223 San Francisco Trivia Questions (Ranked From Easiest to Hardest)

San Francisco trivia questions are a great way to test your knowledge of the city's landmarks, culture, and famous people.

Straight off the bat, here is a warm-up question to get you started:

Question: What California structure designed in 1917 has an official color of "international orange?"

Answer: Golden Gate Bridge

Okay, that one was pretty easy.

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223 San Francisco Trivia Questions Ranked From Easiest to Hardest (Updated For 2024)

1. What San Francisco neighborhood, home to Sutro Tower and named for a pair of mountains, shares its name with a surreal David Lynch TV show about murder in the Pacific Northwest?
   
   Answer: Twin Peaks
   
   
2. The Transamerica skyscraper, located on Montgomery St in San Francisco, the 2nd tallest building in the city, is a futurist design in what shape, outer triangles converging to a single point on top?
   
   Answer: Pyramid
   
   
3. What “G” Cathedral, located on Nob Hill in San Francisco, is the cathedral church of the Episcopal Diocese of California? Is name is also used in a popular Christian hymn that is supposed to be “Amazing.”
   
   Answer: Grace Cathedral
   
   
4. Home to the adobe Mission San Francisco Solano and its Barracks used by the Mexican military, what “S” northern California city is also in the heart of a big winemaking region?
   
   Answer: Sonoma
   
   
5. The Olsen twins were a pair, and Saget, Coulier, and Stamos were three of a kind in what family sitcom that aired its final episode in 1995?
   
   Answer: Full House
   
   
6. John Anglin, Bernard Coy, and Al Capone were among the former residents of what historic island in San Francisco Bay?
   
   Answer: Alcatraz Island
   
   
7. 301 Mission Street in the South of Market District in San Francisco is home to what mixed-use residential tower? It shares its name with the term for 1,000 years.
   
   Answer: Millennium Tower
   
   
8. Which neighborhood in San Francisco is also called “Little Italy,” and is the place to be if you want to eat gelato and visit the City Lights bookstore?
   
   Answer: North Beach
   
   
9. What’s the official three-letter IATA airport code for San Francisco International Airport?
   
   Answer: SFO
   
   
10. What man was the first openly gay elected official in the history of California? He was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1978.
    
    Answer: Harvey Milk
    
    
11. One of the most famous quotes about SF: “The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.” What American author allegedly said this but almost certainly in actuality did not?
    
    Answer: Mark Twain
    
    
12. Though the opening credits feature Alamo Square Park's Painted Ladies, "Comet's Excellent Adventure" was the only episode of "Full House" shot on location in what West Coast city where the show was set?
    
    Answer: San Francisco
    
    
13. Don't say Christopher Marlowe: poppy and mandrake make up one of the floral displays at a San Francisco garden dedicated to flowers name-dropped in the sonnets and plays of what English dude?
    
    Answer: William Shakespeare
    
    
14. Many street signs in Oakland sport an illustration of what kind of tree?
    
    Answer: Oak
    
    
15. Which Major League Soccer team named after a frequent geological event on the West Coast plays at PayPal Park and is known for quoting “The Goonies?”
    
    Answer: San Jose Earthquakes
    
    
16. According to an NPR interview with San Franciscan landmark’s paint superintendent Rocky Dellarocca, what branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, whose official march song is “Anchors Aweigh”, originally requested for the Golden Gate Bridge to be painted black and yellow stripes for visibility purposes?
    
    Answer: U.S. Navy
    
    
17. Formerly known as ZenPayroll, what payroll software company is headquartered in San Francisco, and was founded in 2012 by Joshua Reeves, Tomer London and Edward Kim?
    
    Answer: Gusto
    
    
18. What “T” mountain, part of the Pacific Coast Range, is the tallest mountain in San Francisco’s Marin County, CA?
    
    Answer: Mount Tamalpais
    
    
19. The Nike San Francisco Women's Half Marathon features a hilly course ending with tuxedoed firefighters awarding finishers their medals in the signature blue box of what jewelers?
    
    Answer: Tiffany & Co.
    
    
20. What “S” baths, located in Lands End in Outer Richmond, San Francisco, have allowed public swimming in a saltwater bath since 1894?
    
    Answer: Sutro Baths
    
    
21. The fog in the San Francisco Bay Area is often referred to by what affectionate nickname that is shared by famed folks like Marx and Popper?
    
    Answer: Karl
    
    
22. Richmond's Flying Squirrels team are the AAA affiliate of what Major League team, who last won the World Series in 2014?
    
    Answer: San Francisco Giants
    
    
23. What San Francisco sports team has a seal mascot appropriately named Lou Seal?
    
    Answer: San Francisco Giants
    
    
24. What “A” island in San Francisco Bay is home to a Quarantine Station, and was a former home to ranching by Mexicans? Its name is the same as a spiritual being believed to be a messenger or agent of God.
    
    Answer: Angel Island
    
    
25. What West Coast transportation shares an acronymed name with a famous cartoon character voiced by Nancy Cartwright?
    
    Answer: Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART)
    
    
26. Honoring LGBTQ victims of the Holocaust, Pink Triangle Park sits across from Harvey Milk Plaza, another memorial to an LGBTQ icon, in what American city?
    
    Answer: San Francisco
    
    
27. Which San Fransisco neighborhood is nicknamed SoMa because it’s south of which major street?
    
    Answer: Market
    
    
28. The San Francisco Bay is home to a diverse group of wildlife. Among them is the carcharodon carcharias, a star of the show during Discovery channel’s most popular annual week-long programming event. This apex predator is better known by what common name? We are looking for three words here.
    
