California has Yosemite National Park. 'Nuff said.
People have told me that Californians drive like “bats outta hell” (this coming from people who do not know how to merge into freeway traffic) and that all Californians wear loud tropical shirts. Yeah yeah yeah. Real accurate assumptions.
To me (as a native Californian) California is about beaches, forests, mountains, lovely art museums, libraries, redwoods, forests, mountains…oh wait, I said that, didn’t I?
Other people can think whatever they want, negative or positive. And if they decide that they don’t want to visit, fine by me. Just means less tourists getting lost on the freeways!
Doobie, dude, celebrities are everywhere! I’ve seen Candace and Kirk Cameron (and Kirk’s wife; the whole fam went to my church briefly), the guy who plays Q, the little girl from Jurassic Park, Mickey Rooney, Chuck Norris, Kenny Rogers, Kelly Martin, the guy who played Booger in those Revenge of the Nerds movies, the band Warrant, Maureen McCormick (Marsha Marsha Marsha!), and several others I’m currently blanking on right now. Maybe it’s because I live in Southern California, so close to LA.
I do remember when I was a kid growing up in Indiana, California was right up there with Florida and New York in my mind as a nearly mythical place–where all these neat things happen, amazing people lived, and was just a hubbub of life and excitement. I remember how amazed and jealous some of my classmates were that I was moving to California. Heck, I remember when a girl moved to Indy from CA how cool everyone thought she was, just because she had to be–she was from CA! Now, not everyone felt that way of course, but hey. It was a common sentiment in junior high.
Gotta say, I love it here. I like visiting the slower paced, 4-seasoned midwest still on occasion, but California is my home.
Didja ever notice that the NATURE doesn’t smell right out there? There’s always a weird kind of eucalyptus-y scent. And the hills and mountains don’t quite LOOK right? You drive over the Golden Gate up into Marin county, and your forehead wrinkles up.
It’s all pretty, of course. But it’s unnatural, somehow.
Upstate New York. The Adirondacks, the Catskills, and the Berkshires. New England. That’s the way nature is SUPPOSED to look. And smell.
As a native Californian now living in Minnesota (and glad to be out of Cali, but that’s another thread), I have to say that I now appreciate Californians’ driving skills more than ever. It seems to be the only place where drivers understand that you really can’t effectively merge onto a busy freeway going about 30 mph.
Being from Rhode Island and all, California has a kind of “mythical” status in my mind… but any state that houses so many of my favorite people can’t be all bad!
And I would also like to take this opportunity to say… I’ll be there in TEN MORE DAYS!
I’ve always felt that California outta be divided into at least four states.
Northern California is: Nature nuts, left-leaning-until-they-keel-over liberals, wine sippers, fern bars, leftover hippies, and gay people. Capital: San Francisco
Southern California is: Movie stars, Chicanos, gangs, surfers, bikers, dudes and dudettes, and aspiring writers and actors (read: waiters and waitresses). Capital: LA
Central California: UFOlogists, recluses, and farmers. Capital: Fresno
The Rest of California: Rich, desert dwellers. Capital: Palm Springs
Forgive Ike; he’s in smog/funk/hyped East Coast anomie again.
California is so much more complex, variable and interesting than the Eastern megalopolis sprawl. The footnoting is patchier, though.
California is…LA trendy, San Diego sun-baked, SF haute-living, Marin County parody-ripe…but also immense tracks of rural agricultural land, moisture-rich rain forests of the redwoods, high Sierras–and the headiest collection of wandering Anglos, wandering Hispanics, Native Americans, eager foreigners, and assorted misfits around.
Categorizing California is like squishing mercury: good luck! No category fits.
When I lived in Michigan, the main thing I heard was that there were year round flower gardens in everyone’s yard. i couldn’t believe it. Now, living in Berkeley, I find it hard to remember bare yards for 6 months.
How can you not love this place? It’s impossible to stereotype all the parts are so incredibly different and if you can’t stereotype a person how could you try to stereotype such a huge area? Oh well, don’t mind me I’m just a native Californian. Like I’ll just like be going now, like buh-bye.
