San Francisco (USA, California)
At the time of the development of the Internet, highly paid “Internet businessmen”, programmers, and other workers of the field flocked to the city, creating a high demand for the housing, which resulted in its costs’ rising. High rent caused a lot of families to leave the city for good. The collapse of the computer field in 2001 influenced employment of the inhabitants and the economical situation in the city very much. Up to this day, proximity to the Silicon Valley and a lot of computer companies make high technology the main industry of the city. In San Francisco the percentage of children compared to the entire population is the lowest – it is 14,5% lower than in the other major cities of the USA.
The city includes several islands: Alcatraz, Treasure Island and Yerba Buena. Within the city’s limits there are also desert islands of Farallon, located 26.72 miles away in the Pacific Ocean. People often say that San Francisco is a square with the side of seven miles.
San Francisco is famous for its hills. The hills in the city are all elevations that are higher than 98.43 feet. Within the city limits there are 42 hills; some of the districts are called after the hills on which they are situated (Nob Hill, Pacific Heights, Russian Hill, Potrero Hill, and Telegraph Hill).
Not far away from the geographical center of the city, a little to the South, a number of hills are located with the smallest density of population; mainly entertainment and mass media infrastructure of the city predominates here. On Sutro Hill there are TV and radio stations’ broadcasting towers. Nearby there are Twin Peaks Hills, among the highest hills in the city; they are one of the main tourist attractions in the city. The highest hill in San Francisco is Mount Davidson which is 925,20 feet high; in 1934, a high cross was built here (103,02 feet high).
San Francisco is close to two tectonic faults that cause frequent earthquakes. Small earthquakes in the area of San Francisco Bay occur with regular frequency. The threat of big earthquakes impels the city to have high standards of solidity of new buildings and causes to rebuild old buildings and bridges.
The coastline of San Francisco restricts the growth of the city that is why the territory of such districts as Marina, Hunter Point and the biggest part of Embarcadero zone were built up with using artificial earth backing of the coast zone. Artificial Treasure Island was built of the material acquired while building a bridge across the bay. Such districts are very unstable in case of earthquakes, which fact was evidently proven by the earthquake of 1989, which caused a lot of damage in Marina County.
San Francisco is within the Mediterranean Climate zone and is characterized with a soft humid winter and a dry and warm summer. San Francisco is surrounded by water on three sides that is why its climate is influenced very much by cold currents of the Pacific Ocean creating a mild climate with small seasonal fluctuations of weather temperature. The average temperature in the city is 21 degrees Celsius which is 9 degrees smaller than in Livermore, the nearest city in the contiguous USA. The record of the highest temperature in San Francisco is 39 degrees Celsius; it was recorded on July 14, 2000. For comparison: the warmest month – September – 17.2 degrees Celsius – is cooler than June in Moscow, although the longitude is more to the South than that of Baku and is at the level of Ashgabat. But daily average temperatures higher than 16 degrees Celsius hold on from the beginning of May until the end of October. Daily temperature in winter is around 15°C. The readings of thermometers in the city are almost never below zero; the lowest temperature was recorded on December 11, 1932, – it then fell down to -3°C. The season from May till September is absolutely dry; the raining season begins in November and lasts until March. Snow is a very rare phenomenon is San Francisco; from 1852, only ten cases of snowfall have been recorded. The strongest snowfall in the city was on February 5, 1887, when the level of snow in the center of the city reached 3.7 inches. The last snowfall occurred on February 5, 1976.
Combination of the ocean’s cold water and high temperature of the air of contiguous California causes a unique phenomenon — the San Francisco fog which in summer fills the city (especially its western part; in eastern areas the fog is thinner) for days. Fog is frequent in the city in the end of summer and from September till October. The fog, the hot climate of California and the influence of the ocean makes San Francisco an owner of its own microclimate. High hills in geographical center of the city are responsible for a 20% difference in annual precipitation in different parts of the city. They also protect eastern districts from fog and cold weather predominant in the Sunset County. For those living in eastern part of the city, San Francisco is more sunny and dry.
The historic center of San Francisco is the northeast quadrant that borders Market Street on the south. Now it is the center of the financial district; not far away from it Union Square and a district of hotels and shops are located. In these districts there are cable cars which descend from the Nob Hill summit to the Fisherman’s Warf. Also in this quadrant are Russian Hill with its famous Lombard Street and the city’s versions of Small Italy – North Beach and Telegraph Hill.
In Mission County the working class is prevailing among population; the county is inhabited mainly by immigrants from Mexico and South America.
During the Second World War, the Japanese quarter was on the brink of destruction, since the US government made a decision to deport all Japanese Americans, but almost at the same time the district was filled with thousands of Afro-Americans. Alamo Square Quarter is famous for its number of houses called “Painted Ladies”; here mansions of the business elite are located. In the north expensive Marina residential quarter is located.
Richmond, a large district north of the Golden Gates Park, stretching to the coast of the Pacific Ocean is often called today the “new Chinatown”. Besides the Chinese, immigrants from Russia and other parts of Asia live in Richmond. South of the Golden Gates Park there is Sunset district; Chinese Diaspora prevails here. Richmond and Sunset are big living quarters of the middle class. Both are known as the Avenues. Bayview-Hunters located in south-eastern part of the city is the poorest and most dangerous district of the city due to its high rate of crime. Another southern district of town is ethnically different from Bayview-Hunters; it is inhabited by students and working class.
South of Market is an old industrial district of San Francisco; it was fully reconstructed during the development of dot-com companies; the district witnessed construction of many high buildings. Following South of Markets success, another district – Mission Bay, began complete rebuilding of its infrastructure.
Along the entire coastline of the Pacific Ocean the Ocean Beach is stretching; but it is not fit for swimming, although popular among surfers because of its cold water and strong currents. The whole territory east of the Golden Gate Bridge to Presidio Park, a former military base, is occupied by Baker Beach; the beach is famous for its colonies of disappearing plant Hesperolinon congestum.
In total, there are over 200 parks in San Francisco. The biggest and most famous park in the city is the Golden Gate Park occupying territory from downtown to the Pacific Ocean. Once the entire territory of the park was covered only by grass and sand dunes, but now the park consists of thousands of artificially planted bushes and trees. The park is rich with a big number of various gardens. The most famous of them are: Conservatory of Flowers, Japanese Tea Garden and Strybing Arboretum Botanical Garden. Lake Merced is a freshwater lake surrounded by a park zone which is not far away from the San Francisco zoo that became a home for more than 250 species of animals, many of which are under a threat of becoming extinct. Buena Vista Park is in the Haight Ashbury district, famous for its role in the 1960s Hippie movement. Officially the oldest park in San Francisco, it was founded as early as in 1867, and at first it was named Hill Park, but in 1984 was given its current name. The park is located on a hill from which there is a really beautiful view on the city.
San Francisco is characterized as a city with a high living standard. During Internet revolution the city became one of the richest in the USA because many high-paid employees were attracted here. Many poor districts experienced a revival. The city’s downtown experienced a kind of “Renaissance” spurred by rebuilding of the Embarcadero and South Beach and Mission Bay districts. Because of numerous reconstructions and rebuildings, prices for the housing in the city grew up very much; they are still among the highest ones in the country.