Up North

People in California refer to the Bay area as "the north!"  The fact is though that it's very far from the north if you look at a map.  What do they call Eureka or Crescent City, if San Francisco is "north?"
I have a solution to the problem.  In England we refer to the north as being Manchester and beyond - it makes a lot of sense if you check it.  But then there is Birmingham and stuff around the middle like Leicester and Northampton.  We call this area the Midlands.  Now isn't that sensible?  I also rather like the idea of calling San Francisco the Midlands!