12 facts
you might not have known
about the Golden City.
When prospectors
caught gold fever
and hightailed it
to California, San
Francisco’s port
became packed with
abandoned ships. With
demand to build the
city booming, the ships
were torn apart and
repurposed to build
businesses and homes.
Denim jeans were
also invented in San
Francisco. It was
primarily for the use of
the Gold Rush miners
because they needed
rough clothes that were
comfortable at the
same time.
In 1867, San Francisco
instituted America’s
first “ugly law”, which
prohibited unsightly
people from showing
their faces in public.
(It’s since been
repealed).
In 1901, the city
outlawed burials. Most
of its cemeteries are
in Colma, California.
There, the dead
outnumber the living by
over 1,000 to one.
Lombard Street gets
a lot of attention but
Filbert Street between
Hyde Street and
Leavenworth Street is
the steepest — 31.5
degrees!
The Chinese fortune
cookie was invented by
a Japanese resident of
San Francisco.
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The US Navy originally
planned on painting the
Golden Gate Bridge
black with yellow
stripes. The famed
“International Orange”
colour was supposed
to be a sealant.
San Francisco was
originally called Yerba
Buena, a Spanish
name meaning “good
herb” or “good grass”.
Irish coffee was
perfected and
popularised in the City
by the Bay.
In 1906, threequarters of the city
was destroyed by an
earthquake and fire.
The city’s cable cars
are the only National
Historical Monument
that can move.
When Al Capone was
held at Alcatraz, he
gave regular Sunday
concerts with the
inmate band, the Rock
Islanders. He played
the banjo.
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