How far south in the Central Valley can you claim NorCal?

[mrsltd]

Originally Posted by David Aguilar

I believe Disneyland used to consider Southern California to be zip codes 90000-93599.

That would just about line up with that line that the counties of SLO, Kern and San Bernardino form on the northern end, except that some of the 932xx is in Kings and Tulare Counties which are north of that line and some of 934XX is in Monterey County which is north of that line as well......

I wonder if, unlike our legislators who choose their constituents with the end result on the map being a gerrymandered mess, we could just use lines of latitude.......


32`30 N (Mexican Border) to 36 N (Southern California)

36 N to 39 N (Central or North, whichever name you prefer)

39N to 42 N (Oregon border) --far North or Northern, whichever name you prefer)

A bit arbitrary and more concerned with geographical position than with cultural leanings or media markets, but one has to start somewhere.

[TheDragonslayer]

Originally Posted by Chimérique

Then you are a rare bird if you have Bay Area/Central Valley roots because I've never heard the Bay Area called anything but Northern California, decades ago up until now.

Sacramento is even further north than the Bay Area, and the northern and north-eastern burbs of Sacramento are still further north. Some of those Sacramento burbs are not even in the Central Valley.

I'm watching the Sacramento news as I type and it's "Northern California this, Northern California that" with in-depth stories as far south as Modesto with reference to Northern California regarding practically every news story and the commercials are all "Northern California, this Northern California that" in reference to businesses in Sacramento.

I grew up in Pittsburg, east of Concord, south of Sacramento, north of Stockton. I have always thought of the Sacramento River that drains the north Valley, north and the San Joaquin river that drains the south Valley as south, both rivers unite forming a huge delta complex that drains into San Francisco bay and I have always considered that to be pretty much Central California and Pittsburg in the Central Valley. The San Francisco, Sacramento to Stockton metropolitan complex is disctinctly different then Far Northern California or Southern California. The Humboldt Bay region with its assortment of towns is about 80,000 plus people and different enough that we could never be thought of as part of San Francisco or Sacramento, this diffence extends south to Mendocino county, past that the influence from San Francisco dominates.

[Chimérique]

Originally Posted by TheDragonslayer

I grew up in Pittsburg, east of Concord, south of Sacramento, north of Stockton. I have always thought of the Sacramento River that drains the north Valley, north and the San Joaquin river that drains the south Valley as south, both rivers unite forming a huge delta complex that drains into San Francisco bay and I have always considered that to be pretty much Central California and Pittsburg in the Central Valley. The San Francisco, Sacramento to Stockton metropolitan complex is disctinctly different then Far Northern California or Southern California. The Humboldt Bay region with its assortment of towns is about 80,000 plus people and different enough that we could never be thought of as part of San Francisco or Sacramento, this diffence extends south to Mendocino county, past that the influence from San Francisco dominates.

I am very much aware of your descriptions. I think the far north, both coastal and inland is Northern California, I not sure why you don't realize the Sacramento-Bay Area is also Northern California; it may be further south but it's Northern California, always as been.

For all you coastal folks who insist on referring to us, as "the Central Valley", note we are the North and South too.

Average Annual inches of Rain:
The Sacramento Valley = Northern Central Valley. Redding=33 inches, Sacramento=20 inches

The San Joaquin Valley = Southern Central Valley. Fresno=11 inches, Bakersfield=6 inches

In fact we even divide the The Sacramento Valley into the Northern and Southern with Redding, down to Chico as the Northern Sacramento Valley and Sacramento, down to Galt being in the Southern Sacramento Valley.

When we talk about Stockton and Modesto we call it the Northern San Joaquin Valley.

This morning, a Sacramento news story reported on "a Southern California city" - the city was Bakersfield.

[TheDragonslayer]

Originally Posted by Chimérique

I am very much aware of your descriptions. I think the far north, both coastal and inland is Northern California, I not sure why you don't realize the Sacramento-Bay Area is also Northern California; it may be further south but it's Northern California, always as been.

For all you coastal folks who insist on referring to us, as "the Central Valley", note we are the North and South too.

Average Annual inches of Rain:
The Sacramento Valley = Northern Central Valley. Redding=33 inches, Sacramento=20 inches

The San Joaquin Valley = Southern Central Valley. Fresno=11 inches, Bakersfield=6 inches

In fact we even divide the The Sacramento Valley into the Northern and Southern with Redding, down to Chico as the Northern Sacramento Valley and Sacramento, down to Galt being in the Southern Sacramento Valley.

When we talk about Stockton and Modesto we call it the Northern San Joaquin Valley.

This morning, a Sacramento news story reported on "a Southern California city" - the city was Bakersfield.

I was concieved in Visalia, born in Hanford, grew up in the central valley and moved to the Oakland/Berkeley area in my 20's and to here in 1992. Each area is distinct, Redding being very much different then the Eureka coastal region. I can see that dividing California up mid state puts San Francisco and Sacramento in the north, plus Santa Cruz and Monterey. Though the ocean south of Santa Cruz is much warmer. The length alone of Californias Pacific coast is 840 miles. I have driven as far south as Oceanside and north to Oregon both on the coast and inland. California is complicated due to its length, size and geology.

[mateo45]

^ Geographically that actually makes more sense, and part of the 'confusion' with terms like "NorCal" and "SoCal", is that so often they've just been a convenient 'shorthand' for simply distinguishing the two largest urban areas (and major cultural centers) in the state… even if they're not always 'technically' accurate terms, for all the reasons previously cited.