San Francisco

San Francisco is a city on the North American continent of Earth, named after St. Francis of Assisi, and constitutes one of the most important cities throughout both the planet itself and United Federation of Planets as a whole. Early history

Although founded as a Spanish colony in the 18th century, San Francisco first gained prominence in 1849 after gold was discovered in California. Thousands of American fortune seekers, known as the 49ers, settled in the city.

By 1893, San Francisco had a growing and diverse population, including professional gamblers like Frederick La Rouque and Joe Falling Hawk, as well as aspiring writers such as Jack London. The city also attracted a number of alien visitors, unbeknown to the Human population. Among these included the malevolent Devidians, and the El-Aurian Guinan, who masqueraded as a wealthy local patron.

During this time, occasional health epidemics struck San Francisco particularly hard. Outbreaks of cholera killed many residents. (TNG: "Time's Arrow", "Time's Arrow, Part II")

In an alternative reality of World War II created by Vosk's faction of the Temporal Cold War, Nazi Germany successfully invaded the East Coast of North America, while San Francisco remained under allied control. A squadron of P-51 Mustangs defended the city from air raids in this reality. (ENT: "Storm Front") In the mid-20th century, San Francisco was the setting for novels featuring the adventures of the iconic private detective, Dixon Hill. It also served as the backdrop for many movies, including the comedic classic: "The Man From San Francisco". (ENT: "Cogenitor"; TNG: "The Big Goodbye")

By the end of that century, however, San Francisco had become a polluted metropolis, with a culture that would be described by various future commentators as "primitive", "paranoid", and "medieval". The age seemed to have been characterized by greed, lack of proper medical care, and environmental crises, causing Spock to consider it a miracle the citizens were able to survive into the 21st century. (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)

Like much of the United States, San Francisco appeared to have emerged from the Eugenics Wars of the 1990s relatively unscathed. The city's social ills became even more pronounced by the 2020s. Massive unemployment and homelessness caused unrest in the streets. The government responded by instituting the system of Sanctuary Districts, requiring vagrants to live in segregated ghettos patrolled by law enforcement. Ostensibly, the Sanctuary Districts served only as temporary shelters until jobs could be found. In reality, they became a way to keep the segment of the population deemed "undesirable" out of the public eye.

An economic recovery eventually occurred, and the Sanctuary Districts shut down. (DS9: "Past Tense, Part I", "Past Tense, Part II")

It is unclear how long this economic prosperity actually lasted, or how San Francisco fared during the global turmoil and chaos of the 2060s. It seemed likely, though, that the city was either spared the nuclear holocaust or otherwise recovered very quickly from World War III.

San Francisco benefited enormously from the radical changes that came after first contact with the Vulcans. It soon became home to important United Earth institutions, including the precursor to Starfleet. The skyline was also altered significantly, with a host of new skyscrapers eclipsing both the Transamerica Building and Golden Gate Bridge.

Role in diplomacy

The city had a prestigious history as a place of peace. In 1945, the Charter for the United Nations was signed in San Francisco by some fifty of Earth's nation-states.

After World War III, the nations of the world met in San Francisco to negotiate a peace treaty. (ENT: "Demons")

The spotlight of diplomacy fell on San Francisco again in 2155, when the representatives of Earth, Vulcan, Tellar, Andoria, Denobula, Rigel V, and Coridan met in the city to hold talks on the formation of a Coalition of Planets. (ENT: "Demons", "Terra Prime")

Six years later, in 2161, the charter that would lead to the founding of the United Federation of Planets was signed in San Francisco. (ENT: "Zero Hour", "These Are the Voyages...")

Incidents of time travel

In 2286, Admiral James T. Kirk journeyed back through time to 1986 San Francisco in a successful effort to retrieve two humpback whales from the Cetacean Institute in the nearby city of Sausalito. (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)

In 2368, archaeologists digging beneath the Presidio uncovered several artifacts from the late 19th century. Among several mundane artifacts was the severed head of Lt. Commander Data, which had been undisturbed for nearly 500 years. It was learned that Data and several of the USS Enterprise-D's crew had traveled back through time to late nineteenth century San Francisco in an effort to prevent the Devidians from draining the neural energy of Humans and disguising it as a cholera epidemic. While there, they met the noted humorist and prolific author, Samuel Clemens. (TNG: "Time's Arrow")

The area of the city formerly designated Sanctuary District A was the location of the Bell Riots of 2024. In 2371, Benjamin Sisko, Jadzia Dax and Doctor Julian Bashir were thrown back to this time period by a temporal anomaly. (DS9: "Past Tense, Part I", "Past Tense, Part II")

A temporal agent from the 31st century, Crewman Daniels, transported Jonathan Archer to the 2161 charter signing in 2154. Daniels attempted to use the event to elicit Archer's cooperation. (ENT: "Zero Hour")

Geographical

San Francisco is home to the following major installations:

• Starfleet Academy
• Starfleet Medical Academy
• Starfleet Headquarters
• Starfleet Medical
• Communications Research Center
• Federation Council
• Both Starfleet Headquarters and Starfleet Academy are located in an area of San Francisco known as the Presidio. (citation needed • edit)
• One of the city's oldest neighborhoods is the Mission District. Another district is Chinatown.

• The Clift Hotel is one of the best known hotels in the city. (DS9: "Past Tense, Part I")

• The Embarcadero was a street in San Francisco, directly along San Francisco Bay. There was a restaurant often visited by Malcolm Reed and Mark Latrelle. (ENT: "Silent Enemy")

• The 602 Club was a popular meeting place for many Starfleet pilots in the 2140s. (ENT: "First Flight")

• The Pizzeria Fiorella's was located in San Francisco on Fountain Street. It was one of Hoshi Sato's favorite places to eat. (ENT: "Exile")

In the early 2150s, Doctor Phlox liked to frequent the restaurant Madame Chang's, which was located in San Francisco. In 2154, Phlox was assaulted near the restaurant and captured by three Rigelians who were working for the Klingon Empire. (ENT: "Affliction")

• By 2151, many alien diplomatic structures were built in the San Francisco area, including the Vulcan Compound in Sausalito. (ENT: "Broken Bow")

• In 2285 James T. Kirk had an apartment high up in a tall skyscraper with sweeping views of the city, the bay, Alcatraz, Golden Gate Bridge, and at least two other prominent 23rd century skyscrapers.

• During her Academy days, Captain Janeway frequented a little coffee shop on Market Street called the Night Owl. (VOY: "In the Flesh")

Miscellaneous

• San Francisco is the birth place of Hikaru Sulu. (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)

• San Francisco was the home of the San Francisco Giants baseball team.

• In the 21st century and onwards, the Trans Francisco mass-transit line was one of the main means of transportation in San Francisco. (VOY: "Non Sequitur"; DS9: "Past Tense, Part I")

• Malcolm Reed contacted his parents from San Francisco before he signed at Enterprise. (ENT: "Silent Enemy")

• In 2375, San Francisco was attacked by the Breen, resulting in massive casualties and heavy damage to the city, including the renowned Golden Gate Bridge. (DS9: "The Changing Face of Evil") Most of the city, including the Golden Gate Bridge, was fully rebuilt and restored less than a year later. (VOY: "Pathfinder")

• In an alternate reality of 2372 visited by Harry Kim, parts of San Francisco were pedestrianized and served by public transports. In this reality, Kim lived in an apartment near a restaurant called Cosimo's. Since the establishment's owner, Cosimo, was actually an alien whose time streams Kim's shuttle intersected, it is unknown if the restaurant actually exists in Voyager's reality. (VOY: "Non Sequitur")