X-Nico

100 unusual facts about California


A. J. Jefferson

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

Acentrophryne

Fossils of the type species, A. longidens, have been found in Late Miocene strata of Rosedale.

AIDS Project Los Angeles

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

Aptos High School

Aptos High School is a comprehensive secondary school in Aptos, California, USA in the Pajaro Valley Unified School District.

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.

Bagby Stationhouse, Water Tanks and Turntable

The structures now located at El Portal were originally built in Bagby, and were moved from that location in 1966 when the townsite was to be inundated by the filling of Lake McClure behind New Exchequer Dam.

Benson Mates

Benson Mates (May 19, 1919, Portland, Oregon – May 14, 2009, Berkeley, California) was an American philosopher, noted for his work in logic, the history of philosophy, and skepticism.

Bill Drake

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

Bobby Quarry

Bobby Quarry was born in Lynwood, California on November 11, 1962, and is the last surviving brother of the four Quarry brothers, three of whom were noted boxers.

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.

California's 36th congressional district special election, 2011

A 2011 special election in California's 36th congressional district filled the vacancy in California's 36th congressional district after the resignation of incumbent Jane Harman on February 28, 2011, who vacated her seat in the U.S. House of Representatives to become head of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Carl B. Koford

Carl Buckingham Koford (September 3, 1915 in Oakland, California – December 3, 1979 in Berkeley, California) was an American biologist who is known for his research work on the behavior of the California Condor.

Ceanothus roderickii

This endangered plant was first collected in 1956 near Shingle Springs.

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.

Clarksburg Middle School

(Kindergarten through sixth grades were enrolled in Bates Elementary in Courtland, California.) The school open in September 2006 as a middle school, and the staff has been engaged in the development of a 7th through 12th secondary program in conjunction with Delta High School which sits adjacent to Clarksburg Middle School on the same school site.

Cupressus macrocarpa

The native range of the species was confined to two small relict populations, at Cypress Point in Pebble Beach and at Point Lobos near Carmel, California.

David Karp

His parents are Barbara Ackerman, a teacher from San Anselmo, California, and Michael D. Karp, a film and television composer.

Donald Bogue

Don Bogue is married to Linda Bogue, formerly Linda Baker, and lives in San Mateo, California.

En Ami

A majority of the lake scenes were filmed at Lake Sherwood in California.

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.

Garden Grove Unified School District

GGUSD's enrollment boundaries allow the district to serve students in many central and northern Orange County communities, including: Anaheim, Cypress, Fountain Valley, Garden Grove, Santa Ana, Stanton, and Westminster

George Gipe

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

Gerald Heffernan

Gerald "Gerry" Joseph Heffernan (July 24, 1916 in Montreal, Quebec – January 16, 2007 in Moraga, California) was a professional ice hockey player who played for the Montreal Canadiens in the National Hockey League.

Gérard Guillaumaud

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

Gilroy Unified School District

The other school districts included San Ysidro and Rucker.

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.

Glen Alvelais

Glen Alvelais (born February 22, 1968 in Hayward, California) is a heavy metal lead guitarist from the San Francisco Bay Area.

Golden Gate National Recreation Area

The latest acquisition by the National Park Service is Mori Point, a small parcel of land on the Pacifica coast.

Grantmakers in Film and Electronic Media

The organization has three full-time staff members who operate from offices in Baltimore, MD and Oakland, CA.

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.

Hugh Baiocchi

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

IBM 1500

Seeded by a research grant in 1964 from the U.S. Department of Education to the Institute for Mathematical Studies in the Social Sciences at Stanford University, the IBM 1500 CAI system was initially prototyped at the Brentwood Elementary School (Ravenswood City School District) in East Palo Alto, California by Dr. Patrick Suppes of Stanford University.

Islam in Peru

The Latin American Muslim Unity (LAMU) organization, based in Fresno, California, United States, has drawn up a proposal for the first Islamic orphanage in Peru, although it has not yet materialized.

J. Jon Bruno

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

Jackson Temple

Jackson Temple (August 11, 1827–December 25, 1902) was an associate justice of the Supreme Court of California.

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.

Jennifer 8

At the invitation of an old friend and colleague, Freddy Ross, Berlin heads to rural northern California, for a job with the Eureka police force.

John C. Waugh

John Clinton Waugh (born October 12, 1929) in Biggs, California is an American journalist.

