San Francisco San Francisco is an exciting and beautiful city. It rises on a steep, hilly peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay in western California. The strait between these two bodies of water is known as the Golden Gate. San Francisco Bay is one of the finest natural harbors in the world. Its port facilities handle much of the West Coast's import and export trade. And the city of San Francisco is often regarded as the gateway to the Far East.San Francisco is important in both banking and insurance. It is also the western headquarters of the communications industry, as well as a variety of manufacturing and processing businesses.San Francisco is the home of about 680,000 people. Together with Oakland, across the bay, it is the center of a metropolitan area of five times that number. San Francisco's population long has been a cross section of the world's. People came from all over the globe, from the east and west, and settled in this cosmopolitan city. More than 60,000 of its citizens are of Chinese origin. Russian Hill was named for the nationality of the people who lived there in early days. There are also many persons of German, Irish, Italian, Mexican, Filipino, and English origin.From the Twin Peaks, which dominate the center of the city, one looks straight down Market Street to the bay. Another magnificent view is from Coit Memorial Tower on Telephone Hill. From there it is possible to see the entrance to the bay, the cities on its eastern side, and the great span of the Golden Gate Bridge.San Francisco's famous Chinatown -- the largest in the United States -- is along Grant Avenue and nearby streets. It is a colorful district of Chinese shops, restaurants, and temples.Institutions of higher education in the city include San Francisco State University and the University of San Francisco. The original campus of the University of California is in Berkeley, just across the bay. Among the city's notable museums are the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, located in a spectacular setting overlooking the Pacific Ocean, and the Museum of Modern Art, in the downtown Civic Center.