If You Can’t Beat the Bay Area, Join It

Solving Northern California’s Toughest Problems Requires a New Megaregion, from San Francisco and Tahoe to the San Joaquin and Salinas Valleys

Welcome to the Bay Area, Merced!

Further north, welcome as well to Modesto, Sacramento, Placerville, and Yuba City. And, to the south, you’re invited, too, Santa Cruz, Monterey, San Benito, and Salinas. And while you’re almost in another state, don’t worry, Tahoe City, because the Bay waters are warm.

This expanded notion of the Bay Area’s reach isn’t a joke. It reflects the biggest thinking about California’s future. If you’re in a smaller Northern California region struggling to compete with the advanced grandeur of the Bay Area, why not join forces …

Fear and Loathing of L.A. and S.F. on the Campaign Trail

Our Gubernatorial Race Could Turn on Which City Californians Resent Most

Which city—San Francisco or Los Angeles—do you love to hate more?

This is shaping up to be California’s question for 2018. Each of the two top contenders for governor is a …

New Skyscrapers in L.A. and S.F. Tell Tall Tales About California

The Wilshire Grand and Salesforce Towers Show Corporations Still Sway the Golden State

This is a tale of two new skyscrapers—and of two cities that have more in common than they care to admit.

The Wilshire Grand Center towers 73 stories and 1,100 feet …

Why California’s Greatest Historian Couldn’t Get Elected in San Francisco

Kevin Starr's Failed Candidacy Exposed the Fault Lines in a Shifting City

Kevin Starr is widely regarded as California’s pre-eminent historian—a prolific author and public intellectual for nearly 50 years—and his death earlier this year generated much writing about his life and …

Golden Gate Bridge Train Service? It’s Time to Get on Board

California’s Iconic Span Needs Rail Transit, Both for Symbolism and for Sonoma’s Sake

If California is as serious about public transit as its urban leaders claim, why isn’t there a commuter rail service running over the Golden Gate Bridge?

There’s no good reason why …