182 Fun Facts About California

Which sport did California make its official state sport in 2018?

Surfing was born in Hawaii, but California made it the state sport in 2018; the neoprene wetsuit was developed there, opening up water once thought too cold to surf.

Which deal in Congress admitted California as a free state?

The Compromise of 1850 brought California in as the 31st state and upset the Senate's balance between free and slave states; in return the South got a stricter fugitive slave law.

Which peak is the highest point in California and the contiguous United States?

Mount Whitney was named in 1864 by a California Geological Survey party for Josiah Whitney, the state geologist who sponsored it; three men from nearby Lone Pine made the first ascent in 1873.

Which university's 1951 industrial park helped seed Silicon Valley?

Stanford opened part of its grounds to technology companies to raise income for the university; Varian Associates moved in first, and Hewlett-Packard soon followed.

Which San Francisco neighborhood was the center of the 1967 Summer of Love?

Haight-Ashbury drew tens of thousands of young people in 1967, many protesting the Vietnam War and mainstream materialism; the hippie district was later gentrified, pushing its rents and property values up.

What bird is the official state bird of California?

The California Quail, with its drooping black head plume, became the state bird in 1931; it is still a prized game bird, legally hunted across the state each fall and winter.

What is California's official state flower?

The golden poppy became the state flower in 1903 after botanist Sara Plummer Lemmon led a campaign for it that lasted about a decade.

Which animal is featured on California's state flag and is its official state animal?

The California Grizzly Bear was named state animal in 1953, three decades after the last known one was shot in 1922; the flag honors an animal the state had hunted and poisoned out of existence.

Which city is the most populous in California?

With nearly 4 million residents, Los Angeles is not only the largest city in California but also the second-most populous city in the United States.

What is the official state motto of California?

Eureka, Greek for 'I have found it', has appeared on the state seal since 1849; a 1957 bid to replace it with 'In God We Trust' failed, and it was made official in 1963.

California is popularly known by which nickname?

The Golden State became the official nickname only in 1968, though the name had long been popular, in part a nod to the 1848 gold discovery that set off the state's rapid growth.

Who owned the sawmill where James Marshall found gold in 1848?

John Sutter tried to keep the find secret, but word got out; gold seekers overran his estate and destroyed nearly everything he had built, so the strike ruined him instead of making him rich.

How many counties are there in the state of California?

58 counties, the newest being Imperial County, carved out in 1907.

Which California valley is internationally renowned as one of the world's premier wine regions?

Napa Valley vaulted to fame at the 1976 Paris tasting, when French judges tasting blind gave their top official scores to a Napa Chardonnay and a Napa Cabernet over France's best.

Which famous earthquake fault slices through much of California?

The San Andreas Fault is where the Pacific Plate grinds northwest past the North American Plate, up to about two inches a year; when a locked stretch slipped in 1906, roads and fences across it were offset by several yards.

Which lake in Lake County is the largest natural freshwater lake entirely within California?

Clear Lake once drained west toward the Russian River until a landslide blocked the way; the water rose and found a new outlet through Cache Creek.

Which type of ancient tree, known for its longevity, can be found in the White Mountains of California?

Bristlecone pines in the White Mountains include Methuselah, more than 4,800 years old; the harsh cold and wind are their secret, since slow growth lays down dense wood that resists insects and rot.

Hollywood merged with Los Angeles in 1910 mainly to secure what?

A water supply was the prize: Hollywood, a town of its own since 1903, had too little water, so residents voted in 1910 to join Los Angeles; the first film studio arrived a year later.

Which state sits across California's ruler-straight northern border?

Oregon meets California along the 42nd parallel, a line fixed by an 1819 treaty between Spain and the United States, decades before either state existed.

Which name does California's State Route 1 carry through Malibu and Huntington Beach?

Pacific Coast Highway is only one of State Route 1's names; farther north its Big Sur stretch took from 1919 to 1937 to build, partly with convict labor from San Quentin.

Which California valley's intense vegetable farming earned it the nickname of America's 'Salad Bowl'?

Salinas Valley farms thrive on the cool ocean air that flows in from the coast; John Steinbeck, born in Salinas, set East of Eden and Of Mice and Men among its fields.

Which three-tiered national park waterfall in California, 2,425 feet high, ranks among the world's tallest?

Yosemite Falls drops 2,425 feet in three stages, yet it runs on snowmelt, so by August it often shrinks to a trickle or dries up completely.

Which California port was the busiest in the United States by container volume in 2024?

Combined with its neighbour at Long Beach, the complex ranked about tenth in the world.

Which California basketball team has met the Boston Celtics in a record 12 NBA Finals?

The Los Angeles Lakers lost their first eight Finals against Boston, the first as the Minneapolis Lakers in 1959, before finally beating the Celtics in 1985.

Which Major League Baseball team left Brooklyn for California after the 1957 season?

The Los Angeles Dodgers moved after owner Walter O'Malley failed to win city backing for a new Brooklyn ballpark; planner Robert Moses would offer him only a site outside the borough, in Queens.

Which NFL team won five Super Bowls between January 1982 and January 1995?

