The Bay Area is a unique meeting grounds of people, ideas, continental plates, commodities, plants and animals (and fog): from centuries of Native American life, to Spanish and Mexican missions and ranches, to the gold rush, to center of agricultural and finance capital and trade, to post-WWII suburbanization, gentrification, silicon valley and green tech. The area’s history has always been formed by active participation of a range of groups, including protests to stop freeway development, struggles for just housing, major labor strikes at the transit depots in Oakland and SF, environmental conservation efforts, urban civil rights movements, anti-war and free-speech protests, and campaigns for immigrant rights. 
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Some Resources ONLINE include: http://invinciblecities.camden.rutgers.edu/intro.html (Richmond photos); http://www.theorganiccity.com/wordpress/ (Oakland stories); http://www.kqed.org/topics/local/walkingtours/index.jsp (Walking tours) http://bayradical.blogspot.com/ (history of Bay Area activism Blog)
Random facts: Critical mass began in SF and spread to more than 350 cities around the world; Mechanization and containerization at the Oakland Port not only provided ideas for 'StarWars' figures but also were part of a revolution in trade flows and port labor. Much port land was built on excavated material from the BART tunnels dug under the Bay.
For More Information, good reads on local & regional histories: CA: Walker (‘07) Country in the City; Henderson (‘98) California & the Fictions of Capital; SF: Walker (‘98) Reclaiming SF (see pp.16-19 for other writings!); Hartman (‘02) City for Sale; Brechin (’99) Imperial SF; Oakland: Self (‘04) American Babylon; Rhomberg (’04) No There There; Richmond: Moore (’01) To Place Our Deeds; Berkeley: Norman (’06) Temescal Legacies; Rorabaugh (‘89) Berkeley at War. See also Straight outta Hunters Point (2002) and other films @ UCB’s Media Center (bottom of Moffit).