The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL, LBL), also known as the Berkeley Lab, is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory located in the Berkeley Hills near Berkeley, California that conducts unclassified scientific research on behalf of the United States Department of Energy (DOE). It is managed and operated by the University of California, whose oldest campus, the University of California, Berkeley's main campus, it overlooks. Plans announced by the university in 2012 called for a second Berkeley Lab campus to be built on land it owns nearby at Richmond Field Station. (more...)

Joshua Abraham Norton (c. 1819 – January 8, 1880), the self-proclaimed Imperial Majesty Emperor Norton I, was a celebrated citizen of San Francisco, California, who in 1859 proclaimed himself "Emperor of these United States" and subsequently "Protector of Mexico".

Born in England, Norton spent most of his early life in South Africa. He immigrated to San Francisco in 1849 after receiving a bequest of $40,000 from his father's estate, arriving aboard the steam yacht Hurlothrumbo. Norton initially made a living as a businessman, but he lost his fortune investing in Peruvian rice.

After losing a lawsuit in which he tried to void his rice contract, Norton left San Francisco. He returned a few years later, laying claim to the position of Emperor of the United States. Although he had no political power, and his influence extended only so far as he was humoured by those around him, he was treated deferentially in San Francisco, and currency issued in his name was honoured in the establishments he frequented. (more...)

Oakland is a major West Coast port city in the U.S. state of California. Oakland is the third largest city in the San Francisco Bay Area, the eighth-largest city in California, and the 45th-largest city in the U.S., with a population of 413,775 as of 2014^[update]. It serves as a trade center for the San Francisco Bay Area; its Port of Oakland is the busiest port for San Francisco Bay, all of Northern California, and fifth busiest in the United States. Incorporated in 1852, Oakland is the county seat of Alameda County. It is also the principal city of the Bay Area Region known as the East Bay. The city is situated directly across the bay, six miles (9.7 km) east of San Francisco. (more...)

 • After opening a number of businesses in Peru and California, Italian chocolatier Domenico Ghirardelli imports 200 pounds of cocoa beans and establishes D. Ghirardelli & Co in San Francisco (1864 advertisement pictured, left)
 • Henry Wells and William G. Fargo establish Wells, Fargo & Company in San Francisco, a joint-stock association with an initial capitalization of $300,000, to provide express and banking services (iconic stagecoach pictured, right)
 • The city of Santa Clara is incorporated in Santa Clara County (1910 postcard pictured, right)
 • Oakland is incorporated in Alameda County (1867 painting shown, right)
 • Francis K. Shattuck, George Blake, and two partners they met in the gold fields, William Hillegass and James Leonard, lay claim to four adjoining 160-acre (0.65 km²) strips of land north of Oakland

• ... that the vivid colors of the San Francisco Bay Salt Ponds (pictured), ranging from magenta to blue-green, come from the brine shrimp and microorganisms that thrive in the water?
• ... that the Laguna Creek watershed debouches into the San Francisco Bay near the site of the ghost town of Drawbridge?
• ... that the chase scene from the 1968 Steve McQueen film Bullitt starts on Cesar Chavez Street (then Army Street) before continuing through San Francisco?
• ... that the title of There There, a 2018 novel about urban Indians in Oakland, California, mirrors Gertrude Stein's quip about the city that "There is no there there"?

• ... that the Downtown Historic District of San Jose, California, an area of just one square block, contains buildings of six different architectural styles?
• ... that the interior and exterior of the Jose Maria Alviso Adobe in Milpitas, California have not significantly changed in 150 years?
• ... that the Piner Creek watershed is home to a historic round barn (pictured), one of the early architectural features of Sonoma County, California?

March 2007

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass (pictured) is held annually, the first week of October, in Golden Gate Park, and originally featured only Bluegrass Music, but now includes related genres. It began in 2001. In 2011, the free festival drew an estimated 750,000 people over the course of the three-day event.

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