This page displays all the articles which appear in the "did you know..." section of the San Francisco Bay Area portal, as well as most of the DYK's which appeared on the front page of Wikipedia that are SFBA related. Instructions on how to add new articles to this list are here.
The portal was created at this time. Some of the DYK's below were selected ONLY for the portal, and not for the main page. Main page DYK's are bolded on this page.
No "Did You Know" articles added from March 2007 until November 2011. The following DYK's were placed on the main WP page during that time.
• ... that
Ina Coolbrith (pictured, right), the first woman granted honorary membership in the
Bohemian Club, was also the first
California Poet Laureate?
• ... that the
California-based
donut shop
Psycho Donuts has generated controversy for its
mental health-themed products, such as the "Manic Malt" and "Bipolar"?
• ... that
Horace Barker was awarded the
National Medal of Science for discovering the
coenzyme of
vitamin B12, which Barker had isolated from mud taken from
San Francisco Bay?
• ... that
England-born
American composer
Wallace Arthur Sabin was the first dean of the
San Francisco chapter of the
American Guild of Organists? (painting of work presented at the
Bohemian Grove pictured, left)
• ... that the
Cremation of Care ceremony (pictured, right) is performed on the first night of the
Bohemian Club's annual summer encampment at the
Bohemian Grove?
• ... that Joe Heitz of
California
wine producer
Heitz Wine Cellars is considered the first in the U.S. to champion single
vineyard designated wine?
• ... that a critic said that landscapes by
Rinaldo Cuneo (painting of the Embarcadero pictured, right) "are the very soul and essence of California materialized in line and color"?
• ... that the
Friends of Five Creeks helps restore creeks in the
San Francisco Bay Area's
East Bay including
daylighting
Marin Creek? (Village Creek pictured, left)
• ... that
California '49er
Stephen William Shaw helped discover
Humboldt Bay, painted over 200 portraits of
San Francisco notables, and started growing grapes in
Sonoma County?
New DYK's began to be added to the revived portal starting with November's
Robert D. San Souci. Again, highlighted DYK's were added to the main page, and regular text, only to this portal's DYK.
• ... that the
San Francisco Giants drafted
Brock Bond (pictured, left) when they meant to draft
Casey Bond (pictured, right)?
• ... that
A Thousand Lives: The Untold Story of Jonestown, published in 2011 by
Julia Scheeres, is a history of the
Jonestown settlement, and subsequent massacre in 1978?
• ... that
The Bay Lights art installation uses 25,000 white
LED lights, programmed to create a series of abstract patterns that ascend and descend the cables on the
San Francisco Bay Bridge?
• ... that
Sara Bard Field (pictured) traveled by automobile from
San Francisco to
Washington, D.C. in 1915 to deliver a petition with 500,000 signatures for
women's suffrage to
Woodrow Wilson?
• ... that
Zelma Long is considered to be one of the female pioneers of wine production in the
U.S. state of
California?
• ... that
Silver Oak Cellars has been cited as one of a dozen California wineries which "have reached cult status" for its
Cabernet Sauvignon production?
• ... that
Berkeley, California, rapper
Lil B's
Rain in England is an
ambient
hip hop album without any beats or profanity?
• ... that
Asiana Airlines Flight 214 (pictured, right) was a scheduled transpacific passenger flight from
Incheon International Airport,
South Korea, that crashed while attempting a landing at its destination,
San Francisco International Airport, on July 6, 2013?
• ... that the
South San Francisco Hillside Sign (pictured, right) was created in the 1920s and is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places?
• ... that
A Boy and His Atom was made by moving
carbon monoxide
molecules viewed through a
scanning tunneling microscope, magnifying them 100 million times?
• ... that
John Mason 'Jack’ Harker was a member of the original team that developed the first
disk storage system?
• ... that
Selden Connor Gile (pictured, left) was the founder and leader of the
Society of Six, a
Bay Area group of artists known for their plein-air paintings?
