In San Francisco, CA, I patronized one of the finest German eateries and one of its finest German bakeries for Oktoberfest ... and I will return before October is out here ... I had forgotten in the last twenty years that although I do not often go into the crowd, and I do not drink beer, I do love German food ... das Essen schmeckt mir so gut! Oktoberfest is celebrated in San Francisco as well which is how the eating places got my attention ... glad to learn of the history of the festival through this post.
Some of San Francisco's finest architecture, including the Golden Gate Bridge, is a contribution of San Francisco's small but mighty German and German-American contingent, and there are still several German architecture firms that are based here as well as in Germany. The Goethe-Institut here is not shy about making sure the German contribution is not forgotten -- so, natürlich, Oktoberfest and a number of German eateries still do well here also.