History UsefulNotes / SanFrancisco

* One season of Creator/{{MTV}}'s ''Series/TheRealWorld'' was set in San Francisco. It featured, among others, an aspiring comic artist named Creator/JuddWinick....

-->-- [[CrazyAwesome His Imperial Majesty]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Norton Emperor Norton I]], [[TryToFitThatOnABusinessCard Emperor of these United States and Protector of Mexico]], 1872.

* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto: [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas San Andreas]]'' features a parody of San Francisco called San Fierro (the mission that brings you there alongside CrazyAwesome hippie The Truth is titled "If You're Going To San Fierro"). Although there are examples of the famous stairway streets, the whole city is quite small, and they are few and far between. Other famous parts of San Francisco, including the thick fog and the twisting road on the steep hill, are thrown in for good measure. Lombard Street makes an appearance as "Windy Windy Windy Windy Street," and the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transamerica_Pyramid Transamerica Building]] (the tallest in the city) as the "Big Pointy Building" -- both decent enough descriptions.

The city's sports teams, the NFL's 49ers and the MLB's Giants, can also boast rich dynasties, particularly the 49ers of the 1980s that won 4 Super Bowls in 1981, 1984, 1988 and 1989, and the recent success of the Giants in the TheNewTens, which has resulted in 3 World Series championships in a 5-season span (2010, 2012 and 2014).

In almost any film or TV show, the cable cars will be made to seem almost everywhere, with the stock establishing shot a cable car cresting over a hill lined with Victorian houses while the Golden Gate bridge is framed in the background. Car chases are frequent in TV and film thanks to the hilly streets and neato views (often making a point of going down the famously-winding [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lombard_Street_%28San_Francisco%29 Lombard Street]].) The city is famous for its liberal politics, association with countercultural movements (the [[{{Beatnik}} beats]] and the [[NewAgeRetroHippie hippies]] followed on each other's heels in the mid-20th century), prominent gay population, longtime history as a hub for Chinese immigration, and its reputation for attracting colorful eccentrics who become tolerated or even celebrated in a way they probably wouldn't be anywhere else in America.

In reality, these conventions are all true, but only true to a degree. The cable cars only cover a small part of the city and are favorites of tourists but few locals; the streets are much too narrow and the terrain too varying for a really awesome car chase to happen anywhere but the freeways; and while droves of liberal activists, gays, and immigrants do call San Francisco home, there are as many less visible demographic groups as any other major city.

* The ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "Smug Alert!" ripped into the city for its obsession with hybrid cars. The reduction of ''smog'' from their cars was causing a massive cloud of ''[[IncrediblyLamePun smug]]'' to ravage the western U.S.

* Music/{{Train}} has an album called "Save Me, San Francisco" and the title track is an ode to the city.

* Music/Train has an album called "Save Me, San Francisco" and the title track is an ode to the city.
* Scott [=McKenzie=]'s "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)" has been described as "the unofficial anthem of the counterculture movement of the 1960s" and is credited with a large number of people moving to the city in that decade.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music Videos]]
* The music video for "I Disappear" by Music/{{Metallica}} (who live in the Bay Area) includes a scene of James Hetfield fleeing a large shockwave in a black muscle car.
* Train's song "Save Me, San Francisco:"

* And who could forget Tony Bennett's "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" music video with the local hula group performing a hula they made specifically for the song.
* The Music/CabCalloway song "San Francisco Fan", a song about a dancer named Fan who takes a bullet for her gambling boyfriend, set in San Francisco during the Gold Rush.

** Non-monster movies get in on the action too: in ''Film/TheCore'', the bridge melts under the intense heat of super sunlight (don't ask). In ''Film/XMenTheLastStand'', Magneto levitates the bridge over to Alcatraz (dick move). In the Franchise/StarTrek franchise the Federation has always been headquartered in San Francisco, so the 2009 and 2013 films feature a bit of future SF urban destruction (though the first film is refreshingly light on it, and both movies pass up the opportunity to destroy the iconic span).

* ''Webcomic/GhostsOfTheFuture'', a ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' fancomic usually takes place in the Bay Area 200 years in the future, albeit with ModernStasis. Several issues, particularly the early ones, take place in San Franciso itself, and Silver works at a small Chinese restaurant in the FriendlyLocalChinatown with his friend Blaze. ([[https://spiritsonic.tumblr.com/post/620785040660578304/so-like-im-super-late-to-the-party-but-i-stayed-up Originally]] ''[{{spoiler}} in link]'', Silver the Hedgehog's apartment was located in ''South'' San Francisco, but is now retroactively located in San Francisco itself.) The [[spoiler:New Chaotix]] mansion is confirmed to be located near Half Moon Bay in San Mateo County. The Bay Area is [[CreatorProvincialism where the creator, Evan Stanley, grew up near to and lives in]].

* Several issues, particularly the early ones, of ''Webcomic/GhostsOfTheFuture'', a ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' fancomic take place in San Francisco 200 years in the future, albeit with ModernStasis, and Silver works at a small Chinese restaurant in the FriendlyLocalChinatown with his friend Blaze. ([[https://spiritsonic.tumblr.com/post/620785040660578304/so-like-im-super-late-to-the-party-but-i-stayed-up Originally]], Silver the Hedgehog's apartment was located in ''South'' San Francisco, but is now retroactively located in San Francisco itself.) The comic in general takes place in or near the Bay Area, which should be noted is [[CreatorProvincialism where the creator, Evan Stanley, grew up and lives in]].

