The New York Times today debuted its Bay Area Report, a two-page, twice-weekly spread of local news that it hopes will boost print circulation in San Francisco, already the paper’s largest market outside the Northeast. The accelerated launch puts the Times ahead of its rival, The Wall Street Journal, in their battle for national print dominance. The Journal said today that its version of a local edition for San Francisco will be out by year’s end.

In an interview with paidContent, Times president Scott Heekin-Canedy said he expects local advertising to pay for the pages. Today’s second page of the Bay Area Report (somewhat weirdly paginated A23B) includes a full-color, half-page ad for Limn Furniture, a high-end retailer based in California. The Bay Area Report’s success will depend on whether the Times can continue to secure that kind of advertising while improving circulation enough to justify the effort.

After the jump, read (or download) the spread that 40,080 subscribers received this morning in San Francisco and its environs.