History UsefulNotes / California

* '''West Hollywood:''' Incorporated in 1985 east of Beverly Hills, with the two collectively surrounded entirely by UsefulNotes/LosAngeles. Unlike BH, it's policed by the LA County Sheriffs and sends kids to the LA Unified School District. Like UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco, is known for its gay population. It also has a large community of Russians and Ukrainians... including [[Main/TheMafiya Russian mobsters]]. Home to the Sunset Strip which developed a lasting hard-partying reputation during [[Main/TheRoaringTwenties Prohibition]] when what was then a piece of unincorporated Los Angeles County wasn't as heavily policed for such things as the city.

* '''Buena Park:''' A small town home to [[Ride/CedarFairEntertainment Knott's Berry Farm]], which started out in the early twentieth century as an actual berry farm that slowly morphed into a theme park. Despite being only a 10-minute drive from Ride/{{Disneyland}}, it remains very popular regionally due to a) boasting several rides that emphasize thrills over Disney's more family-oriented fare and b) featuring a model Old West Town and a very authentic recreation of Philadelphia's Independence Hall (where the [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution United States Declaration of Independence]] was signed), which makes it a popular field trip destination for [=SoCal=] schoolchildren.
* '''Costa Mesa''': A coastal city that boasts South Coast Plaza, a sprawling high-end mall that rivals the luxury shopping on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. Right across the highway from the mall is [[BigFancyHouse a massive and gaudy mansion]] that served as the headquarters of Creator/{{TBN}} for several decades. Orange Coast College is also located here, right across the street from the OC Fairgrounds, which hosts the Orange County Fair. The Los Angeles Chargers have their headquarters and training facilities here.

* '''Irvine:''' A city owned and run by a corporation, the Irvine Company, which has swallowed up large swaths of land in surrounding communities as well. Home to UC Irvine, initially one of the system's smaller schools that has been steadily rising in size and prominence in recent decades. Often in the running for safest city in America, it's extremely clean, very quiet (some would say boring), and upper-middle class. If you work in an Orange County office, you probably work here. A number of technological and semi-conductor companies are based out of Irvine and game developer Creator/BlizzardEntertainment calls the city its headquarters.

* '''Compton:''' Often thought to be an internal suburb of Los Angeles, but actually an independent city and one of the oldest in the state (incorporated in 1888). Located just south of downtown L.A., this predominantly Black/Latino city has faced several decades of economic trouble but is also one of the state's cultural centers and is the birthplace of GangstaRap, which was made famous by Music/{{NWA}} and their debut studio album ''Music/StraightOuttaCompton''; a generation later, it's still producing acclaimed rappers at a remarkable rate, most prominently Music/KendrickLamar. Many legends of West Coast rap rubbed shoulders at the Compton Fashion Center (open from 1983 to 2015), the famed "Compton swap meet" that was not just a place to buy clothes, but a crucial source of cutting edge rap albums not carried in the chain stores. Once notorious for its astronomical crime rates, things have stabilized in the last two decades thanks largely to Aja Brown, who served as mayor from 2013-21 and implemented programs to help with infrastructure, economic development and community relations, reaching out to gang members to end turf wars and even starting an experimental guaranteed income program for selected low-income residents.

* '''Moreno Valley''': East of Riverside and incorporated in 1984, simply called [=MoVal=] by the locals. The city once contained the Riverside International Raceway, which closed in 1989 and was replaced by Moreno Valley Mall. The economic state of the city deteriorated in the '90s, yet thanks to the increasing cost of property in Los Angeles and Orange County in the early 2000s, [=MoVal=]'s desirability was bolstered, and the city experienced a new housing development boom in TheNewTwenties. Though not part of [=MoVal=] itself, March Air Reserve Base has been a major player in employment for the region. One of the city's most notable amenities is the adjacent Perris Reservoir State Park.

* '''Redlands:''' Located Southeast of San Bernardino, this city is known for well preserved buildings that date back to the 1800s. The Victorian, French château-style, Kimberly Crest House and Gardens is a notable registered landmark. The Redlands Bowl was built in the 1920s and is used for musical and theatrical performances offered at no charge. Not to be confused with Redding which is in Northern California.

