Ocean, mountain and desert are California's defining features. There are several different mountain ranges: The Coastal Range wends its way north from Santa Barbara and into Oregon. The Cascades extend into the northern interior, and the Sierra Nevada's jagged peaks tower over the eastern third of the state. The Peninsular Ranges extend from Los Angeles south into Mexico's Baja peninsula, and the unusual east-west Transverse Ranges separate Southern California from the rest of the state. In between all these mountains are a number of fertile valleys, including the vast Central Valley—an extremely flat area that's an agricultural powerhouse.
The southern part of the state is one vast semiarid desert fringed by valleys and mountains. Modern water projects transformed much of this land into rich farmland and then into lush urban and suburban settings. Yet much of the desert remains. Death Valley boasts the lowest elevation in the U.S.—and often the highest summer temperatures; to the east of Death Valley, the Sierra Nevadas taper off into the Mojave Desert.
The indigenous Americans who had the good fortune to live in what became California also enjoyed the region's natural abundance of fish, game and agriculture. California had a thriving population long before the Spanish explorers and the gold miners came to the state. These indigenous people, tribes and nations consisted of the Tipai-Ipai, Luiseno, Cahuilla and Gabrielino in southern California; the Costanoan and Miwok in central California; and the Yuki, Wintun, Hupa, Karok and Achomawi to the north, to name just a few.
Spaniard Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo was the first European to visit what is now the state of California. He arrived in 1542. But more than 200 years passed before Spain moved to settle the region, finally establishing a presidio for its army in San Diego in 1769. Soon after, the first of California's 21 Franciscan missions was built in the city.
The missions were established in part because Spain was worried about the territorial incursions of the Russians, who had settled along California's northern coast. But the end of Spain's hold on California came from a different direction: The citizenry of Mexico established an independent nation in 1821 and gained control of California and other Spanish holdings in North America.
When Mexico's short reign began, Yankee traders were already prominent in California: U.S. citizens, many of whom had married into landholding Mexican families, dominated California's business sector. The idea of annexing California to the U.S. was very attractive by the early 1840s and part of the reason for the U.S.'s declaration of war against Mexico in 1846. When the U.S. defeated Mexico in 1848, a large section of western North America, including California, passed into the landholders' hands.
That same year, a crucial event shaped the region's destiny: Gold was discovered on a remote stretch of the American River in the Sierra Nevada foothills. The subsequent California Gold Rush of 1849 transformed nearby Sacramento into an overnight mining boomtown, and San Francisco mushroomed into a raucous and randy gold-crazed port city. Statehood soon followed (1850), and San Francisco continued to boom throughout the Gilded Age of the late 1800s.
Starting in the second decade of the 20th century, folks began flooding to Southern California in pursuit of another sort of glittering prize: movie stardom. With the rise of the motion-picture industry, the Los Angeles area became the entertainment capital of the U.S. and, eventually, the world. But the state has proven attractive in plenty of other ways, as well: It has been a land of promise for everyone from dust-bowl farmers to immigrants from Mexico and Asia to new-age pilgrims to high-tech entrepreneurs.
California's main attractions are its inspiring beauty, cultural offerings, rocky shorelines, skiing, nightlife, the Monterey Peninsula, San Francisco, the Napa and Sonoma wine country, redwood forests, Los Angeles, Lake Tahoe, theme parks, national parks (Yosemite, Death Valley, Redwood, Lassen Volcanic and others), San Diego, Santa Barbara and Spanish missions.
Everyone should see California, but visitors need to plan carefully. There is too much to see in one vacation, so make your choices and leave the rest for another trip.
Looking for a free place to live? Try Slab City, 1,000 acres/405 hectares of Southern California desert near the town of Niland. Though owned by the U.S. government, the site is home to approximately 3,000 people who live in trailers, RVs and converted buses. The settlement has existed since the 1950s, when the first arrivals set up housekeeping on the bare foundations (slabs) of former military barracks.
Don't think that all California wine is made in the northern part of the state: There are quality wineries near Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Paso Robles.
Southern California is often associated with films and rock music, but it has also been a hotbed for country music. Bakersfield, in particular, became famous for launching the careers of Buck Owens and Merle Haggard, and for the twangy electric guitars of the Bakersfield Sound.
Do be on the lookout for whales in the water if you're driving coastal Highway 1 December-February. They're migrating south during that time, close enough to shore to be seen. Just about any time of year, you can also spot dolphins, sea lions, seals and sea otters near shore.
San Luis Obispo was the birthplace of the motel. The Milestone Motel, designed by architect Arthur Heineman, opened there in 1925.
Fort Tejon State Historic Park, near Lebec (north of Los Angeles), was the western terminus for the U.S. Camel Corps. It was an Army experiment where camels carried supplies from San Antonio, Texas, to California across the desert.
California is the epicenter for inventions as diverse as the Frisbee, the laser, the first 360-degree looping roller coaster, the vacuum tube, the egg incubator, the first digital (virtual reality) theme park, the television, the first radio broadcast, the freeway, the gas station, the seedless watermelon, the fortune cookie, the enclosed shopping mall and the Barbie doll.
The town of Zzyzx (pronounced ZY-zix) was founded by Curtis Howe Springer, a squatter who built a health spa, castle and radio station on government land in the Mojave Desert (you can see the turnoff for it on Interstate 15 between Los Angeles and Las Vegas). He used the site to preach his peculiar brand of gospel and to sell miracle cures.
The highest temperature ever recorded in North America was 134 F/57 C degrees in 1913 in Death Valley.
Nine counties in California supply all the artichokes in the U.S. The annual Castroville Artichoke Festival's first Artichoke Queen (in 1947) was the then unknown actress Marilyn Monroe.
People looking for the perfect climate might try Eureka. The highest temperature ever recorded is 78 F/26 C, and the mercury drops below freezing maybe once a year.
If you are interested in visiting some of California's more fascinating missions, don't miss San Juan Bautista (in San Juan Bautista), Mission San Jose (in Fremont) and Mission Santa Clara (in Santa Clara).
The oldest living things in the world, the bristlecone pine trees, grow at an altitude of 11,000 ft/3,350 m in California and Nevada. Some are estimated to be nearly 5,000 years old. The largest living things in the world are the coast redwoods, also known as California redwoods, which frequently top 300 ft/93 m tall.