• ... that
John W. Dwinelle (pictured, right) helped establish the
University of California, the right of black children to attend public school, and
San Francisco's claim to much of the land within its borders?
• ... that critics complained that
a bronze statue (pictured, left) of the
Assyrian king
Ashurbanipal standing in
San Francisco's
Civic Center more closely resembled the
Sumerian king
Gilgamesh?
• ... that the twenty-dollar
Liberty Head double eagle (pictured, right) was minted after the California gold rush as the "most efficient way to coin a given quantity of gold bullion"?
• ... that the
Blue Wing Inn (pictured, right), started as a one-room hotel in Sonoma, California, in 1836, was also a saloon, a gambling hall, a stagecoach depot, a grocery store, a winery, a museum, and a retail center?
• ... that
Mike McCormick was the first
San Francisco Giants pitcher to win the
Cy Young Award?
• ... that
First Lady of California,
Anne Gust has served as both an Executive Vice-President for
Gap Inc. and on the board of directors for
Jack in the Box?
• ... that
Bay Area Bike Share, the first large-scale
bike sharing service deployed on the
West Coast of the United States, opened to the public in five cities on August 29, 2013?
• ... that as of November 2013, two "
Google barges" were docked in
Treasure Island, San Francisco?
• ... that
Isaac Friedlander (pictured, right) and his South Carolina-born wife Priscilla were known for their parties in which they brought a flavor of "
Old South" culture to San Francisco?
• ... that
Circle Magazine (pictured, left) was published from 1944 to 1948 by
George Leite, at his
Berkeley, California bookstore,
daliel's?
• ... that San Francisco artists and craftspeople fought the police and city hall for years to bring about a
Street Artists Program that lets them legally sell their work on the city's sidewalks?
• ... that the
Mokelumne Aqueduct, originally built in 1929, is the sole water supply system for over one million people in the
San Francisco Bay Area?
• ... that the
Asian clam is causing trouble in
San Francisco Bay?
• ... that the
Black Sea jellyfish has become established in the estuaries of the
Petaluma and
Napa Rivers flowing into
San Francisco Bay?
• ... that San Francisco Supervisor
Jane Kim (pictured, right) plays bass guitar, and her favorite song is by the
Wu-Tang Clan?
• ... that
psychedelic
rock concert
poster artist
Gary Grimshaw was sentenced to 15 days in jail and a $150 fine for flying a 15 cent kite with a dirty word written on it?
Starting September 2014, topics chosen for the main DYK are not differentiated from those chosen only for the SFBA DYK.
• ... that the
trans woman activist
Miss Major (pictured, right, in San Francisco) was meeting with her girlfriend at the
Stonewall Inn during the police raid that precipitated the
Stonewall riot?
• ... that the
2000 Yountville earthquake caused an interruption of power to approximately 10,000
Pacific Gas and Electric Company customers?
• ... that African American artist
Claude Clark helped curate the first national African American exhibition at the
Oakland Museum in 1967?
• ... that the TV character
Lou Grant was named after
Oakland Tribune cartoonist
Lou Grant (pictured, right)?
• ... that the Hall of Records (pictured, right) at the
Napa County Courthouse Plaza was an early use, in 1916, of
reinforced concrete as a building material?
• ... that explorer and travelogue writer
Albert S. Evans (pictured, left) famously feuded with
Mark Twain when both were in San Francisco?
• ... that
The Owl Drug Company (business letter pictured) sponsored a minor-league baseball team and ran a beauty contest in which winners received a Hollywood screen test?
October 2014
• ... that the
Pacific Gas and Electric Company General Office Building and Annex (pictured, left), is a
Beaux-Arts building designed by the
Bakewell & Brown architecture firm?
• ... that the
Matson Building (pictured, right), built in 1922-24, was the headquarters of the
Matson Navigation Company, then the largest shipping and transportation company between the West Coast and
Hawaii?
• ... that Dr.
Mervyn Silverman, as San Francisco Director of Health, on October 9, 1984, ordered 14 bathhouses and sex clubs to close immediately, saying they were '"fostering disease and death" by allowing indiscriminate sexual contacts that could spread
AIDS?