* '''San Bernardino:''' The second-largest city in the Inland Empire. Home to the Santa Fe Rail Road Museum and the Route 66-UsefulNotes/McDonalds Museum, the latter of which was the site of the original [=McDonald's=] restaurant. Called "San Berdoo" for short, and often derisively called "San Bernaghetto" by Los Angeles-area residents, particularly after it entered bankruptcy in 2012, where it languished for over five years and still is struggling to fully recover. On the plus side, it's a surprisingly good destination for Egyptian art.

* '''Upland:''' An Inland Empire city incorporated in 1906; for its first few decades, it was a major center for citrus production. It became a suburb after World War II, especially when the San Bernardino Freeway (now part of I-10) was completed to LA in 1954. Today, it's probably best known in American culture as the home of ''Series/DrPimplePopper'', the surprisingly popular Website/YouTube channel of dermatologist Sandra Lee that has now spawned a Creator/{{TLC}} series of the same title.
* '''West Hollywood:''' Incorporated in 1985 east of Beverly Hills, with the two collectively surrounded entirely by UsefulNotes/LosAngeles. Unlike BH, it's policed by the LA County Sheriffs and sends kids to the LA Unified School District. The city, like UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco, is known for its gay population. It also has a large community of Russians and Ukrainians... including [[Main/TheMafiya Russian mobsters]]. Home to the Sunset Strip which developed a lasting hard-partying reputation during [[Main/TheRoaringTwenties Prohibition]] when what was then a piece of unincorporated Los Angeles County wasn't as heavily policed for such things as the city.

* '''Costa Mesa''': A coastal city that boasts South Coast Plaza, a sprawling high-end mall that rivals the luxury shopping on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills and is a major tourism magnet. Right across the highway from the mall is [[BigFancyHouse a massive and gaudy mansion]] that served as the headquarters of Creator/{{TBN}} for several decades. Orange Coast College is also located here, right across the street from the OC Fairgrounds, which hosts the Orange County Fair. The Los Angeles Chargers have their headquarters and training facilities here.

* '''Claremont''': Tidy old-style suburb on the very eastern edge of LA County (literally; the city limit is the county's border). Originally a citrus farming community, it's now most famous as the home of the Claremont Colleges, an elite consortium of five undergraduate colleges (Claremont [=McKenna=], Harvey Mudd, Pitzer, Pomona, Scripps) and two graduate colleges (Claremont Graduate, Keck) with adjoining campuses and many shared resources, all among the most selective institutions in America, which has led to the nickname "The City of Trees and Ph.Ds." Hometown of Creator/JessicaAlba.
* '''Compton:''' Often thought to be an internal suburb of Los Angeles, but actually an independent city and one of the oldest in the state (incorporated in 1888). Located just south of downtown L.A., this predominantly Black/Latino city has faced several decades of economic trouble but is also one of the state's cultural centers and is the birthplace of GangstaRap, which was made famous by Music/{{NWA}} and their debut studio album ''Music/StraightOuttaCompton''; a generation later, it's still producing acclaimed rappers at a remarkable rate, most prominently Music/KendrickLamar.

* '''Inglewood:''' A predominantly Latino/African-American city that is mostly enveloped by Los Angeles proper. Home to many of the landmarks commonly associated with Los Angeles, including the Randy's Donut donut. Due to being outside of L.A.'s jurisdiction while still being located close to downtown, also hosts the Forum (home to [[UsefulNotes/NationalBasketballAssociation the Lakers]] in the 20th century) and [=SoFi=] Stadium (home to [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague the Rams and Chargers]] and the most expensive sports venue ever built).

