California Events

1845 Dec John C. Fremont Enters California
Although the United States declared war against Mexico on May 13, 1846, it took almost two months (until the middle of June, 1846) for definite word of war to get to California. American ...
1846 Jun Word Of The Mexican-American War Reaches California
Although the United States declared war against Mexico on May 13, 1846, it took almost two months (until the middle of June, 1846) for definite word of war to get to California. American ...
1848 Jan 24 James W. Marshall Discovers Gold In California
On January 24, 1848, James W. Marshall discovered gold on the property of Johann A. Sutter near Coloma, California. A builder, Marshall was overseeing construction of a sawmill on the Ame...
1848 Aug 19 New York Herald Reports on the Discovery of Gold in California
The gold mine discovered in December last, on the South branch of the American fork, in a range of low hills forming the base of the Sierra Nevada, distant thirty miles from New Helvetia,...
1850 Sep 9 California is Admitted to the Union as a Free State
In 1848, the non-native population of California has been estimated to be no more than 15,000. But after gold was discovered, the population burgeoned with U.S. citizens, Europeans, and o...
1850 Sep 9 California is the 31st State Admitted to the Union
It was August 1848 before the United States Senate ratified the treaty ending the Mexican War and recognizing the transfer of California to American hands. Local Army commanders, "Forty-e...
1851 Dec 31 Gadsden Secures Land To Serve As The Dividing Line For The Two Californias
Gadsden had supported nullification in 1831, and he advocated secession by South Carolina in 1850 when California was admitted to the Union as a free state. Gadsden considered slavery “a ...
1865 Jul 30 Sinking of the Brother Johnathan
On July 30, 1865, the ship wrecked on its way to Portland in a terrible windstorm, hitting an uncharted rock near Point St. George, off the coast of Crescent City, California. The ship ca...
1872 Mar 26 Lone Pine Earthquake
The Great Lone Pine earthquake was one of the largest earthquakes to hit California in recorded history. The quake struck on March 26, 1872 and its epicenter was near Lone Pine, Californi...
1917 Houdini Performs Buried Alive Escape
Throughout his career, Houdini performed three variations on a "Buried Alive" stunt/escape. The first was near Santa Ana, California in 1917, and it almost cost Houdini his life. Houdini ...
1923 Sep 8 Honda Point Disaster
The Navy's greatest navigational tragedy took place in September 1923 at an isolated California coastal headland locally known as Honda Point. Officially called Point Pedernales, Honda is...
1928 Mar 12 St. Francis Dam Failure
The bold, black headlines echo down through the years, staring up from the fading, crumbling newspapers that carried the tale of death and destruction to their readers. The second worst ...
1937 Jan 12 Western Air Express Flight 7 Crashes, Killing 5
On January 12, 1937, shortly after 11 a.m. in adverse weather, Western Air Express Flight 7 crashed into a ridge below Los Pinetos Peak near the California towns of Saugus and Newhall. Th...
1937 May 27 Golden Gate Bridge is Opened
On May 27, 1937, San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge was opened to the public for the first time for "Pedestrian Day," marking the start of the weeklong "Golden Gate Bridge Fiesta" held to...
1939 Jun 15 Mary MacPhee Is Recorded Performing Gaelic Songs
On June 15, 1939, in Oakland, California, folk music collector Sidney Robertson Cowell recorded Mary MacPhee performing Gaelic songs from the Hebrides, Scotland. The collection California...
1942 Apr 18 Ronald Reagan is Ordered for Active Duty
Reagan was ordered to active duty for the first time on April 18, 1942. Due to his nearsightedness, he was classified for limited service only, which excluded him from serving overseas. H...
1942 Oct 23 U.S. Army Corps B-34 Bomber Strikes American Airlines Flight 28
American Airlines Flight 28 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight that crashed on October 23, 1942 in Chino Canyon, near Palm Springs, California after being struck by a U.S. Army Air...
1943 Jan 21 Philippine Clipper Crashes into Mountainous Terrain, Killing 19
This is the story of the last flight of the “Philippine Clipper” which crashed on the California coast near Booneville after arriving from Honolulu, Hawaii. On board that final fligh...
1944 Jul 17 Port Chicago Disaster
The Port Chicago disaster was a deadly munitions explosion that occurred on July 17, 1944, at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine in Port Chicago, California, United States. Munitions detonat...
1948 Jan 28 Plane Chartered by the U.S. Immigration Services Crashes
On January 28, 1948, a twin-engine DC-3C chartered by the U.S. Immigration Service from Airline Transport Carriers of Burbank, California crashed in western Fresno County's Los Gatos Cany...
1951 Aug 24 United Airlines Flight 615 Crashes, Killing 50
At 04:25 Flight 615 was cleared for a straight-in approach on the southeast course of the Oakland radio range from Newark. At 04:27 the flight reported leaving Newark inbound to Oakland. ...
1952 Oct 21 Patricia Ann Reagan is Born
Patti Davis (born Patricia Ann Reagan on October 21, 1952 in Los Angeles, California) is the daughter of former President of the United States Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan. S...
1953 Oct 29 British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines' Resolution Crashes
The only problem, however, was that the "Resolution" was actually several miles south of their reported position. At about 8:42 AM., the flight reported in, "Air Pacific Easy, Roger, ...
1958 May 28 Ronald Prescott Reagan is Born
Reagan grew up in Los Angeles and then Sacramento, while his father was Governor of California from 1967 to 1975. He has a sister, Patti Davis, five and a half years his senior, and a hal...
1964 May 7 Pacific Airlines Flight 773 Crashes After the Pilot and Co-Pilot are Shot
After arriving at the San Francisco Airport, Gonzales took out two insurance policies totaling a $105,000. Then, shortly before boarding the flight to Reno, he displayed his gun to numero...
