CITY OF SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO by Amazon Stones

South San Francisco is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States, located on the San Francisco Peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 60,552 at the 2000 census.

South San Francisco lies north of San Bruno and San Francisco International Airport in a small valley south of Daly City and the San Bruno Mountain, east of Pacifica and the hills of the Coast Range, and west of the waters of San Francisco Bay. Most of the valley faces San Francisco Bay, affording sweeping vistas from higher levels and a definite sense of identification with the Bay.

South San Francisco has mild winters and dry cool summers. The hills to the west shield the city from much of the fog that prevails in neighboring areas.

Population has tripled since World War II with the opening of such subdivisions as Buri Buri, Winston Manor and Westborough on the slopes west of El Camino. It has grown from 4,411 in 1920 to 61,824 in 2006.

Sign Hill proclaims the moniker "The Industrial City", which applies mainly to the flat land east of the Bayshore Freeway (US 101). Locals prefer to refer to the town as "South City," in much the same way that San Francisco is called "The City." People unfamiliar with the area often mistake "South San Francisco" as the southern part of the city of San Francisco. In fact, the city of South San Francisco is not even contiguous with the city of San Francisco.

Points of Recreation

South San Francisco is not known as a tourist destination, but a key landmark of the city is visible to anyone who travels along the San Francisco Peninsula or travels through the nearby San Francisco International Airport. Sign Hill, near San Bruno Mountain State Park has huge letters on its mountainside [1] which read: "SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO THE INDUSTRIAL CITY". The letters are made of concrete and sit flush with the hillside (in contrast to the raised steel letters of the Hollywood Sign in Los Angeles). A discontinued tradition involved painting the "c"s on the sign blue and the "s"s red in significance of the annual "Big Game" played by Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley. However, a new tradition has replaced it. Every year South San Francisco High School plays their rival El Camino High School (South San Francisco) (both schools are located in South San Francisco) in the "Bell Game," the last game of the regular season for both teams. It is said that students from South City paint the "SC" in blue before the start of the Bell Game. On the top of Sign Hill, a tall pole with electric lights serves as an electric Christmas tree, which is typically lit from the day after Thanksgiving until January 6. The "tree" is visible for many miles at night. In 2008, that same electric pole was modified to hold a vertical number 100 to celebrate South San Francisco's 100th year as an incorporated city.

South San Francisco has a number of parks, the largest of which is Orange Memorial Park. This park has softball fields, soccer fields, picnic grounds, play areas, tennis courts, basketball courts, bocce ball and an indoor swimming pool. It also hosts a farmers market during the summer months and the annual South San Francisco "Day in the Park" in September. The South San Francisco Public Library has served the city since 1917. The city also has a marina along the shore of San Francisco Bay, named Oyster Point.

A unique opportunity was created when BART expanded down the Peninsula to create a "linear park" on the swath of unimproved land on top of the tube. Eventually planned to run from Colma to Millbrae, South San Francisco's portion will be three miles long, running through the center of town from the South San Francisco BART Station to the San Bruno BART Station. The Class I bicycle and pedestrian trail is a 10" wide asphalt pathway with 2' decomposed granite shoulders, irrigated for low maintenance landscaping, with safety lighting, signalized intersections where the trail crosses Spruce and Chestnut Avenues, and in-ground flashing lights at Orange Avenue. Also, a dog park is located adjacent from Orange Park along the pathway. The new park is called Centennial Way to commemorate the City's 100 year birthday in 2008.

The South San Francisco Farmers Market is at the Plaza of the South San Francisco BART Station from May through October, 10am to 2pm. The market offers only California-grown products sold directly to consumers by the farmers that grew, nurtured and harvested the crops

Every Holiday season, the Parkway Estates, a group of high-income houses built decades ago, decorate their houses with Christmas lights and Yard decorations. This display is always open to the public and sees hundreds of visitors every holiday season. It is one of the well known holiday attractions during the season. A smaller, littler-known area that does this too is Lilac Lane, which does not draw as much attention.

Bertolucci's is the name of a local Italian Restaurant that has also been around almost since the birth of the city. It is a widely, internationally known restaurant that thrived during the 60s/70s. It is located in close proximity to downtown South San Francisco and is easily seen from highway 101.

South San Francisco has one bowling alley known as Brentwood Bowl due to its proximity to the Brentwood Neighborhood - on El Camino Real. The city is also home to the private California Golf & Country Club, next to its public library and bounded by Ponderosa Road.

South San Francisco has many walkways and bike trails that run adjacent to the San Francisco Bay, from where runners are able to view San Francisco International Airport operations. South San Francisco is home to many hotels as well, since it is the closest city to San Francisco that is actually directly next to SFO.