15 surprising Bay Area facts that sound like urban legends

San Franciscans flush their toilets with water from Yosemite. The tap water sure tastes good. Maybe that's why the sourdough bread and local craft beer is so good too. The source of the city water is an aqueduct stretching clear up into the Hetch Hetchy reservoir, in Yosemite National Park. The mayor of San Francisco first wanted the water back in 1890, but the real impetus for flooding the picturesque valley that once rivaled the Yosemite Valley was the 1906 quake and resulting fire. By 1934, the dam was built, the pipes were laid, and the city was drinking the Sierra's finest. President Woodrow Wilson had to sign a law allowing the project in a national park, but the city got its way, and now 280 miles of pipelines feed water to 2.4 million people in San Francisco, Santa Clara, Alameda, and San Mateo county. 85 percent of Hetch Hetchy water is pure snow-melt from Yosemite National Park. less San Franciscans flush their toilets with water from Yosemite. The tap water sure tastes good. Maybe that's why the sourdough bread and local craft beer is so good too. The source of the city water is an aqueduct ... more Photo: Tom Stienstra, The Chronicle Photo: Tom Stienstra, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 19 Caption Close 15 surprising Bay Area facts that sound like urban legends 1 / 19 Back to Gallery

San Francisco flushes its toilets with water from Yosemite National Park. The streets were once paved with guns. San Francisco is so far west, you'd have to drive all the way past Reno until you were directly north of Los Angeles. Those are just a few of the Northern California facts that sound like urban legends but are true as true can be.

From waters on the bay to waters in the pipes, the coffee we drink, and the places we go to watch wrestling, the Bay Area is always surprising.

ALSO: Snopes debunks (or verifies!) 14 Bay Area myths

The truth is stranger than fiction, and in Northern California, we couldn't even make this stuff up.

We put together 15 of the most surprising-but-true facts we could find.

Did we miss anything?

Let us know if there's a Bay Area myth that you want us to check out, or a fascinating fact about life as a Northern California.