June 27

On June 27, 1776, Lieutenant José Joaquin Moraga led Spanish colonists to Dolores Lagoon near present-day Albion and Camp streets in San Francisco's Mission District. This expedition established the Presidio and Mission San Francisco de Asís, anchoring Spain's colonial grip on Alta California. The settlement would grow into the city that defined the American West.

On June 27, 1776, Fray Francisco Palóu and fellow missionary Fray Benito Cambón arrived with colonists at Laguna y Arroyo de los Dolores as part of the Moraga expedition. This settlement, founded near present-day San Francisco, marked a crucial step in Spanish colonization of the Bay Area. Palóu would go on to establish Mission San Francisco de Asís and serve as a key figure in the region's missionary history.

On June 27, 1970, thirty courageous gays and lesbians marched down Polk Street in San Francisco, launching what would become the city's annual Pride celebration. This modest procession — a year after the Stonewall uprising in New York — marked San Francisco's defiant claim as a hub of LGBTQ liberation. The march grew exponentially in subsequent years, transforming into Gay Freedom Day and establishing San Francisco as the epicenter of Pride activism.

On June 27, 1776, Lieutenant José Joaquín Moraga led Spanish colonists to the shore of Laguna Dolores near present-day Albion and Camp Streets in San Francisco's Mission District. This expedition established the settlement that would become Mission San Francisco de Asís, the sixth California mission and the nucleus of Spanish colonial San Francisco. The mission's founding preceded the American Revolution by mere weeks and anchored Spain's grip on the Bay Area for decades.