Today in California History
Cities in California: Anaheim - Bakersfield - Berkeley, CA - Fresno - Glendale - Long Beach - Los Angeles - Modesto - Oakland - Pasadena, CA - Riverside - Sacramento - San Bernardino - San Diego - San Francisco - San Jose - Santa Ana - Stockton
Historical Events
Results 1 - 100 of 139
1542-06-27 - Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo claims California for Spain
1542-09-28 - Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo discovers California, at San Diego Bay
1542-10-07 - Explorer Cabrillo discovered Catalina Island off California coast
1769-07-14 - The de Portolá Expedition establishes a base in California, and sets out to find the Port of Monterey (now Monterey, California).
1771-07-14 - Mission San Antonio de Padua founded in California
1771-09-08 - Mission San Gabriel Archangel forms in California
1772-09-01 - Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa forms in California
1776-11-01 - Mission San Juan Capistrano founded in California
1777-01-18 - San Jose California, founded
1798-06-13 - Mission San Luis Rey de Francia founded in California
1812-03-15 - 1st Russian settlement in California, Russian River
1841-11-04 - 1st wagon train arrives in California
1846-06-14 - California (Bear Flag) Republic proclaimed in Sonoma
1846-06-14 - California declares independence from Mexico
1846-07-07 - US annexs California
1846-08-17 - US fleet officer Robert F Stockton annexes California
1847-01-03 - California town of Yerba Buena renamed San Francisco
1847-01-09 - 1st SF newspaper published (California Star)
1847-01-16 - John C. Fremont is appointed Governor of the new California Territory.
1848-02-02 - Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends Mexican War; US acquires Texas California, New Mexico & Arizona for $15 million
1848-05-30 - Mexico ratifies treaty giving US; New Mexico, California & parts of Nevada, Utah, Arizona & Colorado in return for $15 million
1849-02-18 - 1st regular steamboat service to California starts (or 02/28)
1849-08-19 - NY Herald reports gold discovery in California
1849-09-01 - California Constitutional Convention held in Monterey
1849-09-19 - 1st commercial laundry established, in Oaklan, California
1849-11-13 - Peter Burnett elected 1st governor of California
1850-01-22 - Alta California becomes a daily paper, 1st such in Calif
1850-09-09 - California becomes 31st state
1850-09-09 - California is admitted as the thirty-first U.S. state.
1851-03-21 - Yosemite Valley discovered in California
1858-09-16 - 1st overland mail for California
1867-06-27 - The Bank of California is created.
1868-06-09 - 1st meeting of Board of Regents, University of California
1869-04-18 - 1st international cricket match, held in SF, wins by Californian
1872-03-26 - 7.8 earthquake shakes Owens Valley, California
1876-06-04 - An express train called the Transcontinental Express arrives in San Francisco, California, via the First Transcontinental Railroad only 83 hours and 39 minutes after having left New York City.
1876-06-14 - California Street Cable Car Railroad Co gets its franchise
1878-07-26 - In California, the poet and American West outlaw calling himself "Black Bart" makes his last clean getaway when he steals a safe box from a Wells Fargo stagecoach. The empty box will be found later with a taunting poem inside.
1879-02-10 - 1st electric arc light used (California Theater)
1880-10-04 - University of California founded in Los Angeles
1881-03-04 - California becomes 1st state to pass plant quarantine legislation
1888-06-01 - California gets its 1st seismograph
1888-08-11 - California Theatre closed (now a Pac Tel Phone Store)
1891-10-01 - In the U.S. state of California, Stanford University opens its doors.
1896-05-26 - James Dunham murders six people in Campbell, California.
1901-09-16 - Alturas, California, is incorporated as the only city in Modoc County.
1902-01-01 - 1st Rose Bowl game (Pasadena, California) (U of Mich-49, Sanford-0)
1902-04-02 - "Electric Theatre", the first full-time movie theater in the United States, opens in Los Angeles, California.
1907-05-11 - A derailment outside Lompoc, California kills 32 Shriners when their chartered train jumps off the tracks at a switch near Surf Depot.