    Answer: Great white shark
    
    
29. What “S” Financial Technologies company was founded in 2014, with headquarters in San Francisco, CA? It shares its name with the site of transmission of electrical nerve impulses between two neurons.
    
    Answer: Synapse
    
    
30. What Square in San Francisco is a 2.6-acre plaza bordered by Geary, Powell, Post, and Stockton streets, and is also the name of the surrounding shopping district? Its name means the action of being joined, particularly in a political context.
    
    Answer: Union Square
    
    
31. What “R” Beach, part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, is two miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge? Its name is also the name of a competitive equestrian sport known for its dangerous bull riding.
    
    Answer: Rodeo Beach
    
    
32. Melissa Sue Anderson and Karen Grassle are both Berkeley natives. They ended up playing mother and daughter on which American drama series that was based on the life of Laura Ingalls Wilder?
    
    Answer: Little House on the Prairie
    
    
33. What California structure designed in 1917 has an official color of "international orange?"
    
    Answer: Golden Gate Bridge
    
    
34. San Francisco is home to the last manually operated system of what local commuting method? It was first innovated and operated by Andrew Hallidie in 1873, as a public alternative to the horse drawn street car.
    
    Answer: Cable Car
    
    
35. Tony Shalhoub took home three Emmys, a Golden Globe, and two Screen Actors Guild awards for his lead role as a not particularly religious, OCD-suffering San Francisco detective on what successful USA comedy-drama show?
    
    Answer: Monk
    
    
36. Known as one of the California city’s original “Seven Hills”, what famous San Francisco neighborhood is home to landmarks including Huntington Park, the Cable Car Museum, and the historic Fairmont Hotel?
    
    Answer: Nob Hill
    
    
37. Randy Shilts's groundbreaking biography of murdered San Francisco supervisor and LGBTQ icon Harvey Milk is titled "The Mayor of" what city street?
    
    Answer: Castro Street
    
    
38. The first lesbian activist organization in the U.S. was the DOB, founded in San Francisco in 1955. The full name of the organization was the Daughters of what?
    
    Answer: Bilitis
    
    
39. What pilaf-inspired brand, owned by PepsiCo subsidiary Quaker Oats, bills itself as the "San Francisco Treat?"
    
    Answer: Rice-a-roni
    
    
40. What TV show, set in San Francisco, stars Tony Shalhoub as a former police detective who develops Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder after the death of his wife, and now solves cases as a private detective?
    
    Answer: Monk
    
    
41. They're valued at $3 trillion, so have plenty money to spend on such things. In 2014, which US company commissioned a new font called San Francisco, which is now used on their products and in their advertising?
    
    Answer: Apple
    
    
42. Before it became San Francisco, 'The City' was a Mexican settlement known by what two-word Spanish name meaning "good herb"? We're looking for BOTH words here.
    
    Answer: Yerba Buena
    
    
43. What Sitcom, which ran from 1987-1995 on ABC in the USA was set in San Francisco?
    
    Answer: Full House
    
    
44. Oakland, California features a neighborhood named after what author of "The Call of the Wild," who often frequented the area?
    
    Answer: Jack London
    
    
45. British-born geophysicist Cecil Green lived in Toronto and San Francisco growing up, and ultimately earned two college degrees from M.I.T. However, when he cofounded a company, the firm included what other state in its name? You might be most familiar with one of their products from algebra class.
    
    Answer: Texas Instruments
    
    
46. What Walmart CEO, getting the job in 2014, is from Memphis, Tennessee, and shares a last name with a fictional TV San Francisco police commissioner played by Rock Hudson from 1971-1977?
    
    Answer: Doug McMillon
    
    
47. What athletic event that celebrates the LGBTQ community was held for the first time in 1982 in San Francisco, with 1,350 participants from 12 nations competing in 17 sports?
    
    Answer: Gay Games
    
    
48. Just north of San Fransisco, which protected old-growth redwood forest on Mount Tamalpais can you visit that’s part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area?
    
    Answer: Muir Woods
    
    
49. The San Francisco Giants have an annual night dedicated to which heavy metal band? The last one of these was on May 24 2022, where the band ‘shredded’ the national anthem on their guitars.
    
    Answer: Metallica
    
    
50. Since it was first announced in 1988 at the San Francisco Exploratorium, March 14 is the annual celebration of what 'tasty' mathematical constant?
    
    Answer: Pi
    
    
51. Bay area high school students Neal Schon and Gregg Rolie, aside from being members of Santana, were also founding members of what popular rock band, which gained popularity when joined by Steve Perry in 1978?
    
    Answer: Journey
    
    
52. In San Francisco, it is illegal to walk your elephant down Market Street unless they are wearing what? Other pets wear them sometimes.
    
    Answer: A leash
    
    
53. In 2019, the San Francisco Giants' home stadium changed its name from AT&T Park to what current name?
    
    Answer: Oracle Park
    
    
54. Accel, a venture capital firm specializing in startups at early levels of development, has offices in Palo Alto and what other California city, home of the NFL’s 49ers team?
    
    Answer: San Francisco
    
    
55. What is the oldest surviving structure in San Francisco? It was the sixth religious settlement established as part of a group's ambitious building and was founded in 1776 by Francisco Palóu.
    
    Answer: Mission San Francisco de Asís (Mission Dolores)
    
    
56. What is the titular city in "Tales of the City," a classic work of queer literature published in 1978 by American author Armistead Maupin?
    
    Answer: San Francisco
    
    
57. Providing software that focuses on customer service and market automation, what San Francisco-based company has a blue cloud logo with its name in the middle?
    
    Answer: Salesforce
    
    
58. A ship that sailed perfect due west after leaving San Fransisco harbor would make landfall just south of the city of Sendai in which country?
    