* '''Barstow:''' A city in the Mojave Desert founded as a railroad town (adopting the middle name of railroad president William B. Strong). At the junction of Interstates 40 and 15, it's typically viewed as the dividing line between civilization and the desert. It has a surprisingly diverse population for an isolated town, with large African-American and Hispanic communities, often traced to families leaving South Los Angeles after the 1992 riots. Also home to [[SemperFi Marine Corps]] Logistics Base Barstow and the closest city to Fort Irwin Military Reservation. The nearby town of Yermo was the birthplace of regional favorite fast food chain Del Taco, and many SoCal residents travelling to Las Vegas tend to stop at the original Del Taco outlets because [[SuperPrototype they taste better and still serve menu items that have been discontinued elsewhere]]

* '''Sacramento:''' The state capital and county seat [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment of Sacramento County]]. (The state's supreme court, however, sits in San Francisco.) Known colloquially as [[EmbarrassingNickname Sactown]] (which pretty much sums up all you need to know), the city's official nickname is "The City of Trees". It's home to the California State Railroad Museum in Old Sacramento (a Wild West tourist trap district adjacent to downtown), Sutter's Fort, the Tower Bridge, the California State Fair, the anime convention [=SacAnime=], the [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo rather]] [[UsefulNotes/TheSpaceRace important]] ArmsDealer [=GenCorp=] (Aerojet Rocketdyne), and the bands Music/{{Cake}} and Music/{{Deftones}}. "Sacto" is one of the most ethnically diverse and integrated in the USA. The area is also one of the least seismically-prone regions of California, though it floods occasionally. Sacramento has just one major pro sports team for now (the NBA's Kings, which residents fought hard to keep in town despite them being terrible for years), will temporarily have a second in 2205 when MLB's Oakland Athletics stop over on their way to Las Vegas in 2028 or so, and a ziggurat. Does ''your'' state or provincial capital have a ziggurat? We thought not. Hometown of two [[UsefulNotes/AcademyAward Best Actress]] winners (Creator/BrieLarson and Creator/JessicaChastain) and of Creator/GretaGerwig, who lovingly captured her adolescence in the sleepy capital in ''Film/LadyBird''.

* '''Sacramento:''' The state capital and county seat [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment of Sacramento County]]. (The state's supreme court, however, sits in San Francisco.) Known colloquially as [[EmbarrassingNickname Sactown]] (which pretty much sums up all you need to know), the city's official nickname is "The City of Trees". It's home to the California State Railroad Museum in Old Sacramento (a Wild West tourist trap district adjacent to downtown), Sutter's Fort, the Tower Bridge, the California State Fair, the anime convention [=SacAnime=], the [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo rather]] [[UsefulNotes/TheSpaceRace important]] ArmsDealer [=GenCorp=] (Aerojet Rocketdyne), and the bands Music/{{Cake}} and Music/{{Deftones}}. "Sacto" is one of the most ethnically diverse and integrated in the USA. The area is also one of the least seismically-prone regions of California, though it floods occasionally. Sacramento has just one major pro sports team (the NBA's Kings, which residents fought hard to keep in town despite them being terrible for years) and a ziggurat. Does ''your'' state or provincial capital have a ziggurat? We thought not. Hometown of two [[UsefulNotes/AcademyAward Best Actress]] winners (Creator/BrieLarson and Creator/JessicaChastain) and of Creator/GretaGerwig, who lovingly captured her adolescence in the sleepy capital in ''Film/LadyBird''.

* '''West Sacramento:''' An independent city in Yolo County on the west side of the Sacramento River that features Sutter Health Park, home of the Sacramento River Cats ([[UsefulNotes/MinorLeagueBaseball Triple-A]] affiliate of the San Francisco Giants), and where the Ziggurat building actually is.

* '''Burbank:''' An independent city in the San Fernando Valley. Located on the other side of the mountain from the Hollywood Sign, it's been called "The Media Center of the World", since it's the home of a dizzying number of production facilities, companies and even networks, like Creator/{{ABC}}, [[Creator/{{Disney}} Walt Disney Studios]], Creator/WarnerBros Studios, Creator/CartoonNetwork, and Creator/WarnerMusicGroup. Onetime home of Creator/{{NBC}}'s production facility, now called The Burbank Studios. ''Series/RowanAndMartinsLaughIn'' taped there and immortalized "beautiful downtown Burbank" into the cultural lexicon. Has a large regional airport that serves as a local alternative to LAX, a miles-long ribbon of a park on land cleared for a freeway that was never built, and to this day not really that much of a downtown.

