U.S.A: All about California Trivia Quiz

Answer: Oregon, Nevada and Arizona

Oregon lies directly north of California. Nevada lies both north and east of California and Arizona lies east of California.

California also has an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California, which lies south.

Answer: American River

The Sacramento River is around 400 miles (640 km) and is the largest river in California. The highest point of the river flows at around 14,100 feet (4,300 m) via the Mount Shasta volcano. The Sacramento River and valley served as home to many of California's Native American tribes, such as the Hupa, Modoc, Shasta, Wintu and Achumawi. The river separates the capital city of Sacramento from the city of West Sacramento.

The American River is around 30 miles (50 km) long and has remained clean throughout history' It remains the main source of drinking water for the city of Sacramento's citizens.

Answer: Mount Lukens

Situated in the San Gabriel Mountain Range above the Crescenta Valley in Los Angeles' Sunland-Tujunga area, Mount Lukens is around 5,075 ft (1,550 m) high and is adorned with many radio and television towers as well as towers for mobile phones, due to its proximity to the busy city.

The mountain is named after the former mayor of Pasadena, California, Theodore Lukens (1848-1918). He was an avid nature enthusiast and conservationist, being nicknamed "Father of Forestry." He was mayor of Pasadena from 1890-1892, and then again from 1894-1895. He founded the Henninger Flats, a valley where 70,000 trees were planted.

Answer: Mount Lee

Part of the Santa Monica Mountains and situated in Griffin Park, Mount Lee is around 1,710 feet (520 m) high. The mountain is named after Donald Musgrave Lee (1880-1934) who was a radio broadcaster and notable Cadillac car dealer. The mountain is home to coyotes, cougars and snakes.

The Hollywood Sign was originally built in 1923, and read "HOLLYWOODLAND" as an advertisement for real estate in the vicinity. The "LAND" section of the installation was removed in 1949, with all of the 50 foot (15 m) letters being replaced in 1978. The new sign is around 45 feet tall (13 m) and is made of steel and concrete.

The Hollywood Sign has been damaged over the years due to nature, the wind destroying the "H" section of the sign in 1978 after a strong storm. Several celebrities donated to have the sign restored, including Hugh Hefner, Alice Cooper, Andy Williams and Gene Autry.

The Hollywood sign is sadly notable for being the suicide location of actress Peg Entwistle, who was only 24 years old when she threw herself off of the "H" in 1932.

Answer: Lake Tahoe

As well as being the deepest lake in the state, Lake Tahoe is the second-deepest lake in the U.S.A, second only to Crater Lake in Oregon. Lake Tahoe has a maximum depth of around 1,645 feet (500 m) and an average depth of around 1,000 feet (300 m). The lake is shared with California by neighbouring state, Nevada. It is the 17th deepest lake in the world.

Lake Tahoe is around 22 miles (35 km) long and 12 miles (19 km) wide. The Truckee River, which flows for just over 120 miles (195 km) through California and Nevada, is the only outlet that the lake has. It amounts to about a third of the water that exits Tahoe Lake, the rest of the water leaving via evaporation. The flow of the Truckee River is regulated by the Lake Tahoe Dam located in Placer County, California. Around half of the input of water to the lake comes from rain and snow.

The Washoe Native American tribe were the original residents of the area surrounding Lake Tahoe. Explorer John Charles Frémont (1813-1890) was the first recorded American to find the lake.

Because of the great depth and cold temperature of Lake Tahoe, it has been known to preserve the bodies of victims of drowning well. A diver was discovered in the lake 17 years after his disappearance with his body being almost perfectly preserved.

Lake Tahoe has the only known shoreline where the Lake Tahoe yellowcress grows.

Answer: San Miguel Island

San Miguel Island encompasses an area of 9,325 acres, and is the sixth-largest of California's Channel Islands. It is owned by the United States Department of the Navy and is uninhabited. Fossils have been found on the island which demonstrate the presence of dwarf elephants and giant mice during prehistoric times.

The Chumash Native American tribe, who used to fish and hunt in the area, named the island "Tuquan." In 1542, Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo became the first European to discover the island. Tourism has been allowed on the island again since 2016.

