Talk:Culture of California

Devoid of Native American Culture

I believe Culture of California is the more typical title format. Tuf-Kat 05:46, 23 November 2006 (UTC) The California Courts website reports: "According to most recent census data, California is home to more people of Native American/ Alaska Native heritage than any other state in the Country. There are currently 109 federally recognized Indian tribes in California and 78 entities petitioning for recognition. Tribes in California currently have nearly 100 separate reservations or Rancherias." Nowhere in the Culture of California article is there an acknowledgement of the original people of this territory or the living languages, cultures and traditions that have historically contributed to the culture of California, and continue to exist in California today. O.B.174.66.169.189 (talk) 19:21, 9 November 2019 (UTC)

Major work needed

I think the old article was better. The new one has serious tone and original research problems. Mike Dillon 15:18, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

The page has been moved to Talk:Culture of California/archive since pages like that don't belong in the main article namespace. Khatru2 05:52, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

family is what culture is about and all the families in that state that form the culture[ stephanie hidalgo 14 year old girl}

there is a line about the "34th governor of california and 42nd president of the united states, bill clinton" embodying the liberal climate of california.....what's all that about? Pat Brown [governor #34] isn't even mentioned. 64.14.248.62 (talk) 01:23, 1 May 2008 (UTC)

Major California cultural values missing from this article: 1) lack of hunting culture/bans on hunting specific animals and hunting restrictions in general 2) animal welfare/pets as children/ vegetarianism and veganism based on animal rights philosophy missing in many other states 3) gun control culture 4) emphasis on diversity and multiculturalism especially in Los Angeles area 4) tolerance and acceptance of LGBTQII 5) huge religious diversity not generally prevalent in other states that includes religions started in India, Tibet, China, and Japan (eastern religions) and also including very large percentage of non-religious -- unlike other states where one religion or a couple of Christian denominations predominate 6) culture of early adoption of innovation -- the first freeways, for example, the first of other things, the tech innovation I'm sure there are more -- this becomes a more important article as cultural differences between US states become more pronounced especially politically -- I hope it is re-written — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.168.156.180 (talk) 22:02, 27 January 2017 (UTC)

"NorCal/SoCal" divide

The article states that this is a major aspect of every Californians social life, I find no evidence that this is the case. It seems more of a young high schoolers mentality than anything. I request that this section be deleted, or expanded with evidence.Chewrockan (talk) 21:20, 13 May 2008 (UTC)

That's not exactly what the section says, but your point is still valid. Without sources, the section is unsubstantiated and difficult for people outside of California to understand. Although it is simply a matter of territorial and political identification, you are welcome to remove the section, place it on the talk page, and request sources. I'll try and help out when I have free time. Viriditas (talk) 23:47, 13 May 2008 (UTC)

Political Northern/Southern Divide

The article claims that the south is more conservative and the north is more liberal leaning. I feel that this is an oversimplification of "left/right" in the US. I believe that there should be a year we point out when that shifted to be opposite (due to the whole southern voting strategy thing that turned confed states into right leaning and as a result once-conservative states became known as left-leaning) AnotherToast (talk) 09:36, 21 January 2021 (UTC)

The entire section on California politics sounded like it was written either by someone not from California or from one of the more liberal areas and hasn't explored much beyond that in California, no disrespect intended. I have lived in 13 different locations in California throughout my life and have family all over the state. The north is mainly conservative or independent, the Central Valley is conservative, the mountains on the Eastern side (Sierra Nevada) are conservative or independent, the entire coastline is mostly liberal, and Southern California is gerrymandered to be liberal but has a decent amount of conservatives.

From experience of living here and knowing many people from all of the above-mentioned locations in California, and having lived there, I hope someone updates and edits the information as it appears to be inaccurate. It's correct to say California is "perceived" as very liberal, and that Democrats are usually elected, but the rest seems inaccurate. 71.9.140.104 (talk) 15:22, 14 May 2025 (UTC)

The southern coastline used to be conservative outside of Los Angeles but that has changed within the last decade and there appears to be more of a West/East political divide than North/South. However, even within the Democratic party there appear to be some major differences between North and South, where Southern politics are more labor and working class oriented whereas Northern is more progressive and social oriented. However, it's nearly impossible to find sources discussing these differences as nearly every local newspaper in California skews left. anikom15 (talk) 17:30, 13 October 2025 (UTC)

Unsourced material

The following is unsourced information:

• information" - it therefore shouldn't be in a trivia section but instead the information should be incorporated into the main article. - Tbsdy lives (formerly Ta bu shi da yu) ^talk 03:37, 27 September 2008 (UTC)

Regions

Silicon Valley, Bay Area, Etc. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.168.137.97 (talk) 00:40, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

Music re-organisation

I re-organised the music sectino into Genres and Bands, I listed all the genres that orignated in the state but wasn't able to come up with bands for each one. I also undoubtedly made mistakes and omissions, e.g the 'Rock' category.

These bands were previously listed but I don't know what genre they play in, so I'll put them here in hopes that someone else knows more or has more time than me to organise them.