* '''El Segundo:''' Suburban beachside community, famous as the headquarters for Creator/{{Mattel}}, Chevron, [=DirecTV=], the North American branch of Creator/SquareEnix, and, strangely enough, the Los Angeles Times. [[Music/ATribeCalledQuest Q-Tip left his wallet here once]].

* '''Artesia:''' Located in the San Gabriel Valley, this sleepy suburb was once primarily known as the childhood home of UsefulNotes/RichardNixon 's wife Pat. Nowadays, it's a vibrant and diverse suburb: aside from the East Asian/Latino mix typical of the San Gabriel Valley, it also has Southern California's largest Indian community and the second biggest Sri Lankan community in America behind the North Shore of [[UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity Staten Island]]

* '''Davis:''' A city just south of Sacramento that is known for the UC Davis campus, which is responsible for its liberal politics, abundance of bicycles and bike paths, and cows. (UCD is the primary agricultural campus of the UC system.)

* '''Eastvale''': A bedroom community east of Chino that was incorporated in 2010 and is one of the gateway cities for Riverside County. Originally a dairy farm enclave that started to rapidly transform in the turn of the century; now, if there was a poster image contest for {{Suburbia}}, Eastvale would be a strong candidate, serving as a popular residence for commuters working in Orange or LA County pushed further inland. Notably, it also contains the historical landmark "BTTF Lyon Estates 1955", the filming site for 1955's Lyon Estates in the movie ''Film/BackToTheFuture1''.

* '''Beverly Hills:''' An affluent city which, together with West Hollywood (below), is surrounded entirely by UsefulNotes/LosAngeles. America's shallowest city, literally--it seceded so it could have its own police and schools while almost everything below roadbed/basement level was left either to the county or regional commissions dominated by City of LA representatives, which wasn't an issue until they started talking about an east-west subway. Home to numerous Hollywood celebrities, several famed luxury hotels, and the ridiculously high-end Rodeo Drive shopping district, but also more ethnically diverse than you'd expect, with a sizable number of Iranian immigrants who arrived after the 1979 revolution; Iranians make up about a fifth of the population currently, as well as having a significant share of Gulf Arabs (specifically from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE).[[note]]At least 26% of all Beverly Hills residents are of Iranian descent, and many of them are from the pre-revolutionary Iranian Jewish community, including former mayor Jimmy Delshad, making it one of the largest communities of Mizrahi Jews outside of Israel.[[/note]] See ItCameFromBeverlyHills for works with this city's name in it.

** '''Mount Shasta:''' Second highest mountain in the Cascade Range and fifth highest mountain in California. Has a satellite peak called Shastina, which if it were a separate peak, would be the fourth highest peak in the Cascade Range. Most voluminous stratavolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc.

** '''Goose Lake:''' A large alkaline glacial lake located along the California/Oregon border. More of it is located in California, but a fair amount of is located in Oregon. It sometimes flows into the Pit River, part of the Sacramento River Watershed.

