The Pacific Northwest and Alaska

The Pacific Northwest and Alaska

The twin states Oregon (Ore.) and Washington (Wash.) are situ­ated along the Pacific coast of the U.S.A. They are called the "Pacific States," or the "Coast States." The region is known for its natural beauty. There are mountains, forests and coastline!. Oregon and Wash­ington are known as states with progressive laws, especially in envi­ronmental matters. Alaska (Alas.) is doing well because of its oil, while Oregon and Washington are the centers qf trade with Asia. Manufacturing and agriculture are also important in the states; lumber­ing and fishing are important to all three states.

1. The Oregon territory: past and present. The first whites who came to the Pacific Northwest were looking for something the region did not have: gold and a "Northwest Passage" or sea route joining Europe and Asia. Great Britain, in its search for a passage from the Pacific to the Atlantic, sent Captain James Cook in 1778 to explore the Oregon coast. Cook Inlet bears the captain's name because of his at­tempt to stake his claim to the land for Great Britain. Cook's colleague, Captain George Vancouver, also explored and mapped this region. In 1792, an American, Captain Robert Gray of the Columbia, sailing from Boston, discovered the mouth of a river and named it for his ship. A power struggle for the vast Columbia country was soon on.

In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson sent explorers Meriwether Lewes and William Clark over the Rockies. In 1805, they crossed the Rocky Mountains and sailed down the Columbia River to its Pacific.mouth. Never before had Americans undertaken such a voyage. An important member of the expedition was Sacajawea, a sixteen-year- old Indian girl. Together with her husband, a French Canadian fur trapper, she served as a guide and interpreter. Sacajawea had originally come from the Rockies, so she had valuable knowledge about many things in the West. Just before joining the expedition, Sacajawea had had a baby. She carried the baby on her back on the 3,000 mile trip, unbothered by dangers like snowstorms or near-starvation in the Rock­ies. A statue of Sacajawea and her baby can be seen in Portland, Ore­gon, as well as in other states - Montana, North Dakota, and Idaho. In fact there are more statues to her than to any other woman in America. Lewes and Clark reaffirmed the U.S. claim to the river.

The entire area through which the Columbia River flows on the both sides of the U.S. is known as the Oregon Territory. In the 19th century, it became a disputed territory between France, Spain, Russia, Britain and the U.S.A. "Oregon fever" had swept the Mississippi Val­ley frontier by 1843. Thousands of emigrants in their covered wagons moved toward Oregon. Shallow graves, the bones of horses and oxen and abandoned precious personal possessions marked the trail, de­scribed as the "Oregon Trail." But the settlers from the east found no gold, no Northwest Passage. Only furs. They found otters and other animals whose furs were highly valued in China. This fur trade brought more Russians, British, and Americans to the area. As more animals were killed, fur trapping and trading became less profitable. Settlers turned increasingly to other resources of the region: land, fish and log­ging soon became very efficient. One area in the state of Washington, for example, cut down 90 percent of its vast forests in less than ten years!

The Pacific Northwest still has plenty of resources, and these re­sources still make possible a good way of life. The region has been diversifying its economy to avoid depending on logging and fishing, iigh-technology manufacturing has become important. So has trade with the Far East, especially with Japan. Ports in Washington and Ore­gon handle one-quarter of all trade between the U.S. and the Far East. Farming, including grape cultivation, has also become more important. In 1975, there were fewer than 10 wineries in Washington and Oregon; now there are over 150.

2. The Indians of the Pacific Northwest. The Indians of the Pacific Northwest coast had plenty to eat: animals, berries, salmon and other fish. The tall cedar trees were another important resource. The Indians used cedar to make totem poles. The totem pole was an important part of the culture of the tribes who lived in the Pacific Northwest. These tribes lived in permanent villages and were fishermen and hunters. A few members of each tribe were trained to carve totem poles. These tribes had no written language, so the totem poles provided them with a way of communicating their his­tory, myths and legends. Each of the symbols carved on a totem pole was created to convey meaning. Each totem pole thus tells a story, often about a person's ancestors, and is a record of a tribe's past. Totem poles were "read" from top to bottom, with the most important symbols on the top.

Essentially, totem poles were main to

honor the chief, to honor the dead, to honor each clan (extended fam­ily), to commemorate festivals, and to honor myths and legends of the tribe. Each tribe had its own style of totem pole. Totem poles were painted in red, blue, green and black. They were of different sizes, and the most important poles were the tallest. The word "totem" means "an animal or a living thing thought to be the ancestor of a tribe or clan." Totem poles thus got their name from the animals carved on them. The thunderbird (a mythological creature), the bear, the beaver, the whale, and the sea-serpent were important totem animals. These animals all had symbolic value. Human beings such as hunters, fishermen, and medicine-men were also carved on totem poles. This beautiful and complex art form could develop because of the richness of the Pacific Northwest.

