Portal:California

Introduction Welcome to the Portal:California. Such a lovely place. California State State of California Flag Seal 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 shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California to the south. With nearly 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. 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 tribes, but also growth and creation of distinguished communities such as the California Cantonese. 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 U.S. state, with a $4.0 trillion gross state product as of 2024. 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. Notable contributions to popular culture, ranging from entertainment, sports, music, and fashion, have their origins in California. California is the home of Hollywood, the oldest and one of the largest film industries in the world, profoundly influencing global entertainment. The San Francisco Bay and the Greater Los Angeles areas are seen as the centers of the global technology and U.S. film industries, respectively. (Full article...) Selected article - Headquarters in Mission Bay, San Francisco Uber Technologies, Inc. is an American multinational transportation company that provides ride-hailing services, courier services, food delivery, and freight transport. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California, and operates in approximately 70 countries and 10,500 cities worldwide. It is the largest ridesharing company worldwide with over 150 million monthly active users and 6 million active drivers and couriers. It facilitates an average of 28 million trips per day and has facilitated 47 billion trips since its inception in 2010. In 2023, the company had a take rate (revenue as a percentage of gross bookings) of 28.7% for mobility services and 18.3% for food delivery. Uber classifies its drivers as gig workers or independent contractors, which has drawn criticism and legal challenges because it allows the company to withhold worker protections that it would have been required to provide to employees. Studies have shown that, especially in cities where it competes with public transport, Uber contributes to traffic congestion, reduces public transport use, has no substantial impact on vehicle ownership, and increases automobile dependency. Other controversies involving Uber include various unethical practices such as aggressive lobbying and ignoring/evading local regulations. Some of these conducts were revealed by a leak of documents showing controversial activity between 2013 and 2017 under the leadership of Travis Kalanick. (Full article...) More selected articles General images - The following are images from various California-related articles on Wikipedia. San Francisco harbor, c. 1850–51. (from History of California) Balthazar, Inhabitant of Northern California, an 1818 portrait of a Miwok man by artist Mikhail Tikhanov. (from History of California) Juan Bautista de Anza led the 1774-76 Anza Expeditions. (from History of California) 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) The colonial coat of arms of the Californias, granted by Antonio de Mendoza, the first Viceroy of New Spain. (from History of California) Presidio of Santa Barbara. (from Culture of California) Bodega y Quadra led a 1775 expedition along the coast of California into the Pacific Northwest. (from History of California) Poppies, Antelope Valley, a California Impressionist painting by Benjamin Chambers Brown (from Culture of California) Mission San Francisco Solano, founded in 1823 by order of Governor Luis Antonio Argüello, was the last Californian mission established. (from History of California) The University of California, Berkeley is the flagship school of the University of California system. (from Culture of California) The Battle of San Pasqual in 1846. (from History of California) While slavery was abolished in California by Mexican authorities in 1829, the first California State Legislature under U.S. statehood passed the 1850 Indian Indenture Act, which allowed for the forced labor of indigenous Californians by Americans. (from History of California) A Southern Pacific Train at Arcade Depot, Los Angeles, 1891 (from History of California) Gaspar de Portolá served as the first Governor of the Californias and led the famed Portolá expedition of 1769-70. (from History of California) The 1846 Bear Flag Revolt declared the California Republic and prefaced the American conquest of California. (from History of California) California's first State Capitol building in San Jose, which served as the capital of California 1850–51. (from History of California) The railway station in Sacramento in 1874. (from History of California) Concord Coach no. 251 in Wells Fargo livery in Old Town San Diego. (from History of California) 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) The Getty Villa (from Culture of California) 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) Dividing the Light (2007), a skyspace