From pink snow to a tree older than the pyramids, today we look at Shocking Facts About California!
#12.
"No Ladies Nights"-If you are looking to open a bar or club in California and want
to bring in more women with a "ladies night" in the hopes this in turn will attract more
customers, sorry to break it to you but that's not allowed.
Due to two prominent cases of gender discrimination the California Supreme Court ruled that "ladies
nights" are not fair to men.
The law was first instituted in 1985 and in 2007 a group of men sued a nightclub called
Century Supper Club for unethically charging men a higher price for admission than women.
They won the case and the verdict only further enforced the court's initial ruling.
So sorry ladies, you'll have to look elsewhere for discount drinks.
#11.
"Far-West Fortune"- Where were the fun philosophy filled after dinner fortune cookies
created?
Beijing?
Shanghai?
How about right here in the United States!
It turns out these confections filled with ancient Chinese secrets are an American invention,
just like two other popular Chinese American restaurant cuisines Chop Suey and Cashew Chicken.
The fortune cookie was invented in California some time around the turn of the 20th Century
and it was actually based on a Japanese dish.
But which California city it was first created in is a topic of debate.
Seiichi Kito from Los Angeles has claimed that he was the one who perfected them and
sold them to Chinese restaurants throughout California.
But most signs point to the real inventor being Makoto Hagiwara of San Francisco.
In 1983, federal courts ruled that Hagiwara was likely the inventor, though the people
of Los Angeles still dispute the evidence.
#10.
"Grizzly State?"- California goes by many names "The Land of Milk and Honey", " The
Grape State" and "The Eldorado State" but mainly it's known as "The Golden State",
this hasn't always been the case though.
When it originally became a state it was known as the 'The Grizzly Bear State" because
of it being the main habitat of the distinct California Grizzly Bear.
Sadly, these bears became extinct from overhunting, deforestation and human encroachment on the
bears' territory.
Since the last one was seen alive in 1924, there has been not a single sighting of any
type of other Grizzly bear in California either.
Which is crazy, because at one point there were over 10,000.
So instead of being reminded of the majestic creature that no longer dwells in its forests,
California changed its nickname to 'The Golden State' as a tribute to the Gold Rush
of 1849.
The California Grizzly still is the state animal though and ordains the state flag.
Another fun fact about the flag is that it was partially designed by William L. Todd
who was the cousin of Abraham Lincoln's wife, Mary Todd.
#9.
"Hollywoodland"-Most people know that the iconic Hollywood sign used to say 'Hollywoodland'
but the sign wasn't originally meant to be a monument to the film capital of the world
like most people believe.
In actuality, the sign was first built as a marketing ploy.
The sign was commissioned in 1923 by Harry Chandler, publisher of The Los Angeles times
and real estate developer, in order to draw attention to his segregated upscale community
called Hollywoodland.
The sign cost $21,000 and originally blinked, lighting up each of the three parts of the
word in succession.
It was only meant to last 18 months but people in Los Angeles fell in love with it so it
was left up.
In 1949, it was decided that 'land' should be removed in order to represent all of Hollywood.
Because of the temporary nature of the sign it started to deteriorate.
So in 1979, with contributions from the public including a large sum donated by Playboy Magazine
founder, Hugh Hefner, the sign was replaced with a replica better built for permanence.
#8.
"Identity Crisis"-California has one of the richest histories of any state thought
you might not have guessed it due to its west coast location.
Throughout its history the territory has been claimed or been part of 5 different countries.
The first European who set foot in California was Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo in 1542 and he
believed that California was an island separate from the American mainland, which was believed
for over two hundred years.
In 1579, the famed english explorer Sir Francis Drake landed nearby what would become San
Francisco, claiming the area for England, though some speculate whether he was ever
in California at all.
The Spanish went on to establish their claim to the land in 1769 by building a series of
21 monasteries along the coast of California and establishing the settlements that would
become cities like San Jose and Los Angeles.
In 1821, Mexico gained its independence from Spain and the New Mexico territory, which
included California, became a part of the new nation.
Only twenty-five years later in 1846 the American colonists in Northern California rebelled
against Mexican rule and declared themselves the independent country of The Bear Flag Republic.
This independence wouldn't last long as the Mexican-American war started the same
year.
When the war was over in 1848, Mexico was forced to hand over California to the United
States and in 1850 California became the 31st state.
#7.
"Highs and Lows"- California has some of the widest ranging varieties of terrain
in Northern America.
From the sandy beaches of San Diego to the thick temperate forests of the Redwood Forest
to the desert region of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains.
So it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that both the highest elevation and lowest
elevation in the contiguous United States are found in California.
The highest point is that of Mt. Whitney which has an elevation of 14,505 feet.
Remarkably, the lowest point in the United States is less than 85 miles away at the Badwater
Basin in Death Valley.
Badwater Basin has an elevation of 282 feet below sea level which makes it the 8th lowest
point in the entire world.
Death Valley is also known for recording the hottest temperature ever recorded on the planet
at a sweltering 134 degrees Fahrenheit or 56.7 degrees Celsius.
#6.
"Top Trees"- The Redwood forest of Northern California is home to some of the most breathtaking
vegetation in the entire world.
