How well did you do on our Bay Area trivia challenge? Here are the answers:
Lake Merritt isn’t really a lake. What is it?
- A tidal estuary
The opening lines of Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ on) the Dock of the Bay,” were literally written on a dock. What kind and where?
- A Sausalito houseboat dock
The Berkeley Pier originally extended 3½ miles into the bay so cars could drive onto a San Francisco-bound ferry. In 1936, that traffic stopped. Why?
- The Bay Bridge opened, making ferry travel obsolete
How deep, on average, is the San Francisco Bay?
- Although parts are very deep, the average depth is quite shallow, 12 to 15 feet
What is the longest bridge to span the bay?
- The San Mateo Bridge: When it was built, its 7-mile span was the longest in the country; now it’s the 25th.
The first San Francisco Bay bridge, which opened in 1923, was considered a failure because…
- Shockingly, there wasn’t enough traffic to generate sufficient tolls
The Bay Bridge is protected by …
- A troll
California Fish & Wildlife introduced wild turkeys to the state in 1959. Why?
- To encourage recreational hunting and generate revenue through licenses and fees
Why have sea lions lounged around San Francisco’s Pier 39 since 1990?
- There’s plenty of herring and few Great White sharks or orcas.
What was Six Flags Discovery Kingdom called when it moved to Vallejo?
- Marine World Africa USA
Humphrey, the wayward humpback whale, swam into the bay and up the Delta in 1985. In 2007, another pair of humpbacks made a similar journey. What were their names?
- Delta and Dawn
In the 1970s, most of an apex predator population living on Mount Diablo was wiped out. It’s since made a comeback. What is it?
- American badger
Back in the days of frigid Candlestick Park games, the Giants gave out pins to faithful fans who toughed it out through extra-innings. What were these pins called?
- The Croix de Candlestick, which included the motto “Veni, Vidi, Vixi” or “I came, I saw, I survived”
There have been just two great left-handed quarterbacks in the Football Hall of Fame and both are Bay Area legends. Name the QBs.
- Steve Young and Kenny Stabler
Before the Sharks swam into San Jose, the Bay Area had another hockey team based in Oakland. What was its name and what happened to it?
- The California Golden Seals; the team moved to Cleveland and became the Barons
The Golden State Warriors are transplants to the Bay Area. Where did they come from?
- Not so complicated after all: The Philadelphia Warriors moved to the Bay Area in 1962, becoming first the San Francisco Warriors and then the Golden State Warriors.
What was Oakland’s original name?
- Encinal del Temescal, which roughly translated is “the oak grove near the sweat lodge”
How did Sunnyvale get its optimistic name?
- Pure marketing by real estate speculator Walter E. Crossman, who pushed the Sunnyvale name as a way to “attract winter-weary Easterners.”
Napa’s name was originally spelled Nappa. What happened to the second P?
- No one really knows. Sometime around 1848, the second P just disappeared from use.
What’s the meaning behind the name of Vacaville?
- The original landowner, Juan Manual Vaca, agreed to sell off the property for development on the condition the city was named after him.
San Francisco’s iconic Sutro Tower hasn’t had a major paint job in more than 20 years. Why?
- It’s nearly impossible to avoid dripping paint on the houses and cars below — and then people complain.
MC Hammer was originally an Oakland A’s ball boy. Where did the Hammer name come from?
- Reggie Jackson thought he looked like Hammerin’ Hank Aaron
Walt Disney was one of Hewlett-Packard’s first customers. He bought eight audio oscillators to test recording equipment for which movie?
- “Fantasia”(1940)
What’s the crookedest street in San Francisco?
- Lombard gets all the attention, but it’s Vermont Street near 20th that is the crookedest. It has one less switchback (just seven), but the turns are much tighter, giving it more sinuosity.
How much were the Hell’s Angels paid to provide protection at the infamous “Gimme Shelter” Altamont Speedway Free Festival concert in 1969?
- $500 in beer
When Super Bowl XIX was played at the old Stanford Stadium, which relatively new company gave away seat cushions for the wooden stadium benches?
- Apple
What now-mega event first launched at Baker Beach in 1986?
- Burning Man
Where did Francis Ford Coppola write most of the “The Godfather” screenplay?
- Caffe Trieste in North Beach
What Bay Area community bills itself as California’s First Hollywood?
- Niles
KCBS Radio got its start when Charles David “Doc” Herrold began regularly scheduled broadcasts in 1912. What was the station’s radio identification?
- San Jose Calling
Which California winery’s triumph at the 1976 Judgement of Paris put California and its Napa Valley, on the global wine map?
- Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars
How Bay Area-savvy are you?
If you got fewer than 10 answers right, you might actually be Southern Californian.
11 to 20? You’ve clearly downed some serious sourdough.
More than 21? You know the Bay Area better than Karl the Fog!
