X-Nico

100 unusual facts about California


2012 May Day protests

Oakland, California – Protests were dispersed by police with the use of tear gas.

37th parallel north

Landmarks on the 37th parallel include Santa Cruz, California; Gilroy, California; Madera, California; Ubehebe Crater in Death Valley; Colorado City, Arizona; the Four Corners at the intersection with the 32nd meridian west from Washington (the only place where four U.S. states meet at a point); Cairo, Illinois; Bowling Green, Kentucky; and Newport News, Virginia.

A. J. Jefferson

Jefferson was born and raised in Bakersfield, California and graduated from West High School of Bakersfield in 2006.

AIDS Project Los Angeles

The Walk is now the largest HIV/AIDS fundraiser in Southern California.

Arky Vaughan

After leaving the Seals, Vaughan bought a ranch in Eagleville, California where he retired to fish, hunt and tend cattle.

Artemis Pebdani

She received her BFA in theatre from Southern Methodist University and is also an alum of the Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre in Blue Lake, California.

Atlantic and Pacific Railroad

The SP began building a branch from Mojave, California that same year, east to Needles, where the two met on August 9, 1883.

Atlas Asbestos Mine Superfund Site

Atlas Asbestos Mine Superfund Site is located within the Clear Creek Management Area near Fresno County eighteen miles northwest of Coalinga, California.

Bell's Vireo

Historically, the Least Bell's Vireo was a common to locally abundant species in lowland riparian habitat, ranging from coastal southern California through the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys as far north as Red Bluff in Tehama County.

Big Log

The video for the song was filmed on location in various areas around California and Nevada, including the Amargosa Opera House and Hotel in Death Valley Junction, California, the Calico Ghost Town in California, the Glass Pool Inn in Las Vegas, which was demolished in 2004, and in Crystal, Nye County, Nevada.

Bill Drake

It was later at KYNO in Fresno, California that he met Gene Chenault, who became his business partner.

Cage Without a Key

The movie was filmed at Las Palmas School for Girls in Commerce, California, now known as the Dorothy Kirby Center.

California Conquest

Arturo Bordega and Julia Lawrence eventually travel to Fort Ross, where they are able to capture Fredo Brios (as well as a fictional Russian princess, Helena de Gagarine, and a high-ranking Russian army officer), and otherwise manage to thwart the treasonous conspiracy.

California State Route 261

The freeway continues next to The Market Place, a mall in Irvine, before going through a toll plaza after the Irvine Boulevard interchange.

Camilo Daza International Airport

In March 2008, was the epicenter for the arrival of direct international flights from Madrid, Miami, San Jose, Quito and Caracas on the grounds of the Peace Without Borders concert held in Cúcuta.

Carolyn L. Mazloomi

She graduated from Northrop University in Inglewood, California, and worked in Los Angeles as an aerospace engineer.

Central California Traction Company

The railroad operated over the same line from Stockton to Sacramento until 1998 when service between Lodi and Sacramento was suspended.

Central-Alameda, Los Angeles

The 84.6% Latino, low-income, youthful Central-Alameda neighborhood of the South Los Angeles, California, region lies just south of Downtown and west of Huntington Park.

Charlie Shrem

Shrem spoke at the Bitcoin 2013 conference in San Jose, California describing the potential for initial fights between Bitcoin companies and regulators and the need for close collaboration between them to develop standards of 'Knowing Your Customer' policies.

Christian Parenti

Parenti has taught at the New College of California and at St. Mary's College in Moraga, California.

Clementine Deymann

In 1885 and in 1891 Father Clementine was elected definitor of the Franciscan province of the Sacred Heart; in 1886 he was made superior of the boys' orphanage at Watsonville, California.

Clymer Wright

Her daughter from a previous marriage is Lisa Kay Baker of Paso Robles, California.

Coleman University

1986 – the San Marcos campus was opened to serve growing populations in the northern part of San Diego County.

Dave Carpender

Dave Carpender (born 23 January 1950, Berkeley, California, died 26 September 2007) was the guitarist with The Greg Kihn Band from 1976 to 1983.

Dedrick D. Gobert

On November 19, 1994, Gobert was fatally shot during a fight with several gang members in Mira Loma, California.