The San Francisco 49ers had gone 2-14 in both 1978 and 1979; coach Bill Walsh and quarterback Joe Montana then turned them into champions by the 1981 season, the first of the five titles.

Which island in San Francisco Bay did Native American activists occupy for 19 months starting in 1969?

Alcatraz Island, whose federal prison had closed in 1963, was held by a group calling itself Indians of All Tribes; the protest helped push Washington to drop its policy of terminating tribes.

Which species, concentrated in Humboldt and Del Norte counties, includes Earth's tallest living trees?

Coast redwoods are the tallest living trees; the record holder, Hyperion, stands about 116 metres (380 feet) in Redwood National Park, where rangers have closed the ground around it and hikers who go looking risk a fine.

Which southern-coast city is California's second-most populous?

San Diego, home to about 1.4 million people, wraps around one of the world's finest natural deep-water harbors, and the Navy has made it the main home port of its Pacific Fleet.

Which port city, the most populous in the East Bay, sits directly across the bay from San Francisco?

Oakland took in a wave of refugees after San Francisco's 1906 earthquake, and so many stayed that the city's population swelled almost overnight.

What body of water forms most of California's eastern border with Arizona?

The Colorado River marks the line between California and Arizona, but so much of it is diverted to farms and cities that it has rarely reached the sea since the 1960s.

What climate type gives California's coast its mild, dry summers?

A Mediterranean climate, with wet winters and dry summers, covers most of coastal California; its reliable sunshine helped draw the filmmakers who built the Hollywood studio system in the 1910s and 1920s.

Which Steinbeck novel follows the Joad family from Dust Bowl Oklahoma to California?

The Grapes of Wrath so angered California's big growers that a farm county it portrays banned it from its schools and libraries the summer it came out, and a copy was burned in public.

What is the lowest point in North America, in California's Death Valley National Park?

Badwater Basin lies 282 feet below sea level; its name comes from a spring-fed pool so salty that, the story goes, an early surveyor's mule refused to drink from it.

Which marine mammal cracks shellfish with rocks in California's kelp forests?

Sea otters were hunted for their fur until California's were believed extinct; then in 1938 about 50 turned up off Big Sur, and today's population descends from that one colony.

What large, deep lake is shared by California and Nevada in the Sierra Nevada mountains?

Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America and a popular destination for recreation, straddling the border of California and Nevada.

Which Franciscan friar founded the first missions in what is now the state of California?

Junípero Serra founded the first of California's 21 missions in 1769; Pope Francis canonized him in 2015 over the objections of Native American groups, who blamed him for brutal treatment of mission Indians.

Which city overtook its famous neighbor in 1990 as Northern California's most populous?

San Jose counted about 780,000 residents to San Francisco's 724,000 in the 1990 census, lifted by the Silicon Valley boom; it had also been California's first state capital.

Which Ice Age animal, dug up in great numbers at La Brea, is California's state fossil?

The saber-toothed cat is so common at the La Brea tar pits because of a trap: predators that came to feed on animals stuck in the asphalt became stuck themselves.

Which Mexican state, home to Tijuana and Mexicali, lies directly across California's southern border?

Baja California was the original California: Spain's explorers first gave the name to the peninsula, and the region north of it, today's U.S. state, was the later Alta or 'upper' California.

Which is the longest river flowing entirely within California?

The Sacramento River and its tributaries flooded the city of the same name so badly in 1862 that downtown streets were later raised a full story, turning old ground floors into basements.

Which large, shallow saline lake in Southern California's desert is known for its environmental troubles?

The Salton Sea formed by accident in 1905, when river floodwater burst through an irrigation canal and poured into the basin for two years; it has since shrunk and grown saltier, exposing toxic dust.

Which California city stages the Tournament of Roses Parade along Colorado Boulevard each January?

Pasadena's Valley Hunt Club started the parade in 1890 to show off the mild winter: members invited friends from the snowbound East to watch games and carriages covered in fresh flowers.

Which rare blue gemstone, designated in 1985, is California's official state gem?

Benitoite became the state gem in 1985; gem-quality crystals have been found in only one place on Earth, near the headwaters of the San Benito River in San Benito County, which gives it its name.

Which renewable source has the world's largest field of its kind in Northern California's wine-country hills?

Geothermal energy comes from The Geysers, the world's largest geothermal field, whose name is a mistake: the steaming vents early visitors saw are fumaroles, and there are no actual geysers.

California is the third-largest U.S. state by area, behind Texas and which other state?

Alaska (665,384 sq mi) and Texas (268,596 sq mi) are the only states larger than California's 163,695 square miles, yet California holds more people than either.

The 1510 romance thought to have given California its name pictured it as what kind of place?

An island is how Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo's romance imagined California: a gold-rich realm of women warriors ruled by Queen Calafia; the name probably passed from the story to the real coast.

Which captain led the first European expedition along the California coast in 1542?

Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, sailing for Spain, reached California's coast in September 1542 but never came home: he died that winter after a fall during a skirmish, and his crew finished the voyage without him.

Which English privateer claimed part of California's coast in 1579, landing north of the Golden Gate?