As food was easily obtained, there was time to leisure. Richness, or abundance, also made possible the most unusual aspect of Pacific Northwest Indian culture: the potlatch, or gift-giving ceremony. The hpst of a potlatch invited hundreds of guests to a great feast. At the feast, the host gave everyone gifts. The greatness of the gifts showed the host's wealth and power. The guests then had to invite the host to a potlatch with even greater gifts.

3. Oregon - the "Beaver State." The word "Oregon" is derived from "ourigan" used by French Canadian voyagers who meant "hurri­cane." Oregon is called the "Beaver State" on account of the associa­tion of the little fur-bearing animal with the early history of the Oregon Territory, as well as because of its intelligence, industry, ingenuity and other admirable qualities. With half of the state's total area covered by dense forests; Oregon is the nation's leading lumber state. Along the coast, the towering Sitka spruce reigns supreme. Cedar, noble fir, and California laurel cover the western Cascades. But Oregon's most valu­able and widely planted tree is the Douglas fir, which grows through­out the western part of the state. It is a true giant of the forest, rising from a thick base to more than 200 feet, or about the height of a 10- storey building. The tree is of prime importance as structural supports for houses and for flooring, doors, and plywood.

Oregon's forests are even more impressive when one considers the effort that has been required to preserve them. Public sentiment for ecological preservation is strong in Oregon. It was the first state to im­pose heavy fines for littering, ban the use of nonreturnable beverage bottles, and prohibit the storage of nuclear waste.

The broad Willamette Valley in Oregon is easily the largest agri­cultural area near the region's coast. Much farmland is in the forage crops and many farmers still follow the practice of burning their fields in the fall - with the result that for a period of several weeks, large sections of the valley are covered with a layer of smoke. Dairy prod­ucts are of greatest importance to the agriculture of the Willamettee Valley; strawberries are perhaps the most important specialty crop. Other important crops also thrive in the valley's climate, including hops, grass for turf seed, cherries, and spearmint. Even grape produc­tion, supporting a local wine industry, has increased in recent years.

Oregon is the land of lakes and volcanoes. Crater Lake is famous for its clear, blue waters. It is also famous for the way it was formed: about 7,000 years ago, Mount Mazama, a volcano, erupted. Its walls collapsed, forming a basin about 10 kilometers in diameter. The basin filled with rainwater and became Crater Lake. The height of the lava walls surrounding the lake is 152-161 meters. In 1902, the lake was announced Crater Lake National Park. In Oregon and Washington, volcanoes occur in a row of isolated peaks near the Cascade Moun­tains. These peaks are especially splendid in their isolation above the surrounding plateaus. Here, extinct volcanoes, most notably Mount Rainier, provide the highest elevation and best defined peaks. These volcanoes are important for recreation and scenery. Many climbers in the area try to climb all the volcanoes.

Portland, named for the main city in Maine, is the largest city in Oregon. Wood products and food processing are principal activities of the local manufacturing economy. It is a trading center, an important port with shipyards, a city that owns its prosperity to the Columbia River. Salem is the state capital. In 1859, Oregon entered the Union as the 33^rd state. Its motto is "She Flies With Her Own Wings."

4. Washington - the "Evergreen State." Like neighboring Ore­gon, Washington is divided by a mighty mountain range into two quite different worlds: lush alpine landscapes to the west, and semiaric plains and hills to the east. The Cascade Range forms this great di­vide, running from north to south. Once part of Oregon territory, this timberland bore its first real wave of white settlement when "Oregon fever" swept the country in the 1840s. In 1852, the northerners peti­tioned Congress to form a separate territory north and west of the Co­lumbia. Congress granted the petition in 1853, extended the eastern boundary of the new territory to the Rocky Mountains. The territory of Washington was named for George Washington. The nickname sug­gests the continual green of the state of Washington. The big fir-trees are always green and the grass grows all the winter.

