For those of a certain age, their first exposure to San Francisco was on television.  There was the cable car heading down one of the city's steep streets as the jingle played, "Rice-A-Roni, that San Francisco treat."  (Frankly, the food in San Francisco should NOT be judged by this 'treat.')  Then there was the crime-fighting duo of Karl Malden and Michael Douglas busting bad guys on the Streets of San Francisco.  The city's famous skyline, from the Golden Gate Bridge to Alcatraz to Fisherman's Wharf to the Coit Tower, provides filmmakers, photographers and painters with a spectacular backdrop.  www.sfvisitor.org

While all cities are unique in their own way, with their own character, San Francisco's history, climate and geography converge to give the visitor a memorable experience.  The city's first settlement, Yerba Buena was founded in 1776.  It was a small community until word of the 1847 discovery of gold in the Sierra Nevada Mountains reached the rest of the nation and the world.  The city's population grew from a mere 500 to 25,000 with the onslaught of the '49ers seeking their fortunes.  Along with the gold seekers came saloons, dry goods stores and all forms of commerce necessary to support the miners, including some infamous brothels.  www.goldrushtrail.org

One of the entrepreneurs who arrived in San Francisco in the shadow of the Gold Rush was dry good merchant Levi Strauss.  In 1873 he and his partner, tailor Jacob Davis who used Strauss denim to make pants for miners, patented the now-famous metal rivets on denim (Levi's 501 jeans).  The two men received patent #139,121 from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.  Levi Strauss considers that day to be the official "birthday" of blue jeans.  www.levistrauss.com

Just as the destiny of Chicago was changed by the great fire of 1871 so too the 1906 earthquake changed the shape and course of San Francisco history.  Just as in Chicago, a frenzied rebuilding that shaped much of what is the modern city followed the momentous event.   It wasn't the earthquake that caused the most damage in the city; it was the ensuing fires.  www.sfmuseum.org/1906/06.html

Any discussion of the city would not be complete without a nod to its literary legacy.  Jack London was born there.  Mark Twain made the city famous in his dispatches to Harper's Magazine and other journals.  San Francisco's literary reputation however, rests squarely with the "Beats."  The City Lights Bookstore continues its 50-year tradition created by Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and Lawerence Ferlinghetti and Neal Cassady.  www.citylights.com www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-et-citylights27may27234427.story

No other icon of San Francisco, amid a legion of famous sites, is more photographed than the Golden Gate Bridge.  The public works project, started in 1933 and completed in 1937 is an engineering marvel.  The suspension portion of the Golden Gate Bridge is 4200 feet long.   A walk across the bridge (painted "international orange") on clear day provides breath-taking vistas.  www.goldengatebridge.org

Encapsulating all that there is to do and see in San Francisco is impossible.  A google search of "San Francisco" turns up a mind boggling 5,690,000 hits, so you might want to check out some of the links in this article and be sure to narrow your own on-line explorations.  To get the full flavor of the city while attending the Annual Meeting, you might want to take a walking tour.  It is a great way to explore the culture, architecture and history. www.sfhistorytour.com. 

Whatever you choose to do during your stay in the "City by the Bay," you'll certainly leave a piece of your heart there.