Crazy Laws in California and Fun Facts

Did you know that California is sometimes referred to as the state of fruits and nuts? I think I found out why. There are 65 crazy laws still on the books in that state. Sixty-five! Here are 26 of the craziest:

• In San Diego, it is illegal to wipe one’s car with used underwear.
I don’t think I want to touch that one.

• In San Francisco, it is illegal to pile horse manure more than six feet high on a street corner.
I don’t think I want to touch that one either.

• In Baldwin Park, nobody is allowed to ride a bicycle in a swimming pool.

Was anybody trying?

• A Belvedere City Council order reads: “No dog shall be in a public place without its master on a leash.”
Fido to master: “Now behave. Stop fidgeting while I fasten your leash.”

• In Blythe, you are not permitted to wear cowboy boots unless you already own at least two cows.
“Okay, Bessie, Okay, Elsie, you-all wait right there tied to the parking meter while I go inside and buy me some boots.”

• In Carmel, a man cannot go outside while wearing a jacket and pants that do not match.
Yup! That sounds like California.

• Ice cream may not be eaten while standing on the sidewalk.
This crazy law was repealed when Clint Eastwood became mayor of Carmel for one term 1986-88. Maybe the other commissioners did not want to antagonize the ‘Go on! Make my day!’ actor.

• In Carmel, it is against the law for women to wear high heel shoes.

There must be a very powerful sneakers lobby in that city.

• In Chico, detonating a nuclear device within the city limits results in a $500 fine.
What if you move your nuclear device to outside the city limits? And if you have a horrible accident, who are they going to fine? I mean, find. Your various body parts?

• In Chico, bowling on the sidewalk is illegal.

It’s also impossible. Those darn pedestrians keep getting in the way.

• In Dana Point, one may not use one’s own restroom if the window is open.
Hmmmmmm! Maybe your window is open for a reason!

• In Fresno, no one may annoy a lizard in a city park.

What if it annoyed me first?

• No person may show his or her buttocks on a playground in Hermosa Beach.

I think that’s called the ‘droopy drawer dictum.’

• In Hollywood, it is illegal to drive more than two thousand sheep down Hollywood Boulevard at one time.
Sheep Rancher counting: “ … one thousand nine hundred ninety-nine, two thousand, two thousand and one. Oh, oh, Willie, I miscounted. Quick, hide that little baby lamb in your saddle bags.”

• In Long Beach, putting anything in your garage other than your car is illegal.

Hurry, before the gendarmes arrive, remove your lawn mower, garden tools, garden hose, all bicycles, motorcycle with sidecar, extra freezer, washing machine and dryer, Christmas tree lights, auto repair equipment, six-pack of motor oil, twin-infant stroller, carpentry tools, surf boards, scuba equipment, etc., etc.

• In Norco, all persons wishing to keep a rhinoceros as a pet must obtain a $100 license first.
The bigger problem may be why would you want a rhino for a pet in the first place?

• In Los Angeles, It is illegal to lick a toad.

There is a genus of toads that excretes a hallucinogenic substance on its skin. Urban legend states that people lacking intelligence were licking them.

• In Norco, your vehicle cannot contain a sound system that can be heard outside the car unless you are attempting to sell something.

What if you are attempting to sell a vehicle sound system? Just wonderin’.

• In Pacific Grove, there is a law on the books declaring the molestation of monarch butterflies to be illegal.

I’m curious. Were any citizens doing this? And how does one molest a butterfly?

• In Redlands, motor vehicles may not drive on city streets unless a man with a lantern is walking ahead of it.

But this crazy law does not indicate that at night the lantern must be lit.

• San Francisco prohibits elephants from strolling down Market Street.

This raises two questions:

a) Why has only Market Street been selected?

b) May elephants stroll down alternate streets? Inquiring minds want to know.

The following crazy laws apply to the entire state:

• No vehicle without a driver may exceed 60 miles per hour in California.

I wonder – does this happen often?

• Animals are banned from mating publicly within 1,500 feet of a tavern, school, or place of worship.

Two questions arise: Who informs the animals . . . and How?

• Women may not drive in a house coat.
Understandable. Driving in a car makes much more sense.

• You may not hunt moths under street lights.

Give those poor things a fighting chance. Hunt them in the desert.

• Sunshine is guaranteed to the masses.

I think we have that law in Florida and Hawaii, too.

• Around 150 buffalo roam on Catalina Island, descendants of a herd imported there in 1924 for a movie. The silent film was ‘The Vanishing American’ but the buffalo (bison) still remain.

• The Iron Door Saloon in Groveland is the oldest saloon in California. Built in 1852, the inside ceiling is adorned with dollar bills.

• Frederick's of Hollywood was opened by Frederick Mellinger, inventor of the push-up bra, in 1946. The flagship lingerie shop on Hollywood Boulevard has become a local landmark. A Lingerie Museum features a collection of undergarments worn by Hollywood stars including one of Madonna’s pointy-breasted corsets.

• Since 1937 when it opened, more than 1,200 people have committed suicide by plunging 220 feet to their deaths from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

• Death Valley in eastern California is recognized as the hottest, driest place in the United States. It isn't uncommon for summer temperatures to reach more than 115° F.