* '''{{UsefulNotes/Oakland}}:''' The largest city in the eastern Bay Area, perhaps best known today for its famous baseball and football teams (though the football team has skedaddled to UsefulNotes/LasVegas, and the baseball team seems to be following suit). One of America's most ethnically integrated urban centers, it was an industrial and port city that was critical to the American war effort in WWII. After that, it was hit pretty hard by the effects of white flight, and it's still rather poor and violent by California standards (though currently undergoing gentrification). Historically the home of the Black Panthers, it has long held the (somewhat undeserved) reputation of being a [[WretchedHive filthy, gang-ridden]], and [[{{Shadowland}} generally much poorer counterpart]] to San Francisco, where theft and drive-by shootings happen every day--in reality, only ''parts'' of it are truly that terrible. Nicknamed "The Town" to match San Francisco's "The City".
* '''UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco:''' The financial and legal center of the West Coast, the oldest incorporated city in California (beating Sacramento by a week), and the fourth largest city in the state. The cultural heart of Northern California, well known for its progressive politics, highly educated population, and [[{{Gayborhood}} the size of its LGBT population]]. Its hills, iconic bridges, Victorian architecture, cable cars, and the surrounding natural beauty of San Francisco Bay all around it lead to it regularly being regarded as one of the most beautiful cities in America, if not the most beautiful. Also, it's a county ''as well as'' a city. By order of His Imperial Highness Emperor Joshua Norton I: ''Whoever after due and proper warning shall be heard to utter the abominable word "Frisco", which has no linguistic or other warrant, shall be deemed guilty of a High Misdemeanor, and shall pay into the Imperial Treasury as penalty the sum of twenty-five dollars.'' San Francisco is the second-most densely populated major city in the country after New York City, with over 800,000 people living in just under 47 square miles of land, and is also one of the most expensive to live in. Its perpetual cold and fogginess [[HollywoodProvincialism often surprises visitors.]] Planning to work in the tech industry? You [[MemeticMutation must be willing to relocate to San Francisco]].
* '''San Jose:''' Located 50 miles south of UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco. Just like L.A., it's the heart and largest city of what is actually a single, sprawling, contiguous population center contained by a valley[[note]]As anyone from Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, Cupertino, Campbell, Mountain View, Saratoga, Los Gatos, or Milpitas will tell you, it's usually easier just to say you're from San Jose; a lot of people assume those are just names of districts or suburbs, not independent cities[[/note]]. The largest city in Northern California and third-largest in the state (as well as the eleventh-largest in the United States), having eclipsed UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco a few decades back (currently, the city proper is home to over a million, with roughly that number living in the surrounding suburbs). Do not expect anyone to realize this, however; its short skyline (due to downtown being a mile south of San Jose International Airport) and proximity to the global tourism magnet that is San Francisco have made it a disproportionately obscure city for those not from the area, but it does have notable destinations like "California's Great America" theme park, the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, and the labyrinthine Winchester Mystery House. Until the 1950s, San Jose and the Santa Clara Valley (known as "The Valley of Heart's Delight") was best known for its agricultural production and as the home of Buck the dog in ''Literature/TheCallOfTheWild''; today, Silicon Valley[[note]]the term was first used in 1971[[/note]] is effectively the center of the United States' electronics and software industry and hosts many of the juggernauts of the tech industry (Apple, Google, Netflix, eBay, HP, Oracle, Facebook). Very much an industry town: its freeway system is lined with the geekiest billboards ever seen. In sports, it is home to the Sharks of the [[UsefulNotes/NationalHockeyLeague NHL]] and the Earthquakes of [[UsefulNotes/MajorLeagueSoccer MLS]]. Yes, the local residents [[Music/DionneWarwick know the way to San Jose]] [[note]]For the curious, exit I-5 to Route 33 West, which turns into 152, and exit ''that'' for the 101 North in Gilroy. This is a common route into the city.[[/note]] and have NeverHeardThatOneBefore. Warmer than the rest of the Bay Area.

* '''UsefulNotes/SanDiego:''' The state's oldest major city, situated on a unique natural harbor between Tijuana (in fact, directly bordering it) and UsefulNotes/LosAngeles. It's California's second largest city (over 1.4 million in the city proper and another two million in the surrounding metro—and that doesn't count the two million-plus living in Tijuana and its immediate area), a fact that seems to escape most other Americans and even other Californians, who often stereotype it as still being a sleepy beach town with a great weather and a really big zoo. Birthplace of the San Diego Chicken (aka The Famous Chicken), Jack-In-The-Box, and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Over-the-line Over-The-Line]]. Currently its only major sports team is [[UsefulNotes/MajorLeagueBaseball the Padres of MLB]]; the [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague NFL's Chargers]] called the city home for more than half a century before they moved north to Los Angeles in 2016. Thanks to several big Navy and Marine bases nearby, home to the largest concentration of military personnel in the Western United States, most famously depicted in ''Film/TopGun''. Also home to a huge number of undocumented Mexican immigrants in addition to the best Mexican food in the U.S. (There may be a relation between the two.) The large military and Latino populations and high concentration of family-friendly attractions tend to give it a reputation for being culturally and politically conservative compared to the rest of the state's big cities. However, it's ''very'' diverse in both nation of origin (about 26.6% of San Diegans are foreign-born from places ranging from China to Italy, another 30% are American-born but from another state) and ancestry (46% non-Hispanic white, 29% Hispanic or Latino, 16% Asian, 7% African-American, 5% mixed, 13% other).[[note]]Some Asians, African-Americans, mixed people, and "other" also identify as Hispanic or Latino.[[/note]] Also famous for being the home of San Diego Comic Con and the University of California, San Diego, consistently ranked among the top 15 academic institutions in the world (particularly in biotechnology and medicine). Contrary to popular belief, San Diego is not German for "[[Film/AnchormanTheLegendOfRonBurgundy a whale's vagina.]]"

