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The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, known locally as the Bay Bridge, is a complex of bridges spanning San Francisco Bay in California. As part of Interstate 80 and the direct road between San Francisco and Oakland, it carries about 260,000 vehicles a day on its two decks. It has one of the longest spans in the United States.
The toll bridge was conceived as early as the California Gold Rush days, but construction did not begin until 1933. Designed by Charles H. Purcell, and built by American Bridge Company, it opened on Thursday, November 12, 1936, six months before the Golden Gate Bridge. It originally carried automobile traffic on its upper deck, with trucks, cars, buses and commuter trains on the lower, but after the Key System abandoned rail service, the lower deck was converted to all-road traffic as well. In 1986, the bridge was unofficially dedicated to James Rolph.
The bridge has two sections of roughly equal length; the older western section, officially known as the Willie L. Brown Jr. Bridge (after former San Francisco Mayor and California State Assembly Speaker Willie L. Brown Jr.), connects downtown San Francisco to Yerba Buena Island, and the newer unnamed eastern section connects the island to Oakland. The western section is a double suspension bridge with two decks, westbound traffic being carried on the upper deck while eastbound is carried on the lower one. The largest span of the original eastern section was a cantilever bridge. During the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, a portion of the eastern section's upper deck collapsed onto the lower deck and the bridge was closed for a month. Reconstruction of the eastern section of the bridge as a causeway connected to a self-anchored suspension bridge began in 2002; the new eastern section opened September 2, 2013, at a reported cost of over $6.5 billion, a 2,500% cost overrun from the original estimate of $250 million. Unlike the western section and the original eastern section of the bridge, the new eastern section is a single deck with the eastbound and westbound lanes on each side making it the world's widest bridge, according to Guinness World Records, as of 2014. Demolition of the old east span was completed on September 8, 2018.
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Taken at empire mine state park in grassvalley,ca. Empire Mine was------ Left over cable, cart and gears. Empire Mine was in operation from 1850-1956
Sacramento, California-Sutter's Fort State Historic Park
Sutter's Fort was a 19th-century agricultural and trade colony in the Mexican Alta California province. The site of the fort was established in 1839 and originally called New Helvetia (New Switzerland) by its builder John Sutter, though construction of the fort proper would not begin until 1841. The fort was the first non-indigenous community in the California Central Valley. The fort is famous for its association with the Donner Party, the California Gold Rush, and the formation of the city of Sacramento, surrounding the fort. It is notable for its proximity to the end of the California Trail and Siskiyou Trails, which it served as a way station.
After gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill (also owned by John Sutter) in Coloma on January 24, 1848, the fort was abandoned. The adobe structure has been restored to its original condition and is now administered by California Department of Parks and Recreation. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961.
This is one of those historical features you would not know you were looking at unless you knew the history. The construction of this hand dug ditch began in 1853 for the purpose of transporting water from the American River to various dry digging sites throughout the area. It remained in use until 1942 when the gold deposits were exhausted and mining was no longer profitable. Today only sections of the ditch system remain, many have been destroyed by housing developments.
More information can be found here: www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/hh/item/ca1808/
This is one of those historical features you would not know you were looking at unless you knew the history. The construction of this hand dug ditch began in 1853 for the purpose of transporting water from the American River to various dry digging sites throughout the area. It remained in use until 1942 when the gold deposits were exhausted and mining was no longer profitable. Today only sections of the ditch system remain, many have been destroyed by housing developments.
More information can be found here: www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/hh/item/ca1808/
2010 WPS Championship presented by Citi
FC Gold Pride vs. Philadelphia Independence
September 26, 2010
Pioneer Stadium
Hayward, California
Columbia State Historic Park,
Columbia State Historic Park, also known as Columbia Historic District, is a state park unit and National Historic Landmark District preserving historic downtown Columbia, California, United States. It includes almost 30 buildings built during the California Gold Rush, most of which remain today. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1961
The first mint opened in San Francisco in a small brick building on Commercial Street in Chinatown. Operating as a branch of the United States Mint and assay office, it opened in 1854 to serve the gold mines in the California Gold Rush. In its first year, it converted $4 million of miners' gold into coins. It quickly outgrew it location, and the second building was constructed on 5th and Mission Streets, and it is known as The Granite Lady. Today the Pacific Heritage Museum occupies the building with exhibitions, artwork, and cultural achievements of the people of the Pacific Rim.
I stopped at a few small ponds and creeks that feed into the Merced, and saw plenty of flakes of gold! (...or is that Fool's Gold?!)
Market Street, San Francisco, 02/15/2025
The San Francisco Chinese New Year Festival and Parade is truly the largest celebration of its kind in the world.
In 1847, San Francisco was a sleepy little village known as Yerba Buena with a population of 459. With the discovery of gold and the ensuing California Gold Rush, by 1849, over 50,000 people had come to San Francisco to seek their fortune or just a better way of life. Among those were many Chinese, who had come to work in the gold mines and on the railroad. By the 1860’s, the Chinese were eager to share their culture with those who were unfamiliar with it. They chose to showcase their culture by using a favorite American tradition – the Parade. Nothing like it had ever been done in their native China. They invited a variety of other groups from the city to participate, and they marched down what today are Grant Avenue and Kearny Street carrying colorful flags, banners, lanterns, and drums and firecrackers to drive away evil spirits.
Since 1958, the Parade has been under the direction of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce. At that time, it was moved from the afternoon to the evening so as not to compete with the very popular Miss Chinatown U.S.A. contest. The Parade remained a local community activity along Grant Avenue until the mid 1970’s, when the fire department and ever growing crowds dictated that the Parade route be moved to wider streets.
When KTVU, Channel 2, started televising the Parade in 1987, the Chinese Chamber of Commerce realized that although the Parade would still represent the community, its growth would demand a commitment to higher quality and corporate sponsorship involvement. The Chinese New Year celebration was expanded to a month-long Festival including two street fairs, a basketball jamboree, a public art project and the Miss Chinatown U.S.A Pageant & Coronation Ball.
In 2024, The San Francisco Chinese Chamber of Commerce and ABC7 Bay Area entered into a six-year commitment making ABC7 the exclusive broadcast home to the city’s world-renowned Lunar New Year celebrations, making the festivities available to viewers nationwide across its industry-leading broadcast and streaming platforms. The station will produce year-round special coverage, including local programming and news stories that showcase the city’s extraordinary monthlong Lunar New Year celebrations, beginning in 2025 with the welcoming of the auspicious Year of the Snake.
Today, the San Francisco Chinese New Year Festival and Parade is the largest celebration of its kind in the world, attracting over three million spectators and television viewers throughout the U.S., Canada, and Asia with the help of both ABC 7 and KTSF, Channel 26 (Chinese broadcast). Named one of the top ten parades in the world by the International Festivals & Events Association and recognized by USA Today’s 10Best Cultural Festivals, the Chinese New Year Parade in San Francisco is one of the few remaining illuminated parades in North America and the biggest parade celebrating Lunar New Year outside of Asia.
The parade still welcomes a variety of other groups to join in the march, and still hopes to educate, enrich and entertain its audience with the colorful pageantry of Chinese culture and tradition. In order to retain the integrity of the Parade, participants are asked to tie their float or specialty unit to a Chinese cultural theme. We are honored and delighted to have representatives from other Asian cultures participating in this year’s festivities.
Gung Hay Fat Choy!