Introducing Five Facts

In contribution to #SmarterEverySunday, some of GGU Social’s Sunday posts are now going to include five conceptual facts that you might not know. In GGU Social’s Five Facts, you can expect to learn five interesting facts about specific regions, cities, events or cultures. With keeping Five Facts easy to read, we’re hoping that it will be a rich addition to GGU Social’s entertainment aspect.

To submit regions, cities, events or cultures you would like to know more about, contact GGU Social at ggusocial@ggu.edu.
*You can also submit your photos to have them featured on GGU Social’s future posts.

This Sunday at Five Facts

The region for the launch of Five Facts is unsurprisingly, San Francisco. Let’s take a look at this Sunday’s Five Facts.

Photo Credit: Tarik A.

1. The strait that separates the Bay from the Pacific Ocean was named Golden Gate by California U.S. Army Captain John C. Fremont. When he first gazed at the strait in 1846, he gave it the name of Chrysopylae–which means Golden Gate–because of its similarity to the harbor of Byzantium (Istanbul), which was called Chrysoceras, or Golden Horn.
   

   Photo Credit: TodayIFoundOut.com

2. “La Isla de los Alcatraces,” which translates as “The Island of the Pelicans,” was once an island covered by countless amount of pelicans according to the French Captain Auguste Bernard Duhaut-Cilly’s journal that dates back to 1827. The island–today known as Alcatraz Island–was originally a military fort developed in 1868 before it was used as a federal prison from 1933 until 1963.
   

   Photo Credit: Wikipedia.org

3. Speaking of Alcatraz… According to Wired.com, the Alcatraz Prison used to be the only federal prison to offer hot water showers to prevent prisoners from acclimating to the cold temperatures of the San Francisco Bay if they tried to escape.

   *Next Sunday’s destination will be Alcatraz, if you’d like to find out more about the island and its history, make sure to visit GGU Social on February 28th!

   

   Photo Credit: SFGate.com

4. BART used to keep the nightlife moving! On December 1st, 1976, the Powell Street BART Station was transformed into an arcade station for their campaign with a catchy slogan, “BART keeps your nightlife moving.”

   Here’s a bonus photo to give you an idea of the 70’s attire at BART:

   

   Photo Credit: Kickingthebitbucket.com

   Looks like the trains haven’t changed at all.

   

   Photo Credit: IrishCentral.com

5. Irish Coffee–which happens to be my favorite kind of coffee to drink on a Sunday–was brought to the United States by San Francisco Chronicle’s travel writer Stanton Delaplane in 1952. Stanton Delaplane worked with the Buena Vista‘s owners to recreate the Irish method for floating the cream on top of the coffee that he had at Shannon Airport in Ireland.

Wrapping up

We hope you enjoyed reading GGU Social’s very first edition of Five Facts, and are looking forward to the next ones. If you missed the last #SmarterEverySunday post about Lake Merced, read it here.

Please let us know what you think of GGU Social so far, and submit the topics and features you would like us to include by e-mailing us at ggsocial@ggu.edu! You can also contribute in this 2-question survey to let us know a little bit about your thoughts.

 
Until Wednesday,
Tarik A.