1909-06-09 - Alice Huyler Ramsey, a 22-year-old housewife and mother from Hackensack, New Jersey, becomes the first woman to drive across the United States. With three female companions, none of whom could drive a car, in fifty-nine days she drove a Maxwell automobile the 3,800 miles from Manhattan, New York, to San Francisco, California.
1910-03-14 - Lakeview Gusher, the largest U.S. oil well gusher near Bakersfield, California, vented to atmosphere.
1911-08-29 - Ishi, considered the last Native American to make contact with European Americans, emerges from the wilderness of northeastern California.
1912-12-28 - The first municipally owned streetcars take to the streets in San Francisco, California.
1913-07-10 - Death Valley, California hits 134 °F (~56.7 °C), which is the highest temperature recorded in the United States.
1915-11-29 - Fire destroys most of the buildings on Santa Catalina Island, California.
1916-04-08 - In Corona, California, racecar driver Bob Burman crashes, killing three and badly injuring five spectators.
1917-01-28 - Municipally owned streetcars take to the streets of San Francisco, California.
1923-09-08 - Honda Point Disaster: nine US Navy destroyers run aground off the California coast. Seven are lost.
1928-03-12 - In California, the St. Francis Dam fails, killing over 600 people.
1928-06-09 - Charles Kingsford-Smith & Charles Ulm are 1st to fly across the Pacific when they end their flight from California to Brisbane
1929-05-16 - In Hollywood, California, the first Academy Awards are handed out.
1930-05-20 - University of California dedicates $1,500 to research on prevention & cure of athlete's foot
1931-02-20 - Congress allows California to build Oakland-Bay Bridge
1936-03-01 - A strike occurs aboard the S.S. California, leading to the demise of the International Seamen's Union and the creation of the National Maritime Union.
1936-03-25 - 200" mirror blank leaves for California to be ground
1940-05-15 - McDonald's opens its first restaurant in San Bernardino, California.
1940-12-30 - California's 1st freeway, (Arroyo Seco Parkway), opens
1941-05-06 - At California's March Field, Bob Hope performs his first USO show.
1942-10-23 - All 12 passengers and crewmen aboard an American Airlines DC-3 airliner are killed when it is struck by a U.S. Army Air Forces bomber near Palm Springs, California. Amongst the victims is award-winning composer and songwriter Ralph Rainger ("Thanks for the Memory", "Love in Bloom", "Blue Hawaii").
1943-01-23 - 66.34 cm (26.12"), Hoegees Camp, California (state record)
1944-07-17 - 2 ammunition ships explodes at Port Chicago, California kills 322
1946-06-13 - 1st transcontinental round-trip flight in 1-day, California-Maryland
1947-01-15 - The brutalized corpse of Elizabeth Short ("The Black Dahlia") is found in Leimert Park, Los Angeles, California.
1949-04-20 - Jockey Bill Shoemaker wins his 1st race, in Albany, California
1953-08-17 - Addiction: First meeting of Narcotics Anonymous in Southern California.
1954-02-15 - 1st bevatron in operation-Berkeley, California
1954-02-18 - The first Church of Scientology is established in Los Angeles, California.
1955-07-17 - Disneyland televises its grand opening in Anaheim, California.
1955-10-18 - University of California discovers anti-proton
1957-01-31 - Eight people on the ground in Pacoima, California are killed following the mid-air collision between a Douglas DC-7 airliner and a Northrop F-89 Scorpion fighter jet.
1959-03-21 - 21st NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: California beats W Va 71-70
1960-05-16 - Theodore Maiman operates the first optical laser, at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California.
1960-08-15 - UFO is sighted by 3 California patrolmen
1964-09-21 - The North American XB-70 Valkyrie, the world's first Mach 3 bomber, made its maiden flight from Palmdale, California.
1964-10-01 - Free Speech Movement launched at U of California, Berkley
1966-11-08 - Movie actor Ronald Reagan elected governor of California
1967-01-15 - The first Super Bowl is played in Los Angeles, California.
1967-06-15 - Gov Reagan signs liberalized California abortion bill
1967-06-18 - Monterey International Pop Festival rocks Southern California
1968-07-18 - The Intel Corporation is founded in Santa Clara, California
1968-12-20 - The Zodiac Killer kills Betty Lou Jenson and David Faraday in Vallejo, California.