1966 Jan 1 Ronald Reagan Announces Candidacy for Governor of California
Reagan moved immediately to capitalize on the momentum of the Goldwater speech and began appearing before Republican gatherings in California and elsewhere within weeks of the 1964 electi...
1966 Nov 8 Ronald Reagan is Elected Governor of California
California Republicans were impressed with Reagan's political views and charisma after his "Time for Choosing" speech, and nominated him for Governor of California in 1966. In Reagan's ca...
1967 Jan 3 Reagan is Sworn in as Governor of California
Reagan is sworn in as governor of California. He inherits a $200 million deficit in a state where the governor is required by Constitution to submit a balanced budget. Reagan proposes ...
1967 Feb 2 Students Stage Protest at California State Capitol
Students stage an orderly demonstration in front of the California State Capitol protesting budget cuts and the governor’s request that a tuition be imposed for the first time in the Univ...
1967 Jun 15 Ronald Reagan Signs a Bill Liberalizing California’s Abortion Law
A liberalized abortion law, one of the most emotionally debated issues ever brought before the state legislature, will go-into effect in California within a few months.
1967 Oct 16
to 1967 Oct 20
 Ronald Reagan Calls for a Harder Line on War Protestors
Stop the Draft Week organizers lead 3000 marchers to the Oakland Army Induction Center on October 16, 1967. The sitting protesters force draftees to climb over them in order to get inside...
1969 May 15 Ronald Reagan Cracks Down on People's Park Protests at UC Berkeley
Reagan was involved in high-profile conflicts with the protest movements of the era. On May 15, 1969, during the People's Park protests at UC Berkeley, Reagan sent the California Highway ...
1970 Ronald Reagan Wins Reelection for Governor of California
Reagan wins re-election as governor, beating the leader of the California Assembly, Democrat Jesse Unruh. He calls welfare the biggest single outlay of public funds at the federal, sta...
1971 Feb 9 Sylmar Earthquake
The earthquake created a zone of discontinuous surface faulting, named the San Fernando fault zone, which partly follows the boundary between the San Gabriel Mountains and the San Fernand...
1971 Aug 11 California Legislature Enacts Compromise Welfare Reform
Robert B. Carleson, who helped initiate major changes in the California welfare system in the early 1970s and implemented them as part of then-Gov. Ronald Reagan's administration, has die...
1978 Sep 25 PSA Flight 182 Collides with Cessna
Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA) Flight 182, registration N533PS, was a Boeing 727-214 commercial airliner that collided over San Diego, California with a private Cessna 172 on September ...
1982 Jan 5 San Francisco Bay Region Landslides
On this day in 1982, a series of landslides near San Francisco, California, kills up to 33 people and closes the Golden Gate Bridge. In all, an amazing 18,000 different landslides took pl...
1987 Oct 1 Whittier Narrows Earthquake
The 1987 Whittier Narrows earthquake struck the southern San Gabriel Valley and surrounding communities of southern California at 7:42 a.m. (PDT) on October 1, 1987. The magnitude 5.9 ear...
1987 Dec 7 Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 1771 Crashes After Pilot is Shot
"There's gunfire on board . . . We're going down." The distress call came from Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 1771 halfway on its run from Los Angeles to San Francisco, flying at 22,0...
1988 Nov 22 B-2 Stealth Bomber Unveiled
In the presence of members of Congress and the media, the Northrop B-2 "stealth" bomber is shown publicly for the first time at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California. The aircraft...
1989 Oct 17 Loma Prieta Earthquake
The time was 5:04 pm on October 17, 1989. Sixty-two thousand baseball fans were preparing to watch the San Francisco Giants and Oakland A's in what was called the "Battle of the Bay", the...
1991 Nov 4 Ronald Reagan Presidential Library Opens to the Public
The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Center for Public Affairs is the presidential library and final resting place of Ronald Wilson Reagan, the 40th President of the United States. ...
2000 Jun 25 2000 San Francisco Gay Pride Parade
This two-tape set documents the San Francisco Gay Pride Parade down Market Street on June 25, 2000. Officially named the San Francisco Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Parade, th...
2001 Jun 2001 San Francisco Gay Pride Parade
This is something that I have always wanted to do. I have a friend that lives in the heart of Castro so we had a place to stay and Delta had a special fare so off we went. The parade was ...
2002 Jun 30 2002 San Francisco Gay Pride Parade
San Francisco's annual Pride Parade strutted up Market Street on Sunday, pulsating with energy and packing downtown with gyrating and shouting marchers and equally enthusiastic spectators...
2003 Jun 29 2003 San Francisco Gay Pride Parade
San Francisco's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Parade, a celebration of brash camp and inclusive labels, rollicked through the heart of the city Sunday, propelled by bare-chest...
2004 Jun 5 Ronald Reagan Dies
Reagan died at his home in Bel Air, California on June 5, 2004. A short time after his death, Nancy Reagan released a statement saying: "My family and I would like the world to know that ...
2004 Jun 27 2004 San Francisco Gay Pride Parade
John Lewis and Stuart Gaffney dashed to San Francisco's City Hall to get married Feb. 12. No family or friends were there, and they didn't even take time to throw on suits, fearing the ci...
2005 Jan 26 Glendale Train Crash
A man accused of killing 11 people by parking his truck in a train's path intended to get his estranged wife's attention by causing "a horrific tragedy," not to kill himself as originally...
2005 Jun 26 2005 San Francisco Gay Pride Parade
The only Christian evangelical church float in Sunday's gay pride parade in San Francisco sported a rainbow cross, disco music and a giant sign that declared, "Christian & Gay = OK." "...