Criminal Minds: Fun Facts On 10 Most Visited Cities
San Francisco, California
1. The Chinese fortune cookie originated in San Francisco and was invented by a Japanese immigrant.
Makoto Hagiwara, who designed Golden Gate Park’s famous Japanese Tea Garden, created the popular treat in 1914.
2. The Cable Car is the only moving National Historic Monument in the world.
Built in 1873, the cable cars transport 9.7 million people around the city annually.
3. The northern and southern area on San Francisco Bay has an average depth of 15 to 17 feet—about the depth of the end of a pool.
The Bay's deepest point is 360 feet and is located under the Golden Gate Bridge.
4. Bummer and Lazarus are two very famous San Francisco residents—and they weren't humans.
Bummer and Lazarus were two stray dogs that became famous for their expertise at killing rats that infested the city and for their unique bond of friendship. Newspapers vied with each other in reporting their escapades, whether it was stealing a bone from another dog, getting locked overnight inside a jewelry store, or stopping a runaway horse and cart.
5. San Francisco International Airport relies heavily on ball bearings to survive earthquakes.
The building is supported by 267 columns, each of which rests on a steel ball with a diameter of 5 feet. If an earthquake occurs, the ground can move up to 20 inches in any direction, as the columns roll on their bases. After the earthquake has ended, the columns are re-centered on their bases by the force of gravity.
© Rudy Sulgan/Corbis
