San Francisco Bay

by Harold Gilliam

A factual and fascinating account of the history, life and lore of California's vital inland sea. Here, for the first time, is a unique and much-needed contemporary profile of the great bay inside California's Golden Gate.

San Francisco Bay profoundly affects the weather, lives, and economy of the two million people living around its hundreds of miles of shoreline. It is one of the world's seven most beautiful harbors, a body of water almost everyone knows but almost no one knows very much about.

In San Francisco Bay the reader can learn about every aspect of this great inland sea: how it serves as livelihood for thousands of fishermen, sailors, and longshoremen; as a home for the swarming colonies of marine life in its depths; as the source of most of the salt used in the West and of raw materials for scores of other products; as a giant thermostat affecting not only the climate of the cities around its shore but that of California's great Central Valley as well.

What forces of nature created this sometimes gleaming, sometimes misty inner sea? How is the Bay responsible for the waterfall effect of the fog in Sausalito, the T-fog in Berkeley, the glacial effect on San Francisco's peninsula? What unusual stories does it have to tell about sunken treasure ships, historic old ferries, and the world-renowned bridges?

Genres: Nonfiction, History

336 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1957

About the author

From Wikipedia:

Harold Gilliam is a San Francisco based writer, newspaperman and environmentalist, graduate of UC Berkeley, author of many books and former columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle and Examiner. The "Harold Gilliam Award for Excellence in Environmental Reporting", given by the Bay Institute of San Francisco, is named in his honor. Gilliam’s article, "The Destruction of Mono Lake Is on Schedule" appeared in the Examiner’s Sunday edition in March, 1979, and was one of the first articles to draw attention to Mono Lake’s plight.

Reviews

[Sophy H · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funnily enough I was brought to this book via the 2006 documentary The Bridge by Eric Steel and Tad Friend, which looks at the history of suicides from the Golden Gate Bridge. Harold Gilliam is briefly interviewed about the tides and weather of the bay.

Gilliam is the go to man about all things San Francisco Bay. This book is so extensive (in a good way) and extremely thorough. Gilliam looks at geological history, tides, meteorology, man-made industry, shipping, flora and fauna and the building of the famous bridges. Everything that could be covered about the bay is done so. Gilliam's passion and reverence for the subject shine through in his writing, like he is genuinely buzzing to be telling you this information. I loved it.

Even though a lot of the information is now outdated (published in 1957), this remains a very educational and enjoyable book on the bay of San Francisco. A brilliant read.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

The history of SF Bay from the Cretaceous period through the Mad Men era told in the language and social perspectives of the latter. A quote captures the origins of venture debt in the Bay Area: "In 1930 the people of the six coastal counties in the Golden Gate Bridge District approved bonds for the bridge by a 3 to 1 majority.... Most bond houses politely declined to buy; the bridge was too speculative. Marin County was sparsely settled, and there was no assurance that the bridge would ever carry enough traffic to pay for itself. Strauss (Chief Engineer/Entrepreneur) took his problem to the founder of the Bank of America.... 'San Francisco needs that bridge,' Giannini was quoted as saying. 'We'll take the bonds.'"

[David Hockabout · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though the science is way out of date, it was published in 1957, I found this book to be of historical use. My God-Father helped to build both the Golden Gate and Bay bridges. I took a read as a six year old on one of the last ferries to work the bay. His righting brought this all back to me. But, most of it is relevant to the develop of the bay and in doing so shows what we have lost. Very informative and highly recommended.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like this book quite a lot. I even like the physical object of it: a 1957 first edition print, in far better condition than I am. I especially like the pencil-written used-bookstore price on the flyleaf: 20¢. Even though I've now read it, I might have to keep this one on my shelf a while longer.