San Francisco, California (CA) real estate

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San Francisco is a city in western California. Famous for its beautiful setting, San Francisco is built on a series of steep hills located on the northern tip of a peninsula at the entrance to San Francisco Bay. The bay and its extensions, which include San Pablo Bay and Suisun Bay, constitute one of the great natural harbors of the world, embracing nearly 450 sq mi of water. Because of this, San Francisco was once the major Pacific Coast seaport of the United States. Today the city is an important center for finance, technology, tourism, and culture. The city was named after San Francisco Bay, which in turn was named for Saint Francis of Assisi by early Spanish explorers.

Coextensive with San Francisco County, the city of San Francisco is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean, on the north by the strait known as the Golden Gate, on the east by San Francisco Bay, and on the south by San Bruno Mountain. San Francisco’s boundaries extend north and east to include Alcatraz, Treasure, and Yerba Buena islands in San Francisco Bay, and to the west to the Farallon Islands, 32 miles out in the Pacific Ocean.
The cool waters of the ocean and bay surround San Francisco on three sides, moderating the climate, which is characterized by mild, rainy winters and cool, dry summers. Average daily temperatures in the city range from 42° to 56°F in January and from 54° to 72°F in July. September and October are the warmest months in the city. San Francisco averages 20 inches of rainfall per year, most of it coming between November and March. Temperatures rarely fall below freezing and snow is uncommon, although San Francisco is well known for the thick blankets of fog that often cover the city in the summer.

San Francisco initially developed as a port city, and its early growth was centered on its waterfront. Almost from the beginning, Market Street has been the central thoroughfare of downtown San Francisco, running from the Ferry Building in the center of the waterfront to the foot of Twin Peaks, a high hill near the city’s center. The Ferry Building was for many years the city's most famous landmark. Built between 1895 and 1903, it features a 235-foot tower designed after a cathedral bell tower in Seville, Spain.

The Consolidation Act of 1856, combining the City and County of San Francisco went into effect July 1. In 1856 San Francisco had a population of 30,000.