Deep Dark Canyon

The film was originally called Lawless and was shot on location in the rural town of Guerneville, California.

Derek Ernst

He attended Clovis East High School in Clovis, California and played college golf at UNLV, where he was a four-time All-American and was twice named Mountain West Conference player of the year.

Dick Wellstood

Richard MacQueen "Dick" Wellstood (born November 25, 1927, Greenwich, Connecticut — died July 24, 1987, Palo Alto, California) was an American jazz pianist.

El Capitan High School

El Capitan High School (commonly known as El Cap) is a public high school in Lakeside, California, United States, a census-designated place in San Diego, and serves students in grades nine through twelve.

Evangelica

The "dissident bimonthly" Evangelica based in Napa, California was founded in reaction.

Freddie Rodriguez

Prior to being elected to the state assembly, he was a Pomona city councilmember.

Freeway service patrol

In some states, the program name is the generic term, as with California's Freeway Service Patrol; in others, the program has an individualized name, as with Indiana's Hoosier Helper program.

George Gipe

George Gipe (February 3, 1933 in Boston, Massachusetts – September 6, 1986 in Glendale, California) was an American magazine writer, author and screenwriter.

Gérard Guillaumaud

Guillaumaud was born in France and was a graduate of the National Test Pilot School (NTPS) in Mojave, California.

Gladys Waddingham

Gladys Waddingham (1900–1997), a Spanish teacher at Inglewood High School in Inglewood, California, for 45 years, was the author of many books about her adopted city.

Gold Line Foothill Extension

"Phase 2B" is the project to extend the Gold Line corridor from the Phase 2A terminus in Azusa east to Montclair.

Gregory Minor

A native of Fresno, California, Minor received an electrical engineering degree from the University of California in 1960.

H. Lee Sarokin

Just a few weeks before retiring from the bench, Sarokin purchased a house in Rancho Santa Fe, California, where he had chosen to live in retirement.

Henry F. May

Born in Denver, Colorado, he was reared in Berkeley, California and spent a formative year in Europe with his family as the youngest of three children.

Hercules Transit Center

The transit center is a pulse (a timed and synchronized) transfer point for various local feeder bus lines from the adjacent areas of Hercules, Pinole, Rodeo, the northern Hilltop area of Richmond, Bayview-Montalvin, and Tara Hills.

Hilltop Lake

The lake is fed by Garrity Creek, a small river originating from many springs in the hills east of the Hilltop Green neighborhood in the Hilltop neighborhood.

Horace Bristol

Bristol was born and raised in Whittier, California, and attended the Art Center of Los Angeles, originally majoring in architecture.

Hugh Baiocchi

Married to wife Joan and with two children (Lauren and Justin), he lives in Palm Springs, California.

J. Jon Bruno

From 1983 to 1986, he was associate at St. Paul's Church in Pomona, California.

James Colley

Raised in Bakersfield, California, Colley found his musical inspiration in the works of Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Neil Young, The Rolling Stones and Lou Reed.

James N. Walker

James N. Walker served as a member of the 1863-1865 California State Assembly, representing the 4th District.

James Tarjan

Tarjan's last competitive tournament was the 1984 U.S. Championship at Berkeley, where he went out in style with a fine tied third, scoring 10.5/17.

Jerry Birdwell

Jerry R. Birdwell was the former mayor of South Lake Tahoe, California and judge of Dallas County's 195th Judicial District Court.

John L. Notter

He also served as chairman of American-Hawaiian Steamship Company, the developer of a major master-planned residential and commercial development north of Los Angeles in Westlake Village, California, which continues to serve as an example of master-planned communities throughout the country.

Jon Pritikin

Jon and his wife, Rhonda and daughter, Jaden currently reside in Lodi, California.

Josh Taves

Josh Heinrich Taves (aka Josh Heinrich; born May 13, 1972, in Watsonville, California) is a former professional American football player.

Junction, California

Junction, Contra Costa County, California, a former settlement on the East Bay of San Francisco, located adjacent to Antioch

KDUG

KDUG-LP, a low-power television station (channel 21) licensed to Hemet, California, United States

Kinderhook Industries

In June, 2012, the firm took control of M. Davis Company, Incorporated (doing business as USA Recovery, and Skip Masters), a firm based in El Dorado Hills, California that reprocesses property when owners default on loans.

