Robert Dollar House

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 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.

The Ali Akbar College of Music (AACM) is the name of three schools founded by Indian musician Ali Akbar Khan to teach Indian classical music. The first was founded in 1956 in Calcutta, India. The second was founded in 1967 in Berkeley, California, but moved to its current location in San Rafael, California the next year. The third was founded in 1985 in Basel, Switzerland, and is run by Khan's disciple Ken Zuckerman. In 2003, a collection from the AACM's sound archives formed one of the 50 "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" recorded works chosen by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry. Among these AACM recordings were live performances by Allauddin Khan, Kishan Maharaj, Nikhil Banerjee and Alla Rakha.

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 Falkirk Cultural Center is a cultural center occupying the 11-acre (4.5 ha) Robert Dollar Estate at 1408 Mission Avenue, San Rafael, California, United States. It includes a three-story, 17-room mansion built in the Queen Anne and Eastlake styles. The mansion was originally built in 1888 for Ella Nichols Park, the widow of attorney Trenor W. Park, and was designed by architect Clinton Day. Scottish-born shipping and timber magnate Robert Dollar purchased the estate in 1906. It was expanded in the 1920s and became a cultural center in 1975. The estate is on the National Register of Historic Places.

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 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.

Los Ranchitos (Spanish for The Little Ranches) is an unincorporated community in Marin County, California, United States. It lies at an elevation of 66 feet (20 m).Los Ranchitos was developed in 1949 into lots of at least one acre in size, with most averaging 1-2 acres. There are covenants on record describing allowable use of the lots, as well as a Los Ranchitos Improvement Association, which has been continuously active since the 1950s. It does have a distinctly rural feel and is zoned agricultural and light farming with many lots having stables, horses, chickens, and goats. As an unincorporated area, it falls under county jurisdiction and the area serves as a regional community separator between San Rafael and Terra Linda. It also shares boundaries with San Rafael's Open Space, administered by the Marin County Open Space District, and is actively used as a major wildlife corridor.

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

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 Museum of International Propaganda is a non-profit institution that opened its doors in 2016 in San Rafael, California.