10 Things Californians Are Tired of Explaining to the Rest of Us

No, we don’t all surf.

Half of California lives closer to a Costco parking lot than a wave.

The questions start the second someone hears the word California, and Californians have been fielding them for years.

These are the things Californians are tired of explaining to the rest of us.

NorCal Versus SoCal

Californians argue about NorCal versus SoCal harder than they argue with anybody from out of state.

The split is real, and it runs somewhere up the middle of the map.

Giants or Dodgers. Bay Area or Los Angeles. A Mission-style burrito wrapped in foil, or a taco truck parked outside a Whittier gas station.

Pick a side.

Outsiders picture one endless sunny state, but a person from Eureka and a person from San Diego live about as far apart as Boston and Richmond.

We Don’t All Surf

Plenty of Californians go months without seeing the ocean, because the state runs far past its beaches.

The Central Valley is flat, hot farm country, hours inland. Fresno, Bakersfield, and Modesto sit closer to a tractor than a longboard.

No waves.

The coast costs a fortune too, so a small house near the water runs what a big one runs in most states.

That pushes many Californians inland, where a paycheck stretches and the nearest surf break is a three-hour drive.

In-N-Out Earns the Hype

Californians will defend In-N-Out to anyone brave enough to call it overrated.

Harry and Esther Snyder opened the first stand in Baldwin Park in 1948, and it was California’s first drive-thru hamburger stand.

Order it Animal Style off the not-so-secret menu, and you’re speaking the language.

Every time.

The chain has spread to ten states now, yet Californians still treat that palm-tree logo like it belongs to them alone.

Avocados Aren’t a Fad

Californians grew avocados long before avocado toast showed up on a single brunch menu.

The Hass, the dark bumpy kind stacked in every produce aisle, traces back to one tree a mail carrier named Rudolph Hass planted in La Habra Heights and patented in 1935.

Every Hass on Earth descends from that tree.

Grown here.

California still grows most of the avocados farmed in the country, in groves running from San Diego County up to Monterey, so calling it a trend gets a tired look.

Our Summers Come With Fog

California summers aren’t wall-to-wall sunshine, whatever the postcards promise.

San Francisco spends July wrapped in fog cold enough for a jacket, and locals named that fog Karl.

That famous Mark Twain line about the coldest winter being a summer in San Francisco? He never said it.

Down south, late spring brings May Gray and June Gloom, when a marine layer grays out the coast until the afternoon burns it off.

Bring a hoodie.

Earthquakes Don’t Scare Us

Californians don’t spend their days waiting for the ground to drop out from under them.

The state records small quakes constantly, and nearly all of them are too faint for anyone to feel.

A native barely glances up from their coffee when a light one rolls through.

Felt nothing.

The dread mostly belongs to visitors, while residents just bolt the tall bookshelf to the wall and get on with the day.

Fire Season Never Ends

Californians have mostly stopped calling it fire season because it doesn’t wrap up anymore.

Fire officials now talk about a fire year instead, and Los Angeles neighborhoods burned in January 2025, nowhere near the old August-to-October window.

Not every yard, though.

For plenty of Californians, a go-bag by the door and an evacuation app on the phone are just part of the calendar now.

Hella Means Very

Northern Californians say “hella,” and they’ll defend it as a real word with a straight face.

It stands in for “very” or “a lot,” as in hella good or hella people waiting for the bus.

The word grew up in Oakland in the late 1970s before it spread everywhere.

Try it out.

Drop a “hella” in Los Angeles, and you out yourself as a Northern Californian faster than any zip code could.

Bigger Than Most Countries

Californians get worn out explaining how big the state’s economy is.

Treat California as its own country, and it lands among the largest economies on the planet, worth roughly $4 trillion a year.

Not a rounding error.