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San Francicso's crookedest street? It's not Lombard

You don't have to be born in or live in San Francisco to call yourself San Franciscan. You do have to care which city street is the crookedest (hint: not Lombard) where the oldest building still stands, how the fortune cookie was born, who performed at Winterland's first show or where North Beach's beach is. True San Franciscans have at least 10 of these facts on hand, ready to brandish any time.

* Glorious Past *

QUESTION 1. Why was San Francisco originally called Yerba Buena?

QUESTION 2. What's the approximate value in today's dollars of gold mined in the Mother lode 1849 - 1900?

QUESTION 3. What Gold Rush entrepreneur made a pair of pants from a canvas tent?

QUESTION 4. Why does San Francisco's city flag feature a phoenix?

QUESTION 5. What famous cowboy helped Capt John Fremont scale Fort Point's walls to claim the Presidio for the United States July 1, 1846?

QUESTION 6. What general prison policy, in effect from the time Alcatraz opened in 1934 until 1937, contributed to its reputation as one of the harshest federal penitentiaries?

QUESTION 7. For what sort of shopping was Maiden Lane, off Union Square, originally known?

QUESTION 8. How did Henry D Cogswell become one of San Francisco's wealthiest men during the Gold Rush?

QUESTION 9. The Gold Rush provided a temporary boost for what unrelated industry?

QUESTION 10. Before the 1870s, what were San Francisco's choicest residential areas?

QUESTION 11. How did Cow Hollow get its name?

QUESTION 12. Before developing the cable car, what was Andrew Hallidie's occupation?

QUESTION 13. Dupont St, San Francisco's first, is known by what name today?

* Stupendous Structures *

QUESTION 14. Which is taller, the Transamerica Pyramid or the Bank of America World Headquarters?

QUESTION 15. What is San Francisco's oldest building still standing?

QUESTION 16. Why is the Bay Bridge considered one of the 7 engineering wonders of the world?

QUESTION 17. What color is the Golden Gate Bridge?

QUESTION 18. Why do San Francisco Victorians have a double parlor?

QUESTION 19. What creation of architect Bernard Maybeck had to be rebuilt in concrete in 1962?

* Famous Faces *

QUESTION 20. What 2 heads of state died at the Palace Hotel?

QUESTION 21. Where was Joe DiMaggio born?

QUESTION 22. Wolfgang Grajonca began his San Francisco career writing press releases for the San Francisco Mime Troupe. What name did we know him by?

QUESTION 23. What impossible feat did Dustin Hoffman perform while driving from San Francisco to Berkeley in his 1967 film debut?

QUESTION 24. Queen Elizabeth II ate in a restaurant for the first time in her life in what San Francisco landmark?

QUESTION 25. What author wrote advertising copy for Samuels Jewelers on Market St?

* Culinary Curiosities *

QUESTION 26. How did Rice-A-Roni become the San Francisco Treat? What is its true origin?

QUESTION 27. Where was the Chinese fortune cookie invented?

QUESTION 28. What dish did San Francisco create in 1878 for the visit of Li Hung-Chang, first Chinese viceroy to visit?

QUESTION 29. What is Lactobacillus sanfrancisco?

QUESTION 30. What San Francisco confection was invented at Playland-at-the-Beach in 1928?

QUESTION 31. Which bar supposedly introduced Irish coffee to America?

QUESTION 32. What 2 members of the Board of Supervisors owned Pier 39 restaurants?

* Cultural Milestones *

QUESTION 33. When was Winterland's first show? What 3 acts performed?

QUESTION 34. Bill Farley won the 1976 San Francisco Comedy Competition. Who was 2nd?

QUESTION 35. Golden Gate Park's Japanese Tea Garden and Music Concourse are the legacy of what historic event?

QUESTION 36. Where was TV born?

QUESTION 37. What city fireman's name became famous as one of Mark Twain's most beloved characters?

QUESTION 38. What newspaper boasted writers Mark Twain, Bret Harte and Ambrose Bierce all at the same time?

QUESTION 39. Where did Sam Spade's partner, Miles Archer, take it in the pump from Bridget O'Shaughnessy in John Huston's film version of The Maltese Falcon?

QUESTION 40. Jefferson Starship singer Grace Slick complied with the dress code of what only-in-San Francisco gala event by wearing a nun's habit?

QUESTION 41. What poet, famous for his poems about Chicago and New England, was actually born in San Francisco?

* Ups and Downs *

QUESTION 42. How did Nob Hill get its name?

QUESTION 43. What was Lillie Hitchcock Coit thinking of when she commissioned the world's largest phallic symbol on Russian Hill? (isn't it on Telegraph Hill?)

QUESTION 44. Is Lombard St really the world's crookedest street?

QUESTION 45. How many hills besides the famous 7 does San Francisco have? Which is the highest?

QUESTION 46. What is San Francicso's steepest street?

QUESTION 47. When was San Francisco's first recorded earthquake?

* Hijinks of the Rich and Famous *

QUESTION 48. What actor was compelled by law to stack bricks in Union Square after the 1906 earthquake?

QUESTION 49. What aviation legend got stuck in the mud while trying to take off from San Francisco's airport in 1929?

QUESTION 50. What was the basis for Herb Caen's claim he was a native San Franciscan?

QUESTION 51. Did the President's daughter ever get kicked off a cable car for eating ice cream?

QUESTION 52. What opera star once cooked pasta at the California Culinary Academy?

QUESTION 53. What mink-clad international ballet star and her dance partner were found hiding on a Haight-Ashbury rooftop during a 1967 drug bust?

QUESTION 54. Where did Harry Houdini escape from chains under water Aug 26, 1907?