Seattle has been the largest city the in the Pacific Northwest and the Northwest major port since the boom era of the late 19^th century. It is often called the "Emerald City" or the "Jewel of the Pacific Northwest." Like a beautiful jewel in an expensive ring, Seattle is in an exquisite setting: it is surrounded by green hills and the water of Puget Sound. The vast estuary known as Puget Sound is still the cen­ter of Washington life today. Its eastern shore - some 75 miles of it - is an unbroken chain of cities and towns linked to Seattle. Seattle's har­bor has ferries that will take you around Puget Sound, which extends about 160 kilometers. It was first explored in 1782. Many people actu­ally use ferries to commune each day to Seattle. If you have time, you can take a ferry to the beautiful city of Victoria, in British Columbia, Canada. Or you can travel through the San Juan Islands, in the northern part of Sound. There are 172 islands!

At first Seattle's circumstances did not seem promising. Although Seattle had an excellent port, it was far from the rest of the U.S. The railroads finally reached the city at the end of the 19th century, linking it to the rest of the country. Then, one day in 1897, a ship pulled into Seattle with news that gold had been discovered in Alaska. The thousands who went to Alaska left from, and came back to, Seattle. Seattle became wealthy as a result of the gold rush. Today, Seattle is the re­gion's commercial, financial, transportation, and industrial hub and a major port of entry, important in both East Asian and Alaskan trade. Not surprisingly, Seattle has often been called America's most livable city. It is a large city with plenty of jobs and excitement; yet it has a small-town atmosphere, with friendly people. It has fine theaters, and yet it also has water and mountains.

Early in the 20^th century, a man who wanted to make airplanes started a company in Seattle. For lack of work, the company often made furniture in the early days. Now, however, the Boeing Company has more orders for planes than it can handle. If you visit Seattle, you can tour around this huge plant and see how jumbo jets are assembled. There are also major electronics, banking, insurance, biomedical, food- processing, and lumber industries. Steel, textiles, clothing, metal and glass products, and beer are among the products manufactured in the city, which has an international airport. In 2001, an earthquake did significant damage to the city, mainly in the historic Pioneer Square area. It is the seat of the University of Washington, Seattle University, and Seattle Pacific University. The futuristic 605-foot (184m) Space Needle that dominates the skyline of Seattle, has a restaurant that re­volves 360 degrees each hour and an observation deck from which all can view the breathtaking panoramas of this busy port city's fine wa­terfront. At its foot is the Seattle Center, an entertainment and cultural complex that includes the Pacific Science Center.

If you want to do shopping in Seattle, you might want to visit Pike Place Farmer's Market, the oldest open-air market in the United States. The market, which overlooks the water, has buildings that are on stilts and twist here and there. The market is also one of Seattle's liveliest places; everyone shops there. Seattle has strong ties to Asia, as is ap­parent from its International District (ID). Many of the people living in this neighborhood are from China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, and other countries of Asia. The ID has Chinese and Japanese restau­rants, a huge Japanese supermarket, an Asian-American museum, and a park named Kobe, for Seattle's Japanese sister city.

Seattleites no longer wish their city were more like New York. Ironically, it is in danger of becoming so. In the 1980s, the word spread that Seattle was the place to live. People began moving to Seattle - from the East Coast, from the Midwest, and especially from California. They wanted to get away from traffic, crowds, pollution, and crime. Soon Seattle's prices increased dramatically. The new slogan of Seattle became "Have a nice day - somewhere else?" How can a city handle growth? This is the question Seattle must now deal with.

Olympic National Park, situated in Washington, encompasses not only snow-capped Mount Olympus, glaciers, alpine meadows, and rocky Pacific Mountain coastline, but also one of the few temperate rain forests in the world. The luxuriant forest is created by the warm, moisture-laden air from the Pacific meeting the mountains and it re­sults in a dense, green, jungle-like world.

Olympia is the state capital. Washington joined the Union in 1889 as the 42^nd state. Its motto is "By and By."

5. Alaska - the "Great Land." The word "Alaska" is derived from "aleut," which means "peninsula." Alaska is twice the size of Texas, the next-largest state. Parts of Alaska are so remote that many moun­tains there have not yet been named! Life here is hard. Alaska's loca­tion makes different areas near the Arctic Circle experience long peri­ods of perpetual light in summer and long periods of perpetual dark in winter. The sun sets in mid-November and does not appear until late January, and the sea becomes a continent of ice. Natives, who live on the coasts of the Bering Sea and Arctic Ocean, have almost 100 words for sea ice. Alaska has had temperatures as low as 40 degrees below zero and bitter cold drives people indoors for weeks on end. The state has areas of permafrost, a subsurface layer of permanently frozen ground that is commonly about 100 meters thick and sometimes ex­tends downward for more than 300 meters. In warmer areas, the per­mafrost is discontinuous, with areas of frozen ground interspersed with unfrozen soil. Construction in permafrost is difficult. Buildings must be placed on piles sunk deeply into the permafrost for stability, and roads must be repaired extensively each year to maintain any resem­blance of an even roadbed. In the summer, in fact, much of the region is covered with standing water. This is due, in part, to the low levels of evaporation.