    Answer: Japan
    
    
59. San Francisco artist Gilbert Baker designed what symbol of the LGBT movement that was unveiled in 1978? It has eight parts, each symbolizing a specific aspect of their lives gay people should be proud of.
    
    Answer: Rainbow flag
    
    
60. With a name deriving from a Spanish verb and a formal definition of "landing place especially on an inland waterway," what is the SF-specific term for waterfront and roadway that was constructed on reclaimed land along a three-mile-long engineered seawall?
    
    Answer: Embarcadero
    
    
61. In November 2022, San Francisco residents voted to permanently ban cars from John F. Kennedy Drive in what city park, which runs from Haight-Asbury to the sea?
    
    Answer: Golden Gate Park
    
    
62. Lindt expanded their chocolate empire in the 1990s with the acquisition of what California-based chocolate company founded by and named after an Italian immigrant?
    
    Answer: Ghirardelli
    
    
63. Back in 2016, San Francisco's Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to ban the sale and distribution of what packing material in the city of San Francisco? The material is notoriously difficult to recycle and is incredibly slow to decompose.
    
    Answer: Styrofoam
    
    
64. What northern California city's name spells a poetic form when written backwards?
    
    Answer: Ukiah
    
    
65. What “T” company, founded in 2010 by Taso Du Val in San Francisco and 100 percent remote, connects freelancers with employers, pre-screening its freelancers and charging no recruitment fees?
    
    Answer: Toptal
    
    
66. Featured on "Shark Tank" in 2015, a San Francisco dating service that touts itself as "creating meaningful connections that spark hearts" is called "Coffee Meets" WHAT?
    
    Answer: Bagel
    
    
67. San Francisco was named in honor of Saint Francis of Assisi, who is the patron saint of which European country?
    
    Answer: Italy
    
    
68. Adventurer Phileas Fogg is shocked by the kerfuffle over a San Francisco election for a justice of the peace that he encounters on his global travels in what Jules Verne novel?
    
    Answer: Around the World in Eighty Days
    
    
69. Not to be confused with Ryan Reynolds' 2016 superhero film of a similar name, what was the title of the final movie in the San Francisco-based "Dirty Harry" film series?
    
    Answer: The Dead Pool
    
    
70. One of the biggest rideshare service brands in the world, Uber’s headquarters are found in which U.S. city? This is also the city where the first rides were given by this brand as well.
    
    Answer: San Francisco
    
    
71. In 2023, the San Francisco Business Times named Verkada in its top 10 "Best Places to Work in the Bay Area" as part of the "largest" company size category - what was the minimum number of employees needed to qualify for this category? It is also the minimum seating required for a theater to be considered "Broadway size", the length in miles of the main event in IndyCar racing, and the name of a card game based on Euchre.
    
    Answer: 500
    
    
72. Conceived of in 1988, the ten-acre National Aids Memorial Grove, designated by the AIDS Memorial Grove Act of 1996 as the official memorial for AIDS victims, is located in what city?
    
    Answer: San Francisco
    
    
73. Tell me: "Meet Virginia" was the breakthrough song for what "Drops of Jupiter" rock band from the San Francisco Bay Area?
    
    Answer: Train
    
    
74. It is not in Wales or San Francisco, Guinness World Records confirmed again in 2019. What is the name of the official steepest street in the world located in Dunedin, New Zealand?
    
    Answer: Baldwin
    
    
75. What is the "T" fog that is a thick ground fog common in the San Joaquin Valley and Sacramento Valley during late fall through early spring?
    
    Answer: Tule fog
    
    
76. At 195 Broadway St in 1915, the first transcontinental telephone call was placed from New York to San Francisco by what man?
    
    Answer: Alexander Graham Bell
    
    
77. "Alarm Will HOWL," reads an emergency exit warning at a San Francisco museum dedicated to what mid-20th century literary movement?
    
    Answer: Beat
    
    
78. What popular two-word Rum cocktail takes its name from the Tahitian word for “good” or “excellent”, but was actually invented in Oakland, California in 1944?
    
    Answer: Mai Tai
    
    
79. In MLB, the “Battle of the Bay” World Series between the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland Athletics happened in which year? This series was remembered for the third game being postponed for an earth-shaking reason.
    
    Answer: 1989
    
    
80. The home stadium of the NFL's Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers is named after what San Francisco-based online banking company founded in 2011?
    
    Answer: SoFi
    
    
81. Although they are ubiquitous in Chinese restaurants, fortune cookies are not Chinese! What U.S. city gave rise to the now iconic end to a meal of Chinese food?
    
    Answer: San Francisco
    
    
82. Sarah Bernhardt and Ben Harrison were the oddly human-sounding names of two creatures that were first brought to Golden Gate Park in 1890 and have become a fixture ever since. Or their descendants have. What type of animal were Sarah and Ben?
    
    Answer: Bison
    
    
83. In October 2020, a San Francisco-based company named Whisper raised $35 million in Series B funding. Coincidentally, Quiet Ventures led the fundraising round for Whisper and the company is known as a manufacturer of what piece of medical technology?
    
    Answer: Hearing aids
    
    
84. Set in 2001 while playing for the San Francisco Giants, what man holds the MLB record for most home runs in a single season?
    
    Answer: Barry Bonds
    
    
85. On "Star Trek: TNG," Picard's Holodeck adventures as private eye Dixon Hill take place on the hilly streets of what city where Sam Spade gumshoed?
    
    Answer: San Francisco
    
    
86. E Fremont Street is home to what Las Vegas hotel and casino, whose two-word name is better known as the name of a bridge across the San Francisco Bay?
    
