Welcome to the Portal:California. Such a lovely place.
California
State of California
Map of the United States with California highlighted
California is a state in the Western United States , lying on the American Pacific Coast . It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and a international border with the Mexican state of Baja California to the south. With 39 million residents across an area of 163,696 square miles (423,970 km2 ), it is the most populous U.S. state, the third-largest by area, and most populated subnational entity in North America . The Greater Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay areas are the nation's second- and fifth-most populous urban regions , with 19 million and 10 million residents respectively. Los Angeles is the state's most populous city and the nation's second-most , after New York . California's capital , Sacramento , is located in the Central Valley .
Prior to European colonization , California was one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse areas in pre-Columbian North America . European exploration in the 16th and 17th centuries led to the colonization by the Spanish Empire . The area became a part of Mexico in 1821, following its successful war for independence , but was ceded to the United States in 1848 after the Mexican–American War . The California Gold Rush started in 1848 and led to social and demographic changes, including depopulation of indigenous peoples in the California genocide . The western portion of Alta California was then organized and admitted as the 31st state in 1850 , as a free state , following the Compromise of 1850 .
California's economy is the largest of any US state, with a $3.6 trillion gross state product . It is the largest sub-national economy in the world. California's agricultural industry has the highest output of any U.S. state, and is led by its dairy , almonds , and grapes . With the busiest port in the country (Los Angeles ), California plays a pivotal role in the global supply chain, hauling in about 40% of goods imported to the US. 84% of residents 25 or older hold a high school degree , the lowest high school education rate of all 50 states . Despite a continuing exodus of businesses from Downtown San Francisco and Downtown Los Angeles , California retains one of the largest number of Fortune 500 companies. (Full article... )
Northern California (commonly shortened to NorCal ) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California , spanning the northernmost 48 of the state's 58 counties . Its main population centers include the San Francisco Bay Area (anchored by the cities of San Jose , San Francisco , and Oakland ), the Greater Sacramento area (anchored by the state capital Sacramento ), the Redding, California , area south of the Cascade Range , and the Metropolitan Fresno area (anchored by the city of Fresno ). Northern California also contains redwood forests, along with most of the Sierra Nevada , including Yosemite Valley and part of Lake Tahoe , Mount Shasta (the second-highest peak in the Cascade Range after Mount Rainier in Washington ), and most of the Central Valley , one of the world's most productive agricultural regions. Northern California is also home to Silicon Valley , the global headquarters for some of the most powerful tech and Internet-related companies in the world, including Meta , Apple , Google , and Nvidia .
The Northern California Megaregion , one of the 11 megaregions of the United States is centered in Northern California, and extends from Metropolitan Fresno north to Greater Sacramento, and from the Bay Area east across Nevada state line to encompass the entire Lake Tahoe –Reno area. (Full article... )
The following are images from various California-related articles on Wikipedia.
