California

The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the opening of the San Francisco Bay into the Pacific Ocean. As part of both... U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1, it connects the city of San Francisco on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula to Marin County. The Golden Gate Bridge was the longest suspension bridge span in the world when it was completed during the year 1937, and has become an internationally recognized symbol of San Francisco and California. Since its completion, the span length has been surpassed by eight other bridges. It still has the second longest suspension bridge main span in the United States, after the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in New York City. In 1999, it was ranked fifth on the List of America's Favorite Architecture by the American Institute of Architects. Before the bridge was built, the only practical short route between San Francisco and what is now Marin County was by boat across a section of San Francisco Bay. Ferry service began as early as 1820, with regularly scheduled service beginning in the 1840s for purposes of transporting water to San Francisco.
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Coit Tower was built in Pioneer Park atop Telegraph Hill in 1933 at the bequest of Lillie Hitchcock Coit to beautify the City of San Francisco;... Lillie bequeathed one-third of her estate to the City of San Francisco "to be expended in an appropriate manner for the purpose of adding to the beauty of the city which I have always loved". Contrary to popular opinion, the tower was not designed to resemble a fire hose nozzle. This belief persists in part because of Lillie Hitchcock Coit's affinity with the San Francisco fire fighters of the day, in particular with Knickerbocker Engine Company Number 5. Although the architects claimed to have no design precedent in mind, during this time Europe saw the construction of aesthetically designed power stations that could be claimed as prototypes . The art deco tower, 210 feet of unpainted reinforced concrete, was designed by architects Arthur Brown, Jr. and Henry Howard with murals by 26 different artists and numerous assistants. The Coit Tower murals were carried out under the auspices of the Public Works of Art Project, the first of the New Deal federal employment programs for artists.
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The Presidio of San Francisco is a park on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula in San Francisco, California, within the Golden Gate... National Recreation Area. It has been a fortified location since 1776 when the Spanish made it the military center of their expansion in the area. It passed to Mexico, which in turn passed it to the United States in 1847. As part of a military reduction program, Congress voted in 1989 to end the Presidio's status as an active military installation and on October 1, 1994, it was transferred to the National Park Service, ending 219 years of military use and beginning its next phase of mixed commercial and public use. In 1996, the United States Congress created the Presidio Trust to oversee and manage the interior 80% of the park's lands, with the National Park Service managing the coastal 20%. In a first-of-its-kind structure, Congress mandated that the Presidio Trust make the Presidio financially self-sufficient by 2013, something it achieved 8 years early.
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The San Francisco Ferry Building is a terminal for ferries that travel across the San Francisco Bay and a shopping center located on The Embarcadero... in San Francisco, California. On top of the building is a large clock tower, which can be seen from Market Street, a main thoroughfare of the city. Architecturally, the clock tower was modeled after the 12th century Giralda bell tower in Seville, Spain. During daylight, on every full and half-hour, the clock bell can be heard chiming portions of the Westminster Quarters. Interestingly enough, the chimes are a recording and play through several sets of very large speakers in the tower and are in no way connected to the tower clock mechanism. The present structure, designed by local San Francisco architect A. Page Brown, opened in 1898, replacing its wooden predecessor, and survived both the 1906 earthquake and the 1989 earthquake with amazingly little damage. Until the completion of the Bay Bridge and Golden Gate Bridge in the 1930s it was the second busiest transit terminal in the world, second only to London's Charing Cross Station.
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Arnold Schwarzenegger is the 38th and current governor of the US State of California.  He is also known as a famous Bodybuilder, actor and businessman. Born in Thal Austria to Aurelia Jardny and Gustav Schwarzenegger, Schwarzenegger had a strong interest in sports and weight training at a... young age. In 1968 at the age of 21, Schwarzenegger moved to the United States even though he spoke very little English. He would continue to weight train and lift competitively to eventually gain his first Mr. Olympia title in New York in 1970. Schwarzenegger became active as an actor in 1970 with his debut in Hercules in New York.  He would continue to act professionally until 2004. In 2003 he was elected to his current position as the Governor of California in the 2003 recall elections and won re-election in 2006.