Francis Drake landed in June 1579, probably at Drakes Bay in Marin County, and claimed the country as Nova Albion for Elizabeth I before continuing his voyage around the world.

Which Russian trading post was built on California's North Coast in 1812?

Fort Ross, built by the Russian-American Company in 1812, was meant to grow food for Russia's fur-trading colonies farther north; the Russians sold it and left in 1841.

Who led the 1775-76 overland expedition that brought settlers from Sonora to San Francisco Bay?

Juan Bautista de Anza led about 240 colonists overland from Tubac in 1775-76; the settlers went on to found the Presidio and Mission of San Francisco in 1776.

Which town was the site of the 1846 Bear Flag Revolt against Mexican rule?

On June 14, 1846, American settlers seized the Mexican garrison town of Sonoma and raised a flag bearing a bear, a star and the words California Republic.

Which Mexican general, namesake of a Bay Area city, did the Bear Flaggers arrest at his home in June 1846?

Mariano Vallejo was held for weeks even though he favored American rule; he went on to sit in the first state senate and donated the site for a new capital, the city that bears his name.

Which 1848 treaty ended the Mexican-American War and handed California to the United States?

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed on February 2, 1848, just nine days after gold was found in the Sierra foothills, before word of the strike had spread.

Which coastal city was California's capital under Spain, then Mexico, then the first American military governors?

Monterey kept the capital through three flags; in 1849 its Colton Hall hosted the convention that wrote California's first constitution, and the new state then moved its government elsewhere.

Which city served as California's capital from 1853 to 1854, just before Sacramento?

Benicia hosted the legislature for just over a year, February 1853 to February 1854; lawmakers found the little town inadequate and moved on, leaving the only pre-Sacramento capitol still standing.

Which president, new in office after Zachary Taylor's death, signed California into statehood?

Millard Fillmore backed the package of bills that Taylor had resisted, so the deadlock in Congress broke within two months of Taylor's sudden death.

Workers from which country laid most of the railroad across the Sierra Nevada?

China supplied the great majority of Central Pacific workers; in June 1867 thousands of them put down their tools, demanding pay equal to white workers' and a shorter day.

Which 1913 California law was aimed mainly at Japanese immigrants?

The 1913 Alien Land Act barred 'aliens ineligible for citizenship', in practice Japanese and other Asian immigrants, from owning farmland and capped leases at three years; the state Supreme Court struck it down in 1952.

Which dam north of Los Angeles collapsed just before midnight in March 1928, killing more than 400 people?

The St. Francis Dam, part of the city's water system, sent some 12 billion gallons roaring down the Santa Clara River valley through sleeping towns; the flood reached the Pacific before dawn.

Which river saw four hydroelectric dams removed in 2023-24, the largest such project in U.S. history?

Four dams on the Klamath River, Iron Gate, Copco 1 and 2 and J.C. Boyle, came down in 2023-24, reopening more than 400 miles of habitat to salmon that had been shut out for about a century.

Which California county is the largest by area in the contiguous United States?

San Bernardino County covers about 20,100 square miles, more than New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island combined, yet most of its people live in its small southwestern corner.

Which small island group lies west of San Francisco?

The Farallon Islands were once raided for seabird eggs to feed booming San Francisco; in 1863 rival egg companies fought a deadly gun battle there over the nesting grounds.

Which national park in California's Coast Ranges was upgraded from a national monument in 2013?

Pinnacles' rock spires are the remains of a volcano that erupted 23 million years ago near today's Lancaster; movement along a great fault has since carried them about 195 miles northwest.

Which vanished body of water was once the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi?

Tulare Lake in the southern San Joaquin Valley was the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi by surface area; it dried up by the early 20th century after its tributary rivers were diverted for irrigation.

Which salty lake east of Yosemite is a vital stop for more than a million migratory birds each year?

Mono Lake feeds one to two million migrating birds a year; after Los Angeles began diverting its streams in 1941 the lake fell 45 feet, until a 1994 state water board decision moved to protect it.

Which tree species grows naturally only in scattered groves on the Sierra Nevada's western slope?

Giant sequoias, the largest trees on Earth, grow wild only in groves on the Sierra Nevada's western slope; their cones can stay closed for 20 years until a fire's heat dries them open to shed seed.

Which 1994 earthquake, centered in the San Fernando Valley, collapsed sections of Los Angeles freeways?

The Northridge earthquake, magnitude 6.7, struck at 4:30 a.m. on January 17, 1994, and brought down freeway interchanges; the early hour is credited with sparing many lives, and the official toll was 57.

In which town was California's record low temperature of -45 °F set in 1937?

Boca, a former railroad and ice-harvesting town on the Truckee River east of Truckee, hit -45 °F on January 20, 1937, the coldest temperature ever recorded in California.

Which California conifer's cones, often over a foot long, are ranked the longest of any?

Sugar pine cones can reach 20 inches and are commonly ranked the longest of any conifer; the tree is named for the sweet resin that seeps from its wood, which Native Americans used as a sweetener.

Which state agency, created by Proposition 20 in 1972, permits development along the shoreline?

The California Coastal Commission, created by voters through Proposition 20 in 1972 and made permanent by the 1976 Coastal Act, must approve most development within the coastal zone.

