Northern California

Northern California is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Spanning the state's northernmost 48 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.
The 48-county definition is not used for the Northern California Megaregion, one of the 11 megaregions of the United States. The megaregion's area is instead defined 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.
Evidence of Native American habitation in the area dates from at least 19,000 years ago and successive waves of arrivals led to one of the most densely populated areas of pre-Columbian North America. The arrival of European explorers from the early 16th to the mid-18th centuries did not establish European settlements in northern California. In 1770, the Spanish mission at Monterey was the first European settlement in the area, followed by other missions along the coast—eventually extending as far north as Sonoma County.
Description
Northern California is not a formal geographic designation. California's north–south midway division is around 37°N, near the level of Morgan Hill and Chowchilla. (The geographic center of California is at near North Fork, northeast of Fresno.) Popularly, though, "Northern California" usually refers to the state's northernmost 48 counties. Because of California's large size and diverse geography, the state can be subdivided in other ways as well. For example, the Central Valley is a region that is distinct both culturally and topographically from coastal California, though in northern versus southern California divisions, the Sacramento Valley and most of the San Joaquin Valley are usually placed in northern California. Some observers describe three partitions of California, with north and south sections separated by Central California.
The state is often considered as having an additional division north of the urban areas of the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento metropolitan areas. Extreme northern residents have felt under-represented in state government and, in 1941, attempted to form a new state with southwestern Oregon to be called Jefferson, or more recently to introduce legislation to split California into two or three states.
The coastal area north of the Bay Area is often referred to as the North Coast — Mendocino, Lake, Humboldt, and Del Norte Counties (also potentially including Napa and Sonoma Counties). The interior region north of Sacramento metropolitan area is referred to by locals as the Northstate — roughly speaking, Butte, Colusa, Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Tehama, and Trinity Counties.
Northern California was used for the name of a proposed new state on the 2018 California ballot created by splitting the existing state into three parts.
Significance
Since the events of the California Gold Rush, Northern California has been a leader on the world's economic, scientific, and cultural stages. From the development of gold mining techniques and logging practices in the 19th century that were later adopted around the world, to the development of world-famous and online business models (such as Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Google, Yahoo!, and eBay), northern California has been at the forefront of new ways of doing business. In science, advances range from being the first to isolate and name fourteen transuranic chemical elements, to breakthroughs in microchip technology. Cultural contributions include the works of Ansel Adams, George Lucas, and Clint Eastwood, as well as beatniks, the Summer of Love, winemaking, the cradle of the international environmental movement, and the open, casual workplace first popularized in the Silicon Valley dot-com boom and now widely in use around the world. Other examples of innovation across diverse fields range from Genentech (development and commercialization of genetic engineering) to CrossFit as a pioneer in extreme human fitness and training.
It is also home to one of the largest Air Force Bases on the West Coast, and the largest in California by square meters, Travis Air Force Base.
Cities
Northern California's largest metropolitan area is the San Francisco Bay Area which consists of 9 counties: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma counties. The Bay Area consists of the major cities of San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, and their many suburbs. Although not a part of the Bay Area, in recent years the Bay Area has drawn more commuters from as far as Central Valley cities such as Sacramento, Stockton, Fresno, Turlock and Modesto. These cities in the central part of the Central Valley and Sierra Nevada foothills may be viewed as part of a single megalopolis. The 2010 U.S. Census showed that the Bay Area grew at a faster rate than the Greater Los Angeles Area while Greater Sacramento had the largest growth rate of any metropolitan area in California.
The state's larger inland cities are considered part of Northern California in cases when the state is divided into two parts. Key cities in the region which are not in major metropolitan areas include Eureka on the far North Coast, Redding, at the northern end of the Central Valley, Chico, and Yuba City in the mid-north of the Central Valley, as well as Fresno and Visalia on the southern end. Though smaller in each case, with the notable exception of Fresno, than the larger cities of the general region, these smaller regional centers are often of historical and economic importance for their respective size, due to their locations, which are primarily rural or otherwise isolated.
History
Prehistory to 1847
Inhabited for millennia by Native Americans, from the Shasta tribe in the north, to the Miwoks in the central coast and Sierra Nevada, to the Yokuts of the southern Central Valley, northern California was among the most densely populated areas of pre-Columbian North America.