* '''Concord''': The largest town in Contra Costa County with over 100,000 residents. Mainly a bedroom community known for being the birthplace of Creator/TomHanks, hosting an annual jazz festival, being considered one of the best places for retirees to live, being the home of De La Salle High School (whose football team went on a record setting 151 game winning streak from 1992 to 2004), and the founding of the annual comic book store event "Free Comic Book Day"[[note]]Created by founder and owner of Flying Colors Comics, Joe Field, after seeing Baskin-Robbins’s success with "Free Cone Day" and deciding to do the same thing with comics in order to encourage new readers and drum up business. Currently, it’s an international event with hundreds of stores around the world participating.[[/note]]

* '''Marin City:''' Like East Palo Alto mentioned above, this was the only place in Marin County where black people were allowed to live in the 1940s, and still remains an extremely diverse community in a lillywhite part of the Bay. Music/TupacShakur lived here when he first moved to California from the East Coast as a teenager, and while he made his rap career in Oakland he's still considered a favorite son.

* '''Parkfield:''' A town located on The San Andreas Fault that is known as "The Earthquake Capital of The World."

* '''Barstow:''' A city in the Mojave Desert founded as a railroad town (adopting the middle name of railroad president William B. Strong). At the junction of Interstates 40 and 15, it's typically viewed as the dividing line between civilization and the desert. It has a surprisingly diverse population for an isolated town, with large African-American and Hispanic communities, often traced to families leaving South Los Angeles after the 1992 riots. Also home to [[SemperFi Marine Corps]] Logistics Base Barstow and the closest city to Fort Irwin Military Reservation. The nearby town of Yermo was the birthplace of regional favorite fast food chain Del Taco, and many SoCal residents travelling to Las Vegas tend to stop at the original Del Taco outlets because [[SuperPrototypen they taste better and still serve menu items that have been discontinued elsewhere]]

* '''Barstow:''' A city in the Mojave Desert founded as a railroad town (adopting the middle name of railroad president William B. Strong). At the junction of Interstates 40 and 15, it's typically viewed as the dividing line between civilization and the desert. It has a surprisingly diverse population for an isolated town, with large African-American and Hispanic communities, often traced to families leaving South Los Angeles after the 1992 riots. Also home to [[SemperFi Marine Corps]] Logistics Base Barstow and the closest city to Fort Irwin Military Reservation. The nearby town of Yermo was the birthplace of regional favorite fast food chain Del Taco, and supposedly the restaraunts in Barstow are better than the ones anywhere else.

* '''Barstow:''' A city in the Mojave Desert founded as a railroad town (adopting the middle name of railroad president William B. Strong). At the junction of Interstates 40 and 15, it's typically viewed as the dividing line between civilization and the desert. It has a surprisingly diverse population for an isolated town, with large African-American and Hispanic communities, often traced to families leaving South Los Angeles after the 1992 riots. Also home to [[SemperFi Marine Corps]] Logistics Base Barstow and the closest city to Fort Irwin Military Reservation.

* PoliceBrutality: The LAPD has a bad reputation for this. You may have heard "Can't we all just get along?".