Which emigrant party was trapped by snow in the Sierra Nevada in the winter of 1846-47?

The Donner Party, some 87 emigrants, was snowbound near today's Truckee from November 1846; nearly half died before rescue, and some survivors resorted to cannibalism.

Which labor leader co-founded the United Farm Workers in California in the 1960s?

Cesar Chavez co-founded a farm workers' association in Delano in 1962 with Dolores Huerta; it grew into the country's first permanent agricultural union and won field workers better pay and conditions.

Which county's city of Shafter is near California's center of population?

Shafter, northwest of Bakersfield in Kern County, lies a few miles from California's census-computed center of population, which sits in the southern San Joaquin Valley.

Which film star won the governor's office in the 2003 recall election that removed Gray Davis?

Arnold Schwarzenegger announced his run on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and topped a ballot of 135 candidates to replace Davis, the first U.S. governor recalled by voters since 1921.

Which valley in Yosemite National Park was flooded in 1923 to store drinking water for San Francisco?

Hetch Hetchy was dammed after Congress passed the Raker Act in 1913; the O'Shaughnessy Dam, finished in 1923, drowned a valley often compared in beauty to Yosemite Valley itself.

Which 1960s band promoted the image of Californians as laid-back, tanned sun-seekers?

The Beach Boys began in Hawthorne in 1961 as a family act built around the three Wilson brothers; having sold the world a sun-kissed California of hot rods and beaches, Brian Wilson went on to reinvent what pop records could sound like.

Which mining ghost town northeast of Yosemite is preserved in a state of 'arrested decay' as a state historic park?

Bodie once housed some 10,000 people; what was left when the last residents departed still stands as they left it, shelves stocked, and has been a state historic park since 1962.

Which California-born fast-food chain is known for the Crunchwrap Supreme and the Chalupa?

Taco Bell grew out of founder Glen Bell's visits to the Mitla Cafe, a Mexican restaurant near the stand he ran: he kept asking how its hard-shell tacos were made, then set out to copy them.

Which NHL team won the 2007 Stanley Cup, the first for a California franchise?

The Anaheim Ducks beat the Ottawa Senators in five games in June 2007, a year after dropping 'Mighty' from a name borrowed from a Disney film; the Los Angeles Kings followed with Cups in 2012 and 2014.

Which stadium hosted the 1994 FIFA World Cup final in California?

The Rose Bowl staged the final on July 17, 1994: Brazil and Italy drew 0-0, and Brazil won the first World Cup final settled by a penalty shoot-out when Roberto Baggio missed Italy's last kick.

Which resort, now Palisades Tahoe, hosted the 1960 Winter Olympics?

Squaw Valley staged the 1960 Winter Games, making California the only state to host both Summer and Winter Olympics; the resort became Palisades Tahoe in 2021 because its old name is a slur against Native American women.

Which Inglewood venue hosted Super Bowl LVI in February 2022?

SoFi Stadium hosted the game on February 13, 2022, and the Los Angeles Rams, playing in their own home stadium, beat the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20 with a touchdown in the final two minutes.

Which is the oldest University of California campus?

UC Berkeley was founded in 1868 as the University of California itself; its scientists have since discovered 16 chemical elements, one of them named berkelium.

Which state agency builds and maintains California's state highways and freeways?

The Department of Transportation, branded Caltrans, manages more than 50,000 lane miles; it grew out of an 1895 Bureau of Highways whose three commissioners toured the state's roads by buckboard wagon.

Which road to Pasadena opened in 1940 as the first freeway in the western United States?

The Arroyo Seco Parkway, completed in 1940 and long signed as the Pasadena Freeway, was the first freeway west of the Mississippi and became the prototype for the Los Angeles freeway system.

Which island, joined by a causeway to man-made Treasure Island, carries the Bay Bridge through a tunnel?

Yerba Buena Island's tunnel links the bridge's two spans; Yerba Buena was also San Francisco's own name until 1847, when the town was renamed.

Which was California's only major nuclear power plant operating in 2025?

Diablo Canyon, near San Luis Obispo, became the state's last operating nuclear plant after San Onofre was retired in 2013; due to close by 2025, it was given until 2030 by a 2022 state law.

What is California's lower legislative house called?

The State Assembly has 80 members elected every two years, while each of the 40 state senators represents nearly a million people, more than a member of the U.S. House of Representatives does.

How many members does California send to the U.S. House of Representatives?

California sends 52 representatives, the most of any state, after losing a seat in the 2020 reapportionment; with two senators that gives it 54 electoral votes.

Which 1978 California ballot measure capped property tax at 1% of a home's assessed value?

Proposition 13, passed in June 1978, capped the tax at 1% and lets a home's taxable value rise no more than 2% a year until it is sold, so the longer an owner stays, the further the bill falls below market value.

Which two Californians each won two presidential elections?

Nixon and Reagan fit: Richard Nixon won in 1968 and 1972 and Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984; the state voted Republican in every presidential race from 1952 to 1988 except 1964.

Which San Francisco supervisor, elected in 1977, became one of America's first openly gay elected officials?