European explorers
The first European to explore the coast was Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, sailing for the Spanish Crown; in 1542, Cabrillo's expedition sailed perhaps as far north as the Rogue River in today's Oregon. Beginning in 1565, the Spanish Manila galleons crossed the Pacific Ocean from Mexico to the Spanish Philippines, with silver and gemstones from Mexico. The Manila galleons returned across the northern Pacific, and reached North America usually off the coast of northern California, and then continued south with their Asian trade goods to Mexico.
In 1579, northern California was visited by the English explorer Sir Francis Drake who landed north of today's San Francisco and claimed the area for England. In 1602, the Spaniard Sebastián Vizcaíno explored California's coast as far north as Monterey Bay, where he went ashore. Other Spanish explorers sailed along the coast of northern California for the next 150 years, but no settlements were established.
Spanish era
The first European inhabitants were Spanish missionaries, who built missions along the California coast. The mission at Monterey was first established in 1770, and at San Francisco in 1776. In all, ten missions stretched along the coast from Sonoma to Monterey (and still more missions to the southern tip of Baja California). In 1786, the French signaled their interest in the northern California area by sending a voyage of exploration to Monterey.
The first twenty years of the 19th century continued the colonization of the northern California coast by Spain. By 1820, Spanish influence extended inland approximately 25 to from the missions. Outside of this zone, perhaps 200,000 to 250,000 Native Americans continued to lead traditional lives. The Adams-Onís Treaty, signed in 1819 between Spain and the young United States, set the northern boundary of the Spanish claims at the 42nd parallel, effectively creating today's northern boundary of northern California.
Russian presence
In 1812, the Russian state-sponsored Russian-American Company established Fort Ross, a fur trading outpost on the coast of today's Sonoma County. Fort Ross was the southernmost Russian settlement, located some north of Spanish colonies in San Francisco. In 1839, the settlement was abandoned due to its inability to meet resource demands, and the increasing Mexican and American presence in the region.
Mexican era
After Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821, Mexico continued Spain's missions and settlements in northern California as well as Spain's territorial claims. The Mexican Californios (Spanish-speaking Californians) in these settlements primarily traded cattle hides and tallow with American and European merchant vessels.
In 1825, the Hudson's Bay Company established a major trading post just north of today's Portland, Oregon. British fur trappers and hunters then used the Siskiyou Trail to travel throughout northern California. The leader of a further French scientific expedition to northern California, Eugene Duflot de Mofras, wrote in 1840 "...it is evident that California will belong to whatever nation chooses to send there a man-of-war and two hundred men." By the 1830s, a significant number of non-Californios had immigrated to northern California. Chief among these was John Sutter, a European immigrant from Switzerland, who was granted centered on the area of today's Sacramento.
American interest
American trappers began entering northern California in the 1830s. In 1834, American visionary Ewing Young led a herd of horses and mules over the Siskiyou Trail from missions in northern California to British and American settlements in Oregon. Although a small number of American traders and trappers had lived in northern California since the early 1830s, the first organized overland party of American immigrants to arrive in northern California was the Bartleson-Bidwell Party of 1841 via the new California Trail. Also in 1841, an overland exploratory party of the United States Exploring Expedition came down the Siskiyou Trail from the Pacific Northwest. In 1846, the Donner Party earned notoriety as they struggled to enter northern California.
Californian independence and beginning of the United States era
When the Mexican–American War was declared on May 13, 1846, it took almost two months (mid-July 1846) for word to get to California. On June 14, 1846, some 30 non-Mexican settlers, mostly Americans, staged a revolt and seized the small Mexican garrison in Sonoma. They raised the "Bear Flag" of the California Republic over Sonoma. The "Bear Flag Republic" lasted only 26 days, until the U.S. Army, led by John Frémont, took over on July 9. The California state flag today is based on this original Bear Flag, and continues to contain the words "California Republic."
Commodore John Drake Sloat ordered his naval forces to occupy Yerba Buena (present San Francisco) on July 7 and within days American forces controlled San Francisco, Sonoma, and Sutter's Fort in Sacramento. The treaty ending the Mexican–American War was signed on February 2, 1848, and Mexico formally ceded Alta California (including all of present-day northern California) to the United States.
Gold Rush and California statehood
The California Gold Rush took place almost exclusively in northern California from 1848 to 1855. It began on January 24, 1848, when gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill in Coloma. News of the discovery soon spread, resulting in some 300,000 people coming to California from the rest of the United States and abroad. San Francisco grew from a tiny hamlet, home to about 1,000 Californios into a boomtown of over 50,000 people in the 12 years between 1848 and 1860. New roads, churches, and schools were built, and new towns sprung up, aided in part by the development of new methods of transportation such as steamships which came into regular service and railroads which now connected the coasts. The Gold Rush also had negative effects: American colonists chose to use genocide as a tool to remove the Indigenous people so that they could look for gold on their land. Native oyster species saw their numbers plummet when American colonists began over-harvesting them, leading to a near-extinction of the oysters from the California coast on up into the Pacific Northwest, and gold mining caused environmental harm.