    Answer: Golden Gate Hotel and Casino
    
    
87. As the crow flies (rather than driving directions), there is only one state capital outside of California (so, not Sacramento) that is within 500 miles of San Francisco. What is this CAPITAL? We are looking for the city, not the state.
    
    Answer: Carson City
    
    
88. Sightglass, Saint Frank, and Philz are all acclaimed coffee shops in what West Coast city?
    
    Answer: San Francisco
    
    
89. For almost sixty years, what columnist had daily musings in the San Francisco Chronicle that attracted critical acclaim and represented the "voice of San Francisco?" One famous quote from this man: "One day if I do go to heaven...I'll look around and say, 'It ain't bad, but it ain't San Francisco.'"
    
    Answer: Herb Caen
    
    
90. A Discovery Kingdom, a 135-acre animal theme park in Vallejo, CA, located between San Francisco and Sacramento, is owned by what theme park company with a more famous California theme park in Southern California’s Valencia?
    
    Answer: Six Flags Discovery Kingdom
    
    
91. What famous gorilla, who reportedly knew over 1,000 sign language signs, was born at the San Francisco Zoo?
    
    Answer: Koko
    
    
92. After being elected in 2018, who became the first Black woman to be mayor of San Fransisco?
    
    Answer: London Breed
    
    
93. The U.S.'s oldest athletic club is located in San Francisco. What is its name? One of its three golf courses has been named by both "Golf Week" and "Golf Digest" as being among the top 100 golf courses in the country.
    
    Answer: Olympic Club
    
    
94. What San Francisco icons were named a National Landmark in 1964? They are one of the only moving national landmarks.
    
    Answer: Cable cars
    
    
95. The Sacramento River Cats is a professional AAA baseball team that, since 2015, has been affiliated with what California major league team?
    
    Answer: Giants
    
    
96. What Swiss chocolate company, now the seventh-largest in the world, owns the U.S.-based brand Ghirardelli, originally founded in San Francisco?
    
    Answer: Lindt & Sprungli
    
    
97. Featuring chocolate chips and macadamia nuts, what Pepperidge Farm cookie variety shares its name with a city in Marin County?
    
    Answer: Sausalito
    
    
98. Having a golden era in the 1980s and 1990s, how many Super Bowls have the San Francisco 49ers won in their history?
    
    Answer: Five
    
    
99. In addition to San Francisco, L.A., and Macau, what Australian city was the site for the studio where "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" was filmed?
    
    Answer: Sydney
    
    
100. Spending most of his pro career with the San Francisco Giants, MLB Hall of Famer Willie Mays was famously nicknamed “The Say Hey” what?
     
     Answer: Kid
     
     
101. What small city with a population of ~12,000 residents lies in the corridor between Berkeley and Oakland in California's East Bay?
     
     Answer: Emeryville
     
     
102. What independent bookstore/publisher in San Francisco shares its two-word name with a 1931 Charlie Chaplin film about the Tramp trying to help a blind flower girl make rent money?
     
     Answer: City Lights Booksellers and Publishers
     
     
103. Capella Space, a startup company founded in San Francisco in 2016, is working on space-based observation satellites that use what “R” technology, with special modifications that allow it to penetrate clouds and see at night?
     
     Answer: Radar
     
     
104. Counting Peter Thiel among its partners, what alliteratively named San Francisco-based venture capital firm lists Facebook, Palantir, Airbnb, and SpaceX among its portfolio companies?
     
     Answer: Founders Fund
     
     
105. What is the longest continuously operating chocolatier in the U.S.? This firm started as a confectionary shop in San Francisco in 1852.
     
     Answer: Ghirardelli
     
     
106. What’s the name of the three-legged, red-and-white radio tower that’s a key part of SF’s skyline?
     
     Answer: Sutro
     
     
107. Activist and educator Pedro Zamora was the first openly gay man living with HIV on a major American TV show during his 1993 stint as a roommate on the San Francisco cast of what still-running cable reality show?
     
     Answer: The Real World
     
     
108. Originally named Loma Alta, a Bay Area outlook erected in 1849 provided the current name to what promontory that's home to flocks of wild parrots?
     
     Answer: Telegraph Hill
     
     
109. According to a 1967 countercultural song by Scott McKenzie, "If you're going to San Francisco," what should you wear in your hair?
     
     Answer: Flowers
     
     
110. Since 2016, the tallest building in Indianapolis has been known by what official name? This is also the name of the tallest building in San Francisco and the name of an enterprise software company.
     
     Answer: Salesforce Tower
     
     
111. Which American tech giant originally styled its name it all lowercase letters because it was intended to be a shortened version of where it started—San Francisco? (Hint: The company’s logo also features a notable over-water landmark)
     
     Answer: Cisco
     
     
112. San Francisco's shoreline used to be further inland. The Embarcadero and part of the Financial District were built on the remains of what, buried during the Gold Rush?
     
     Answer: Shipwrecks
     
     
113. Upton Sinclair's 20th-century novel "Oil!" served as inspiration and a springboard for the screenplay of what Oscar-winning 2007 film following the life of a California oil man?
     
     Answer: There Will Be Blood
     
     
114. The San Francisco-based company Ethos was valued at a valuation of more than $2 billion in May 2021 after spending its existence focusing on what common type of insurance product?
     
     Answer: Life insurance
     
     
115. Eccentric San Francisco landlady Anna Madrigal was a character through many of the nine "Tales of the City" novels by what American author?
     
     Answer: Armistead Maupin
     
     
116. Outside the UCSF Medical Center in the Inner Sunset neighborhood, you'll see two different sculptures by Benny Bufano made of granite. Both sculptures depict what type of animal?
     
