1987
- Art Agnos is elected mayor of San Francisco
- Punk rock band Green Day (Billie Joe Armstrong pictured) forms in the East Bay, with early gigs at 924 Gilman in Berkeley
- Security software company McAfee is founded in Santa Clara
- Biotech pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences is founded in Foster City
- The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority light rail system (logo pictured) begins operation
- The Sonoma Coast AVA is established
- Nancy Pelosi is elected to California's 5th congressional district
- Cleve Jones and Mike Smith begin work in San Francisco on a quilt project to memorialize people who had died from AIDS