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.

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

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.

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).

Leah Rosenfeld

She spent the rest of her life in Mariposa, California, where she was interviewed by railroad historian Shirley Burman and photographed by railroad photographer Richard Steinheimer in 1987.

Leisure Suit Larry 4: The Missing Floppies

The other reason was that the ending of Larry 3 was very definitive and somehow metafictional, since it showed Larry and Patti coming to the Sierra studios to make games based on their adventures, as well as living happily in a mountain cabin in Coarsegold.

Liv Jagge-Christiansen

She participated at the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley and at the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, competing in downhill, slalom and giant slalom.

Lone Star Elementary School

Lone Star Elementary School is (located at 2617 S. Fowler Avenue, Fresno, California 93725 between Jensen Ave. and North Ave) is a school, that is part of the Sanger Unified School District, with Grades K-6 (formally K-8).

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.

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.

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.

Meshael Alayban

Meshael Alayban is a Saudi woman accused of human trafficking in Irvine, California.

Metasonix

Metasonix is an American audio equipment manufacturer, founded by Eric Barbour in 1998 and located in Lakeport, 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).

Nevada–Texas–Utah Retort

In 1925, the NTU Company built a test plant at Sherman Cut near Casmalia, California.

Northrop XFT

After the 3A and its test pilot, Lieutenant Frank Scare, disappeared without trace on a flight over the Pacific Ocean off California on 30 July 1935, Northrop abandoned the 3A project and sold its blueprints to Chance Vought Aviation.

Odostomia pratoma

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

Olson 30

Olson and partner Lyn Neale started Pacific Boats in an industrial area of Live Oak, CA, an unincorporated area between Santa Cruz and Capitola.

Paleteros

In San Jose, California an individual is fined $278 every time they are caught selling paletas without a permit.

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.

Paul Rebillot

In 1972, Rebillot worked on the psychiatric wards of community hospitals in Turlock and Martinez, California.

Petrit Çeku

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

Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District

The Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District (PYLUSD) is a public school district that serves Placentia, Yorba Linda and parts of Anaheim, Brea, and Fullerton located in Orange County, 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.

Red Bull Road Rage

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

Ritchie Coliseum

Terrapins pugilists Ben Alperstein and Tom Birmingham went on to compete in the national intercollegiate championship in Sacramento, California.

River Valley Charter School

River Valley Charter School, a charter junior/senior high school started in 1996, is located in Lakeside, California, a suburb of San Diego.

Robert Charles Wilson

Apart from another short period in the early 1970s spent in Whittier, California, he has lived most of his life in Canada, and in 2007 he became a Canadian citizen.

Robert F. Fisher

Robert F. Fisher, (February 18, 1879 Plymouth, England - July 20, 1969 Carlotta, California) served in the California legislature and during the Spanish-American War he served in the United States Army.

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.

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.

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.

Saurolophus

In 1939–40, two partial skeletons were found in the Moreno Formation of California.

Savanna School District

Savanna School District is an elementary school district in Anaheim, California that also serves a small portion of Buena Park, Cypress and Stanton.

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.

Swift Aire Lines

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

Temescal Valley

Temescal Valley, California a populated place in the Temescal Valley of 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.

Tomales Presbyterian Church and Cemetery

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

Touro University

Touro University California, a medical, pharmacy and physician assistant's school in Vallejo, California, USA.

Trabuco Canyon, California

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

Turbonilla halistrepta

The type species was found in the Pacific Ocean off Newport, California.

Turtle Rock Preschool

Turtle Rock Preschool (TRP) is a private preschool, kindergarten and after school academy located in the city of Irvine, California.

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.

V3 Gaming PC

V3 Gaming PC is a manufacturer of custom-built personal computers headquartered in Lomita, California.

Westchester, Los Angeles

The main part of Westchester is flanked by Del Rey and Culver City on the north, Inglewood and Lennox on the east, Del Aire and El Segundo on the south and Playa del Rey on the west.

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.

Wipe the Windows, Check the Oil, Dollar Gas

Track 3 of side three and 1 and 2 of side four recorded at the Bakersfield Civic Auditorium, Bakersfield, California, October 22, 1975.

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.


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.