     Answer: Bear
     
     
117. A wacky chase down San Francisco's Lombard Street is one of the twists in what 1972 Barbra Streisand comedy that shares its name with a Looney Tunes catchphrase?
     
     Answer: What's Up, Doc?
     
     
118. What IATA code for a San Francisco Bay Area airport is also the name of a type of deciduous tree?
     
     Answer: OAK
     
     
119. What University of Delaware alum, a 2007 graduate, won Superbowl MVP in 2013 as quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens against the San Francisco 49ers? He is the only Blue Hen to win a ring in the NFL at the QB position.
     
     Answer: Joe Flacco
     
     
120. What current Michigan football coach has also coached Stanford University and the San Francisco 49ers of the NFL? In 2013, he lost the Super Bowl against his brother, the current head coach of the Baltimore Ravens.
     
     Answer: Jim Harbaugh
     
     
121. What late 80s/early 90s sitcom focused on widowed newscaster Danny Tanner, who has his friends Joey and Jesse move into his San Francisco house to help take care of his three children?
     
     Answer: Full House
     
     
122. What “V” mobile-only neobank, founded in San Francisco in 2015, was founded by Colin Walsh as a way to attract millennials to banking? It is the third most popular neobank, behind Chime and Simple.
     
     Answer: Varo Bank
     
     
123. What windy, crooked street in the Russian Hill neighborhood of San Francisco shares its name with the last name of the female star of “My Man Godfrey”, known for her romance with Clark Gable?
     
     Answer: Lombard Street
     
     
124. What “C” Tower in the Telegraph Hill neighborhood of San Francisco was built in 1932, and offers views of the city from 210 feet in the air?
     
     Answer: Coit Tower
     
     
125. What type of low-lying cloud is commonly seen in San Francisco and is named “Karl” by its local residents, according to its own verified Instagram account?
     
     Answer: Fog
     
     
126. What electronics and fitness company, best known for its wearable activity monitors, announced in 2021 that it would grade the sleep quality of its users with cartoon animals? The company, founded in 2007 in San Francisco, is perhaps best known for step counting.
     
     Answer: Fitbit
     
     
127. What Food Network star and Top Chef Masters finalist is the chef-owner of Bottega restaurant in Yountville and Coqueta in San Francisco?
     
     Answer: Michael Chiarello
     
     
128. What disaster occurred on April 18th, 1906, in San Francisco, leading to several fires that caused parts of the city to burn for three days?
     
     Answer: Earthquake
     
     
129. Formed in 2017, what’s the name of the professional Esports league owned by Andy Miller that competes playing the video game “Overwatch”?
     
     Answer: San Francisco Shock
     
     
130. Made famous by Tony Bennett, what song begins "The loveliness of Paris seems somehow sadly gray" and confirms that the singer is "going home to my city by the Bay?"
     
     Answer: I Left My Heart in San Francisco
     
     
131. While the name might remind you of a Cuban dictator which San Fransisco district in Eureka Valleys is best known for the Twin Peaks Tavern and GLBT Historic Museum?
     
     Answer: The Castro
     
     
132. What San Francisco company, named for its German-American founder, was the first to make and sell blue jeans?
     
     Answer: Levi Strauss & Co.
     
     
133. Which attraction on Front Street describes itself as a “Creative Innovation Center for Sustainability” and features art studios, a co-working lab, a cafe, as well as a zero-waste art market and gift shop of locally-made items?
     
     Answer: Atrium 916
     
     
134. What midtown Sacramento district, centrally-located at K and 20th Streets, has been called “Sacramento’s answer to San Fransisco’s Castro” on account of its thriving LGBTQ community and businesses.
     
     Answer: Lavender Heights
     
     
135. What uninhabited—and treacherous—islands 30 miles west of the Golden Gate are technically part of the city of San Francisco?
     
     Answer: Farallon Islands
     
     
136. Resigning in 1931 to become the Governor of California for only a single term, who was the longest serving mayor in San Francisco’s history?
     
     Answer: James Rolph
     
     
137. Started in San Francisco in 1904 by Amadeo Peter Giannini, what financial institution would later become Bank of America? A bank with the same name exists today, but not in the US.
     
     Answer: Bank of Italy
     
     
138. Now called the Koret Playground, the Sharon Quarters for Children was the first public playground in the U.S.. In what San Francisco park was the playground located?
     
     Answer: Golden Gate Park
     
     
139. What Spanish explorer founded the Presidio of San Francisco on March 28, 1776? This predates the establishment of the Mission San Francisco de Asís (Mission Dolores) by a few months.
     
     Answer: Juan Bautista de Anza
     
     
140. What famous building found at 130 Sutter Street was built in 1916 and restored in 2010?
     
     Answer: Hallidie Building
     
     
141. What is the name of the paddlewheel riverboat permanently moored on the Sacramento River next to Old Sacramento? Built in 1927 to run between Sacramento and San Francisco, it is now a hotel and restaurant.
     
     Answer: Delta King
     
     
142. In 1873, which steep street in San Fransisco that’s now a historic landmark became the first to have cable cars?
     
     Answer: Clay Street
     
     
143. Compton's Cafeteria, the site of a famous riot in which drag queens and transgender women fought back against police oppression, is in what city, in an area now designated as the Transgender District?
     
     Answer: San Francisco
     
     
144. By what name was the future San Francisco International Airport known when it opened for business in 1927?
     
     Answer: Mills Field
     
     
145. In 2012, what non-profit microlending service in San Fransisco ran a promo where the CEO donated $1 so that over 40,000 people could lend $25 “for free” using the platform?
     