Although Alaska is the largest state, it has the fewest people: 0,7 persons per square mile. Today, Alaska has slightly over 500,000 peo­ple, about 15 percent of whom are native. "Native" refers to people in the following groups: Inuit (Eskimos), American Indians, Metis, and Aleuts. Inuit are the predominant population in most of the Arctic. They live not only in Alaska but in an area from Siberia to Greenland. American Indians are of several tribes found mainly in the boreal forest area. The Metis are the result of intermarriage between American In­dian women and whites during the early fur trading period of European settlement in the taiga. The origin of the Aleuts is not known. It is thought they may have come long ago from a northern island of Japan. The barren Aleutian Islands stretch more than a thousand miles across the northern Pacific. Scattered among the islands are villages of the Aleut people. The first non-Natives came from Russia. Since the 1950s, the number of non-Natives has increased greatly.

Sitka, a Southeast fishing town, was the center of Alaska in the days when Alaska was Russian. In 1867, Russia sold Alaska to the U.S., in a treaty signed by Secretary of State William Seward. The pur­chase price was only 2 cents per acre ($7.2 million total), yet many Americans thought the purchase so foolish that they dubbed Alaska "Seward's Folly" and "Seward's Icebox." When Alaska's natural wealth became apparent, these names soon disappeared. Juneau, Alaska's capital, is larger in area than any other city in the U.S. but has only about 25,000 residents. The city of Juneau is dwarfed by moun­tains. Parts of the city are so steep that there are wooden stairs instead of sidewalks. Anchorage is Alaska's most heavily populated city, the center for Alaska's booming oil industry. But in Anchorage the new high-rise buildings are mixed in with houses and even cabins.

Traveling in Alaska. Traditionally, Eskimos used dogsleds to get around in winter. Now, snowmobiles have largely replaced dogsleds. But dogsled racing is a favorite Alaskan sport. And if you go to Alaska, you can take a dogsled tour. Alaska has only about 10,000 miles of roads - not much, especially for a state its size. The Alaska Highway and some of its branches pass through the state and link Alaska to the other states through Canada. On Alaskan roads, you are as likely to see an animal - say, a bear or a moose - as you are to see another car. Because of geography, travel by water in Alaska is much easier than travel by road. The Maritime Highway, which is not a road at all but a system of ferries, is available for the residents and tourists. In fact, only three cities in the Southeast can be reached by roads. The others, including Juneau, can be reached by water or air. Air travel is the most important form of transportation. Almost every community has a landing field for planes.

Glacier Bay is one of the seven natural wonders of America. It is a wilderness of mountains, glaciers, estuaries, beaches and lakes which was covered by ice only 200 years ago. The glaciers of Glacier Bay are still retreating, revealing new landscapes every few years. Glacier Bay is now a nature reserve and is used extensively for scientific research. Glacier Bay National Park is made up of a huge chain of great tide­water glaciers and a dramatic range of landscapes, from rocky terrain recently covered by ice to lush temperate rain forest. Brown and black bears, mountain goats, whales (including humpbacks), seals, and ea­gles can be found within the park.

Alaskan Land Use. Alaskan land is incredibly beautiful. It is also very rich in natural resources. One-fifth of all oil produced in the U.S. is from Alaska. Since Alaska became a state in 1959, there has been controversy over how the land should be used. Those on one side of the controversy argue that the land should be kept undisturbed for fu­ture generations to enjoy. Those on the other side argue that Alaskans benefit economically from the development and use of the land. They point to oil as example.

Oil. In most states people pay money to the state government in the form of taxes; Alaskans get money from their state government. The reason is oil. Few people outside Alaska had heard of the North Slope until 1968 when oil was discovered there. The United States moved rapidly to develop its North Slope petroleum fields in Alaska. Some oil producers paid well over $1 billion just for the right to search, oil in the region. Transportation of crude petroleum was the principal problem involved in opening the North Slope fields. By the mid-1970s, a pipe­line costing $8 billion and crossing south-central Alaska to the port Valdez had been built and the oil began to flow. Within a couple of years, 85 percent of Alaska's money was coming from oil. Each year, the state government saves some of this money, uses some for schools, roads, and so forth, and gives a small amount to all residents of Alaska.