Image 2 San Francisco harbor,
c. 1850 –51. (from
History of California )
Image 4 The railway station in
Sacramento in 1874. (from
History of California )
Image 5 Mission San Francisco Solano , founded in 1823 by order of Governor
Luis Antonio Argüello , was the last Californian mission established. (from
History of California )
Image 6 Between 1846 and 1873, U.S. government agents waged an extermination campaign against
Indigenous Californians , known as the
California genocide , resulting in as many as 100,000 deaths. (from
History of California )
Image 7 The 1562 map of the Americas, created by Spanish cartographer
Diego Gutiérrez , which applied
the name California for the first time. (from
History of California )
Image 9 "Independent Gold Hunter on His Way to California", c. 1850 (from
History of California )
Image 11 Francis Drake 's 1579 landing in "
New Albion " (modern-day
Point Reyes ); engraving by
Theodor De Bry , 1590. (from
History of California )
Image 12 Bilingual English-Spanish sign in the
Colorado Desert of
Southern California . (from
Culture of California )
Image 14 Portrait of an "
assimilated "
Maidu man in
Sacramento , 1867. (from
History of California )
Image 15 General
Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo reviewing his troops in
Sonoma in 1846. (from
History of California )
Image 16 Advertisement for sailing to California, c. 1850. (from
History of California )
Image 17 Joaquín Murrieta , called the "
Robin Hood of California", was a notorious
outlaw during the
California Gold Rush . He served as inspiration for
Zorro , the famed Californian bandit-hero. (from
History of California )
Image 18 The
Treaty of Cahuenga , signed at the
Campo de Cahuenga in 1847 by Californio general
Andrés Pico and American general
John C. Frémont , proclaimed a ceasefire under an American victory. The
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo , signed a year later in 1848, officially ended the
Mexican–American War and formally ceded
Alta California to the United States. (from
History of California )
Image 19 A Southern Pacific Train at
Arcade Depot , Los Angeles, 1891 (from
History of California )
Image 20 California's first State Capitol building in
San Jose , which served as the capital of California 1850–51. (from
History of California )
Image 21 Depiction of the revolt of the
Mission Indians against padre
Luis Jayme at
Mission San Diego de Alcalá in 1775. (from
History of California )
Image 25 Map of Spain's
Manila galleon trade routes, showing routes between the
Spanish East Indies and
Acapulco passing along the
coast of California . (from
History of California )
Image 29 Portrait of a
Californio in traditional
vaquero clothing. Californios benefitted immensely by the establishment of the
ranchos of California , following the
Mexican secularization act of 1833 . (from
History of California )
Image 30 The Spanish founded
Mission San Juan Capistrano in 1776, the third to be established of the
Californian missions . (from
History of California )
Image 32 Mission San Gabriel Arcángel , founded in 1771 by padres Pedro Benito Cambón and Ángel de la Somera. (from
History of California )
Image 33 Founded by
Vicente Francisco de Sarría in 1817,
Mission San Rafael Arcángel , was the last mission founded during the Spanish period. (from
History of California )
Image 37 California was often depicted as an island , due to the
Baja California peninsula , from the 16th to the 18th centuries, such as in this 1650 map by cartographer
Johannes Vingboons . (from
History of California )
Image 38 Forces raising the U.S. flag over the
Monterey Customhouse following their victory at the
Battle of Monterey (from
History of California )
Image 39 Depiction of the
Donner Party heading west on the
California Trail . (from
History of California )
Image 41 In-N-Out burgers (from
Culture of California )
Image 43 Mission Santa Barbara , founded in 1786, was the first mission to be established by
Fermín de Lasuén . (from
History of California )
Image 48 Angustias de la Guerra played a crucial role in defending
women's property rights during the drafting of the Constitution of California. (from
History of California )
Image 49 The 1835
Manifiesto a la República Mejicana , by
José Figueroa , was the first book published in California (from
Culture of California )
Image 50 Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo , established in 1770, was the headquarters of the
Californian mission system from 1797 until 1833. (from
History of California )
Image 51 Map of the
Butterfield Overland Mail routes through California, c. 1858. (from
History of California )
Image 53 The
University of California, Berkeley is the flagship school of the University of California system. (from
Culture of California )
Image 55 Map of the route taken by the
Anza Expedition of 1775–76, from the
Presidio of Tubac to
San Francisco Bay . (from
History of California )
Image 57 Junípero Serra conducting the first
mass in
Monterey Bay in 1770. (from
History of California )
Image 59 The American capture of
San Diego by the
USS Cyane in 1846 (from
History of California )
California has become the first American state where there is no majority race, and we're doing just fine. If you look around the room, you can see a microcosm of what we can do in the world [...] You should be hopeful on balance about the future. But it's like any future since the beginning of time – you're going to have to make it.
Image 2 Gwen Renée Stefani (
stə-FAH -nee ; born October 3, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter. She is a co-founder, lead vocalist, and the primary songwriter of the band
No Doubt , whose singles include "
Just a Girl ", "
Spiderwebs ", and "
Don't Speak ", from their 1995 breakthrough studio album
Tragic Kingdom , as well as "
Hey Baby " and "
It's My Life " from later albums.
