Following the gold rush of 1848 San Francisco became the largest city on the west coast of North America. Though it has since been surpassed in size by the likes of Los Angeles and San Diego, it retains its importance as a center of American finance and cultural development.

The rolling hills and rail-lined streets of San Francisco have long been a home to America's more eccentric elements and the budding counterculture, most recently manifesting as the beat movement of the 1950s, though many suspect this is only a hint of what is soon to come for the city by the bay.