THEY USED TO CALL IT YERBA BUENA:    As part of the Mexican-American War, the USS Portsmouth sailed into San Francisco Bay on this day in 1846.  Its orders were to capture the town of Yerba Buena (translation: “Good Herb”), which it did without firing a shot.  At that point the town had a population of no more than 500.

Somebody must not have liked the name, since in less than a year it was changed to San Francisco.  By 1849, with the discovery of gold in California, San Francisco’s population had mushroomed to 25,000.

The 2020 Census put San Francisco’s population at 873,965.  But, according to estimates, San Francisco’s population has declined more than any other city in the country since then–alas, not a surprise to anyone who has been there recently.