During the band's hiatus, Stefani embarked on a solo
pop career in 2004 by releasing her debut studio album
Love. Angel. Music. Baby. Inspired by pop music from the 1980s, the album was a critical and commercial success. It spawned six singles, including "
What You Waiting For? ", "
Rich Girl ", "
Hollaback Girl ", and "
Cool ". "Hollaback Girl" reached number one on the
Billboard Hot 100 chart while also becoming the first US download to sell one million copies. In 2006, Stefani released her second studio album,
The Sweet Escape . Among the singles were "
Wind It Up " and "
The Sweet Escape ", the latter of which was number three on the
Billboard Hot 100 year-end chart of 2007. Her third solo album,
This Is What the Truth Feels Like (2016), was her first solo album to reach number one on the
Billboard 200 chart. Her fourth solo album and first full-length
Christmas album,
You Make It Feel Like Christmas , was released in 2017 and charted 19 tracks on
Billboard ' s
Holiday Digital Song Sales component chart in the United States. Stefani has released several singles with husband
Blake Shelton , including "
Nobody but You " (2020), which reached number 18 in the US. (
Full article... )
Image 3 Hartman in character as Chick Hazard, Private Eye, circa 1978.
Philip Edward Hartman (
né Hartmann ; September 24, 1948 – May 28, 1998) was a Canadian-born American comedian, actor, screenwriter, and graphic designer. Hartman was born in
Brantford, Ontario , Canada, and his family moved to the United States when he was ten years old. After graduating from
California State University, Northridge , with a degree in graphic arts, he designed album covers for bands including
Poco and
America . In 1975, Hartman joined the comedy group
the Groundlings , where he helped
Paul Reubens develop his character
Pee-wee Herman . Hartman co-wrote the film
Pee-wee's Big Adventure and made recurring appearances as Captain Carl on Reubens' show
Pee-wee's Playhouse .
In 1986, Hartman joined the
NBC sketch comedy show
Saturday Night Live (
SNL ) as a
cast member , and stayed for eight seasons until 1994. Nicknamed "Glue" for his ability to hold the show together and help other cast members, he won a
Primetime Emmy Award for his
SNL work in 1989. He also starred as Bill McNeal in the sitcom
NewsRadio , voiced
Lionel Hutz and
Troy McClure on
The Simpsons , and appeared in supporting roles in the films
Houseguest ,
Sgt. Bilko ,
Jingle All the Way , and
Small Soldiers . (
Full article... )
Image 4 Roy Edward Disney KCSG (January 10, 1930 – December 16, 2009) was an American businessman. He was the longtime senior executive for
the Walt Disney Company , which was founded by his uncle,
Walt Disney , and his father,
Roy O. Disney . At the time of his death, he held more than 16 million shares (about 1% of the company), and served as a consultant for the company, as well as director emeritus for the board of directors. During his tenure, he organized ousting of the company's top two executives:
Ron W. Miller in 1984 and
Michael Eisner in 2005.
As the last member of the
Disney family to be actively involved in the company, Disney was often compared to his uncle and to his father. In 2006,
Forbes magazine estimated his personal fortune at $1.2 billion. (
Full article... )
Image 5 Andre Romell Young (born February 18, 1965), known professionally as
Dr. Dre , is an American record producer, rapper, record executive, and actor. He is the founder and
CEO of
Aftermath Entertainment and
Beats Electronics , and co-founded and was the president of
Death Row Records . Dre began his career as a member of the
World Class Wreckin' Cru in 1984, and later found fame with the
gangsta rap group
N.W.A . The group popularized explicit lyrics in
hip hop to detail the violence of street life. During the early 1990s, Dre was credited as a key figure in the crafting and popularization of
West Coast G-funk , a subgenre of hip hop characterized by a
synthesizer foundation and slow, heavy production.