by James Turrell at Pomona College (from Culture of California) The American capture of San Diego by the USS Cyane in 1846 (from History of California) SS California (1848), the first paddle steamer to steam between Panama City and San Francisco, as part of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company. (from History of California) Goldfields in the Sierra Nevada and Shasta Cascade. (from History of California) 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) Forces raising the U.S. flag over the Monterey Customhouse following their victory at the Battle of Monterey (from History of California) Depiction of the California hide trade. (from History of California) 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) General Richard Barnes Mason was the longest serving U.S. Military Governor of California (1847–1849), overseeing California's transition into statehood. (from History of California) Bilingual English-Spanish sign in the Colorado Desert of Southern California. (from Culture of California) Francis Drake's 1579 landing in "New Albion" (modern-day Point Reyes); engraving by Theodor De Bry, 1590. (from History of California) Flag of Company A (The California 100) during the U.S. Civil War. (from History of California) Manuel Domínguez built Domínguez Adobe on Rancho San Pedro in 1826. (from History of California) In-N-Out burgers (from Culture of California) 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) 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) Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, founded in 1771 by padres Pedro Benito Cambón and Ángel de la Somera. (from History of California) Presidio of San Francisco, founded by José Joaquín Moraga in 1776. (from History of California) 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) Map of the Butterfield Overland Mail routes through California, c. 1858. (from History of California) "Independent Gold Hunter on His Way to California", c. 1850 (from History of California) General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo reviewing his troops in Sonoma in 1846. (from History of California) The Petaluma Adobe, built by General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo in 1836 on Rancho Petaluma. (from History of California) Depiction of the Donner Party heading west on the California Trail. (from History of California) The Vallecitos stop of the Butterfield Overland Mail, in Julian, California. (from History of California) Stanford University Oval (from Culture of California) 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) The Spanish founded Mission San Juan Capistrano in 1776, the third to be established of the Californian missions. (from History of California) Junípero Serra conducting the first mass in Monterey Bay in 1770. (from History of California) 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) Mission Santa Barbara, founded in 1786, was the first mission to be established by Fermín de Lasuén. (from History of California) The Battle of Río San Gabriel, in 1847, was a decisive victory for the American campaign in Alta California. (from History of California) Pacheco Adobe, built 1835 by Salvio Pacheco on Rancho Monte del Diablo. (from History of California) Portrait of an "assimilated" Maidu man in Sacramento, 1867. (from History of California) Advertisement for sailing to California, c. 1850. (from History of California) The 1835 Manifiesto a la República Mejicana, by José Figueroa, was the first book published in California (from Culture of California) 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) Depiction of the revolt of the Mission Indians against padre Luis Jayme at Mission San Diego de Alcalá in 1775. (from History of California) Selected quote - Selected biographies - Official portrait Earl Warren (March 19, 1891 – July 9, 1974) was an American lawyer, politician, and jurist who served as the 30th governor of California from 1943 to 1953 and as the 14th Chief Justice of the United States from 1953 to 1969. The Warren Court presided over a major shift in American constitutional jurisprudence, which has been recognized by many as a "Constitutional Revolution" in the liberal direction, with Warren writing the majority opinions in landmark cases such as Brown v. Board of Education (1954), Reynolds v. Sims (1964), Miranda v. Arizona (1966), and Loving v. Virginia (1967). Warren also led the Warren Commission, a presidential commission that investigated the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. He served as Governor of California from 1943 to 1953, and is the last chief justice to have served in an elected office before nomination to the Supreme Court. Warren is generally considered to be one of the most influential Supreme Court justices and political leaders in the history of the United States. Warren was born in 1891 in Los Angeles and was raised in Bakersfield, California. After graduating from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, he began a legal career in