Local note · Last reviewed July 1, 2026
Seal Beach's wooden pier is the old-town anchor
Seal Beach is known for its 1.5 miles of beach, Old Town Main Street, and a long wooden pier that anchors the town center.
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History and culture
History and Culture, page 25
California history has many layers: Tribal homelands, Spanish and Mexican eras, the Gold Rush, ports, agriculture, migration, film, technology, and public lands.
Showing page 25 of 29 for this California topic shelf.
Local note · Last reviewed July 1, 2026
Selma still carries its Raisin Capital farm roots
Selma's economic profile still ties the city to its older names as A Peach of a City and the Raisin Capital of the World.
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Local note · Last reviewed July 1, 2026
Shasta Dam puts California water in one big view
Shasta Dam, built on the Sacramento River between 1938 and 1945, is a major Central Valley Project site for water storage, power, and recreation.
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Local note · Last reviewed July 1, 2026
Simi Valley has a presidential plane on a hilltop
The Reagan Library's Air Force One Pavilion gives Simi Valley a rare place where a real presidential aircraft, Cold War history, and wide valley views meet.
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Local note · Last reviewed July 1, 2026
Solvang's Danish look started as a real immigrant town
Solvang's windmills, bakeries, and Danish-style streets are easy to enjoy, but the place began with Danish immigrants building a real Santa Ynez Valley community.
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Local note · Last reviewed July 1, 2026
Star of India gives San Diego's harbor a ship with a long memory
Star of India at the Maritime Museum of San Diego is an 1863 sailing ship with a hard-working global past and a strong local place on the waterfront.
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Local note · Last reviewed July 1, 2026
Sue-meg State Park carries coast, redwoods, and Yurok place memory
Sue-meg State Park near Trinidad blends Agate Beach, forested headlands, tidepools, trails, camping, and Sumeg Village, a reconstructed Yurok village with deep local meaning.
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Local note · Last reviewed July 1, 2026
Sunnyvale's heritage orchard keeps the tech city tied to apricots
Orchard Heritage Park and the Heritage Park Museum help Sunnyvale show its Santa Clara Valley orchard roots beside its newer technology identity.
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Local note · Last reviewed July 1, 2026
Sunol Water Temple turns water pipes into a landmark
Sunol Water Temple is a 1910 Beaux Arts landmark tied to San Francisco's older water supply, Alameda Creek, and the hidden infrastructure behind Bay Area taps.
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Local note · Last reviewed July 1, 2026
Sutro Baths turned the edge of San Francisco into a giant swim house
The Sutro Baths ruins at Lands End are the remains of a huge oceanfront bathhouse that once mixed swimming, exhibits, restaurants, and Pacific views.
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Local note · Last reviewed July 1, 2026
Sutter Creek still has a water-powered foundry
Knight Foundry in Sutter Creek keeps rare Gold Country machinery in place, including water-powered equipment from the mining era.
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Local note · Last reviewed July 1, 2026
Sutter's Fort shows why Sacramento grew where it did
Sutter's Fort sits in Midtown Sacramento today, but its story reaches back to Nisenan homeland, New Helvetia, trade, labor, and the start of huge change in the Central Valley.
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Local note · Last reviewed July 1, 2026
Temecula's Wolf Store still anchors the old ranch story
Vail Headquarters and the Wolf Store Adobe help Temecula show its older ranch, road, business, and community layers beyond Old Town weekends.
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Local note · Last reviewed July 1, 2026
The Arboretum ties Arcadia's gardens to Rancho Santa Anita
The Los Angeles County Arboretum gives Arcadia a garden, county park, and historic Rancho Santa Anita story in one well-known place.
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Local note · Last reviewed July 1, 2026
The Arroyo Seco Parkway shows how the freeway age began
The Arroyo Seco Parkway between Pasadena and Los Angeles was the first freeway in the West, and it still shows the early shape of car-era planning.
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Local note · Last reviewed July 7, 2026
The Balboa Island Ferry turns a short crossing into a tradition
Since 1919, the Balboa Island Ferry has helped connect Balboa Island and the peninsula across a short Newport Harbor crossing.
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Local note · Last reviewed July 1, 2026
The Blythe Intaglios are desert figures best seen with respect
The Blythe Intaglios north of Blythe are large desert geoglyphs tied to lower river Native traditions, with human and animal figures protected in open desert.
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Local note · Last reviewed July 1, 2026
The Camellia Festival is Temple City's civic flower story
Temple City's Camellia Festival began in 1944 and still ties the city to its Home of Camellias slogan, youth roles, themes, and community weekend.
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Local note · Last reviewed July 1, 2026
The Forty Acres keeps Delano's farmworker movement visible
The Forty Acres and Delano grape strike sites connect the city to Filipino and Mexican American farmworker organizing, the UFW, contracts, boycott work, and national labor history.
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Local note · Last reviewed July 1, 2026
The Geysers turn mountain steam into power
The Geysers near the Lake and Sonoma county line turned a long-known thermal area into one of California's most important geothermal power stories.
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Local note · Last reviewed July 1, 2026
The Hay Tree explains Paramount's dairy-market past
Paramount's Hay Tree landmark points back to the city's Hynes and Clearwater roots, dairy industry, hay prices, and 1948 unification story.
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Local note · Last reviewed July 1, 2026
The Integratron keeps Landers wonderfully hard to explain
The Integratron in Landers is a wooden desert dome tied to George Van Tassel, UFO-era ideas, unusual acoustics, restoration work, and sound-bath visits.
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Local note · Last reviewed July 1, 2026
The Mission Inn gives Riverside a downtown landmark
Riverside's Mission Inn helps visitors picture downtown, connect local history with a walkable center, and understand a landmark shaped by Mission Revival style, tourism, art, and preservation.
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Local note · Last reviewed July 1, 2026
The Mystery Spot is Santa Cruz's classic roadside oddity
The Mystery Spot gives Santa Cruz a playful redwoods roadside attraction, best enjoyed as a curious tilted-room experience rather than a science answer.
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