Released as Death Row's first major project, Dr. Dre's solo debut studio album,
The Chronic (1992) made him one of the best-selling American music artists of 1993. It earned him a
Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance with the single "
Let Me Ride ", as well as several accolades for the single "
Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang " (featuring Snoop Dogg). That year, he produced Death Row labelmate
Snoop Doggy Dogg 's debut album
Doggystyle , and mentored producers such as his stepbrother
Warren G (leading to the multi-platinum debut
Regulate... G Funk Era in 1994) and Snoop Dogg's cousin
Daz Dillinger (leading to the double-platinum debut
Dogg Food by
Tha Dogg Pound in 1995), as he would mentor other producers including
Mel-Man and
Scott Storch . In 1996, Dre left Death Row Records to establish his own label, Aftermath Entertainment; his compilation album,
Dr. Dre Presents: The Aftermath (1996) and second studio album,
2001 (1999) followed thereafter. (
Full article... )
Image 6 Glenn Theodore Seaborg (
SEE -borg; April 19, 1912 – February 25, 1999) was an American chemist whose involvement in the
synthesis , discovery and investigation of ten
transuranium elements earned him a share of the 1951
Nobel Prize in Chemistry . His work in this area also led to his development of the
actinide concept and the arrangement of the
actinide series in the
periodic table of the elements .
Seaborg spent most of his career as an educator and research scientist at the
University of California, Berkeley , serving as a professor, and, between 1958 and 1961, as the university's second chancellor. He advised ten US presidents—from
Harry S. Truman to
Bill Clinton —on nuclear policy and was Chairman of the
United States Atomic Energy Commission from 1961 to 1971, where he pushed for commercial
nuclear energy and the peaceful applications of nuclear science. Throughout his career, Seaborg worked for arms control. He was a signatory to the
Franck Report and contributed to the
Limited Test Ban Treaty , the
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty . He was a well-known advocate of science education and federal funding for pure research. Toward the end of the
Eisenhower administration , he was the principal author of the Seaborg Report on academic science, and, as a member of President
Ronald Reagan 's
National Commission on Excellence in Education , he was a key contributor to its 1983 report "
A Nation at Risk ". (
Full article... )
Image 7 The
GNU Free Documentation License (
GNU FDL or simply
GFDL ) is a
copyleft license for free documentation, designed by the
Free Software Foundation (FSF) for the
GNU Project . It is similar to the
GNU General Public License , giving readers the rights to copy, redistribute, and modify (except for "invariant sections") a work and requires all copies and derivatives to be available under the same license. Copies may also be sold commercially, but, if produced in larger quantities (greater than 100), the original document or source code must be made available to the work's recipient.
The GFDL was designed for
manuals , textbooks, other reference and instructional materials, and documentation which often accompanies GNU software. However, it can be used for any text-based work, regardless of subject matter. For example, the free online encyclopedia
Wikipedia uses the GFDL (coupled with the
Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike License ) for much of its text, excluding text that was imported from other sources after the 2009 licensing update that is only available under the Creative Commons license. (
Full article... )
Image 9 Caroline Agnes Brady (also known as
Caroline Agnes Von Egmont Brady ; October 3, 1905 – November 5, 1980) was an American
philologist who specialised in
Old English and
Old Norse works. Her works included the 1943 book
The Legends of Ermanaric , based on her doctoral dissertation, and three influential papers on the
Anglo-Saxon poem
Beowulf . She taught at the
University of California, Berkeley , the
University of Pennsylvania ,
Johns Hopkins University , and
Harvard University , among other places.