* BusesAreForFreaks: Still a common attitude in parts of the state, particularly in the sprawling suburbs of [=SoCal=] and the Central Valley where car ownership is expected, if not outright ''required'', to get around. However, this became subverted, as increasing traffic congestion and vehicle expenses spurred a renewed interest in public transit, particularly express routes, around major cities. The trope is averted in the Bay Area, where geography and history resulted in a much denser urban landscape: San Francisco's public transit options (including those long articulated buses featured in movies like ''Film/ShangChiAndTheLegendOfTheTenRings'') are some of the most extensive in the United States and are relied upon by many residents as an alternative (partial or complete) to driving.

* CaliforniaUniversity: The University of California (UC) system, one of the best (if not ''the'' best) public college systems--nine campuses (UCLA, UC Davis, UC Santa Cruz, UC Berkeley [often called "Cal" or "Cal Berkeley"], UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UC Santa Barbara, UC San Diego, and UC Merced) plus one special bonus campus, UC San Francisco, which is a medical school and not an undergraduate institution. There's also a San Francisco law school, now known for short as UC Law SF (known before 2023 as UC Hastings), which for complicated historic reasons is both part of and ''not'' part of UC.[[note]]It's governed separately from the rest of the [=UCs=]. See [[https:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_California_College_of_the_Law,_San_Francisco The Other Wiki]] if you want the gory details.[[/note]] The education quality at these is pretty damn good. Then there's the CSU system, which is even more of this trope. And don't get us started on the private universities (Stanford, Caltech, USC, etc.), which along with the best of the UC System (Berkeley, LA, and San Diego), can rival the UsefulNotes/IvyLeague.
** At the opposite end of the scale in popular perception are Chico State and San Diego State (both in the CSU system), which are notorious for their raucous parties. The former was once declared the #1 party school in the Nation by ''Magazine/{{Playboy}}''. This reputation isn't entirely justified, for SDSU at least; SDSU is consistently ranked among the top universities in the country, and also made the Shanghai Rankings' Top 500 Global Universities List for most years of the past decade. In fact, according to the [[https://www.forbes.com/top-colleges/ Forbes rankings]], as well as the [[https://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report Pay Scale salary rankings]], San Diego State University is in fact superior to UC Merced, UC Riverside, and UC Santa Cruz, the bottom three of the [=UCs.=]

* FanConvention: Like almost any state. Three of its most well-known ones are San Diego Comic-Con, the largest comic-themed convention in the state, Anime Expo in Los Angeles, which is known for its major industry presences and is the largest anime convention in the United States, and [=FanimeCon=] in San Jose, a "by fans for fans" convention with more emphasis on fan content than industry that was notorious in 2013 for its atrociously long registration lines, although that reputation was completely flipped in 2014 with lines lasting no longer than 10 minutes at any given time.

** A logical reason for this is that Interstates 10 and 110 along with US Route 101 are all major arteries that intersect, and giving driving directions using numbers alone could sound like you're speaking binary.
** Either because of this trope or what caused it in the first place, you'll almost never find a state route, interstate highway, or US highway that has the same number as another. If they do, such as SR-110 and I-110 or SR-280 an I-280, they're either the same highway or the state route is an extension of the Interstate, and to most people, is effectively the same highway.

* ThemeNaming: Cities beginning with Santa or San (Spanish for "saint") pervade the state enough to confuse foreigners. The reason for this is that the Spanish were the first Europeans to colonize the area.
** Some streets in newly formed subdivisions are still named in the Spanish still, with "Via" or "Calle" or "Camino" in front of the name, rather than "Street" or "Avenue" or "Highway" at the end.