• The hottest day ever recorded in the United States was on July 10, 1913 at Death Valley when the temperature reached a scorching 135° F.

• The California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento is the largest museum of its kind in North America.

• Californians are the largest consumers of turkey in the country. They eat three pounds more turkey than the average U.S. individual.

• More turkeys are raised in California than in any other state in the United States.

• It is estimated that each year there are approximately 500,000 detectable seismic tremors in the state.

• San Francisco Cable cars are the only mobile National Monuments.

• The General Sherman Tree in Sequoia National Park is the largest tree in the world, weighing more than 6,000 tons.

• The tallest tree in the world, at 369 feet, is in Humboldt Redwoods State Park.

• Inyo National Forest is home to the bristle cone pine, the oldest living species. Some of the gnarled trees are thought to be over 4,600 years old.

• The highest and lowest points in the continental United States are within 100 miles of each other. Mount Whitney measures 14,495 feet and Bad Water in Death Valley is 282 feet below sea level.

• The best view in the United States is at Mount Diablo State Park. From the top of the 3,849 foot summit more of the earth's surface can be seen than any other peak in the world, except Mt. Kilimanjaro, Africa.

• The state motto is ‘Eureka,’ a Greek word which means ‘I have found it!’ The motto was adopted in 1849 and alludes to the discovery of gold in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

• California is known variously as The Land of Milk and Honey, The El Dorado State, The Golden State, and The Grape State.

• Totaling nearly three million acres, San Bernardino County is the largest county in the entire United States.

• California is bigger than 85 of the smallest nations in the world.

• It is illegal to wear a Zoot Suit in Los Angeles.

A zoot suit is a men's suit with a high waist, wide trousers, tight cuffs, a long coat with wide lapels and wide padded shoulders. It was popular during the 1940s.

• Alpine County, one of the smallest in California, has no high school, ATMs, dentists, banks, or traffic lights.

• During the California gold rush of 1849, miners sent their laundry to Honolulu for washing and pressing. The extremely high costs in California during those boom years made it cheaper to send laundry all the way to Hawaii for cleaning.

• Over 30,000,000 Legos were used to construct the attractions and decorations at Legoland in Carlsbad.

• Fresno proclaims itself the Raisin Capital of the World.

• There are more than 300,000 tons of grapes grown in California annually.

• California produces more than 17 million gallons of wine each year.

• Fallbrook is known as the Avocado Capital of the World and hosts an annual Avocado Festival.

Shirley Temple actress, ambassador
Dave Brubeck musician
Julia Child chef
Joe DiMaggio baseball player
Robert Frost poet
George E. Hale astronomer
William Randolph Hearst publisher
Marilyn Monroe actress
Richard M. Nixon president
George S. Patton, Jr. general
Robert Redford actor
John Steinbeck author
Adlai Stevenson statesman

• The first motion picture theater opened in Los Angeles on April 2, 1902.

• The first person to personally receive a star on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood was actress Joanne Woodward. She received it in 1960.

• The Hollywood Bowl is the world's largest outdoor amphitheater.

• Many celebrities are buried at Hillside Cemetery in Culver City including Al Jolson, George Jessel, Eddie Cantor, Jack Benny, and Percy Faith (orchestra leader).

• Castroville is known as the Artichoke Capital of the World. In 1947, Norma Jean Mortensen was crowned Castroville's first Artichoke Queen.

She later became known as Marilyn Monroe.

• The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel is said to be haunted by Montgomery Clift who continues to play his bugle in Room 928, and Marilyn Monroe whose image has been seen gazing from a lobby mirror.

• The Country Store in Baker has sold more winning California State Lottery tickets than any outlet in the state.

• Disneyland opened in 1955.

Didja know: Walt Disney was afraid of mice.

State Nickname: The Golden State

State Flower: Golden Poppy

State Bird: Valley Quail

State Tree: Redwood – some of the giant redwoods in Sequoia National Park are more than 2,000 years old.

State Mammal: California Grizzly Bear

State Reptile: Desert Tortoise

State Butterfly: California Dogface

State Fish: California Golden Trout

• In 1925, a giant sequoia over 300 feet high located in California's Kings Canyon National Park was named the nation's national Christmas tree.

• Using satellite surveying techniques, scientists have determined that Los Angeles is moving east at a rate estimated to be about 1/5 of an inch per year, closer to the San Gabriel Mountains.

• Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge contains the largest winter population of bald eagles in the continental United States.

• California has more national parks (8) than any other state.

• Two of the ten most populous cities in the U.S. are in California: Los Angeles and San Diego.

• One out of every eight United States residents lives in California.

• The Coachella Valley is nicknamed ‘The Date Capital’ of the world and ‘The Playground of Presidents.’

• The largest three-day rodeo in the United States is held on the Tehama County Fairgrounds in Red Bluff.

True story: In Modesto, CA, Steven King was arrested for trying to hold up a Bank of America branch without a weapon. Mr. King used a thumb and a finger to simulate a gun, but unfortunately, he failed to keep his hand in his pocket.

© Copyright BJ Rakow, Ph.D. 2015. All rights reserved. Author, "Much of What You Know about Job Search Just Ain't So."