The Gold Rush also increased pressure to make California a U.S. state. Pro-slavery politicians initially attempted to permanently divide northern and southern California at 36 degrees, 30 minutes, the line of the Missouri Compromise. But instead, the passing of the Compromise of 1850 enabled California to be admitted to the Union as a free state.
Population and agricultural expansion (1855–1899)
The decades following the Gold Rush brought dramatic expansion to northern California, both in population and economically – particularly in agriculture. The completion of the First transcontinental railroad in 1869, with its terminus in Sacramento (and then later, Oakland), meant that northern California's agricultural produce (and some manufactured goods) could now be shipped economically to the rest of the United States. In return, immigrants from the rest of the United States (and Europe) could comfortably come to northern California. A network of railroads spread throughout northern California, and in 1887, a rail link was completed to the Pacific Northwest. Almost all of these railways came under the control of the Southern Pacific Railroad, headquartered in San Francisco, and San Francisco continued as a financial and cultural center.
Substantial tensions during this era included nativist sentiments (primarily against Chinese immigrants), tensions between the increasing power of the Southern Pacific Railroad and small farmers, and the beginnings of the labor union movement.
Economy
Northern California's economy is noted for being the de facto world leader in high-tech industry (software, semiconductor/micro-electronics, biotechnology and medical devices/instruments), as well as being known for clean power, biomedical, government, and finance. Other significant industries include tourism, shipping, manufacturing, and agriculture. Its economy is diverse, though more concentrated in high technology. Compared to Southern California, its is less dependent on oil and residential housing and more subject to the whims of venture capital than any other major regional economy in the nation, especially within Silicon Valley. It is home to the state capital, as well as several Western United States regional offices in San Francisco, such as the Federal Reserve and 9th Circuit Court.
Climate
Northern California has a warm or mild to cool climate, in which the Sierra mountains gets snow in the late fall through winter and occasionally into spring. Summers are mild along the coast and generally warm and dry, while winters are cool and usually wet. The high temperatures range from 50s to 30s in the winters while summers temperature range is 90s to 60s or 50s, with highs well into the 100s for the Sacramento region. Snow covers the mountains (generally above 3000 feet) in mid January through February. Fog occurs infrequently or occurs normally in the west and coast, especially in the summer, creating some of the coolest summer conditions in North America. Since the first decade of the 21st century, droughts and wildfires have increased in frequency as a consequence of climate change.
Population
The population of the forty-eight counties of northern California has shown a steady increase over the years.
The largest percentage increase outside the Gold Rush era (52%) came during the 1940s, as the region was the destination of many post-War veterans and their families, attracted by the greatly expanding industrial base and (often) by their time stationed in northern California during World War II. The largest absolute increase occurred during the 1980s (over 2.1 million person increase), attracted by job opportunities in part by the expansion taking place in Silicon Valley and the Cold War era expansion of the defense industry. Since the 2000 U.S. Census, Northern California has grown at a faster rate than Southern California due to the strong economic performances of the Bay Area and Sacramento.
Parks and other protected areas
National Park System
The U.S. National Park System controls a large and diverse group of parks in northern California. The best known is Yosemite National Park, which is displayed on the reverse side of the California state quarter. Other prominent parks are the Kings Canyon-Sequoia National Park complex, Redwood National Park, Pinnacles National Park, Lassen Volcanic National Park and the largest in the contiguous forty-eight states, Death Valley National Park.
National Monuments and other federally protected areas
Other areas under federal protection include Muir Woods National Monument, Giant Sequoia National Monument, Devils Postpile National Monument, Lava Beds National Monument, Point Reyes National Seashore, the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, and the Cordell Bank and Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuaries (both off the coast of San Francisco). Included within the latter National Marine Sanctuary is the Farallon National Wildlife Refuge; this National Wildlife Refuge is one of approximately twenty-five such refuges in northern California. National forests occupy large sections of northern California, including the Shasta–Trinity, Klamath, Modoc, Lassen, Mendocino, Eldorado, Tahoe, and Sequoia national forests, among others. Included within (or adjacent to) national forests are federally protected wilderness areas, including the Trinity Alps, Castle Crags, Granite Chief, and Desolation wilderness areas.