Harvey Milk, who ran a camera shop in the Castro, won his seat after the city switched to district elections and pushed through a gay-rights ordinance before a former colleague shot him dead in November 1978.

What is the name of the Golden Gate Bridge's signature paint color?

International Orange was the personal choice of Irving Morrow, the architect who also shaped the Art Deco towers; the Navy had wanted the bridge striped in black and yellow so ships could see it.

Which bank bought the Golden Gate Bridge's bonds in 1932 so that construction could begin?

Bank of America's founder Amadeo Giannini agreed to buy the bonds after chief engineer Joseph Strauss asked him in person; with no other buyers in the Depression, work started in January 1933.

Where in Death Valley was the world-record 134 °F reading taken on July 10, 1913?

The 134 °F reading was taken at Greenland Ranch, today's Furnace Creek, on July 10, 1913, and stands as the highest air temperature ever recorded on Earth, though some meteorologists dispute it.

Which camp in the Owens Valley, now a national historic site, held more than 10,000 Japanese Americans during World War II?

Manzanar was one of ten camps where the U.S. government confined Japanese American citizens and Japanese immigrants barred from citizenship; Ansel Adams photographed daily life there in 1943.

Which businessman, arriving in San Francisco in 1853, later patented riveted denim work pants?

Levi Strauss opened a dry-goods business in San Francisco in 1853; the rivets were the idea of Reno tailor Jacob Davis, who lacked the money to file for a patent and asked Strauss to share the one they won in 1873.

Which mining technique did an 1884 federal court ruling effectively ban across California's gold country?

Hydraulic mining blasted hillsides apart with high-pressure water cannons; the 1884 Sawyer decision effectively banned it because the debris was choking rivers and burying downstream farms.

Which president signed the law that first set Yosemite Valley aside for public use?

Abraham Lincoln signed the Yosemite Grant on June 30, 1864, in the middle of the Civil War, handing Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove to California to be held for public use; national park status came in 1890.

Which Yosemite landmark do hikers climb by gripping steel cables up its final 400 feet?

Half Dome rises nearly 5,000 feet above Yosemite Valley; a state survey once called it 'perfectly inaccessible', but George Anderson reached the top in 1875 and the cables followed in 1919.

Which notorious gangster arrived in August 1934 among the first inmates of San Francisco Bay's island prison?

Al Capone was moved from a federal prison in Atlanta amid suspicion that he was buying special treatment; he spent more than four years on the Rock, cut off from his empire and with his health failing from syphilis.

Which Soviet leader asked to visit Disneyland during his 13-day U.S. trip in 1959?

Nikita Khrushchev was refused a Disneyland visit during his September 1959 tour, ostensibly for security reasons, and complained about it publicly at a 20th Century Fox luncheon in Hollywood.

Which network televised Disneyland's dedication on July 17, 1955?

ABC, which had invested in the park, broadcast the live 'Dateline: Disneyland' special on July 17, 1955, with hosts Art Linkletter, Bob Cummings and Ronald Reagan; the public was admitted the next day.

Which four letters did the Hollywood Sign lose in 1949?

The sign went up in 1923 as HOLLYWOODLAND to advertise a housing development; when the Chamber of Commerce restored it in 1949 it dropped LAND, and the trimmed name stuck.

Which hilltop Los Angeles landmark was a key setting of the 1955 film Rebel Without a Cause?

Griffith Observatory has charged no admission since it opened in 1935, a condition of the will of Griffith J. Griffith, the mining millionaire whose bequest paid for it.

Which rock singer paid for a Hollywood Sign letter in memory of Groucho Marx in 1978?

Alice Cooper sponsored an O in memory of Groucho Marx, who had died in 1977; nine donors each gave nearly $28,000 to rebuild the crumbling sign, Gene Autry and Andy Williams among them.

Which author made Calaveras County famous with an 1865 tale about a jumping frog?

Mark Twain's story retells a yarn from the Angels Hotel in Angels Camp; its hero was probably a California red-legged frog, the species the state made its official amphibian in 2014.

Which Scottish-born naturalist co-founded the Sierra Club in 1892 and was its first president?

John Muir led the Sierra Club from its founding in 1892 until his death in 1914; his 1903 camping trip in Yosemite with President Theodore Roosevelt helped win the valley's return to federal control in 1906.

Which historic mail service had its western terminus in California's capital?

The Pony Express ran from St. Joseph, Missouri, to the California capital from April 1860 until October 1861, when the transcontinental telegraph made it obsolete; mail went on to San Francisco by boat.

Which nickname of California's capital reflects its abundant urban forest?

City of Trees describes a canopy the city planted for itself: early residents set out trees street by street, for shade that made the scorching summers bearable.

Which California zoo was founded with animals left behind by a 1915 world's fair?

The San Diego Zoo began in 1916, when Dr. Harry Wegeforth gathered animals left over from the Panama-California Exposition in Balboa Park; the roar of one of its lions is said to have given him the idea.

Who supervised the Los Angeles Aqueduct, completed in 1913?

William Mulholland, chief engineer of the Los Angeles water department, built the 233-mile aqueduct from the Owens Valley; at its opening in November 1913 he said, 'There it is. Take it.'

