California Trivia & Tidbits - Page 12

Looking for California trivia? Try our list California little know facts, tidbits and trivia.

Dana Point (pop. 35,110) is named for Richard Henry Dana Jr., who wrote the classic sea journal Two Years Before the Mast, published in 1840. The book documents Dana’s voyage from Boston around Cape Horn to California on the merchant ship Pilgrim, and describes Capistrano Bay (now Dana Point) as the most romantic spot on the California coast.

first appeared: 9/28/2003

Actors Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier were married in 1940 at the San Ysidro Ranch in Montecito (pop. 10,000). The ranch began as a way station for Franciscan monks in 1769, and was a citrus farm that shipped produce throughout the state before becoming a guest ranch in 1893.

first appeared: 9/21/2003

William L. Murphy, who was born in Stockton in the late 1870s, invented the Murphy bed after living in a one-room San Francisco apartment where the standard bed took up most of the floor space. He applied for his first folding bed patent in 1900, the same year that he founded the Murphy Door Bed Co.

first appeared: 9/14/2003

As many as 65,000 bright orange monarch butterflies fly up to 100 miles a day from Canada and west of the Rocky Mountains to arrive at Pacific Grove (pop. 15,522) each autumn. The town celebrates the butterflies—which stay until March—with a Butterfly Parade, Monarch Avenue, and a $1,000 fine for anyone molesting the winged creatures.

first appeared: 9/7/2003

At 5,912 feet deep and with more than 50 miles of underground excavations, the Kennedy Gold Mine near Jackson (pop. 3,989) is one of the world’s deepest gold mines. Prospected in 1860, the mine operated until 1942, producing more than $34 million in gold over its lifetime. It’s now a historic attraction.

first appeared: 8/31/2003

With its annual avocado crop valued at $26 million, Fallbrook (pop. 29,100) is known as the world’s avocado capital. A single avocado tree can produce up to 120 pieces of fruit a year. California is the top avocado growing state, producing 95 percent of the nation’s crop.

first appeared: 8/24/2003

In The Partridge Family TV series, which aired from 1970 to 1974, the musical family lived at 698 Sycamore Road in the fictional California town of San Pueblo (where they bought their school bus, at Al’s Used Cars). The family’s actual house is located at the Warner Bros. Studio Ranch in Burbank, and also was used in the Bewitched TV series as the home of Samantha and Darrin’s neighbor Mrs. Kravitz.

first appeared: 8/17/2003

On Nov. 12, 1981, the first helium-filled balloon to cross the Pacific Ocean landed in Mendocino National Forest. Four pilots guided the 13-story-high Double Eagle V balloon from its launch in Nagashimi, Japan, to its landing 84 hours and 31 minutes later in California, setting a distance record of 5,768 miles.

first appeared: 8/10/2003

The world’s longest ladder spans 320 feet and was made by Coast Marine Industrial Supply Inc., based at Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. The “debarkation ladder” received U.S. Coast Guard approval in 1999, and can be rolled up for storage and then unrolled during an emergency to let people climb down from a ship’s deck into liferafts.

first appeared: 8/3/2003

Alpine County (pop. 1,208) is the state’s eighth smallest county, and the least populated. It has no high school, dentist, bank, or traffic lights—but it does have more than 700 square miles of the beautiful central Sierra Nevada mountain range, south of Lake Tahoe and north of Yosemite National Park.

first appeared: 7/27/2003

The population of the riparian brush rabbit—reported to be just a few hundred animals—swelled by 69 last year, thanks to a captive breeding program at the San Joaquin River National Wildlife Refuge. The endangered cottontail lives only in California: near Lathrop (pop. 10,445); in Caswell Memorial State Park near Ripon (pop. 10,146); and along a nearby channel of the San Joaquin River.

first appeared: 7/20/2003

At 60 miles long and 3 to 12 miles wide, San Francisco Bay is considered one of the world’s largest landlocked (or virtually enclosed) harbors.

first appeared: 7/20/2003

Nicknamed the “Frankencycle,” the world’s largest bicycle stands 11.1 feet high, and has a front wheel diameter of 10 feet. It was built by Dave Moore of Rosemead, and was first ridden by Steve Gordon of Moorpark (pop. 31,415) on June 4, 1989.

first appeared: 7/13/2003

In the summer of 1967, Otis Redding wrote one of his most popular songs—(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay—while staying on a houseboat at the dock in Sausalito (pop. 7,330), on San Francisco Bay.

first appeared: 7/6/2003

The Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace, dedicated to the life and times of the 37th president, is located in Yorba Linda. The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum can be found in Simi Valley.

first appeared: 6/29/2003

The Iron Door Saloon in Groveland (pop. 3,388) is one of the state’s oldest drinking establishments. It was built in California’s gold country before 1852, and was first called the Granite Store (front and back walls of the building consist of solid granite blocks). The building, which indeed has iron doors, became a saloon in 1896.

first appeared: 6/22/2003

Hillside Memorial Park in Culver City (pop. 38,816) is the final resting place for many familiar entertainers, including Jack Benny, Eddie Cantor, Michael Landon, Lorne Greene, Dinah Shore, and Milton Berle. A large white stone monument, with six columns and a canopy, sits atop a series of hillside waterfalls to commemorate the Jazz Singer’s Al Jolson.

first appeared: 6/15/2003

On Coastal Cleanup Day each year, more than 40,000 volunteers clean up garbage along the California coastline. Since the program began in 1985, more than 506,000 Californians have removed more than 7.5 million pounds of debris from the state’s shoreline. In 1993, they set a world record for the most garbage-collecting volunteers in a single day, when 50,405 people turned out for the cleanup.

first appeared: 6/8/2003

The Old Spanish Trail between Los Angeles and Santa Fe was officially designated a National Historic Trail in December 2002. Consisting of 3,500 miles of pack mule routes, the trail was based on ancient American Indian trade routes, and was later used by Spanish, Mexican, and American traders and pioneers, including Kit Carson on his journey back to the East Coast to report the discovery of gold in California.

first appeared: 6/1/2003

The world’s largest movie studio complex is Universal Studios Hollywood at Universal City in Los Angeles. Covering 420 acres, it includes the Back Lot movie studios and a theme park based on Universal’s television and movie features. Universal City’s founder, filmmaker Carl Laemmle, who welcomed visitors to the property from its opening in 1915, inspired its studio tours.

first appeared: 5/25/2003

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