Alaskan North Slope petroleum has recently provided a large addi­tion to the American energy supply, presently pumping about 25 per­cent of the country's total production. Today, a huge industrial com­plex stands on the shore of Prudhoe Bay. Oil companies find new oil and undertake drilling every year. Conservationists oppose more drill­ing. They claim it would threaten and do harm to the fragile environ­ment. The real solution, they say, is for Americans to use less oil. But the debate is by no means over.

Alaska joined the Union in 1959 as the 49^th state. Its motto is "North to the Future."

California and Hawaii

These two states - California (Cal.) and Hawaii (Ha.) called the "Pacific States" are grouped together because they are relatively near each other: California, although 2,500 miles from Hawaii, is the closest state to Hawaii. California is the most populated of the states and one of the largest. The eight islands of Hawaii - Oahu, Hawaii, Maui, Kauai, Lanai, Molokai, Niihau, and Kahoolawe - are together one of the smallest, least populated states. The two states do have a few things in common: culturally diverse populations, and lots of sun and sand.

1. California - the "Golden State." "California" is the Spanish name which means "heat of the ovens." The Spaniards settled in the area in 1769. The names of such cities as Santa Barbara, San Fran­cisco, San Diego, Los Angeles, and Sacramento, the capital, are Span­ish. San Diego is the birthplace of California; it was claimed for Spain in 1542. California is called the "Golden State" on account of its be­ing the most important gold producing region in the world. The inhabi­tants of California are called "Gold Diggers" and "Gold Hunters."

Many people think of California as the state that symbolizes the American dream. There, individuals have the opportunity to succeed - to do and be what they want. In California, America's good points of­ten seem even better and its problems even worse. California is fre­quently described as being "like America - only more so." Here are the most cars, the oldest trees, the hottest deserts, the most people and the largest drive-ins.

The Forty-Niners. In January 1848, a man named James Marshall noticed some flecks of gold in a river in California. Word of Marshall's discovery got around, and by 1849, thousands of people - "forty- niners," as they were called - were on their way to California. Within four short years California's population jumped dramatically and its reputation as a land of opportunity was well established! The trip to California, over land or by water, was difficult. Death and disease had killed many of the "forty-niners" long before they reached the "gold digging." Gold was in the hills, and rivers had eroded the hills. As the result, the miner could get gold simply by panning the rivers - by using a pan to separate the gold in the water from the dirt and rocks. It is ap­propriate that California's motto is "Eureka!" (I have found it! - the cry of prospectors in the 1849 gold rush).

Often, the most money was made not by miners themselves but by those who had something to sell to the miners. A man named Levi Strauss, who had recently immigrated to the U.S., thought he knew just what the miners would buy. He headed for California with canvas for tents. "Tents!" the miners told him. "We already have tents. You should have brought pants. Pants don't last at all here." A quick thinker, Strauss made his canvas into pants. Miners liked the pants because they were sturdy and lasted. And so Levi's were born. By the 1870s, Strauss was making blue jeans much like those today. He had begun using strong cotton from Nimes, France, called serge de Nimes\ from "de Nimes" we get the word "denim." He had also begun dying the cotton blue and even stitching the pockets with double arcs - the same design you see on Levi's now!

Today, many people visit the "gold country" to see the old mines and spend a few hours panning for gold. The hills of the area still have about as much gold as was taken out during the Gold Rush. Unfortu­nately, most of this gold is deep underground and difficult to mine.

2. Land and People. California is famous for its sandy beaches. It has many other different environments. Here are some examples: Redwood forests and swiftly running rivers are a part of northern Cali­fornia's environment. Redwood trees grow only in two places: a small area in China and an area in northern California. The redwoods are very tall; Sequoia National Park in California has three of the world's six tallest trees. General Sherman, a giant redwood tree measuring 84 meters tall, is the largest plant in the world. It is also 3,000 years old, but it isn't the oldest tree in the world! Redwood National Park con­tains the tallest living things on Earth, evergreen trees that grow to 350 feet. Descendants of the giant evergreens that grew during the age of the dinosaurs, redwoods take 400 years to mature. Some of the survi­vors are more than 2,000 years old. The giant redwoods of California are virtually indestructible. Their wood is naturally resistant to water, their bark impervious to disease, parasites, and even fire.