• ... that
Gold Rush-era pioneer
George Treat was the first person to import
angora goats to California?
• ... that
Ecocity Builders, in 1994, removed the
Codornices Creek water channel from its cement culvert along the
Albany/
Berkeley border and created a mile-long park?
• ... that the landscape painter
Willis E. Davis was informed over the phone of his daughter's elopement?
November 2014
• ... that
Gladys Kathleen Parkin (pictured, left) was the first woman in California to obtain a first-class government-issued
radio license?
• ... that
United States v. Ju Toy was brought to the US Supreme Court when Ju Toy, an American-born person of Chinese ancestry, visited China, then returned to San Francisco, but was denied permission to land and was ordered to be deported by immigration officials?
• ... that
Jewish studies professor
Marcia Falk (pictured, right) published The Song of Songs: Love Lyrics from the Bible, a verse translation of the biblical
Song of Songs, in 1977?
• ... that the historical novel
One Crazy Summer, by
Rita Williams-Garcia, chronicles a fictional visit by three sisters to
Oakland in 1968, and their encounter with the
Black Panther Party?
• ... that
Livermore's
Carnegie Library started with just 250 books?
December 2014
January 2015
• ... that the
1985 Pacific Conference Games, held at
Edwards Stadium in
Berkeley, was the fifth and final
Pacific Conference Games between Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and the United States?
• ... that
California Gold Rush song collector
John A. Stone composed
Sweet Betsy from Pike? (songbook pictured)
• ... that during the
Cold War
Fort Cronkhite was used to house soldiers of the nearby
SF-88
Nike Missile launch site?
• ... that
Elizabeth Thacher Kent (pictured) helped create the
Muir Woods National Monument by donating land to the government?
• ... that
Mountain View based
Made In Space, Inc.'s
3D Zero-G Printer was the first manufacturing device in space?
• ... that
Marsh Creek State Park was named for
John Marsh, the first non-Hispanic European to settle in what is now
Contra Costa County?
February 2015
• ... that
Live Oak Park is one of
Berkeley's oldest and most naturalistic public parks? (park fireplace pictured)
• ... that
Eugene Tsui's
Ojo del Sol house is based upon the world's most indestructible living creature, the
tardigrade? (architect pictured)
• ... that
Sutter Cinema's owner/manager Arlene Elster was the first, if not the only, woman to operate an adult theater?
• ... that
Sarah Althea Hill became a national celebrity when she sued millionaire senator
William Sharon for divorce in 1883, claiming to have secretly married him three years earlier by private contract?
• ... that the
Third and Townsend Depot (pictured) was built in 1914 for the 1915
Panama-Pacific Exposition?
March 2015
April 2015
May 2015
• ... that the
Usermontu mummy (pictured, left), at the
Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, had an
iron orthopedic screw placed inside his left knee at the time of his death?
• ... that pizza chef
Tony Gemignani (pictured, right) opened Tony's Pizza Napoletana in San Francisco's
Little Italy in 2009, which was named "The Best Pizzeria in America" by
Forbes magazine?
• ... that the octagonal $50 piece of the
Panama-Pacific commemorative coin issue (pictured, right) is the only U.S. coin that is not round?
June 2015
July 2015
• ... that before
The Jabberwock was a
Berkeley folk music club, it was the
jazz club Tsubo, where
Wes Montgomery recorded his live album
Full House on July 25, 1962?
• ... that the
San Francisco Ballet Building (pictured, right), designed by architect
Beverly Willis, was “the first building in the United States to be designed and constructed exclusively for the use of a major ballet company”?
• ... that
Oakland's
California Hotel (pictured, left), starting in 1953, was the only full service hotel in the East Bay that welcomed black people?
• ... that
El Tecolote, published in San Francisco, is the longest running bilingual newspaper in California that is printed in both English and Spanish?
• ... that the
Sir and Star hotel in
Olema was constructed by the area's original Spanish land grantee, Rafael Garcia, in 1876 as part of a 9,000 acre land grant from Mexico?