Rysdad–if you think Northern Californians are liberal, you’ve never been north of Ukiah!! Go up to Redwood country, and, though you will find pockets of hippiedom, most people are red-necks–farmers, ranchers, loggers, fishermen–perpetually underemployed and angry about it.
For those of us who grew up between the redwood forest and the ocean, the freaks from LA were the bane of our existance, and the San Francisco types weren’t much better. At least San Francisco has culture, and some pretty beaches, instead of the vapid smugness of LA and the flat beaches of Malibu. Anything south of Santa Barbara could fall into the ocean and the world would be a better place, and only my mellow old-age spares the area between there and Monterey (nothing is more beautiful that the redwoods in the fog, but Point Lobos near Monterey comes close). And don’t get me started about the valley or Sacramento–Redding and the Trinity Alps are okay, but then the land turns flat, dry and gods only know why anybody would voluntarily live there–it doesn’t even have the grand majesty of the true desert, just bland grey-brown blech.
What most people think of California is based on Southern California,and so fundamentally flawed. Yosemite is fantastic, but spend a week at Jeramiah Johnson State Park near Cresent City–just watch out for the banana slugs.
My, someone seems to have hit a nerve. Oh well, one must be patriotic about something. I’ll be a partisan northern California until the day I die–regardless of where I live. Alta libre!!
Ukiah is REAL Northern California. It’s way up in Mendocino County, which is similar to Los Angeles in that both of them are located within the borders of California.
Politically, California has turned into two distinct states. Nearly all the Democrats live along the coast and the Republicans live inland. However, there are a lot more people who live near the coast. Hence, California has become a heavily Democratic state. Gore won nearly the same percentage of the vote as Clinton and he never campaigned in California after the Democratic Convention in LA.
California is lot like the other 49 states except there are just a lot more people here.
But has anyone here ever been to Alturas or any of the other cities in Trinity County?
I’m not sure anything in Trinity County really qualifies as a city, but yep, I been there. And didja know that ‘Ukiah’ spelled backward is ‘haiku’? I didn’t, either, until I saw the backside of the Ukiah Lion’s Club sign and thought we were in an odd place for a billboard about Japanese poetry…
As for the OP, we don’t really care what everybody else thinks of California, because we know we got it good…
Ike: The reason it smells like Eucalyptus is because we have those damn trees all over the place (if it was up to me, each and every one would be chopped down and used for mulch). Our mountains and hills are just fine, it’s your mountains and hills that dont look right :D. Anyway, being mediterranean we at least can have a booming wine industry, and also have such a thriving agricultural economy. Did I mention how rich the waters off the coast are (not to mention how clean)? Oh and also, our mountains are real mountains. Not those hills you call the Adirondacks and Catskills.
Yosemite: Yosemite is reason enough to like California (Fave Spot: The view right outside the tunnel that leads into the park, with a vista of the entire valley)
Ruffian: How silly of me. OF COURSE celebs are everywhere, why in nearby Carmel,we have Clint Eastwood (who has his home there), and we also had Brooke Sheilds and Andre Agassi choose to marry here. Also, we have the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am every year (all is true, but no, I dont see celebs everywhere here in Monterey)
Kallesa: I agree, Pt. Lobos is absolutely stunning. I live less than 20 miles from there and oddly i’ve only been twice. My favorite spots are the cypress groves, and China Cove (which has an absolutely stunning white sand beach and a very placid cove ). Another nice spot further down the coast is Cambria which is kind of a tourist trap but resembles Monterey with all the pines.
Ricepad: True, i really dont care what others think about the state, because they just will never understand what it’s like to be a Californian, and will never be one of us with that attitude.The stereotypes and comments i’ve heard from people out of state really actually amuses me more than anything else. It’s like they try to put us into a box, yet we just wont fit.The intent was to let those who have opinions of the state have at it, and to see if what i’ve heard actually is common among people from out of state.
There’s not much more I can say that others who love the state haven’t said. I love this state, i will probably remain here until I die (unless of course there’s enough incentive to move elsewhere).