What caused most of the destruction in San Francisco after the April 18, 1906, earthquake?

Fires raged for three days because the quake had broken the city's water mains, leaving firefighters almost helpless; nearly 500 blocks and some 28,000 buildings were lost, and about 3,000 people died.

Which founding document of a global body was drafted and signed in San Francisco in 1945?

The United Nations Charter was signed on June 26, 1945, by delegates of 50 nations in the city's Veterans War Memorial Building; a space was left for Poland, which signed that October as the 51st founding member.

Which San Francisco skyscraper, completed in 1972, was the city's tallest building for more than four decades?

The Transamerica Pyramid was given its tapering shape so that more light would reach the streets below; at 853 feet it stayed the tallest building in the city until Salesforce Tower overtook it.

Which transistor co-inventor moved to Mountain View in 1956 and seeded Silicon Valley?

William Shockley, co-inventor of the transistor, set up Shockley Semiconductor in Mountain View in 1956; eight engineers who quit his lab in 1957, including Noyce and Moore, founded Fairchild Semiconductor.

Lake Tahoe is the second-deepest lake in the United States behind which one?

Crater Lake, more than 1,900 feet deep, fills the crater left when Mount Mazama collapsed about 7,700 years ago; Tahoe reaches 1,645 feet.

Which classic Western TV series had its Ponderosa Ranch on Lake Tahoe's Nevada side?

Bonanza (1959-73) set the Cartwrights' Ponderosa Ranch near Virginia City on Lake Tahoe's Nevada shore; a replica ranch at Incline Village drew tourists as a theme park until it closed in 2004.

What saved 19 workers building the Golden Gate Bridge, who became known as the 'Halfway to Hell Club'?

A safety net strung beneath the work caught 19 falling men; in February 1937 a collapsing scaffold tore through it, and ten of the men on it were killed.

Which president's wife led the 1966 scenic road ceremony at Bixby Creek Bridge?

Lady Bird Johnson, promoting highway beautification, presided at Bixby Creek Bridge in September 1966 when Highway 1 through Big Sur was dedicated as California's first State Scenic Highway.

Joshua Tree National Park straddles the Mojave and which lower-lying region?

The park's lower, hotter eastern half lies in the Colorado Desert, a western arm of the Sonoran, while Joshua trees grow in the higher Mojave section; it was upgraded from monument to national park in 1994.

Which form of transit had its first successful line on San Francisco's Clay Street in 1873?

Cable cars were the work of wire-rope maker Andrew Hallidie, who is said to have had the idea after watching horses struggle to drag a streetcar up a wet hill; three lines still run today.

Which architect designed Hearst Castle at San Simeon?

Julia Morgan, the first woman admitted to the architecture program at the École des Beaux-Arts, designed Hearst Castle over 28 years from 1919; Hearst had its Neptune Pool rebuilt three times.

Which 1941 film satirized Hearst Castle and its owner's lifestyle?

Citizen Kane, Orson Welles's debut feature, so alarmed Hearst that his newspapers were barred from mentioning it, while Hollywood executives led by Louis B. Mayer offered to buy the film and burn the negative.

Which singer-turned-mayor cracked down on Palm Springs' rowdy spring break in the early 1990s?

Sonny Bono ran for mayor in 1988 after fuming at the red tape over a sign for his Palm Springs restaurant; in office he closed Palm Canyon Drive to spring-break crowds, and he won a seat in Congress in 1994.

Which band's 1993 Ticketmaster-boycott concert at the Empire Polo Club led to Coachella?

Pearl Jam, boycotting Ticketmaster venues, played the Empire Polo Club in Indio in November 1993 and proved the site could hold a big crowd; the first Coachella followed there in October 1999.

Which fast-food chain did Harry and Esther Snyder open in Baldwin Park in 1948?

In-N-Out began as what is said to be California's first drive-thru hamburger stand, where drivers ordered through a two-way speaker instead of waiting for a carhop.

Which whale, seen migrating along the coast each winter, has been California's state marine mammal since 1975?

Gray whales swim about 10,000 miles a year between Arctic feeding grounds and the lagoons of Mexico; hunted close to extinction, the eastern Pacific population recovered and left the endangered list in 1994.

Which style became California's official state folk dance in 1988?

Square dance became California's official folk dance in 1988, the year West Coast Swing was named state dance; the state's description of it also takes in rounds, clogging, contra and line dancing.

Which insect did California designate as its official state insect in 1972?

The California dogface butterfly, found only in California, is named for the yellow silhouette of a dog's head on the male's wings; it became the state insect in 1972.

Which bird was saved by capturing every last wild one for breeding by 1987?

The California condor was down to fewer than 30 birds when the last wild one was caught in 1987; bred in captivity, condors have been released to fly free again since the early 1990s.

Which state did California overtake in 1962 to become the most populous in the United States?

New York had been the nation's most populous state since the 1810s. It has since slipped to fourth, behind Texas and Florida as well.

Which frozen treat did 11-year-old Californian Frank Epperson say he invented by leaving a drink outside overnight?

