The Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary or United States Penitentiary, Alcatraz Island (often just referred to as Alcatraz) was a maximum high security Federal prison on Alcatraz Island, off the coast of San Francisco, California, USA, which operated from 1934 to 1963.

The main prison building was built in 1910-12 during the time it was a United States Army military prison; Alcatraz was the site of a citadel from the 1860s. The United States Disciplinary Barracks on Alcatraz was acquired by the United States Department of Justice on October 12, 1933, and the island became a Federal Bureau of Prisons federal prison in August 1934, after the buildings were modernized to meet the requirements of a top-notch security prison. Given this high security and the location of Alcatraz in the cold waters and strong currents of San Francisco Bay, at least a mile off the coast, the prison operators believed Alcatraz to be inescapable and America's strongest prison. (more...)

Charles Monroe Schulz (November 26, 1922 – February 12, 2000), nicknamed Sparky, was an American cartoonist, best known for the comic strip Peanuts (which featured the characters Snoopy and Charlie Brown, among others). He is widely regarded as one of the most influential cartoonists of all time, cited as a major influence by many later cartoonists. Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Watterson wrote in 2007: "Peanuts pretty much defines the modern comic strip, so even now it's hard to see it with fresh eyes. The clean, minimalist drawings, the sarcastic humor, the unflinching emotional honesty, the inner thoughts of a household pet, the serious treatment of children, the wild fantasies, the merchandising on an enormous scale—in countless ways, Schulz blazed the wide trail that most every cartoonist since has tried to follow." (more...)

San Francisco /sæn frənˈsɪskoʊ/, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the cultural center and a leading financial hub of the San Francisco Bay Area and Northern California.

The only consolidated city-county in California, San Francisco encompasses a land area of about 46.9 square miles (121 km²) on the northern end of the San Francisco Peninsula, giving it a density of about 17,867 people per square mile (6,898 people per km²). It is the most densely settled large city (population greater than 200,000) in the state of California and the second-most densely populated major city in the United States after New York City. San Francisco is the fourth-most populous city in California, after Los Angeles, San Diego and San Jose, and the 14th-most populous city in the United States—with a Census-estimated 2013 population of 837,442. The city is also the financial and cultural hub of the larger San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland combined statistical area, with a population of 8.5 million. (more...)

• The San Francisco Giants win the World Series
• Matt Cain (pictured) pitches a perfect game at AT&T Park in San Francisco
• Five people are found dead at a home in San Francisco's Ingleside neighborhood
• The Novato meteorite (trajectory pictured) crosses the North Bay
• A gunman kills 7 people inside Oikos University in Oakland
• The South San Francisco Ferry Terminal opens
• Nadia Lockyer resigns as Alameda County Supervisor
• Gus Morrison is appointed mayor of Fremont
• Eric Swalwell is elected to California's 15th congressional district
• A large fire erupts at the Chevron Richmond Refinery (smoke plume pictured), and a shelter in place order is given by Contra Costa County
• Tesla Motors introduces the Tesla Model S

• ... 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 an early incarnation of Bimbo's 365 Club (pictured) in San Francisco included Dolfina, a nude woman who appeared to swim inside a large aquarium over the bar?
• ... that the Council on Religion and the Homosexual once held a fundraiser dance despite intimidation from San Francisco police?
• ... that William C. McInnes, one of the first Jesuits to study business administration, simultaneously served as the president of both Fairfield University and the University of San Francisco for four months?
• ... that eclectic and non-traditional Quartet San Francisco has been nominated five times for Grammy Awards, most recently for QSF Plays Brubeck, the first all-Dave Brubeck string quartet recording?
• ... that the Bolinas, California-based unconventional winemaker Sean Thackrey was previously an art dealer?

January - March - 2010

The Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton hosts the summer Alameda County Fair, held since 1912. (horse racing at the Pleasanton Fairgrounds Racetrack pictured)

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