Brady was born an American citizen in
Tientsin , China, and traveled frequently as a child, spending time in
Los Angeles , California,
British Columbia , and
Austin ,
Texas . She studied in the
University of California system, receiving her bachelor's and master's degrees, and her
Ph.D. in 1935. She next became an English instructor at that university's College of Agriculture, and worked as an
assistant professor of languages and literature at Berkeley from 1941 to 1946. The following three years were spent at the University of Pennsylvania, until, at the end of 1949, Brady moved to teach at
Central Oregon Community College ; her resignation due to "ill health" was announced a few months later. After being named the 1952–53
Marion Talbot Fellow of the
American Association of University Women and writing two articles, Brady's scholarship ceased for a quarter of a century. In 1979, and posthumously in 1983, her final two articles were published. (
Full article... )
Image 10 Joshua Abraham Norton (February 4, 1818 – January 8, 1880) was a resident of San Francisco, California, who in 1859
proclaimed himself "Norton I., Emperor of the United States." Commonly known as
Emperor Norton , he took the secondary title "Protector of Mexico" in 1863, after
Napoleon III invaded Mexico .
For the first few years after arriving in San Francisco in 1849, Norton made a successful living as a commodities trader and
real estate speculator . However, he was
financially ruined following a failed bid to corner the rice market during a shortage prompted by a famine in
China . He bought a shipload of
Peruvian rice at 12 cents per pound (26 ¢/kg), but more Peruvian ships arrived in port, causing the price to drop sharply to three cents per pound (6.6 ¢/kg). He then lost a protracted lawsuit in which he tried to void his rice contract, and his local prominence faded. (
Full article... )
Image 11 Publicity photo of Anna May Wong from Stars of the Photoplay , 1930
Wong Liu Tsong (January 3, 1905 – February 3, 1961), known professionally as
Anna May Wong , was an American actress, considered the first
Chinese American film star in
Hollywood , as well as the first Chinese American actress to gain international recognition. Her varied career spanned
silent film , sound film, television, stage, and radio.
Born in Los Angeles to second-generation
Taishanese Chinese American parents, Wong became engrossed with films and decided at the age of 11 that she would become an actress. Her first role was as an extra in the movie
The Red Lantern (1919). During the silent film era, she acted in
The Toll of the Sea (1922), one of the first films made in color, and in
Douglas Fairbanks '
The Thief of Bagdad (1924). Wong became a fashion icon and had achieved international stardom in 1924. Wong had been one of the first to embrace the
flapper look. In 1934, the Mayfair Mannequin Society of New York voted her the "world's best dressed woman." In the 1920s and 1930s, Wong was acclaimed as one of the top fashion icons. (
Full article... )
Image 12 Linus Carl Pauling FRS (
PAW -ling; February 28, 1901 – August 19, 1994) was an American
chemist ,
biochemist ,
chemical engineer ,
peace activist , author, and educator. He published more than 1,200 papers and books, of which about 850 dealt with scientific topics.
New Scientist called him one of the 20 greatest scientists of all time. For his scientific work, Pauling was awarded the
Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1954. For his peace activism, he was awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize in 1962. He is one of five people to have
won more than one Nobel Prize (the others being
Marie Curie ,
John Bardeen ,
Frederick Sanger , and
Karl Barry Sharpless ). Of these, he is the only person to have been awarded two unshared Nobel Prizes, and one of two people to be awarded Nobel Prizes in different fields, the other being
Marie Curie .
Pauling was one of the founders of the fields of
quantum chemistry and
molecular biology . His contributions to the theory of the chemical bond include the concept of
orbital hybridisation and the first accurate scale of
electronegativities of the elements. Pauling also worked on the structures of biological molecules, and showed the importance of the
alpha helix and
beta sheet in
protein secondary structure . Pauling's approach combined methods and results from
X-ray crystallography ,
molecular model building, and quantum chemistry. His discoveries inspired the work of
Rosalind Franklin ,
James Watson ,
Francis Crick , and
Maurice Wilkins on the structure of DNA, which in turn made it possible for geneticists to crack the DNA code of all organisms. (
Full article... )
Image 13 Orenthal James Simpson (July 9, 1947 – April 10, 2024) was an American
football player, actor, and media personality who played in the
National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons, primarily with the
Buffalo Bills . Simpson is regarded as one of the greatest
running backs of all time, but his professional success was overshadowed by
his trial and controversial acquittal for the murders of his former wife
Nicole Brown and her friend
Ron Goldman in 1994.
Simpson played
college football for the
USC Trojans , where he won the
Heisman Trophy as a senior, and was selected
first overall by the Bills in the
1969 NFL/AFL draft . During his nine seasons with the Bills, he received five consecutive
Pro Bowl and first-team
All-Pro selections from 1972 to 1976. He also led the league in
rushing yards four times, in rushing
touchdowns twice, and in points scored in 1975. Simpson became the first NFL player to rush for more than
2,000 yards in a season, earning him
NFL Most Valuable Player (MVP), and is the only NFL player to do so in a 14-game
regular season . He holds the record for the single-season yards-per-game average at 143.1. After retiring with the
San Francisco 49ers in 1979, he acted in film and television, became a
sportscaster , and was a spokesman for a wide variety of products and companies, notably
Hertz . He was inducted to the
College Football Hall of Fame in 1983 and the
Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985. (
Full article... )
Image 14 Major Frederick Russell Burnham DSO (May 11, 1861 – September 1, 1947) was an American scout and world-traveling adventurer. He is known for his service to the
British South Africa Company and to the
British Army in
colonial Africa , and for teaching
woodcraft to
Robert Baden-Powell in
Rhodesia . Burnham helped inspire the founding of the international
Scouting Movement .
Burnham was born on a
Dakota Sioux Indian reservation in Minnesota, in the small village of Tivoli near the city of Mankato; there he learned the ways of
American Indians as a boy. By the age of 14, he was supporting himself in California, while also learning scouting from some of the last of the cowboys and frontiersmen of the
American Southwest . Burnham had little formal education, never finishing high school. After moving to the
Arizona Territory in the early 1880s, he was drawn into the
Pleasant Valley War , a feud between families of ranchers and sheepherders. He escaped and later worked as a civilian tracker for the
United States Army in the
Apache Wars . Feeling the need for new adventures, Burnham took his family to southern Africa in 1893, seeing
Cecil Rhodes 's
Cape to Cairo Railway project as the next undeveloped frontier. (
Full article... )
Image 15 Randy Shilts (August 8, 1951 – February 17, 1994) was an American journalist and author. After studying journalism at the
University of Oregon , Shilts began working as a
reporter for both
The Advocate and the
San Francisco Chronicle , as well as for
San Francisco Bay Area television stations. In the 1980s, he was noted for being the first openly gay reporter for the
San Francisco Chronicle .
His first book,
The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life and Times of Harvey Milk , was a biography of LGBT activist
Harvey Milk . His second book,
And the Band Played On , chronicled the history of the
AIDS epidemic . Despite some controversy surrounding the book in the LGBT community, Shilts was praised for his meticulous documentation of an epidemic that was little-understood at the time. It was later made into an
HBO film of the same name in 1993. His final book,
Conduct Unbecoming: Gays and Lesbians in the US Military from Vietnam to the Persian Gulf , examined discrimination against
lesbians and gays in the military . (
Full article... )
The Golden Gate Bridge
Category puzzle
Select [►] to view subcategories
Extended content
This is a list of recognized content, updated weekly by JL-Bot (talk · contribs ) (typically on Saturdays). There is no need to edit the list yourself. If an article is missing from the list, make sure it is tagged (e.g. {{ WikiProject California }} ) or categorized correctly and wait for the next update. See WP:RECOG for configuration options.