* Several issues, particularly the early ones, of ''Webcomic/GhostsOfTheFuture'', a ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' fancomic take place in San Francisco 200 years in the future, albeit with ModernStasis, and Silver works at a small Chinese restaurant in the FriendlyLocalChinatown with his friend Blaze. ([[https://spiritsonic.tumblr.com/post/620785040660578304/so-like-im-super-late-to-the-party-but-i-stayed-up Originally]], Silver the Hedgehog's apartment was located in ''South'' San Francisco, but is now retroactively located in San Francisco itself.) The comic in general takes place near the Bay Area in Santa Cruz County, California, which should be noted is [[CreatorProvincialism where the creator, Evan Stanley, grew up]].

* In a subversion of what most people would expect, ''Series/RuPaulsDragRace'' has not featured many {{drag queen}}s from San Francisco. In 13 seasons as of 2021, only two have competed on the show: Honey Mahogany in Season 5 and Rock M. Sakura in Season 12. Oddly enough, the show has had more queens from ''UsefulNotes/{{Milwaukee}}'' (3) than the cultural home of the LGBT community.

* In a subversion of what most people would expect, ''Series/RuPaulsDragRace'' has not featured many {{drag queen}}s from San Francisco. In 13 seasons as of 2021, only two have competed on the show: Honey Mahogany in Season 5 and Rock M. Sakura in Season 12. There have been plenty of queens from ''other'' big gay cities like New York, LA, and Atlanta, and even a queen from Alaska, but only two from what many consider to be the cultural home of the LGBT community.

* In a subversion of what most people would expect, ''Series/RuPaulsDragRace'' has not featured many {{drag queen}}s from San Francisco. In 13 seasons as of 2021, only two Frisco queens have competed on the show: Honey Mahogany in Season 5 and Rock M. Sakura in Season 12. There have been plenty of queens from ''other'' big gay cities like NYC, LA, and Atlanta, and even a queen from Alaska, but only two from what many consider to be the cultural "home" of the LGBT community.

* In a subversion of what most people would expect, ''Series/RuPaulsDragRace'' has not featured many {{drag queen}}s from San Francisco. In 13 seasons as of 2021, only two Frisco queens have competed on the show: Honey Mahogany from Season 5 and Rock M. Sakura from Season 12. There have been plenty of queens from ''other'' big gay cities like NYC, LA, Chicago, Dallas, and Atlanta, and even a queen from Alaska, but only two from what many consider to be the birthplace of the queer rights movement.

[[folder: Comedy]]

[[folder: Western Animation]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* Several issues, particularly the early ones, of ''Webcomic/GhostsOfTheFuture'', a ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' fancomic take place in San Francisco 200 years in the future, albeit with ModernStasis, and Silver works at a small Chinese restaurant in the FriendlyLocalChinatown with his friend Blaze. ([[https://spiritsonic.tumblr.com/post/620785040660578304/so-like-im-super-late-to-the-party-but-i-stayed-up Originally]], Silver the Hedgehog's apartment was located in ''South'' San Francisco, but is now retroactively located in San Francisco itself.) The comic in general takes place near the Bay Area in Santa Cruz County, California, which should be noted is [[CreatorProvincialism where the creator, Evan Stanley, grew up]].
* ''Webcomic/{{Unreality}}''

* Several early issues of ''Webcomic/GhostsOfTheFuture'', a ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' fancomic, before issue 7, take place in San Francisco 200 years in the future (albeit it's got a case of ModernStasis). It's worth noting that [[CreatorProvincialism the creator, Evan Stanley, grew up near the Bay Area]].

* Several early issues of ''Webcomic/GhostsOfTheFuture'', a ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' fancomic, before issue 7, take place in San Francisco 200 years in the future (albeit it's got a case of ModernStasis). It's worth noting that the creator, Evan Stanley, grew up near the Bay Area.

* The early issues of ''Webcomic/GhostsOfTheFuture'', a ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' fancomic, before issue 7, take place in San Francisco 200 years in the future (albeit it's got a case of ModernStasis). It's worth noting that the creator, Evan Stanley, grew up near the Bay Area.

* ''Webcomic/GhostsOfTheFuture'', a ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' fancomic, takes place in San Francisco 200 years in the future (albeit it's got a case of ModernStasis), and the Golden Gate Bridge is already broken. It's worth noting that the creator, Evan Stanley, grew up near the Bay Area.

As a famously scenic city with a reputation for eccentricity, controversy, and singular history, San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area pop up fairly frequently in media, particularly visual media, which just love the city's iconic hills and eclectic architecture.

* ''Webcomic/GhostsOfTheFuture'', a ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' fancomic, takes place in San Francisco 200 years in the future (albeit it's got a case of ModernStasis), and the Golden Gate Bridge is already broken. It's worth noting that the creator, Evan Stanley, lives in the Bay Area herself.

* ''Webcomic/GhostsOfTheFuture'', a ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' fancomic, takes place in San Francisco 200 years in the future (abeilt with ModernStasis), and the Golden Gate Bridge is already broken. Worth nothing that the creator, Evan Stanley, lives in the Bay Area herself.