In addition, the California Coastal National Monument protects all islets, reefs, and rock outcroppings from the shore of northern California out to a distance of , along the entire northern California coastline. In addition, the National Park Service administers protected areas on Alcatraz Island, the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Whiskeytown–Shasta–Trinity National Recreation Area, and the Smith River National Recreation Area. The NPS also administers the Manzanar National Historic Site in Inyo County, the Rosie the Riveter World War II Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond, and the Tule Lake National Monument outside of Tulelake.
Other
Tilden Regional Park
Alum Rock Park
Angel Island
Bidwell Park
Big Basin Redwoods State Park
Butano State Park
Calaveras Big Trees State Park
Castle Rock State Park
Caswell Memorial State Park
East Bay Regional Park District
Farallon Islands
Golden Gate Park
Henry W. Coe State Park
Humboldt Redwoods State Park
Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park
Lake Tahoe Basin
Marble Mountain Wilderness
Mill Creek State Park
Mount Tamalpais State Park
Suisun Marsh
Sacramento River
Talowa Dunes State Park
Turtle Bay Exploration Park
McArthur–Burney Falls Memorial State Park
Wilder Ranch State Park
Sequoia National Park
Educational institutions
Northern California hosts a number of world-renowned universities including Stanford University and University of California, Berkeley. Top-tier public graduate schools include Boalt Hall and Hastings law schools and UC San Francisco (a top-ranked medical school) and UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, the largest veterinary school in the United States.
Public
Six University of California campuses:
UC Berkeley
UC Davis
UC Hastings
UC Merced
UC San Francisco
UC Santa Cruz
Eleven California State University campuses:
California Maritime Academy
Chico State
CSU East Bay
CSU Monterey Bay
Fresno State
Cal Poly Humboldt
Sacramento State
San Francisco State
San Jose State
Sonoma State
Stanislaus State
A large number of local community colleges
Private
(Partial list)
Brandman University
Dominican University
Drexel University Sacramento
Fresno Pacific University
Holy Names University
Mills College
Northwestern Polytechnic University
Pacific Union College
Stanford University
Santa Clara University
St. Mary's College
Simpson University
Touro University California
University of San Francisco
University of the Pacific
William Jessup University
Academy of Art University
Notre Dame de Namur University
Samuel Merritt University
Research
(Partial list)
American Institute of Mathematics
Bodega Marine Reserve
Hopkins Marine Station
Joint Genome Institute
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Lick Observatory
Long Marine Laboratory
Mathematical Sciences Research Institute
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
NASA Ames Research Center
Owens Valley Radio Observatory
Pacific Institute
Point Reyes Bird Observatory
White Mountain Research Station
Counties
Alameda
Alpine
Amador
Butte
Calaveras
Colusa
Contra Costa
Del Norte
El Dorado
Fresno
Glenn
Humboldt
Inyo
Kings
Lake
Lassen
Madera
Marin
Mariposa
Mendocino
Merced
Modoc
Mono
Monterey
Napa
Nevada
Placer
Plumas
Sacramento
San Benito
San Francisco
San Joaquin
San Mateo
Santa Clara
Santa Cruz
Shasta
Sierra
Siskiyou
Solano
Sonoma
Stanislaus
Sutter
Tehama
Trinity
Tulare
Tuolumne
Yolo
Yuba
Regions
The following regions are entirely or partly within northern California:
Big Sur
Cascade Range
Central California
Central Coast
Central Valley
Coastal California
East Bay (SF)
Eastern California
Emerald Triangle
Gold Country
Greater Sacramento
Klamath Basin
Lake Tahoe
Lassen Peak
Lost Coast
Metropolitan Fresno
Mount Shasta
North Bay (SF)
North Coast
Russian River
Sacramento Valley
San Francisco Bay Area
San Francisco Peninsula
San Joaquin Valley
Santa Clara Valley
Shasta Cascade
Sierra Nevada
Silicon Valley
South Bay (SF)
Telecom Valley
Tri-Valley
Trinity Alps
Wine Country
Yosemite
Yuba–Sutter area
Cities and towns with more than 50,000 inhabitants
Metropolitan areas
Northern California is home to three of the state's four extended metropolitan areas, which are home to over three-fourths of the region's population as of the 2010 United States Census:
Major business districts
The following are major central business districts:
San Francisco Financial District