     Answer: Kiva
     
     
146. On what San Francisco street did Philo T. Farnsworth, the man who invented the first electronic television, have his lab?
     
     Answer: Green Street
     
     
147. Known for building data transfer networks that power fintech products, what financial services company that’s based in San Francisco and founded in 2013 shares its name with a fabric pattern that’s also known as tartan?
     
     Answer: Plaid
     
     
148. PaloAltoDelivery.com served as the inspiration for what San Francisco-headquartered online food ordering and delivery company whose app surged in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020?
     
     Answer: DoorDash
     
     
149. The labyrinth laid out in the interior Grace Cathedral is a replica of the labyrinth at what famous French Gothic Cathedral?
     
     Answer: Chartres
     
     
150. What was the first European (specifically, Spanish) ship to be anchored in San Francisco Bay, on August 5, 1775?
     
     Answer: San Carlos
     
     
151. "Find yourself outside" is the motto of what campground-booking app, which began in the San Francisco area and is often called the "AirBNB of camping?"
     
     Answer: Hipcamp
     
     
152. Founded in 2018 by Evan Reiser and Sanjay Jeyakumar, which San Fransisco-based security startup with a somewhat atypical name uses AI to help make email more secure?
     
     Answer: Abnormal Security
     
     
153. In 2011, Vista Equity Partners moved from its original HQ city of San Francisco, California to what state capital city?
     
     Answer: Austin
     
     
154. Two cocktails—one with gin, Triple Sec, Lillet Blanc, and absinthe, the other with gin and ginger beer—share what name which might make you think of San Francisco?
     
     Answer: Foghorn
     
     
155. What San Francisco-headquartered food delivery company launched in 2013 under its original name PaloAltoDelivery.com?
     
     Answer: DoorDash
     
     
156. Which member of the executive leadership team joined Fisher Investments as one of its first employees in 1983, and has an undergrad degree from the University of San Francisco?
     
     Answer: Jeff Silk
     
     
157. What Helmut Jahn-designed building, which has been described as resembling a Phillips-head screwdriver, is the tallest building in California outside of Los Angeles or San Francisco?
     
     Answer: One America Plaza
     
     
158. Approximately lasting from Spring Break to Columbus Day 1967, what is the name given to the social phenomenon that occurred when ~100,000 hippies and hippie-adjacents came to hang in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury District?
     
     Answer: Summer of Love
     
     
159. "Let me serenade the streets of L.A / From Oakland to Sac-town, the Bay Area and back down." That's some questionable geography from the lyrics of what classic 2Pac hit?
     
     Answer: California Love
     
     
160. Phil Lesh and Bob Weir have more than a touch of grey in their hair as appreciative surviving members of what 50-something-year-old Bay Area rock band?
     
     Answer: The Grateful Dead
     
     
161. Trekkies know that young people who want a career on a starship must first “boldly go” to San Fransisco and train at which institution?
     
     Answer: Starfleet Academy
     
     
162. Once the tallest building between San Francisco and the Mississippi, Denver's Daniels & Fisher Tower was modeled on the Campanile of the Piazza San Marco in what Italian city that's way less arid?
     
     Answer: Venice / Venizia
     
     
163. His famous country-crooning son Tim was born in the South, but which Major League Baseball pitcher who said, “Ya gotta believe!” was born and raised in the Bay Area? (He had to head East when he signed with the New York Mets in 1964).
     
     Answer: Tug McGraw
     
     
164. Much like the part of NYC that has the same name, which San Fransisco neighborhood is a shopping hot spot that’s also home to the Golden Gate Tap Room, Dragon’s Gate, and the Curran Theater?
     
     Answer: Union Square
     
     
165. Which San Francisco Giants pitcher was named World Series MVP in 2014 after having an ERA of 1.03 and 45 strikeouts in that year’s postseason?
     
     Answer: Madison Bumgarner
     
     
166. The massive 1964 earthquake that killed 133 people and destroyed several villages in coastal Alaska occurred on what religious holiday? The quake's moment magnitude of 9.2 was more than a thousand times as powerful as the famous 1989 San Francisco earthquake.
     
     Answer: Good Friday
     
     
167. Alfred Hitchcock used gulls captured at a San Francisco garbage dump to film what 1963 movie, set in the coastal town of Bodega Bay, California?
     
     Answer: The Birds
     
     
168. Raymond Burr famously played the title defense attorney in "Perry Mason," and also the title San Francisco detective in what "rigid" series of the 1960s and 1970s?
     
     Answer: Ironside
     
     
169. A popular public market in Napa, California has what “O” name? It shares that one-word name with a 1943 William Wellman western “Incident” starring Henry Fonda, about a posse chasing cattle thieves.
     
     Answer: Oxbow
     
     
170. Jimmy Stewart finds himself hanging from the edge of a tall San Francisco building at the beginning of what 1958 Alfred Hitchcock film?
     
     Answer: Vertigo
     
     
171. What park at the intersection of Washington and Drumm Streets, also known as Ferry Park, is located in San Francisco’s financial district? It is named for a cofounder of the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood.
     
     Answer: Sue Bierman Park
     
     
172. San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen took Jack Kerouac’s phrase for his group of friends and added a Russian suffix to it. So goes the origin for what term for the members of a 1950s social movement focused on an anti-materialistic lifestyle?
     
     Answer: Beatnik
     
     
173. What was the name of the humpback whale who took a detour from his migration to Alaska to visit San Fransisco Bay in 1985 and again in 1990?
     
     Answer: Humphrey
     
     
174. What California city was the state's capital before the government seat was moved to Sacramento in 1869?
     
     Answer: San Francisco
     
     
175. Edsel Fong, a lifetime resident of San Francisco's Chinatown, was famously called the world's "rudest, worst, most insulting" person of what profession?
     
