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