San Francisco

Famous Citizens

Ansel Adams (1902–84), photographer.

The "Beat" writers who were based in San Francisco in the 1950s, including Lawrence Ferlinghetti (b. 1920), Jack Kerouac (1922–69), and Allen Ginsberg (b. 1926).

Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914), satirist.

Herb Caen (1916–97), columnist.

Philo Taylor Farnsworth (1906–71), inventor of the first all-electronic television.

U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (b. 1933).

Jerry Garcia (1942–95), leader of the rock group the Grateful Dead.

Bill Graham (b. 1931), rock and roll promoter.

Bret Harte (1836–1902), local-color author.

William Randoph Hearst (1863–1951), founder of a newspaper empire.

Jack London (1876–1916), adventure writer.

John Muir (1838–1914), naturalist and founder of the Sierra Club.

Frank Norris (1870–1902), naturalist.

Randy Shilts (1951–1994), journalist, author, and AIDS activist.

Leland Stanford (1824–93), businessman and philanthropist.

Amy Tan (b. 1952), author.