Baseball's Last Hero: 21 Clemente Stories

It is the first feature dramatic film on Clemente's life and was written and directed by California filmmaker and Pittsburgh native Richard Rossi and stars two-time Olympian high-jumper Jamie Nieto in the title role of Roberto Clemente and Marilinda Rivera as his wife Vera Clemente.

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..."

Brendan Burch

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

Butler Ives

He was contracted with locating and surveying of the boundary line between the Nevada Territory and the State of California -- running south and southeasterly from Oregon.

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 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.

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.

Cleome platycarpa

It is native to the western United States from northeastern California to Idaho, including the Modoc Plateau, where it grows on clay and volcanic soils in the sagebrush.

Clunker

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

Daniel Siebert

In 2002, Siebert wrote a letter to the United States Congress in which he objected to bill H.R. 5607 introduced by Rep. Joe Baca (D-California) which sought to place Salvia divinorum in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act.

Days May Come and Days May Go

Days May Come and Days May Go: The 1975 California Rehearsals is a compilation album by Deep Purple, released in 2000 (see 2000 in music).

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.

Erema

Having completed her self-imposed mission, she sets out on her way back to California and the sawmill; reaches the other side of the Atlantic in time to help in nursing the sick and wounded in the civil war; and among them finds her old friends, Sampson Gundry and his grandson, arrayed on opposite sides in the war.

Frankie Jaxon

In 1941 he retired from show business and worked at The Pentagon in Washington, D.C. He was transferred to Los Angeles, California.

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 dream

Golden Dreams, a film about California's history at Disney's California Adventure

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.

Hubbs' beaked whale

Carl Leavitt Hubbs, a noted American ichthyologist, published a description of a whale found alive in the surf near his office at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California, in 1945.

Human trafficking in the United States

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

John B. Owens

John Byron Owens (born 1971) is a California attorney in private practice and is a nominee for United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

John Muir College

Muir's connection to California's Yosemite Valley continues with the Half Dome Lounge and the dining hall Pines (formerly Sierra Summit).

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.

Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail

Both these pueblos and missions were on the California side of the Colorado River near the mouth of the Gila River but were administered by the Arizona authorities.

Kellyn Tate

She later played professional softball for the Orlando Wahoos (1998), Akron Racers (1999-2000), WPSL All-Stars (2001), and California Sunbirds (2004).

KLRS

KCAI, a radio station (89.7 FM) licensed to serve Lodi, California, United States, which held the call sign KLRS from 2007 to 2012

Loch Lomond Vernal Pool Ecological Reserve

An annual wildflower of the Phlox family (Polemoniaceae) that has only been found in the California counties of Lake, Sonoma and Napa.

MacLafferty

James H. MacLafferty (1871-1937), a U.S. Representative from California

Mayacamas

Mayacamas Mountains or Mayacmas Mountains, in Napa Valley, California

Nichols Canyon, Los Angeles

Nichols Canyon was named after John G. Nichols who served as mayor of Los Angeles, California between 1852 and 1853 and again from 1856 to 1859.

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).

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.

Richard Urquhart Goode

In 1889, he was appointed a geographer with the Survey and was placed in charge of surveys of the Pacific Coast States - California, Oregon, and Washington.

Rougheye rockfish

Rougheye rockfish are deepwater fish, and exist between 31° and 66° latitude, in the North Pacific, and specifically along the coast of Japan to the Navarin Canyon in the Bering Sea, to the Aleutian Islands, all the way south to San Diego, California.

SAPIEN Technologies, Inc.

Group Telein wrote the software in Turbo Pascal, eventually moving their operations from their individual residences to an office in downtown Berkeley, 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.

Sedco Hills, California

The name Sedco Hills has become the informal name of that section of the Temescal Mountains east of Sedco Hills, west of Cottonwood Canyon Creek and south of the San Jacinto River.

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.

Sidney Wicks

At 9 a.m. on May 5, 1989, in Mira Mesa, San Diego, California, Wicks was seriously injured in a car accident.

Steal This Record

Mixed by Chris Lord-Alge at Image Recording, Inc. in Hollywood, California

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.

Warren H. Carroll

During 1967-1972 he served on the staff of California State Senator, later U.S. Congressman, John G. Schmitz.

Watsonville Riots

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

William G. Sebold

William G. Sebold (Wilhelm Georg Debrowski; 10 March 1899 in Mülheim, Germany – February 1970 in Walnut Creek, California) was a German spy in the United States during World War II, who became a double agent for the FBI.