Parts of Frank Lloyd's 1935 film, "Mutiny on the Bounty" were filmed on San Miguel Island.

Answer: Mount Saint Helena

Mount Saint Helena is approximately 4,340 feet (1,320 m) high, and is part of the Mayacamas Mountain Range. The mountain was named "Kanamota" by the Wappo tribe, which translates to "human mountain." The Wappo language became extinct in 1990, when its last speaker, Laura Fish Somersal, died. The Spanish renamed the mountain "Mount Mayacamas" when they arrived in the area. In 1841, the mountain was again renamed to "Mount Saint Helena" by the Russians to honour the wife of the leader of Fort Ross, Alexander G. Rotchev, who was married to Princess Helena de Gagarin.

"The Silverado Squatters" chronicles Robert Louis Stevenson's honeymoon, where he and his wife, Fanny Vandegrift, stayed in an abandoned mining camp, "Silverado," when they found that they could not afford the ten dollar per week staying fee of the original hotel they had intended to go to. This unconventional choice of destination for a honeymoon made for interesting reading, detailing close calls with rattlesnakes and having to fetch water from streams flowing from the mountain.

For providing such an account of life in the mountains of California in the 19th century, Stevenson has a park in Sonoma County, California, named after him: Robert Louis Stevenson State Park, which has a 5 mile (8 km) hiking trail to Mount Saint Helena.

Answer: Rancho Cucamonga

Rancho Cucamonga is situated just under 40 miles (60 km) east of Los Angeles. The city is honoured in Frank Zappa's song, "Cucamonga" which is listed on his 1975 album, "Bongo Fury"; he lived in Rancho Cucamonga in the 1960s.

Lying south of the San Andreas Fault, the San Gabriel Mountain Range is situated between the west of San Bernardino County and the north of Los Angeles County. Both the Angeles National Forest and the San Bernardino National Forest surround the mountains. Mount San Antonio, which is located in the Angeles National Forest, is the highest peak of the range at around 10,000 feet (3,070 m) high. The mountains are home to black bear, coyote, rattlesnake and Californian mule deer. Although eagles are not a common sight in the mountains, they have been known to reside here, with hawks being more common to spot.

Yellow-legged frogs are endemic to California and live in the San Gabriel Mountain range; however, their populations have dwindled due to the presence of trout, an introduced species to the range. With the intention of increasing fishing activities in the area, trout were added to the area but this meant the fish would eat the tadpoles that the yellow-legged frogs would breed in the mountain waters.

Answer: Los Angeles

Similar in design to the Bell of King Seongdeok which was created in 771 AD (but with iconography that celebrates the friendship between South Korea and America, for example, the inclusion of the Statue of Liberty with a spirit from Korean folklore), the Korean Bell of Friendship weighs 17 tons and stands at 12 feet (3.5 m) tall and is located in the neighbourhood of San Pedro, Los Angeles.

The Korean Bell of Friendship consists of tin and copper, with traces of phosphorous, gold, nickel and lead added to enhance the quality of the tone. At the time, it cost South Korea $500,000 to make.

The bell is stored in a stone pagoda, which was created by 30 Korean stone masons who were flown to America for the task. This took 10 months to construct. The bell is rung five times a year on Korean American Day, July 4th, Korean Liberation Day, Constitution Day and New Years Eve.

Answer: Salton Sea

Located on the San Andreas Fault, Salton Sea is an endorheic lake and is highly saline due to this. The lake is just under 320 square miles (830 square km) in surface area, with a maximum depth of 43 feet (13 m). In 1900, under the orders of Governor James Herbert Budd (1851-1908) irrigation canals were constructed in order to route water from the Colorado into the area, into what was the dry Salton Sink, turning it into what is now the Salton Sea.

The Salton Sea has been the subject of concern for scientists and environmentalists. Due to it being an endorheic lake in the desert heat, the water evaporates and leaves a high concentration of salt. It is full of nitrates and by the 1970s fish populations were rapidly declining and birds stopped frequenting the area. Action has been taken since to tackle the environmental issues of the lake, including campaigning by Sonny Bono in 1995, and Bill Clinton signing the Salton Sea Reclamation Act of 1998.