     Answer: Waiter
     
     
176. Which NBC crime drama aired from 1967 to 1975 and starred Raymond Burr as the titular character, a wheelchair-using veteran police detective consulting on cases in San Francisco?
     
     Answer: Ironside
     
     
177. Which legendary voice actor, known for his voices of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and other Warner Brothers characters, was born in San Francisco on May 30, 1908
     
     Answer: Mel Blanc
     
     
178. Known as the ‘crookedest street in the world’, Lombard Street is a steep road in San Francisco with how many hairpin turns?
     
     Answer: Eight
     
     
179. Founded in 2011 in San Francisco, what mobile-first personal finance company offers student loans, mortgages, and credit card services through mobile and desktop apps? This “S” company was founded by Mike Cagney and Ian Brady, among others.
     
     Answer: SoFi
     
     
180. "Fountain" -- a urinal with the words "R. Mutt 1917" scrawled on it -- is one of SFMoMA's most famous holdings, and is a work by what avant-garde French artist?
     
     Answer: Marcel Duchamp
     
     
181. The Musee Mecanique, an interactive museum located in San Francisco’s Pier 45, is a collection of what kind of arcade games? Also the name of a web comic about videogames, these arcade games are small novelty experiences, often linked to the late 19th and early 20th century, and a very low price.
     
     Answer: Penny Arcade
     
     
182. Mission Street in San Francisco is home to a museum that celebrates black cultures and tries to start challenging conversations about what “D” word as it applies to Africans, the dispersal of a people from their original homeland?
     
     Answer: The Museum Of The African Diaspora
     
     
183. The Tenderloin would make just as much sense: San Francisco's Good Vibrations Antique Vibrator Museum is a buzzy attraction in what aptly named neighborhood?
     
     Answer: Nob Hill
     
     
184. What was the name of the San Francisco golf club that hosted the 2012 men’s and 2021 women’s US golf open?
     
     Answer: Olympic Club
     
     
185. What was the name of the social event held for LGBTQ visitors to San Francisco during the 2023 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit?
     
     Answer: Gaypec
     
     
186. What California-set 1982 film was the highest grossing film of the 1980s at the U.S. box office?
     
     Answer: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
     
     
187. Now owned by Marriott, what legendary San Francisco hotel was the largest hotel in the world when it opened in 1875?
     
     Answer: The Palace
     
     
188. What is the name of the 2012-founded San Francisco-based company that uses a spreadsheet-database hybrid in which features of a database are applied to a spreadsheet? Founded by Howie Liu, Andrew Ofstad, and Emmett Nicholas, the company widely shares its API for connecting other online services and has raised more than $300 million in funding (as of early 2021).
     
     Answer: Airtable
     
     
189. The SF neighborhood Haight-Ashbury is also generally known in the city as the Upper Haight. The "Lower Haight" also has a hyphenated two-word alternate name. What is that name?
     
     Answer: Haight–Fillmore
     
     
190. According to the 2020 US Census, 873,965 live in San Francisco. How many Californian cities have a population larger than San Francisco?
     
     Answer: Three
     
     
191. A scenic route was created by the San Francisco Down Town Association in 1938 to highlight San Francisco's manmade and natural beauty. How many miles long was this scenic drive?
     
     Answer: 49
     
     
192. Which neighborhood is the oldest in SF, partly because it’s home to which Spanish mission that’s the oldest surviving structure in the city? (Hint: They share a name!)
     
     Answer: Dolores
     
     
193. In 2011, Mayor Gavin Newsom posthumously inducted Philo T. Farnsworth into the San Francisco Hall of Fame, partially for his prototypical invention of what first all-electric household item in 1938?
     
     Answer: Television
     
     
194. The initial unveiling of the iPhone to the public was in 2007 at the Moscone Center in what American city?
     
     Answer: San Francisco
     
     
195. What park within San Francisco’s Golden Gate Recreation Area is situated between Lincoln Park and Fort Miley, and contains a memorial to the USS San Francisco? Its two-word name is a metaphor for its shoreline.
     
     Answer: Lands End
     
     
196. An unidentified serial killer in San Francisco, who committed a series of murders and assaults in 1974-1975, was given what nickname, due to his habit of sketching his victims beforehand?
     
     Answer: Doodler
     
     
197. Hundreds of thousands of Asian immigrants passed through what island in San Francisco Bay in the early 20th century, sometimes called the "Ellis Island of the West?"
     
     Answer: Angel Island
     
     
198. Which website builder and web hosting service based in San Fransisco was founded by Dan Veltri and David Rusenko in 2006 when they were attending Penn State and trying to fulfill the college’s requirement that all students have an online portfolio?
     
     Answer: Weebly
     
     
199. Used as the title of a fictionalized 1962 biopic, what was the nickname of ornithologist Robert Stroud, who resided in the notorious San Fransisco location that led to his nickname from 1942 to 1959?
     
     Answer: Birdman of Alcatraz
     
     
200. He's tall, wears a big hat and a football jersey with the number "49," but doesn't play....what's the name of the San Francisco Forty-Niners' team mascot?
     
     Answer: Sourdough Sam
     
     
201. The headquarters of which enormous digital library, known for the “Wayback Machine,” is housed in an old Christian Scientist church in Richmond? (Hint: The building’s facade looks like the Greek columns of the Library of Alexandria, which is the website’s logo).
     
     Answer: The Internet Archive
     
     
202. What online real estate company based in San Fransisco was started by Keith Rabois and Eric Wu in 2014 is known for making instant cash offers to homeowners looking to sell?
     
