Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Regional Identity
Now for the reality check. Any Northern Californian hearing your California dream is
bound to get huffy. What, political protests and Silicon Valley start-ups don't factor in your
dreams? But Southern Californians will also roll their eyes at these stereotypes: they didn't
create NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab and almost half of the world's movies by slacking off.
Still there is some truth to your California dreamscape. Some 80% of Californians live
near the coast rather than inland, even though California beaches aren't always sunny or
swimmable (the odds of that increase the further south you go, thus Southern California's
inescapable associations with surf, sun and prime-time TV soaps like
Baywatch
and
The
OC
). And there's truth in at least one other outdoorsy stereotype: over 60% of Californians
admit to having hugged a tree.
Self-help, fitness and body modification are major industries throughout California, suc-
cessfully marketed since the 1970s as 'lite' versions of religious experience - all the agony
and ecstasy of the major religions, without all those heavy commandments. Exercise and
healthy food help keep Californians among the fittest in the nation. Yet more than half a
million Californians are apparently ill enough to merit prescriptions for medical marijuana.
Ahem.
At least Northern and Southern Californians do have one thing in common: they are all
baffled by New Yorkers' delusion that the world revolves around the Big Apple. We all
know it totally doesn't, dude.
SoCal inventions include the space shuttle, Mickey Mouse, whitening toothpaste, the hula
hoop (or at least its trademark), Barbie, skateboard and surfboard technology, the Cobb
salad and the fortune cookie.
Lifestyle
The charmed existence you dreamed about is a stretch, even in California. Few Californi-
ans can afford to spend entire days tanning and networking, what with the aging effects of
UVA rays and the sky-high rent to consider. According to a recent Cambridge University
study, creativity, imagination, intellectualism and mellowness are all defining characterist-
ics of Californians, compared with inhabitants of other US states.
