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.

Alistair Paterson

By 2004, Paterson had opened a Poetry NZ office in Palm Springs, California.

American Duos

When the latest incarnation of American Idol shows sets up shop in Santa Barbara, the requisite cruel British judge Nigel St. Nigel (Tim Curry) finds himself in a panic after a series of near-miss attempts on his life and hires Santa Barbara's most reliable psychic detective to protect him.

Aptos High School

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

APW/Vendetta Pro Unified Tag Team Championship

On January 5, 2013, The Suburban Commandos (T-Rent and D-Unit) defeated SU/KA and the defending Champiosn The Ballard Brothers in a Triangle Tag Team Match in Hayward, California to become the first team to win the Unified Tag Team Titles on an All Pro Wrestling Event.

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.

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.

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.

Brea Olinda Unified School District

Brea Olinda Unified School District is the school district serving the City of Brea in Orange County, California, United States.

Brian C. Griffin

In January 2004, Griffin was appointed the President and member of the Board for Clean Energy Systems, a private Rancho Cordova, California based energy technology innovations firm.

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.

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.

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.

Carlos Vierra

Carlos Vierra was born and raised in Moss Landing, California near Monterey by his father, Portuguese sailor, Cato Vierra and his mother, Maria de Fratas.

Caroline, No

The sounds that were lifted for the end of the Pet Sounds album were that of Train #58, "The Owl", speeding through at 70 mph through Edison, California.

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.

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.

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.

David Karp

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

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.

Devin Del Do

Del Do grew up in Valencia, California, played for the West Valley Samba club team, and attended Hart High School where he was twice named to the All-Foothill League first team, and was his team's Most Valuable Player and Offensive Player of the Year as both a junior and senior.

Dick Wellstood

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

Ducey's Bass Lake Lodge

In 1941, Buddy Freeman constructed Freeman's Bass Lake Lodge on the north shore of Bass Lake, California about one mile west of the Pines Village.

En Ami

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

Freddie Rodriguez

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

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 S. Stuart

When Stuart moved to Ojai, California in 1959, he opened The Gallery of Historical Figures and began teaching workshops on figural construction, costuming and sculpting faces.

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.

Glen Alvelais

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

Gregory Minor

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

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.

Jerry Birdwell

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

Joan Buchanan

She ran in California's 15th district against Republican San Ramon Mayor H. Abram Wilson.

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.

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

Kempster Blanchard Miller

His brother was businessman, rancher and citrus farmer Azariel Blanchard Miller (1878–1941), founder of the city of Fontana, California.

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.

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.

Loan Chau

In 1995, four years after arriving in California, Loan Châu won top honors at a karaoke contest at Ritz night club in Orange County.

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).

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.

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.

Mason Aguirre

He turned pro at fifteen and his parents moved their family to Mammoth Lakes, California to pursue his snowboarding career.

Melvin Anthony

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

Millspaugh

Millspaugh, California, unincorporated community in Inyo County, California

Morris Scott Dollens

A major collection of these slides is housed at University of California at Riverside in California, United States.

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.

Odostomia pratoma

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

Oklahoma City Crosstown Expressway

Constructed nearly fifty years ago, Interstate 40 (I-40) stretches from Wilmington, North Carolina to Barstow, California.

Pacific Steel

The Pacific Steel Casting Company is a steel foundry in West Berkeley, California, founded in 1934.

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.

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.

Prikeba Phipps

Prikeba ("Keba") Reed Phipps (born June 30, 1969 in Lakewood, California) is a retired volleyball player from the United States, who represented her native country at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.

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.

Rich Manning

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

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.

San Diego Polo Club

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

San Mateo Union High School District

The district consists of seven public high schools, one alternative high school (a "college high school"), and one adult School in San Bruno, Millbrae, Burlingame, and San Mateo.

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

Sun Valley Charter High School

Sun Valley Charter High School was a small charter high school in Ramona, California, chartered by the Ramona Unified School District.

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.

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.

V3 Gaming PC

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

Vaca Valley and Clear Lake Railroad

The Vaca Valley Railroad was incorporated on April 12, 1869 to run a branch from the mainline of the California Pacific Railroad (later Southern Pacific Railroad's mainline between Sacramento and Oakland, CA) at Elmira to Rumsey.

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.


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.

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.

Bangerz

The Bangerz, a California DJ group that rose to prominence on the first season of America's Best Dance Crew

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.

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.

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.

Carl Braden

The Bradens had three children: James, born in 1951, a 1972 Rhodes Scholar, and a 1980 graduate of Harvard Law School (where he preceded Barack Obama as editor of the Harvard Law Review), has lived and practiced law for over 25 years in San Francisco, California.

CFXL-FM

The last song played on "California 103" was "Like a Lover" by Emilie-Claire Barlow and the first song played by "XL103 FM" was "Crocodile Rock" by Elton John according to Nielsen BDS.

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.

Daniel Thomas

Daniel M. Thomas, early California politician and pioneer to Los Angeles

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

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.

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.

Granville Knight

He later moved to California to practice in the fields of allergies and nutrition.

Health maintenance organization

Within a year, the Los Angeles Fire Department signed up, then the Los Angeles Police Department, then the Southern California Telephone Company (now AT&T Inc.), and more.

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.

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.

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.

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.

KEFC

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

Kellyn Tate

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

KFXM

KTMQ, a radio station (103.3 FM) licensed to Temecula, California, United States, which held the call sign KFXM from October 2000 to August 2001

KPOP

KTNQ, a radio station (1020 AM) licensed to Los Angeles, California, United States, which formerly used the call sign KPOP

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.

Michael Jung

Michael E. Jung (born 1947), Professor of Chemistry at the University of 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.

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.

Ricardo Lacsamana

His painted Pumpkin won best entry at the 1998 Annual Pumpkin Contest at the Westin Hotel & Resorts in San Francisco, California.

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.

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.

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.

Steal This Record

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

Tirso del Junco, Jr.

In 1997 he was appointed Commissioner to the California State Athletic Commission and was a member if the Oversight Committee of the Department of Health Service for California.

True Self

All tracks were recorded at Bombshelter Studios in Los Angeles, California, unless otherwise noted.

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.