“There’s only the American Dream and the California dream.”
—Gov. Gavin Newsom
This year marks the 175th anniversary of California’s admission to the U.S. as the 31st state. But statehood wasn’t the beginning of the story. Celebrating California is a collection of 175 stories that highlight California’s unique history and role in the world. The goal is to offer examples of California’s unique character and that of its residents, past and present. That means among the good there will be some bad. For every success story, there’s a failure, a tragedy, an injustice. It’s from these mistakes that we learn and grow stronger together. Share a story with us that helps define what California means to you.
While making his morning inspection of the sawmill he is building with John Sutter near the Maidu Indian village of…
After 11 years, seven months and five days, the town of Yerba Buena on the northeastern corner of the San…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTlPM5EF0nw&feature=emb_title That’s what quarterback Joe Montana says to tackle Harris Barton in the huddle in Super Bowl XXIII with 3:20…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmmAu7B68is&feature=emb_title On January 21, 1867, San Francisco Police Officer Armand Barbier rashly arrests Joshua Norton, self-proclaimed “Emperor of these United States”…
The three-person federal Public Land Commission is charged with determining the validity of Spanish and Mexican land grants in California.…
Chowchilla becomes a city on February 7, 1923. Fifteen miles northwest of Madera in the Central Valley, Chowchilla embraces city…
Dr. Norman Shumway. Photo by the Stanford Medical History Center. Dr. Norman E. Shumway performs the first heart transplant on…
In part to silence potential criticism by U.S. senators over his use of government funds, Howard Hughes flies his gigantic…
Rodney Glen King spends the evening of March 2, 1991, watching a basketball game and drinking 40-ounce bottles of Olde…
Nineteen-year-old Merle Ronald Haggard is given a maximum 15-year sentence in San Quentin for attempted robbery and a jail break.…