Featured articles
Featured lists
A-Class articles
Featured portals
Featured pictures
File:1967 Mantra-Rock Dance Avalon poster.jpg
File:2010 mavericks competition.jpg
File:20070616 Chris Young visits Wrigley (4)-edit3.jpg
File:Acorn woodpecker holding a nut in its beak-0225.jpg
File:Agassiz statue Mwc00715.jpg
File:Albert Bierstadt - Among the Sierra Nevada, California - Google Art Project.jpg
File:Albino Alligator 2008.jpg
File:Alcatraz03182006.jpg
File:Alice Park - Records of the National Woman's Party.jpg
File:Amboy (California, USA), Hist. Route 66 -- 2012 -- 1.jpg
File:Ansel Adams and camera.jpg
File:Beulah Ream Allen receiving the Medal of Freedom (1945).jpg
File:Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus), Corte Madera.jpg
File:Boats on Lake Oroville during the 2021 drought.jpg
File:Bodie ghost town.jpg
File:Border USA Mexico.jpg
File:Brown pelican in flight (Bodega Bay).jpg
File:Burned mobile home neighborhood in California edit.jpg
File:Buteo jamaicensis in flight at Llano Seco-1520.jpg
File:CA-84 Woodside April 2023 002.jpg
File:CA Ground Squirrel on rock.jpg
File:CID Array.jpg
File:Cable Car No. 1 and Alcatraz Island.jpg
File:California island Vinckeboons5.jpg
File:California sea lion in La Jolla (70568).jpg
File:California state coat of arms (illustrated, 1876).jpg
File:CampanileMtTamalpiasSunset-original.jpg
File:Cervus canadensis nannodes at Tomales Point.jpg
File:Chemerinsky during Hyatt III sketch.jpg
File:Christ's Entry into Brussels in 1889.jpg
File:Crystal Mountains CA02.jpg
File:Cynthia Woodhead 1980 - Restoration.jpg
File:Deathvalleysky nps big.jpg
File:Devastation in San Bruno.jpg
File:Donner Lake as seen from Donner Pass.jpg
File:Double-crested cormorant at Sutro Baths-6460.jpg
File:Dungeness crab face closeup.jpg
File:EdwardTeller1958 fewer smudges.jpg
File:Egretta thula at Las Gallinas Wildlife Ponds.jpg
File:Elephant seals fighting.jpg
File:Eureka Inn, Entrance Hall.jpg
File:European starling at Bodega Head-1209.jpg
File:Fort Baker and Angel Island.jpg
File:Fort Mason Center and Downtown San Francisco.jpg
File:GGB reflection in raindrops.jpg
File:GREIDER Carol 2014 - Less vignetting.jpg
File:Gateway Generating Station rectified.jpg
File:Giant Marbles in Joshua Tree National Park.jpg
File:GoldenGateBridge BakerBeach MC.jpg
File:Grauman's Chinese Theatre, by Carol Highsmith fixed & straightened.jpg
File:Greater Yellowlegs2.jpg
File:Greater white-fronted goose in flight-1045.jpg
File:Gull ca usa.jpg
File:Hawk eating prey.jpg
File:Heinrich Berann NPS Panorama of Yosemite without labels.jpg
File:Hotel Del c1900b.jpg
File:Igor Stravinsky LOC 32392u.jpg
File:Jane Russell in The Outlaw.jpg
File:JetBlue292Landing.jpg
File:Jfader dryden.jpg
File:JohnShea.jpg
File:Joshua tree keys view pano more vertical.jpg
File:Juvenile pelecanus occidentalis in flight.jpg
File:Kobe Bryant 7144 adjusted.jpg
File:LAPD Bell 206 Jetranger.jpg
File:LagunaBeachCA photo D Ramey Logan.JPG
File:Lange-MigrantMother02.jpg
File:Langechildren2.jpg
File:Lansdowne Herakles Getty Museum.jpg
File:Line scan photo of nine car BART C1 train in 2017.jpg
File:Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird.jpg
File:Los Angeles Pollution.jpg