When you visit it it seems as if you have been transported back in time to prehistory
or another world where humans are the size of insects.
The forest is home the world's tallest tree, known as Hyperion.
This towering coast redwood is 379 feet tall, which makes it almost 75 feet taller than
the statue of liberty.
Though you won't be able to visit this natural wonder easily as its location remains a secret
in order for it to remain undisturbed.
Beyond Hyperion, in the Redwoods there is an area called the "Avenue of Giants',
which is home to 60% of the world's tallest trees.
As far as the biggest tree, California has that too.
In central California, at Sequoia National Park there is a tree named General Sherman
which is the biggest tree by volume in the world.
It is 275 feet tall and close to 40 feet in diameter at its base.
If you really want to go back in time, California is also home to the two oldest trees in the
world.
At the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest in the White Mountains of eastern California
sits the runner-up, aptly named Methuselah, a 4,849 year-old Bristlecone Pine.
This mean that the tree is older than the Egyptian pyramids and is only slightly younger
than Stonehenge.
Methuselah was thought to be the oldest tree until a nearby tree, which is yet to be named,
was found in 2012 and has an estimated age of a ridiculous 5,067 years, over two-hundred
years older!
#5.
"Cali Cash"-California is known for being the most populated state in the United States
but the facts about its population and how much of an economic powerhouse the state is
can be quite shocking.
If you do the math you will find that California's current population of almost 40 million means
that 1 out of every 8 people in the United States lives in California.
It's population is also larger than all of Australia or Canada.
If you compare the population of Los Angeles as if it were a state it would be the fourth
largest state in the country.
If you take California's $2.5 trillion dollar economic output and put it up against the
output of every country in the world it would be the sixth largest, just ahead of Brazil
and France.
#4.
"Avoiding Edison"- Hollywood has been the home to the motion picture industry for
over 100 years but how did it become that way?
What drove filmmakers to sunny southern California?
It wasn't all about the beautiful beaches, in fact mostly it was to avoid the clutches
of one man, Thomas Edison.
In the early days of movie technology most films were made on the east coast in New York
or New Jersey, where Edison lived.
Edison had invented several innovative devices for film and owned most of their patents.
In order to assure that he would receive compensation for his inventions he banded together with
the inventors who owned other film-making technologies and formed the MPPC or Motion
Picture Patent Company.
The company's sole purpose was to strong-arm filmmakers into signing expensive licensing
agreements for using their equipment.
So, in order to avoid these fees filmmakers sought refuge in California where patent law
was more lax and far away from the mob goons that the MPPC had hired to enforce their contracts.
Thus, Hollywood was born!
#3.
"Mayoral Milkbone"-California has elected some interesting political candidates over
the years from Arnold Schwarzenegger as governor to Clint Eastwood as mayor of Carmel, but
none compares to what the town of Sunol did in 1981.
They elected a dog as mayor!
Bosco Ramos was a black labrador-rottweiler mix who liked to hang out the town's favorite
bar.
He was beloved as a mascot for the town and when a few friends jokingly entered him into
the race for mayor, he became a legend.
Bosco ended up beating two human candidates and went on to serve 13 years as the town's
mayor, until he passed away in 1994.
Throughout his time in office he led parades, attended all special ceremonies and became
world famous.
He was featured on the NBC Nightly News after an article on him was published in a Chinese
newspaper called, The People's Daily.
The article was written in order to subvert the American idea of democracy by pointing
out that if a dog could be elected, the system of free-elections was flawed.
This backfired however, as after the protests at Tiananmen Square, Bosco joined in on a
protest at San Francisco's Chinese Embassy and became a symbol of democracy.
After his passing, the citizens of Sunol erected a statue him to pay tribute to the best dog
mayor in California's history.
#2.
"Strange Snow"-Above the tree line in California's Sierra Nevada Mountains there
is a strange phenomenon: reddish-pink snow that looks as if it is a watermelon snow cone.
Researchers have been puzzled by the strange hue of the snow for hundreds of years.
Some thought it was oxidation products leached from the rocks or meteoric iron deposits but
using modern chemical analysis techniques we were finally able to pinpoint the cause:
a species of snow algae called chlamydomonas nivalis that is common in cold climates.
The combination of the red carotenoid pigment that the algae contains and the pollen of
the whitebark pine soaks into the snow and gives it a unique color.
The snow also reportedly smells and tastes somewhat like watermelon though consuming
too much of it can give a person diarrhea.
If you step in the snow or rub it on your hands it will leave a stain that is dark red
and looks similar to blood, which had to have spooked the first settlers that trekked through
the mountains.
#1.
"Forced Sterilization"- You'd think that widespread government eugenics programs
would be something you'd only find in 1940's Germany, right?
Well it turns out that the Germans were actually inspired by the system of forced sterilization
that was practiced in California for years.
From 1909 until 1979 California forcibly sterilized over 19,000 people.
These sterilizations in theory were done to eliminate potentially dangerous or unfit traits
from the gene pool.
They were performed, sometimes unbeknownst to the patients, on everyone from criminals
and disabled people to people considered promiscuous or below average intelligence.
Thankfully, after a series of influential court cases the government ended all forced
sterilization programs.
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