1969-10-15 - Bank of America World Headquarters (555 California) dedicated
1970-07-06 - California passes 1st "no fault" divorce law
1970-09-26 - The Laguna Fire starts in San Diego County, California, burning 175,425 acres (710 km²).
1970-11-04 - Genie, a 13 year old feral child was found in Los Angeles, California having been locked in her bedroom for most of her life.
1972-11-29 - Nolan Bushnell (co-founder of Atari) releases Pong (the first commercially successful video game) in Andy Capp’s Tavern in Sunnyvale, California.
1973-04-28 - Over 6000 Mk. 82 500 pound bombs detonate over the course of 18 hours in a railyard in northern California. 5500 structures are damaged, and the town of Antelope, California ceases to exist, with every building being reduced to the foundation. This accident leads to the passing of the Transportation Safety Act of 1974 which makes the NTSB an independent agency.
1974-04-06 - 200,000 attend rock concert "California Jam"
1976-05-24 - In the Judgment of Paris, wine testers rate wines from California higher than their French counterparts, challenging the notion of France being the foremost producer of the world's best wines.
1977-06-16 - Oracle Corporation is incorporated in Redwood Shores, California, as Software Development Laboratories (SDL) by Larry Ellison, Bob Miner and Ed Oates.
Famous Birthdays
Results 1 - 71 of 71
1713-11-24 - Junipero Serra, priest had a mission in California
1820-05-23 - Lorenzo Sawyer, 9th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of California (d. 1891)
1851-05-18 - James Budd, Governor of California (d. 1908)
1877-09-13 - Stanley Lord, captain of the SS Californian the night of the Titanic disaster (d. 1962)
1900-09-07 - Emerson Treacy, Phila, actor (California Straight Ahead)
1909-08-10 - Leo Fender, Anaheim California, rocker (Fender guitars)
1920-09-13 - Carole Mathews, Montgomery Ill, actress (Wilma-Californians)
1921-04-01 - William L Bergsma, Oakland California, composer (Fortunate Island)
1922-03-10 - Adam Kennedy, Lafayette Ind, actor (Dion-Californian)
1924-01-17 - Jewel Plummer Cobb, educator/pres (California State U at Fullerton)
1924-03-08 - Sean McClory, Dublin Ireland, actor (Jack-Californians, My Chauffeur)
1925-01-15 - Ruth Slenczynska, Sacramento, California, pianist
1926-06-04 - Nan Leslie, LA Calif, actress (Kings Row, Californians)
1928-02-02 - Howard Caine, Nashville Tn, actor (Californians)
1931-05-31 - Steve Horn, (Rep-R-California)
1931-08-14 - Frederic Raphael, writer (After the War, California Time)
1932-10-26 - Anthony C Beilenson, (Rep-D-California, 1977- )
1933-03-11 - Terry J Hatter Jr, US judge in California
1934-07-28 - Norman D Shumway, (Rep-R-California, 1979- )
1934-08-08 - Julian C Dixon, (Rep-D-California, 1979- )
1934-10-21 - Jerry Lewis, (Rep-R-California, 1979- )
1935-08-30 - John Phillips, singer/guitarist (Mama & Papas-California Dreaming)
1936-11-02 - Rose Elizabeth Bird, California Supreme Court Justice
1937-03-16 - David Del Tredici, Cloverdale California, composer (1980 Pulitzer)
1937-11-03 - Lynn Woolsey, (Rep-D-California)
1938-04-07 - Jerry Brown, ex-California governor
1938-08-15 - Maxine Waters, (Rep-D-California)
1939-03-27 - Jay C Kim, (Rep-R-California)
1939-09-09 - Howard P McKeon, (Rep-R-California)
1939-09-12 - Henry A Waxman, (Rep-D-California, 1975-86)
1940-03-26 - Nancy Pelosi, (Rep-D-California)
1940-06-14 - Bill Baker, (Rep-R-California)
1941-06-12 - Lucille Roybal-Allard, (Rep-D-California)
1941-09-17 - Robert T Matsui, (Rep-D-California, 1979- )
