Museum of International Propaganda

Mission San Rafael Arcángel is a Spanish mission in San Rafael, California. It was founded in 1817 as a medical asistencia ("sub-mission") of Mission San Francisco de Asís. It was a hospital to treat sick Native Americans, making it Alta California's first sanitarium. The weather was much better than in San Francisco, which helped the ill get better. It was not intended to be a stand-alone mission, but nevertheless grew and prospered and was granted full mission status on October 19, 1822.

The Mill Valley Film Festival is an annual American film festival founded in 1977.

The Marin History Museum is a museum with two locations in Marin County, California, US. It includes the historic Boyd Gate House, the museum's main exhibition space, in San Rafael, and the Collections Research Facility, in Novato. It is one of about a dozen US museums that has launched a mobile app to view the county's historic hotspots.

New George's was a nightclub and concert venue located in San Rafael, California. History of the venue dates back to the 1920s when it was a recreational pool hall. The building was remodeled into a nightclub in 1977 and named New George's until it closed in 2003. It was during this time many famous artists performed at the venue, including Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, Santana, Huey Lewis and the News, Bonnie Raitt and Melissa Etheridge.

The San Rafael Fire Department (SRFD) provides fire and emergency medical services to the City of San Rafael, California. The San Rafael Fire Department serves an estimated population of 72,000 people with approximately 70 firefighting and emergency medical field personnel. The ISO Class 1 department responds to, on average, approximately 9,000 emergency calls annually, with about 70% being emergency medical calls. EMS patients are transported to the hospital of their choice, unless the call is urgent. The department staffs six stations with 23 personnel daily. Strategically located throughout the city are six frontline Type 1 engines, two brush engines an aerial ladder truck, two frontline ambulances, and a battalion chief each shift. An additional engine is cross-staffed by the crew of the frontline truck, and two additional ambulances and are cross-staffed by the crews of an Engine 55 and Engine 56. County wide mutual aid provides relief and additional support during large scale incidents and during high call volume. Because the majority (70%) of calls are EMS related, a paramedic is onboard all engines. Also, one additional ambulance is stored at Station 55 (Medic 55) and another at Station 56 (Medic 56). While these units are not staffed full-time, they are cross-staffed by the crew of the engine companies and can respond if Medic 52 and Medic 57 are committed to other calls. In 2021, the department responded to 9,088 total calls, up from 7,041 in 2012.

San Rafael ( SAN rə-FEL; Spanish for "St. Raphael", Spanish pronunciation: [san rafaˈel]) is a city and the county seat of Marin County, California, United States. The city is located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 61,271, up from 57,713 in 2010. San Rafael was founded by the Spanish in 1817, when Vicente Francisco de Sarría established Mission San Rafael Arcángel, initially as an asistencia (sub-mission). San Rafael Arcángel was upgraded to full mission status in 1822, a month before Alta California declared independence from Spain as part of Mexico. Following the American Conquest of California, the community of San Rafael incorporated as a city in 1874.

The San Rafael Transportation Center (also called C. Paul Bettini Transportation Center) is an intermodal transportation center located in downtown San Rafael, California. It is a primary transfer point for several local and regional bus operators, and a commuter rail station on the Sonoma–Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) system.

Marin Academy (familiarly known as MA) is a private college preparatory high school in San Rafael, California. Located on the campus that for decades housed the San Rafael Military Academy prior to its closure, Marin Academy was founded in 1971 with 118 faculty members and a student body of 449. Marin Academy is one of the most competitive private high schools in the Bay Area. In the 2015–2016 school year, Marin Academy accepted only one in four students who applied.

The Bradford House in San Rafael, California, also known as Bradford Manor or as Bradford/Sharp House, was built in 1883. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.It was deemed "an exceptional example of Stick/Eastlake style." It is a two-and-a-half-story mansion built largely of redwood, and is about 60 by 56 feet (18 m × 17 m) in plan. It is asymmetrical on all floors, with a veranda, some porches, and a steep and complex roof.It was built for William Bushnell Bradford and his wife Pauline Bradford, and is located in a cul de sac at 333 G Street, in the park-like Forbes Addition area about .25 miles (0.40 km) northwest of downtown San Rafael.Descendants sold the home in 1916 and it was later divided into seven apartments.

The Marin Shakespeare Company http://www.marinshakespeare.org was established in 1989 at Dominican College’s Forest Meadows Amphitheatre in San Rafael, California, by Lesley Schisgall Currier and Robert Currier. The original Marin Shakespeare Festival, founded by John and Ann Brebner, produced outdoor Shakespearean theatre at the Ross Art and Garden Center for 6 seasons from 1961 to 1967. That year the Forest Meadows Amphitheater was built for the Shakespeare Festival where it remained until 1972, before producing a final season at San Francisco's Palace of Fine Arts in 1973. In 1989, Robert and Lesley Currier came to Marin to revive the defunct festival. Their first production of "As You Like It" was performed at Forest Meadows in 1990. The company grew to offer three summer performances, education programming including summer camps and year-round classes, in-schools classes, Student Matinees, and the Teen Touring Company. In 2001 Marin Shakespeare Company celebrated the 40th anniversary of the founding of California's first outdoor Shakespeare festival. In 2003, the company began Shakespeare for Social Justice programs, with classes offered at San Quentin State Prison. Shakespeare for Social Justice has served 14 California State Prisons and Alameda Juvenile Hall. The program includes classes in Shakespeare, original writing/performing, and Acting for Veterans which allows military Veterans to tell their stories through theatre. Dozens of performances from inside prisons are available for viewing on the company's YouTube page. In 2023, under the leadership of Lesley and Robert Currier, the company opened the Center for Arts, Education, and Social Justice at 514 Fourth Street in San Rafael. Marin Shakespeare Company is listed as a Major Festival in the book Shakespeare Festivals Around the World by Marcus D. Gregio (Editor), 2004. The Marin Shakespeare Company is part of the Shakespeare Theatre Association (STA).

The San Rafael Improvement Club, at 1800 5th Ave. in San Rafael, California, was built in 1915. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.It was built in 1915 as a pavilion for the Panama–Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, and was relocated and reassembled in 1916 in the City of San Rafael to be used as a permanent clubhouse building the San Rafael Improvement Club, a civic organization founded in 1902. The organization may or may not have defined itself as a women's club, but photos show that is what it was. It served as the Victrola Pavilion, for the Victrola company, inside the Liberal Arts Palace.It is a wooden building about 63 by 63 feet (19 m × 19 m) in plan. It was designed by William B. Faville in Classical Revival style. When it was reassembled, a roof was added.It was eventually sold by the club. It was unused from 1997 to at least 2018.The only other building surviving from the 1915 exposition is the San Francisco Palace of Fine Arts.

Terrapin Crossroads was a music venue,, bar, and restaurant active from 2011 until 2021 in San Rafael, California, founded by former Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh.