California
Facts
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- California's Mount Whitney measures as the highest peak in the lower
48 states. It's most famous climb is Mount Whitney Trail to the
14,495 feet summit. Wilderness permits are required.
- In 1925 a giant sequoia located in California's Kings Canyon
National Park was named the nation's national Christmas tree.
The tree is over 300 feet in height.
- More turkeys are raised in California than in any other state in the
United States.
- Pacific Park, on the venerable Santa Monica Pier, re-creates
the amusement parks once dotting the ocean areas along the Pacific
Coast. Featured are 11 amusement rides including the
1910-vintage hand-cared merry-go-round appearing in the movie
"The Sting".
- Alpine Count is the eighth smallest of California's 58
counties. It has no high school, ATMs, dentists, banks or
traffic lights.
- Fallbrook is known as the Avocado Capital of the World and hosts an
annual Avocado Festival. More avocadoes are grown in the region
than any other county in the nation.
- In the late 1850s, Kennedy Mine, located in Jackson, served as one
of the richest gold mines in the world and the deepest mine in North
America.
- An animal called the riparian brush rabbit calls Caswell Memorial
State Park (near Manteca) its home. Endemic only to the state's
park system, the critter lives in approximately 255 acres stretching
along the area's once-vast hardwood forest.
- In Pacific Grove there is a law on the books establishing a $500
fine for molesting butterflies.
- The largest three-day rodeo in the United States is held on the
Tehama County Fairgrounds in Red Bluff.
- Demonstrations on making toothpaste from orange by-products wee
popular attractions at the Los Angeles County fair in 1922. The
fair is held in Pomona.
- Located in Sacramento, the California State Railroad Museum is the
largest museum of its kind in North America.
- Several celebrities are buried at Hillside Cemetery in Culver
City. Included gravesites are those of Al Jolson, George Jessel,
Eddie Canter, Jack Benny and Percy Faith.
- California Caverns claims the distinction of being the most
extensive system of caverns and passageways in the Mother Lode region
of the state.
- Totaling nearly three million acres, San Bernardino County is the
largest county in the country.
- On Catalina Island in 1926, American author Zane Grey built a
pueblo-style home on the hillside overlooking Avalon Bay. He
spent much of his later life in Avalon. The home is now a hotel.
- Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge contains the largest winter
population of bald eagles in the continental United States.
- Author Richard Dana (1851-1882) wrote the novel "Two Years
Before the Mast". He inspired the name for the beach
community of Dana Point.
- In Atwater the Castle Air Museum has the largest display of military
aircraft in the state.
- The Country Store in Baker has sold more winning California State
Lottery tickets than any other outlet in the state.
- Reputed to be the most corrupt politician in Fresno County history,
Vice-leader Joseph Spinney was mayor for only ten minutes.
- The Iron Door Saloon in Groveland claims to be the oldest drinking
establishment in the state. It was constructed in 1852.
- The Hollywood Bowl is the world's largest outdoor amphitheater.
- The first person to personally receive a star on the Walk of Fame in
Hollywood was actress Joanne Woodward. She received it in 1960.
- Death Valley is recognized as the hottest, driest place in the
United States. It isn't uncommon for the summer temperatures to
reach more than 115 degrees.
- The first motion picture theater opened in Los Angeles on April 2,
1902.
- Inyo National Forest is home tot he bristle cone pine, the oldest
living species. Some of the gnarled trees are thought to be over
4,600 years old.
- San Francisco Bay is considered the world's largest landlocked
harbor.
- Sequoia National Park contains the largest living tree. Its
trunk is 102 feet in circumference.
- Yorba Linda is home to the Richard Nixon Library.
- The Coachella Valley is nicknamed The Date Capital of the world and
the Playground of Presidents.
- One out of every eight United States residents lives in California.
- California is the first state to ever reach a trillion dollar
economy in gross state products.
- California has the largest economy in the states of the union.
- If California's economic size were measured by itself to other
countries, it would rank the 7th largest economy in the world.
- Los Angeles is ranked the fourth largest economy in the United
States compared to other states.
- Simi Valley is the home of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
and Museum.
- It is estimated there are approximately 500,000 detectable seismic
tremors in California annually.
- During his engagement at the Fillmore West in San Francisco, Otis
Redding stayed on a houseboat in Sausalito. While there he wrote
his last song and greatest hit: "The Dock of the Bay".
- The state motto is "Eureka", a Greek word translated
"I have found it!". The motto was adopted in 1849 and
alludes to the discovery of gold in the Sierra Nevada.
- California is known variously as The Land of Milk and Honey, The El
Dorado State, The Golden State, and the Grape State.
- There are more than 300,000 tons of grapes grown in California
annually.
- California produces more than 17 million gallons of wine each year.
- The redwood is the official state tree. Some of the giant
redwoods in Sequoia National Park are more than 2,000 years old.
- The California poppy is the official state flower. The
California grizzly bear (Ursus californicus) is the official state
animal.
- California holds two of the top ten most populous cities: Los
Angeles and San Diego.
- Fresno proclaims itself the Raisin Capital of the World.
- The highest and lowest points in the continental United States are
within 100 miles of one another. Mount Whitney measures 14,495
feet and Bad Water in Death Valley is 282 feet below sea level.
- Castroville is known as the Artichoke Capital of the World. In
1947 a young woman named Norma Jean was crowned Castroville's first
Artichoke Queen. Se when on to become actress Marilyn Monroe.
I love You California
Written by F. B. Silverwood
Composed by A. F. Frankenstein
I love you, California, you're the greatest state
of all
I love you in the winter, summer, spring, and in
the fall.
I love your fertile valleys; your dear mountains I
adore,
I love your grand old ocean and I love her rugged
shore.
chorus
I love your redwood forests - love your fields of
yellow grain,
I love your summer breezes, and I love your winter
rain,
I love you, land of flowers; land of honey, fruit
and wine,
I love you, California; you have won this heart of
mine.
chorus
I love your old gray Missions - love your
vineyards stretching far,
I love you, California, with your Golden Gate
ajar,
I love your purple sunsets, love your skies of
azure blue,
I love you, California; I just can't help loving
you.
chorus
I love you, Catalina - you are very dear to me,
I love you, Tamalpais, and I love Yosemite,
I love you, Land of Sunshine, half your beauties
are untold,
I loved you in my childhood, and I'll love you
when I'm old.
chorus
When the snow crowned Golden Sierras
Keep their watch o'er the valleys bloom.
It is there I would be in our land by the sea,
Ev'ry breeze bearing rich perfume,
It is here nature gives of her rarest,
It is Home Sweet Home to me.
And I know when I die I shall breathe my last sigh
For my sunny California.
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