Kristin Hedstrom

She currently resides in Oakland, California where she is affiliated with the California Rowing Club.

La Mesa Police Department

The La Mesa Police Department is the police agency for the City of La Mesa, California.

La Palma Intercommunity Hospital

La Palma Intercommunity Hospital (LPH) is an 141 bed acute care facility in La Palma, California, USA.

LA84 Foundation

The Foundation makes grants in the eight southernmost counties of California (Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Santa Barbara and Ventura).

Las Lomitas Elementary School District

The Las Lomitas Elementary School District is a public school district in the San Francisco Bay Area, primarily serving parts of the communities of Menlo Park, Atherton and Ladera, with its headquarters in Menlo Park.

Lee Norwood

Lee Charles Norwood (born February 2, 1960 in Oakland, California) is a retired American ice hockey player.

Lucienne Bloch

Dimitroff and Bloch died in 1996 and 1999, respectively, on their small farm in Gualala in Northern California.

Margie Wright

Wright has become a popular figure in the Fresno community and was inducted into the Fresno Athletic Hall of Fame in 2008.

María Ruiz de Burton

Soon after the Treaty of Guadelupe Hidalgo was signed in 1848, Ruiz de Burton, her mother, and her brother moved the Monterey and became American citizens.

Marian Bergeson

A resident of Newport Beach, California, Bergeson and her husband, Garth, have four children (Nancy, Garth Jr., Julie, and James) and eleven grandchildren.

Mark McCammon

On 15 June he played for his country in a 8–0 defeat to the United States at The Home Depot Center in Carson, California.

Mary Lanier

Lanier died on May 23, 2002, in Ojai, California; her cause of death is unknown, but some sources say natural causes.

Melvin Anthony

Melvin Anthony grew up in the lower-middle-class neighborhoods of Sacramento and San Bernardino, California.

Merrill B. Twining

He had retired from active duty with the Marine Corps on October 31, 1959 and died May 11, 1996 in Fallbrook, California.

Mike Gregorian

Gregorian grew up in Culver City, California where he played forward for the Fram club of Culver-Palisades which won the 1986 McGuire Cup (U-19 national championship).

Novella Carpenter

In March 2011, the City of Oakland told Carpenter she would have to close her Ghost Town Farm because she was selling excess produce without a permit.

Nuckle Brothers

The Nuckle Brothers were a third wave ska band from Huntington Beach that was part of the early 1990s Orange County, California music scene, inspiring such bands as Reel Big Fish, Save Ferris and The Aquabats.

Odostomia pratoma

The type specimen was found in the Pacific Ocean off Santa Rosa Island, California

Panama hake

The Panama hake (Merluccius angustimanus) is a merluccid hake of the genus Merluccius, found off the west coast of the Americas from Del Mar, California, to Ensenada de Tumaco, Colombia.

Petrit Çeku

On June 2, 2012, he won the Gold Medal in the Parkening International Guitar Competition in Malibu, California.

Ramakrishna's influence

It premiered on September 16, 2006 at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa, California, performed by Orange County’s Pacific Symphony Orchestra conducted by Carl St. Clair with the Pacific Chorale directed by John Alexander.

Ramaytush people

– 1823 Pomponio, of Half Moon Bay led raids against Mission Dolores, taking livestock and horses.

Red Bull Road Rage

In 2006 the event was set to return to Tuna Canyon, Malibu, California, scheduled for 11 November.

Rich Manning

He played collegiately at both Syracuse University and the University of Washington, after having attended Center High School in Antelope, California.

Road Hogs

Most of the civilized mutants and humans are located in what was previously known as Sacramento, California.

Robert R. Odén

In 1959 the U.S. Olympic Committee asked him to be the official team doctor for the United States Ski Team during the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, California.

Rock 'n' Roll Lifestyle

"Rock 'n' Roll Lifestyle" (also known as "How Do You Afford Your Rock 'n' Roll Lifestyle") is the debut single by Sacramento alternative rock band Cake.

