Random Trivia About "The Golden State" Quiz

Answer: Ronald Wilson Reagan

Years before being elected the 40th President of the United States, Ronald Reagan served as California's 33rd Governor from 1967 until 1975.

Reagan, a native of Tampico, Illinois, started his California experience in 1937, when he traveled to the state with the Chicago Cubs baseball team as one of their play by play announcers.

A movie "screen test" resulted in Reagan being hired as a contract player for Warner Brothers Studio. During his acting career, Reagan was featured in more than 60 films, with two of the most referenced movies being "Knute Rockne All American" (1940) and the comedy "Bedtime for Bonzo" (1951).

Reagan also played roles in over 15 television series, most notably his role as host and series star in several episodes of "Death Valley Days" (1964).

Reagan's political interest prior to becoming the state governor included holding several positions in the Screen Actor's Guild, the labor union for motion picture industry, and serving as the president of the union organization from 1947 to 1952, and then again from 1959-1960.

Reagan and his wife Nancy resided on a sprawling 200 acre ranch in the Santa Ynez Valley, just north of Santa Barbara, California.

Reagan's final resting place is in Simi Valley, California, on the grounds of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

One interesting side note is that while serving as President of the United States, residents of the Santa Ynez Valley and parts of Santa Barbara County always knew when the President was visiting his ranch. Residents noted that some electrically powered items, such as automatic garage doors, short-wave radios, and television reception would be disrupted, or suddenly cease to operate. Powerful radio signals from the space satellite used by the President for communications purposes overwhelmed and in some cases short circuited other electrical waves as the satellite was being honed to the President's location.

Answer: five

California is home to two American League (AL), and three National League (NL) baseball franchises.

Northern California is represented by the San Francisco Giants (NL) and the Oakland Athletics (AL), who play home games at "AT&T Park" and the "Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum", respectively.

Southern California is represented by the Los Angeles Dodgers (NL), and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (AL), playing their home games at "Dodger Stadium" and "Angel Stadium of Anaheim", respectively.

In the southernmost portion of the state, the San Diego Padres (NL) play in "Petco Park".

Answer: Pelican Bay Prison

For the baddest of the bad, Pelican Bay State Prison (PBSP) is literally a "prison within a prison", with the grounds being separated into two sections.
One section of the prison is "general population", and is operated similar to most correctional facilities, with inmates functioning in a controlled community-type environment under the watchful eyes of state correction officers. In most cases, in part for their own safety, corrections officers are unarmed as they supervise and monitor inmate activities.

The second part of the prison is referred to as the Security Housing Unit, or SHU. Inmates are assigned to one-man isolation cells, measuring eight feet by ten feet. The cells contain no windows, and inmates are required to spend at least 22 hours per day in their cells. Food is delivered through openings in the cell doors, large enough only to accommodate the food tray.

Under armed guard, one inmate at a time is allowed out of his cell to shower or for his mandated five hours per week for exercise. The concrete exercise area, roughly the size of three cells, is also windowless, and is under constant surveillance by armed guards in an area above the exercise area.

Pelican Bay State Prison is located on 275 acres on the California coast near Crescent City, about 13 miles south of the California-Oregon border.

Approximately one third of the 3,000 plus inmates are housed in the SHU. SHU inmates average about eight years in the unit, with some inmates spending more that 20 years in the isolated environment. Candidates for the SHU include "difficult to manage" inmates, prison gang members, and violent maximum security inmates.

Answer: San Francisco County

San Francisco County is by far the smallest county in the state. With the city of San Francisco being the only city in the county, the boundaries of the city and county are exactly the same. The city and county consolidated in 1856, creating the only city-county consolidation in the state. The official name used is City and County of San Francisco. With a 2012 population of about 805,500 residents, the city-county sits on 46.9 square miles.

Because of the unique configuration, some elected officials serve a duel role. The city mayor is also the chief executive for the county. The city council is also the board of supervisors for the county.

The next three smallest counties in area in California are: Santa Cruz County, covering 456 square miles; San Mateo County covering 499 square miles; and Marin County with 519 square miles.

Answer: Edwards Air Force Base

During the three decade long Space Shuttle Program (1981-2011), 59 of the 135 Space Shuttle aircraft landed on one of the runways at Edwards Air Force Base at the completion of its mission.

Edwards Air Force Base in Southern California features nine runways capable of accommodating Space Shuttle landings. About 35 of the landings were made on one of the two conventional concrete runways, while 23 landings were made on one of the six "dry lake" runways. One landing was made on the single asphalt runway.

The majority of Space Shuttle landings were made at the primary landing site, the Shuttle Landing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Bad weather in Florida was the reason most cited for California Space Shuttle landings.

California landings generate additional cost to NASA for having the Space Shuttle transported back to the home base in Florida.

For the trip home from California to Florida, the Space Shuttle aircraft was mounted and secured atop a specially outfitted Boeing 747 Jet Aircraft, known as a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft.

Answer: Lake Tahoe

Lake Tahoe is in the northern part of the state, in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and sits on the border between California and Nevada.

Lake Tahoe is the largest Alpine lake in North America with 122,168,280 acres, and ranks as the 26th largest lake in the world.

With 71 miles of shore, Lake Tahoe is among the most popular tourist area for camping, hiking, bicycle riding and other recreational activities in the summer months. During the winter months, the area is a "Winter Wonderland", offering snow skiing, snowmobiling, and ski lodge activities during the winter months. On the Nevada side of the Lake Tahoe, gambling is legal and the area is filled with luxury casinos.

The averaged depth of Lake Tahoe is 1000 feet, with the lowest point being 1645 feet deep, making it the second deepest lake in the United States. The lake measures roughly 22 miles (length) by 12 miles (width).