The music video for Michael Jackson's 1992 song, "In The Closet" was filmed at Salton Sea.

Answer: Mount Wilson Observatory

The Mount Wilson Observatory is situated on the 5,710 foot (1,740 m) high Mount Wilson of the San Gabriel Mountains, near Pasadena. Founded in 1904 by George Ellery Hale, the Mount Wilson Observatory is home to some of the most important telescopes that have shaped the growth of modern day astronomy.

Constructed in 1917, the Hooker telescope is, at 100-inch (2.5 m) the largest aperture telescope in the world until 1949. Edwin Hubble (1889-1953) used this telescope to prove that the universe encompasses more than just the Milky Way, and that the Andromeda Galaxy is separate from the Milky Way. He was also able to prove that the universe is expanding. The Hooker telescope was also used by Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky in the 1930s to provide proof for the existence of dark matter.

Answer: Sandstone Peak

Located along the coast of California's south, the Santa Monica Mountains stretch for around 40 miles (65 km). The Santa Susana Mountains are located nearby. The Santa Monica Mountains are home to over 1,0000 archaeological areas which were, for over 8,000 years, home to the Native American cultures of the Chumash and the Tongva. This was changed because of the invasion of the Spanish, with the Native American population falling from around 22,000 to under 3,000 by 1831.

The range is home to many species of animals, including skunks, deer, rabbits, lizards, frogs, coyotes, cougars, squirrels and snakes, with the Southern Pacific rattlesnake being the only known species of venomous snake abiding in the area.

Sandstone Peak is around 3,115 feet (950 m) high and acts as a natural barrier between the dry valley and the coast.

Answer: Fresno

Situated in the San Joaquin Valley and meaning "Ash" in Spanish, due to its abundance in ash trees, Fresno is the county seat of Fresno County, California. The area was originally inhabited by the Native American tribes, the Yokuts and the Miwok. The city is home to the oldest synagogue in the San Joaquin Valley, the Temple Beth Israel, established in 1919. Fresno was the birthplace of the world's first major credit card, BankAmericard, in 1958.

Established in 1968, Woodward Park is named after Ralph Woodward who donated a part of his estate to be used as a public park, that became the park that was named after him. As the park was in the process of construction, a group of Japanese-Americans requested that the city of Fresno allow two acres of the park's land to become a Japanese friendship garden. Construction of the Shinzen Friendship Garden would not begin until 1975, and was not completed until 1981. The garden covers five acres and is full of irises, azaleas, cherry trees, camellias, plum trees and crab-apple trees. It is a popular spot for photographers due to its beauty.

Answer: Tuluwat Island

Tuluwat Island is under the jurisdiction of the city of Eureka, California. The island encompasses an area of around 280 acres. The Wiyot tribe lived around the Humboldt Bay and are the westernmost tribe to speak the Algic languages, Wiyot and Yurok, with the Wiyot language now being extinct. There were 350 speakers with basic knowledge of the Yurok language alive in 2020, with only 35 being fluent. The last remaining fluent speaker of Wiyot died in 1962.

Tuluwat Island was the site of the 1860 Wiyot massacre, where between 80 and 250 people were killed by European invaders. The Wiyot tribe was among the last of the Native American tribes to be contacted by the Europeans. Most of the young adult men were away to find supplies for their community, meaning that most of the deaths were that of women, children and elderly men.

One of the few young men on the island during the massacre, dubbed "Mad River Billy," escaped death by jumping into the bay and swimming to what is now Eureka. There were a sparse number of survivors, including children who had hidden from the onslaught. The massacre was not approved of by all Americans, with writer, Bret Hart, disavowing the slaughter.

Answer: Calaveras County Courthouse

Constructed in 1867, the Calaveras County Courthouse is located in San Andreas, California. The building is now a museum but remained an operating courthouse until 1966. Executions took place in the building until 1888.

San Andreas is the county seat of Calaveras County, California. It was named after Saint Andrew by Mexican gold miners in 1848.