Santa Ana Civic Center

The County of Orange was formed in 1889 by William Spurgeon and James McFadden and Santa Ana was chosen as the county seat of government because of its larger growth as a town over surrounding towns namely Orange.

Santa Ana Unified School District

Santa Ana Unified School District (SAUSD) is a school district in Orange County, California that serves the city of Santa Ana.

Santa Barbara Polo Club

After a Japanese attack on Goleta, California (Attacks on North America during World War II), soldiers were stationed at the polo club to protect the members for the remaining years of the war.

Shirley Horton

Spring Valley.

Siosa'ia Ma'ulupekotofa Tuita

He currently lives with his wife, HRH Princess Salote Mafile'o Pilolevu Tuita, and their family, dividing their time between residences in Tau'akipulu and Hillsborough, California.

Spring Valley, California

Valley Springs, California, in Calaveras County, formerly called Spring Valley

St. Helena Hospital Clearlake

The hospital owns and operates three outpatient family health centers in Clearlake, Middletown and Kelseyville.

St. Jude Medical Center

The Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet began operating their first hospital in Eureka, California in 1919 as a response to the Spanish Flu epidemic.

Swift Aire Lines

Swift Aire Lines was a U.S. commuter air carrier that was based in San Luis Obispo, California.

The National Crittenton Foundation

The foundation is affiliated with 22 member agencies operating across the country in urban and rural areas, including Baltimore; Boston; Charleston, South Carolina; Denver, Colorado; Kansas City, Missouri; Knoxville, Tennessee; Orange County, California and Los Angeles, California; Peoria, Illinois; Philadelphia; Phoenix, Arizona, San Francisco, California; Sioux City, Iowa; Washington, D.C. and Wheeling, West Virginia.

The Paradine Case

The Paradine Case had its world premiere in Los Angeles on December 29, 1947, opening simultaneously in two theatres across the street from each other in Westwood.

Thomas Anthony Thacher

His sons Sherman Day Thacher and William Larned Thacher were the founder of the Thacher School in Ojai, California; and his daughter Elizabeth Sherman Thacher married William Kent (U.S. Congressman).

Tomales Presbyterian Church and Cemetery

Tomales Presbyterian Church and Cemetery is a historic Presbyterian church at 11 Church Street in Tomales, California.

Trabuco Canyon, California

Trabuco Canyon is north of the town of Rancho Santa Margarita.

U.S. Route 95 in California

Upon entering San Bernardino County, US 95 turns away from the Colorado River, heading northwest towards Vidal Junction, the junction with SR 62 in the Vidal Valley.

Walter B. LaBerge

He also held several academic appointments, including Senior Researcher at the Institute of Advanced Technology at the University of Texas at Austin; visiting professor at the Defense Systems Management College at the Defense Acquisition University in Fort Belvoir, Virginia; and Visiting Professor of Physics at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California.

William Pedley

Pedley went to America where he was manager of the San Jacinto Land Company, who developed part of the Sobrante de San Jacinto land grant at Riverside, California.

Wrestling at the 1984 Summer Olympics – Men's Greco-Roman +100 kg

The Men's Greco-Roman +100 kg at the 1984 Summer Olympics as part of the wrestling program were held at the Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim, California.

ZChocolat.com

zChocolat.com is headquartered in Aix-en-Provence, France, and has a dedicated logistics center in Forcalquier Alpes de Haute Provence and U.S. office in Ojai, California.


Alvin Youngblood Hart

Born in Oakland, California, Hart had family connections with Carroll County, Mississippi, and spent time there in his childhood, hearing his relatives' stories of Charley Patton, "being around these people who were there when this music was going on".

Amanda Aday

She attended the Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Training Center, a summer theatre/dance camp in the Catskill Mountains in New York, from 1990 through 1996, and then graduated from the prestigious Idyllwild Arts Academy in California.

Angelo Buono, Jr.

The presiding judge, Ronald M. George (future Chief Justice of California), denied the motion to dismiss.

Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve

Father Bernard R. Hubbard was a Jesuit priest and professor of geology at Santa Clara University in California, who had been exploring Alaska's volcanoes and glaciers every summer season since 1927 and writing about them in best-selling books and in publications such as National Geographic and the Saturday Evening Post.

