San Francisco is different from other places. The city developed its lawless and wild reputation from its very founding when thousands of prospectors arrived at this former mission outpost during the Gold Rush of 1849 — along with prostitution, gambling, and crime. From that notorious beginning, San Francisco has long been celebrated for its diversity and for attracting outcasts from everywhere else: beatniks in the 1950s, hippies in the 1960s, and people of all sexual orientations and identities pretty much always.
Perhaps less well known is that San Francisco has also always attracted money. Alas, the people who made money in the Gold Rush and then the Silver Rush generally were not the common prospectors but the bankers who financed them and the entrepreneurs who sold them provisions. Some became fabulously wealthy, while most prospectors went home broke.
In fact, San Francisco has long reigned as the financial capital of the west coast, home to leading banks like Wells Fargo and Bank of America, but also Crocker Bank and Bank of California, as well as the Pacific Stock Exchange. But even with this history, it is still surprising — even shocking — to learn just how many billionaires reside within its 49 square miles.
Read my article in Illumination on Medium here.
Posted: by Andrew J. Nelson
