San Francisco the time. San Francisco became a consolidated city-county in 1856. San Francisco's status as the West Coast's largest city peaked between 1870 and 1900, when around 25% of California's population resided in the city proper. After three-quarters of the city was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake and fire, San Francisco was quickly rebuilt, hosting the Panama-Pacific International Exposition nine years later. In World War II, San Francisco was a major port of embarkation for service members shipping out to the Pacific Theater. It then became the birthplace of the United Nations in 1945. After the war, the confluence of returning
San Francisco in the 1970s civil rights movement is a nationally recognized institution in the Bay Area. The Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) celebrates Latino culture with a "Carnaval," every year, which is said to be the largest multi-cultural event in San Francisco. A gay San Francisco postal worker who was to be dismissed from service by the Civil Service Commission on the grounds of "moral incompetency" fought for his rights in the court, in November 1970, and was reinstated in the job. This marked the beginning of gay reforms. Many important skyscrapers in San Francisco were built in the 1970s. The Hilton