Entertainment and performing arts

San Francisco's San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center/War Memorial and Performing Arts Center  features some of the longest operating performing arts companies in the United States. The War Memorial Opera House houses the San Francisco Opera and San Francisco Ballet, while the San Francisco Symphony plays in Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall/Davies Symphony Hall. The Herbst Theatre stages an eclectic mix of music performances, as well as National Public Radio/public radio's ''City Arts & Lectures''.

The Fillmore is a music venue located in the Western Addition, San Francisco, California/Western Addition. It is the second incarnation of a venue which gained fame in the 1960s under concert promoter Bill Graham (promoter)/Bill Graham and was where the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, and Jefferson Airplane got their start and fostered the San Francisco Sound. ''Beach Blanket Babylon'' is a zany musical revue and civic institution. It has performed to sold out crowds in North Beach, San Francisco, California/North Beach since 1974.

The American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) has been a leading force in Bay Area performing arts since its arrival in San Francisco in 1967, routinely staging original productions. San Francisco frequently hosts national touring productions of Broadway theatre shows in a number of vintage 1920s-era venues in the Theater District, San Francisco, California/Theater District including the List of theatres in San Francisco/Curran, List of theatres in San Francisco/Orpheum, and List of theatres in San Francisco/Golden Gate Theatres.

Main/Parks in San Francisco, California

Ocean Beach (San Francisco)/Ocean Beach/runs along the Pacific Ocean shoreline, but is not suitable for swimming because the waters off the coast are cold and have deadly rip currents.  Baker Beach occupies a picturesque setting just west of the Golden Gate Bridge and is where one of the few existing colonies of ''Hesperolinon congestum'', the threatened Marin Dwarf Flax, can be found.  The biggest and most well-known park is Golden Gate Park, stretching from the center of the city to the Pacific Ocean.  Once covered only in grass and sand dunes, the park is planted with thousands of non-native trees and plants and is rich with attractions including the Conservatory of Flowers, the Japanese tea garden at Golden Gate Park/Japanese Tea Garden, and Strybing Arboretum. Presidio of San Francisco/The Presidio, a former military base, and its Crissy Field section, restored to its natural salt marsh condition, are part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, which includes Alcatraz, and other regional parks. [[Buena Vista Park]] is the city's oldest, established in 1867. Lake Merced is a fresh-water lake surrounded by parkland.

Tourism

Tourism is the backbone of the San Francisco economy. Its  San Francisco in popular culture/frequent portrayal in music, film, and popular culture has made the city and its landmarks recognizable worldwide. It is the city where Tony Bennett left his I Left My Heart in San Francisco/heart, where the ''Birdman of Alcatraz' spent many of his final years, and where Rice-a-Roni, it's billed once again as the San Francisco treat. ''San Francisco Chronicle.''

More than 15 million visitors came to San Francisco in 2005, injecting nearly $7.5 billion into the economy. With a large hotel and restaurant infrastructure and a world-class facility in the Moscone Center, San Francisco also is a top-ten North American destination for conventions and conferences.

The San Francisco skyline centered within the Financial District, San Francisco, California/Financial District The legacy of the California Gold Rush turned San Francisco into the principal banking and finance center of the west coast. Montgomery Street in the Financial District (San Francisco)/Financial District is known as the "Wall Street of the West", home to the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, the Wells Fargo corporate headquarters, and the site of the now defunct Pacific Exchange/Pacific Coast Stock Exchange. Bank of America, a pioneer in making banking services accessible to the middle class, was founded in San Francisco and built one of the first modern skyscrapers in the city: Bank of America Center (San Francisco)/Bank of America Center. Many large financial institutions, multinational banks and venture capital firms are based in or have set up regional headquarters in the city. With over thirty international financial institutions  and a large support infrastructure of professional services, including law firm/law, public relations, architecture, and graphic design also populating the downtown, San Francisco is one of ten Global city/Beta World Cities.