Current and former Bay Area titans of politics, business and art are among the personalities chosen to be inducted into the California Museum's California Hall of Fame.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver announced the inductees, who include former Governor Edmund G. "Pat" Brown, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, and Levi Strauss, who brought the world blue jeans.
The Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take place on Dec. 14 at the California Museum in Sacramento. It will be followed by a reception and unveiling of the new exhibit featuring artifacts loaned to the museum by inductees, their families and related organizations.
Brown, father of former governor and current gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown, served as San Francisco District Attorney, state Attorney General, and governor during the 1940s and 1950s.
Strauss, who moved to San Francisco in 1853, was approached by a tailor from Reno who had an idea for blue denim work pants but needed a business partner. The two men were awarded a U.S. patent in 1873 and soon began making the world's first blue jeans.
Zuckerberg, the chief executive officer of Palo Alto-based social networking website Facebook, expanded what started as a small project at Harvard University into one of the world's most popular websites.
After the site gained popularity, Zuckerberg and friends from Harvard moved the business across the country to Palo Alto. Today, the company has more than 400 million users and employs more than 1,400 people.
Other inductees with Bay Area ties include San Francisco author Anne Lamott, Silicon Valley venture capitalist John Doerr, A.P. Giannini -- who founded a bank in San Francisco in 1904 that was later renamed Bank of America -- and Kevin Starr, an author who was a San Francisco city librarian. Starr wrote a book that came out Tuesday about the Golden Gate Bridge.
Among the other inductees were former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz, actress and singer Barbra Streisand, singer Merle Haggard, actress Betty White, and tennis player Serena Williams.
Another inductee is film director James Cameron, who worked with Schwarzenegger on "The Terminator," "Terminator 2: Judgment Day," and "True Lies."
"The California Hall of Fame is a great way to honor amazing Californians whose dedication, determination and courage have helped shape this state," Schwarzenegger said in a prepared statement. "What they have accomplished reminds us all that we live in the greatest state, one of opportunity and prosperity. They make me proud to call California home, and proud that they are this year's inductees," he said.
