Why go
These layers become visible at Mission Dolores, Portsmouth Square, the Barbary Coast, rebuilt Civic Center, Alcatraz, and the Castro, giving landmarks more meaning than dates alone. The Ramaytush Ohlone lived on the peninsula long before Spanish colonists established the Presidio and Mission San Francisco de Asís in 1776.
The full story
The Ramaytush Ohlone lived on the peninsula long before Spanish colonists established the Presidio and Mission San Francisco de Asís in 1776. Yerba Buena remained small until the California Gold Rush transformed its port, population, and street life. New arrivals created Chinatown and other communities while discriminatory laws shaped where people could live and work. Earthquake and fire destroyed much of the city in 1906; rapid rebuilding preserved the street grid and produced a new Civic Center. Military activity around the bay expanded through two world wars. Later decades brought Beat writing in North Beach, the Summer of Love, antiwar organizing, and gay liberation centered in the Castro. Visit these places as overlapping histories, not a single march toward the present.