Oakland. He was hired as a deputy district attorney for Alameda County in 1920 and was appointed district attorney in 1925. He emerged as a leader of the state Republican Party and won election as the Attorney General of California in 1938. In that position he supported, and was a firm proponent of the forced removal and internment of over 100,000 Japanese Americans during World War II. In the 1942 California gubernatorial election, Warren defeated incumbent Democratic governor Culbert Olson. As the 30th Governor of California, Warren presided over a period of major growth—for the state as well as the nation. Serving from 1943 to 1953, Warren is the only governor of California to be elected for three consecutive terms. (Full article...) Nixon in 1972 Thelma Catherine "Pat" Nixon (née Ryan; March 16, 1912 – June 22, 1993) was First Lady of the United States from 1969 to 1974 as the wife of President Richard Nixon. She also served as the second lady of the United States from 1953 to 1961 when her husband was vice president. Born in Ely, Nevada, she grew up with her two brothers in Artesia, California, graduating from Excelsior Union High School in Norwalk, California in 1929. She attended Fullerton Junior College and later the University of Southern California. She paid for her schooling by working multiple jobs, including pharmacy manager, typist, radiographer, and retail clerk. In 1940, she married lawyer Richard Nixon and they had two daughters, Tricia and Julie. Dubbed the "Nixon team", Richard and Pat Nixon campaigned together in his successful congressional campaigns of 1946 and 1948. Richard Nixon was elected vice president in 1952 alongside General Dwight D. Eisenhower, whereupon Pat became second lady. Pat Nixon did much to add substance to the role, insisting on visiting schools, orphanages, hospitals, and village markets as she undertook many missions of goodwill across the world. (Full article...) Ernest Orlando Lawrence (August 8, 1901 – August 27, 1958) was an American nuclear physicist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1939 for his invention of the cyclotron. He is known for his work on uranium-isotope separation for the Manhattan Project, as well as for founding the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. A graduate of the University of South Dakota and University of Minnesota, Lawrence obtained a PhD in physics at Yale in 1925. In 1928, he was hired as an associate professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley, becoming the youngest full professor there two years later. In its library one evening, Lawrence was intrigued by a diagram of an accelerator that produced high-energy particles. He contemplated how it could be made compact, and came up with an idea for a circular accelerating chamber between the poles of an electromagnet. The result was the first cyclotron. (Full article...) Major Burnham in his British Army uniform in 1901 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...) Eastwood in 2010 Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western TV series Rawhide, Eastwood rose to international fame with his role as the "Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy of spaghetti Westerns during the mid-1960s and as antihero cop Harry Callahan in the five Dirty Harry films throughout the 1970s and 1980s. These roles, among others, have made Eastwood an enduring cultural icon of masculinity. Elected in 1986, Eastwood served for two years as the mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. Eastwood's greatest commercial successes are the adventure comedy Every Which Way but Loose (1978) and its action comedy sequel Any Which Way You Can (1980). Other popular Eastwood films include the Westerns Hang 'Em High (1968), The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) and Pale Rider (1985), the action-war film Where Eagles Dare (1968), the prison film Escape from Alcatraz (1979), the war film Heartbreak Ridge (1986), the action film In the Line of Fire (1993), and the romantic drama The Bridges of Madison County (1995). More recent works include Gran Torino (2008), The Mule (2018), and Cry Macho (2021). Since 1967, Eastwood's company Malpaso Productions has produced all but four of his American films. (Full article...) Larson in 2018 Brianne Sidonie Desaulniers (born October 1, 1989), known professionally as Brie Larson, is an American actress. She played supporting roles in comedies as a teenager, and has since expanded to leading roles in independent films and blockbusters. Her accolades include an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award. Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2019. At age six, Larson was the youngest student admitted to a training program at the American Conservatory Theater, and she began her acting career in 1998 with a comedy sketch on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. She appeared as a regular in the 2001 sitcom Raising Dad and briefly dabbled with a music career, releasing the album Finally Out of P.E. in 2005. She subsequently had supporting roles in the comedy films Hoot (2006), Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010), and 21 Jump Street (2012), and appeared as a sardonic teenager in the television series United States of Tara (2009–2011). (Full article...) Murray M Chotiner (October 4, 1909 – January 30, 1974) was an American political strategist, attorney, government official, and close associate and friend of President Richard Nixon during much of the 37th President's political career. He served as campaign manager for the future president's successful runs for the United States Senate in 1950 and for the vice presidency in 1952, and managed the campaigns of other California Republicans. He was active in each of Nixon's two successful runs for the White House in low-profile positions. Chotiner was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; his father moved the family to California and then abandoned his wife and children. Murray Chotiner attended UCLA, and graduated from the Southwestern School of Law. He practiced law in Los Angeles, and branched out into public relations. Involving himself in Republican politics, he played an active part in several political campaigns and made an unsuccessful run for the California State Assembly in 1938. (Full article...) Downey in 2014 Robert John Downey Jr. (born April 4, 1965) is an American actor. His films as a leading actor have grossed over $14 billion worldwide, making him one of the highest-grossing actors of all time. Downey's career has been characterized by some early success, a period of drug-related problems and run-ins with the law, and a surge in popular and commercial success since the late 2000s. In 2008, Downey was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. From 2013 to 2015, he was listed by Forbes as Hollywood's highest-paid actor. At the age of five, Downey made his acting debut in his father Robert Downey Sr.'s 1970 film Pound. He subsequently worked with the Brat Pack in the teen films Weird Science (1985) and Less than Zero (1987). Downey's portrayal of Charlie Chaplin in the 1992 biopic Chaplin garnered him a BAFTA Award for Best Actor and his first Academy Award nomination. Following a stint at the Corcoran Substance Abuse Treatment Facility on drug charges, he joined the TV series Ally McBeal in 2000 and won a Golden Globe Award for the role. Downey was fired from the show in 2001 in the wake of additional drug charges. He stayed in a court-ordered drug treatment program and has maintained his sobriety since 2003. (Full article...) The GFDL logo The GNU Free Documentation License (GNU FDL or 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...) Self-Portrait, 1902 Xavier Timoteo Martínez (February 7, 1869 – January 13, 1943) was a Mexican-born American artist active in California the late 19th and early 20th century. He was a well-known bohemian figure in San Francisco, the East Bay, and the Monterey Peninsula and one of the co-founders of two California artists' organizations and an art gallery. He painted in a tonalist style and also produced monotypes, etchings, and silverpoint. (Full article...) Official portrait, 1983 Nancy Reagan (/ˈreɪɡən/; born Anne Frances Robbins; July 6, 1921 – March 6, 2016) was an American film actress who was the first lady of the United States from 1981 to 1989, as the second wife of President Ronald Reagan, the 40th president of the United States. Reagan was born in New York City. After her parents separated, she lived in Maryland with an aunt and uncle for six years. When her mother remarried in 1929, she moved to Chicago and later was adopted by her mother's second husband. As Nancy Davis, she was a Hollywood actress in the 1940s and 1950s, starring in films such as The Next Voice You Hear..., Night into Morning, and Donovan's Brain. In 1952, she married Ronald Reagan, who was then president of the Screen Actors Guild. He had two children from his previous marriage to Jane Wyman and he and Nancy had two children together. Nancy Reagan was the first lady of California when her husband was governor from 1967 to 1975, and she began to work with the Foster Grandparents Program. (Full article...) James Robert Baker (October 18, 1947 – November 5, 1997) was an American author of sharply satirical, predominantly gay-themed transgressional fiction. A native Californian, his work is set almost entirely in Southern California. After graduating from UCLA, he began his career as a screenwriter, but became disillusioned and started writing novels instead. Though he garnered fame for his books Fuel-Injected Dreams and Boy Wonder, after the controversy surrounding publication of his novel, Tim and Pete, he faced increasing difficulty having his work published. According to his life partner, this was a contributing factor in his suicide. Baker's work has achieved cult status in the years since his death, and two additional novels have been posthumously published. First-edition copies of his earlier works have