File:Los angeles from getty panorama.jpg
File:LutraCanadensis fullres.jpg
File:Male northern pintail at Llano Seco.jpg
File:Male wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) strutting.jpg
File:Map of Cathedral Peak Granodiorite.svg
File:Marilyn Monroe photo pose Seven Year Itch.jpg
File:Mary Pickford cph.3c17995u.jpg
File:McClure Tunnel west.jpg
File:Mission Santa Clara.jpg
File:Mono lake tufa.JPG
File:Mudpot at Lassen Volcanic National Park in August 2019.webm
File:NPG 2010 112 Lucia Chamberlain by Zaida Ben-Yusuf.jpg
File:Official Portrait of President Reagan 1981.jpg
File:Oppenheimer (cropped).jpg
File:Palace of Fine Arts (16794p).jpg
File:Parlos Verdes Light House Aug 2012.JPG
File:Pelecanus erythrorhynchos at Las Gallinas Wildlife Ponds.jpg
File:Photograph of Members of the Mochida Family Awaiting Evacuation - NARA - 537505 - Restoration.jpg
File:Pigeon Point Lighthouse (2016).jpg
File:Pioneertown california saloon and bath house.jpg
File:Point Arena Lighthouse, Mendocino County.jpg
File:Point Reyes Lighthouse (April 2012).jpg
File:Post-and-Grant-Avenue-Look.jpg
File:Pyrosoma atlanticum (12256).jpg
File:Randy's donuts1 edit1.jpg
File:RiP2013 GreenDay Mike Dirnt 0002.JPG
File:Ronald Reagan with cowboy hat 12-0071M edit.jpg
File:Rosalind Goodrich Bates (1931).jpg
File:Russian chapel at Fort Ross (2016).jpg
File:Sacramento,-California---State-Capitol.jpg
File:Saint Teresa of Avila Church, Bodega (2023)-L1003432.jpg
File:Sally Ride (1984).jpg
File:San Francisco City Hall as seen from 100 Van Ness at dusk (wide).jpg
File:San Francisco International Airport at night.jpg
File:San Francisco in ruin edit2.jpg
File:San gorgonio pass wind farm california pano.jpg
File:SanFrancisco1851a.jpg
File:SanFranciscoharbor1851c sharp.jpg
File:Sea otter nursing02.jpg
File:Seaborg in lab - restoration.jpg
File:Sfearthquake3b.jpg
File:Sharon Tate Valley of the Dolls 1967 - Restoration.jpg
File:Shasta dam under construction new edit.jpg
File:Sonoma chipmunk at Samuel P. Taylor State Park.jpg
File:Spanish shawl.JPG
File:Steve Jobs and Macintosh computer, January 1984, by Bernard Gotfryd - edited.jpg
File:Strip photo of San Francisco Cable Car 10.jpg
File:Surfer in california 2.JPG
File:Tower Bridge Sacramento edit.jpg
File:Tracy Caldwell Dyson in Cupola ISS.jpg
File:US-NBN-CA-Oakland-2248-1870-10-388-B.jpg
File:US-NBN-CA-Petaluma-2193-1870-100-209-A.jpg
File:US-NBN-CA-San Francisco-1741-1870-5-6758-B.jpg
File:US-NBN-CA-San Francisco-1741-1870-20-2772-C.jpg
File:US-NBN-CA-San Francisco-1741-1870-50-1616-A.jpg
File:USA Lassen NP Kings Creek CA edit3.jpg
File:Vernal Falls Rainbow.jpg
File:Victor Adam after Louis Choris - Vue du Presidio san Francisco, 1822.jpg
File:Vineyards of Napa Valley panorama.jpg
File:Walt Disney Concert Hall, LA, CA, jjron 22.03.2012.jpg
File:Waxman during Hyatt III sketch.jpg
File:World War II woman aircraft worker, Vega Aircraft Corporation, Burbank, California 1942.jpg
Nicknames: The Golden State
Capital: Sacramento
Total area: 163,696 mi2
Land: 156,002 mi2
Water: 7,694 mi2
Highest elevation: 14,505 ft (Mount Whitney )
Population 39,250,017 (2016 est)
Admission to the Union: September 9, 1850 (31st )
State symbols:
Things you can do