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Adventurer and author of frontier tales such as White Fang , The Sea Wolf , and The Call of the Wild , Jack London (1876– 1916) grew up in Oakland. There a museum of his memorabilia is housed in a reconstruction of the log cabin he lived in while prospecting for gold in the Yukon Territory. His fiction is based on his experiences in the untamed West and the social inequality he saw in boom town San Francisco.

This troubled singer from Texas became the queen of the San Francisco sound, until her death by heroin overdose.

Punk rock lead vocalist for The Dead Kennedys, Biafra ran for mayor of San Francisco in 1979. His basic belief was that corrupt governments and corporations should be fought, not trusted. He chose the name Jello Biafra because of “the way the two images collide in people’s minds,” with “Jello” as the embodiment of American blandness and “Biafra” as the universal symbol of starvation. His platform included having businessmen wear clown suits to the office. He finished fourth out of a field of ten, with 3.5 per cent of the total votes.

Buddhist monk and mayor of Oakland, this intellectual free spirit ran for president.

Patriarch of the San Francisco sound, his Grateful Dead band continued to tour until his death in 1995.

The leader of a Fillmore District religious group who moved en masse to South America ended his days and those of some 900 followers in 1978, in a mass suicide by cyanide-laced Kool-Aid.

Known in her youth as “The Voice,” girlfriend of Bob Dylan, and peacenik, the Palo Alto native later came out as a lesbian, continuing to work for peace and social justice. Recently, Baez created a cabaret character, the Contessa ZinZanni, in a show that has enjoyed good reviews in San Francisco.

Instrumental in the US annexation of California in the mid-1800s, it was Fremont who dubbed the Bay straits the “Golden Gate”.

Muir was a keen promoter of the National Parks movement. The Muir Woods are named in his honor.