History UsefulNotes / SanFrancisco

* A disproportionate number of UsefulNotes/SegaDreamcast videogames featured San Francisco (or locations heavily based on it):

** In ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'' and ''Film/StarTrekIIITheSearchForSpock'', Kirk has an apartment here.
** ''Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome'' primarily takes place here.

* Both Stanford and UC Berkeley are known to field excellent teams in multiple sports; Stanford holds the NCAA record for most Division 1 championships across all sports, while Berkeley is at #11 on the same list. The annual football game between Stanford and Berkeley is known as "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Game_(American_football) The Big Game]]", and is one of the oldest rivalries in college sports, with the 117th set for 2023.

* MLB's Oakland Athletics, a historically strong team in the 1970s and 1980s. Since then, their payroll has been cut, but efforts to make the most of a low budget (famously described in the book and movie ''Film/{{Moneyball}}'') have often shown good results. However, in the early 2020s, the A's began exploring the possibility of relocating to UsefulNotes/LasVegas due to concerns over the age and serviceability of the Oakland Coliseum. Which reminds us...

* The NFL's Las Vegas Raiders played in Oakland (in fact, in the aforementioned Oakland Coliseum for much of their history) from 1960-1981 and 1995-2019, and the fandom for them still runs deep in some areas.

The area also has vibrant and loyal sports fandoms. Two major professional teams currently play in San Francisco proper: [[UsefulNotes/{{Baseball}} MLB]]'s San Francisco Giants and the [[UsefulNotes/NationalBasketballAssociation NBA]]'s Golden State Warriors. Both had great success in the 2010s, with the Giants winning three World Series championships in five years (2010, 2012, and 2014) and the Warriors (who played in Oakland at the time) winning three NBA championships in four years (2015, 2017, 2018). In 2019 the Warriors moved to their new home at Chase Center, just south of the Giants' field at Oracle Park in the city's Mission Bay neighborhood.

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

San Francisco's reputation as a home for misfits and oddballs started with its Gold Rush roots, when it essentially became a mining town that outgrew itself and where fortune-seekers could embrace the mythos of the west and live free of the more stolid conventions of the East or whatever other country they came from. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Norton Norton I]], Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico (whose decree about a certain much-loathed nickname graces the top of the page) is today probably the most famous of all San Francisco eccentrics, but in his time he was just one of a menagerie of strange, self-made hero kooks.

* Creator/ChristopherMoore's ''Literature/BloodsuckingFiends'', ''Literature/ADirtyJob'', ''Noir'' and their sequels, are set in and around San Francisco. An {{Expy}} of Emperor Norton appears as a recurring character in both series.

* ''TabletopGame/ChangelingTheDreaming'' uses San Francisco as a sample city, drawing on its bohemian history. Likewise, a number of books for Franchise/TheWorldOfDarkness make note that San Francisco's [[GeniusLoci city father]] looks a hell of a lot like Emperor Norton.

Though less frequently a trope, San Francisco is also particularly known for its large homeless population, which shows up primarily when a creator [[ShownTheirWork showed their work]] and generally has a point to make with it. Another uncomfortable and little-discussed fact is that the Golden Gate Bridge is the second-most frequent site of suicides ''in the world.''

* The recording of Creator/EddieIzzard's ''Dress to Kill'' was at the Orpheum in San Francisco, and includes a good bit riffing on San Francisco, "Frisco," cable cars, the fog...basically everything in the lead section.

* 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.

** ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooWhereAreYou'': "Mystery Mask Mix-Up" took place in the city's Chinatown district, where Daphne ends up being kidnapped by two ghouls seeking out a cursed mask.

** ''WesternAnimation/WhatsNewScoobyDoo'': "The San Franpsycho" takes place in SF. The titular villain was supposedly the ghost of an inmate who died trying to escape Alcatraz.

** ''ScoobyDooAndScrappyDoo'': "I Left My Neck in San Francisco" detailed the gang taking a tour of the city and dealing with the [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Lady Vampire of the Bay]].

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/WhatsNewScoobyDoo'' takes place in SF. The villain was supposedly the ghost of an inmate who died trying to escape Alcatraz.

[[caption-width-right:350:''"I left my heart in San Francisco..."'']]

* Creator/ChristopherMoore's ''Literature/BloodsuckingFiends'' and ''Literature/ADirtyJob'', and the sequels to both, are set in and around San Francisco. An {{Expy}} of Emperor Norton appears as a recurring character in both series.