center of liberal activism in the United States.

San Francisco in Curious Notions
The Crosstime Traffic corporation chose San Francisco as one of the cities to set up an outpost in the alternate designated "3477". The company established the retail store called Curious Notions, which specialized in electronics. San Francisco was chosen for two reasons. First, San Francisco was one of the few American cities to survive an atomic war with Imperial Germany in 1956 because the bombers headed for the city were shot down. Second, San Francisco was close to the Central Valley, a particularly fertile agricultural area in nearly every timeline.

As the United States had been under the rule of Imperial Germany, San Francisco had become rather rundown. Many buildings still bore the marks of the 1989 earthquake over a century later. It was also quite common to see officers of the Feldgendarmerie patroling the streets.

The Chinese gangs known as the Triads maintained a quiet but powerful presence in the city.

When the Woo family was brought to the San Francisco of the home timeline, they were astonished to find a sophisticated, cultured, and world-class city.

San Francisco in The Valley-Westside War
People living in the various little states into which Los Angeles had been divided knew of Frisco as a place far away to the north, which hardly any of them had visited or was likely to visit - since the trip there would be long, difficult and dangerous, requiering to cross the national boundaries of many small states as well as various lawless areas where robbers waited to prey on travellers.

San Francisco in Days of Infamy
San Francisco was bombed by Japanese flyers based in Hawaii in the Spring of 1942. The bombing came in response to Jimmy Doolittle's night raid on Oahu after Japan conquered the territory from the United States. The attack further humiliated the U.S. but was more of a nuisance raid than a damaging attack.

Joe Crosetti hailed from San Francisco. His uncle's family was wiped out by the bombing.

San Francisco in The Man With the Iron Heart
San Francisco was one of many cities Diana McGraw visited in 1947. Although the Eightieth Congress, dominated by the Republican Party, had cut off funding for the continued American occupation of Germany, McGraw still rallied her supporters against President Harry Truman.

After the speech, McGraw had an adulterous encounter with Marvin Lewis, a city supervisor. McGraw could never remember Lewis's last name, but remembered the physical act fondly.

San Francisco in Southern Victory
During the Second Mexican War, the Royal Navy bombarded San Francisco and detached marines to raid the US Mint. Samuel Clemens lived in the city at the time, witnessed this attack, and extensively reported on it in his paper.

In the twentieth century, the city was a major port of call for the U.S. Navy and other Central Powers fleets in the Pacific. It was a staging area for the 1914 assault on the Sandwich Islands during the Great War.

In 1944, San Francisco was one of several U.S. cities Confederate President Jake Featherston idly threatened to destroy with a superbomb.

San Francisco in The Two Georges
Drakestown was a major city in the North American Union province of Upper California. It was situated on the west shore of San Francisco Bay which had retained its original Spanish name. Although people had talked for years of bridging the bay, numerous ferries continued to adequately connect Drakestown with the cities and towns on the east side of the water.