become collector's items. His novel Testosterone was adapted to a film of the same name, though it was not a financial success. Two other books have been optioned for films, but they have not been produced. (Full article...) Stefani in October 2016 Gwen Renée Stefani Shelton (/stəˈfɑːni/ stə-FAH-nee; born October 3, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter and fashion designer. She is a co-founder and lead vocalist 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. In 2024, she released her fifth studio album Bouquet. (Full article...) Hanna in 1977 William Denby Hanna (July 14, 1910 – March 22, 2001) was an American animator, voice actor, and occasional musician who is best known for co-creating Tom and Jerry and providing the vocal effects for the series' title characters. Alongside Joseph Barbera, he also founded the animation studio and production company Hanna-Barbera. Hanna joined the Harman and Ising animation studio in 1930 and steadily gained skill and prominence while working on cartoons such as Captain and the Kids. In 1937, while working at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Hanna met Joseph Barbera. In 1957, they co-founded Hanna-Barbera, which became the most successful television animation studio in the business, creating or producing programs such as The Flintstones, The Huckleberry Hound Show, The Jetsons, Scooby-Doo, The Smurfs, and Yogi Bear. In 1967, Hanna-Barbera was sold to Taft Broadcasting for $12 million, but Hanna and Barbera remained heads of the company until 1991. At that time, the studio was sold to Turner Broadcasting System, which in turn was merged with Time Warner in 1996; Hanna and Barbera stayed on as advisors. (Full article...) Picture of Stafford from the New York Sunday News, September 21, 1947 Jo Elizabeth Stafford (November 12, 1917 – July 16, 2008) was an American traditional pop singer, whose career spanned five decades from the late 1930s to the early 1980s. Admired for the purity of her voice, she originally underwent classical training to become an opera singer before following a career in popular music, and by 1955 had achieved more worldwide record sales than any other female artist. Her 1952 song "You Belong to Me" topped the charts in the United States and United Kingdom, becoming the second single to top the UK Singles Chart, and the first by a female artist to do so. Born in remote oil-rich Coalinga, California, near Fresno in the San Joaquin Valley, Stafford made her first musical appearance at age 12. While still at high school, she joined her two older sisters to form a vocal trio named the Stafford Sisters, who found moderate success on radio and in film. In 1938, while the sisters were part of the cast of Twentieth Century Fox's production of Alexander's Ragtime Band, Stafford met the future members of the Pied Pipers and became the group's lead singer. Bandleader Tommy Dorsey hired them in 1939 to perform vocals with his orchestra. From 1940 to 1942, the group often performed with Dorsey's new male singer, Frank Sinatra. (Full article...) Did you know - ... that an attempt by six employees of a California TV station to remain on the air by working unpaid lasted just three days? ... that Cypress College basketball coach Don Johnson, who was an All-American at UCLA, developed two players with minimal experience who later played for his alma mater and set records in the NBA? ... that the San Gregorio Fault comes ashore in only two places in northern California, one of which is between Pillar Point Bluff and Moss Beach? ... that the Sweet Vengeance Mine was owned and operated by Black miners during the California Gold Rush? ... that construction workers at UC Berkeley paused their work in solidarity with the 2022 University of California academic workers' strike? ... that the city of Palo Alto, California, is named after a big tree? ... that the opening day of a California TV station was affected by a strike when workers refused to cross a two-man picket line? ... that Chester Smith's California TV station ran its newscast on a "dental floss budget", as one former anchor put it? Selected picture - Western Gull (Larus occidentalis). Image taken in Monterey, California Western Gull Credit: Daniel Schwen The Western Gull (Larus occidentalis) is a large white-headed gull that lives on the western coast of North America. It is a large gull, around 60 cm long with a white head and body, and gray wings. It has a yellow bill with a red subterminal spot (this is the small spot near the end of the bill that chicks peck in order to stimulate feeding). Selected panorama - Air pollution over the City of Los Angeles Los Angeles, California is the second-largest city in the United States, with an estimated population of 3.85 million people. Los Angeles is one of the cultural, economic, scientific and entertainment centers of the country. 