• ... that after the
San Francisco Fire of 1851, "Nothing remained of the city but the sparsely settled outskirts"?
• ... that the
Manhattan Project's
calutrons used 14,700 short tons (13,300 t) of silver?
November 2015
January 2016
April 2016
June 2016
• ... that the
San Francisco 49ers
Million Dollar Backfield is the only full-house
backfield to have all four of its members enshrined in the
Pro Football Hall of Fame?
• ... that
Peg's Place, after a 1979 assault by off-duty members of the San Francisco
vice squad, drew national attention to other incidents of anti-gay violence and police harassment of the
LGBT community?
• ... that
Maud's in the
Haight-Ashbury was patronized in the late 1960's by
Janis Joplin, who would visit with her female lover Jae Whitaker?
• ... that
UC Berkeley
microbiologist
Daniel A. Portnoy made the seminal discovery that
Listeria monocytogenes spreads from one cell to another by exploiting a
host cell system of
actin
polymerization? (process pictured)
September 2016
• ... that
Charlotte L. Brown was one of the first African Americans to legally challenge
racial segregation in the United States, when she filed a lawsuit against a streetcar company in San Francisco in the 1860's, after she was forcibly removed from a segregated streetcar?
• ... that Bay Area restaurateur
Juanita Musson often argued with and insulted her staff and customers, and was involved in a number of physical altercations, but was despite this still well-liked?
• ... that a copy of
El Cid Campeador, a sculpture of
El Cid by artist
Anna Hyatt Huntington, is displayed at the
California Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco? (sculpture pictured)
• ... that in 1969, artist
Alfred Young helped create a public
environmental art piece, using a non-toxic yellow dye to spell out the word "OIL" in large capital letters in the
San Francisco Bay? (artist's sketch of later work pictured)
• ... that San Francisco columnist
Herb Caen dubbed the Persian Room at San Francisco's
Sir Francis Drake Hotel “The Snake Pit” because, he wrote, “You never heard such hissing or saw such writhing"? (rooftop pictured)
• ... that cheesemaker and restaurateur
Sheana Davis produces her cheeses at a cooperative in
Berkeley, and provides them to the
French Laundry and
Kendall-Jackson? (Cheese "Cake" by Davis pictured)
November 2016
• ... that filmmaker
Emiko Omori (pictured, left, with
Victor Wong) began her career in 1968 at
KQED, becoming one of the first camerawomen to work in news documentaries?
• ... that
Fisher Creek is tributary to the largest freshwater wetland in
Santa Clara County,
Laguna Seca, a seasonal lake important to groundwater recharge and migratory birds?
• ... that San Francisco based architect
Jack Hillmer is known for his meticulously hand-crafted
Modernist homes built from redwood, and was an exponent of what
Lewis Mumford called the "Bay Region style"?
• ... that
Stanford University Department of Biology chairman
Tim Stearns (pictured), together with his wife, medical researcher Susan Cleveland, tend a fruit tree orchard at their home in
Redwood City?
• ... that the
Occidental and Oriental Steamship Company's flagship, the
Oceanic (pictured), set a Pacific crossing record of 16 days and 10 hours, 8 days less than the ships of the
Pacific Mail Steamship Company?
• ... that the building consumed in the
2016 Oakland warehouse fire had at least ten complaints filed on it since 1998? (interior damage pictured)
• ... that after
Agnes Fay Morgan conducted a nutritional study with foxes, she presented her data wearing a
stole made from the fur of her subjects?
May 2017
• ... that
United Airlines Flight 863
• ... that
Bayview Park, San Francisco
• ... that
William Smith (ship captain)
• ... that
Chase Center (San Francisco)
• ... that
Belle Cora (Arabella Ryan)
• ... that
Fran Herndon
• ... that
Yerba Buena Tunnel
• ... that
Oakland Railroad Company
• ... that
Gertrude Partington Albright
• ... that
X-100 (house)
• ... that
General Frisbie (steamship)