San Francisco Peninsula
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The San Francisco peninsula separates the San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean. On its northern tip is the city of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge leading over to the northern shores. On its southern end is part of Santa Clara County, including the cities of Palo Alto, Los Altos, Mountain View, and Sunnyvale. Between San Francisco and Santa Clara County lies San Mateo County, covering much of the peninsula. San Mateo County includes Atherton, Belmont, Brisbane, Burlingame, Colma, Daly City, East Palo Alto, El Granada, Foster City, Half Moon Bay, Hillsborough, La Honda, Menlo Park, Millbrae, Montara, Pacifica, Pescadero, Portola Valley, Redwood City, San Bruno, San Carlos, San Gregorio, San Mateo, South San Francisco and Woodside.
Redwood City is the county seat of San Mateo County. "The Peninsula," used on its own, refers locally to only the parts south of, and excluding, the city of San Francisco. It is roughly equivalent to the area served by the 650 area code, or to San Mateo County itself. A couple of the aforementioned cities in the northern part of the county are considered to be suburbs of San Francisco, Daly City and South San Francisco in particular.
The east side of the peninsula is a largely densely populated area that includes Silicon Valley. It forms a commuter area between San Francisco to the north and San Jose to the south. A number of major thoroughfares run North-South: El Camino Real (CA-82) and Highway 101 on the east side along the bay, Interstate 280 down the center, Skyline Boulevard (CA-35) along the crest of the Santa Cruz Mountains, and Highway 1 on the west along the Pacific.
Three bridges, the Dumbarton Bridge, the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge, and the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge cross San Francisco Bay from the peninsula.
Along the center line of the Peninsula is the northern half of the Santa Cruz Mountains, formed by the action of plate tectonics along the San Andreas Fault. In the middle of the Peninsula along the fault is the Crystal Springs reservoir, which inspired the James Bond movie A View to a Kill. Just north of the Crystal Springs reservoir is the San Andreas reservoir after which the famous fault was named.
Environmental features
The San Francisco Peninsula contains a gamut of habitats including estuarine, marine, oak woodland, redwood forest, coastal scrub and oak savanna. There are numerous species of wildlife present, especially along the San Francisco Bay estuarine shoreline, San Bruno Mountain, Fitzgerald Marine Reserve and the forests on the Montara Mountain block.
The county is home to several endangered species including the San Francisco garter snake, the Mission blue butterfly and the San Bruno elfin butterfly, all of which are endemic to San Mateo County. The endangered California clapper rail is also found on the shores of San Francisco Bay, in the cities of Belmont and San Mateo.
Notable structures
There are a number of well known structures and complexes on the San Francisco Peninsula:
- Bay Meadows Racecourse, San Mateo (soon to be shut down)
- Carolands Mansion, Hillsborough
- Coyote Point Museum, San Mateo
- Cow Palace, Daly City
- Crocker Mansion, Hillsborough
- Crystal Springs Reservoir, unincorporated central part of county
- Dakin building, Brisbane
- Filoli mansion, Woodside
- The "Flintstones House", north of the Eugene Doran Bridge on the east side of Interstate 280 [link]
- The "House of Doors", Half Moon Bay [link]
- Notre Dame de Namur University, Belmont, which incorporates Ralston Hall
- Pigeon Point Lighthouse, Pescadero
- Point Montara Lighthouse, Montara
- Pulgas Water Temple, Woodside
- San Francisco International Airport
- Sanchez Adobe, Pacifica
- Stanford University, Palo Alto
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