California's Death Valley is another natural wonder in this area. Death Valley is a 250 km valley between two Californian mountain ranges. It is the lowest area and also one of the hottest and driest spots in the U.S.A. At one famous point - Badwater Basin - you arrive at the lowest place in the western hemisphere (86 meters below sea level). In Death Valley, summer temperatures can reach 54 degrees Celsius, and for several months of the year the average night-time temperature is over 27degrees. Often there's no rain for years. On the west slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in middle-eastern California, there is Yosemite National Park. It contains gorges, many waterfalls and three groves of sequoias. The tree was named for a Cherokee Indian, who devised the Cherokee alphabet. The alphabet was used in teaching the elements of reading and writing to many Cherokees.

California's people come from different places and cultures. Over one-fourth of California's population is Hispanic. California also has a large Asian population; one-third of all Asian-Americans live here. They first came to this area from one country - China, but now are from many countries, e.g. from Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. California was originally part of Mexico, and some Hispanics are the descendents of old Californian families. Many others are Mexican- Americans who came more recently. Other Hispanics are from coun­tries in Central and South America. People keep moving to California from many parts of the U.S. and the world. So California's diverse population is becoming even more diverse!

3. San Francisco. The city of San Francisco was itself a result of the Gold Rush. Forty-niners who went to California by ship passed through the settlement of San Francisco. The settlement was founded in 1776 and it assumed the name of its bay, which had been named for St. Francis, the patron saint of a Spanish expedition, by Spanish voy­agers in 1769. Many of the forty-niners returned to San Francisco - with or without fortunes to stay. In 1848, San Francisco was a settle­ment of 200 people. It remained just a sleepy missionary settlement until a May day in 1848 when Sam Brannan ran through the streets holding high a bottle whose contents sparkled in the sunlight. In it there was gold from the American River. Almost overnight, San Fran­cisco became a boom town. By 1849, some 40,000 fortune hunters had stampeded through the Golden Gate, doubling the city's population every 10 days and causing beds to be rented in shifts. By 1853, the city had 537 saloons, 48 houses of ill repute and 46 gambling dens. Eight years later it was a city of 50,000.

The most famous single moment in San Francisco's history oc­curred in 1906. It was the earthquake that shook the city "like a terrier shakes a rat." The quake struck at 5:00 a.m., jolting people from their beds. The singer Enrico Caruso, afraid he had lost his voice, leaned out of his hotel window and gave what some say was his best performance ever! Buildings danced and tumbled, entire streets moved like ocean waves. Fires followed the quakes. Finally, after four days, the rains came and the winds changed. Three-fourths of the city had burned down. But even before the flames were out, San Franciscans began to rebuild the city.

A Romantic City, a Liberal City. San Francisco is surrounded on three sides by water. It is famous for its bridges, fog, and foghorns.

San-Francisco has 40 hills. It is famous for its cable cars, which climb these hills, and for its bright houses that cling to the hills along steep and narrow streets. San Francisco is a wonderful city to explore on foot. It has a reputation as an intellectual, liberal, and slightly crazy city - a city where new and different ideas can be explored.

In the mid-1960s, the Haight-Ashbury District of San Francisco gave rise to hippies (and even to the word "hippie," which comes from the adjective "hip" meaning "aware"). The focus was on rock music, drugs, love and peace. Tourists learnt to avoid the District made noto­rious by hippies, and so dirty and dangerous that a wealthy San Fran­ciscan said, "I wouldn't drive through it even in the daytime with my car doors locked." By 1969, buses of tourists were being driven through Haight-Ashbury.

The college protests that swept America in the late 1960s also be­gan in the San Francisco area - at the University of California, Berke­ley. Always known for academic excellence, in the 60s and 70s, Berk­ley was even more known for student protests. Although many move­ments have faded from the San Francisco scene, the gay rights move­ment remains strong. San Francisco has one of America's largest gay communities. Gays play an active role in everything from the city's nightlife to its politics.

Visiting San Francisco. Stop in some restaurants. Today, there are over 4,500 restaurants, serving every cuisine including "California cuisine." It is based on fresh ingredients and simple but unusual com­binations, like grilled tuna with raspberry sauce. The bayside Embar- cadero is a major visitor attraction, with its bay cruises, maritime mu­seum and shopping complexes, and the seafood restaurants of Fisher­man's Wharf. To see genuinely ethnic area, go to colorful China­town, the largest Chinese neighborhood outside Asia. Don't leave San Francisco without the structure that has become its symbol - the Golden Gate Bridge.

