San Francisco Ballet School San Francisco Ballet School San Francisco Ballet School was founded in 1933 as part of the San Francisco Operatic and Ballet School when Gaetano Merola, the founder of the San Francisco Opera, perceived a need for an institution where dancers could be trained to perform in opera productions. Under the direction of founding ballet director, Adolph Bolm, the San Francisco Operatic and Ballet School opened in 1933 and offered classes in ballet, tap, modern, and interpretive dance. The school was located in the William Taylor Hotel, with affiliate branch schools in nearby Bay Area locations Berkeley, Burlingame, Marin County, San
San Francisco Bay arrived at a large arm of what is now called Drakes Bay. At the time, Drakes Bay went by the name "Bahia de San Francisco" and thus both bodies of water became associated with the name. Eventually, the larger, more important body of water fully appropriated the name "San Francisco Bay". The first European to enter the bay is believed to have been the Spanish explorer Juan de Ayala, who passed through the Golden Gate on August 5, 1775 in his ship the "San Carlos", and moored in a bay of Angel Island now known as Ayala Cove. Ayala continued