Aurora Village–Wells College Historic District

Its significant business entrepreneurs included men such as Henry Wells, founder of American Express and Wells Fargo, whose operations created new express mail and banking services that spanned New York state and reached to the developing state of California.

Being and Time

Theodore Kisiel, The Genesis of Heidegger's Being and Time (Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1993).

Border Incident

"Here is the All-American Canal. It runs through the desert for miles along the California-Mexico border... Farming in Imperial Valley... requires a vast army of farm workers... and this army of farm workers comes from our neighbor to the south, from Mexico. ... It is this problem of human suffering and injustice about which you should know. The following composite case is based upon factual information supplied by the Immigration and Naturalization Service..."

Bowers Museum

The museum has cultivated partnerships with the Smithsonian, the Nanjing Museum, the Shanghai Museum, and the British Museum, among others, to bring national and international exhibitions from the world's greatest museums to Southern California.

Brendan Burch

Brendan Burch is an American animation producer and CEO of Six Point Harness Studios in Los Angeles, California.

California Cycleway

The inventor and promotor of the cycleway was Pasadena resident Horace Dobbins, who attracted ex-California governor Henry Harrison Markham to join him in the venture.

California Gull

Seriously threatened birds that share the same South Bay habitat include the Snowy Plover and California Least Tern, while less-threatened birds including Black-necked Stilts, American Avocets, Forster's Terns, and Caspian Terns are also preyed upon by the abnormally large flocks of California Gulls.

California State Lottery

Make Me a Millionaire, the California Lottery's second TV game show, debuted on January 17, 2009 for an initial four-year run with host Mark L. Walberg and co-presenter Liz Hernandez.

Cephalanthus occidentalis

Southwestern North America, from western Texas west to California (Sierra Nevada foothills, San Joaquin Valley, Sacramento Valley, and the Inner North Coast Ranges) and south to Mexico and Central America.

Clark Natwick

Clark Natwick competed in several road racing events; he won Mt. Hamilton Road Race racing with Greg LeMond

Cleo Baldon

Baldon is married to novelist, screenwriter and film director Ib Melchior, with whom she co-authored of the non-fiction books, Reflections on the Pool: California Designs for Swimming and Steps & Stairways.

Clunker

A Cruiser bicycle built during the mid Seventies, in Marin county, California.

Colorado River Indian Reservation

In 2005, the reservation began proposing a new hotel and casino near Blythe, citing the location along the river and Interstate 10, with the help of the governments of that city and the state of California.

Daniel J. Crowley

Crowley and a research expedition team from the University of California travelled to Oruro, Bolivia to study the major carnival there.

David Epel

David Epel is a researcher at Hopkins Marine Station in Pacific Grove, California.

Douce

Douce noir, French wine grape that is also known as Charbono in California and Bonarda in Argentina

Doug Lefler

Doug Lefler (born California) is an American film director, screenwriter, film producer and storyboard artist, best known as director of the Dragonheart fantasy adventure film sequel, Dragonheart: A New Beginning, and recently The Last Legion.

Eldad

Eldad Tarmu (1960, Los Angeles, California), a vibraphonist and composer

Francis Boggs

He left Los Angeles in April to go on location in Yosemite and Oakland in California and the Hood River Valley in Oregon.

Frederick Lucian Hosmer

Frederick Lucian Hosmer (1840-1929) was an American Unitarian minister who served congregations in Massachusetts, Illinois, Ohio, Missouri, and California and who wrote many significant hymns.

Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company

He partnered with fellow insurance salesman Norman O. Houston and businessman George A. Beavers, Jr. to secure 500 pre-paid life insurance applications as well as the $15,000 deposit required by California.

Heather Aldama

Heather Marie Aldama (born 1 December 1978, in Redlands, California) is a retired American soccer midfielder who was a member of the United States women's national soccer team.

Henry Flynt

Kristine Stiles & Peter Selz, Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art: A Sourcebook of Artists' Writings (Second Edition, Revised and Expanded by Kristine Stiles) University of California Press 2012, reprinting of Henry Flynt, Concept Art (1961) pp.