Downtown Oakland
Downtown Sacramento
Downtown San Jose
Transportation
See also articles:
Transportation in the Sacramento metropolitan area
Transportation in the San Francisco Bay Area
See also categories:
Transportation in Alameda County
Transportation in Alpine County
Transportation in Amador County
Transportation in Butte County
Transportation in Calaveras County
Transportation in Colusa County
Transportation in Contra Costa County
Transportation in Del Norte County
Transportation in El Dorado County
Transportation in Fresno County
Transportation in Glenn County
Transportation in Humboldt County
Transportation in Inyo County
Transportation in Kings County
Transportation in Lake County
Transportation in Lassen County
Transportation in Madera County
Transportation in Marin County
Transportation in Mariposa County
Transportation in Mendocino County
Transportation in Merced County
Transportation in Modoc County
Transportation in Mono County
Transportation in Monterey County
Transportation in Napa County
Transportation in Nevada County
Transportation in Oakland
Transportation in Placer County
Transportation in Plumas County
Transportation in Sacramento
Transportation in Sacramento County
Transportation in San Benito County
Transportation in the San Francisco Bay Area
Transportation in San Francisco
Transportation in San Joaquin County
Transportation in San Mateo County
Transportation in Santa Clara County
Transportation in Santa Cruz County
Transportation in Shasta County
Transportation in Sierra County
Transportation in Siskiyou County
Transportation in Solano County
Transportation in Sonoma County
Transportation in Stanislaus County
Transportation in Sutter County
Transportation in Tehama County
Transportation in Trinity County
Transportation in Tulare County
Transportation in Tuolumne County
Transportation in Yolo County
Transportation in Yuba County
Airports
There are 11 airports in Northern California categorized as Primary Service Commercial airports by the FAA:
Railroad
Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) – commuter subway connecting most of the core Bay Area including San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose
Caltrain – commuter rail between San Francisco and Gilroy (south of San Jose)
Muni Metro (San Francisco)
VTA Light Rail (San Jose)
Altamont Commuter Express (ACE) – commuter train connecting Stockton and the Central Valley with San Jose and the Bay Area
Sacramento Regional Transit District light rail
Amtrak:
California Zephyr – connects Chicago to the Bay Area
Capitol Corridor – San Jose to Auburn (eastern suburb of Sacramento)
Coast Starlight – coastal train between Los Angeles and Seattle with northern California stops in San Jose, Oakland, and Sacramento
San Joaquin – Central Valley train linking Bakersfield in the Central Valley to Sacramento and Oakland
Major transit organizations
AC Transit
Arcata and Mad River Transit System
County Connection
El Dorado Transit
Eureka Transit Service
Fairfield and Suisun Transit
Fresno Area Express
Golden Gate Transit
Lake Transit
Mendocino Transit Authority
Monterey-Salinas Transit
Porterville City Operated Local Transit
Redwood Transit System
SamTrans
San Benito Express
SF MUNI
San Joaquin Regional Transit District
Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA)
Santa Cruz Metro
Solano Express
SolTrans
Sonoma County Transit
Tri Delta Transit
Visalia Transit
VINE (Napa County)
Major transit ferries
San Francisco Bay Ferry
Golden Gate Ferry
Blue & Gold Fleet
Angel Island – Tiburon Ferry
Freeways
Interstate highways
Interstate 80 (Eastshore Freeway/Lincoln Highway)
Interstate 280 (Southern Embarcadero Freeway/Southern Freeway/Junipero Serra Freeway/Sinclair Freeway)
Interstate 380
Interstate 580 (Eastshore Freeway/MacArthur Freeway/Brown Freeway)
Interstate 680 (Joseph P. Sinclair Freeway/Donald D. Doyle Highway/Blue Star Memorial Highway/Luther E. Gibson Freeway)
Interstate 780
Interstate 880 (Nimitz Freeway)
Interstate 980 (Grove-Shafter Freeway)
Interstate 238
Interstate 5 (Golden State Freeway/West Side Freeway)
Interstate 205 (Robert T. Monagan Freeway)
Interstate 505
Interstate 80 Business (Capital City Freeway)
U.S. Routes
U.S. Route 6
U.S. Route 50 (El Dorado Freeway)
U.S. Route 101 (South Valley Freeway/Bayshore Freeway/James Lick Freeway/Central Freeway/Redwood Highway/Michael J. Burns Freeway/Redwood Highway)
U.S. Route 395
U.S. Route 97
