Q 01/05

Which city, grown from an 1817 Spanish mission hospital, is the county seat of Marin County?

A) San Rafael

B) Novato

C) Mill Valley

D) San Anselmo

Answer · why

A) San Rafael

San Rafael is named for Raphael, the archangel associated with healing. Its mission was planned as a hospital for converts who had fallen ill at the c...

Q 02/05

Which number became cannabis slang after Marin County teens called the Waldos met at that time?

A) 187

B) 215

C) 311

D) 420

Answer · why

D) 420

420 was shorthand for 4:20 p.m., when the Waldos gathered at a statue of Louis Pasteur to hunt for an abandoned cannabis crop. They were following a t...

Q 03/05

Which sport is traced to Mount Tamalpais in Marin County, where riders raced old cruisers downhill?

A) BMX racing

B) Mountain biking

C) Skateboarding

D) Cyclocross racing

Answer · why

B) Mountain biking

Mountain biking grew out of timed descents of a fire road nicknamed Repack. The long drop burned the grease out of the old coaster brakes, so riders h...

Q 04/05

Which filmmaker built Skywalker Ranch, a secluded retreat in the Marin County hills near Nicasio?

A) Steven Spielberg

B) Francis Ford Coppola

C) James Cameron

D) George Lucas

Answer · why

D) George Lucas

George Lucas bought the first parcel in 1978 and called it Bulltail Ranch. The ranch stands on Lucas Valley Road, which was named for an earlier lando...

Q 05/05

Which prison on the Marin County shoreline, in use since the 1850s, is the oldest in California?

A) Folsom Prison

B) Alcatraz

C) San Quentin

D) Pelican Bay

Answer · why

C) San Quentin

San Quentin was built by inmates who had been held on the Waban, a wooden prison ship anchored in San Francisco Bay. Its first cell block, opened in 1...