Local questions in San Francisco

San Francisco property tax can be paid in person at The Office of the Treasurer & Tax Collector in City Hall Monday through Friday (except holidays) from 8 am to 5 pm. Wait times at the office are longer around delinquency dates. Property taxes are payable in two equal installments, the first is due November 1st and delinquent after December 10th, and the second is due on March 1st and delinquent after April 10th.

Blue Bottle Coffee opened its first cafe in January 2005 in a garage at 315 Linden Street, in San Francisco’s Hayes Valley. Located in an alley off Gough Street, between Hayes and Fell Streets, the kiosk cafe is still open today. Blue Bottle Coffee has since expanded, opening more locations in San Francisco, and other cities including New York, LA, and Tokyo.

There are no BART stations by the Chase Center in San Francisco’s Mission Bay. The most convenient BART stop is 16th Street Mission station, from where Muni bus Route 55 runs along 16th and stops at the Chase Center. For game days and concerts Muni also operates the 78X 16th Street Arena Express from the same stop to the Chase Center approximately 2.5 hours before the start of Chase Center events and 30 minutes afterwards back to the 16th St BART station. Muni services are free during games and concerts with your Chase Center event ticket.

The Golden State Warriors NBA basketball team relocated in 2019 to the Chase Center in San Francisco from their previous home arena across the bay in Oakland. The San Francisco Dons NCAA men’s college basketball team also plays some games at the Chase Center when not playing at the Sobrato Center.

Classifieds website Craigslist was started in 1995 from founder Craig Newmark’s ground floor apartment at 1010 Cole Street in San Francisco. Craigslist operated from here until 2000 when it moved to offices in the Sunset District.

The Golden State Warriors NBA basketball team plays its home games at the Chase Center arena in San Francisco.

The Sand Ladder steps from the north end of Baker Beach emerge on the California Coastal Trail that runs alongside Lincoln Boulevard. Heading north on this trail for approximately 1 mile will lead to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge.

A cast stone sculpture of British nurse Florence Nightingale stands outside Laguna Honda Hospital in Twin Peaks, San Francisco. Nightingale is widely credited as being one of the pioneers of modern nursing. A plaque on the statue reads: In memory of Florence Nightingale, ‘The Founder of Professional Nursing’. Designed and created by the late David Edstrom. Dedicated National Hospital Day, May 12, 1939

The two peaks of Twin Peaks are the North peak, known as Eureka Peak, and the taller South peak, which is called Noe Peak. Standing at 922 feet, Noe Peak is the second tallest hill in San Francisco after Mount Davidson.

Sutro Tower is a prominent three-pronged TV and radio antenna tower in San Francisco. Located near Mount Sutro on one of the city’s highest points, the red and white metal tower was San Francisco’s tallest structure from completion in 1973 until the Salesforce Tower was finished in 2017.

The lighthouse on Alcatraz Island is still operational with its light beacon rotating once every five seconds as a navigational aid for shipping in San Francisco Bay. It has been automated since November 22nd, 1963, the same year the island’s penitentiary closed.

In San Francisco, street parking at a broken or inoperable parking meter is permitted for the posted time limit or 4 hours, whichever is shorter.

Prepayment can be made at San Francisco street parking meters before their designated operating time from 4:30 am, except at Port meters near the waterfront. Most San Francisco parking meters operate from 9 am to 6 pm Monday through Saturday. The prepaid time begins when the meter starts operating and parking prior to that is free of charge.

The accuracy of the Ingleside sundial in San Francisco varies throughout the year. Its longitudinal location means it runs anything up to 24 minutes behind Pacific Standard Time for most of the year, being slowest around February 11th. Ignoring the hour difference caused by daylight saving time, the Ingleside sundial is within a minute or so of clock time from around September 26th to October 1st and again around December 1st to December 5th. During October and November it is a few minutes ahead. The Equation of Time explains these fluctuations, caused by the Earth’s axial tilt and its elliptical orbit around the sun. Because the orbital path is not perfectly circular, the Earth is closer to the sun at some points, causing it to speed up, lengthening the solar day between two solar noons.

The Burning Man festival started as a gathering held on San Francisco’s Baker Beach to mark the 1986 summer solstice. On June 22nd, 1986, Larry Harvey and Jerry James burned a 9-foot wooden human effigy they built at the northern end of Baker Beach, in the presence of a small group of friends. While the beach was already a place for summer solstice bonfires, this event attracted increasing public interest and was held annually until 1989, when some 350 people attended. By 1990, its growth and a lack of permits led to the event moving to Nevada where it continues to be held annually, albeit on a larger scale.

Rob Hill Campground, the only campsite within the city of San Francisco, is situated in a forested area of the Presidio above Baker Beach. This group campsite is open seasonally between April 1 and October 31, and has restrooms but no showers, no RV camping and no hookups. Advance credit card reservations are required and the maximum stay is three nights.

The Filbert Steps up Telegraph Hill start near Filbert and Sansome Streets, east of Levi’s Plaza, where you’ll see signs for “Stairs to Coit Tower”. The stairway continues after crossing Montgomery Street, eventually emerging on Telegraph Hill Boulevard near Coit Tower.

During a free performance by U2 to 20,000 people in San Francisco’s Justin Herman Plaza on November 11th, 1987, lead singer Bono spray painted “Stop The Traffic” and “Rock N Roll” on the Vaillancourt Fountain. Footage of the act can be seen in the band’s 1988 concert film, Rattle and Hum.

The fire hydrant at 20th and Church Streets in San Francisco is painted gold in recognition of its role in providing water to extinguish fires after the 1906 earthquake. The hydrant, located near the southwest corner of Mission Dolores Park, is said to have continued supplying water after others had run dry, helping to save many local structures from fire damage in the aftermath. There is a ceremonial repainting annually on the earthquake’s anniversary and a sidewalk plaque begins: Though the water mains were broken and dry on April 18, 1906 yet from this Greenberg hydrant on the following night there came a stream of water allowing the firemen to save the Mission District.

San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge never gets repainted from end to end. Instead there is continual program of spot painting and corrosion repair undertaken by a dedicated maintenance team.