U.S. Route 199
Principal state highways
State Route 1 (Pacific Coast Highway/Cabrillo Highway)
State Route 3
State Route 4
State Route 9
State Route 12
State Route 13 (Ashby Avenue/Tunnel Road/Warren Freeway)
State Route 16
State Route 17
State Route 20
State Route 24
State Route 25
State Route 26
State Route 29
State Route 32
State Route 33
State Route 35 (Skyline Boulevard)
State Route 36
State Route 37 (Sears Point Tollway)
State Route 41 (E.G. Lewis Highway, Yosemite Freeway, Southern Yosemite Highway, Wawona Road)
State Route 43
State Route 44
State Route 49 (Golden Chain Highway)
State Route 59
// State Route 61 (Webster Tube/Posey Tube/Doolittle Drive/Davis Street)
State Route 63
State Route 65
State Route 68
State Route 70
State Route 82 (Monterey Highway/El Camino Real/Mission Street)
State Route 84
State Route 85 (Stevens Creek Freeway/West Valley Freeway/Norman Y. Mineta Highway/CHP Officer Scott M. Greenly Memorial Freeway)
State Route 87 (Guadalupe Parkway)
State Route 88
State Route 89
State Route 92 (J. Arthur Younger Freeway/Jackson Street)
State Route 96
State Route 99
State Route 104
State Route 108
State Route 113
State Route 116
State Route 120
State Route 121
State Route 128
State Route 130
State Route 132
State Route 137
State Route 139
State Route 140
State Route 152
State Route 156
State Route 160 (North Sacramento Freeway/River Road)
State Route 162
State Route 165
State Route 168
State Route 174
State Route 180
/ State Route 185 (International Boulevard/East 14th Street/Mission Boulevard)
State Route 190
State Route 193
State Route 198
State Route 201
State Route 216
State Route 219
State Route 236
State Route 237
State Route 238 (Mission Boulevard, Foothill Boulevard)
State Route 245
State Route 254 (Avenue of the Giants)
State Route 262 (Mission Boulevard)
State Route 267
State Route 269
State Route 275 (Tower Bridge Gateway)
State Route 299
Communication
Telephone area codes
209 — Northern San Joaquin Valley (Stockton, Modesto, and Merced).
408/669 — Most of Santa Clara County (San Jose and Gilroy).
415/628 — San Francisco, Daly City, and Marin County. One of the three original Area Codes in California.
510/341 — Inner East Bay (Oakland, Berkeley, Richmond, and Fremont). Originally part of area code 415.
530 — A large northeastern section of the region including Tehama County, Shasta County, Lassen County, Yuba County, Sutter County, Butte County, and Nevada County. Split from area code 916 in 1997–1998.
559 — Southern San Joaquin Valley (Madera, Fresno, and Visalia).
650 — San Francisco Peninsula (San Mateo, Redwood City, and Palo Alto). Originally part of area code 415.
707 — The North Coast section of the region from Sonoma County to the Oregon border. Cities include Eureka, Ukiah, Santa Rosa, Napa, Vallejo and Fairfield.
831 — Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz Counties. Originally part of area code 408.
916/279 — Sacramento County and the Sacramento suburbs in western Placer and El Dorado Counties. One of the three original area codes in California, formerly covered all areas now within 530.
925 — Outer East Bay (Concord, Pittsburg, Walnut Creek, San Ramon, Pleasanton and Livermore). Originally part of area codes 415 and 510.
Sports
Major league professional sports teams
College sports teams
California Golden Bears
Cal Poly Humboldt Lumberjacks
Stanford Cardinal
Fresno State Bulldogs
San Jose State Spartans
Sacramento State Hornets
UC Davis Aggies
Sports venues
Laguna Seca Raceway (motorsport)
Sonoma Raceway (motorsport)
Olympic Club (golf)
Silverado Country Club (golf)
TPC Harding Park (golf)
TPC Stonebrae (golf)
Sporting events
Pac-12 Football Championship Game (college football)
Emerald Bowl (college football)
AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am (golf)
Frys.com Open (golf)
Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic (golf)
Grand Prix of Sonoma (motorsport)
Toyota/Save Mart 350 (motorsport)
Monterey Sports Car Championships (motorsport)
Superbike World Championship (motorsport)
See also
Northern California Megaregion
California megapolitan areas
Central California
History of California through 1899
History of the west coast of North America
Jefferson (proposed Pacific state)
Megaregions of the United States
Southern California
References
External links
Real Estate Engineering and Architect Service in California.
Megapolitan areas of California
Regions of California