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Explore California History

“There’s only the American Dream and the California dream.”
—Gov. Gavin Newsom

CAL@170 is a collection of 170 stories celebrating California’s 170 years of statehood. The aim is to offer examples of California’s unique character and that of its residents, past and present. That means among the good there will be some bad. For every success story, there’s a failure, a tragedy, an injustice. It’s from these mistakes that we learn and grow stronger together. Share a story with us that helps define what California means to you.

The 60s End In Violence

What’s supposed to be the West Coast’s Woodstock attracts 300,000 to the Altamont Speedway between Tracy and Livermore in the…

Artists Unite Against the Studios

Eager to control their professional destiny and pocket more of their profits, Hollywood box office icons Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks…

There’s a Gleam in the Gravel

While making his morning inspection of the sawmill he is building with John Sutter near the Maidu Indian village of…

Adios, Yerba Buena

After 11 years, seven months and five days, the town of Yerba Buena on the northeastern corner of the San…

“Isn’t that John Candy?”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTlPM5EF0nw&feature=emb_title That’s what quarterback Joe Montana says to tackle Harris Barton in the huddle in Super Bowl XXIII with 3:20…

An Egregious Affront to the Emperor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmmAu7B68is&feature=emb_title On January 21, 1867, San Francisco Police Officer Armand Barbier rashly arrests Joshua Norton, self-proclaimed “Emperor of these United States”…

Public Land Commission Begins Deliberations

The three-person federal Public Land Commission is charged with determining the validity of Spanish and Mexican land grants in California.…

Orlando Alison Robertson’s Creation Incorporates

Chowchilla becomes a city on February 7, 1923. Fifteen miles northwest of Madera in the Central Valley, Chowchilla embraces city…

First US Heart Transplant on an Adult

Dr. Norman Shumway. Photo by the Stanford Medical History Center. Dr. Norman E. Shumway performs the first heart transplant on…

The Spruce Goose’s First – and Final – Flight

In part to silence potential criticism by U.S. senators over his use of government funds, Howard Hughes flies his gigantic…