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Warner History of the Yosemite area John Young (astronaut) Farran Zerbe Zodiac (film) Featured lists 1984 Summer Olympics medal table 1st Academy Awards 51st Academy Awards 52nd Academy Awards 53rd Academy Awards 54th Academy Awards 56th Academy Awards 58th Academy Awards 59th Academy Awards 60th Academy Awards 61st Academy Awards 62nd Academy Awards 63rd Academy Awards 64th Academy Awards 65th Academy Awards 66th Academy Awards 67th Academy Awards 68th Academy Awards 69th Academy Awards 70th Academy Awards 71st Academy Awards 72nd Academy Awards 73rd Academy Awards 74th Academy Awards 75th Academy Awards 76th Academy Awards 77th Academy Awards 78th Academy Awards 79th Academy Awards 80th Academy Awards 81st Academy Awards 82nd Academy Awards 83rd Academy Awards 84th Academy Awards 85th Academy Awards 86th Academy Awards 87th Academy Awards 88th Academy Awards 89th Academy Awards 90th Academy Awards 91st Academy Awards 92nd Academy Awards 93rd Academy Awards 94th Academy Awards 95th Academy Awards 96th Academy Awards List of California hurricanes List of governors of California List of California tornadoes Leo Carrillo on stage and screen List of Crystal Dynamics video games List of mergers and acquisitions by Gen Digital List of Golden State Warriors head coaches List of international goals scored by Landon Donovan List of acquisitions by Juniper Networks List of municipalities in California List of tallest buildings in San Diego List of 1960 Winter Olympics medal winners List of Arrested Development episodes List of Bay Area Rapid Transit stations List of Caltrain stations List of Chevron Championship winners List of Las Vegas Raiders head coaches List of Los Angeles Chargers head coaches List of Los Angeles Clippers seasons List of Los Angeles Metro Rail stations List of Muni Metro stations List of Oakland Athletics team records List of SacRT light rail stations List of San Diego Padres team records List of San Francisco 49ers head coaches List of San Francisco Giants Opening Day starting pitchers List of San Francisco Giants first-round draft picks List of San Francisco Giants managers List of San Francisco Municipal Railway lines List of San Jose Sharks players List of VTA light rail stations List of acquisitions by Adobe List of acquisitions by Cisco List of acquisitions by Electronic Arts List of acquisitions by eBay List of cities and towns in the San Francisco Bay Area List of mergers and acquisitions by Apple List of mergers and acquisitions by Yahoo List of tallest buildings in Los Angeles List of tallest buildings in Oakland, California List of tallest buildings in San Francisco Long Beach Motorsports Walk of Fame List of Los Angeles Angels first-round draft picks List of Los Angeles Dodgers first-round draft picks List of Los Angeles Lakers seasons Mayor of San Diego Mayor of San Francisco List of mergers and acquisitions by Alphabet List of milestone home runs by Barry Bonds List of Athletics first-round draft picks List of Pomona College people 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards List of San Diego Padres first-round draft picks A-Class articles 1st Filipino Infantry Regiment Featured topics Jake Gyllenhaal Featured portals Portal:California Portal:California roads 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. 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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 State facts 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: Insect: California Dogface Butterfly Bird: California Valley Quail Fossil: Saber-toothed cat Dance: West Coast Swing Colors: Blue & Gold Animal: California Grizzly Bear Flower: California Poppy Gem: Benitoite Rock: Serpentine Fish: California Golden Trout Songs: I Love You, California Tree: California Redwood Mineral: Gold Related WikiProjects Related WikiProjects Main Project California Sub-projects Southern California • Los Angeles • San Francisco Bay Area • Santa Barbara County • California State Highways • California County Routes • University of California • California State University Subportals Related portals Things you can do Things you can do Create Requested California Articles Help assess articles supported by WikiProject California Help suggest content for usage in this portal by using the archive links to obtain instructions Write California-related topics if you see a redlink which is worthy of an article Cleanup and expand stub-class articles relating to California Associated Wikimedia The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject: Commons Free media repository Wikibooks Free textbooks and manuals Wikidata Free knowledge base Wikinews Free-content news Wikiquote Collection of quotations Wikisource Free-content library Wikiversity Free learning tools Wikivoyage Free travel guide Wiktionary Dictionary and thesaurus More portals Discover Wikipedia using portals List of all portals The arts portal Biography portal Current events portal Geography portal History portal Mathematics portal Science portal Society portal Technology portal Random portal WikiProject Portals Shortcuts to this page: P:CALIFORNIA • P:CAL