The Popsicle began in 1905 as a glass of soda mix left to freeze on a porch. Epperson first called it the "Epsicle" and sold the rights to the brand in 1925.

California grows about 80% of the world's supply of which nut, pollinated each February by trucked-in beehives?

Almonds depend on well over a million rented beehives hauled to California's orchards each winter. It is the largest managed pollination event in the world.

Which sporting event was about to begin at Candlestick Park when the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake struck California?

The World Series may have saved lives: with fans already at the ballpark or home to watch Game 3, Bay Area freeways were far emptier than on a normal rush hour.

Which 3,000-foot granite wall in Yosemite did Alex Honnold climb without ropes in the documentary Free Solo?

El Capitan took Honnold just 3 hours 56 minutes on June 3, 2017. The first ascent of its Nose route, in 1958, took 47 days of climbing.

Which California volcano erupted violently in 1915, the last Cascade eruptions before Mount St. Helens in 1980?

Lassen Peak rained ash as far as Nevada, some 200 miles to the east, on May 22, 1915. The eruptions were so striking that the area became a national park the following year.

Which island off Southern California did gum magnate William Wrigley Jr. use for his Chicago Cubs' spring training?

Catalina's landmark Casino, which Wrigley opened in 1929, has never hosted gambling. The name simply means a gathering place.

Which treat served at Chinese restaurants was popularized in early-1900s California, most likely by Japanese immigrants?

The fortune cookie closely resembles a cracker made in Kyoto since the 19th century, which is larger, darker and flavored with sesame and miso.

Which animation studio has its headquarters in the small East Bay city of Emeryville, California?

Pixar opened the campus in 2000 on the back of Toy Story's success, on a 20-acre site that once belonged to Del Monte Foods.

Which historic California route is marked by hundreds of roadside bells hung from poles shaped like a shepherd's crook?

El Camino Real got the first of its 450 bells in 1906, when highways had no standard signs. The name means "The Royal Road".

Which county, California's third-most populous, split from its northern neighbor in 1889 with Santa Ana as its seat?

Orange County packs about 3.2 million people into the smallest county by area in Southern California, giving it more residents than 19 U.S. states.

Which county, California's fourth-most populous, holds Palm Springs and most of Joshua Tree National Park?

Riverside County reaches all the way east to the Arizona border. It was created in 1893 after 70% of local voters backed forming a new county.

Which county, Northern California's most populous, was once promoted for its orchards as the Valley of Heart's Delight?

Santa Clara County traded its fruit trees for chip makers, and most of what is now called Silicon Valley lies inside it. The newer nickname first appeared in print in 1971.

Which county, formed in an 1860s silver boom that soon faded, is California's least populous at about 1,200 residents?

Alpine County has no incorporated city at all: even its seat, Markleeville, is an unincorporated town that began as one man's 160-acre claim.

Which county, home to El Centro and vast irrigated fields of winter vegetables, became California's newest in 1907?

Imperial County was split off from the eastern half of its coastal neighbor, and much of it lies below sea level.

Which California county contains both the highest and the lowest points in the contiguous United States?

Inyo County holds both extremes less than 90 miles apart, giving it the greatest elevation range of any county in the lower 48 states.

Which Gold Country county did Mark Twain make famous with his 1865 tale of a celebrated jumping frog?

Calaveras County still holds a Jumping Frog Jubilee every May. Twain heard the yarn at the Angels Hotel in the mining town of Angels Camp.

Which county, whose seat was once nicknamed Hangtown, holds the Coloma site where James Marshall struck gold?

El Dorado County takes its name from a term meaning "the gilded one". Its seat earned the grim nickname in 1849 from the hangings carried out there.

Which foothill county, covering a fifth of California at statehood, is nicknamed the Mother of Counties?

Mariposa County spanned more than 30,000 square miles when California joined the Union. Territory it later gave up became all or part of eleven other counties.

Which far-northern county, rather than neighboring Shasta County, actually contains the 14,179-foot Mount Shasta?

Siskiyou County counts Mount Shasta as its highest point. It was carved in 1852 partly out of Shasta County itself.

Which California county is home to the University of California campus at Davis but has Woodland as its seat?

Yolo County was spelled "Yola" in the original act that created it. The name comes from the Patwin people and may mean a place abounding in rushes.

Which California county holds Point Reyes National Seashore, Mount Tamalpais and San Quentin State Prison?

Marin County is where modern mountain biking took shape, on the slopes of Mount Tamalpais.

Which California county shares its name with an island city that lies just off its own shore in San Francisco Bay?

Alameda County takes its name from a word for a grove of poplars or a tree-lined street. The island city is not its seat, which sits next door on the mainland.

Which California county lost most of the town of Paradise to the Camp Fire in November 2018?

Butte County's Camp Fire burned for 17 days east of Chico and became the deadliest and most destructive wildfire California had ever recorded.

Which thinly populated northwestern California county, whose seat is Weaverville, has no incorporated cities at all?

Trinity County owes its name to a mistake: the officer who named its river in 1845 wrongly believed it emptied into Trinidad Bay.

Which county in California's far northeastern corner is named for a people who fought the U.S. Army in 1872–73?