Thanks to its idyllic climate, fertile soil, and prime Pacific location, California experienced ''massive'' and sustained population growth through the late 19th and 20th centuries, eventually surpassing [[UsefulNotes/NewYorkState New York]] as the most populous state by the early 1960s as people flocked from across the country and around the world in pursuit of jobs and opportunity. The state's history is unfortunately full of efforts to limit and shape this developing population, many of them very dark in nature. Americans accelerated the ongoing genocide of Native Californians throughout the 19th century in various acts of violence that were not publicly recognized by the state until 2019,[[note]]Even though California still technically is home to more Native Americans than any other state in overall numbers, they now represent only 1% of the state's total population.[[/note]] passed laws that limited or outright banned the immigration of Asian people, deported thousands of Mexican Californians (even those who had lived in the state for generations) during the Great Depression, and imprisoned thousands of Japanese Californians during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. The tension between this history of discrimination and the diversity of the state's citizens has led to moments of civil unrest, some of the most famous examples being the Watts uprisings of the 1960s and the Rodney King riots in the early 1990s. Both were protests against PoliceBrutality in Los Angeles experienced by its sizable African American population, most of which had come to California in order to flee Jim Crow segregation in the South only to be met by further discrimination. Not coincidentally, [[UsefulNotes/CivilRightsMovement the Black Panther Party]] got its start and had the most local influence in California, specifically in Oakland.

Welcome to California. It's the most populous and third-largest state in the UsefulNotes/UnitedStates (second largest in the Lower 48), nearly [[UsefulNotes/AmericanCustomaryMeasurements 800 miles]] from the northern border with UsefulNotes/{{Oregon}} to the southern border with the [[UsefulNotes/{{Mexico}} Mexican]] state of Baja California. To the west is the Pacific Ocean, to the east is the state of Nevada, and to the southeast is the state of Arizona. In between these borders lies some of the most gorgeous geography on the face of the Earth, but also nightmarish urban hellscapes and lung-clogging atmosphere. Summing up California in one article would be extremely difficult. It is home to nine national parks, the most of any state,[[note]]Death Valley, Joshua Tree, the Channel Islands, Sequoia, Pinnacles, Kings Canyon, Lassen Volcanic, Redwood, and the granddaddy of them all, Yosemite[[/note]] which contain the highest peak of the lower 48 states (Mt. Whitney) and, 76 miles away, the lowest point in North America (Death Valley). The state as a whole is host to 15 of the 17 types of biomes: vast elevated deserts, beautiful forests of mighty redwoods, valleys of sun-soaked vineyards nestled in golden hills, and majestic snow-capped mountains. Basically, if something exists somewhere on Earth, you will probably find it in California.

Welcome to California. It's the most populous and third-largest state in the UsefulNotes/UnitedStates (second largest in the Lower 48), nearly [[UsefulNotes/AmericanCustomaryMeasurements 800 miles]] from the northern border with UsefulNotes/{{Oregon}} to the southern border with the [[UsefulNotes/{{Mexico}} Mexican]] state of Baja California.[[note]]The U.S. state of California was formerly the Mexican state of Alta California--that is "Upper California"--(which also included the present-day U.S. states of UsefulNotes/{{Nevada}}, UsefulNotes/{{Arizona}}, and UsefulNotes/{{Utah}}), so it was named in relation to the still-to-this-day Mexican state of Baja California--"Lower California." When they first encountered the region, the Spanish did not realize that it was firmly connected to the North American mainland, and therefore named it after a fictional island utopia from a famous Spanish novel of the day.[[/note]] To the west is the Pacific Ocean, to the east is the state of Nevada, and to the southeast is the state of Arizona. In between these borders lies some of the most gorgeous geography on the face of the Earth, but also nightmarish urban hellscapes and lung-clogging atmosphere. Summing up California in one article would be extremely difficult. It is home to nine national parks, the most of any state,[[note]]Death Valley, Joshua Tree, the Channel Islands, Sequoia, Pinnacles, Kings Canyon, Lassen Volcanic, Redwood, and the granddaddy of them all, Yosemite[[/note]] which contain the highest peak of the lower 48 states (Mt. Whitney) and, 76 miles away, the lowest point in North America (Death Valley). The state as a whole is host to 15 of the 17 types of biomes: vast elevated deserts, beautiful forests of mighty redwoods, valleys of sun-soaked vineyards nestled in golden hills, and majestic snow-capped mountains. Basically, if something exists somewhere on Earth, you will probably find it in California.