California is also the origin of countless modern popular music groups and singers, including 30 Seconds to Mars, Agent Orange, Avenged Sevenfold, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Blue Cheer, Buck Owens, Buffalo Springfield, Cake, Death Angel, Dokken, Eazy-E, Exodus, Forbidden, Great White, Iron Butterfly, Jan and Dean, Merle Haggard, Minutemen, Pavement, Possessed, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Quiet Riot, Ratt, Saint Vitus, Sly and the Family Stone, Social Distortion, Stone Temple Pilots, Tesla, Testament, The Grateful Dead, The Runaways, The Surfaris, The Vandals, Tower of Power, Vio-lence, and X. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 188.141.61.64 (talk) 22:44, 14 March 2011 (UTC)

Beach Culture

I added a new paragraph in beach culture talking about how surfing influenced the "beach culture" that California is so often associated with. I thought it was important because California is essentially the birthplace of beach culture and surf culture. Also added a few sentences to the paragraph as well as some minor edits. Let me know what you think. thanks

Melting Pot

The sentence in the beginning section which identifies California as a "true melting pot" contradicts the previous statements about the multi-cultural nature of California. Even if allowing for a very broad definition of "melting pot", this is just not true of California. The ideal of a melting pot is a movement from heterogeneity to homogeneity. Isn't it more the case that California is made up of a variety of cultures? We don't melt together in an indistinguishable mass, but sort of stick together like stained glass. It's more about multiculturalism than assimilation. California, unlike the East Coast, has less social pressure of conformity, less pressure to use English-only accommodations, etc.. If the "melting pot" analogy is true of any place in the United States, it's not in California.

169.231.35.176 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 23:56, 2 December 2013 (UTC)

More sources needed.

More sources are needed in all parts of the article.73.93.155.7 (talk) 21:48, 24 January 2017 (UTC)

External links modified

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First two music paragraphs are confusing to the reader

The first paragraph reads: "The guitar was the instrument that the Mexican state of Alta California chose and two composers for the instrument are represented in the collection. Manuel Y. Ferrer's were collected in a book of 144 pages, called "Compositions and Arrangements for the Guitar" published in San Francisco in 1882, then reprinted in Boston by Oliver Ditson in 1915. Many of his pieces appear in the sheet music collection. An additional Californian artist, Luis T. Romero is represented by his 1889 arrangement for guitar of La Paloma by Yradier." I am very confused by what is going on here. What was the guitar chosen for? What collection are we talking about? Manuel Y. Ferrer's what? Do we care about the Boston reprinting of Mr. Ferrer's book? What sheet music collection? This whole paragraph is really messy and confusing. I don't know what the sheet music collection is, and it seems that the first clause of the first sentence is almost totally unrelated to everything else in the paragraph. I think we have to either rewrite this for clarity or possibly delete it and the following paragraph, as neither seem connected to the third paragraph, which lists genres of music that originated in California. If I'm way out of line please tell me so. Roseyclean (talk) 18:26, 1 June 2024 (UTC)

Culture of California — Rationale for “Silicon Valley culture” section

I added a “Silicon Valley culture” section to address a gap in the article’s coverage of modern California culture.

The technology industry centered in Silicon Valley has produced a distinct set of social and professional norms that are widely documented in academic research, museums, and historical studies. These norms—related to innovation, organizational structure, risk-taking, and work practices—have had significant influence beyond California. While the article already covers film, music, literature, cuisine, and other cultural domains, it previously lacked a focused discussion of the cultural impact of the state’s technology sector.

The section is placed after the History section to maintain a chronological structure, extending the narrative from earlier historical foundations into late-20th- and 21st-century cultural developments. This placement treats Silicon Valley as part of California’s cultural evolution rather than as a standalone topic.

The content is based on established secondary sources, including National Park Service documentation, Computer History Museum materials, Steven Levy’s Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution, AnnaLee Saxenian’s Regional Advantage, and widely cited writings by Marc Andreessen and Paul Graham. The section is descriptive rather than promotional and focuses on cultural patterns and historical development, not individual companies or advocacy.

I welcome feedback on placement, scope, or sourcing and am happy to revise the section to better align with the article’s structure and Wikipedia guidelines. Guywelch2000 (talk) 18:14, 4 January 2026 (UTC)

I removed the section because it was written by LLM tools which put far too much hyperbole into the topic. Binksternet (talk) 19:20, 4 January 2026 (UTC)

Thanks for your review and feedback. I have been watching this page for a few years and it's amazing that Silicon Valley culture, which is very unique to California, and has made a contribution on the world (similar to 'Hollywood' as both an industry and cultural force) and really should be noted on the page.

Here's a revision of the section to address concerns about tone and synthesis. Evaluative language has been removed, and the text avoids superlative framing. References to named living commentators were also removed so the section reads as descriptive rather than interpretive.

The current version focuses on identifiable institutions, time periods, and documented activity, with sourcing drawn from established secondary literature and academic scholarship, especially the Saxenian's book from Harvard Press, which was great at identifying the complex phenomena at play back in the 1990s.

Proposed

Silicon Valley culture refers to social and professional practices associated with the technology industry centered in Northern California, particularly in and around the San Francisco Bay Area. These practices developed alongside the region’s electronics and engineering industries and have been associated with relatively informal organizational structures, risk-taking in business formation, and an emphasis on technical problem-solving. Early influences are commonly traced to electronics and engineering enterprises such as Hewlett-Packard, whose founders worked from a Palo Alto garage in the 1930s, and to semiconductor research initiated by William Shockley, which contributed to the region’s development as a center for microelectronics.^[1][2]

During the mid-to-late 20th century, Silicon Valley was associated with forms of hacker culture that emphasized hands-on experimentation, technical skill, information sharing, and relatively flat workplace hierarchies, themes documented in Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution.^[3] This environment coincided with the growth of technology firms such as Intel and Apple Computer and with broader developments in personal computing and software development.

From the 1990s onward, Silicon Valley became closely associated with startup companies, internet-based businesses, and venture capital investment, particularly in connection with the development of Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 technologies. Scholars have examined these patterns as part of broader studies of regional technology clusters and their influence on industry organization and work practices beyond California.<ref>Saxenian, AnnaLee (1994). Regional Advantage: Culture and Competition in Silicon Valley and Route 128. Harvard University Press. Guywelch2000 (talk) 20:21, 4 January 2026 (UTC)