Born Charles E. Boles, Black Bart (1829-1888) was an American outlaw who would sometimes leave poetry at the scenes of robberies he had committed. He moved to America when he was two, with his family from Norfolk, England. After his trial he was imprisoned in San Quentin Prison for six years, but left after four for good behaviour. Reporters asked him upon his release in 1888 if he had any more bank robberies planned, to which he replied "no gentleman, I am through with crime." He went missing shortly after his release, it is unknown when he died or what became of him.

Answer: Earthquake

Dubbed the "1906 San Francisco earthquake," this earthquake resulted in the deaths of between 700-3,000 people around the Northern California area, with most of the deaths happening in San Francisco. Over 80% of San Francisco was obliterated by the earthquake and the subsequent fires that broke out as a result (which caused substantially more damage and destruction of buildings than the earthquake itself). The earthquake happened around 30 years before the invention of the Richter Scale, but most seismologists estimate that it would have measured 7.9.

Around 300,000 San Franciscan survivors of the earthquake were rendered homeless by the disaster, many of whom sought refugee in neighbouring cities, Berkeley and Oakland. Two years after the event, people were still living in tents in parks as the city was being rebuilt. Scottish-American industrialist, Andrew Carnegie, gave $100,000 to the relief efforts.

Answer: Thermometer

Named after British businessman, Richard C. Baker (1858-1937), Baker is a census-designated place situated in the Mojave Desert in San Bernardino County, Southern California.

Constructed in 1991 to commemorate the hottest temperature ever recorded on Earth in 1913, the World's Tallest Thermometer is around 135 feet (40 m) high and was established by the Young Electric Sign Company. The structure features a gift shop for tourists at its base. It can display a temperature of up to 134 degrees Fahrenheit (56.67 degrees Celsius) which was the temperature of the hot day it commemorates in 1913. After it was constructed (but before it was functional), strong winds blew the thermometer over and it had to be rebuilt to be more wind resistant.

Answer: Los Angeles

Now called the "Aon Center," the First Interstate Tower was the tallest building in Los Angeles at the time of the fire, which occurred on May 4, 1988. One person died in the fire as it ripped through five floors destroying them completely, and 40 people suffered from injuries, with fivev people having to be rescued by the fire brigade from the roof of the building.

The fire raged out of control due to the absence of sprinklers in the building. It was not a legal requirement to have sprinklers fitted in office blocks at the time the building was built and opened in 1973. This led to a new law being passed, requiring all high-rise buildings and skyscrapers to be equipped with sprinklers. Although the building did have a sprinkler system, it was not fully installed nor operational at the time of the fire. It was discovered that the fire was caused by the overloading of the electric system in the building. The fire cost $400 million in damage.

The Aon Center stands now at just under 860 feet (260 m) high. The building was the tallest building in California from 1973-1986.

Answer: Santa Catalina Island

Santa Catalina Island (also known as "Pimu" as the Native American Tongva tribe called it) encompasses an area of 75 square miles (195 square km). Most of the island's residents live in the only incorporated city of Santa Catalina Island, Avalon, which is the southernmost city under the jurisdiction of Los Angeles County. Avalon is known for the Catalina Casino, the largest building on the island, opened in 1929.

There is evidence of human activity on the island from as far back as 7,000 BC. The first European to discover the island was Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo in 1542.

Mount Orizaba stands at just under 3,000 feet (640 m) high. It is situated in the middle of the island, separating Cottonwood Canyon and Cape Canyon.

In 1924, two bison were introduced to the island for the purpose of a film. The bison have since bred and created a herd on the island, which are a popular sight for tourists. There have been, however, two recorded incidents of tourists being mauled by the bison, as a result of getting to close to them.

In 1981, actress Natalie Wood drowned off the coast of the island during a boat trip. The circumstances of her death are debated to this day.

Answer: Berkeley

Berkeley is located in the north of Alameda County, California. The city is named after Anglo-Irish philosopher and priest, George Berkeley (1685 -1753). The Ohlone Native American tribe were the original residents of the area. It is home to the oldest part of the University of California, the University of California, Berkeley, which is where the library is.

In 1904, Charles Franklin Doe established the Doe Memorial Library, which is named after him. The library contains many manuscripts, personal letters and other kinds of writings from Mark Twain, writing as his pen name and his birth name, Samuel Clemens. The building has a Neoclassical design and its architect was John Galen Howard (1864-1931).