Define Northern Calif

[scubapro50]

i always heard that Northern Calif. will be the part of the state still above water after the big earthquake predicted for 2010 ....

 

[archman]

It's kinda funny, folks I know from San Fran claim that they're northern californians, and get defensive when told otherwise. "Otherwise" being the consensus from individuals further up north in those little tiny towns. I think National Geographic put the Bay Area into that delineation once. It was more of a water-rights issue.

Southern Californians on the other hand (like I once was) tend to view northern cali as anything above the greater LA area. That whole "central" region (Monterey/Fresno) is kinda put off on the back burner.

Culturally, I believe it looks more like this.

1. Southern California. Los Angeles & San Diego regions
2. Central "Valley" Area. All that inland mess along the grapevine, plus those tiny coastal towns north of LA
3. Bay Area. Distinctive unto itself.
4. True Northern California. Those folks north of the bay area clear up to Oregon.

 

[northcoast_diver]

It's kinda funny, folks I know from San Fran claim that they're northern californians, and get defensive when told otherwise. "Otherwise" being the consensus from individuals further up north in those little tiny towns. I think National Geographic put the Bay Area into that delineation once. It was more of a water-rights issue.

Southern Californians on the other hand (like I once was) tend to view northern cali as anything above the greater LA area. That whole "central" region (Monterey/Fresno) is kinda put off on the back burner.

Culturally, I believe it looks more like this.

1. Southern California. Los Angeles & San Diego regions
2. Central "Valley" Area. All that inland mess along the grapevine, plus those tiny coastal towns north of LA
3. Bay Area. Distinctive unto itself.
4. True Northern California. Those folks north of the bay area clear up to Oregon.

I can live with that!

When we then divide the state, we only need to get rid of L.A. and San Diego! And keep the other goodies together.

 

[Pamdiv]

It's all a state of mind, folks. Geography has nothing to do with it.

 

[Wristshot]

Mike, it all depends upon how you wish to view it.

I live in San Jose, which is about 60 miles south of San Francisco.

I GUARANTEE that we are not part of Southern California, not geographically, not politically, not culturally. (them's fightin' words!)

If there were only two choices, Southern and Northern, we would be Northern. From a purely cartographic perspective the line is probably from just below Yosemite to just below Carmel. As soon as you consider other factors and regions, it gets more complicated. There are more than two regions to California, in so many ways.

I can see that San Jose would not really be part of Northern California from the perspective of the people in Ukiah and Mendecino etc. But to the people in Santa Barbara, we are certainly in Northern California.

I tell people that I live in the San Francisco Bay Area. I have lived here for over 47 years, and I stand behind that statement.


Wristshot
San Jose Native

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

One of the fellows on the Boston Whaler list lives almost
to Oregon. He says "upstate California". ;-)

 

[LeFlaneur]

Depend who you ask. In general Southern California starts just south of where the person responding lives.

 

[Wristshot]

LeFlaneur,

Is that because most people really don't want to be thought of as one of those people from Southern California?

W

 

[Cnotthoff]

Any ideas on where North Calif ends and Southern calif begins? This is strictly a reserch question.

Mike, We always said that line was at the men's room of the Madonna Inn just outside San Luis Obispo. If you haven't seen it, you should make a point of stopping by.

Charlie

 

[archman]

Mike, We always said that line was at the men's room of the Madonna Inn just outside San Luis Obispo. If you haven't seen it, you should make a point of stopping by.

Forgot about Obispo... yeah that's a cultural demarcation point of some kind. I always got some heebie-jeebie feeling when I stopped at the beach there, like hitting a time warp. Creepy.