* Miscellaneous Ponderables *

QUESTION 55. Where is the beach in North Beach?

QUESTION 56. What accident made it possible to create Golden Gate Park out of sand dunes?

QUESTION 57. Why is South of Market St known as South of the Slot?

QUESTION 58. What are San Francisco's 5 basic microclimates?

* Not Only in San Francisco *

QUESTION 59. How did the tradition of passing the axe between Stanford and Cal for a Big Game victory develop?

QUESTION 60. Where is the center of the search for signs of intelligent life in the universe?

QUESTION 61. In 1980 San Francisco was one of only 2 California counties to vote for Jimmy Carter. What was the other?

QUESTION 62. Where is the nation's biggest laser?

QUESTION 63. What future U S President was a prisoner in the Benicia army stockade?

QUESTION 64. Where was the first U S wildlife sanctuary?

QUESTION 65. What town claims the title as the Bay Area's rainiest?

QUESTION 66. What aeronautical first was accomplished in San Bruno in 1911?

QUESTION 67. What town was the epicenter of the 1906 earthquake?

QUESTION 68. UC-Berkeley's Memorial Stadium, holding 76,000 people, was built atop what geological formation?

QUESTION 69. Whose SJSU Master's Thesis was titled "Defensing the Pro Spread"?

QUESTION 70. What was the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge's claim to fame when built in 1929?

QUESTION 71. What Gold Rush town was originally called Dry Diggins, and later Hangtown because of the preponderance of vigilante lynchings?

QUESTION 72. Oakland's Pill Hill, named for the concentration of hospitals, had what name originally?

QUESTION 73. What is San Francisco's tallest building?

More QUESTIONS

The Great San Francisco Trivia & Fact Book (Cumberland House) Janet Bailey

Do you argue that although Lombard is known as "the world's crookedest street" the stretch of Vermont St south of 20th St is San Francisco's crookedest street? Do you know that Barry Bonds and Super Bowl star Tom Brady went to the same San Mateo high school (Serra) or that boxing champ Max Baer (father of Jethro from "The Beverly Hillbillies") grew up on a Livermore farm? Or that the last song the Beatles performed at their last concert was "Long Tall Sally" at Candlestick Park?

1 Even casual movie fans know Clint Eastwood plays Dirty Harry's title character. Who was originally supposed to be San Francisco's police inspector?

2 The villain in "Dirty Harry" was loosely based on the Zodiac, one of San Francisco's most famous killers. By police estimate, how many people did the Zodiac kill in San Francisco?

3 Before Sacramento became State Capital in 1854 the capital shifted among what three Bay Area cities?

4 Where is the world's oldest working lightbulb?

5 What 6' 2" girl captained her basketball team at the Branson School in Ross in 1928 and 1929?

6 Where is the heart of San Bruno?

7 What young comedian was heckled so badly during an appearance with Barbra Streisand at San Francisco's hungry i in the early 1960s that, as the San Francisco Examiner put it, "He was reduced to something pale, quivering and not quite human, his back to the audience, elbows on the piano, mumbling material to the brick wall"?

8 30 years ago the Eugene O'Neill Foundation helped save the Tao House in Danville from being demolished. Why?

9 What does San Francisco author Amy Tan have in common with bestselling authors Stephen King, Scott Turow and Mitch Albom, plus syndicated columnist Dave Barry and "Simpsons" creator Matt Groening?

10 What's the easiest way to walk from San Francisco to Alameda County without crossing a bridge?

11 Where is Wyatt Earp buried?

12 What is unique about Tuffy, one of the dogs buried in the Benicia Army Cemetery?

13 Why would Mill Valley's 2AM Club look familiar to fans of Huey Lewis and the News?

14 What was Li'l Folks?

15 In "Foul Play," a 1978 comedy starring Chevy Chase and Goldie Hawn, there's a plot to assassinate the pope in San Francisco. Who portrayed the pope?

16 Which current Bay Area resident was the youngest performer ever to win an Oscar?

17 Which San Francisco mayor became a Union general in the Civil War?

18 Where did Charlie Chaplin make several films, including "The Tramp"?

19 Why was the name of San Francisco's Pacific Street changed to Pacific Avenue?

20 What city's motto is "Climate Best by Government Test," and what the heck does that mean?

21 In San Francisco a couple of streets just west of St. Mary's Park are in an unusual shape. Why?

22 In the 1969 graduating class at Redwood High School in Larkspur, who was voted "Least Likely to Succeed"?

23 Memorial Day 1977 a large protest supported installing suicide barriers on the Golden Gate Bridge. Which key speaker for the barriers became world famous?

24 In Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" one crucial building was Bodega Bay School. What's the school's real name? Where is it?

25 Who were Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions?

26 What brothers were part of the Blue Velvets, entertaining classmates at El Cerrito's Portola Junior High and El Cerrito High in the late 1950s and early 1960s?

27 TV trivia from the 1980s: The mansion in "Dynasty," the winery in "Falcon Crest" and the hotel in "Hotel" are all in the Bay Area. What are their real-life names and locations?

28 San Francisco used to be referred to as the Barbary Coast. Why?

29 What was the original name of the Oakland Raiders?

30 More Oakland sports: When the A's had their glory years in the early 1970s, they had famous players such as Reggie Jackson and Vida Blue and Rollie Fingers. The most famous person from the team turned out to be a ballgirl, Debbie Sivyer. Why?

31 What is a Hippie Hop?

32 What SFSU track star gave up training for the 1956 Olympics to sign on with Columbia Records?

33 How long is the Bay Bridge?

34 What's the i in hungry i?

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