San Francisco, CA: December 2014

Chapter 15: California- Southern and Northern California

The state of California can be broken up into two perceptual regions, Southern California and Northern California. They are perceptual regions because Californians identify these regions to be different for the climate, landscape, culture, and the big cities that are in the two regions.

Cities

Southern and Northern California contains a few of the biggest and well-known cities in the United States. San Francisco, Napa Valley, Monterrey, and the state capital of Sacramento are in the Northern California region. Southern California contains the cities of Beverley Hills, Hollywood, San Diego, and Los Angeles.

The well-known cities of Northern California are San Francisco and Sacramento. San Francisco is well-known for the Golden State Bridge, for the LGBT Pride festivals, being a city where the Gold Rush happened, the famous hills and cable cars in the city. San Francisco is also a big city in California that contains 837,442 people out of the 38,332,521 people of the whole state of California. The city of Sacramento is the state capital and contains about 479,686 people.

Southern California contains the famous and historical cities of Los Angeles and San Diego. Los Angeles is a well-known city around the world for famous celebrities that reside there, its historical sites, it is an important city for American culture, actors migrate there for bigger opportunities and it is close to other famous cities in Southern California. Los Angeles is close to the famous wealthy city of Beverly Hills that is known for its’ shopping district. The city of Los Angeles is close to the historic Hollywood and to Venice Beach and Santa Monica Beach. Los Angeles population is 10,017,068, it is one of the biggest cities of California. San Diego is known for the beaches it contains, it is where many surfers around the world travel to surf the waves. San Diego is a city close to the United States and Mexico border which is a factor that contributes to its population. San Diego contains about 3,211,252 people.

Landscape

Los Angeles and San Francisco are major cities that exemplify the different regions in California. San Francisco has a diverse landscape that includes coastal dunes, grassland, forests, chaparral and even caves. San Francisco’s forests consist of the grassy oak woodlands and redwood forests. Within the forests, there are streams and rivers that provide water for the forests and the wetlands of the San Francisco area. The coast of San Francisco is an upwelling region which contributes to the Mediterranean climate of the city and Northern California. There are high steep hills throughout the whole city. The city is in the San Francisco Peninsula where islands surround it like Alcatraz, and Yerba Buena. San Francisco has a diverse habitat compared to Los Angeles.

Los Angeles topography includes hills, and coastal areas as well, like San Francisco. It consists more of an urban and metropolis area than San Francisco. Most of Los Angeles landscape is covered with buildings. It is surrounded by valleys, such as the San Fernando Valley and Pomona Valley, and surrounded by mountains, the Santa Monica Mountains, San Gabriel Mountains and the Santa Susana Mountains. The mountains formed due to the close proximity of the San Andreas Fault that is located in Southern California. The are rivers as well, like the Los Angeles River. Los Angeles is covered with buildings and surrounded by beaches, Venice and Santa Monica.

Climate

San Francisco has a Mediterranean climate where the warm air interacts with cold coastal air which creates the fog. In the summer it is cool marine air which causes the fog. The average temperature in the summer is between the 60 degrees and 70 degrees. In the winter there is fog as well and there is rain between the months of November and March. The average temperature in winter is between 60 degrees and 50 degrees. There is not much of change in temperature during the year.

Los Angeles has a Mediterranean climate as well. The summers are often warm and dry, and the winters are cool. During the winter, the average temperature is 57 degrees and in the summer it is on average about 73 degrees, about the same as San Francisco’s climate. The hottest month is August and the coldest month is January. Unlike San Francisco, there is not as much fog, the sky is mostly clear.

Culture

California’s culture is diverse and San Francisco and Los Angeles exemplify the different ethnicities and culture that are in California. San Francisco is a city where LGBT parades are held. The organization of SF Pride advocates LGBT Pride and is involved in holding the LGBT Parades. LGBT pride in San Francisco is part of its history since in 1970 the first Pride Marches were held. There is a large Asian community in San Francisco and the outcome of that was Chinatown. In the 1840’s and the 1900’s there was an influx of Asian migrants into the city. In the 1900’s, Angel Island was the port of entry for these migrants.

There is a historic Chinatown in Los Angeles, that is known as "Old Chinatown". In 1852, the first Chinese migrated to Los Angeles which began the formation of Chinatown. In Chinatown there are Chinese businesses such as restaurants, shops, markets, and church. In the 19^th century there was profound discrimination but the Chinese community continued to be prevalent for the businesses it had. Los Angeles has a large Hispanic community and Spanish historical sites. There is Olvera Street, where the first Spanish explorers found Los Angeles. Olvera Street contains museums, shops, and restaurants that are flourished by Mexican culture. In Olvera Street, there are celebrations such as Dia de Los Muertos, the discovery of the Virgen de Guadalupe, and Mexico’s Independence Day.