Vocabulary

Video

Transcript

 
San Francisco is a rush: a rush of art, flavors, history, and innovation. It’s all packed into a seven-by-seven-mile square between the Pacific Ocean and the San Francisco Bay.

The city has long attracted trailblazers and countercultures. The Gold Rush, immigration, beatniks, hippies, the LGBTQ community and the tech industry have all fueled San Francisco’s enduring influence on American culture.

If you’ve seen a movie set in San Francisco, you’ve probably seen Chinatown. The Dragon Gate arch at Grant Avenue and Bush Street tells visitors they’re entering America’s oldest Chinatown.

In the mid-1800s, the lure of the Gold Rush, and the availability of work building the Pacific Railroad, drew large numbers of Chinese immigrants to San Francisco.

Today, you can take in the scene on packed Grant Avenue, and head to Stockton Street for the authentic Chinatown experience.

You can shop for traditional Chinese ingredients, sip a cup of fragrant jasmine tea, and eat at some of the best Chinese restaurants in the world.

The Golden Gate Bridge may be the most iconic San Francisco landmark, but the massive Golden Gate Park is one of the most visited green spaces in the US. Twenty percent larger than New York’s Central Park, it covers over a thousand square acres in a near perfect rectangle, stretching from the oceanfront west, to the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood.

It includes numerous gardens, the historic Conservatory of Flowers, and two world-class museums, the California Academy of Sciences, and the De Young Museum of Fine Art.

It also has some pretty unusual residents for the big city — a herd of bison. Buffaloes have lived in the park since the 1890s. And the tradition continues today with a small group of six bison that spend their days in a bucolic green pasture next to Spreckels Lake.

Keep going west and you’ll find yourself at Ocean Beach. The top of the five-mile stretch of shoreline borders Lands End, a national park with otherworldly views on the northwest coast of the city.

You can also explore the modern ruins of the Sutro Baths. When they opened in 1896, it was the largest indoor swimming facility in the world. But the massive complex of saltwater pools, restaurants, games, and even a museum, burned to the ground in 1966.

After you’ve climbed the crumbling walls, stairs and tunnels, you can unwind at the historic Cliff House restaurant.

Originally constructed in 1863, the resort has been rebuilt three times over the years.

Today you can take in panoramic views in one of the two restaurants that now occupy the neoclassical structure.

 
The lure of the city by the bay goes so much deeper than its natural beauty. San Francisco’s diversity, artistic spirit, and innovative drive all make it a rich source of adventure for any free-spirited traveler.

Questions

San Francisco. San Francisco is known for manufacturing and industry. True or false? Is San Francisco and inland city?

New York. Is San Francisco a very conservative, moderate or liberal place?

Los Angeles. In Chinatown, visitors will see mostly new, modern buildings, shopping malls, luxury boutiques and luxury cars. Is this right or wrong?

Chicago. Does San Francisco consist entirely of buildings, streets and homes? Does the Golden Gate park only have trees, shrubs, grass and flowers?

Miami. Was the Sutro Baths built in 1999? Was it only a bathhouse?

Boston. Can visitors still swim in the Sutro Baths pools and play games?

Washington, DC. Only White Americans live in San Francisco. Is this correct or incorrect? Is San Franciscans only about high-tech?
 
 
 
Philadelphia. Have your or your friends visited San Francisco or other parts of California?

Detroit. What do you associate with San Francisco? What comes to mind when you think of San Francisco?

Houston. Would you like to visit San Francisco? Would you like to live in San Francisco?

Denver. Are there cities in your country or region similar to San Francisco?

Atlanta. What other charming or classical cities have you visited or can think of?

Seattle. What might happen in the future?