San Francisco in popular culture


Depictions of San Francisco in popular culture can be found in many different media.

Literature

San Francisco's diversity, eccentric characters, and geographic scenery have provided a backdrop for many works of fiction, including:
As in the case of fiction novels, San Francisco has served as a backdrop to a large number of films. Films set in the city include:

  • 10.5
  • 40 Days and 40 Nights
  • 48 Hrs.
  • After the Thin Man
  • All Dogs Go to Heaven 2
  • Another 48 Hrs.
  • Ant-Man
  • Ant-Man And The Wasp
  • Arachnophobia
  • The Bachelor
  • Barbary Coast
  • Basic Instinct
  • Beaches
  • Bedazzled
  • Bicentennial Man
  • Big Eyes
  • Big Hero 6
  • Big Trouble in Little China
  • Birdman of Alcatraz
  • The Birds
  • Blue Jasmine
  • The Book of Eli
  • Born to Kill
  • Boys and Girls
  • Bullitt
  • Bumblebee
  • Burglar
  • '
  • Cherish
  • Cloud Atlas
  • Contagion
  • The Conversation
  • Copycat
  • The Core
  • D.O.A.
  • Dark Passage
  • The Darwin Awards
  • Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
  • Days of Wine and Roses
  • The Dead Pool
  • Dirty Harry
  • Dogfight
  • Dopamine
  • Double Harness
  • Double Jeopardy
  • Dragon Fight
  • Dr. Dolittle
  • Dr. Dolittle 2
  • EDtv
  • The Enforcer
  • Escape from Alcatraz
  • Experiment in Terror
  • Extraterrestrial
  • '
  • The Fan
  • Fearless
  • Final Analysis
  • The Five-Year Engagement
  • Follow Me Home
  • Foul Play
  • Four Christmases
  • Freebie and the Bean
  • Funny People
  • The Game
  • A Gathering of Eagles
  • Generation Now
  • George of the Jungle
  • Getting Even with Dad
  • Godzilla
  • Going the Distance
  • Golden Gate
  • Good Neighbor Sam
  • The Graduate
  • The Great Ziegfeld
  • Greed
  • Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
  • Haiku Tunnel
  • Hardcore - third and final city Scott's character travels to
  • Harold and Maude
  • Heart and Souls
  • The Heartbreak Kid
  • Herbie Rides Again
  • Hereafter
  • High Crimes
  • '
  • House of Sand and Fog
  • The House on Telegraph Hill
  • How Stella Got Her Groove Back
  • Hulk
  • I Married a Communist
  • I Remember Mama
  • Impact
  • The Impatient Years
  • Innerspace
  • Inside Out
  • Interview with the Vampire
  • Invasion of the Body Snatchers
  • It Came from Beneath the Sea
  • Jagged Edge
  • The Joy Luck Club
  • Just Like Heaven
  • Kuffs
  • La Mission - starring Benjamin Bratt
  • The Lady from Shanghai
  • The Last Black Man in San Francisco
  • The Laughing Policeman
  • The Lineup
  • The Love Bug
  • Magnum Force
  • The Maltese Falcon
  • The Maltese Falcon
  • Maxie
  • Medicine for Melancholy
  • Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus
  • Megamind
  • Memoirs of an Invisible Man
  • Meteor Storm
  • Metro
  • Milk
  • '
  • Monsters vs. Aliens
  • More American Graffiti
  • Mother
  • Mrs. Doubtfire
  • My Name Is Khan
  • The Net
  • Nine Months
  • North Beach
  • Old San Francisco
  • The Other Sister
  • Out of the Past
  • Pacific Heights
  • Pal Joey
  • Play It Again, Sam
  • The Presidio
  • The Princess Diaries
  • Psych-Out
  • The Pursuit of Happyness
  • Quicksilver
  • Race Street
  • Rise of the Planet of the Apes
  • The Rock
  • Rollerball
  • Romeo Must Die
  • The Room
  • San Andreas
  • San Francisco
  • Serendipity
  • '
  • Shock
  • Sister Act
  • '
  • The Sisters
  • Skidoo
  • Sneakers
  • So I Married an Axe Murderer
  • The Social Network
  • Sonic the Hedgehog
  • Star Trek
  • Star Trek Into Darkness
  • '
  • Sucker Free City
  • Sudden Fear
  • Sudden Impact
  • Sweet November
  • The Sweetest Thing
  • Take the Money and Run
  • Terminator Genisys
  • Terminator Salvation
  • Thieves' Highway
  • Time After Time
  • The Time of Your Life
  • The Towering Inferno
  • Twisted
  • Una sull'altra
  • Venom
  • Vertigo
  • A View to a Kill
  • The Wedding Planner
  • What's Up, Doc?
  • The Woman in Red
  • Woman on the Run
  • Woman on Top
  • War
  • '
  • You Kill Me
  • Yours, Mine and Ours
  • Zodiac

