San Francisco: City of the World

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
CONTACT: Charles Schuler 
Director of Marketing & Communications 
San Francisco International Airport
(650) 821-5031
Charles.Schuler@flysfo.com
SF-24-36

San Francisco: City of the World 
New exhibition explores the iconic city’s colorful history through a variety of historical memorabilia highlighting sites from Sutro Baths and the Cliff House to Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s City Lights Books and Alcatraz Island.

SAN FRANCISCO In 1848, gold was discovered in the Sierra Nevada foothills; the following year, more than seven hundred ships arrived in San Francisco. The Gold Rush transformed the region into a bustling city of approximately twenty-five thousand inhabitants. Thousands of Chinese immigrants came to San Francisco during the Gold Rush, soon establishing the oldest and largest Chinatown in California. San Francisco flourished in the late nineteenth century. Andrew Smith Hallidie (1836–1900) tested the first cable car in 1873 on Clay Street and public service began in September that same year. By the turn of the twentieth century, San Francisco was known as the “Paris of the West,” until the 1906 earthquake and resulting fires leveled the city. The resilient metropolis quickly rebuilt, and during the early 1900s numerous San Francisco landmarks, such as Coit Tower (1933) and the Golden Gate Bridge (1937)—the most photographed bridge in the world—were built. In addition to its natural beauty and historical sites, San Francisco has long served as a meeting ground for diverse groups of people and countercultures, which are also explored throughout the exhibition. 

Visit sfomuseum.org for more information.

@SFOMuseum
#SFCityoftheWorld

San Francisco: City of the World is located post-security in Terminal 2 of the San Francisco International Airport. This exhibition is accessible from September 28, 2024–July 6, 2025 to ticketed passengers, and through prior arrangement by emailing curator@flysfo.com.

About SFO Museum

Established in 1980 by the Airport Commission, SFO Museum’s mission is to delight, engage, and inspire a global audience with programming on a broad range of subjects; to collect, preserve, interpret, and share the history of commercial aviation; and to enrich the public experience at San Francisco International Airport. The Museum has been accredited by the American Alliance of Museums since 1999 and retains the distinction of being the only accredited museum in an airport.

SFO Museum operates more than twenty-five sites throughout the Airport terminals, including fourteen galleries that exhibit a rotating schedule of art, history, photography, science, and cultural exhibitions. Among the sites is the San Francisco Airport Commission Aviation Library and Louis A. Turpen Aviation Museum, which houses a permanent collection of more than 160,000 objects related to the history of commercial aviation. To browse current and past exhibitions, research our collection, or for more information, please visit www.sfomuseum.org. Follow us on www.facebook.com/sfomuseum, www.x.com/sfomuseum, or www.instagram.com/sfomuseum.

About San Francisco International Airport (SFO)

SFO is committed to providing an extraordinary airport experience, with seamless access, thoughtful amenities, sustainable design and inspiring artwork and exhibits.

For up-to-the-minute departure and arrival information, airport maps and details on shopping, dining, cultural exhibitions, ground transportation and more, visit www.flysfo.com. Follow us on x.com/flysfo and facebook.com/flysfo.