Business Chief US+CAN Magazine June 2019 | Page 78

CITY FOCUS | CHICAGO SAN FRANCISCO
78

S an Francisco is renowned as Northern California ’ s center of commerce , finance and culture , and this is far from a recent accolade . In spite of how the city has hosted many modern advancements in technology , its reputation as a mecca for innovation goes back centuries .

San Francisco was named in the 1700s after St Francis of Assisi , a notably astute and valiant friar with a knack for opening minds and growing ideas . Even in these early days , the city and its people demonstrated a flair for energy , prolificity and aspiration . The patron saint of merchants and stowaways , among other things , could not have been awarded a more apt namesake .
If there ’ s one thing San Francisco does , almost by instinct , it ’ s reinvention . Even the devastating earthquake and fire of 1906 couldn ’ t hold back San Franciscans : the city was rebuilt at record speed , to the specifications of its citizens , who were eager to get back to their everyday lives . Since the construction of San Francisco ’ s now-famous façade , the city has been a magnet for emerging trends and grassroots dreams , welcoming new cultural waves every ten or twenty years whilst still retaining its eclectic past .
JUNE 2019