Modoc County is named for a people whose 52 warriors, dug into the lava beds near Tule Lake, held off hundreds of soldiers for months.

Which California county, whose seat is Martinez, includes the cities of Concord, Richmond and Walnut Creek?

Contra Costa County's name means "opposite coast", because it looks across the bay at San Francisco.

Which county stretches roughly 65 miles from the suburbs of Roseville to the Nevada state line, with its seat at Auburn?

Placer County is named for the gold-bearing sand and gravel that miners washed away to leave the heavier metal behind.

Which county, rather than San Francisco itself, is where San Francisco International Airport actually sits?

San Mateo County holds the runways near San Bruno and Millbrae, yet the airport is owned and run by the City and County of San Francisco.

Which county holds North Fork, the small mountain community that lies near the geographic center of California?

Madera County's name means "wood": its seat grew up where a lumber company's log flume met the railroad in 1876.

Which Southern California port city is the permanent home of the retired ocean liner RMS Queen Mary?

Long Beach, where the 1936 Art Deco liner is docked for good, is also the largest city in California that is not a county seat.

Which Central Valley city was California's fifth-largest, and its most populous inland city, at the 2020 census?

Fresno began in 1872 as a railway station and is named for the ash trees that once lined the San Joaquin River.

Which California city gave its name to the twangy country sound of Buck Owens and Merle Haggard?

Bakersfield's electric-guitar sound dominated country music commercially for over a decade. Owens settled in the city in 1951 and opened his Crystal Palace music hall there in 1996.

Which California city was master-planned by a ranch-owning company around a new University of California campus?

Irvine was drawn up as a city of 50,000 around the new campus, but in 1971 its residents voted to incorporate a much larger one.

Which California city, named after an Anglo-Irish philosopher, was the hub of the 1964 Free Speech Movement?

Berkeley is home to the oldest University of California campus, where students rose up that fall against limits on political activity.

Which city holds the Addison Avenue garage where Hewlett and Packard began, known as the Birthplace of Silicon Valley?

Palo Alto's famous garage was only the workshop in 1938: Bill Hewlett slept in a shed on the lot while Dave Packard and his new wife rented the first-floor apartment.

Which Silicon Valley city, named after a creek that honored a saint, is home to Apple's headquarters?

Cupertino only became a city in 1955, and Apple later bought most of the land for its Apple Park campus from Hewlett-Packard.

Which Southern California beach city is famous for a pleasure pier with a Ferris wheel and a 1920s carousel?

Santa Monica's pier opened in 1909 with no amusements at all: its main job was to carry sewer pipes out beyond the breakers.

Which California city, built on former lima bean fields, is known for the designer boutiques of Rodeo Drive?

Beverly Hills covers under six square miles and, together with neighboring West Hollywood, is entirely surrounded by the city of Los Angeles.

Which California city, long home to Hollywood stars, strings Zuma, Surfrider and other beaches along 21 miles of coast?

Malibu stayed one family's guarded ranch until May Rindge was forced to divide the property and begin selling and leasing lots.

Which small Central Coast town elected actor Clint Eastwood as its nonpartisan mayor in April 1986?

Carmel-by-the-Sea paid Mayor Eastwood $200 a month, which he donated to the town's youth center during his two years in office.

Which small California town of cemeteries has dead residents outnumbering the living by nearly a thousand to one?

Colma filled with graves after San Francisco outlawed new burials within its city limits in 1900. Its dead are thought to number about 1.5 million.

Which desert city, rather than neighboring Coachella itself, hosts the Coachella festival at the Empire Polo Club?

Indio is nicknamed the City of Festivals, thanks mostly to Coachella and to Stagecoach, the country music festival held the weekend after it.

Which California farm town, at the southern edge of the Bay Area, is nicknamed the Garlic Capital of the World?

Gilroy's garlic trade took off in the 1920s, when Kiyoshi "Jimmy" Hirasaki, later known as the Garlic King, began growing it commercially.

Which California town of Danish-style buildings was founded in 1911 by Danish Americans fleeing Midwestern winters?

Solvang means "sunny field", but its Old World look came late: the town only began building Danish-themed architecture in 1947.

Which Central Valley port city became, in 2012, the largest U.S. city up to that time to file for bankruptcy?

Stockton blamed the 2008 financial crisis, years of financial mismanagement and generous employee benefits, and it exited bankruptcy in February 2015.

Which Central Valley city is the hometown George Lucas immortalized in his 1973 cruising film American Graffiti?

Modesto now marks its cruising heritage with a George Lucas Plaza and a Walk of Fame along its Historic Cruise Route.

Which California resort city is home to the 1888 beachfront hotel that stood in for Florida in Some Like It Hot?

Coronado's landmark was the largest resort hotel in the world when it opened, and the 1959 comedy renamed it the Seminole Ritz.

Which city, the largest in California's Wine Country, is home to the Charles M. Schulz Museum?

Santa Rosa was the Peanuts cartoonist's home from 1969 until his death, and even its airport is named after him.

Which city, nicknamed the Media Capital of the World, houses the headquarters of both Disney and Warner Bros.?

Burbank sits about six miles northeast of Hollywood and also hosts studios for Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network.