Vanessa Guerra

With the economy and his 2012 reelection bid on his mind, President Barack Obama arrived at San Francisco International Airport on board Air Force One. He was whisked away to Facebook’s Palo Alto campus for an unprecedented hour-long town hall meeting hosted by the company’s CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg and streamed online to Facebook users, and then went to San Francisco to attend two fundraising events for Democrats.

Here are snapshots of his stops in the Bay Area.

OAKLAND — A raucous public demonstration against the minimum sentence delivered to Johannes Mehserle turned into a nighttime march through the streets of Oakland Friday night, resulting in more than one hundred arrests and leaving two people injured, including a police officer.

Police estimate approximately 500 people gathered in front of Oakland City Hall at Frank Ogawa Plaza to decry Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Robert Perry’s decision to assign the former BART Police officer a two-year sentence with a 292 day credit for good behavior for the shooting death of Oscar Grant at the Fruitvale BART station on January 1, 2009.

(11/3) — 06:20 PDT — OAKLAND — Jerry Brown had his wish granted Tuesday night: the former two-term California governor from the 1970s won a third term as the top official in the state, beating out Republican challenger and political novice Meg Whitman.

And in front of a crowd of cheering supports at the Fox Theater in Oakland, he promised to work toward a “breakthrough” in Sacramento.

The Bay Area is experiencing a growing food revolution, and it’s happening in the form of temporary markets, farm stands and even an “underground” market that are quickly changing the way we connect to each other and the environment.

Shoppers “popped up” with their reusable grocery bags and filled them with fresh produce and one-of-a-kind gourmet food items at a recent “Pop-Up” market that’s housed in a warehouse otherwise known as Grace Street Catering in Oakland.

There will be no grand ceremony, no formal salute and few goodbye tears marking the end of an era.

This Friday, the Transbay Transit Terminal, the drab gray building occupying three blocks of Mission Street that is often ridiculed for its utilitarian appearance and colonization by San Francisco’s homeless population, will close for good.

(7/19) — 21:35 PDT — WALNUT CREEK — Two dueling protests, one in support of former BART Police Officer Johannes Mehserle and another on behalf of the unarmed passenger he fatally shot, started and ended peacefully despite verbal clashes in front of the Walnut Creek courthouse Monday afternoon.

A boisterous crowd of 300 people, who divided themselves into two groups according to their message, alternated between trading taunts that often escalated to shouting matches and chanting passionate slogans of support for either Mehserle and law enforcement personnel or shooting victim Oscar Grant.

(7/9) — UPDATED 14:15 PDT — OAKLAND — A large, peaceful gathering of people in Downtown Oakland following former BART Police Officer Johannes Mehserle’s conviction for involuntary manslaughter was followed by violence as the sun set.

Oakland Police Chief Anthony Batts blamed the violence, which included looting shops and setting dumpsters on fire, on a small group of about 50 anarchists.

In downtown Oakland — where it seems nearly every business is preparing for the absolute worst that the BART shooting verdict could trigger — there are a handful of businesses who aren’t boarding up their storefronts or putting up posters of shooting victim Oscar Grant in fear of angry protesters breaking windows and torching cars.

They’re not giving in.

After months of anticipation, Apple’s iPhone 4 finally went on sale today, delighting Apple enthusiasts and fans in the Bay Area who eagerly put in pre-orders to bring the new device home.

Beer lovers: bottoms up! Prepare to do some serious tasting at a new Oakland hot-spot, Beer Revolution.

This new addition to the Jack London Square neighborhood opened just a few months ago and it’s already earning rave reviews for their delectable selection and super friendly service.