The Source

General Mariano Vallejo, the 19th century founder of Sonoma, had a lot of influence in the North Bay. He’s got a town named after him, of course, and he also had something to do with naming the neighboring county of Marin. We find out all about it in this episode of “The Source.”

Just about everyone knows that the largest park in San Francisco is Golden Gate Park. But can you name the second largest one? (The Presidio doesn’t…

Think of a ghost town, and San Francisco Bay is not likely to come to mind. Yet the remnants of such a place are currently sinking into the marshes near…

Dogtown is a small unincorporated village in Marin County — the population is 32. KALW’s Steven Short tracks down the history of this tiny community and…

Ah, for the good old days, when you could buy a piece of Bay Area property for $1,000. That was the case in Brisbane when it started in the late 1920s.…

Marin County is noted for its open spaces, and also for some pretty pricey property. One of the towns there is considered by many to be so exclusive that…

In our current era of electronic transfers, bank cards and direct deposit, it is easy to forget that people used to go home at the end of the week with a…

The Source is a series about the origin stories about the names of places around the Bay Area. This one is on Orinda — and it might surprise you.

Have you ever been to the little town of Bolinas, near Point Reyes National Seashore? Have you ever wanted to go, but couldn’t find the turn-off from the…

You can’t talk transportation in the Bay Area without talking about bridges. Everybody knows the Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge. And if you’re…