Page 46 - 2024/2025 Travel Guide to CALIFORNIA

park district includes 65 parks covering 113,000 acres in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. In the Santa Cruz mountains, just west of Silicon Valley and San Jose, are vast open space preserves, including Cali- fornia’s oldest state park, Big Basin Redwoods, established in 1902.
Heritage & Culture
Early Mexican and Spanish explorers and settlers in the Bay Area left their mark, mostly in place names but also in historic buildings from that era. San Francisco’s Mission Dolores, established in 1776, is the oldest building in San Francisco and the oldest intact original Mission in California. The patchwork design of its beamed ceil- ings resembles local Native American basket weaving. Other old missions are found elsewhere in the Bay Area: in Sonoma, San Rafael, Santa Clara, San Jose and Santa Cruz.
Vestiges of San Francisco’s colorful past, when the 1849 Gold Rush catapulted it from a hamlet to a large city almost overnight, can still be seen in thousands of 19th-century Victorians and quaint old quarters such as Alamo Square and Jackson Square.
The Bay Area is home to world-class museums, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Asian Art Mu-
seum, the de Young Museum and California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park. In Oakland, there’s the Museum of California that celebrates the state. The Cantor Arts Center at Stanford has a large collection of Rodin sculptures. A lively art scene is found throughout the Bay Area, home of the San Francisco Symphony, Ballet, Opera and dozens of theater and dance companies.
Diverse cultural influences thrive in pockets spread throughout the region, including many from Asia: Japantown and Chinatown in San Francisco, another Chinatown in Oakland and Vietnamese and Southeast Asian communities in San Jose and neighboring cities. Mexican and other Latin American influences can be found throughout, particularly in San Francisco’s Mission district, while Italian immigrants left their indelible mark in San Francisco’s North Beach and Sonoma and Napa wine- growing areas.
Family Fun
Spend a day at the Santa Cruz Beach Board- walk, a century-old amusement park famous for The Giant Dipper, a 1920s-era roller coaster. Families also enjoy the San Mateo County coast, particularly Half Moon Bay’s mid-October festival that features pumpkin carving and pie-eating contests. Santa Clara’s Great America theme park thrills visitors with the radically-transformed and expanded 15-acre South Bay Shores Waterpark.
San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf and Pier 39 are lined with shops, restaurants, street performers and even a colony of sea lions that wows crowds. The pier also offers an antique carousel and the Aquarium of the Bay, with more than 20,000 marine ani- mals. Over in Golden Gate Park, the California Academy of Sciences draws families with its penguin exhibit, a walk- through rainforest and aquarium with a live indoor coral reef tank.
44 2024-25 TRAVEL GUIDE TO CALIFORNIA
CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, left.
SPECIAL EVENTS 2024
CHINESE NEW YEAR PARADE Feb. 24, San Francisco chineseparade.com
CHERRY BLOSSOM FESTIVAL April 13-14, 20-21, San Francisco sfcherryblossom.org
BAY TO BREAKERS RUN May 19, San Francisco baytobreakers.com
CARNAVAL May 25-26, San Francisco carnavalsanfrancisco.org
STERN GROVE MUSIC FESTIVAL Sundays, mid June-mid August, San Francisco sterngrove.org SAN FRANCISCO LGBTQ + PRIDE WEEKEND June 29-30, San Francisco sfpride.org MENDOCINO MUSIC FESTIVAL July 13-27, Mendocino mendocinomusic.org
ART AND WINE FESTIVAL Sept. 2-3, Millbrae millbrae.com/art-wine-festival
HARDLY STRICTLY BLUEGRASS Oct. 4-6, San Francisco hardlystrictlybluegrass.com
ART & PUMPKIN FESTIVAL Oct. 19-20, Half Moon Bay pumpkinfest.miramarevents.com UNION SQUARE CHRISTMAS TREE LIGHTING Nov. 9 - Jan., San Francisco macys.com FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS Nov. 24-Jan. 1, Yountville yountville.com
CITYPASS. OPPOSITE: MARIN CONVENTION AND VISITORS BUREAU