Documentary

Although the city is a frequent backdrop for many television shows, many 80s sitcoms set in San Francisco were actually shot in studios in the Los Angeles area. Since the mid-90s, many productions supposedly set in the City by the Bay are actually filmed in Canada, most notably in Vancouver, a frequent double for the cities of San Francisco and Seattle on the small screen. Canadian provinces often offer attractive tax incentives and more flexible union regulations for production companies.
Monk was shot in Vancouver before moving to Los Angeles, and only a few exterior shots involving San Francisco landmarks are actually filmed in the city. Similarly, recent short-lived series such as Presidio Med, The Evidence or Killer Instinct were actually shot in the Los Angeles or Vancouver areas. The city of San Francisco has tried to counter this trend over the past few years by reducing filming fees and streamlining the permit approval process.
San Francisco is also a vital part of the Star Trek science fiction media franchise. It hosts the headquarters and council chambers of the United Federation of Planets, as well as its military/exploration arm, Starfleet. In addition, the Presidio hosts Starfleet's primary service academy, Starfleet Academy. A major Federation shipyard named after the city, site of the construction and refit of several starships named Enterprise, resides in geosynchronous orbit of Earth.
The TV shows Trauma, Midnight Caller, The Streets of San Francisco and Nash Bridges were filmed entirely in the San Francisco Bay area.

Fiction

Television programs that highlight the city and its people include:

  • Accidentally on Purpose
  • The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.
  • Alcatraz
  • '
  • ANT Farm
  • '
  • The Californians
  • Charmed
  • Crazy Like a Fox
  • Dharma & Greg
  • The Division
  • The Doris Day Show
  • Eli Stone
  • The Evidence
  • Fairly Legal
  • Falcon Crest
  • First Years
  • Full House
  • Fuller House
  • Girlboss
  • Girls Club
  • Half & Half
  • Have Gun, Will Travel
  • Hell on Wheels
  • Hooperman
  • Hotel
  • Ironside
  • Jackie Chan Adventures
  • Journeyman
  • Killer Instinct
  • '
  • The Life and Times of Juniper Lee
  • The Lineup
  • Looking
  • Love Is a Many Splendored Thing
  • Lucy, The Daughter of the Devil
  • Mama
  • The Man in the High Castle
  • McMillan & Wife
  • MDs
  • Midnight Caller
  • The Mighty B!
  • Monk
  • My Sister Sam
  • Nash Bridges
  • The Nine Lives of Chloe King
  • The OA
  • Party of Five
  • Pelswick
  • Phyllis
  • '
  • Presidio Med
  • San Francisco Beat
  • Sense8
  • Sliders
  • '
  • '
  • '
  • '
  • The Streets of San Francisco
  • Suddenly Susan
  • That's So Raven
  • Too Close for Comfort
  • Touching Evil
  • Trapper John, M.D.
  • Trauma
  • Twins
  • We Bare Bears
  • Wolf
  • Women's Murder Club
  • Young & Hungry

Reality

Video games

In the Carmen Sandiego computer games, the headquarters of the ACME Detective Agency is always located in San Francisco.
The Rush racing series is largely based in San Francisco, especially ' and Rush 2049.
In Sim City, there is a scenario re-creating the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
San Francisco is the backdrop for all five Tex Murphy games by Access Software. The eponymous detective makes the POST WWIII city his home and his cases start there even if they don't ultimately come to resolution there. The games feature prominent S.F. landmarks such as The Golden Gate Bridge, Coit Tower, and Alcatraz. In The Pandora Directive, there are 3 paths the story takes: Mission Street – The High Moral Path; Boulevard of Broken Dreams – The Low Moral Path; and Lombard Street – The In between Moral Path.
' from Sierra On-Line was set in San Francisco, and included visits to such local landmarks as Fisherman's Wharf and Alcatraz Island.
San Francisco is one of the key locations in Fallout 2.
San Francisco is a level in both Tony Hawk's Pro Skater and in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4.
It's one of the four playable cities in Driver and the main setting of '.
The City of San Fierro in ' is largely based on San Francisco, though significantly smaller and with slightly more of a focus on rural areas.
San Fierro features Rockstar's interpretations of the Haight-Ashbury district, the Castro district, Chinatown, and the Golden Gate Bridge, as well as the city's prominent cable cars and hilly terrain. Several other familiar landmarks have been recreated, from the Ferry Building and the Transamerica Pyramid to Lombard Street, and Scottish landmarks such as the Forth Bridge and the Forth Road Bridge. There is a district known as "Garcia", a tribute to Grateful Dead frontman and San Francisco native Jerry Garcia, and San Fierro's City Hall closely resembles San Francisco's ornate City hall.
In Destroy All Humans! 2, the first level is in Bay City, a parody of San Francisco featuring the Coit Tower, Alcatraz and Hashbury Street, as well as the Golden Gate Park.
Resistance 2 for the PlayStation 3 based its first level on the edge of San Francisco in an underwater secret base belonging to SRPA. A memorable moment was when Nathan Hale steps outside to see the Chimeran fleet hovering over a destroyed San Francisco with the Oakland Bay Bridge in flames.
Call of Duty: Black Ops II features the "Raid" multiplayer map in a California, along with the zombies map "MOB of the Dead," set in and around the Alcatraz Prison, seemingly infested by the undead.
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare features the Golden Gate Bridge in the mission "Collapse".
Mario Kart 8 for the Wii U features a race course named Toad Harbor, which is heavily based on San Francisco.
Watch Dogs 2 is based in San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area.
In Sonic Adventure 2 the first level is City Escape, which is based on San Francisco. This level also reappears in Sonic Generations

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