1942-09-04 - Bob Filner, (Rep-D-California)
1942-10-11 - Victor H Fazio, (Rep-D-California, 1979- )
1942-12-26 - Gray Davis, former Governor of California
1944-03-07 - Elton Gallegly, (Rep-R-California)
1945-05-20 - Wally Herger, (Rep-R-California)
1945-06-28 - Jane Harmon, (Rep-D-California)
1946-06-01 - Carol Neblett, Modesto California, soprano (NYC Opera)
1947-06-21 - Dana Rohrabacher, (Rep-R-California)
1948-04-21 - Gary A Condit, (Rep-D-California)
1948-10-06 - Dan Hamburg, (Rep-D-California)
1950-10-30 - John T Doolittle, (Rep-R-California)
1951-02-20 - Randy California, [Wolfe], Cal, guitarist (Spirit-I Got a Line on You)
1951-10-12 - Ed Royce, (Rep-R-California)
1952-10-16 - Christopher Cox, (Rep-R-California)
1953-06-06 - Ken Calvert, (Rep-R-California)
1954-11-10 - Mario Cipollina, California, rock bassist (Huey Lewis & The News)
1955-06-14 - Michael D. Duvall, California State Assemblyman
1955-12-02 - Dennis Christopher, Phila, actor (Breaking Away, California Dreaming)
1957-03-31 - Marc McClure, San Mateo Calif, actor (Ross-California Fever)
1957-05-28 - Walter R Tucker, (Rep-D-California)
1958-01-20 - Lorenzo Lamas, LA Calif, actor (Lance-Falcon Crest, California Fever)
1961-07-02 - James McNichol, LA Calif, actor (Fitzpatricks, California Fever)
1962-04-27 - Patricia Susan Plumer Levere, Covina, California, 3K runner
1962-07-19 - Brad Wilson, Pomona California, Canadian Tour golfer (1993 9 Pro-Am)
1964-03-25 - Eric Woods, California, Canadian Tour golfer (1993 Xerox BC Open)
1967-11-15 - Scott Schrader, California, Canadian Tour golfer (1992 Golden State)
1969-02-12 - Shauna Lyn Searles, Miss California USA (1996)
1970-02-04 - Alisa Marie Kimble, Miss USA-California (1997)
1972-07-25 - Craig Howard, Redding California, Canadian Tour golfer (1989 Rolex)
1974-05-12 - Tiffany Stoker, Clovis Calif, Miss America (California-4th-1996)
1974-06-04 - Lyndsay Kahler, Orange California, Miss America-California (1997)
1975-01-29 - Kelly Packard, Glendale CA, actress (Tiffani Smith-California Dreams)
1977-08-27 - Michelle Kathlene Cardamon, California, Miss Teen USA (1996-3rd)
1981-01-03 - Chris Blais, California racecar driver
1981-01-18 - Kimberly Gloudemans, Miss California Teen USA (1997)
1987-10-18 - Zac Efron, TV actor, born in San Luis Obispo, California, USA (CSI: Miami, ER)
2179-01-22 - Hikaru Walter Sulu, SF, California (character on Star Trek)
Famous Deaths
Results 1 - 13 of 13
1853-07-25 - Joaquin Murieta, California outlaw
1876-10-01 - James Lick, California land baron (b. 1796)
1891-09-07 - Lorenzo Sawyer, 9th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of California (b. 1820)
1928-02-29 - Ina Coolbrith, first poet laureate of California (b. 1841)
1962-01-24 - Stanley Lord, captain of the SS Californian the night of the Titanic disaster (b. 1877)
1966-01-03 - Rex Lease, actor (Perils of Pauline, Dakota, California), dies at 62
1979-08-09 - Raymond Washington, founder of Los Angeles, California gang, the Crips
2003-02-07 - John Reading, Mayor of Oakland, California (b. 1917)
2003-02-10 - Al Ruffo, Mayor of San Jose, California (b. 1908)
2003-12-01 - Clark Kerr, first Chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley (b. 1911)
2004-06-05 - Ronald Reagan, American radio sports announcer, western film actor, governor of California, and 40th President of the United States (b. 1911)
2007-02-05 - Leo T. McCarthy, American politician and 43rd Lieutenant Governor of California (1983-1995) (b. 1930)
2007-04-22 - Juanita Millender-McDonald, congresswoman from southern California (b. 1938)