It is one of the largest and most spectacular suspension bridges in the world. Opened in 1937, the bridge goes between San Francisco and Marin County to its north. It rises above the sea as high as 567 meters; its length is 1260 meters. Until 1964, the bridge was considered the longest in the world. The view from the bridge is thrilling. This bridge was first proposed in 1869 by "Emperor" Norton, a forty-niner who, having lost his money and his mind, had declared himself emperor of the U.S. Norton's ideas about an empire may have been crazy, but his idea about a suspension bridge for San Francisco was just ahead of its time. It took twentieth-century technology and the engineering genius of a man named Joseph Strauss to bring the Golden Gate Bridge into existence.

Silicon Valley. Santa Clara Valley, south of San Francisco, was famous for its prunes. The valley had acres and acres of prune trees. In 1939, two young engineers, Bill Hewlett and David Packard, went to work in a garage in the valley. They developed an oscillator, an elec­tronic device. Today, Santa Clara Valley is the most important center of America's computer and electronic industry, and Hewlett-Packard is one of its major firms. Santa Clara Valley is referred to by its nick­name, Silicon Valley. (Silicon is an element used in making computer chips). Silicon Valley developed because there were entrepreneurs with ideas and investors who had money to back them. Companies there are more informal than many American workplaces; some almost seem like college campuses.

Silicon Valley has changed over the years. Today, it is the center of the Internet revolution, high tech, the new economy and wealth. In the "Valley of the Dollars", as it is called, live more than 250,000 million­aires. Trends today include more attention to computer software, more partnerships with Japanese companies, and consolidation. One key element remains the same: the emphasis on innovation.

4. Los Angeles. The name is of Spanish origin, meaning the "city of angels," hence its modern nickname is the "Angel City." The city is often called by its initials "L.A." If San Francisco is usually visited by tourists for its charm, California's biggest city, Los Angeles, is a must because it is "America's city of the future." The images most people have when they think of California best fit Los Angeles and the sur­rounding area.

The Los Angeles area has many beaches, with surfers, volleyball players, and people getting tan. The Los Angeles area is also the center of the movie industry and home to many movie stars. It has money and glamor. One thing that Los Angeles seems not to have is a city. Actu­ally, there is a downtown area, but. since the 1950s Los Angeles has grown greatly - it's not grown'upward, but grown outward. Los Ange­les's "suburbs" are not really suburbs: They not only have houses but also many businesses and offices, and they tend to develop suburbs of their own. So the city keeps growing, spreading out into farmland and even desert. The city has four of the five busiest highways in North America. Some days, "rush hour" continues almost unbroken from 7.00 a.m. to 7.00 p.m. Trips, whether to work or to the beach, require planning. Not surprisingly, car phones and car fax machines sell well in Los Angeles. Even if cars don't move quickly there, just about eve­rything else does.

Los Angeles is a city of fads and trends. Clubs, restaurants, shops, and styles have been known to appear and to disappear overnight, or more precisely in four quick steps: They are discovered by a few; they are discovered by many; everyone knows about them; they're gone. Los Angeles is a center, not only for entertainment and tourism, but also for manufacturing, business and finance, aerospace, oil, and trade. Its ports now handle more cargo than New York. The growth of trade is largely the result of the strong economies in Asia. Asian companies have also invested heavily in Los Angeles.

The city faces some serious problems. With so much traffic, it has the dirtiest air in the U.S. Crime and violence are also major problems. Police say there are at least 500 gangs in Los Angeles. Experts empha­size that the problems must be solved if the city is to maintain the Southern Californian lifestyle for which it's so famous.

Los Angeles is unique in one more aspect: the city derives its fame and image from its suburbs - like Disneyland, Hollywood, and Beverly Hills. Disneyland is the most favorite of children's attractions. It is in Anaheim, 25 miles from Los Angeles. The park occupies an area of 50 hectares. This famous world of make-believe provides rides through the jungle and under the sea, rides into the future and into the past, rides on the Mississippi side-wheelers and into the pirates' lairs. It was created by Walt Disney and has become since a most profitable busi­ness. Annually, 13.3 million people seek excitement and diversion in Disneyland. -

Hollywood. Los Angeles is known worldwide as the location of Hollywood, long the center of America's motion picture industry. Hollywood was once all farmland. By 1910, however, filmmakers began moving there. In the early days of filmmaking, outdoor settings and natural light were the norm. Southern California's climate proved per­fect for shooting movies year-round. The area's cloudless skies and short cold-temperature periods made the streets, fields, and mountains a fine home for countless motion pictures. Los Angeles remains one of the centers of American filming and television, but today the motion picture industry plays only a small role in the metropolitan area's economy, employing less than 2 percent of its workers.

