Sights

Golden Gate National Cemetery is a U.S. National Cemetery, located in the city of San Bruno, San Mateo County, 12 miles (19 km) south of San Francisco. Because of the name and location, it is frequently confused with San Francisco National Cemetery, which dates to the 19th century and is in the Presidio of San Francisco, in view of the Golden Gate. Around 1937, San Francisco residents voted to no longer build cemeteries within the city proper and, as a result, the site for the new national cemetery was selected south of the city limits.

Congress authorized construction of the facility in 1937, with the first interments in 1941. The cemetery was officially dedicated on Memorial Day, May 30, 1942. Then- Attorney General Earl Warren (and later Chief Justice of the United States) was keynote speaker at the ceremony. Golden Gate is one of a large number of U.S. Army-planned cemeteries started in the 1930s and completed during the 1940s. They were designed specifically to provide abundant burial opportunities in locations around the nation in cities with very large veteran populations.

As of 2005, the cemetery held 137,435 internments. Over the years, several attempts to expand Golden Gate National Cemetery were met with resistance from local residents, so it has remained at its original 161.5 acres (654,000 m²) since 1941.

The Leo J. Ryan Memorial Federal Building, also known as the Leo J. Ryan Memorial Federal Archives and Records Center, is a United States government office facility which opened in 1973, and is located in San Bruno, California. It houses the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) for the Pacific Sierra Region of the United States. The building was re-named in honor and memory of U.S. Representative Leo J. Ryan, through Congressional legislation which passed in 1984.

The NARA describes the building as "an integral part of the Bay Area's network of world class public historical research centers and cultural institutions." [1] The holdings in the facility are a major primary resource for study in the fields of Asian-Pacific immigration, environmental, Naval, Native American, [2] and other aspects of American history. [3]

In 1993, the building underwent accessibility improvements to its architectural design, which were performed by Interactive Resources. [4] The building is owned and managed by the General Services Administration. [5] A San Mateo County publication identified the building as a "local treasure." [6]