Answer: Colma

In San Mateo County, just north of the city and county of San Francisco sits the town of Colma. Colma is the primary burial site for San Francisco and many cities and communities in the greater San Francisco Bay Area.

Colma was founded in 1924 as a necropolis, and is the site of 16 cemeteries.
In 1900, due to the high value and limited availability of property in San Francisco, the construction of new cemeteries was outlawed within the city and county limits. Twelve years later (1912), San Francisco evicted all existing cemeteries from city and county limits.

Colma became the de facto official burial site for San Francisco. The living residents of the town are said to outnumber more than one million to one by the dead buried in the town's cemeteries.

The cemetery industry is the largest employer for the citizens of the town.
The town functions much as any community with a mayor, a 26 member police department and city council, as well as a number of retail establishments within the town limits.

The official motto of the town is, "It's good to be alive in Colma".

Answer: Knott's Berry Farm and Disneyland

It started with the dreams of two men named Walter: a berry farmer, Walter Marvin Knott, and a commercial artist-cartoonist, Walter Elias "Walt" Disney.

What started as a roadside fruit stand where a farmer sold his berries and homemade berry-flavored preserves and jams turned into one of the most successful tourist attractions in Buena Park, Knott's Berry Farm, which featured amusement park rides and an authentic Ghost Town.

Seven miles away in the neighboring city of Anaheim, Walt Disney, a commercial cartoon artist followed a dream and created a family friendly theme park. The dream became reality in 1955 after years of planning and construction, Walt Disney opened his theme amusement park, calling it Disneyland.

During 2011, Knott's Berry Farm drew over 3.6 million fun-seeking visitors to the park. During 2010, over 15.8 million guest visited Disneyland, dubbed "the happiest place on Earth".

Answer: Gilroy

Gilroy is situated in the southern section of Santa Clara County. Approaching the area by car, you are immediately met by the aroma of fresh garlic growing in the fields. While not the largest grower of garlic in the world, Gilroy does have more garlic product manufacturing and processing facilities than anywhere else in the world.

Gilroy is known for the annual Garlic Festival, held each July. Drawing huge crowds from all over the state and other parts of the country, visitors can sample a near endless supply of prepared dishes, all featuring the garlic as a key ingredient. Many dishes are traditional and many are new, different, or unusual. A favorite of the festival visitors in the homemade garlic flavored ice cream.

An area rich in commercial agriculture, Gilroy is also known for other crops including mushrooms, tomatoes, and flowers.

Gilroy, incorporated as a city in 1870, covers 16.1 square miles.

Answer: Culver City

Located in the western portion of Los Angeles County, near the California beaches on the Pacific Ocean coastline (Venice Beach, Marina Del Rey, and Santa Monica Beach), lies Culver City. The city is bordered on three sides by the city of Los Angeles, and an unincorporated section of Los Angeles County (Ladera Heights) on the fourth side. In addition to being the home and headquarters for the Hughes Aircraft Company, the city's other major claim to fame is being a hub for the motion picture and television industries since the 1920s.

Over the years, numerous movie studios have claimed Culver City as their home, including Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM) Studios, The Ince Studios, The Culver Studios, RKO Studios, Laird Studios, The Selznick Studios, Desilu Productions, and the Hal Roach Studios.

The movie lots and sound stages in Culver City have served as the location for the filming of dozens of movies including, "The Wizard of Oz" (1939), "Gone With the Wind" (1939), "Citizen Kane" (1941), "King Kong" (1933), "ET: The Extra Terrestrial" (1982), "Raging Bull" (1980), "Air Force One" (1997), and "Armageddon" (1998).

Television series filmed on the movie lots and sound stages in Culver City have included "Lassie" (1954), "Gunsmoke" (1956), "The Andy Griffith Show" (1960), "Batman" (1966), and nearly all of the TV shows filmed by the Desilu Studios. The Desilu Studios, once owned by husband and wife Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball (thus the name of the studio), produced numerous classic television programs including (but certainly not limited to) "I Love Lucy" (1951), "Star Trek" (1966), "Mission Impossible" (1966), "The Untouchables" (1959), "The Dick Van Dyke Show" (1961), "The Andy Griffith Griffith Show" (1960), "Mannix" (1967), "I Spy" (1965), and "Hogan's Heroes" (1965).

Several game shows, including versions of "Jeopardy" (1984) the syndication version of "Wheel of Fortune" (1988), and "Deal or No Deal" (2009), also call facilities in Culver City home.

The list of deceased entertainment stars interred in one of the two cemeteries in Culver City (Hillside Memorial Park and Holy Cross), reads like a "who's who" entertainment list. Among the hundreds of notables selecting Culver City as their final resting place: Bela Lugosi, Bing Crosby, W.C. Fields, Al Jolson, Jack Benny, Shelly Winters, Nita Feinblatt, Sharon Tate, Fred Mac Murray, Milton Berle, both Max Factor Sr. and Jr., Eddie Cantor, Jimmy Durante, Gene Barry, Lorne Greene, and the list goes on.

The City of Culver City was incorporated in 1917. The U.S. Census, taken every ten years, revealed that in 1920, the city population was 503 residents. The 2010 census showed a city population of 38,883 residents. City officials believe and have stated that the census figure is a "night time" figure, but during the day when business thrives, the population swells to about three times the official census figure.

Printed on the official city seal, which is proudly displayed on the city flag, emblems on all city owned vehicles, and on the shoulder patches worn by police and fire personnel, is the proclamation "Heart of the Screenland", which also serves as the city's official motto.