Today, of the major studios, only Paramount is still in Hollywood. If you go to Hollywood looking for glamor and movie stars, you'll probably be disappointed: Downtown Hollywood looks somewhat run­down, and the stars are nowhere to be found. Not so many stars actu­ally live in Hollywood. Most have their homes in Beverly Hills, a western suburb of Los Angeles known as a residential area of stars, directors and producers. The Beverly Hills neighborhood is also fa­mous for its mansions and high-priced shops. But Hollywood still feels like Hollywood. Here you can see two great theaters, where many movies are premiered.

Pantages Theater and Mann's Chinese Theater. Mann's Chinese was founded by S. Grauman that is why it is formally known as Grauman's Chinese. The theater is famous for its cement courtyard with footprints and handprints of stars who were in - and at! - movies the theater showed. People say the tradition started when the theater first opened and an actress in the movie being premiered accidentally stepped in the still-wet cement. Even if you can't see the stars, you can see many things associated with them. Hollywood souvenir shops are filled with autographs, old movie posters and costumes, and stills.

Stills are photos of scenes from movies. You can go on a tour, e.g., the unusual Grave Line Tour. On this tour you will travel in a hearse, the vehicle that usually takes the dead to the grave. The hearse will take you to places where celebrities died. Hollywood even gives visitors a chance to become stars - on TV game shows.

5. Hawaii - the "Aloha State." The Hawaiian word "aloha" is used by the local people both as a greeting and farewell. Yet, as early as 3000 A.D., ancient Polynesians who were skillful navigators, mi­grated to Hawaii. Hawaii's first contact with the West wasn't until 1778, when it was "discovered" by English explorer James Cook. In December 1941, the Japanese surprise attack on the naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii brought the U.S into World War II. In 1959, Hawaii was made the 50^th state. Its motto is "The Life of the Land is Perpetu­ated in Righteousness."

Hawaii is a chain of 132 islands which extends 1,610 miles. The Hawaiian islands are remote: the nearest land is 2,500 miles away. It is thought that the Hawaiian Islands were created when molten rock pushed through Earth's crust, forming volcanoes. The two most spec­tacular live volcanoes are Kilauea and Mauna Loa. Hawaii's agricul­tural products include sugar, pineapple and nuts. Hawaii even produces coffee and, since 1980, a highly praised pineapple wine.

Paradise. Geographically, Hawaii appears to lie almost in the cen­ter of the Pacific. If Alaska is considered to be "the icebox" in the pic­ture of the U.S., Hawaii is the contrast in the form of "an island para­dise." To those Americans who can afford the trip, Hawaii's sandy beaches are even superior to California's for Hawaii combines plenty of sunshine with cozy lagoons, tropical trees and thrilling surf riding. Its sky-scraper hotels, seem­ing to grow out of the sun­bathed beaches, fill the eye with the impression of lux­ury. And this view is en­hanced by the variety of exotic fruits, plants, birds and volcanoes. With quicker, cheaper travel, Ha­waii's tourist industry boomed. Today, tourism accounts for 30 percent of Hawaii's income. Honolulu is the capital and the most important city with fashionable resorts.

Ethnic mix- Hawaii is a melting pot of nationalities and racial groups. The state's people today are from many groups - Japanese, American, Chinese and Filipinos. Less than one percent of the popula­tion is pure Hawaiian, but many people have some Hawaiian blood. Today, one of every two marriages is between people of different groups. No state in the U.S. possesses such an inter-racial mixture in population as Hawaii.

This area has been described as a place where East meets West. It has also been described as a mixture of U.S. culture and its own island culture, with "island culture" meaning the combination that has devel­oped from all the groups that settled there. Not surprisingly, in one- fourth of Hawaii's homes, the main language spoken is something other than English. And everybody's everyday speech contains some words from all the languages spoken. Hawaiian is especially important. For example, Hawaiian aloha is just as common as hello, Hawaiian mahalo is just common as thank you.

Surfing. When James Cook reached Hawaii in 1778, he was aston­ished to see people on boards riding the waves. Although surfing was unknown in the West, the thrill was immediately obvious to Cook. Watching one surfer, he wrote, "I could not help concluding this man felt the most supreme pleasure." Surfing had come from ancient Poly­nesia and for centuries had been practiced as an art and a sport, espe­cially by the royalty. Surfing began really popular once light boards were developed. Hawaii has some of the world's best surfing. Serious surfers go to Hawaii in winter to catch the dangerous 25-foot high waves off the beaches of Oahu.

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