     Answer: Opendoor
     
     
203. What was the first road across the continental U.S.? Formally dedicated on October 31, 1913, it ran from New York to San Francisco and went through 13 states en route.
     
     Answer: Lincoln Highway
     
     
204. Two large structures in Golden Gate Park were originally built to pump water to supply the park's needs. The more northerly of the two is right next to the Queen Wilhelmina Tulip Garden. What type of structures are these?
     
     Answer: Windmills
     
     
205. Also the name of a Bruce Springsteen song, what 1989 Clint Eastwood movie features scenes shot in San Francisco's Capital Mall area?
     
     Answer: Pink Cadillac
     
     
206. Ten primitive campsites are available for historically minded campers on what island in San Francisco Bay, often called the "Ellis Island of the West" for its former use as an immigration station?
     
     Answer: Angel Island
     
     
207. In 1899, the first ship-to-shore radio transmission was sent from a lightship to a coastal receiving station located at the Cliff House in what city on the West Coast of the U.S.? The message was "Sherman is sighted," about the return of a troopship from the Spanish-American War.
     
     Answer: San Francisco
     
     
208. Having previously played at the Polo Grounds in New York, in which year did the MLB Giants relocate to the city of San Francisco?
     
     Answer: 1958
     
     
209. What is the alliteratively named San Francisco-based technology company that offers pay-per-mile car insurance? The company was founded in 2011 and went public in February 2021.
     
     Answer: Metromile
     
     
210. As of the 2000 census, the 4th largest city in Costa Rica by population shares a name with the 13th most populous U.S. city. What is the name of this city?
     
     Answer: San Francisco
     
     
211. One of the biggest FinTech companies in the world, Stripe has headquarters in two cities, one in San Francisco, and one in which European city?
     
     Answer: Dublin
     
     
212. Atlys, a startup based in San Fransisco, is helping make it easier for immigrants to get which crucial document that they need to work and live in the U.S.?
     
     Answer: Visa
     
     
213. San Francisco's historical marker at the corner of Taylor and Turk commemorates the 1966 LGBT uprising at what chain eatery?
     
     Answer: Compton's Cafeteria
     
     
214. What “E” American psychologist and professor emeritus at UC San Francisco is a pioneer in the relation between emotions and facial expressions? His books include “Telling Lies” and “Emotions Revealed.”
     
     Answer: Paul Ekman
     
     
215. The Contemporary Jewish Museum, located in San Francisco’s South Of Market neighborhood, was designed by what “L” Polish-American architect, who also co-designed the One World Trade Center and Berlin’s Jewish Museum?
     
     Answer: Daniel Libeskind
     
     
216. “On approximately this spot, Miles Archer, partner of Sam Spade, was done in by Brigid O’Shaughnessy.” So reads a plaque in an alley near San Francisco's Union Square spoiling a plot point in what Dashiell Hammett thriller?
     
     Answer: The Maltese Falcon
     
     
217. At the time of her death in 2023, who was the oldest living person to have held the office of Mayor of San Francisco?
     
     Answer: Dianne Feinstein
     
     
218. Which square in the Chinatown section of San Fransisco was the first park in the city and used to be a plaza (Plaza de Yerba Buena) but got a new name after the Conquest of California, taking on a moniker inspired by a sloop ‘o war that fought in the battle?
     
     Answer: Portsmouth
     
     
219. What “G” Database company formed out of San Francisco in 2017 uses machine intelligence in order to build a database of knowledge? Its name makes it sound like it's made out of yellow-like Chemical Element Number 79.
     
     Answer: Golden
     
     
220. Howard P. Grant was the first Black graduate of the Berkeley Engineering, the first Black engineer for the City and County of San Francisco, and the first known Black member of what professional organization, the oldest of its type in the U.S.?
     
     Answer: American Society of Civil Engineers
     
     
221. A showcase of the city's recovery from the 1906 earthquake and fire, San Francisco's Panama-Pacific Exposition of 1915 was to celebrate the opening of what engineering marvel?
     
     Answer: The Panama Canal
     
     
222. What San Francisco landmark, inscribed (although not in English) with the saying "All under heaven is for the good of the people," is located at the intersection of Bush Street and Grant Avenue?
     
     Answer: Dragon Gate
     
     
223. In 1935, Pan American World Airlines (a.k.a. Pan Am) began Pacific passenger air service with flights to Honolulu from what West Coast city?
     
     Answer: San Francisco
     
     

San Francisco Trivia Quiz (Frequently Asked Questions)

What makes San Francisco trivia so engaging?

San Francisco is a vibrant and fascinating city with a rich history and culture.

Learning about the city's unique landmarks, neighborhoods, and people can be a fun and engaging way to expand your knowledge and appreciation of this iconic location.

Whether you're a native San Franciscan or a visitor looking to learn more about the city, San Francisco trivia can be a great way to explore the city's many interesting stories and facts.

Where can you find San Francisco trivia questions?

There are many sources for San Francisco trivia questions.

You can find books, websites, and apps dedicated to providing trivia questions about the city.

Many local tour companies, museums, and other organizations offer trivia quizzes and games as part of their educational offerings.

You can also ask friends and family who know the city well for their own favorite trivia questions.

Water Cooler Trivia also has a selection of San Francisco trivia questions that you can use to kickstart your games night.

How can you create a San Francisco trivia quiz?

To create a San Francisco trivia quiz, start by brainstorming a list of topics that you want to include.

These could include famous landmarks, historical events, local culture, sports teams, and anything else that you think would be interesting to learn about the city.

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If you are running short on time and are looking for a hassle-free solution, consider taking Water Cooler Trivia for a spin.

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