Portal:San Francisco Bay Area/Did you know/17

... that although it was founded in 1924, Congregation Beth Israel in Berkeley, California, did not hire its first rabbi until 1963?
... that the Bay Area Puma Project is the first major study of mountain lions living in the San Francisco Bay Area?
... that the Mechanics Bank (pictured) based in Richmond, California, declined a 60 million dollar government bailout?
... that to survive during Prohibition, some winemaking families in what is now California's Russian River Valley AVA converted to bootlegging operations that sold a water-based wine known as "jackass brandy"?
... that San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Billy Wilson has been described as "probably one of the most underrated players in NFL history"?

February 2009