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Henry Rollins is an American singer-songwriter, raconteur, stand-up comedian, spoken word artist, writer, publisher, actor, radio DJ, and activist. After joining the short-lived Washington D.C. band State of Alert in 1980, Rollins fronted the California hardcore punk band Black Flag from 1981... until 1986. Following the band's breakup, Rollins soon established the record label and publishing company 2.13.61 to release his spoken word albums, as well as forming the Rollins Band, which toured with a number of lineups until 2003 and during 2006. Since Black Flag, Rollins has embarked on projects covering a variety of media. He has hosted numerous radio shows, such as Harmony In My Head on Indie 103, and television shows, such as The Henry Rollins Show, MTV's 120 Minutes,and Jackass. He had a recurring dramatic role as a white supremacist in the second season of Sons of Anarchy and has also had roles in several films. Rollins has also campaigned for human rights in the United States, promoting gay rights in particular, and tours overseas with the United Service Organizations to entertain American troops.
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Mary Tyler Moore is an American actress, primarily known for her roles in television sitcoms. Moore is best known for The Mary Tyler Moore Show , in which she starred as Mary Richards, a 30-something single woman who worked as a local news producer in Minneapolis, and for her earlier role as Dick... Van Dyke's wife on The Dick Van Dyke Show . She also appeared in a number of films, most notably 1980's Ordinary People, in which she played a role that was the polar opposite of the television characters she had portrayed, and for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress. Moore has also been active in charity work and various political causes, particularly on behalf of Animal rights and Diabetes mellitus type 1. Moore, elder of two siblings, was born in the Brooklyn Heights section of Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Marjorie and George Tyler Moore, a clerk. Her maternal grandparents were natives of England. Her family moved to Los Angeles, California when she was eight years old . She attended Saint Rose of Lima Roman Catholic school in Brooklyn, St.
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Stephanie Lynn "Stevie" Nicks is an American singer-songwriter, best known for her work with Fleetwood Mac and an extensive solo career, which collectively have produced over forty Top 50 hits and has sold nearly 120 million albums. She has been noted for her ethereal visual style and symbolic... lyrics. Nicks joined Fleetwood Mac in 1975 along with her then boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham. Fleetwood Mac's second album after the incorporation of Nicks and Buckingham, 1977's Rumours, produced four U.S. Top 10 singles and remained at #1 on the American album charts for over 30 weeks, as well as reaching the top spot in various countries around the world. To date the album has sold over 33 million copies worldwide. Nicks began her solo career in 1981 with the album Bella Donna, and she has produced five more solo studio albums to date. After the release of her first solo album, Rolling Stone deemed her "The Reigning Queen of Rock and Roll". Overcoming cocaine addiction, dependency on tranquilizers, and chronic fatigue syndrome, Nicks remains a popular solo performer.
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Nevada is a state located in the western region of the United States. The capital is Carson City and the largest city is Las Vegas. The state's... nickname is Silver State, due to the large number of silver deposits that were discovered and mined there. "Sagebrush State" and "Battle Born State" are it's alternative nicknames. In 1864, Nevada became the 36th state to enter the union, and the phrase "Battle Born" on the state flag reflects the state's entry on the Union side during the American Civil War. Its first nonnative settlement was called Mormon Station. Nevada is the seventh-largest state in area, and geographically covers the Mojave Desert in the south to the Great Basin in the north. It is the most arid state in the Union. Approximately 86% of the state's land is owned by the U.S federal government under various jurisdictions both civilian and military. As of 2008, there were about 2.6 million residents, with over 85% of the population residing in the metropolitan areas of Las Vegas and Reno.
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The State of Arizona is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. The capital and largest city is Phoenix. The second largest... city is Tucson, followed in size by the four Phoenix metropolitan area cities of Mesa, Glendale, Chandler, and Scottsdale. Arizona was the 48th and last of the contiguous states, admitted to the Union in February, 1912, the 50th anniversary of Arizona's recognition as a territory of the United States. Arizona is noted for its desert climate, exceptionally hot summers, and mild winters, but the high country in the north features pine forests and mountain ranges with cooler weather than the lower deserts. Population figures for the year ending July 1, 2006, indicate that Arizona was, at that time, the fastest growing state in the United States in regards to its population, exceeding the growth of the previous leader, Nevada, and is currently the second. Arizona has had more female governors than any other U.S. state. Arizona is one of the Four Corners states.
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