History of California's state highway system

The decade also saw the implementation of FasTrak, California's electronic toll collection (ETC) system, across all toll facilities on state highways.

Human trafficking in the United States

Slavery is found throughout California, but major hubs are centered around Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco.

Huntington Park

Mount Rubidoux, a city park in Riverside, California, formerly known as Huntington Park

Jonas H. Ingram

In August 1952, he suffered a heart attack while serving as the superintendent of summer schools at Culver Academies, then was stricken again with another attack on September 9, while at the U.S. Naval Hospital in San Diego, California.

Journal of Historical Review

The Journal of Historical Review is a non-peer reviewed serial, periodical, or journal published by the Institute for Historical Review in Torrance, California.

KBQR

KQSL, a television station (channel 8) in Fort Bragg, California, United States known as KBQR from October 2010 through May 2011

KEFC

KEFC-LP, a low-power radio station (100.5 FM) licensed to Turlock, California, United States

Loni Hancock

Serving as mayor for two terms, she balanced seven straight city budgets, forged a historic agreement between the city and the University of California, began the revitalization of downtown Berkeley, led efforts to secure additional open space and launched a Bio-Tech Academy at Berkeley High School (in partnership with Bayer).

Mayacamas

Mayacamas Mountains or Mayacmas Mountains, in Napa Valley, California

Novim

The group was formed at the University of California campus in Santa Barbara to create a collaborative problem-solving approach to address wide-spread and complicated problems, modeled after approaches at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics (KITP).

NWEAMO

New West Electronic Arts & Music Organization (NWEAMO), founded by composer Joseph Waters in Portland, Oregon, U.S. in 1998, is a nonprofit organization based in San Diego, California that produces the annual international festival of electro-acoustic music.

Pais

Ampelographers believe that along with the Criolla Grande grape of Argentina and Mission grape of California, that the Pais grape is descended by the Spanish "common black grape" brought to Mexico in 1520 by the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés.

R. N. Baskin

In route for California, Baskin visited the Little Cottonwood mining district with Thomas Hearst and saw possibilities in the minerals of Utah Territory and decided to stay.

Richmond–San Rafael Bridge

The Richmond–San Rafael Bridge (officially, the John F. McCarthy Memorial Bridge) is the northernmost of the east–west crossings of the San Francisco Bay in California, USA, connecting Richmond on the east to San Rafael on the west end.

Rory Calhoun

At age thirteen, he stole a revolver, for which he was sent to the California Youth Authority's Preston School of Industry reformatory at Ione, California.

San Diego Polo Club

San Diego Polo Club is a polo club in situated Rancho Santa Fe in San Diego, California.

Savitree Suttichanond

While attending the University of California, Irvine, Savitree was a member of the Delta Delta Delta Sorority, was a SPOP staffer, and actively participated in the university's Thai Club.

Shanghai Girls

The sisters' story is interrelated with critical historical events, famous people, and important places—the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Battle of Shanghai, internment at Angel Island, Los Angeles Chinatown, Hollywood, World War II, the Chinese Exclusion Act, McCarthyism, etc.

Shield of Thorns

Two songs ("Leaving California" and "Wrapped in My Memory") were featured on the "Long Term Parking" episode of The Sopranos fifth season (2004) on HBO.

Squid Labs

In 2004, Colin Bulthaup, Dan Goldwater, Saul Griffith, and Eric Wilhelm moved from the East Coast to California to found the company known as Squid Labs.

Tunisian Community Center

In their support for the Tunisian Revolution's aims toward freedom and democracy, the TCC has written to the US Senator of California Barbara Boxer, requesting to freeze the overthrown President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's assets.

Walther Linis

They started in France and sailed through the Suez Canal to Arabia where they unloaded oil and continued over the Pacific shoreline to San Diego in California and on into the Panama Canal to the Gulf island of Aruba, waterless island but they could get oil board and then took 12 trips between many U.S. cities in the east shore, the boat went several times to the port of Tampico in Mexico from 1957-58.

Watsonville Riots

In September 4, 2011, California apologized to Filipinos and Filipino Americans in an Assembly resolution authored by Assemblyman Luis Alejo, D-Salinas.