General Care Communities
Northern California
Area Info
Northern California is a land of dramatic contrasts: soaring skyscrapers and towering redwoods, bustling cities and pathless wilderness, pounding surf and glittering snowcapped peaks. Vintners practice their centuries-old craft in some of the greatest wine-producing areas of North America, while nearby entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley reinvent the world of computers on almost a daily basis. Northern California is home to California's capital (Sacramento), its third-largest city (San Jose), the second-highest mountain of the Cascade Range (Mt. Shasta), the third-most visited national park (Yosemite). It is a land of superlatives.
The area has been popular for a long time. The first pre-Columbian settlers arrived here as long ago as 8,000 BC, and quickly made the area one of the most densely populated in North America. Europeans didn't settle here, however, until 1770, when the mission of Monterey was founded. But with the discovery of gold near Sacramento in 1848, northern California became a magnet for settlers. The area experienced a 300% increase in population during the Gold Rush years; and while the pace slowed considerably in later years, by the turn of the century over a million people lived in the region.
Today, more 12 million live in the northern California region. Yet outside of the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento areas, northern California has a low population density: of the fifteen counties at the bottom of California's population figures, only one of them is outside this region.
Articles
News from the San Francisco Chronicle
Power outage hits Bay Bridge, South of Market
Mar 17, 2010 7:00 am
An outage knocked out power to the lights on the Bay Bridge's western span and parts of San Francisco's South of Market neighborhood before sunrise this morning, authorities said. The western span of ...
Steel part blamed as BART train comes apart
Mar 17, 2010 7:00 am
BART officials are investigating what caused a year-old part that helps connect train cars to snap suddenly Tuesday morning, causing the nine-car train to come apart before stopping at the west edge o...
Alameda land-use ruling could reshape state
Mar 17, 2010 7:00 am
When an Alameda County judge this month ruled that Pleasanton must loosen its development rules to allow large amounts of new housing for all income levels, he sent a message that could ricochet aroun...
S.F. splurged on St. Patrick's parade float
Mar 17, 2010 7:00 am
San Francisco Recreation and Park Department maintenance workers spent approximately 185 hours on the clock building a float for last weekend's St. Patrick's Day Parade. The revelation comes as the de...
Special election idea for S.F. mayor fizzling
Mar 17, 2010 7:00 am
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's idea of holding a special election to name his successor if he's elected lieutenant governor appears to be DOA. Newsom doesn't have the six votes on the Board of Sup...
Farmers hail increased water allowance
Mar 17, 2010 7:00 am
The sprinklers will go on this summer in the Central Valley, but not as much as farmers would like. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced Tuesday that growers south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Ri...
Threatening posts not protected free speech
Mar 17, 2010 7:00 am
A state appeals court says a 15-year-old boy whose Web site was flooded with anti-gay slurs and threats can sue a schoolmate who admitted posting a menacing message but described it as a joke. In a 2-...
Irish luck brings blue skies to S.F. parade
Mar 14, 2010 8:00 am
Alicia Olsen had the right idea. Rather than getting ready for her job waiting tables on Saturday, the 24-year-old from La Honda was sporting a feather boa in the tricolor of the Irish flag with a bee...
Aug 26, 2009 7:00 am
Oakland: Jackson Street gets patched up a bit
Aug 26, 2009 7:00 am
What's working better: Four months ago, Chronicle Watch reported on Oakland's Jackson Street between Seventh and 10th streets. It was a stretch of pavement so strewn with crevices that Chronicle Watch...
