People & Places
San Francisco city heritage
We have looked at the history of US immigration and discussed how it had influenced the growth of New York City. Yet New York wasn’t the only city to receive wave after wave of immigrants
There are many cities throughout America which owe large parts of their identity to their foreign-born inhabitants – such as San Francisco. Woven into the very fabric of American Society is the idea that the country is a multicultural melting pot of nationalities and much of the American psyche is born out of the idea behind the quest for a better life. In fact, the very concept of the American Dream comes from the immigrant mentality that says if you work hard and battle for everything you need, at the end of it all you will reach that goal of prosperity and happiness.
Without doubt this is something that anyone setting up afresh in a new country will identify with, but of course it is not always that simple. History has shown that for every dream that is achieved there are many that have failed and, as a result, the concept that only the strong survive is another cornerstone to the American way of life. And whilst American values may often seem selfish and inward looking to many of the more liberal amongst us, if it wasn't for the strong, rugged individualist attitude of many of its inhabitants, America wouldn't be the successful superpower that it is today.
San Francisco
If there is one state which, through its history, has defined the American Dream more than any other, it is undoubtedly California. Within California, San Francisco can be held up as the guiding light to those who left their home nations in a quest for their fortune. Whilst the early history of the region after Europeans arrived on the continent consists mainly of a few small settlements and the battle for ownership between Mexico and the American government, the first major development in the area came about as a result the famous 1850 gold rush.
The discovery of the precious metal lead to a mass migration of fortune-seeking American nationals and European immigrants, who headed for the wagon trails to begin an arduous journey across the country's unforgiving landscape. At the time, the only routes into the state other than by ship involved long and dangerous travels across the rugged mountains and torturously dry deserts that make up California's landscape. Many did not survive the journey and many more failed to find their fortune but the net result was a fast boom in population that kick-started the growth of the area. It was soon realised that the rich soils and favourable climate in the area made up the ideal setting for agriculture, which lead to many finding their fortune in the soil rather than in the goldmines. To this day, farming remains the predominant industry in the state and California is unquestionably still the farming capital of America.
Prospectors, however, flocked to San Francisco and by 1848 the population had grown to around 25,000. In fact, the draw of the gold proved so overwhelming that many of the ships that docked in the bay found that they had lost their crew within hours of arriving – leaving behind a graveyard of unmanned vessels that were unable to sail away. To confound its problems, the city soon gained a reputation for lawlessness, with sections of town becoming havens for criminals, prostitutes and gamblers. Yet, entrepreneurs also prospered, spurred on by an abundance of workers and the wealth that came with the frequent precious metal discoveries. Banks were the first to capitalise and, as they grew in power, they instigated the building of the first transcontinental railway. Low paid Chinese immigrants were brought in to do the bulk of the work and, as a result, San Francisco saw the development of a large and vibrant Chinatown in the middle of the city. The port was also developed and it soon became a centre of trade allowing merchants such as Levi Strauss to set up incredibly successful businesses.
All over San Francisco new developments sprang up at an incredible rate. Cable cars were introduced, large Victorian houses were built and by the early 1900s the city was a fully functioning state municipality with a reputation for flamboyant extravagance. Using New York as their example, Civic leaders successfully pushed for a grid system road layout and the creation of Golden Gate Park as a large outdoor public space. Elsewhere, schools, theatres, churches, hotels and stately mansions sprung up at extraordinary speed, pushing San Francisco to the forefront of early-20th-century America. Yet, in April 1906 the development came to a dramatic stop when the city was all but destroyed by a massive earthquake. The buildings that weren't raised to the ground by the tremors were soon ablaze when burst gas lines ignited a great fire and within days three quarters of the city had been completely destroyed, leaving thousands upon thousands homeless and without shelter.
Yet such was the character of the individuals and communities that made up San Francisco at the time, it took no time at all for them to push on with rebuilding effort. With the city's rich banks providing the capital, the city was up and running and more extravagant than ever within ten years of the tragedy. In fact, the redevelopment of homes and industry proved so successful that when in 1929 the nation was plunged into the great depression, not a single San Francisco-based bank went under and the city began embarking on two massive civil engineering projects – the Golden Gate Bridge and the Bay Bridge.
As 'Frisco' entered the second half of the century a series of events solidified its reputation as America's centre for diversity and alternative thinking. In the 1950s, the Beat Generation, led by the counterculture writing of Jack Kerouac and Alan Ginsberg, made it their home, whilst in the 1960s hippies flocked en masse to the Height Ashbury part of town – culminating in the 1970 Summer of Love. Meanwhile, gay rights were put firmly at the top of the social agenda and The Castro emerged as the country's first openly gay urban village. As if to solidify its position as a financial powerhouse, the 1970s and 80s saw large-scale building of high rises, including the skyline-defining Transamerica Pyramid, in the downtown financial district. The city embraced ex-governor Ronald Reagan's free market and industrial jobs moved across the bay to Oakland. Tourism began to the drive the economy and the service industry grew along with the suburbs. So whilst richer elements of society moved out to the commuter belt, a new wave of immigrants from Asia and Latin America took their place to add to an already diverse population.
These days, in the wake of the modern gold rush that was the dotcom boom, the city has seen some level of change as once poorer neighbourhoods went upmarket and house prices soared. Yet, at the heart of it all, San Francisco has remained the same and is still as flamboyant, exciting, diverse and alternative as it has ever been.
Register for your FREE emigration starter pack
Subscribe to Emigrate America. Read more ...
Search Emilinks for hundreds of San Francisco websites